When I was growing up, my brother listened to a lot of different sorts of music and over the years I was fairly limited in my own taste. For awhile, I was only interested in classical music and then I had a year of listening to classical music. Meanwhile, my brother continued to enjoy a variety of music and tried to get me into it — he would play me songs and for a few years would make the most excellent mix tapes decorated with artwork he put together.
For the last few years, I have been enjoying the music of The Black Keys. I was first drawn to the band because they have a drum and guitar setup, much like one of my favorite bands, The White Stripes. I quickly came to realize that the two are not anything alike in terms of sound other than a nice raw feel and not too much production. I have also enjoyed the minimalism with which they present themselves in a live setting.
I found out about the debut album from half of The Fiery Furnaces, Eleanor Friedberger, when I was browsing the web site of one of my favorite record labels, Merge Records. I was thrilled when I found that Spotify features not only the Merge Records label catalog but a great playlist with new and featured albums from their catalog — I am greatly appreciative to David Boles for introducing me to the fantastic service.
YES are one of those germinal bands that has lasted over 40 years in our national, musical, consciousness. YES have a new album that dropped today — Fly From Here — and it is a keen return to that classic YES soundsphere and innovate YES vibe.
One of my coworkers told me about the brilliant musician Justin Vernon who took a number of months while recovering from illness in a cabin in Wisconsin to record a full album on his own employing some basic equipment and would have sold the album entirely on his own but decided to sign to fantastic record label Jagjaguwar, home of such other luminaries as Dinosaur Jr. and Black Mountain.
Derek Trucks is a guitar player in the Allman Brothers Band with Warren Haynes. Derek is also the nephew of Allman Brothers Band drummer Butch Trucks. Derek Trucks is a SuperGenius musician. Hey may not have an effervescent facial expression on stage, but his magnificent fingers prove the magic and the methodology of his work. Derek is married to singer Susan Tedeschi and, together, they have formed the Tedeschi Trucks Band and their first album released dropped yesterday: Revelator.
John Oates’ new solo album — Mississippi Mile — dropped today, and it is a welcome addition to the brackwater Blues oeuvre we have come to appreciate from established greats like Eric Clapton and Tom Jones, but not Cyndi Lauper. John Oates is the other, guitar playing, half of Hall and Oates and it is so great to see John strike out on his own to sing and play the kind of music that branded him growing up:
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