New Music Tuesday is here and thankfully I am typing this instead of reading it aloud because I would sound like quite the jackass. I had some oral surgery yesterday and while I am on some pain meds, they aren’t quite cutting it. So, I will do my best to get lost in the bounty of good music we’ve got this week.
Today’s top spot goes to the beautiful and talented Janelle Monáe. She has crafted an album that is up there with Badu’s Mama’s Gun and Outkast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. This is the best kind of neo-soul and done by a stylish and sexy woman.
The lovely Brit who won our hearts with her Everything But The Girl project is back with this strong fourth solo effort. Her velveteen low voice sings songs of mid-love crisis on this new album.
Ay dios mio! This Costa Rican singer is beautiful and makes me want to get down with the get down, if I could do it in a non-embarrassing way.
Queer folk-country singer Mary Gauthier wrote her first song at 35 years old. That means there’s still time for me to make my dreams of becoming an electro-rocker come true. This latest album is based on Gauthier’s life story — being given up for adoption by an unwed mother, getting adopted a year later, running away at 15 and becoming an adult too quickly. So, don’t expect much of an upper out of this, but stay along for the story.
Audra reminds me of someone and it’s killing me that I can’t put my finger on it. I want to say Adele or Duffy, but the more I think about it, the more I’d rather just keep her in a category of her own. Her voice has a great old-school quality to it; perfect for hearing on vinyl. I really, really dig this.
This is not what I normally listen to, but I want to give major props to this female jazz saxophonist.
Honorable Mentions: Band of Horses, The Black Keys, Jamie Lidell, LCD Soundsystem. These are all amazing.
Who did I miss? Who should I look out for? Holler at your girl.
