for True Music Lovers...

an excellent gift guide for the holiday season:

A. Pink Martini

Sympathique, Pink Martini's wildly popular debut album, was released in 1997. It has gone on to sell over 750,000 copies worldwide and has taken the band around the world on tours to the Cannes Film Festival, Lebanon, Turkey and Taiwan among other far-flung destinations. Songs from Sympathique appear on numerous music compilations including Starbucks/Hear Music, Buddha Bar, Hotel Costes, West Elm, Faonnable, Putumayo, Nordstrom, Williams-Sonoma and in various films such as In the Cut, Nurse Betty and Josie & the Pussycats, and have been used on television shows such as The Sopranos and The West Wing, among others.

B. Paolo Conte

Italian singer-songwriter Paolo Conte is famous for his gravelly voice – often compared to singer-poets such as Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen - his elegant and seductive rhythms, melodies and lyrics that sometimes veer towards hot jazz or bar-room tangos. It is a music of memories - half true, half dreams, poetic fragments of colors, images and fantasies.

C. Melody Gardot

My One and Only Thrill is the spellbinding Gardot's album, eloquently confirms her as a supreme songwriting talent possessed of a truly sublime voice. Gardot's effortless blend of soft-edged, late-night jazz and quiet, introspective blues is on exquisite display throughout. The album's title track is a 4am-in-the-morning confessional masquerading as a bittersweet ballad that lingers long in the imagination.

D. The Courteeners

A northern band with a lead singer who has an outspoken opinion? Rattling snare drums, staccato guitars and tales of urban youth in meltdown? No wait…come back!