Yael Naïm

Maybe I yearn for a time that didn't actually ever exist, but there is still a part of me that deeply resists finding great new music via television commercials. In recent years, the hip factor seems to have exponentially increased, and despite myself, my record collection features numerous anthems of commercial culture (The Teddybears/Iggy Pop "Punkrocker" and Saul Williams "List of Demands" spring to mind immediately, but there are dozens more. Add to that list Israeli chanteuse Yael Naim, whose "New Soul" is one of the latest hand-picked gems from Apple (and admittedly on first late night, 30-second listen I thought it was Feist). The other track getting some buzz is the un-cover of Britney Spears' "Toxic", which if you haven't heard, you should sample the video performance below. The real rewards come if you investigate the self-titled full-length, ten tracks of English/Herbrew flavors, each different from the next, all completely engaging, and ample evidence that all of this attention is no fluke.