mkULTRA Contest

First up check out Logical Logic for a guest post I did on Portland artist Grey Anne.

Marykate O'Neil is a Brooklyn based singer-songwriter who recently put out her third solo release, a six song ep, mkULTRA on Seventy-One Recordings. The record features not one, but two covers, one of "Living Without You" by Randy Newman and the other "Happy" by her friends Jill Sobule & Adam Schlesinger (of Ivy & Fountains of Wayne). In fact Sobule makes appearances all over the album playing various instruments and singing backing vocals. O'Neil says of the covers "I recorded and picked the two covers I did because I thought they completed the story well. I recorded a song of one of my friends because I was thinking how lucky I was to be around all these talented people, and started thinking it would be fun to do covers of my friends songs... like how in the 60's everyone would be singing each others songs. So you would have Glenn Campbell singing a George Harrison song, and released at the same time."

O'Neil's voice can be incredibly sweet on songs like "Map" and "Trouble" or somewhat husky on tracks like "Happy" which enable her to evoke different moods with more than just the music. The music itself is the superb blend of thoughtful charm and cynicism, the perfect music for a Sunday morning after a long Saturday night. Keep an eye out on O'Neil, she's due to release a full album entitled Underground in February.

If this sounds up your alley please email me at quietcore@gmail.com with "mk contest" as the title for your chance to win a copy of mkULTRA. Winners will be contacted next week.

"Happy" (Jill Sobule Cover)
Also check out O'Neil's website for more music.