C’mon! What could be a better Valentine’s Day gift than the first new CD from Sade in ten years. ”Soldier of Love” puts the honey voiced chanteuse and her band right back where they belong, in our ipods. (Okay, so we didn’t have ipods ten years ago) The album is getting rave reviews including one from fellow baby-making music maker Maxwell, who said the music “(will) shake you in your shoes.” Enjoy the video of the title song below.
Her pedigree is impressive, granddaughter of Hank Williams and daughter of Hank Williams Jr., but Miss Holly’s talent stand on its own. Haunting lyrics, beautiful music and legs that just don’t quit. Holly’s new cd Here With Me is in stores now and here’s a great review of her new single “Alone”. Take the time to discover an amazing new female singer-songwriter. Hear and see more here.
Become a fan on facebook here. Follow Holly on twitter here.
Enjoy this interview from “Chelsea Lately” where Holly talks about John Mayer and Bret Michaels.
We like Daughtry, the man and the band. Too bad we can’t post his acoustic version of “Poker Face” from a German radio appearance, but you can find it here on youtube. Yeah, he got a little cocky as his time went on on American Idol and who can forget his true look of shock when it was him and McPhee in the bottom two and he was probably thinking ” Later McPhee”, and then America reminded him that they pulled the rug out from under Jennifer Hudson too. But, no matter. Daughtry is huge and so is his band. And, he’s gone on to speak out on behalf of the ONE campaign and we like that too.
If you don’t like anyone in the Creed/Linkin Park/Nickelback genre, then you probably won’t like Daughtry, but he’s a great singer, he’s smart enough to put poppa Vince Gill on his record, and he does what he does and doesn’t apologize for it. Check out his website here for more info. Read a great review of the cd here. Enjoy “Every Time You Turn Around” below.
Now there’s “TIme of Day” by Crosby Loggins, son of Kenny Loggins. We admit we were one of a handful of people who watched the trainwreck known as “Rock The Cradle” on MTV. The show featured the offspring of famous singers and attempted to find the next generation of talent. In the end it came down to Jesse Blaze Snider (son of Dee Snider) and Crosby. And, while Jesse Blaze wasn’t perfect, he was a throwback to some kick-ass rock and roll times that we kind of enjoyed. But, America voted and this is what we got. Have at it if you must, but don’t expect anything near the greatness of Kenny or even Dee for that matter. We put a clip of Crosby’s winning performance on the finale of “Rock The Cradle” below.
Frontman Jay Farrar heads up Son Volt’s new album, “American Central Dust.” They’re part of that whole Midwestern-Americana-JayHawkes scene. While not known for their bouncy upbeat tunes, album highlights include; the rootsy shuffle of album opener “Dynamite,” on which Farrar declares “this love is like celebrating the 4th of July with dynamite,” the tremolo soaked rocker “Down To The Wire,’ the gorgeous, piano led “Cocaine And Ashes,” an empathetic tribute to Keith Richards, references a man who’s “the same as everyone, just kind of lucky,” and ‘Sweetheart of the Rodeo’-esque rocker “No Turning Back.” Learn and hear more here.
We love musicians who like to do good too. Ladies and Gentlemen, take time to discover Discovery, the band comprised of Rostam Batmanglij (Vampire Weekend) and Wes Miles (Ra Ra Riot) who have just released their highly anticipated debut as part of Amie Street’s Download To Make A Difference campaign.
LP is now available one week early exclusively on AmieStreet.com at the sale price of $8 in an effort by the group to raise money for Oxfam America.
“I am thrilled to have Oxfam be a part of this release,” said Miles. “Oxfam’s focus on broad advocacy and local relief for the impoverished is inspiring and I hope our support brings more awareness about their projects and goals.”
For each album sold, AmieStreet.com and XL Recordings are donating $2 to Oxfam America, an international relief and development organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice. Together with individuals and local groups in more than 100 countries, Oxfam saves lives, helps people overcome poverty, and fights for social justice.
Discovery is the recording project of Batmanglij and Miles, friends who began recording together in the summer of 2005. One year later they had committed themselves to their respective bands, Vampire Weekend and Ra Ra Riot, but nonetheless continued to record together when they both found themselves in the same city. The project is many things: it’s partly an attempt to realize Wes’s concept of a band where everyone plays synthesizers, and of Rostam’s concept for an album where handclaps keep the backbeat instead of snare drums.
It’s an embrace and also a commentary on the pop music of the past decade, of booming 808 bass and jittery sixteenth note high-hats. If soul music is secularized, sexualized gospel, Discovery is an attempt to see if soul music can survive being plasticized, roboticized, quantized, chopped, and finally, screwed. The album features Rostam and Wes each singing half the songs and guest vocals from Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend) and Angel Deradoorian (Dirty Projectors).
The exclusive release marks the seventh major release for AmieStreet.com‘s Download To Make A Difference campaign, which has raised tens of thousands of dollars for organizations like the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, The Food Bank For New York City, and the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation since its launch ten months ago.
LP is released by XL Recordings (Sigur Rós, Adele, Vampire Weekend). To download this fantastic new album and support Oxfam America go to: http://amiestreet.com/music/discovery/lp
Enjoy the streaming music from LP below.
Brad Paisley is much beloved in Nashville. He can write a party song and a ballad with the best of them, and fans and radio love them all. His new album American Saturday Night, came out of a songwriting boot camp and its his most reflective album yet.
Paisley is a Nashville renaissance man. He’s a triple threat: a respected singer, songwriter and guitarist. He designed his last five album covers and creates the animation that’s used on the video screens at his concerts. He’s a great songwriter and able to set his intelligent wit to music with songs like “Celebrity”. He’s got a full head of hair under his cowboy hat. And, he can out prank just about anybody in the business.
Ameican Saturday Night includes the first single, “Then,” which made Paisley one of only five acts in the 65-year history of the Hot Country Songs chart to collect 10 consecutive No. 1s. Another highlight is ”Welcome to the Future” — co-written by Paisley and Chris DuBois — which Paisley says without hesitation, is his favorite among all the songs he’s ever written.
View his official website here. Enjoy this video of Brad with John Mayer doing “Celebrity” from their Crossroads special a few years back.
Wilco’s new album is all about moving forward and its as straight ahead a rock album as Wilco’s had in recent years. SPIN magazine gave Wilco (the album) four stars and wrote, “The band’s seventh studio effort treats verse-chorus-verse basics like holy truths. The result is the rare rock album about acceptance. And it’s fantastic.” They also had one of the best reviewed sets at Bonnaroo (if Bruce Springsteen hadn’t shown up, they might have had the best reviewed set. Curse you Bruce Springsteen!) And, the set contained tons of new songs that people were already singing along to. A particular fav was “Wilco (The Song)”. Largeheartedboy has downloads of the Wilco Bonnaroo set. Also, the Wilco iphone app is free, top rated and just pretty great. Click here to check it out. (That’s our view of the stage at Bonnaroo, waiting for Wilco to appear).
Two different sites this week ranked Regina Spektor on the quirkiness scale, but this one’s our favorite: “On the quirkiness scale, Regina Spektor ranks just above rainbow suspenders.”(ew.com) Regina is a talent that refuses to fall into a category or be labeled. She just continues to fulfill her artistic soul and share it with the rest of us. And, with Far, you’ll be glad she did. Jaunty piano rags, dolphin singing and a beautiful elegant ballad that showcases her singing and songwriting talent all combine to make an album that is garnering praise from critics and fans. Check out our previous post with Regina singing “Blue Lips” here. Enjoy the video of Regina singing “The Wallet” from “Far” below.
Mandy Moore is nobody’s Britney Spears wanna-be anymore. She is a more mature singer-songwriter who has released her most intimate album yet, Amanda Leigh (which is also her real name). Mandy has said that this music is more reflective of who she is now and she is finally getting to make the her own musical choices. It probably doesn’t hurt to have a guy as talented as Ryan Adams (the two married recently) hanging around the house potentially influencing your artistic choices.
Brooklyn indie favorites Grizzly Bear are back with a new album, Veckatimest. They wowed the crowds at SXSW and in a review of the CD, Spin magazine wrote, “Steeped in Wilco’s bittersweet Americana, and adding a northeastern gothic twinge, Grizzly Bear sound like they’re trying to break your heart.” If you like The Band and The Beach Boys “Smile”, give Grizzly Bear a listen. Or, try some of these other hipster bands: The Decemberists, M. Ward, and Vetiver. Enjoy a live performance by Grizzly Bear at SXSW below.
Pre-order yours on itunes now. And get another copy when it comes out on June 2nd just because. Enjoy this video of the cast recording the album below.
