As an adjunct to the What’cha Reading thread … what are you listening to this month?
I just picked up the new Webb Wilder CD “More Like Me” which is great! I fell in love with his music quite a few years ago on the basis of one song (“Human Cannonball”) after which he seemed to fall off the horizon. But I just happened to catch his name out of the corner of my eye in the new releases bin. He’s got a nice Mississippi Blues Rock style which is great for turning up loud in the car while you’re driving home. And a good inventive sense with his lyrics.
Kings of Leon’s latest has been getting a lot of play for me lately. *Closer *and *Revelry *in particular, though Sex on Fire is really quite good as well. I’ve also been getting back into Thea Gilmore – I have no favorite albums in particular , but Old Soul, Mainstream, Razor Valentine, December in New York, and Ever Fallen in Love? are all favorite songs – and imagine she’ll be the next artist I listen to until I’m almost but not quite sick of her.
I’ve been listening to a lot of Kelly Clarkson’s latest CD, All I Ever Wanted, since it was released about a month ago. Really good pop album.
I’ve also been listening to MF Doom’s latest, Born Like This. I think it’s awesome.
It’s Blitz, the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, is a lot better than I was anticipating, since I’m not really a huge fan of the group. I’ve been listening to it a ton lately, though.
A few weeks ago I picked up The Preface by ElZhi because it’s produced by Black Milk, who I’m a huge fan of, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Heavy rotation on the lebeef ipod this month has been the Condo Fucks Fuckbook (Yo La Tengo covering garage rock classics) and the Power Popiness of Tinted Windows. The album isn’t as strong as the first single, but there are a couple of really good tracks on there.
Also, I’ve found myself listening to a lot of 70s outlaw country lately. Waylon, Willie, Kristofferson, Coe, Daniels, Jerry Jeff Walker and Billie Joe Shaver.
I recently discovered some ancient Bob Dylan stuff I’d never heard on the radio in my entire life. “Ballad of a Thin Man,” “Highway 61 Revisited” and “Desolation Row” are new faves of mine. His non sequitur-laden lyrics sometimes make me laugh out loud; these really are quirky and compelling tunes.
Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” Gavin DeGraw’s “In Love With A Girl” and Kevin Rudolf’s “Let It Rock” have all been more recent tunes in heavy rotation on my iPod. Driving beats and great guitar licks.
And for some reason, I keep coming back to G.F. Handel’s Baroque masterpiece “Zadok the Priest,” one of the Coronation Anthems. Stately and glorious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1W1XJ96y9k
Well, cycling though the next few almbums queued up in my iPod:
It’s Blitz - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
DMB Live Trax Vol 13 - Dave Mathews Band
808s & Heartbreak - Kanye West
All Sides - O.A.R.
Sleep Through the Static - Jack Johnson
No Line on the Horizon - U2
We Sing, We Dance… - Jason Mraz
Safe Trip Home - Dido
The Fray - The Fray
Day & Age - The Killers
Only by the Night - Kings of Leon
…and now nothing because I forgot to charge my iPod last night:(
also I have to aquaint myself with some of the side acts from this year’s All Points West festival in NJ.
Mostly I’ve been catching up on back episodes of podcasts - This American Life, Vinyl Cafe, Quirks & Quarks, Planet Money, etc. And catching up on lots of albums I’ve had for ages but haven’t been able to listen to because they’ve been in storage.
The one cool new acquisition has been the Mulgrew Miller album “Live at Yoshi’s, Vol. 1”. I knew his work from a couple of Tony Williams’ albums - “Young at Heart” and “Tokyo Live”, but this is way beyond great. I may just have to pick up the complete works sometime soon.
Hmmm -
- Kings of Leon - just solid from end to end
- Saviours - Into Abbadon; surprisingly good metal
- Mastodon - Crack the Skye; new album from one of the only metal bands I check out immediately (Saviours just kinda happened my way)
- The Bad Plus’s latest (Amazon link)- it’s got covers of songs like Comfortably Numb and Lithium on it, but the track I am most blown away by #3, Fem Etude No 8 - just a cool explosion of Bartok-ian polytonality.
- SuperSession featuring Michael Bloomfield and Stephen Stills - love the blues guitar
- U2’s latest - a big meh.
- TV on the Radio - Dear Science - I really enjoy this
I was just given a copy of a CD of a 70’s Welsh band called Man that I have never heard of, as well as John McLaughlin’s Inner Mounting Flame (or is that Mahavishnu Orchestra? ) which I have heard much about but never dug into. Should be interesting…
I’ve been picking Cassandra Wilson out of the CD pouch in the car; Blue Skies has the title, Poka dots and Rainbows, and * Shall We Dance*, a more erotic version than Doris Day. 
Carmina Burana got on there yesterday morning, driving in the dark. It’s Pledge Time on NPR.