My Berklee Friends

So, in lieu of the momentum the last post has created (and honestly, the biggest THANK YOU to everyone who jumped into the fray with your insight and opinions, I loved reading every single word!) I want to share something with all of you in return for all the great recommendations.

While I was at Berklee, a few of my friends were outstanding songwriters as well as great musicians. They all had unique original sounds and it really made my time at the college even better getting to write and hang out with some of them. It was pretty cool to check out their music after class and hear these great songs written by the person I was just sitting next to. So who are these people?

For starters, my good friend and piano rocker, Mike Lombardo:



Mike was in a few of my classes at Berklee. We clicked quickly because of our mutual love for good music and Halo 3. His command of the piano is beyond professional and his writing is intelligent and frequently infused with his closet-nerd sense of humor. My personal favorite track of his is called "Joke", check it out for yourself. Mike Lombardos Awesome Website. Think a Ben Folds flavor with an aftertaste of jazz, rock and wit.
He instantly won my lyric writing class over, including our teacher, when he presented this extremely clever love ballad about Power Rangers, Dancing and Halo...(the XBOX Halo).



This dude really goes the extra mile to keep in contact with his fans. If you ever want to chat on interact personally him and I are both on a cool site where unsigned artists talk to their fans, its called Too Much Awesome.

Next up is my buddy Katelyn Clampett. Yes, that's Clampett like the Beverly Hillbillies, but she doesn't look like the daughter of a toothless imbred.



Katelyn was probably one of the best singers in the entire college as well. Her writing is a jubilation of infectious melodies and gracefully balanced instrumentation presented with flawless production. She is a well versed writer, but her current niche seems to be pop. If you want to hear a few of her songs, click here for Katelyn Clampett's Beautiful Website. The song that plays on her website is called "Sweet Tea", very, very catchy! Give it a listen.
She's playing at the US open this year, if my memory serves me right and also was in the midst of peaking the interest of Brittney Spear's A&R crew for some songs...so yeah, she seems be doing pretty well for only having been out of Berklee for about a year.

Next in line is Michael Greenberg.

His live shows are where he shines the most. WIth a loop pedal, a warm, full, almost symphonic sound and a sturdy jazz improv vocabulary he will leave the music snobs even more astounded than the music laymen. His voice is the aural equivalent of caramel. The song of his that absolutely gets me is called "See You Through", its a harmonic masterpiece of epic proportion. Click here to hear the Jazzy Goodness of Michael Greenberg. Another diverse writer; he implements funk, jazz, smooth jazz, soft rock, pop and even hip-hop.






Last on this little list is Blaze Mckenzie.




Yes his real name is Blaze. No, he was not in Dodgeball. No, he doesn't have two brothers named Taze and Laze. But I wouldn't be suprised if some day soon you and I hear one of his songs on a radio station or movie. He wasn't really a particularly active member of the Berklee songwriting crowd like the previous three, but nonetheless, his writing is obviously up to par with the best. He blends folk, blues, rock, bluegrass and country into a picturesque sound that you would swear was taken from some movie you've seen. People that love the indie artist sound will probably take a liking to Blaze. Its like Death Cab meets Tom Petty meets Bjork. I recommend listening to "Wretch" and "Might". Two finely crafted songs with tons of originality and character. Want to listen? Click here for Blaze Mckenzie.

So after the rant about how bad music has become, I had to even the score. These artists are all contemporary and are, for the most part, in the popular music category (with some rock and indie flair). Paired with all the great bands you guys suggested and the ones I didn't mention in the previous post, I think we can all rest assured music will never be entirely bad. Check out a couple of them, or all of them and let me know what you think about them. At Berklee, as well as being some of my friends, they were some of my favorite artists. I might do another one of these posts with another set of a few good songwriters if you guys really like the tunes. I have to split though, Im late for a gig.

Dylan