COOL NEW MUSIC

Other than getting R.E.M.'s new album, and live albums by The Rolling Stones and Muse last week, there were some other stray tracks that I picked up.

First off is Norah Jones' "The Story," off of the soundtrack to My Blueberry Nights, which she also stars in. A lot of people hate on Norah, but I am a fan. I think that if she recorded on a rickety sounding piano and recorded everything lo-fi, she'd somehow be more "credible." But she had the "misfortune" to have the late, great arranger Arif Mardin work with her on her debut, so that was out of the question. I like that she seems to make the music she wants to make, and doesn't pander. Anyway, I liked "The Story," and I look forward to seeing the film, although I am often skeptical about musicians all of the sudden becoming actors. Props to the film for making the song available as a single on iTunes.


I got a few tracks from Van Morrison's new one, Keep It Simple. I'm not a hardcore Van fan, but I do have most of his albums, and I think his last few all have a handful of good songs. So I figured I couldn't miss by getting a couple from his latest. You know the way sometimes people will say that a particular singer "is so good, (s)he could sing the phone book and it would sound good"? Van pretty much pulls this off on "Behind The Ritual." The chorus goes like this: "Blah blah blah blah blah..." etc. I'm not joking. Van somehow pulls this off.

I also got a few tracks from Moby's latest, Last Night. Like a few million other people, my favorite Moby album is Play. I like things that he's done before and since, but that was my favorite. This one kind of goes back to his disco roots, but isn't as frantic as some of his earlier dance stuff. The first song I bought, "I Love To Move In Here," featured Grandmaster Caz from The Cold Crush Brothers. I once had an interview experience with him which I'll have to write about another time. Anyway, I like both that song and "Ooh Yeah." But editing has never been Moby's strong suit (in my mind), so I think I'm good with just two songs.