Listen to “Dancing” featured on Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance.
Italian-born singer-songwriter Elisa, already a multi-platinum, award-winning superstar in her native country, makes her North American debut this month with her new full-length album, Dancing (Sugar/Universal). The album, which powerfully showcases the genre-bending artist’s emotionally resonant pop-rock sound, premieres at iTunes on June 17 (including a bonus track, Elisa’s cover of the Stones’ “Wild Horses”) and will be released at physical retail and other digital outlets on July 15.
Dancing builds on the love that Stateside audiences have been feeling for Elisa ever since the title track was featured on Fox-TV’s hit show So You Think You Can Dance in June, 2007. Immediately following Lacey Schwimmer and Kameron Bink’s breathtaking routine, “Dancing” shot into the Top 20 on iTunes (the only place it’s currently available), and has since amassed more than 75,000 paid downloads, still selling briskly at 600+ downloads per week. On YouTube, organic audience reaction to the song has also resulted in more than one million views of the SYTYCD clip, making it the all-time most-viewed dance from the show online.
Fans of “Dancing” will feel in sync with the richly textured album’s other songs including “Rainbow,” an ethereal and hypnotic ballad that’s another lead track. Highlights also include the delicate yet passionately soaring album opener “The Waves,” the spare and aching “Broken,” the rock-flavored “Stranger” and Elisa’s gorgeous, almost elegiac take on Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” the album’s one cover. Throughout, her emotional intelligence and soulfully immediate – and intimate – lead vocals make for a spellbinding musical journey.
“My songs are centered on emotions,” said Elisa, whose work has drawn comparisons to artists including Leona Lewis, Alanis Morissette and Corinne Bailey Rae. “I describe states of mind, and my dynamic involves creating tension, building it and then releasing. It’s like a rubber band, I try to stretch it as much as I can.” GRAMMY®-winning producer Glenn Ballard, who worked with Elisa on her internationally released, top-selling ‘best of’ compilation Soundtrack ’96-’06, said: “When I first met Elisa, I was very impressed to find a true and real artist. In the noise and fast-pace of today’s culture, we need real artists who are able to express things we don’t even have time to talk about.”
In her extraordinary career to date, Elisa has had the opportunity to express herself on many remarkable world stages in the company of a host of global music legends. Most recently, she performed “Dancing” and dueted on “La Voce Del Silenzio” with Andrea Bocelli in Lajatico Italy – both songs are features on the 2008 DVD Vivere: Andrea Bocelli Live In Tuscany. Previously, she has dueted with Luciano Pavarotti at the final session of Pavarotti & Friends, sung a gospel version of the Italian National Anthem at the closing ceremony for the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and recorded the song “Teach Me Again” in tandem with Tina Turner. Her many accolades include five awards from Italy’s prestigious Festival di Sanremo, an MTV European Music Awards Best Italian Artist honor and a Tenco Award for Best Debut Album for 1997’s Pipes And Flowers.
An acclaimed and commanding live performer, Elisa will tour North America in support of Dancing in late 2008 (to date, she has only played one show in the U.S., an April ’08 gig at NYC’s Joe’s Pub). She is excited about coming to America, and experiencing a whole new world of audiences. “The important thing for me is to get out and play,” she says, “and to connect with people. We’re all the same, we share the same emotions. The world is one place.”
Digg this Blog
Share on Facebook
WatchMojo on Twitter
WatchMojo on YouTube
Add to Favorites
WatchMojo Newsletter
Deas Vail is a young band beginning to make a name for themselves out of Arkansas. Check out 2 new tunes from their new CD, The White Lights EP:
Deas Vail - From Priests to Thieves
Be sure to keep an ear out for this band, and stay in the loop via their MySpace page.
The Spinto Band are prepping for the release of their new full length, Moonwink, with the launch of a new website and a series of weekly video shorts. A visit to SpintoBand.com reveals nine moons dated for consecutive Tuesdays leading up to the October 7th release of the album on Park the Van Records. Each moon contains new content, news updates, and exclusive videos straight from the Spinto headquarters.
Click on the first half moon to see a live rendition of “Later On,” the first of 11 new tracks on Moonwink, played using a table full of utensils and produce. One listen to the band’s musical skill with watermelon and corn husks, and it’s no surprise they’ve been tapped to open for the likes of Rilo Kiley, Ra Ra Riot, Art Brut, We are Scientists, Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes, and Death Cab for Cutie in their already illustrious indie career.
This week’s moon offers two videos for our viewing pleasure. The first takes us into the Spinto Band’s office space, where they’re frantically packing pre-orders and processing ‘bundles’ (find out what the big deals is before everything blows up). The second video takes us into the Spinto’s garden. Looks like there should be a “Summer Grof” crop sprouting on September 2nd (at iTunes perhaps?). Visit www.spintoband.com to see for yourself, and don’t forget to check in each Tuesday to see what else The Spinto Band has up their sleeves.
Moonwink is produced by Dave Trumfio (Wilco, Built to Spill, Mates of State) and mixed by Tchad Blake (Tom Waits, Cibo Matto, Paul Simon), and is sure to build on the promise of 2005’s “Oh Mandy” from Nice and Nicely Done – the song that catapulted The Spinto Band out of indie obscurity and onto the big stages and screens with the aforementioned bands and a performance on Later… With Jools Holland.
Download The Spinto Band’s “Summer Grof” from Moonwink (October 7, Park the Van)
What the Press Said about The Spinto Band
“Hottest record in the world right now.” – Zane Lowe, BBC Radio 1
“Giggly, exuberant, intensely melodic indie pop.” – Amanda Petrusich, SPIN
“[The Spinto Band] traverse enough styles for a week’s worth of positive Pitchfork notices.” – Marc Hogan, Pitchfork
“This Wilmington, Del., sextet… has created an unexpected slacker-pop gem, drawing heavily from Pavement’s shambolic indie rock and juicing it with espresso-strength hooks and an eclectic approach to arranging.” – Michael Endelman, Entertainment Weekly
“The Spinto Band makes empowered, quirky power-pop that brings to mind the effortless imagination and eclecticism of bands like The Kinks and The Flaming Lips.” – Jim Testa, HARP
The Spinto Band tour dates
10/17 - First Unitarian Church - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
10/18 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, New York
10/19 - The Middle East Café - Cambridge, Massachusetts
10/20 - Petit Cafe Campus - Montreal, Quebec
10/21 - Lee’s Palace - Toronto, Ontario
10/22 - Skully’s Music Diner - Columbus, Ohio
10/23 – Metro - Chicago, Illinois
10/24 - High Noon Saloon - Madison, Wisconsin
10/25 - 7th Street Entry - Minneapolis, Minnesota
10/28 - Chop Suey - Seattle, Washington
10/29 - The Media Club - Vancouver, British Columbia
10/30 – Holocene - Portland, Oregon
11/01 - The Bottom of the Hill - San Francisco, California
11/02 - The Bottom of the Hill - San Francisco, California
11/03 - The Echoplex - Los Angeles, California
11/06 - The Rhythm Room - Phoenix, Arizona
11/08 - Hailey’s - Denton, Texas
11/09 - Fun Fun Fun Festival - Austin, Texas
11/11 - Mercy Lounge - Nashville, Tennessee
11/12 - The Masquerade (Hell Stage) - Atlanta, Georgia
11/13 - Visulite Theater - Charlotte, North Carolina
11/14 - The Black Cat - Washington DC, Washington DC
11/16 - The Bowery Ballroom - New York, New York
The song is called “Rock and Roll Train” and it sure does sound like AC/DC! The band has never messed with its formula before and why should they? It’s not an instant classic, but it definitely rocks, especially when Angus’ solo kicks in midway through. I hope to hell these guys still have a world tour left in them. Check out the song at their MySpace Page.
PLAY
