New Music "Picks of the Week!"

I attended the American Music Awards in Los Angeles last week... well, sort of.  I was able to crash a couple AMA pre-parties (Thank you, Melissa!), but wasn't able to score credentials to the big show.  I was, however, able to be part of the small crowd that was allowed to witness the pre-show AMA taping of Hot Chelle Rae performing a couple of their songs outside the Nokia Theatre.  (You can audition their latest hit at the bottom of this page.)

Just as the AMA's big winners this year were women (Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, Adele...), I too seemed to have leaned a bit toward the female voices in songs I've added to my iPod this month.  Here's what I feel are a few of the best new releases over the past few weeks

"VIDEO GAMES"-LANA DEL REY

The first time I listened to "Video Games" from Lana Del Rey, I was waiting for this slow, lazy, mournful torch song to kick-in.  Well, it doesn't.  It ends as it begins.  And you know what?  That's okay.  But before you hit "play," be sure to listen with the headsets on and your eyes closed as this haunting ballad is sure to conjure up lots of imagery.





 "WE ALL GO BACK TO WHERE WE BELONG"-R.E.M.

To my ears, REM's swan-song single "We All Go Back To Where We Belong" sounds as if the track was written and scored by Burt Bacharach and could have easily been a hit in the 1960's for Dionne Warwick.  So later, when I picked up a recent edition of Rolling Stone and read a review that referenced the same Bacharach connection, I felt vindicated.  Now, it's not the band's best effort, but when you take into account they're using these three-minutes to say "Goodbye," you kind of want to hang on a little longer.




 "GAMES PEOPLE PLAY"-LISSIE

Nashville guitarist Joe South first put "Games People Play" inside Billboard's top-20 in 1969 and those lyrics have been covered countless times over the past 40-years by acts from Mel Torme and Jerry Lee Lewis to Hank Williams Jr. and James Taylor.  Blue-eyed soul singer Lissie gives the protest-song a rootsy revival which makes it an easy listen.  It's one of five-tracks of covers from her recently-released EP Covered Up In Flowers.




 "GONNA GET OVER YOU"-SARA BAREILLES

"I'm gonna get over you. I'll be alright, just not to-night." Know that feeling.  That's the punch-line from "Gonna Get Over You," the latest pop-perfect hit single from Sara Bareilles which features broken-hearted lyrics set to an upbeat backdrop.  It's not as effervescent as "Uncharted," but still worth $1.29.




 "TALLULAH"-COMPANY OF THIEVES

Here's a funky, horn-driven piece of soul that sounds as if Lily Allen accidentally booked a recording session with Tower of Power.  "Tallulah" from the Chicago-based threesome Company of Thieves is my feel-good track of the month and should have your head a-bobbin' and your foot a-tappin' before the track comes to a quick stop.  By-the-way, the little girl with the big voice is Genevieve Schatz who said the song was inspired after a drive through the abandoned town of Tallulah, Louisiana shortly after Katrina.  She said she noticed lots of ivy vines completely engulfing the structures as if Mother Nature was taking the buildings back and saying, "We'll start over here!" She added, "There is life in the process of death.  I just really enjoyed that, and wanted to celebrate it in a very New Orleans, Motown, some type of soulful fashion. So we paired these lyrics with this fun horn section to make an upbeat dance song."

Here are a couple others I've added over the past several weeks that you just may want to keep as your own.

"SET FIRE TO THE RAIN-ADELE

"I LIKE IT LIKE THAT"-HOT CHELLE RAE

"DON'T MOVE"-PHANTOGRAM

New Music "Picks of the Week!"

Folk, rock, alternative too.  Well, this week I discovered a handful of tunes that represent a few of the colorful bands of that wonderful rock and roll rainbow.  Just click on the links below to hear the songs.

Check 'em all out... see which ones you like!


 "YOU'LL BE MINE"-THE PIERCES

Is there such a thing as female adult alternative folk-pop?  If not, there is now.  Meet the Pierces, comprised of Birmingham-born sisters (Catherine and Allison) who possess identical pitch-perfect voices that harmonize so well together they sound as if one person was double-tracked in the recording studio.  I liked the studio version of "You'll Be Mine" immediately but found a greater appreciation for this very personal composition after listening to Catherine explain how they came to write the ballad (which is followed by an acoustic performance of the song).  I think you'll like it as quick as... one, two, three.




 "NOT YOUR FAULT"-AWOLNATION

There's no way in hell that AWOLNATION will ever top last year's "Sail." That synth-laden track is still freakin' awesome and so unique!  But I had to give props to the band-in-all-capital's latest single from Megalithic Symphony which is a much more uptempo, just as synthesized, track called "Not Your Fault."  After just a couple of listens you'll be singing along with the hook.  If not, then it is your fault.





"DIFFERENT"-XIMENA SARINANA

Finally, let me introduce you to Ximena Sariñana (hi-MEN-a sa-rin-YAH-na), a 20-something Mexican-born actress, singer-songwriter who falls into the category of "adorable."  Although the majority of her previous recordings have been in Spanish, there's hope that "Different" will more than cross-over to the American pop charts. (I just now heard part of this song used in a Pop Tart TV commercial!  Mmmm, Pop Tarts!) Take a listen to her matter-of-fact delivery on "Different" and see if you agree that it's sort of in the same style of that 1987 hit song "Breakout."  (Okay, besides me, who remembers Swing Out Sister? Anyone...?)

Here are three other new tracks worth checking out:

"PARADISE"-COLDPLAY 

"STEREO"-IAMDYNAMITE

"THE LADY IS A TRAMP"-TONY BENNETT and LADY GAGA