He keeps the noise out

ALELA DIANE "My Tired Feet"

Today I lunched at Valentine's with Alela Diane, a twenty-three-year-old singer/ songwriter from Nevada City, CA who's been in Portland for about seven months now. Alela's going to be featured on the next YETI CD. I've only heard her disc once through thus far, and not seen her live yet. But clearly she's a talented vocalist, perhaps in the vein of Foster or Spektor or the Casady's or Holland, and maybe even Dalton...

Got turned on to her music thanks to writer/ man about town Matt Wright, who'll soon be doing PR for the release of her disc The Pirate's Gospel on the new and naturally rather electronic-oriented Holocene label (I say naturally, as that's more or less what the club itself caters to). Their interest in Alela (pronounced Uh-lee-luh -- am guessing her parents were hippies or something?) is testament to Scott from Holocene's great taste. I am psyched the label's not going to get too tangled up with one sound (and please, can no one else ever say "importland" or "pornland" again? thanks).

If you ask Alela nicely, maybe she will sell you one of the lovely, very hand-made editions of her second album before everything gets mass-produced and she's on the soundtrack to the new Wes Anderson flick and graces the cover of Arthur and the Wire simultaneously (that is, unless those pubs've already forsaken "folk")??? It's worth a try.