New Music
Jamie Kohns on February 8th, 2006
Yeah, I know- I’ve been talking up KT Tunstall for ages- since I first heard her well over a year ago- but the disc has finally dropped stateside. This means that everyone here can rush right out and buy it, and also that her March 11 show at Vinyl is bound to be more crowded. The album is eclectic, moving from dark and bluesy to pure melodic pop and back.
KT Tunstall - Other Side Of The World (Radio1 Live Lounge)
Also out this week:
Jack Johnson - Sing-a-Longs & Lullabies For The Film Curious George
As an Adult Alternative album, this one fails to have the same spark or wit that Jack Johnson’s previous work has held, but then again: it’s not meant to be an album for adults. It’s a soundtrack album to a kid’s movie (albeit that movie happens to take a childhood favorite Curious George into the oft-misused world of digitally-rendered movie characters - when wil it stop?). As a kid’s album, this blows attempts to integrate modern music into kid-friendly formats (see Kids Bop Kids Get VD, below) straight out of the water. Johnson doens’t dumb things down for the children’s coundtrack at all. Instead, he uses his signature jaunty guitar playing and dolce singing to make the album’s songs accessible to kids. Hearing him do the sing-a-long tracks like The Sharing Song or 3 R’s (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle) even got me singing along for a bit- a short bit.
Arctic Monkeys - When the Sun Goes Down EP
As in intoduction to the band that now holds the title of “fastest selling debut album in chart history”, the Arctic Monkeys have released an EP containing 3 tracks, including the UK chart-topper When The Sun Goes Down (Scummy). I love the Arctic Monkeys, and think this is a terrific track, but I don’t think America is ready to embrace this yet. On Rhapsody, this release has been replaced by the maxi-single version of I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor (A.M. titles are rediculously long - their full-length album is titled Whatever people Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not…sheesh). I think this track is a much better introduction to the States, containing the full enregy of the band captured live, and minus the particularities of life in Northern England. Either way, I think it will be interesting to see how America recieves what has become the English sucess story of hte year (so far).
Kidz Bop Kids - A Kidz Bop Valentine
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I’ve realized that I’m 30 years old now, and am the only child of my parents NOT to have any kids. So that probably explains that I alwyas end up giving these Kidz Bop Kids discs a spin- the so-called ‘genetic timeclock’ ticking in my brain… or it’s for the laughs. Since first discovering the excistance of Kidz Bop Kids on an iTunes “Worst of iTunes” playlist, I look forward to the comedy of listening to modern classics redone by sound-alikes backed by a kids chorus. In this new VD compilation, they take on sappy love songs like Hoobastnak’s The Reason, Santana & Michelle Branch’s The Game Of Love (complete with an ever-so-slightly altered guitar part), and the classic 80’s hit form Berlin: Take My breath Away.
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