The Postal Service - Such Great Heights

I think I first heard this on Grey's Anatomy but a friend of mine reminded me of it about 6 months back when we were hanging out in the park one sunny summer's afternoon...

The Postal Service - Such Great Heights

Upbeat electro pop - here're their MySpace and Last.fm pages.

If you're more into acoustic and mellow, Iron & Wine also did a version which is featured on the 'Garden State' soundtrack and has a completely different vibe.

Scott Matthews - Eyes Wider Than Before

Best known for 'Elusive', which was the first track released from the album 'Passing Stranger', but this is my favourite track:

Scott Matthews - Eyes Wider Than Before

Ethereal-sounding guitar running through and a beautiful texture to his voice. Here's his MySpace.

He's playing the Bloomsbury Theatre on 3 June.

Jose Gonzalez - Hand On Your Heart

Never expected anyone to come even close to the splendour of the Kylie original of this classic but Jose Gonzalez's cover of 'Hand On Your Heart' is...

...well, find it and take a listen. No clip on Last.fm (although there's lots of other stuff) or on his MySpace but if you search the tube of you, you may get lucky.

Mike Dignam - Anything

I saw him at the Hope & Anchor last month - this 18 year old singer-songwriter from Preston writes with incredible maturity and soul.

Mike Dignam - Anything

Reminiscent of James Morrison, 'Anything' was the first track of his I heard and prompted me to go along. Whispers that he's generating some label interest, I've got a sneaking suspicion I may have had a 'before they were famous' moment.

Here's his MySpace - I also love 'Someone Better' and 'Alive' (the live performance kicked it).

Pete Murray - Smile

My brother was the one who put me on to Pete a couple of years ago after hearing some of his tracks on 'Neighbours'...this one has become my favourite because of the melancholic bluesy guitar riffs and specifically the lyric:

#...come and touch my skin
you control my shiver...#

Pete Murray - Smile

His third album, 'Summer at Eureka', was released in May of last year, which I don't have yet but you can hear bits of on the last.fm page - I'm just going to point out a few from the other two albums that stand out for me (apologies for the longer-than-usual post. He is worth it)

Feeler

• So Beautiful - I love this track because it totally flips the 'you're so wonderful and I love you so much' cliches you would expect from a song with this title.
• Please - It's a song about always.
• Fall Your Way - Funky guitar - the video here suggests it's about his friend's testicles but I don't see it myself.

See the Sun

• Fly With You - This one's about refusing to give up on destiny.
• Class A - Loving the trumpets.
• Opportunity - The main reason I love this song is because of the Pete Murray & John Mayer duet from the ARIAs in 2006 - incredible.

end essay.

Malone - Perfect Thing

The comedown from yesterday morning's jump-around need not be painful....this is a beautiful track I found about two years ago by an acoustic singer-songwriter who was at that time based in London but has now moved out to Canada - Kelly Malone.

Malone - Perfect Thing

The track is the only one on her MySpace player at the moment but she also has an EP out with some other great songs on it, which you can listen to here. (Check out 'No Lonely Here' especially) EP doesn't look to currently be on sale but if you send her a nice e-mail she might be willing to let you buy one...

Ray LaMontagne - Winter Birds

I was lucky enough to hear this live at his gig at the Barbican last Sunday. It's my favourite track on 'Gossip in the Grain' - there's something so beautiful about the way he sings the line:

#the days grow short, as the nights grow long....#

Unfortunately wasn't able to find a (legal) full version of the track online, but here's a clip from Last.fm.

Oren Lavie - Her Morning Elegance

I came across this track when I followed a link posted by Thom Lyons (check out his band also if you get a sec) on his facebook status and it's become one of my favourite tracks of recent times.

Oren Lavie - Her Morning Elegance

The video tells a story in an original and quirky way and the keyboard melody in the background reminds me a little of 'Golden Brown' by the Stranglers.

I'm in a music frenzy tonight so a couple more on the way...