It's been awhile. But I had a car ride last weekend to listen to some stuff. Quite a variety of stuff, too. This is really part one of maybe... three? I actually listened to more, but - this is enough for now, I think. The others will follow in good time.
Matt Nathanson - "Beneath These Fireworks", "Some Mad Hope": this guy opened for Lifehouse when I saw them earlier this year, and he was terrific with the audience. I finally broke down and got a couple of his CDs. So good. :) All the tracks on both CDs are good, but the Some Mad Hope album is positively packed with good songs. Favorites: from BTF, Sad Songs, Bare, Bent, Sing Me Sweet. From SMH, several are great: Come On Get Higher, Gone, To The Beat of Our Noisy Hearts, Detroit Waves, All We Are, Sooner Surrender. Solid singer.
Sons of Korah - "Resurrection": a Christian band for once. :) Except one from Australia and New Zealand. They are sort of like Iron & Wine, with mellow vocals and acoustic instruments. What makes their material so good is that they simply sing the Psalms. Not take a Psalm and "tweak" it to make it more sale-able from a pop culture standpoint. Just sing it to good (and modern style) music. The only drawback is.. you can't get it on iTunes. I was lucky enough to score a copy from a friend of the family who's one of the college regulars around our table. Thanks Jon. :) So, I have a search saved out on eBay to pick up a used copy whenever it gets listed.
Regina Spektor - "Begin To Hope": Cut from the same cloth as Beth Orton, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple - quirky songs on acoustic piano sung with a light, expressive voice. She also has the knack for spitting out a phrase rapid-fire and articulate it in much the same way as Jason Mraz (see below.) Plus she can sing with a Russian accent. :) Cool. She recently did a remake of John Lennon's "Real Love" which is lovely. But from this CD I list these as favorites: Samson, Music Box, Fidelity.
Nine Inch Nails - "The Slip": How to describe this? Um.. how about "blunt and straightforward: dystopian techno-metal forged from the fusion of man and machine." If you say so, sure. Works for me. I'll admit to lifting the phrase from a blog on pitchforkmedia.com, but words failed me so I got desperate. ;) They do have cool artwork attached to each song that you can drag and drop into your iTunes.
Oh, I should point out that this full-length album was a free download off the NIN website, kindly referred to me by J1 (thanks, Kitten.) :) Sort of like Radiohead's groundbreaking distributive effort, only more magnanimous. Favorite tracks? Boy, you got me there. I'd have to listen about 100 more times to figure them out - which isn't likely. ;) "Corona Radiata" is at least - smooth? Maybe the least obtrusive of the bunch. And "Lights in the Sky" is pretty chill. So I guess they qualify.
Jason Mraz - "We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things": Ooh! Ooh! I have been waaaaaiting for this one. I loved "Mr. A-Z", and wondered what he would come up with next. On this CD, he duets with both Colbie Caillat and James Morrison. Interesting. He ranges from steamy funk to rapid fire hip-hop to sappy love ballads to introspective mood pieces. On balance, maybe not quite up to the standard of Mr. A-Z, but still nice if you're a fan, as I am. Favorites: A Beautiful Mess, Make It Mine, I'm Yours, Coyotes, The Dynamo of Volition, If It Kills Me.
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