Thursday, December 31, 2009

Say You Do


i'll fall no further
i'll speak no more words
i shouldn't have to
if you love me like you say you do

i'll work no harder
cross no more borders
there are no guards here
nor walls to climb over

you say you see me in your nightly dreams
you want everything from me

so come on, come over
please hear me whisper
come be my lover
i'll scream no louder
i shouldn't have to

if you love me like you say you do


my love has been proven now
time tested and true
and everything that i'm doing now
i'm doing for you



Daisy McCrackin - Say You Do (removed at label's request) : The Rodeo Grounds EP


Visit her website, her label Aeronaut Records, and become her friend on MySpace.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Maybe Next Christmas


maybe next christmas she used to say
we'll find a new life and well both run away
maybe next christmas i won't be with him
maybe next christmas we can start fresh again

maybe next christmas we'll reap what we've sewn
maybe next christmas we'll pay what we owe
maybe next christmas we won't be afraid
maybe next christmas we'll both be ok

you can't pull the truth out of thin air
you can't manufacture what ain't there

and maybe next christmas we'll be by a fire
and maybe next christmas she won't be a liar

maybe next christmas i'll be in your arms
the scent of the evergreen
pushing us strong

maybe next christmas i'll finally get to see
you wearing that dress that you bought just for me
maybe next christmas you'll be by my side
relentlessly prove to me that i'm worth the fight
maybe next christmas i'll have more to say
than "i gave you everything and you gave me away"

so you can pull the truth out of thin air
you cant manufacture what ain't there

maybe next christmas you won't be thinking
that i'm just a criminal and you're still the queen
yeah maybe next christmas well have more to say
than "i gave you everything and you gave me away"
yeah, i gave you everything and you gave me away



For those of us whose Christmas wasn't everything we hoped for.



Visit his website and become his friend on MySpace.

Friday, December 25, 2009

12 Days of (YouTube) Christmas




Happy Holidays everyone!


(Norah Jones' new album is out now by the way, with a Chasing Pirates Remix EP coming out in a few weeks.)



Visit her website, her label Blue Note Records, and become her friend on MySpace.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Sunday Soul - Help Me Make It Through the Night



take the ribbon from your hair
shake it loose and let it fall
laying soft upon my skin
like the shadows on the wall

come and lay down by my side
till the early morning light
cuz all i'm asking is your time
help me make it through the night


O.C. Smith - Help Me Make It Through the Night : Help Me Make It Through the Night (find it on Greatest Hits)

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Stocking Stuffers


I apologize about the crickets that have been chirping around here lately. I've been on the run lately, seemingly non-stop. I've been having the feeling that I always have at least 3 things that should have been yesterday that I have to get done now. Anyway, I figured I'd share these holiday odds and ends before 'Tis the season became 'Twas the season. Happy holidays if you (or I) don't check in before then.


Thursday, December 17, 2009

Neil Young Dreamin' Contest

'Tis the season of gift giving, and today I've got a gift to give to one lucky reader. It's a copy of Neil Young's latest release, Dreamin' Man, which came out last week. The album is a distant relative to his classic release Harvest Moon, which came out 17 years ago. On it, you'll find live, intimate, solo acoustic versions of all ten tracks recorded before the actual release of the Harvest Moon album, collected from various performances Young did at the time.

All you have to do to have this show up under your tree is leave a comment (or email me) with your name and email address and you'll be on the wish list. I'll choose a winner Mondayish and let them know pronto. It won't get to you in time for you to open gifts to it, but I'm sure it will get there in time for you to celebrate Arbor Day.






and a favorite from an older live disc from 1991, the year before:



Visit his website, his label Reprise Records, and become his friend on MySpace.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Anjulie / Soulive / Raphael Saadiq

So I apologize for taking almost a week to get around to sharing this, but last Wednesday I was able to catch a show at the House of Blues in Boston that was PHENOMENAL. First off, I hadn't been to the HOB since it was in its original rinky-dink location over in Cambridge. Since then, it moved to Lansdowne Street right next to the Green Monster (Fenway Park, for those of you scratching your head) and the new spot is HUGE. Grabbed some dinner beforehand (a cajun chicken sandwich named "The Elwood," yes, after Elwood Blues) along with some beers ($6.50 for a pint of Guinness - a little steep and my only complaint about the evening).

The first act up for the night was Anjulie, a singer who I wrote about a few months ago back here. her self-titled debut came out this year, and she was obviously trying to get it out to a wider audience with this opening opportunity. She wasn't on stage long, only 5 or 6 songs or so, but while she was up there she was going at 110%. The crowd hadn't built to critical mass this early in the night, but she was trying her best to get them energized. The best song in her set was probably the first track I had heard her from her, Boom, way back one year ago. Check it out here if you missed it:


Visit her website, her label Hear Music, and become her friend on MySpace.


Next up was a group I caught live earlier this year at the Royal Family Get Down!, which they actually hosted. Soulive didn't disappoint this time around, either, laying down a gritty heater of a set of funk and soul that was thick enough to cut with a knife. About half way through, vocalist Nigel Hall joined the group, as he often does, to take things up a notch. Highlight of their set: moving from their cover of Curtis Mayfield's Move On Up into Maze's Joy & Pain (the song that Rob Base sampled for his song of the same name) and back into Mayfield. It was insane. Almost as good was the James Brown medley that they wrapped things up with.



Visit their website, their label Royal Family Records, and become their friend on MySpace.


To wrap up the evening, the man of the hour appeared, Raphael Saadiq. To say I was excited to see him would be an understatement. For those of you not familair with Saadiq, he started his musical career as lead singer for Tony! Toni! Toné!. When the group disbanded in 1996, he set out on his own, working as a session player, collaborator, and producer on a few different projects before releasing his first solo album, Instant Vintage, in 2002. Late last year he released his third solo album, probably the best received of his albums, The Way I See It.

Saadiq opened up his appearance with the stage dark and him singing the Star Spangled Banner in Marvin Gaye mode. As the song ended, the lights switched on, and he took center stage dressed to the nines and resplendent in a bright red tux. He never looked back from there. Along with two back-up dancers (who doubled as vocalists at various points in the evening), Saadiq burned up the stage, always moving with plenty of funk in his step. A lot of his material came from his latest album, with the beginning of the set sitting squarely in the 60's, and progressively feeling more modern as the evening progressed (with him even changing from his retro red tux to a more timeless black number).

Even with the $6.50 Guinness', the night was one tight package of musical goodness. Unfortunately, they're done for this tour, but look for them in 2010.



Visit his website, his label Columbia Records, and become his friend on MySpace.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Jazz Brunch Jam - A Crazy Cool Christmas

For today's jazz jam, I decided to pick a seasonal pick from New Orleans' ambassador Kermit Ruffins. You might remember me writing about his last album, Livin' a Treme Life, which came out earlier this year. Last month he released his second album for the year, Have A Crazy Cool Christmas, which as the title suggests, is geared towards holiday enjoyment.

Kermit and his horn are 101% quintessential New Orleans' jazz, and he brings that home here on thirteen tracks, some traditional Yuletide standards (Silent Night, Little Drummer Boy, Jingle Bells, etc.) as well as some Ruffins originals (the title track Crazy Cool Christmas and A Saints Christmas, which you can hear below) and a Donny Hathaway cover (This Christmas). Regardless of the song, Ruffins inflects it with his New Orleans' jazz sound that is recognizable whether you've been to the Big Easy or not.






Visit his label Basin Street Records and become his friend on MySpace.

Sunday Soul - Early Georgia Anne Muldrow

Perhaps you might not instantly recognize her name, but Georgia Anne Muldrow has been kicking around the game for a little while now. Although her first full length only dropped in 2006, she's been in heavy demand from all corners as a guest vocalist, working with the likes of artists such as the Platinum Pied Pipers, Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Shawn Lee, Erykah Badu, Mos Def and Madlib. And those are only the names I can come up with off the top of my head. This year, she's ripped out three different albums. Three. This Year. Yeah, how about that?

The latest of the three, Early, is actually technically the oldest, as its name implies. On it, you'll find ten tracks completely written, produced, and recorded by Muldrow at the ripe ages of seventeen through nineteen. While not as experimental as her more recent work is noted for, these tracks are mature well beyond her age and experience at the time of their recording. It's draw dropping to listen to these cuts and think they were laid down by a teenager. Seriously awe-inspiring to say the least. For those of you not familiar with her, think Nina Simone meets Erykah Badu meets Ursula Rucker. Powerful vocals, needless to say, and clearly developing as she tucks more and more recordings under her proverbial belt. For those who want to see where she came from though, this disc is for you.



Georgia Anne Muldrow - Run Away : Early

a new one from another of this year's releases:

Georgia Anne Muldrow - Uhuru Flight : Umsindo

an upcoming one:

Georgia Anne Muldrow - King's Ballad : King's Ballad (Coming 2/10)

and a collaboration:

Bei Bei & Shawn Lee - Make Me Stronger (ft. Georgia Anne Muldrow - Floating Points Remix) : Beauty and the Beats EP


Visit her website, this release's label Animated Car Tunes, and become her friend on MySpace.

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

I Want You Back


An acoutisc country version of perhaps one of my favorite Motown songs (and certainly my favorite J5 track) of all time. I'm not going to lie; I was seriously worried that this would suck. Thankfully, it doesn't. I threw up a track from Vermonter Jer Coons' debut album Speak a few months ago, and today he's releasing this single. Which he's offering for free, so.... Not sure why you'd buy it, but it's definitely worth the $0.00 price tag. Although the words are instantly recognizable, the accompanying guitar COMPLETELY reinterprets the original instrumentation.







Visit his website and become his friend on MySpace.

Monday, December 07, 2009

Ain't No Chimneys


So the other day I wrote about the dope Christmas funk compilation that Strut Records put out. Not ones to be outdone, the fab folks over at Daptone Records have put together their own holiday funk courtesy of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and Binky Griptite. They're giving away the digital free, and you can also order the vinyl to spin some Christmas cheer (or better yet, get a copy of it for free when you spend over $30 ordering from the Daptone website starting tomorrow).





Visit the Daptones Records website.

Sunday, December 06, 2009

Sunday Soul - A Dream I Had



baby
you said that this morning
as i lie awake
the tears falling from my...
ohhh, yeah

if the little girl would mistreat me or hurt me in any kind of way
do you know?
if i should lose the little girl's love
i'd rather die
oh yeah
cuz i love her
yes i do





Visit his website and become his friend on MySpace.

Saturday, December 05, 2009

Love Will Follow


you're lost
don't want to be found
where do you go
when no one's around?
you get further away
with every day
what do you look for?

lay in bed and lose yourself
run away if you choose
love will follow you
anywhere
everywhere



Haroula Rose - Love Will Follow : Someday EP


Become her friend on MySpace.

Friday, December 04, 2009

Goodnight Lover



Goodnight, lover
Lover, goodnight
Will we meet each other in a dream tonight?
And will you remember the color of my eyes
Set in a million tigers sleeping on their sides?



Dawn Landes - Goodnight Lover : Fireproof


Visit her website, her label Cooking Vinyl, and become her friend on MySpace.

Thursday, December 03, 2009

Play those Trombones!

So since my last post was about Christmas, I figured I'd next write about an album that would make a great gift for many people on your list I'm guessing. It's titled 76 Trombones and it's the latest album from ex-Del Fuegos front man Dan Zanes and friends. For the last decade or so Zanes has directed his musical talents into the children's music field, and while that might scare you off, don't let it. He plays some of the hippest, most diverse children's music around, and his latest is no exception.

On 76 Trombones, Zanes takes Broadway hits and stamps his own brand of musical genius upon them, turning them into rootsy, Americanified tunes that, while playfully appealing to younger listeners, will still be welcome to the ears of adults. Some songs include Hello Dolly (from Hello Dolly), I Like Everybody (from The Most Happy Fella), I Don’t Need Anything But You (from Annie), I Can Do That (from A Chorus Line), Before the Parade Passes By (also from Hello, Dolly! and featuring Matthew Broderick), and Tomorrow, Mañana (a bilingual version of the classic song from Annie).

Tired of listening to Disney soundtracks? Wish Hannah Montana would go the way of Tiffany and Debbie Gibson? Know someone else who's a parent and fits this bill? Then this is the CD that you should be getting for them. Trust me, they'll be extremely thankful for it. There is a genuinely large amount of musicianship here that isn't always evident in the recording of children's music. I had a chance to see Dan live a month or so ago, and he and his band were really great entertainers. Even if you don't have any kids, I'd still wager there's a good chance that you'd enjoy the seventeen tracks here.




and an older one:



Visit his website and become his friend on MySpace.

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

In the Christmas Groove

Considering that it's December 1st, I do not feel at all guilty for posting up a cut from In the Christmas Groove, the latest bad ass compilation release from Strut Records. I usually can enjoy most Christmas albums, but this one is the absolute best I've heard in a long time. This thing is so darn funky that you could overlook all the holiday cheer and listen to it year round. I would even go so far as to say it is funkier than It's Christmas Time Again, the Stax Christmas album that came out back in 1990. Tis the season folks - to get funky and festive!



JD McDonald - Boogaloo Santa Claus : In the Christmas Groove

Mack Rice - Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin' : It's Christmas Time Again


Visit the album's official website and the Strut Records Website.