Goh Nakamura is not only our pick for Artist of the Month, but also one of our favorite ‘surprise artists’ of 2008.
Nakamura, a San Francisco native born singer/songwriter, describes his music “Dreamsicle pop ” as “ditties about parking tickets, impossible crushes and faraway dreamlands.”
Although Nakamura has had a loyal following for a few years now, his popularity is picking up momentum in the past six months or so. Nakamura’s music video for “Embarcadero Blues” has been viewed over a million times on YouTube:
Nakamura’s sound is catchy, wonderfully produced acoustic pop. Music lovers who enjoy artists like Matt Pond PA, Matthew Sweet, Elliot Smith and Neil Finn are likely to have Nakamura’s music playing again and again.
That said, it’s fair to say that Nakamura can easily appeal to a larger segment of music lovers. His music is the kind that you will probably find yourself liking the more you listen to it.
His 2004 debut Daylight Savings was received well by the indie music press. Yet it is the release of Ulysses – not to mention the fact that it’s available for free – is a contender for one of 2008’s best ‘under the radar’ singer/songwriter releases of 2008.
Here are two MP3s from Nakamura’s Ulysses:
Suitcase – Goh Nakamura
Hangman – Goh Nakamura
You can Download Ulysses for free or purchase the CD extra edition.
All downloads/purchases of Ulysses includes a specially selected collection of songs by some of Goh’s favorite bands:Odessa Chen, The Invisible Cities, Scrabbel, Michelle Amador, Adam Shulman, Nyles Lannon, Grand Hallway, the Botticellis, Picture Atlantic, Annie Lin, Love is Chemicals, The Lofty Pillars, Lucien Lamotte, David Rhodes.