The New Crop 05/09/08
Out of the constant flood of new CDs passing through our offices, a few have really grabbed my attention. One of the coolest rock records out comes from the The Raconteurs , who most people already know is a supergroup featuring Jack White of the The White Stripes with Brendan Benson. With a range of influences (often evoking the best classic rock), this side-project is much more broad than what you might hear on a Stripes album.
In the recent past BlueBeat poked fun at film stars who make records (check out the Movie Stars Rock KP), but there are a few multi-talented individuals who pull it off. She & Him combines indie hero M. Ward with actress Zooey Deschanel (of "Elf" and BlueBeat favorite "Almost Famous", among other films). Deschanel has been privately recording much of this material over the years, and the result is some charming indie pop.
The Heliocentrics present their release Out There, and the title pretty much sums it up: a sparse, spacey instrumental soundtrack of drums and keyboards that’s a real trip! Whoah. And over in kid’s music, there’s been a trend towards hipper children’s records than we had in my youth. Baby Loves Hip Hop Presents The Dino-5 weaves together stories and songs performed by Butterfly of Digable Planets, Chali 2na (Jurassic 5) , and Scratch from The Roots, produced by Prince Paul. This follows the Baby Loves Jazz Go Baby Go CD with Sharon Jones and John Medeski, produced by trumpeter Steven Bernstein. Finally, the career of Willie Nelson is reviewed in the new box set One Hell Of A Ride. From burgeoning songwriter to one of the most popular performers of all time, his singular style defines "outlaw". Heck, he's got his own Killer Playlist, Willie: Original Outlaw here on BlueBeat.
Here are a few more recent releases:
Funplex by The B-52's
Antidotes by Foals
Move Every Muscle, Make Every Sound by De Novo Dahl
Funky Nassau: The Compass Point Story (Various Artists)
Shine by Anna Nalick
Live At The Bass Performance Hall by Lindsey Buckingham
In the recent past BlueBeat poked fun at film stars who make records (check out the Movie Stars Rock KP), but there are a few multi-talented individuals who pull it off. She & Him combines indie hero M. Ward with actress Zooey Deschanel (of "Elf" and BlueBeat favorite "Almost Famous", among other films). Deschanel has been privately recording much of this material over the years, and the result is some charming indie pop.
The Heliocentrics present their release Out There, and the title pretty much sums it up: a sparse, spacey instrumental soundtrack of drums and keyboards that’s a real trip! Whoah. And over in kid’s music, there’s been a trend towards hipper children’s records than we had in my youth. Baby Loves Hip Hop Presents The Dino-5 weaves together stories and songs performed by Butterfly of Digable Planets, Chali 2na (Jurassic 5) , and Scratch from The Roots, produced by Prince Paul. This follows the Baby Loves Jazz Go Baby Go CD with Sharon Jones and John Medeski, produced by trumpeter Steven Bernstein. Finally, the career of Willie Nelson is reviewed in the new box set One Hell Of A Ride. From burgeoning songwriter to one of the most popular performers of all time, his singular style defines "outlaw". Heck, he's got his own Killer Playlist, Willie: Original Outlaw here on BlueBeat.
Here are a few more recent releases:
Funplex by The B-52's
Antidotes by Foals
Move Every Muscle, Make Every Sound by De Novo Dahl
Funky Nassau: The Compass Point Story (Various Artists)
Shine by Anna Nalick
Live At The Bass Performance Hall by Lindsey Buckingham
- Jeff Thornton















