Why I spent $193 Dollars Today...

I will tell all of you, tell you proudly, that today I was 1 of 2 people I know that spent $193 on two prime seats to see the Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring supported by a full orchestra at Radio City Music Hall on October 10th - bring your hobbit garb! Howard Shore's original and Academy Award winning score will be conducted by Ludwig Wicki and you know this German is taking the task seriously; he has done this job a few times now which puts me at ease. Side note - Howard Shore was the first band leader of Saturday Night Live - how far this Canadian has come.

Apparently, performing the musical score to a film is very, very difficult and non-stop the entire length of the three hour movie. So the price of my ticket includes getting to see an entire orchestra 'exercise'. I grew up loving the story of the Lord of the Rings series, my dad was a huge fan, and Peter Jackson's films made it even better. I thought the culmination of my love for this series was visiting several of the locations they shot the trilogy in New Zealand but I now say with confidence that this is going to be the coolest AND simultaneously the fucking nerdiest thing I have ever done, spent money on, or admitted to. You can buy tickets secretly and join me on October 10th, a Saturday night, or the Friday before on October 9th at Ticketmaster.

Get even more excited once you have tickets by seeing some of the clips that are on You Tube.

Music placement in TV shows, commercials, and movies has become a very big business in the past few years and has helped to turbo launch the career of many bands/musicians. This nerdy blog is a little shout out to the instrumental music in movies which is pivotal to developing the mood of a scene effectively throughout multiple mediums. I can only imagine how difficult it is to compose music that will help to translate and build emotion, culminate a plot, essentially develop a scene beyond the visual and spoken word. So kudos to you Howard Shore, and to you Ludwig, and let us not forget you Mr. 4th chair tuba player. I will be enjoying your work from the Orchestra Seating area on October 10th; I may or may not be dressed like the chief of the Nazgul. PLEASE do not mess up, I will notice, hold it together the entire time because the music that goes with the sound of Boromir's demise will be pivotal to my and my party's enjoyment.

Good journey until then.

Be the first to listen to the new Wilco album!

This just in from Digital Music News:

*Wilco is now streaming its upcoming album online, a reaction to a recent leak.  Wilco (The Album) is available on-demand on wilcoworld.net, or, as many have already discovered, as a free download across the web.

Click HERE to start your listening bliss!

This album is not due out until June 30, 2009 so you're welcome.

WILCO

Album Tracks:

1. Wilco (the song)  2. Deeper Down 3. One Wing 4. Bull Black Nova  5. You And I featuring Feist  6. You Never Know   7. Country Disappeared   8. Solitaire   9. I'll Fight   10. Sonny Feeling  11. Everlasting Everything 

My quick thoughts:

I think it is a little pretentious to be a band called Wilco, call your album Wilco, and have your first song called Wilco where the chorus is 'Wilco, Wilco, Wilco, Wilco...'

The song 'You and I' is cute and simple and featuring indie chart topper Feist.

If you have been a fan of Wilco for awhile and really liked their sixth album from 2007 Sky Blue Sky then you will really like this album; though a lot of other bloggers think it is more like their fifth album A Ghost is Born. My favorite is still Yankee Hotel Foxtrot; the song Jesus, etc. is one of my go to songs for every occasion.

Info on Wilco for beginners:

They are an indie rock band with definitive and consistent streaks of alternative country; they are from and still based in Chicago. They formed in 1994, most members of the band came from the band Uncle Tupelo. Jeff Tweedy is the lead singer, songwriter, and unstable star of Wilco. He has cleaned up his act in the past three years and can now be counted on to show up and put on a good show; displaying solid frontman skills while maintaining relative sobriety. Wilco (The Album) is their seventh studio album so it is safe to say they have their sound down, they know their fans, and they are beloved by their record company.

The Pomegranates are in season

Let me first apologize Pomegranates. I think you guys are absolutely great; I thought this when I first saw you at The Bell House back in February when you played with your buddies the French Kicks. I see nothing but good things coming your way; which was evident by the scene of label scouts (I can pick those earplug wearing soda sippers out anywhere now but it took some practice!) on May 13th when I last saw you play at the Mercury Lounge (Houston & Essex for the you virtual visitors of NYC or the Upper West Side). So why have I waited 15 days to post my praises? I can only say this - I am an asshole. Sorry, life got in the way - my new nephew says hello though! Here is a short but sweet plug for you guys. Good luck finishing up your tour and thanks again for my 'Poms Not Bombs' shirt.

The Pomegranates is a Cincinnati quartet that  formed in late 2006 and just released their newest album Everybody, Come Outside! on April 14th, 2009; their debut album Everything is Alive came out in May 2008. I first heard them on my beloved online radio station Woxy.com, formerly "97X--Bam!--The Future of Rock & Roll" famously stated by Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man.

I think they got it right when they called themselves 'art-pop denizens'. The band consists of:

Joey Cook

vocals + guitar + keys + percussion + bass

Isaac Karns

guitar + bass + sampling + vocals + keys

Joshua Kufeldt

electric guitar + vocals

Jacob Meritt

drums + percussion

Jacob stays steady on the drums and has a style that makes me think he used to play in the house band down in Fraggle Rock. The other three are very active throughout their set, switching instruments, changing stage positions, singing different parts on different songs, picking up a loudspeaker here and a tambourine there. 

They kicked off their set with Sleepover, one of my favorites, then rolled into Coriander, the album's first single. By the time they got to playing the title track Everybody, Come Outside!, everybody was enjoying themselves, including the Pomegranates and that is the way to tell when a band is comfortable in it's own skin and has come into a groove of their own creation. The band explains their new release as "A conceptual album of sorts, weaving an interesting tale of a man who leaves home, only to be abducted by a time traveler... Each of the 11 tracks add to the mystique, as well as reveal a bit more about this unusual tale." Translation: creativity, art, and drugs are in abundance in Cincinnati.

Here is a taste of their sound. Check them out further on MySpace and look for them in the future, you will find them.

I want Kate Havnevik to play the soundtrack for all my jubilant moments

Two things happened this past Monday night (5/11/2009)

1. I saw Kate Havnevik play for the second time. She played at The Living Room this time, the approachable Lower East Side music haven where Norah Jones got her start.

2. Just after Kate finished her set I became an aunt for the first time to a healthy baby boy that was born in Boulder.

Now I could elaborate on what a pile of happy mush I was and how I embarrassed myself on the street crying on the phone with my mom or how the bouncer congratulated me on the way out but I will save you from that.

I want to focus on how Kate presented the best kind of music to be playing why a big life moment happened. She has that beautiful, ethereal voice and she sings with such earnest, really connecting with the crowd, that she creates a whole world that you are privileged to go visit. I admit several of her songs are not about the jubilant moments in life but the way she puts together a song - everything from the lyrics, her vocal range, the combination of electronica and live band - Kate makes the point that those heart crushing moments are also beautiful. I think that is the gift that Scandinavians have mastered well; Kate hails from Norway but is half-POM (property of the UK monarchy).

Most music interviews describe her sound as a combination of Kate Bush, Bjork, and Joni Mitchell. They also inform us that music supervisors of TV shows love her; the O.C., West Wing, and especially Grey's Anatomy. The mega hit show (where Katherine Heigl hysterically resuscitated a deer to kick-off the second season) has featured 6 of her songs, put her on the soundtrack, and asked her to write a song specifically for the second season finale. 

What I will tell you is that she is enchanting in between songs. She engages with the audience, tells little jokes and stories that gives you the impression she is completely comfortable talking to anyone anywhere. She knows how to select musicians that compliment her sound wonderfully but what is even more impressive is her use of technology to manipulate her sound, loop her voice, and bring to the table a song that is a full meal though it is really just a bunch of little Kates singing at once.

Kate's next gig is at The Living Room again on May 27th so that gives all you folks in the area plenty of time to check her out on MySpace, buy her CD 'Melankton' and recruit friends that also like being ahead of the musical curve.

Kate's next album is due out in the Fall but her new single 'Halo' just came out on May 2nd!

Photos 1 & 2 by Vicki Dawe

I just want to make it clear how great looking Kate Havnevik is. She has the rare ability to look great while singing her face off and having her face convey real personailty

WANDERLUST FESTIVAL: Be the first to know about it and the first to attend:

I am happy to announce the launch of a new festival this summer! The web site just went up, tickets go on sale May 12th, it's taking place at the very cool Squaw Valley USA in Lake Tahoe, CA July 24th-July 26th so buckle up.

For those of you hard core music fans that aren't lazy or tubby and can rally for multiple days of shenanigans, this festival is for you! You schedule in yoga classes just like you schedule which band to see, you walk around the concert area at 8,200 feet, skip the gondola and walk back down to the village if you dare and then party all night, getting weird with the likes of Girl Talk and the burlesque troupe Mutaytor.

So check out their flow and read more about it below using their words not mine:

http://www.wanderlustfestival.com

Music by Michael Franti & Spearhead, Spoon, Andrew Bird, Jenny Lewis, Gillian Welch, Broken Social Scene, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Girl Talk and many others. Yoga taught by John Friend, Shiva Rea, Duncan Wong, Sianna Sherman, Elena Brower, Schuyler Grant, Janet Stone, Rusty Wells and more.

The Press Release for Wanderlust:

Wanderlust Festival Lands in Lake Tahoe

Yoga, Music, and Spectacular Views Set This Festival Apart From the Rest

This summer a new happening will redefine the destination festival experience. A boutique, three-day experience, Wanderlust brings together the world’s leading yoga teachers and top-tier rock and roll performers, all in a setting of breathtaking natural beauty. This feast for both the body and the senses takes place July 24-26 at Squaw Valley USA, Lake Tahoe, California.

  Festival-goers can spend their mornings down in the Village at Squaw Valley getting centered in one of many classes led by some of the most notable names in yoga today, including Shiva Rea and John Friend. Wanderlust will include other notable instructors like Annie Carpenter, Christy Nones, Duncan Wong, Elena Brower, Janet Stone, Jason & Jenny (acroyogis), Katchie Ananda, Kenny Graham, Les Leventhal, Rusty Wells, Schuyler Grant, Sianna Sherman, and many others from San Francisco’s Yoga Tree studios.

  Afternoons and evenings are dedicated to musical discovery. Ride the cable car up the mountain and soak in fresh, diverse performances on a stage perched atop the Sierra Nevadas.  It’s a setting like no other, with a line-up to match. Michael Franti & Spearhead, Spoon, Andrew Bird, Jenny Lewis, Broken Social Scene, Gillian Welch, and Girl Talk lead the collection of acts.  Other artists performing at 8,000 feet include Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Rogue Wave, Amanda Palmer, Kaki King, Mates of State, The Honey Brothers, The Mutaytor, The London Souls, Jai Uttal, and more. 

Tickets for the three-day experience go on-sale Tuesday, May 12th at 10am CDT at www.wanderlustfestival.com.  A variety of options are available with prices starting at $124.50 for a weekend music pass and $169.50 for a music and yoga weekend pass. Prices are inclusive of all service fees and credit card charges.  VIP packages are also available and include exclusive access to the High Camp facility, which is a first class spa at 8,200 feet that boasts a swimming pool, local, organic fine dining, a hot tub, tennis courts, yoga on the deck, and breathtaking views of the Sierras below.   The Village at Squaw will also play host to a variety of local food vendors and earth-friendly products accompanied by acoustic performances during the afternoon on Saturday, July 25 and Sunday, July 26.  Activities at the Village at Squaw are open to the public and promise plenty of fun for the whole family.   Wanderlust is produced by Velour Music Group, in conjunction with C3 Presents (Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits Music Festival) and Starr Hill Presents (Bonnaroo, Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival).

Why Battle of the Bands are so great

Every aspiring musician or band struggles with finding a fanbase beyond their own family and friends. The onslaught of social media in the past few years has certainly unearthed this roadblock - everything from the all-powerful MySpace to iLike to YouTube, Facebook, personal web sites, and let us not forget the world of blogs. That said, I warn you, don't discount the power of competitions and Battle of the Bands. Might I remind you of a certain cult classic "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" where the Wyld Stallyns win the fourth annual San Dimas Battle of the Bands and quickly become the most successful band on the planet?!

How funny is this photo of the two of them? Le Abstract!

I encourage all you musicians to consistently scan magazines, posters at bars and venues, everywhere really to find these types of competitions. Playing at and especially winning these competitions will give you exposure to new fans, people in the industry, and often the chance to open up for an established band.

For these reasons I am making a shout out to band Icarus Rising. They earned a final four slot in On Tap magazine's Battle of the Bands. The winner opens up for Blues Traveler on June 5th led by the now skinny John Popper.

For those of you in D.C. or Northern Virginia - GO SEE ICARUS RISING PLAY!

When: Saturday, May 9th

First band starts @ 9pm, each of the four bands play for 30 minutes

Where: The Continental

1911 N. Ft. Myer Drive

Arlington, VA

703.465.7675

More info: www.ontaponline.com/events

For those of you out of the area, check this band out, buy their CD, become a fan:

http://www.myspace.com/icarusrisingdc 

http://www.icarusrisingdc.com 

The Love Language Indeed

  My pics: Uh Huh! Go Hipster Go!, the rafters of the Bell House, The Love Language in action, the setlist they gave me

Sorry for the delay in writing to everyone, birthday benders do that to a person. I am willing to share one element of my birthday bash - getting to see The Love Language play at the Bell House in Park Slope, Brooklyn on April 24th, 2009! 

I have not been more jazzed to see a band in awhile and they delivered. The Love Language is seven people making some great noise. Think lo-fi everywhere, fuzzy remnants of the sound of the sixties, by their own admittance a little cabaret, an homage to the Walkmen along with every kind of noisemaker and an occasional happy seizure with a tambourine - we know how we at Broken Tambourine love a good tambourine jam session!!

The band hails from Raleigh/Wilmington/Chapel Hill, North Carolina and is fronted by wild man Stuart McLamb along with six other cohorts including two female keyboardists and a very tall, emphatic oft singer that bangs on everything from a guitar to a triangle to sleigh bells.

Good for them, sad for me since I couldn't break the news to everybody: SPIN magazine featured them in their April 2009 issue under the title 'Hot New Band'.

So check them out on www.lala.com or MySpace and keep me in mind when you hear 'Lalita' because that is the only song I played walking around Manhattan for a solid week.

Check out my home video of 'Manteo' below. I will get a better camera/recorder eventually but will never be that person recording the whole show so don't hold your breath, go see the band or at least buy some of their songs!

Just check this out

This posting is not directly related to music per se but in my defense I think a lot of people think the hipster look/revolution/genre is considered by many to be the uniform of indie fans. Not true. Indie is short for independent music meaning do-it-yourself, free from the major record label machine; which we should all support more. Indie music has become exponentially popular in the past five years but remains to be very diverse, I promise.

Anyway, I digress. The whole point is I couldn't help telling everyone about this web site I just found that you can't help but enjoy..............................prepare to giggle...........................................

http://lookatthisfuckinghipster.tumblr.com

The pictures are funny, the captions are funny, and the funniest thing is I have seen half these people around town, more or less. I encourage all of you to become rogue photographers and cunning linguists and add to the site. I bet you can't pick which one I posted.

Bob Dylan is a Marketing Machine

A few weeks ago I announced that Bob Dylan had released his first single 'Here Lies Nothin'' to several music web sites to create buzz about his upcoming 33rd album, Together Through Life. I found the track on www.rcrdlbl.com. It worked and people were buzzing.

Bob has continued to ride the creative marketing train by thumbing his nose at itunes and giving Amazon his first video for the album to distribute for free. Yes, Bob Dylan makes music videos, well kind of, the video is a montage of cool black and white photos set to the song.

Check out the video on Amazon for free, at least for the next few days:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/mAL9TK87AMS9T 

The Amazon exclusive was first reported by TechCrunch.

Sonya my Kitchell

On Monday, April 20, my oft partner in crime and I took our first trip to Rockwood Music Hall on the Lower East Side to take part in an intimate set with young songstress Sonya Kitchell along with some string-prone friends and one drummer.  Fighting the rain was worth it because this little venue is intimate, fully bricked and fully stocked (see above right).

Sonya's last album came out in September of 2008, This Storm, when she was 19. Also in 2008, she toured with Herbie Hancock which is how some of you may know her. She has also been a Starbucks featured artist, which is how you black eye/red eye/sit at your desk and twitch people may know her. 

So she is 20 but you would not come close to guessing that age when you hear the raw talent that is her voice and the personal and political lyrics she sings. She makes me feel void of talent and ambition, so I drank another glass of wine while she sang, thanks Red Diamond Cabernet.

Sonya will be playing at Rockwood for the next three Tuesdays so go check her out at this really intimate space and you will get to hear some of her new songs played in public for the first time. She is looking to head into the studio sometime this summer.

Side note: I still can't get over how rude it is to launch a flash in a small room where an artist is performing so I apologize for some of my blurry photos. Sonya didn't mind after the show and posed with Garth, her double bass player that also helps her with music arrangement.

What happens when you go to a date concert without a date

If you did such a thing, you would be me at the recent Great Lake Swimmers concert at the Bowery Ballroom. I am not holding it against any of you huggers and swayers or those trying to get past the awkwardness of the first date, I am just saying I was in a feisty mood that Friday night, too feisty for every song to be about love. Actually, I take that back, I am not in agreement of the first date concert. Talk about a flood of things to question and worry about: Do I get a beer and be cool, hard liquor to ease the mood or do I make the mistake of the crap wine that has been opened for days? How close do you get to the stage? If you get too close then it will be too loud to say much of anything to them but maybe that is a good thing if you already think they are a dud, do you stand back by the bar but risk getting glared at and shhhhushed by the lush concert goers? I mean shit, do you sway, just nod your head, keep the beat by slapping your thigh? What if he has bad concert etiquette like pretending to know and sing the lyrics to all the songs or have no reaction whatsoever? Do you simply cringe and try to see pass it off or write him off immediately and already send him to the fate of the butt out buddy hug at the end of the night?

No thank you, no concerts on the first date. Get a few meetings in there before you launch into a group experience with that person. Sushi, Ethiopian, BBQ, any other potentially dangerous idea is better than the first date concert.

Sorry Great Lake Swimmers. You were pretty good and I really liked 'Your Rocky Spine' and the cowboy shirt of you singer-songwriter Tony Dekker. Thanks for bringing some good banjo and harmonica down from Canada; sorry I was so preoccupied judging the audience. One thing I take umbrage to is your opening act - that female singer was so awful and so weird, and NOT in a good/ironic way. Seriously, it was like getting tricked into showing up early to see a solid opening act and instead you see a girl on stage whirling cats around while wearing sequined leggings and a head wrap. It still gives me the chills, the kind you get right before you start throwing up.

"Try to look weird...I think we got it!"

Happy Record Store Day!

  Today is National Record Store Day so go out and support your local record store, if there are any left in your area (which is so upsetting). Check out the web site: www.recordstoreday.com

While I was poking around on the web I came upon another site www.sleeveface.com - there is actually an entire web site dedicated to putting a record cover over your face and taking a picture. The provided this definition on the web site: 'One or more persons obscuring or augmenting any part of their body or bodies with record sleeve(s) causing an illusion'.

So everyone go out and enjoy your day, step into a record store and get a little weird with a funny record cover.

The meaning behind Broken Tambourine

Where did I get the name Broken Tambourine, is that what you asked? Well I shall answer then:

I like the name, that is it. It came to me at 2am and ultimately won over all the other names I had on the list of possibilities:

- Music Liquor

- Frontman School

- Deedeet

- A band apart

It is not meant to have a negative connotation, nothing about music is broken for me. I think more of a great concert where everyone on stage is working their ass off on stage and the passionate percussionist is playing so hard he breaks his tambourine. You say more cowbell, I say more tambourine. 

The second thing I think about is Stevie Nicks, the tambourine is the only thing she can play. Go look her up and see how many pictures of her have a tambourine in them, it is pretty funny.

The picture I use a lot is a picture of a sculpture called "Boy with a Broken Tambourine" by American artist Thomas Crawford in 1854. So there is some history in my selection as well.

For my own entertainment and now hopefully for yours, here is what popped up when I typed in 'tambourine' and then 'broken tambourine' into the Google search bar:

"There is no such thing as a broken tambourine"- in a song by Arcade Fire (I just found this lyric when browsing other blogs, so thanks Andrew)

- Some mom filming her kid who stepped through a tambourine on YouTube

- The singer Eve has a song called Tambourine. One of her profound lyrics: "Shake ur tambourine go n get ur self a pito now (pito is a whistle in Spanish). The ridiculous video can be seen here if you so dare.

- This book

Finally, Wikipedia's explanation of the tambourine. So everyone, keep banging it out until you end up with a broken tambourine.

When you want a chill night out...

Might I recommend going to a place with regular live music and just sitting there and relaxing with your favorite beverage. I think too many people don't do this enough and every time they make the effort they really enjoy the change of pace and experience (at least the 5 people I interviewed said so). Please don't save your music experiences for the blow out arena concert where you spend $60 for tickets that are nowhere near the stage, another $40 on food and beverages because it is always $9 beer night, and get stuck in traffic on your way home. Every town and city I have ever lived in has AT LEAST one place where live music is consistently offered - from completely free to one drink minimum to $8 to see 3 bands. Do it! It does not take more effort than going out to dinner or anything else you do so regularly it bores you.

For you New Yorkers, here are just a few approachable places where you can sit down and hear some great acts play:

The Living Room on the Lower East Side - has two stages and was the place where Norah Jones was 'discovered

Cake Shop on the Lower East Side

Pete's Candy Store in Williamsburg

Here is a great web site that lists a lot of great venues with all of the necessary information: www.ohmyrochness.com/venues

How restaurants set the mood for you

Do restaurants really put a lot of work into crafting the perfect dining experience via the mood they set with the music they play or is it a haphazard afterthought - a battle between the bartender and the manager on duty?

I have done some research and here is what I have found out: chain restaurants typically employ the use of XM Radio or a company that programs music and provides a new playlist every month or so (there are several and I refuse to plug them but secretly I think it could be a cool opportunity and am looking into it). This is the same thing that stores in the mall employ and companies use this for hold music. It is typically music from the big record labels, current Top 40, heavy radio station rotation, and/or the classics (cue "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison - which is a song he infamously refuses to play live anymore).

For everyone else it seems to be at the discretion of the owner, chef, manager, or bartender so help us all. Sometimes this can be a good thing - one of the mainstay bartenders I know in D.C. played the Black Keys and White Stripes for an entire night and so we all got drunk in heaven. Sometimes this can be horrible - I recently went to a great French bistro in the West Village for a cosmopolitan brunch and instead got bombarded with techno music blasting above the chatter of the crowd; no one eats eggs to Lady Gaga, trust me.

My favorite story about music and restaurants is taken from a show I randomly caught on the Sundance Channel called Iconoclasts. It is a mini-series where two famous people that happen to be friends interview each other. This episode had Mario Batali and Michael Stipe interviewing each other while they scoot around New York collecting ingredients for a meal Mario was cooking. Michael Stipe said something to Mario that he just beamed at and I loved it too. Michael said something like: "I remember reading a review about Babbo and the guy said it would be a Michelin three star restaurant if it would stop blasting PJ Harvey. You have a love for music Mario and I love how you made a restaurant exactly to your liking and that included music." That scene made me want to head to Babbo immediately.

So for all you fledgling restaurateurs and owner/chefs - take note of what you play in your restaurant; build up your ipod and give the people something to listen to that is going to enhance the handmade gnocchi or bone marrow appetizer on your delicately crafted menu.

For all of you patrons - keep trying to hear over the crowd and take note of what you are listening to; boo the restaurants that play what the radio stations are already pushing down your throat and praise the place that plays LCD Soundsystem and Radiohead back-to-back or even better - live original music!

Image credited to: www.sundancechannel.com/ films/500060101

A lot of new music coming out in April!

April is a big month for new music releases and this year is no exception. Whether you have been pacing in your room waiting for Eminem to tell you how to feel about the world again; thinks that nothing sounds as good as the old stuff so thank GOD Simon and Garfunkel released a new best of album called Live 1969; or can't get enough of the indie craze and have already tracked down most of the new songs but are still excited to support the artist and buy the whole thing (me) - Silversun Pickups, Ida Maria, Pomegranates, Tragically Hip, Jill Sobule, and even Death Cab for Cutie - April and May are the months of music discovery.

On top of the full album releases, everyone else released a single for their upcoming album release in May: Tori Amos, 311, Of Montreal, O.A.R, Paolo Nutini, New York Dolls.

I would also check out these acts, either they have already come out or about to: Bat for Lashes (every Indie magazine has done a profile on this songstress recently), Doves (highly anticipated), PJ Harvey and John Parish, Junior Boys, Royskopp, Camera Obscura, even Booker T. and the MGs are kicking out some new stuff!

My suggestion to you is don't get lazy with your music collection, I am talking a particular person I know that still has the Counting Crows on heavy rotation! There is SO MUCH great music being produced today and it is easier to get than ever. You can buy the web album for less than $1.00 on www.lala.com to play on any computer once you create a free account; you can also buy the MP3 and download the album for about .79 cents there too so eat it iTunes. Also try www.imeem.com, Hype Machine and MySpace to get a taste of the music for free.

My other suggestion would be to NOT read Rolling Stone, Spin, Billboard, or any other major music review until you have gotten a taste of the music and read a bio of the artist on your own. I don't think these guys review the album with an open mind; they use jargon that the average music listener does not want to follow, they are controlled by their word limit, editors, and they likely end up meeting the band they review at one point or another and most of these guys are punch takers not punch throwers, etc.

If you want to know what I will be listening to it will be in order: Silversun Pickups, Pomegranates, the first three tracks of the Eminem album, and Simon and Garfunkel right before I got to bed; then I will listen to everything else across the week because I don't know what I don't know. Enjoy your day!

 Eminem        Simon & Garfunkel   Silversun Pickups

     O.A.R Of Montreal                 311                  Tori Amos         Paolo Nutini

Album art from www.lala.com new releases