If you enjoy the music of John Mayer, Jack Johnson and Jason Mraz, then I highly recommend the following male singer-songwriters, who might be obscure but equally as talented as these guys.
1. Dylan Mondegreen - Norwegian Dylan Mondegreen is Børge Sildnes' one man band. His debut album “While I Walk You Home” is incredible. Think Todd Rundgren and Burt Bacharach and you have Dylan Mondegreen. This guy has made a timeless pop album filled with beautiful lyrics and crisp clean melodies that prompted critics to declare that “ Indie pop has entered its soft rock phase and it sounds pretty good.”
2. Brent Cash - A Georgia based singer-songwriter, Brent Cash must have been dreaming up his debut up for a waking life. It sounds so much like a lost early ‘70s AM radio orchestral pop record that, with a few added record pops and snaps, you could easily slip any track from this album this on an oldies station between Elton John and Billy Joel and no one would be the wiser. According to Uncut Magazine "Brent Cash's debut could be easily a 1960s reissue".
3. Jack Savoretti - Jack Savoretti is a half-English, half-Italian solo acoustic singer who is currently signed to a record label managed by the former manager of Natalie Imbruglia. Burn Magazine has compared his songwriting to that of Simon & Garfunkel, London’s Daily Telegraph describes his guitar playing as having a ‘primal magic about it,’ and some music industry insiders are already buzzing around calling him the new Bob Dylan.
4. Josh Rouse - Nebraska-born Josh Rouse' s brand of literate and engaging guitar pop, garnered him both critical raves and a devoted following. Obsessed as a teen with British cult favorites like The Smiths and The Cure, he learned to play guitar from his uncle and wrote his first song at 18. A prolific singer-songwriter, he once toured with John Mayer and released around 20 records since 1998.
5. Jens Lekman -Swedish musician Jen's music can be described as guitar-based pop with heavy use of samples and strings; the lyrics are often witty, romantic, and lachrymose. His work is often compared to that of Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields, Jonathan Richman, and Morrissey.
6. Lightspeed Champion - The alter ego of one Dev Hynes - ex-Test Icicles. Currently signed to illustrious independent, Domino Records (home of Arctic Monkeys), it contains musical elements from a variety of genres. Comparisons can’t be drawn to one artist, but there’s certatinly elements of Fleetwood Mac, Smashing Pumpkins, through to Hall and Oates, Nirvana, Patrick Wolf, Neil Young and even Bright Eyes - whose collaborator, Mike Mogis, also produced Lightspeed’s debut album ‘Falling off the Lavender Bridge’.
7. Cineplexx - Sebastian Litmanovich is the main man behind Cineplexx, a very interesting project for lovers of melodic, friendly and warm pop music. With more pop structure and attention paid to fusing analog orchestration with his blips and beeps, Sebastian has delivered a record to our shores that will surely enchant its listeners. If you love Belle and Sebastian, The Radio Dept., BMX Bandits, Camera Obscura, Little Name, Jens Lekman, Flaming Lips, The Ronnettes, Margo Guryan, Magnetic Fields, Teenage Fanclub or The Beach Boys, you'll surely love Cineplexx.
8. Bart Davenport - San Francisco Bay Area indie crooner Bart Davenport is a "troubadour who wears his passionate love of breezy West Coast pop on his sleeve". Songs by Burt Bacharach, Emitt Rhodes, Gerry Rafferty, George Harrison, Bread, Harry Nilsson and Paul McCartney are his touchstones. Drawing from Soft rock, bossa nova, Brit folk and even a touch of Philly soul, Bart balances a sunny vibe with a streak of melancholy and subtly echoes the sound of yesterday's AM radio hits while offering its own bright vision of future pop.
9. Montt Mardie - Montt Mardié is one of the finest pop jewels ever found in Sweden. His rather provokingly titled U.K. debut release "Introducing... The Best Of Montt Mardié" is a celebration of pop and blue-eyed soul and a a tribute to some of the best pure pop music of the '80s like Wham!, Haircut 100, Aztec Camera, The Lilac Time and Prefab Sprout - from the corny synths, machine-driven Northern soul drumbeats, out of control falsetto vocals and completely fake-sounding production. File next to Prefab Sprout, Saint Etienne, The King Of Luxembourg, The Style Council.
10. Little Name - Little Name is an amazing discovery! A dose of deft British indie pop that recalls the heyday of Sarah Records with influences of Belle and Sebastian, The Beach Boys, The Smiths, Camera Obscura, Burt Bacharach, some sunshine, some rain, life itself and the art of swimming. Behind Little Name stands Lee Barker from Liverpool, who sings and plays all the instruments. Underneath the bright indie pop are lyrics which explore ideas of openness and vulnerability, isolation and joy with a wit and humour belying their meaning.
11. The Simple Carnival - The Simple Carnival is not so much a band as it is the pop brainchild of Jeff Boller, a Pittsburgh-based singer/songwriter/musician who plays all thirty or so instruments. His critically-acclaimed debut album "Girls Aliens Food" sparkles with a late-seventies AM pop radio feel - sunshine pop-influenced harmonies, soaring melodies, tack piano, handclaps, and vintage keyboards dominate. Well, if the Beach Boys and Harry Nilsson collaborated on Sesame Street... or if Burt Bacharach wrote songs for Electric Light Orchestra... or if Billy Joel partied with Esquivel - that's the sound you get when you listen to The Simple Carnival.
12. Tim Ten Yen - Every once in a while, an artist comes along that is so special, so radically different that there is a spontaneous and often universal rush to sing their praises. One such artist is London's Tim Ten Yen. At times showing the refined panache of The Divine Comedy at others the wonky rigidity of a twee Human League, Tim never drops the sophisto-pop baton, unashamedly branding his music as `karaoke pop` and with one foot in the suited era of '80s pop, another in the knowingly tawdry kitsch easy listening market.
13. Andrew Morgan - Welcome to the world of singer-songwriter Andrew Morgan. Almost six years in the making, his new album "Please Kid Remember" is the follow-up to "Misadventures In Radiology" (Voted one of Uncut Magazine's best albums of 2004). Recorded across almost an entire decade and promising the exquisite chamber pop of The Zombies set against the neo-classicism of a Disney soundtrack. With lots of memorable melodies and lush and classy arrangements, Morgan's soft-voiced vocals deliver the goods in under three quarters of an hour. Overall, the album sounds like the product of locking Badly Drawn Boy, Teenage Fanclub and the late Elliott Smith in a studio.
14. Ally Kerr - One of Scotland’s fastest-rising artists and best-kept secrets, singer-songwriter Ally Kerr echoes the likes of Kings Of Convenience, Simon & Garfunkel, Tim Burgess, Teenage Fanclub and Belle & Sebastian, along with shades of The Lilac Time
15. Anthony Rochester - Hailing from Australia, Anthony Rochester's music is a mixture of Jens Lekman-style crooning mixed with a Burt Bacharach-like laidback attitude and a good knowledge of vintage electronics. Upon listening to his newest album "Music For In The Spaceship", one can hear his influences - Stereolab, Belle and Sebastian, Eggstone, Kings Of Convenience.
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