Tuesday Stroll
The Elite Five
1. Badly Drawn Boy: Born in the UK
Damon Gough never gives us a boring moment. Whether or not the album that eventually surfaces is a beauty or a dud, he refuses to go through the motions and do what he has done before.
Proof of this is Gough’s scrapping of what was going to be his new album and starting fresh; while it seems to be vogue right now to nod towards Springsteen, something tells me that Gough is going to do a more charming job of it than Brandon Flowers. Ronan, I believe, is going to review this album and in case you didn’t know, Ronan has much love for Springsteen. It will be interesting to see how that translates to his review.
2. Malajube: Trompe L'oeil
The Quebecois have known about Malajube for quite some time now; the rest of Canada found out earlier in 2006. And now, America gets a chance to realize that awesome indie-pop/rock sounds great whether it be in English, French or any language. A very positive review from Pitchfork should be a nice kickstart for Malajube as they venture into uncharted waters.
3. The Sadies: of the Rat Fink (Soundtrack)
The concept behind this album is just so bizarre that I have to hear it. The movie itself is about Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, a well known custom car designer, and features voices by John Goodman, Stone Cold Steve Austin and a whole bunch of other people who don’t seem to have a connection to one another. Twenty-six songs in 32 minutes, with a heavy emphasis on surf guitar? Sounds alright to me.
4. Twisted Sister: Twisted Christmas
Okay, I could have picked many albums that came out this week that are likely to be a bigger deal than this, but I had to fit it somewhere. I dislike all typical Christmas music. It annoys the hell out of me when adult contemporary artists bring out Christmas albums, and I grew up hearing them many more times than I ever would have wanted too. This is the type of Christmas music that I could see myself listening to, and the early word is that it is actually pretty good. Little known fact: Mistress Kara recently saw these guys in Vegas and swears they still rock.
Remember Me?
5. Diddy: Press Play
Do I really have to? Puff Daddy, aka P-Diddy, aka Diddy, aka Douchebag -- whatever you want to call him, the guy has done well for himself. Would he have done so well if Biggie didn’t get murdered? Probably not, but he still would have done alright, I am sure. None of this matters to me though; the guy annoys the shit out of me and all a new album from Diddy means is that I am going to hear more about him than I would like. Who even likes this guy’s music? I have yet to meet somebody who really does.
6. DJ Jazzy Jeff: Hip Hop Forever Volume 3
People remember Jazzy for one of two things, and both of them involve him being the Will Smith’s lackey . Sadly, most remember him being thrown out of the house by Uncle Phil on Fresh Prince and not being one of the baddest, sickest turntable artists that have ever been in the hip-hop industry. He still tours relentlessly, and while the albums might not sell what he used to he can still fill a house whenever he comes to town to showcase his skills. There are about ten other artists that could have fit here this week, but I wanted to show some love for Jazzy.
Not My Bag - Maybe Yours?
7. C-Murder: The Truest Shit I Ever Said
: Isn’t there some sort of law against a guy padding his funds while he is in jail? I mean, every time I open my eyes a new album or re-working of an older album is being released by this guy, who is in lockdown and was never much of anything to begin with. There are plenty of people in the rap game who aren’t incarcerated who can release shit at least as good as C-Murder, I promise. So stop buying it!
8. Sarah McLachlan: Wintersong
As the driving force behind Lilith Fair and the emergence of women taking over the music industry for a period during the 90s, I have some respect for Sarah. That she then walked away when she probably could have spent decades releasing watered-down versions of what had made her big in the first place added to that respect. Recording an album of Christmas songs that are some of that adult contemporary bullshit I was talking about earlier and banking on your fans lapping it up does not add to that respect. It’s so very lame.