Skipped night #1 altogether, as it was Sunday and we were still in the desert at Coachella...We did hear from friends that Bitter:Sweet was quite good (signed to the indie Quango in the States, but available for licensing ex-U.S., as well as publishing [hello synchable music!!] and booking)
Night #2 highlights: L.A. based songstress Alison Sudol and her
band A Fine Frenzy played to a PACKED Viper Room... this girl is fantastic, and apparently Jason Flom's big priority for the year. We can only hope that they don't overwork this girl -- she's 22, this is her first album, she's got limited touring/live performance experience, and it'd be a shame to see her burn out. Best idea is to send her down to the O.C., or up to Santa Barbara, or out to (gag) Riverside, let her loosen up and have some fun onstage -- make her remember why she's doing this and that it's not all "you've gotta play for some industry douchebags again tonight". Our two cents, anyway. A Fine Frenzy's publishing is still available as far as we know (music supervisors love her already -- this one's a no-brainer).
Also playing to a packed Viper Room was Dublin, Ireland's Laura Izibor. Been following this girl's progress for quite some time. Signed to Jive, A&R guy left, got out of the deal, got re-signed by the same A&R guy (Steve Lunt) at Atlantic, readying a release. Laura is another great talent. Alicia Keys minus the bling. Fingers crossed that Atlantic works her album in the States --It'll connect. They WILL fuck it up, though, if they 'ghetto-ize' her. No need for a collab with T.I. here. This is raw, timeless talent. We predict big things. 
Across at the Roxy, a seven-piece Danish band called Dune (dew-NAY) was quite impressive. All band members are teenagers and the singer Mattias Kolstrup is a little ROCK star! He looks (and sounds) as if he may not have hit puberty yet, which will obviously present a problem in a few years, but they were tight, and had songs that could certainly translate outside of their home country. Dune is available for signing, licensing and publishing.
Night #3: Not too impressed with much. Skybombers, from Australia, were decent -- like a sloppy, raw Jet. Four Day Hombre, from Leeds, were OK. The Honeys, who came in all the way from China, played in front of a smaller crowd than we're sure they had hoped, and the language barrier will turn out to be a bit of a problem. If they decide to spend some time on the road in the U.S. or even the UK, they could get the hang of how things work and do well.Tonight is the final night -- we'll give a full report tomorrow!
