Added to iPod

September 3, 2008 | Filed Under Music |

And we have passed the 11,000 mark!!

(…the crowd shrugs…)

Sonic Youth – “Rather Ripped” Good but very quiet. Even when they let go, it seems very subdued.
Yo-Yo Ma – “Plays Ennio Morricone” With the Roma Sinfonietta. He wrote much more then the theme to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Beautiful stuff.
Mudcrutch – Self titled album by… Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers! In disguise (but not quite). Probably the best music he has done in a decade.
Nightmares On Wax – A selection of a few of their records. Electronic funk.
Army Of Anyone – Another sefl-titled. This is the “supergroup” consisting of Richard Patrick of Filter and the DeLeo Brothers from STP. All of this sounds good, but nothing was distinctive or memorable. But it sounds good, especially in a car. And instantly forgettable.
Beirut – “Gulag Orkestar” It sounds like gypsy music from the old country, but it’s really a 22 year old from Santa Fe. Interesting stuff.

Now, I have noticed that there is a proliferation of young, female singer songwriters out there lately – all vying to be the next Jewel or Amy Winehouse or Sarah McLachlin. I decided to give two of them a shot. The “reviews” I saw for Sonya Kitchell mentioned Joni Mitchell and Ella Fitgerald, so I picked up her disk “Words Came Back To Me” – her previous set from 2006… when she was 16. Oddly, her words aren’t there. The music may be fine but the lyrics pretty pedestrian. Her voice is good, but the whole thing sounds like Joss Stone doing Norah Jones songs – like Norah Jones. Too lightweight for me. THEN we come to Brandi Carlile and her album “The Story”. That’s the real deal! She’s got the pipes, the tunes, the words and more than a dollop of attitude (it didn’t hurt that T-Bone Burnett produced). The odd thing was – she didn’t sound like any of the ladies I mentioned earlier. The record reminded me more of Ryan Adam’s “Gold” with the whole pop/folk/country/rock thing flowing seamlessly together. A good pickup.

BTW – Rest in peace, Jerry Reed. Your tunes have an honored place in my childhood. What would we have done without Amos Moses?

share: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.