Faces to Watch in 2012: Pop Music, Classical and Jazz
Singer-songwriter
Over two low-profile but highly regarded albums, Brooklyn singer Sharon Van Etten has built a small but sturdy body of work that’s inspired a select songwriters to cover her songs, including Dave Alvin and the National. Her 2010 album, “Epic,†also landed on a few best-of-the-year lists.
Last summer, Van Etten signed with the midsize indie label Jagjaguwar, the home of four-time Grammy nominee Justin Vernon and his band Bon Iver. Like Vernon, with whom she has duetted in the live setting, Van Etten has a voice with range and myriad emotional capacities; she can move from glee to glum in a single phrase-turn.
Her new album is called “Tramp.†The record’s dozen songs put her voice front and center with meandering musical subtext swirling around it. A slow-burning but ultimately incendiary record that, in the best of worlds would propel the singer to Bon Iverian levels of acclaim.
-- Randall Roberts (Roger Kisby / Getty Images)
Homegrown rapper
One of the 2011’s best surprises was Kendrick Lamar’s “Section.80.†The iTunes exclusive was a great, utterly unself-conscious rap record from South L.A. Ever since Dr. Dre began plugging away on his version of “Chinese Democracy,†Lamar’s been viewed as the West Coast’s standard bearer with an eye on even bigger artistic goals.
Take “Keisha’s Song (Her Pain)†off the album, where Lamar strikes up a deep friendship with a vulnerable woman over their shared crack-era childhoods. It sets the tone for an urgent, defiant and ambitious full-length that’s sonically forward and emotionally bare.
Lamar raps on Dr. Dre’s forthcoming album, “Detox,†and the producer is reportedly working on Lamar’s album “Good Kid in a Mad City.†Unlike today’s out-of-touch “luxury rap,†Lamar’s vision feels completely relevant for 2012 and beyond.
-- August Brown (Joey Maloney / For The Times)
Choristers
You want faces?
The biggest event of Gustavo Dudamel’s “Mahler Project†will be a performance of the Eighth Symphony, known as “Symphony of a Thousand.†at the Shrine Auditorium on Feb. 4. It will combine the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Simon Bolivar Orchestra, eight vocal soloists and 800-plus singers from 16 local professional and amateur choruses. If there is a particular face you fancy, bring binoculars.
-- Mark Swed (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
