Galactic: Carnivale Electricos

"Every New Orleans band has to reckon with Mardi Gras. ... Galactic, formed in New Orleans in 1994, takes a wide-angle view on 'Carnivale Electricos,' writing and transforming Carnival songs not only from New Orleans and Cajun country, but also from another Carnival epicenter: Brazil. Onstage Galactic is a first-rate funk band. In the studio it has become a perpetually recombinant group of musicians, producers and conceptualizers, hooking up with collaborators from New Orleans and far beyond. The guest list on 'Carnivale Electricos' extends from New Orleans to Rio de Janeiro, in tracks that morph across time, space and cultures. 'Carnivale Electricos' is brimming with ideas; it’s also one raw, rowdy party album. Galactic doesn’t enforce any trademark sound. While New Orleans funk is laced through the album, it’s freely collaged with all sorts of other things. So 'Ha Di Ka,' featuring Big Chief Juan Pardo and his Mardi Gras Indian tribe, Golden Comanche, isn’t just one more Indian chant backed by a band; it’s got fat-bottomed electronics, a deranged psychedelic guitar and explosive samples grappling with Galactic’s keyboard funk. ..." (Jon Pareles, "Reviews of Albums from Grimes, Galactic and Tyga," New York Times, 2/20/12).

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Anoushka Shankar: Traveller

"Flamenco and Indian music share a common root -- Gypsies are said to have their origins in the exodus of members of the 'untouchables' from the Punjab, centuries ago -- and the sitar player Anoushka Shankar's latest release, 'Traveller,' explores the connection" ("This Week," New Yorker, 4/9/12).

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Jay Brannan: Rob Me Blind

"It's been three years since singer-songwriter Jay Brannan released a full-length album of original songs. His latest album, Rob Me Blind, is a labor of love that reflects his growth as an artist, and his desire to take new chances. I chatted with Jay about his new music. ... Louis Peitzman: Did you have a concept for the album when you started, or did it just emerge naturally? Jay Brannan: I had an idea of what I wanted to do with this album. It's been a while since my last release, particularly a full album of original songs. With this one, I wanted to do something that was definitely along the lines of my style and my taste. I'm kind of a simple singer-songwriter. I like the minimal vibe of music. But I didn't want to make the same album all over again. ... Louis Peitzman: You've been doing a lot of traveling over the past few years. Do you find that people recognize you mostly for your music now? Do you still get recognized from your role in Shortbus? Jay Brannan: It's definitely both. I think it goes both ways. I mean, Shortbus was a while ago, but I think it's something that really stuck with people" (Louis Peitzman, "Jay Brannan Returns with Rob Me Blind," Huffington Post, 3/28/12).

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Amadou & Mariam: Folila

"Call it double exposure. 'Folila,' a new album by Amadou & Mariam, the blind husband-and-wife duo from Mali, was recorded twice, once in New York with an all-star cast of indie musicians and once in Mali with a crew of traditional instrumentalists. Though their original plan was to make two albums, they ended up mixing the separately recorded tracks together. Released last week by Nonesuch, 'Folila' is their attempt to expand their audience in the United States, where their mix of Malian pop and blues-rock has been slower to catch on than in Europe. The list of American guests on the CD reads like a Who’s Who of hipster New York: the guitarist Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the electro-pop singer Santigold, the rapper Theophilus London, Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters and the vocalists Kyp Malone and Tunde Adebimpe, of TV on the Radio. ..." (James C. McKinley Jr., "Ringing Voice and Guitar Echo Globally," New York Times, 4/13/12).

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Miranda Lambert: Four the Record

Album of the Year and Top Female Vocalist, 2012 Academy of Country Music Awards.

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The Stepkids (self-titled)

"The Stepkids are one of the most eclectic bands in music today with a self described sound of 'a fusion of punk and jazz, West African and 1960s folk, neo and classic soul, classic funk and 20th century classical.' The band also perform one of the most unique live shows and are not to be missed at this year's SXSW. Radiohead's Thom Yorke recently gave mention to them as being musical delight on his playlist. Dan Edinberg of The Stepkids answers our questions: ... When did you form? Dan Edinberg: Jeff and I have been close friends since we were teenagers. We met on a jazz gig in New Haven CT in the summer of 1998 - we were both playing around the area heavily and once we played together it was an instant connection. We recorded a jazz LP that summer and kept in touch through the years hoping to one day do a serious project together. Tim and Jeff met in the early 2000s. Tim had his own studio in Bridgeport, CT, and Jeff started going there to record his solo stuff. One day in 2009 I dropped by, and before we knew the three of us had recorded a song together. ... What bands are most influential to The Stepkids? Dan Edinberg: Kraftwerk and Pink Floyd are our two biggies. Both created an enigma that transcends each individual band member. ..." (Rahilla Zafar, "What's Hot on Thom  Yorke's Playlist: The Stepkids," Huffington Post, 3/8/12).

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Promises, Promises: The New Broadway Cast Recording

"Little Red, a pit bull with a tender soul, spent the majority of her first five years chained to a car axle that was planted in the ground at Michael Vick’s notorious Bad Newz kennels. ... After years of TLC and learning that people and dogs can be good, in September 2011 she had recovered enough to go into foster care by her future adoptive owner, Susan. ... But no matter what she did, Susan never felt the diminutive pit bull truly relax. ... Then one night, she put on a CD of specially arranged classical music designed to calm dogs. 'She heard that music, and she just sprawled out on her bed and sighed. She went to sleep with her eyes closed, like her whole body was breathing a sigh of relief.' ... And just because a dog digs classical renditions doesn’t mean she’s going to turn a deaf ear to other music. In fact, when Susan first got Little Red, the pit bull was supernervous. One day Susan put on a CD of Sean Hayes singing on the soundtrack of the Broadway revival of Burt Bacharach’s hit musical Promises, Promises. 'His voice transfixed her. The voice just really touched her. She listened, and calmed down'" (Maria Goodavage, "Classical's New Bow (Wow): Dogs," San Francisco Classical Voice, 2/14/12).

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Sharon Van Etten: Tramp

"She’s a young singer-songwriter in Brooklyn, and she has a heart-stoppingly powerful voice. Her alto range and slow, sensuous delivery result in frequent comparisons to Cat Power’s Chan Marshall, which is not off the mark but doesn’t get at the deep, clenched anxiety in Ms. Van Etten’s music. In her breakup songs she can sound wounded, angry, wronged — yet still loving. At last year’s SXSW I saw her play a small, sparsely attended set. I was already a fan, but her performance was arresting. 'How come the whole world doesn’t know about her?' I remember thinking. But wheels were already turning. On the street the next morning I bumped into Darius Van Arman, the head of Jagjaguwar Records (Bon Iver, Oneida), who told me that he had just signed her. This year Ms. Van Etten is back, and she’s a SXSW darling. Her album, 'Tramp,' was just released, and it has been acclaimed as one of the best of the year" (Ben Sisario, "SXSW: What a Difference a Year Has Made for Sharon Van Etten," New York Times, 3/16/12).

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Steve Lehman Trio: Dialect Fluorescent

"So much of contemporary jazz has to do with balancing invention and reinvention, figuring out what remains relevant and generative about trends from the last fifty years while developing new systems that, if they don't necessarily push the genre forward, at least provide fertile ground for fresh exploration. Dialect Fluorescent, the new album by the Steve Lehman Trio, is a good example of how that elusive balance can be negotiated. There's a composition by John Coltrane ('Moment's Notice'), one by Duke Pearson ('Jeannine') and one by Jackie McLean ('Mr. E'). Lehman composed several other tunes using what's known as spectral harmony, in which computer analysis assists in organizing harmonic material according to the prominent overtones of a sound, creating rich frameworks for microtonal harmonies according to certain frequency relationships. ... Over the years, Lehman, a Wesleyan grad and former Hartford resident, has performed and recorded with duos, trios, quintets and octets, either with his own groups or as a sideman" (Michael Hamad, "Pulling Back, Pushing Forward: Saxophonist Steve Lehman Releases a New, Uniformly Excellent Trio Record," New Haven Advocate, 4/12/12).

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Sinead O'Connor: How About I Be Me (and You Be You)?

"Her new record, 'How About I Be Me (and You Be You)?' (One Little Indian), is the first in a dozen years that comes without an overarching theme, and with the kind of lyrics that made her famous, the ones parsing sex and spirituality with anger and idealism. ... The strong suits are her candor and her voice" (Ben Ratliff, "Blessings and Dissents: Candor but No Quacks," New York Times, 2/27/12).

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Christian McBride Big Band: The Good Feeling

"Douglas Shulman is the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, overseeing the collection of more than $2.4 trillion in taxes. ... LISTENING 'The new album by Christian McBride, “The Good Feeling.” He’s like a new, young jazz kind of guy. I’ve listened to jazz forever. I like listening to the musicians figure out where each one is going and work together'" (Kate Murphy, "Download: Douglas Shulman," New York Times, 4/15/12).

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Leonard Cohen: Old Ideas

"'Old Ideas' is an autumnal album, musing on memories and final reckonings, but it also has a gleam in its eye. It grapples once again with topics Mr. Cohen has pondered throughout his career: love, desire, faith, betrayal, redemption. Some of the diction is biblical; some is drily sardonic. 'They’re old ideas in the sense that they’re old unresolved ideas, old moral questions,' he said backstage. 'They’re ideas that have been rattling around in the mind of the culture for a long time.' In many of the songs, true to ancient traditions of mystical poetry, the singer could be speaking to a lover or to God. The lyrics often build associations around a repeated phrase. In 'Amen' — a slow shuffle with a banjo tickling at its fringes — Mr. Cohen sings, 'Tell me again/When I’ve been to the river/And I’ve taken the edge off my thirst/Tell me again/We’re alone and I’m listening/I’m listening so hard that it hurts.' ... 'Going Home' starts the album with a hymnlike melody and a droll twist; it’s sung by an unnamed narrator — a manager? God? Satan? — using someone named Leonard as a mouthpiece: 'He’s a lazy bastard living in a suit'" (Jon Pareles, "Final Reckonings, a Tuneful Fedora and Forgiveness," New York Times, 1/27/12.

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Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd: Jazz Samba

"Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd's album Jazz Samba, which launched the bossa nova craze in the United States, celebrates its 50th anniversary this month. It was a phenomenal success after its release in April 1962 and has achieved an enduring popularity. Jazz Samba was a musical milestone and, alas, an example of musical injustice: the vital contributions of drummer Buddy Deppenschmidt and bassist Keter Betts, both part of Byrd's trio at the time, have long been downplayed. The album wouldn't have sounded the same without them, and perhaps would never have been made. Jazz Samba's first track, 'Desafinado,' is a beautiful composition by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Newton Mendonça; it opens with a compelling bass line by Betts, adds understated, intriguing percussion from Deppenschmidt and Bill Reichenbach, and then takes off with Getz's inspired, sublime sax playing. 'Desafinado' reached no. 15 on the Billboard Top Twenty chart for pop singles, stayed on the charts for sixteen weeks, and won a 'best solo jazz performance' Grammy for Getz. The album eventually made it to the no. 1 position on the Billboard pop chart, the only jazz instrumental album to have ever achieved that feat. Jazz Samba stayed on the charts for seventy weeks and sold half a million copies within eighteen months. It was more jazz than bossa, but the new sound struck a nerve. ..." (Chris McGowan, "Blame It on the Bossa Nova," Huffington Post, 4/17/12).

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Trans-Siberian Orchestra: Beethoven's Last Night

"Beethoven turns up regularly in pop music, like Chuck Berry’s 'Roll Over Beethoven' and the rap group Soulja Boyz’s 'Beethoven,' with various heavy metal incarnations in between, including the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s 'Beethoven’s Last Night,' an inventive rock opera that involves a deathbed deal in which Beethoven gets the best of Mephistopheles but has to sacrifice his 10th Symphony in the bargain" (Allan Kozinn, "Don't Scowl, Beethoven, You're Loved," New York Times, 12/18/11).

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True Blood, Volume 3: Music from the HBO Original Series

"From Massive Attack and Jakob Dylan to PJ Harvey and Siouxsie and the Banshees (on the aptly titled 'Spellbound'), there's a little bit of everything to sink your fangs into on this juicy collection" (Ivory Jeff Clinton and Jessica Herndon, "Quick Cuts," People, 9/26/11).

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Vijay Ayer Trio: Accelerando

"when we hear a rhythm, we imagine the act that gave rise to it. some call it neural mirroring, or empathy. ... this album is in the lineage of american creative music based on dance rhythms. we place our small acts alongside those of others in that tradition: duke ellington (the closing track is from his ballet 'the river'), herbie nichols, henry threadgill, michael jackson, heatwave, and flying lotus. ... our title track was originally the lasat movement of 'uneasy,' a suite composed for choreographer karole armitage. the goal was to see whether a constantly accelerating pulse could form the basis for dance. fortunately the answer is yes - because the dancer-listeners don't hear it that way; instead, they group the accelerating events into successively larger unites, creating an accelerando that slows down" (CD notes by Vijay Iyer).

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The Saw Doctors: The Further Adventures of the Saw Doctors

"You won’t find any uilleann pipes or bouzoukis in the sound of the Saw Doctors. They’re a straight-on rock band. Yet they’re still informed by a folk-rock righteousness, and beauty, that connects to the classic values of the Celts. The Saw Doctors, whose latest album, 'The Further Adventures Of ...,' ranks as one of their catchiest, have enjoyed 18 top 30 singles in their native Ireland (as well as that country’s biggest-selling single, 1990’s 'I Useta Lover'). Take that, U2" (Jim Farber, "Brogues: Irish Music Fills the Air (and Clubs and Arenas) This Week," New York Daily News, 3/11/12).

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