Brushfire Records artist Zee Avi is featured on page 50 of Spin this month. Prince is on the cover, in honor of the 25th anniversary of Purple Rain–the magazine is also offering a free tribute of the album, with Lavender Diamond, Chairlift and Riverboat Gamblers, among others.
Her delightful cover of Morrissey's “First of the Gang to Die” is, in Spin's mind, the #1 song “you must hear now!” for the month of July. It was such fun irony to hear inescapably British former LA resident Moz warble about street gangs with lines like “bullet in his gullet” and “the first lost lad to go under the sod,” so imagine the multiple levels of subversion in effect when a Malaysian-born OC transplant sings it? The page also has a little break-out on Avi (and Miike Snow, coming to Detroit Bar on Oct. 6), though it refers to her “home base” as Los Angeles (we can assure you she lives in Costa Mesa!). This is the second bit of good press in the last week for Avi, who was on Last Call with Carson Daly this past Thursday, June 18. She's about to go on tour with Pete Yorn; follow her on Twitter if you're so inclined.
Oh, and that cover of “First of the Gang to Die”? Here's a video of her doing it at Fingerprints in Long Beach last month.
