The one-girl band09:24:07 AMDriving into the office this morning, listening to NPR, I heard Scott Simon interview KT Tunstall, a 
Scottish singer who plays everything herself. That's everything as in percussion, background vocals, guitar, rhythm parts...everything. She is her own accompanist.
And, it's all done in real time, or at least nearly-real time.
Using some kind of pedal-operated looping recording device, she lays track over track over track in a terrific and captivating manner and does it all on the fly. The songs are good anyway and her voice has a growling edge that is quite addicting, but the way she's able to combine all these other sounds together as she's performing is mildly miraculous.
As you can probably tell, I was mesmerized. I sat in my car in the parking lot until the interview was over. You could tell Scott Simon felt the same way. After every song he was effusive and bubbling with enthusiasm from having watched her perform it live.
Anyway, she only has one song available on iTunes yet but her album is about to be released in the US. In the meantime, go to NPR and listen to the tracks. I'm particularly fond of Minature Disasters but they're all great. It's hard to imagine it's just her making all that music.
1. Ben Poole02/04/2006 11:26:11 AM
Homepage: http://www.benpoole.com
I have her album, and it's excellent. She recorded the album with a full band, and usually plays with one too. However, there is one track that she often plays live on her own with a digital looping pedal. This is Black Horse And The Cherry Tree, and it's super 
2. Scott Good02/11/2006 10:43:57 AM
Homepage: http://www.scottgood.com
Update:
KT's album Eye to the Telescope is now available on iTunes for those who care. That's $8.91 well spent as far as I can see.
Scott
