I just watched The Watch and Taken 2 with my parents for Wine & Movies Fridays aka “the kids are all out of the house, let’s party Fridays.” Since I’m only home for two weeks they didn’t mind me crashing. At the end of Taken 2 they played Alex Clare’s “Too Close.” I hadn’t heard it in a long time but it’s so damn good. Here he is doing his thing acoustic and unplugged, which might be even better than the original. Check it out.

Note: I’ve listened to this song about 30 times since yesterday.

I’ve written about Birmingham, Alabama based singer-songwriter Matthew Mayfield before and with good reason. When his previous band Moses Mayfield disbanded in 2008, Mayfield decided to go it solo and released five, yes five, EPs between 2009 and 2010 building up his singer-songwriter street-cred as well as his fan base. These were followed up by some groundbreaking performances at SXSW and two studio albums released in 2011 and 2012. This song, “Take What I Can Get” is from A Banquet for Ghosts, the latter of the two. It’s definitely one worth checking out.

Check out Hudson Taylor, two singer-songwriter brothers from Dublin. The duo, who first came to fame via their Youtube channel as Harry & Alfie performing covers and original songs, have since moved to London to pursue music full time, which is good news given their solid lyrics and Marcus Mumford level strumming.

Music magazines and websites like Billboard and Pitchfork tend to be pretty polarizing with some people swearing by them, and others thinking they are elitist and douchey. Whatever your opinion, it’s worth checking out Billboard’s live sessions. They’ve got some real gems on there and obviously have the funds for solid camera work and mixing. Recently I’ve been listening to the live, acoustic version that Two Door Cinema Club threw down at the studio. Here’s “Something Good Can Work.” 

This video speaks for itself. It is flawless.

I’m not a huge fan of Nashville singer/songwriter Mat Kearney—or perhaps more accurately, I’m not overly familiar with his work — but that doesn’t stop this video from being really cool. Kearney performed his hit single, “Nothing Left to Lose” at 35,000 feet for the passengers on his Southwest Flight.

Fellow member of the unofficial Ross “new-music collective” and championship-winning kickball pitcher Jeff S. just hit me with Anthony Green’s song, “Only Love,” which features Nate Ruess of Fun. on vocals. Ruess’ vocals are, as usual, spot on.

Now, I had no idea who Anthony Green was when I heard that song, or when I went searching and found this acoustic performance of “Get Yours While You Can” and thought, “Wow, this guy should be huge.” Turns out he is…as the lead singer of Circa Survive.

My buddy Bao just sent me the album version of this song and I immediately went to go looking for more of her work and found this epic acoustic version of the same song, “Drive Darling.”

Boy consists of Valeska Steiner and Sonja Milena Glass and is based out of Zurich and Hamburg. Their debut album, 2011’s Mutual Friends, featured this track. Going to find it now.

I haven’t had a chance to really listen to the new Mumford & Sons album Babel yet, but I woke up in an acoustic-folk mood so, naturally, I busted out The Head & The Heart. That led to me rewatching—for the hundreth time—their AllSaints Basement Session live performances. That in turn led me to the AllSaints Basement Session for Grouplove where I found this great acoustic version of “Tongue Tied.”

Can we all just agree that the AllSaints Basement Sessions are amazing? The cinematography and sound quality are fantastic and with bands like Grouplove, The Head & The Heart and Vintage Trouble they might be some of the best videos on Youtube.

Keywords: Acoustic. Mandolin. Harmonies.

I’ve written about Los Angeles natives Milo Greene before when they were featured as a showcase artist for SxSW but I just came across this acoustic live performance of “1957” recorded for Dickies. The vocal harmonies are stellar but I guess that’s to be expected when literally every single member of your band can sing. You can grab “1957” and more on their eponymous 2012 album here.

Slacker Radio is one of the better free internet radio stations out there and used to get us through the afternoon when working in the UPenn library mailroom. They just posted this ridiculously good acoustic performance of “Panic Switch” by indie rockers Silversun Pickups. Brian Aubert’s vocals are spot on and in a stripped down like this Nikki Monniger’s bass line really gets the spotlight it deserves.

Every single time I watch Bernhoft play life, it blows my mind. This dude has taken loop pedals and acoustic guitar effects to a whole new level. Here’s “C’mon Talk.”

So, uh, let’s all just agree that singer-songwriter Jack Savoretti is phenomenal. Born and raised in London, Savoretti eventually moved to Lugano, a Swiss town near the Italian border, where he took an interest in writing poetry. At sixteen his mother gave him his first guitar, and the rest is, if not history, then certainly great songwriting.
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Already being compared to singer-songwriter greats like Bob Dylan and Paul Simon after just two albums, Savoretti has big shoes to fill but if his first two efforts are any indication, he might just be able to fill them.

When you list your influences as: Musiq Soulchild, Raphael Saadiq, Jim Croce, Van Morrison, Stevie Wonder, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Gypsy Kings, Earth Wind & Fire, Maroon, you had better make sure your music has got both soul and great guitar playing. The Common Kings don’t dissapoint. Check out this acoustic version of “Alcoholic.”

If you want more, heres a pretty cool medley they do of Michael Jackson covers.