For a pair of young Swedish sisters, First Aid Kit’s Klara and Johanna Söderberg sure do attract a lot of Fleet Foxes comparisons. Those start, of course, with the pair’s gorgeous 2008 cover of “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song,” which became a YouTube sensation to the tune of more than 2.6 million views. But they’ll no doubt continue with the release of First Aid Kit’s second full-length album, The Lion’s Roar (out Jan. 24), which conjures an array of dense echo-chamber harmonies and a good deal of achingly somber portent. Much of the time, it stays nestled in a Foxes-friendly sweet spot of rich choral folk, suitable for moping and swooning along.
But, while the title track opens The Lion’s Roar on a serious note (“I’m a goddamned coward / but then again so are you,” First Aid Kit sings in the chorus), the album isn’t all doomstruck mountain music and solemn condemnations. It quickly finds a place for the charmingly goodnatured lilt of “Emmylou,” in which the sisters romanticize past musical Americana couples, while “King of the World” closes the album with a ramshackle, clap-along rouser — complete with guest vocals fromThe Felice Brothers and former tourmate Conor Oberst. Naturally, stark moments like “To a Poet” ratchet up the gloom along the way, but the Söderbergs are wise and versatile enough never to stay in one place for too long.
“Fallen Empires,” the sixth studio album from Northern Ireland’s Snow Patrol, drops today after more than three years of radio silence from the band. Despite the lull, lead vocalist Gary Lightbody explains that the six months they took to the make the record in the Malibu sunshine heavily inspired them, allowing a more creative process and dramatically affecting the tone of the album. Here’s a track-by-track look at “Fallen Empires”.
Jazz vocalist Michael Franks has a new CD (11 tracks) release titled ‘Time Together’ : it’s a well crafted album (great vocals, melody, piano, saxophone & well produced material/music. Stand-out track is “Now That The Summer Is Over” : wonderful guitar, vocals & melody. This is my favourite track from this CD. The remaining 10 tracks are all great jazz tracks with no weak tracks to talk of : they are “One Day In St. Tropez” (great piano, vocals & melody), “Summer In New York” (wonderful saxophone on ‘strange sounds’), “Mice”, “Charlie Chan In Egypt” (a slow track with great piano, saxophone & vocals), “I’d Rather Be Happy Than Right” (great guitar & vocals), “Time Together” (a slow title track with great guitar pick-ups, piano & vocals), “Samba Blue”, “My Heart Said Wow”, “If I Could Make September Stay” & “Feather From An Angel” (a slow closing track with great piano/bass combination). On overall, the talented jazz vocalist Michael Franks is back with a well crafted CD release ‘Time Together’, a highly recommended CD listening.
Soul music lovers and crate diggers will eagerly await the June 21 release of ‘Got To Get Back!’ on Electraphonic Recordings from Memphis soul music standard bearers the Bo-Keys, their first in seven years. New converts to the genre via Sharon Jones and others will embrace it upon first listen. Powerhouse guest vocalists join the band, including Stax Records hit-maker William Bell, soul/gospel great Otis Clay, classic Atlantic Records singer Percy Wiggins, and blues legend Charlie Musselwhite, who also blows some of his signature harmonica.
In describing the band in a nutshell, The Memphis Flyer puts it best, “[The] Bo-Keys pair great Stax/Hi-era session players with a younger generation of local session aces.”
Parton is that rare singer who can make optimism seem like a viable philosophy. When country music goes upbeat, it often traffics in cornball novelty tunes, but Dolly plays her album full of love ‘n’ hope with straight-up sincerity. In the midst of hard economic times, the positive anthems that fill Better Day — all new material, no covers — come off as brilliant strategy, with some equally brilliant vocal performances.
Matt Nathanson is one of the most dynamic performers and premier songwriters on the music scene today. In 2007, his release Some Mad Hope produced the smash hit single `Come On Get Higher’ which has sold over 2 million copies to date and subsequent hit singles `Car Crash,’ `Falling Apart,’ and `All We Are.’ The success of Some Mad Hope earned Nathanson the coveted spot as a VH1 `You Oughta Know’ artist and he has graced the stages of such national television shows as David Letterman, Ellen, Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel and Craig Ferguson. His songs have been featured in numerous film and television programs including Good Morning America, NCIS, Private Practice, American Idol, Vampire Diaries, American Pie and 90210. His legendary live shows have resulted in sold out tours across the U.S., Canada and Australia. Matt Nathanson’s 8th studio release, Modern Love, on Vanguard Records is a collection of pop and rock songs that are more joyful, complex and bold than any of Matt Nathanson’s previous works. Modern Love is poised to become the album of the summer. Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush also make a special appearance on Modern Love.
It’s tempting to think of Jim Lauderdale as a machine – he just keeps cranking out albums. “Reason and Rhyme” is his 11th release since 2002 and it continues his collaboration with lyricist Robert Hunter. They worked together on 2010′s “Patchwork Quilt,” although the bluegrass focus here recalls more their first teaming on 2004′s “Headed For The Hills.” Read more...
On Dave Alvin’s new album Eleven Eleven, the man who many credit with pioneering what has come to be known as ‘roots rock,’ revisits the burning, guitar-centered blues-rock that initially defined his career along with his band The Blasters in the late 1970s.
After The Blasters, Alvin explored the path of American folk music, a road that led to classic albums and Grammy wins (for his album Public Domain: Songs from the Wild Land), establishing him as one of America’s most distinguished songwriters and California’s de facto roots music ambassador.
Fast forward to Eleven Eleven and Dave is ready to raise the stakes again, calling on some Blasters including his brother Phil, with whom he duets for the first time ever on record. The inaugurals continue with Dave writing all the songs while on the road touring, a first for the seasoned performer. Read more...
The overall theme of the album is a powerful one, as it propels Marley to challenge social injustice along with the political weapons of ignorance and fear. Wild and Free (Tuff Gong Worldwide), his fourth solo album, may be Ziggy’s most political and personal to date. Set for release on June 14th 2011, Wild and Free was produced with friend and collaborator Don Was at Ocean Way Studios in Hollywood, CA as well as Marley’s own studio.
From the album’s first single “Forward to Love,” fans will hear the evolution of Marley’s sound: Wild and Free affirms Marley as a master storyteller with an innate sense of soul. The title track of the album, “Wild and Free,” features friend Woody Harrelson. An acoustic version of this track was previously released as a free download on www.ziggymarley.com, the song was originally written in support of California’s Proposition 19 to legalize marijuana.
In 1984, singer/songwriter JD Souther followed the chart-topping successes of “You’re Only Lonely” and the James Taylor duet “Her Town Too” with HOME BY DAWN, an album that Rolling Stone declared his best, with songs that “rank right up there with his forlorn classics ‘Run like a Thief’ and ‘Faithless Love.’” And then, in 1985, after a brief tour in support of the album, JD Souther disappeared.
One of the principal architects of the Southern California country-rock sound, Souther famously played a key role in the formation of the Eagles and co-wrote their hits “Heartache Tonight,” “Victim of Love,” “New Kid In Town,” and “Best of My Love,” as well as writing Linda Ronstadt’s classics “Faithless Love,” “Simple Man, Simple Dream,” and “Prisoner in Disguise.”
A highly sought-after songwriter and session man, Souther also released three critically acclaimed solo albums — “John David Souther,” (1972) “Black Rose,” (1976), and “You’re Only Lonely” (1979) — and two albums as a member of The Souther Hillman Furay Band, the super group which united Souther with Poco’s Richie Furay and the Byrds’ Chris Hillman.
For a pair of young Swedish sisters, First Aid Kit’s Klara and Johanna Söderberg sure do attract a lot of Fleet Foxes comparisons. Those start, of course, with the pair’s gorgeous 2008 cover of “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song,” which became a YouTube sensation to the tune of more than 2.6 million views. But they’ll no doubt continue with the release of First Aid Kit’s second full-length album, The Lion’s Roar (out Jan. 24), which conjures an array of dense echo-chamber harmonies and a good deal of achingly somber portent. Much of the time, it stays nestled in a Foxes-friendly sweet spot of rich choral folk, suitable for moping and swooning along.
