Being a musician in Los Angeles is certainly not easy with the hard work and seemingly endless touring. Meiko is an LA based singer/songwriter who has been touring to support her self-titled debut album for several years now and because she has worked so hard, we have named her our Artist of the Week.
This Georgia Peach has been on tour for several years now, trying to get her name out there. She has toured with some heavy hitters: Ingrid Michaelson, Cary Brothers, Jim Bianco, Sara Barielles, Rachel Yamagata, Josh Radin and recently with Eric Hutchinson. It seems as though her hard work is paying off. She recently finished of her first tour through Europe.
Meiko has had several of her tracks featured on the show Grey’s Anatomy, she played for the very popular KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic and she recently appeared on the Bonnie Hunt Show. She also recently recorded a cover song of Frank Sinatra’s “All of Me,” which is available on iTunes.
Meiko released her self-titled debut album independently and it did very well, which goes to show how good her sound is. It also goes to show, that your music will be heard if you work hard enough at it. She was the first artist signed to the MySpace label, she later re-released her album with some tweaks to a few of her songs along with a new track, “Girls with Boyfriends.” What people like about music is the personality the artist brings. Recently Meiko performed for a Tuscan radio show where she talked about the song and the unfortunate break up of her friendship. She even played another song that was never released, which was a song aimed at the girlfriend.
With her sultry and hypnotically driven voice, it is easy to get sucked right in to her music. Her melodies along with her writing are pleasant to the ear. When I first heard of Meiko about 2 1/2 years ago, I saw a video of the song “Under My Bed” and I was immediately hooked! She set up a video camera and filmed herself with a guitar on a bed (wearing a wife-beater). What is so amazing about the video is that she sounds amazing! No studio tricks, no radical make-up and no gimmick, just her and a guitar. Not only is she drop dead gorgeous, but this girl has some vocal skills! I immediately purchased the album and was hooked!
“Reasons To Love You” is a great song right from the outset. Not only is the hook catchy, but it is great lyrically. Another stand out hit is the hidden track “You & Onions” while “Hawaii” is also breath-taking. The vocals and arrangement are dark, which makes the song sound very sexy. I really enjoyed the original version of “Under My Bed”, but the re-worked version is still good, with all the extra strings.
My only beef with Meiko is that she never released the song “I Wonder,” which she performed for KCRW. Maybe the song only worked live and didn’t work in the studio. I don’t know, but it is an excellent song. She is also a great live act, performing covers of “No Scrubs” (TLC), “Fade into You” (Mazzy Star) and Fever.
Meiko just finished up her first European tour and is currently in Guam. No worries, she will be in the Los Angeles/San Diego area on August 6. Great artists like these really need our support. Think about it: I heard of her in 2006 so she has been touring for this album for about 3 years! She needs to pay the bills, so go to her website below and check her out!
Top 5 Songs
1. Hawaii
2. Under My Bed
4. I Wonder
5. Sleep
Useful Links
2 Podcast Live Performances from “The Cities”
Falling Hard (The Crytsal Method f/Meiko)
Mailo, thank you so much for turning me on to Meiko. That “Saddest Song Ever” was awesome, I really enjoyed a majority of her work. I think you are doing a good thing with this blog. Keep up the good work and by the way FUCK yeah on the Marvin Gay…
Dr. J
https://www.entertheshell.com to GoogleReader!