Beginning with the upbeat knee-slapper “I Feel The Christmas Spirit”, the twelve tracks in Indigo Girls’ Holly Happy Days include standards like “Oh, Holy Night”, “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” and “Angels We Have Heard On High” along with inspired versions of not so familiar tunes and three original songs that will find their way into one’s holiday rotation.
If you have the patience to give one more Christmas album a go, then you could do much worse than Crazy For Christmas. Hicks and his band mates roll triumphantly through a few classics (“Run Run Rudolph” and “Here Comes Santa Claus”), but it’s the originals that shine brightest and set this apart from other holiday offerings. “Santa’s Workshop” for one is a classic in the making with its signature sense of humor and witty word that we’ve come to expect from Hicks.
Sister Sparrow and The Dirty Birds, a two year old, nine piece big band chock full of sultry soul, funk, reggae, lounge, and rock grooves has released their self titled debut album on Modern Vintage Recordings. “Modern Vintage” is a fairly apt descriptor for this band at whose core sits 22-year-old singer Arleigh Kincheloe and her brother Jackson on harmonica.
Southern living is good living. Backyard barbecues, little league baseball, red clay dirt, and porch swings. The days are warm, the nights are warmer, and good vibes abound. Such is the mood conjured by Athens, Georgia-based singer-songwriter Adam Klein on his latest release, Wounded Electric Youth.
Despite having a fairly successful fifteen-year career, Kim Richey is still virtually unknown to the general public. While she's sung on albums by Shawn Colvin, Ryan Adams and Mary Chapin Carpenter, as well as writing hits for the likes of Trisha Yearwood and Brookes & Dunn, Richey continues to fly under the collective radar of both country and rock radio.
Auditorium is the brainchild of Spencer Berger of Los Angeles. With a music degree from Vassar, and a background in opera performance, screen writing, and acting Berger’s diversity of interests appears to have resulted in a distinctive vision for his own musical output. His debut album, Be Brave, was recorded in private over a period of three years using only his voice and his fingers on electric bass and acoustic guitar
When you listen to a record like Push, it’s almost like you’re feeling the live show right through the headphones. Definitely a band with a positive outlook, 40 Watt Hype is a rare breed of instrumental hip-hop soul and the Latin influence that is rooted within the music only gives off more energy.
It’s been done and will be done many times again but when artists decide to honor a classic rock album, it can end up being a stale, cheesy rehash or resulting in something truly strong. Thankfully, when it comes to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon the Easy Star All Stars can dub this album primarily fabulous.
It’s safe to say that, along with Faithless, Underworld created the soundtrack for the mid-90s for this writer, a time of club music and club going, of raves and dance parties and general electronic carrying on. To this day, their breakout hit “Born Slippy” can send shivers down my spine. So how does a duo who’s been playing together since 1979 (seriously, that long) fare releasing an album in 2010 that is remarkably true to that mid-90s sound, if slightly updated? Not badly at all.
Phair's new Funstyle CD is a weird accomplishment. It’s pure fluff. But because it comes from our darling Liz I wonder if we don’t reflexively apply an extra measure of serious scrutiny to it than we might for a new record by Christina Aguilera or Kylie Minogue
