A few days ago, Times pop music critic Ann Powers selected three faces to watch in the new year: Melinda Doolittle, Lady Gaga and Relentless 7, the buzzworthy band from the esteemed Ben Harper. In Wednesday's Calendar section, Times staff writer August Brown highlighted a group of local artists who enjoyed a terrific 2008 and are poised for more success in the coming year.
But given the number of promising acts likely to generate attention in 2009, the pop staff writers have chosen eight additional up-and-coming performers of whom readers should take note. Chances are you'll be hearing much more about these musicians.
Theresa Andersson
This exuberant singer-songwriter embodies several trends at once. She's Swedish -- though she lives in New Orleans -- and her singing has that warm but clean Scandinavian quality. She plays multiple instruments like fellow one-woman-bands Kaki King and Emily Wells. Her songs are heartfelt, dusky little fables representing a strong feminine viewpoint -- and yes, they've been featured on "Grey's Anatomy." But Andersson is more than the sum of her parts. Her quirkiness and fearless eye for detail stand out.
Check her out at a Hotel Cafe residency this month or pick up her album "Hummingbird, Go!" which features guest appearances by fellow Scandinavian Ane Brun and New Orleans producer and composer Allen Toussaint.
-- Ann Powers
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Marco Benevento
Long a cult favorite on the East Coast jam-band/avant-jazz circuit, 31-year-old keyboardist and "sound sculptor" Benevento has been building a following nationwide for his jaw-dropping improvisational skills, a no-genres-barred approach and a globe-trotting touring schedule. His first studio release, the spacey yet approachable "Invisible Baby," landed Benevento's trio at the 2008 JVC Jazz Festival, and there's no limit to where his next album, "Me Not Me" (due Feb. 3), will take him.
Centered on Benevento's shape-shifting acoustic piano and backed by an adventurous rhythm section of Matt Chamberlain and Reed Mathis, the record boasts deconstructed reinterpretations of indie favorites such as My Morning Jacket, Beck and Deerhoof while flirting with straight-ahead jazz on original compositions like the lovely "Mephisto."
Seemingly incapable of resisting an unexplored musical direction, Benevento can, essentially, do just about anything, which makes him exactly the kind of force that deserves notice in contemporary jazz.
-- Chris Barton
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VV Brown
This will sound familiar: A young British soul singer with a penchant for retro sounds is tipped by the UK press as the next big thing. But VV Brown is a long way removed from the smoky nightclub vibe of Amy Winehouse or the torch songs of Duffy. Just check her debut single, "Crying Blood," an amped-up doo-wop dance floor anthem. Surf-rock guitars slide around video game bloops, and Brown stomps all over the cut's big beats with a wallop of spunk.
A former session singer and songwriter, Brown is ready to seize the spotlight with a swarm of high-energy pop songs. Need more evidence? Sample "Everybody," with its hand-clap groove, teasing piano and no-nonsense vocals. When all is said and done, Brown delivers something her retro UK peers have thus far lacked: pure, whimsical fun.
Her debut album, "Traveling Like the Light," is planned for a March release on Island Records in Britain.
-- Todd Martens
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K'naan
Though it's popular in Europe, African hip-hop has not yet found its footing in America beyond the elegant gangsterisms of the Senegalese-born, New Jersey-based singer Akon. This year, a Canadian might be the one to break the intercontinental barrier.
Kaynaan Warsame was born to one of Somalia's most prominent artistic families in 1978 and grew up in Mogadishu as that city was torn apart by civil war. Immigrating to Toronto with his family as a teen, he soon turned to rap as a way to articulate his experience.
His light-stepping but tough rhyming style is infused with the rhythms of his homeland, and his subject matter is both political and playfully personal.
K'naan's 2005 debut album, "The Dusty Foot Philosopher," won a Juno (the Canadian Grammy) for best rap album; next month A&M/Octone Records will release "Troubadour," which was mostly recorded at Bob Marley's Tuff Gong Studio with help from guests such as Damian Marley, Mos Def and Maroon 5's Adam Levine.
If Kenya's favorite son, Barack Obama, could win the hearts of America, why not this sharp-witted Somali stylist?
-- Ann Powers
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Mapei
