Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Sia-Crazy: "Some People Have Real Problems"


There is actually one good album to come out of '08. It's Sia's Some People Have Real Problems.
Those who enjoy acid jazz and more specifically the music of Zero 7 might already be on the Sia ship. She provided vocals for Zero 7 for a while before moving to London from her native Australia.
Sia now goes solo.
Her unique sound coupled with a gendered look render her easily visible and her lyrics are a 'poetic blend' of melancholy, anxiety, and hope.
Sia's voice is the kind that reminds one of everything and nothing at the same time. And this is why she is claiming much presence in my current playlist.
Starbucks is now distributing her new album which can only mean one thing: Sia has arrived not only critically but also commercially.

graph per myspace

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

she does not sound like Dido at all to me. many critics place her in the same category as Dido though..., which is unfair.
'zero 7' is how i know her from, too.
what do you think of the her touring choices? most of her concerts dates are in the pacific northwest/west. since you're always making connections between 'place' and 'musical choices' what would you say about this?

Anonymous said...

Bri,
I have the same question as Jen above. Why is it that some perfomers only play either out West or back East? What about the big middle?

B.R. said...

I don't find her similar to Dido either.
Re: her tour place choices, I think that reveals much about the nature of the place. Many newer musicians a-la-British Invasion, I have noticed, perform out West and in the NY area first. It could be a marketing choice or simply a reflection of the performer's primary choices: perhaps they like to perform in places/areas the music of which they already know. Although I would say that many of these decisions are simply profit-based.... Whichever place has the larger percentage of alt. music lovers is going to attract the most performers.

Anonymous said...

It is quite interesting that other artists are picking the coasts when first performing. The coasts get exposure first, then the inland.

Anonymous said...

Bri,
Thought you'd like what I heard last night from a friend who's thinking about moving to Vancouver.
'Why do I want to move up there? They have a great music scene and all my favorite performers play up there at least once a year.'

He is an engineer, btw.
~Mary

Liam said...

bands play the pacific northwest, california and the northeast because that's where a large concentration of the pop-culture population lies. they have the most venues with the least distance, and they're historically where trends start. it makes much more sense to play san francisco, portland, seattle, olympia, vancouver than to drive even more distance between omaha and dallas...

Anonymous said...

I do think Sia signals he beginning of this bit of a shift in music culture. I read her as very fluid and other performers seem to allow their fluidity to show rather easily these days.
I agree with Liam too. Why the coasts? Because that's where the biggest percentage of the responsive audience is.

Anonymous said...

some of the reviews of her latest albums have not been too great, but I see why blogging about her was perhaps more about the 'places' in which she finds herself performing that, well, her....?
hmmm.
what do you think of the remixes?