That being said, you're always going to get the same passion for artists and stripped down performances that highlight talent and musicality! For that reason, we decided to invite Jess Delgado, one of our favorite artists back for her third RAWsession. In this video, she showcases her soft croon in her original track "Heavy" off of her EP Covered In Dreams.
Take a look and a listen and let us know what you guys think!?
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We didn't have to wonder long at all! She still has it (and more) ladies and gentlemen!
When Lena came in for her session she took the studio by storm! The firey Russian with a sly smirk and cool wit came into the live room and quickly smashed her covers before unleashing her original single on us. Never Forget is now a chart topping international sensation with an amazing accompanying video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFydcD7WXRI&feature=related) but we're happy to say we were there first and lucky enough to hear the song performed long before it was featured on the radio.
With that being said, check out Lena's rendition of Owl City's 'Deer In Headlights' and make sure you look out for the DEERS!
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I’m writing this blog entry late at night… I’m tired and it’s been a long week.
I'm super into Doll & The Kicks -- enough so that I come out to all their LA shows when their in town from Brighton, UK. Enough to REALLY, REALLY want them to come back and do another session, even though we've done two with them already. Enough to pass their music on to our friends and friends of friends. The rest of the guys from the RAWsession team were at this Doll & the Kicks session and they are both wholly capable of writing this entry themselves… They were both at the band's performance in LA at Key Club too, there for the band's first RAWsession a year ago. Hell, they were both almost got lost on The Tube in London just to catch a late night show!… but I guess THIS IS THE POINT -- I like these guys so much that I'm staying up super late to write this even if it means NO SLEEP (till Brooklyn!?).
- That is to say that they won me over with their first session and now?
I loved having them in our new studio more the second time because we were aware that they were going to bring the intensity and we were well equipped to handle it. And by intensity, I mean, first and foremost, the sheer power of Doll -- this girl is amazing and I challenge any working artist to compete with her vocals or intensity. She is a virtuoso; from McLovin to Morrissey, real recognize real and talent recognizes talent. As for the rest of the band - Chris (drums), Matt (guitar), Olivier (bass) - they're spot on, take after take, with no mistakes and no rest. Doll & The Kicks are, simply put, a machine -- a sexy, talented, rockadelic, machine of awesomeness!!!
That being so eloquently conveyed, let me back away and introduce our latest session (and one of my personal favorites) Doll & The Kicks.
Doll, Kicks-- If you read this, "Blimey, I think the videos looks aces and you were absolutely brilliant. The bee's knees if you will. Anyone that says otherwise is bullocks."
-working on my UK English-
Z
Performing with Jen in each of the RAWsession videos is the equally as brilliant singer songwriter & guitarist, John Saussin. Now sit back and watch these two take a stab at their acoustic rendition of "The Better Half" which is a track off Jen's newly released album Myself In Two, featuring work by Adam Tressler (Megan Burtt, Amy Crawford), keyboardist Patrick Warren (Bruce Springsteen, Green Day, Colbie Caillat, John Legend), produced by Max Coane (Something Corporate, Jack's Mannequin), and mixed by the great Bob Clearmountain (The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Bruce Springstreen, Bryan Adams, Rufus Wainright). Not too shabby a lineup.
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Hey everyone! We've been out of the country for a bit but we're back now and have some VERY exciting news to share. We've been hard at work these past couple weeks wrapping up our BIGGEST production yet! In honor of John Lennon's 70th Birthday, which just passed this October 9th, we’re happy to release our cover of John Lennon’s Imagine with YouTube musicians DAVE DAYS, AJ RAFAEL, TIFFANY ALVORD, JESS DELGADO, AMY HEIDEMANN (from KARMIN), and SID SRIRAM -- backed by the talented Dom Liberati (Bass), BC Taylor (Drums), and Tony Solis (Guitar). We recorded the video this October at Kingsize Soundlabs' studio in L.A.
In honoring John Lennon and in an attempt to continue his dream in our own way, we’ve also decided that ALL proceeds from downloads go towards charity! The song can be downloaded on iTunes here. -- A portion of proceeds are going to the John Lennon Tour Bus in John's Memory and (this is where we need your help) we are asking YOU for your input on who to donate the remaining proceeds to.
Please tweet @RAWsession w/ hashtag #Imagine4Charity and let us know what charity you want us to donate proceeds to by December 31st, 2010. We will be picking the top suggested charities.
Thanks to all the YouTubers and musicians who made this video possible! We could not have done this without them and their amazingly positive attitudes and crafted musicianship. The day was a complete blast, filled with so much energy and synergy that we can’t help but imagine John Lennon would’ve loved the experience himself. We think the video turned out a complete success and we’ll be blogging more about it and posting cool pictures and videos from the session over the coming days. We hope you all enjoy the video! Please share it with your friends, buy the song, donate money to charity, and remember to be active in your community!
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Since we already had a session scheduled with Decca Label artist Nikki Yanofsky in May, I decided to invite Jess and her band to come down from Boston and record the second half of the day with us.
So, Jess, A.J, Julien and Kazumi took the bus from Boston to New York to come and meet us at our studio on the lower East Side of Manhattan. Upon arrival, we all immediately knew that this was going to be a great session. Seeing such young, devoted, talented and fun yet professional musicians come together to perform their own original material that most people have not had the chance to be exposed to, gets me and my team every time.
Although, Jess and her band are still in the beginning stages of their careers, I could instantly feel that this group of musicians had come together with the goal to combine all their individual talents to create something much bigger than each one of them alone. I felt a very strong connection amongst each member of the group so it was to no surprise to hear that all of their songs were written collaboratively.
As you might remember, we released Jess Delgado's cover video of John Mayer's "Why Georgia" earlier this year via RAWsession's YouTube channel and all this time, we couldn't stop thinking how the best is yet to come. We are so proud to release Jess' original song "Hold On" as the level of musicianship and songwriting is impeccable. Listen to the emotionally loaded lyrics of this song and don't feel bad if you might drop a tear...
Thank you Jess, A.J., Julien and Kazumi!
Musical Arrangement: Jess Delgado (lead vocals), A.J (acoustic bass), Julien (percussion & ukulele), Kazumi (guitar & background vox)
]]>Ashley came to Los Angeles and had begun working towards a career as a singer. During her first months in Los Angeles building up her client base, developing her music and perfecting her sound, she became a member of the (in case you didn’t know) tight-knit, RAWsession family.
Her love of the craft aligned with ours and she began passionately helping us find and help develop dope, unrealized talent. It wasn’t until she revealed to me that she made it on American Idol that I realized how talented she was. I remember, the first thing I said was congratulations (I have a German accent and I’m pretty sure I mispronounced that word) and then I said, ‘Why didn’t you tell me you were still singing?” She said something about ‘not wanting any help etc...’ I was frustrated but proud and happy for her at the same time. I said, ‘When are we going to do a RAWsession?” She replied, “as soon as you’re ready.”
Eric - But really, we had to wait for American Idol to finish because those guys bake time into their contract.
Matt - Yeah, but it wasn’t that long a wait...and, I think it was worth it, she’s gotten to the next level now.
Nils - Chill out guys. And YES, it was more than we could’ve wished for. All I’m saying, and let me finish, is that it makes me happy that she was part of the team before doing a session with us. So anyway, finally, this summer, we brought her and Britten Newbill (on guitar) into King Size Labs near Silverlake, CA to record a session with her. All I can say is how impressed and excited I am by her performance.
Ashley chose to cover V.V. Brown's "Shark In The Water" as well as perform one of her original songs written by Britten Newbill called "Hanging By A Thread" coming soon. Look out for it on VEVO.
So, you saw it here first! Introducing Ashley Rodriguez, performing V.V. Brown's, "Shark In The Water."
]]>This was one of my more recent favorite sessions as I got to revisit both the city of New York and the lovely and talented Nikki, whom I’ve now had the pleasure of working with twice (more on that later). Heading up RAWvideo meant I needed to show up a day early to meet the crew and prep the gear and although it was hot, I was able to find residence in Spanish Harlem before our early morning call on the lower east side.
When I got to the site, I prepped video alongside our audio team as we waited for Nikki’s call time. As was the case with our first Yanofsky shoot, Nikki showed up early with a smile on her face and a desire to ‘get to singing.’ What else can I say?, an adamant professional and a consummate talent, Nikki has her music together and executed with the precision that it takes others years her senior their entire lives to learn. That being said, the most impressive thing about this artist is that she truly enjoys her work and it shows in her smile and can be heard in her words. As a director, I can’t stress enough how much easier Nikki makes my life with her lack of ‘tude and abundance of talent.
Here's a cover of her singing Norah Jones' "Don't Know Why" with singer/songwriter/guitarist, Jesse Harris (who actually wrote the tune for Norah) from the same 2009 session in NYC (thumbs up for our old logo! haha). You can also catch the rest of the videos we shot from this session as well as the Premiere videos from the 2010 session over on VEVO here.
]]>Three original videos are on the way and set to release over the next month or so. If you can't wait, check out our DOWNLOADS section for a free mp3!
Check out the video below to see her performing "What Hurts The Most" by Rascal Flatts. This video is also the first to feature our new bumper graphics for YouTube....more on that soon though! Now to the music.
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