Day 5: Conny Ochs – Raw Love Songs I came across Conny Ochs while looking at a history of doom metal, owing to an album he had done with Wino (of St. Vitus). The album was singular, in that it was a rare acoustic album from a performer in a heavy genre, but it lead to me a new favorite artist in Conny Ochs (Pronounced ‘ox’, not ‘oaks’). Ochs is in the unique position of being accessible from both singer-songwriter tradition, and from the heavy music side of things. Raw love songs was the first of his solo albums, and it covers acapella material, as well as acoustic and electric guitar backed songs. Lyrically, his work is magical, and he manages, in his lyrics, to cover a range of experience and emotion without ever overplaying it or frankly, stepping on it as so often happens. But I think what makes this special is that several of the tracks seem to be studio performance takes, rather than carefully multi-tracked and produced material. The album is a very present and immediate experience. Today’s nominations are Amber Lee and Greg Paquette, mostly because I think they’d find this guy’s work rewarding.