Arist Rec: Cassidy Haley

[calystarose]

This is Cassidy Haley / @cassidyhaley. I'll give you a minute to recover. ;)

In all seriousness, he's not just a really hot and beautiful queer dude. He's also insanely fucking talented. The first song I heard of his was Whiskey in Churches, and actually I watched the video for it. That was really good for me on a lot of levels.

But what really sold me on Cassidy's music was the song Fly. I heard it again via video on his YouTube Channel. He has done several acoustic versions of his songs. He usually begins each recording by talking a little bit to the camera, giving us some background on the song which I personally appreciate a great deal. So the video for Fly starts that way, with about 2 minutes of background and then at 2:25 he starts singing. It's fucking breathtaking. I mean, so powerful and inspiring. Just really moved me.

Both of these songs, along with four others, are on Cassidy's EP Little Boys and Dinosaurs(iTunes link). You can preview the entire EP here on his site. You can also buy the physical cd from his site.

His most recent video is for Daylight Breaks, it's beautiful and haunting and just so full of emotion. I highly recommend it.

Cassidy used to design clothes at Skingraft Designs but has since dedicated himself full time to music. He does still design for friends (many of whom are in the entertainment industry) and for his fans.

I love his design aesthetic, his theatre and drama, and (of course) his music.

I very much recommend him to all of you.

Links:
Official Site
Twitter
Facebook
MySpace
iTunes

Single Rec: "Black & Gold" by Sam Sparro

[herlovewasajoke]

So, last week I mentioned that on occasion, iTunes Canada actually does give us a fucking awesome song for free. This is one of those times.

Sam Sparro is an Australian singer-songwriter born in 1982. He's best known for this song - Black & Gold. His self-titled album came out in June 2008. Of the 13 songs, Black & Gold (Marcussen Album Version) is the strongest (and, unfortunately, the only song worth keeping, IMHO). His work ranges from R&B to funk to electronica, to classic Prince to Scissor Sisters, to everything in between. If that sounds like it's your cup of tea, then he's definitely an act worth checking out.

Back to Black & Gold, though. This song has proven to be extremely popular, which was a huge surprise to me because I haven't heard it anywhere. Apparently it's been used in soundtracks, commercials, tv promos, and video games. You'd think I'd at least have heard about that, but apparently not. It's entirely possible that I live under a rock.

There's been a few cover versions of this song (most notably Adele, Ellie Goulding, Alphabeat, and Katy Perry) but like usual, the original is always best. There's something to be said for Sam Sparro's voice and the way he sings the lyrics. Also, a bad cover version of any song is a sin that should banish you to the depths of hell.*

*Okay, okay, we'll reserve that solely for butchers ofHallelujah. DNW anyone other than Jeff Buckley, kthnx.

Here, have a streaming file from Grooveshark:

The song has a video, but Sam's record label, Island Records (UK), has had embedding disabled at YouTube. It's so camp and I laughed, but everyone needs a little camp in their day now and then. Click here to see it. It's boys in tuxedos and top hats. Carrying walking sticks and feeling up a limo. No, I'm not just saying that. There's also a fast food drink cup but that might be for a rousing game of One of these things is not like the other....

Links:
- Facebook
- MySpace
- Twitter