Here’s the video of Sade’s performance from last night on the “Late Show with David Letterman.” The song is the title track off her brand new album, Soldier of Love.
Letterman’s quip at the end is great.
Month: February 2010 (Page 5 of 9)
RIYL: Sufjan Stevens, Wilco, Ben Folds
It’s one thing to say you sound different than everyone else. It’s another thing entirely to do it without trying. New York City-based singer/songwriter/pianist Danny Ross falls into the latter category, at least it seems that way on his latest, One Way. Sure, you can try to lump Ross in with the likes of Ben Folds or Sufjan Stevens, but he set out to add elements of the Who’s Tommy or Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, while also channeling his background studying jazz piano. The result is an exuberant batch of songs that may not grab you right away, but slowly do so after repeated listens, when you hear things you didn’t hear the first time around. Ross’ falsetto and unique melodies may also remind you of the late Jeff Buckley, but that’s just a point of reference because dude is clearly doing his own thing. If you like your music to have perfect structure and ear candy hooks, you won’t find much to like on here – but if you veer off the beaten path and like your music to do the same, you’re going to love Danny Ross’s music. The best tracks on this fine set are the literal opener, “Sleepy Dream;” “Stay Here with Me” and “And The Trumpets Sing” which both have melodic elements of ‘60s pop; and the driving, triumphant title track. Just do yourself a favor, and give this one a few spins with time to fully digest it. (Danny Ross 2009)
RIYL: The Silver Seas, Ben Folds, The Grays
We’ll say this for Ryan States: his story is a unique one. It’s not every day that a press release includes the words “The Eagles,” “Queen,” “gay music” and “recorded on a circus train” (he’s a touring musician for Ringling Brothers), but that sums up States and his debut, Strange Town, as well as anything. He tells tales of being pressured to “fit in” (ahem, stop being gay) and married men hitting on him, but juxtaposes this modern-day lyrical freedom with a sound from days gone by. (Think Jackson Browne crossed with the Grays.) Guitars jangle and chime (and occasionally shred), the piano hops like a New Orleans beer hall, and he even gives a song a good old fashioned sax solo, while States sings in a baritone not unlike Rufus Wainwright or the Silver Seas’ Daniel Tashian. He doesn’t knock every song out of the park, but the arrangements are solid, and on “I’ll Give You (What You Want),” he resurrects a chord sequence just before the chorus that will stir the soul of any radio listener from the late ’80s, gay or straight. Had States been around back when this kind of music was popular…well, the album probably never would have found a distributor (only dance acts were allowed to be gay back then), but if it had, Strange Town would easily have saved the lives of a couple thousand boys coming to terms with their feelings. We’re guessing States would take that over a gold record any day of the week. (Drooling Class Records 2010)
Ryan States MySpace page
Click to buy Strange Town from Amazon
RIYL: astroPuppees, Nina Gordon, Juliana Hatfield
As slight and pretty as a sundress on the first day of June, Kelley Ryan’s Twist finds the astroPuppees frontwoman making a deliberate shift away from what she calls “the rock boy way” of doing things, and toward a gentler sound, driven largely by acoustic guitars and layers of lush harmonies. Ryan’s in good company here, too: She recorded Twist with Don Dixon and Marti Jones, drafted Van Dyke Parks to lend string arrangements to a pair of tracks, and dug into the Beck songbook for a cover of “Lost Cause.” All solid marks in Twist’s favor, to be certain, and when the album lives up to its pedigree – as on the shimmering, gently descending opening track, “About a Girl” – it feels like a long-lost artifact from the golden mid ‘80s era of jingle-jangly singer-songwriter pop. Too often, though, Ryan uses her stylistic shift as a license to hide behind arrangements that don’t do much besides lie there and look pretty, or rhyme “love” with “above.” The end result is an album that might leave you feeling like you’ve just woken up from a pleasant dream – it’s soft, and warm, and no more than five minutes after it’s over, you won’t remember a thing. It’ll add an interesting wrinkle for astroPuppees fans, but there’s no shortage of similar-sounding records, and for anyone who isn’t already familiar with Ryan’s work, this really isn’t enough of a Twist. (Manatee Records 2010)
Most music festivals simply announce their lineups all at once. While that’s all well and good, I’m pleased that the coordinators behind this year’s Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival decided to take a different approach. Throughout the day, the festival slowly unveiled the acts on its Myspace. The shows run from June 10-13 in Machester, Tennessee.
The announcements came to a halt at 9 PM ET. A complete list of the bands and artists is after the jump.
Bonnaroo 2010:
Dave Matthews Band
Kings of Leon
Stevie Wonder
Jay-Z
Tenacious D
Weezer
The Dead Weather
Damian Marley and Nas
Phoenix
Norah Jones
Michael Franti and Spearhead
John Fogerty
Regina Spektor
Jimmy Cliff
LCD Soundsystem
The Avett Brothers
Thievery Corporation
Rise Against
Tori Amos
The National
Zac Brown Band
Les Claypool
John Prine
The Black Keys
Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers
Jeff Beck
Dropkick Murphys
She & Him
Against Me!
The Disco Biscuits
Daryl Hall & Chromeo
Jamey Johnson
Clutch Bassnectar
Kid Cudi
Baaba Maal
Kris Kristofferson
Medeski Martin & Wood
The xx
GWAR
Dan Deacon Ensemble
Tinariwen Wale
Deadmau5
The Melvins
The Gaslight Anthem
Miike Snow
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Dr. Dog
They Might Be Giants
Punch Brothers
Isis
Blitzen Trapper
Blues Traveler
Miranda Lambert
Calexico
OK Go
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
Martin Sexton
Lotus
Dave Rawlings Machine
Mayer Hawthorne and the County Japandroids
Jay Electronica
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
Ingrid Michaelson
The Dodos
Manchester Orchestra
The Temper Trap
Cross Canadian Ragweed
Big Sam’s Funky Nation
Carolina Chocolate Drops
NEEDTOBREATHE
Tokyo Police Club
The Entrance Band
Local Natives
Brandi Carlile
Mumford & Sons
Rebelution
Diane Birch
Monte Montgomery
Julia Nunes
The Postelles
Lucero
Here We Go Magic
Hot Rize
Neon Indian
B.O.B
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