More music picks for your Tuesday, co-curated by Rob Levy. If you like what you hear, use the links provided to snag it for yourself from Amazon. Doing so through us gives us kickbacks, and those help pay for stuff like more bandwidth. And also so we can buy more music.
First up, we have another artist that I’ve discovered while going back through the various and sundry albums of 2012 to see what I’ve missed–Gary Clark Jr., out of Austin. His album Blak and Blu demonstrates how he can balance smooth and noisy very nicely. And I’m glad I ran into him on my second pass through the year. Here’s a live performance of “Bright Lights” from the album, recorded last October. Note: the MP3 bundle is just $3.99 as I write this. (Amazon: CD; MP3; Vinyl.)
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From your friend and mine, Rob, we get some Robyn Hitchcock. His album Love From London streeted today. Rob says: Hitchcock’s latest offering comments on the issues of the modern world while also giving us hope that all you need is love. Indeed. Here’s a live performance of “I Love You” from WFUV recorded just a couple of weeks back. (Amazon: CD; MP3; Vinyl.)
While we’re hanging out at WFUV, we go to last October for another band that I’ve been enjoying: Django Django, based out of London. This is “Life’s a Beach” from their self-titled album. And don’t worry…the vocals are supposed to be faded back like that. Note: CD & MP3 are the same price as I write this: $7.99. (Amazon: CD; MP3; Vinyl.)
And while we’re on the topic of “I Love You,” here is the latest single from Woodkid–and since he does his own music videos, I can’t tell if I want him to make music or to get to work on the Sky Captain sequel. It appears, rather disturbingly, to be the depressingly inevitable music video sequel to his utterly brilliant “Run Boy Run” video. The album, The Golden Age, is due out on the 19th. (Amazon: MP3.)
Another album that’s been out for a bit–but I learned about it via NPR–it’s Efterklang, out of Denmark. They decided to go to a ghost town in Norway and use found objects there to create the sounds for their latest album, Piramida. The NPR story gives you the full rundown…they’re utterly mental is the short version. But the end result is rather tasty. Here’s the opening track, “Hollow Mountain.” (Amazon: CD/MP3; MP3; Vinyl.)
I know you might be thinking “Bonnie Raitt?” But she’s got some good stuff–and anybody who tries to argue with her cover of “Baby Mine” off the Stay Awake album will get cut. From her latest album, Slipstream, a really nicely tight cover of Gerry Rafferty’s “Right Down the Line.” I had forgotten how much I dig this song in general. Note: for just fifty cents more, you get the CD and MP3 as a bundle. (Amazon: CD/MP3; MP3; Vinyl.)
In case you haven’t heard of it before, there’s an excellent compilation of Motown songs where they’ve been re-recorded into different languages for the international market by the original artists. They’d just get a phonetic version of the song translated (similar to the process of Laurel and Hardy) and knock it out. As an example, here’s Marvin Gaye‘s German language version of “How Sweet It Is,” aka “Wie Schon Das Ist.” Note: the CD is a limited edition job and the MP3 bundle is $4 less than the whole sheband. (Amazon: CD; MP3.)
And last but not least, another from Rob: it’s Guards from the album In Guards We Trust. Rob says, Richie Follin’s sister is in Cults and these guys channel them a bit…but in a larger and more expansive sense. ‘Ready To Go’ could be the next song you hear on a TV commercial. A very happy record. And of course, I snagged “Nightmare.” Go figure. (Amazon: CD; MP3; Vinyl.)
