TOMORROW ON THE MORNING JOLT: FUNK!

Two weeks ago, I returned to SiriusXM OutQ's The Morning Jolt With Larry Flick after being on the disabled list for a while.  Last week, I had to miss it again (for scheduling reasons, not heath ones). Tomorrow I'm back, and I'm bringing the funk.

Well, maybe not funk by the strictest definition of funk purists. But all the music I'm bringing in will be funky.

First up, is the Red Hot Chili Peppers' new album, I'm With You. I wrote about it recently, and I wish I liked it more than I do. That said, it has some great moments, like "Monarchy Of Roses" and "Brendan's Death Song."  More importantly, the new lineup, featuring guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, does show a lot of potential.

Primus is one of my favorite bands, and I really dig their new album, Green Naugahyde, which I just wrote about.  "Tragedy's A'Comin'" is one of my favorite songs of the year.

Fishbone is one of the most underrated bands of the past few decades.  But I haven't enjoyed much of their new music since 1993's Give A Monkey A Brain... And He'll Swear He's The Center Of The Universe.  They've just released The Crazy Glue EP.  I like it.  I'm really looking forward to the documentary about the band, Everyday Sunshine. Anything that gets them to a wider audience is cool with me!

When it comes to Lenny Kravitz, I'm a singles guy.  I have his best-of, and I'm cool with that. But the songs I've heard from his new album, Black And White America (the title track and "Superlove") are pretty cool and very funky. I may have to check this one out a bit more.

I wrote about Trombone Shorty about a year ago, and now he's got a new album, For True. I recently filmed a performance by him at the SiriusXM studios, and he was great (see it here).

Sly Stone actually has a new album, but sadly, it's mostly his old hits re-recorded.  There's no point to doing that: they were perfect the first time, and frankly Sly doesn't sound as good as he used to. There's a good new original song though, "Plain Jane."

I think that a lot of today's funk music is done by DJs, not bands, and David Guetta is one of the biggest DJs. I produced this shoot at The Electric Zoo festival in 2009 and I kind of "got" it.  Although dance music isn't my thing as much as rock and roll, I get it.

I haven't written about Superheavy yet, but any band with Mick Jagger, A.R. Rahman, Damien Marley, Joss Stone and Dave Stewart is worth paying attention to. Also worth paying attention to is the Jay-Z/Kanye West album, Watch The Throne.  So, if time allows, we'll discuss all of these albums tomorrow on the show!

CHECK IT OUT: TROMBONE SHORTY

I talked about Trombone Shorty's Backatown a few weeks ago on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick, but I haven't really had the chance to write about it here.  Trombone Shorty is so named because he iis a kazoo virtuoso.  Ha ha.  But really, besides playing the 'bone, he also also plays trumpet, keyboards and drums, as well as sings.  He reminds me a bit of Robert Randolph (a sacred steel guitar prodigy), in that he plays very rootsy music and specializes in an instrument that isn't often used in pop or rock music. To me, his music sounds influenced by New Orleans hot jazz (he's from there) and also marching band music. But the guitar (played by Pete Murano) is pretty hard rock influenced... all and all the thing has a pretty distinct sound. 

"Hurricane Season" leads off with a very drumline/hip-hop kind of thing, I can see that being an anthem at high school and college sports events. It's instrumental besides a bunch of "HEY!"s.  Shorty (aka Troy Andrews) wrote or co-wrote the entire album, except "On Your Way Down," which is by New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint (who plays piano on the song as well). But the whole thing swings and is very funky and doesn't sound like anything else out there today.  There aren't that many artists with too distinct of a sound these days, but Shorty has got his own thing going.  I definitely recommend this if you're looking for something different and you're in the mood for some New Orleans music.

THIS MORNING ON OUTQ

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET, I am a featured guest on the SIRIUS XM OutQ channel show The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick. Of course, I talk about music.

Last week, I talked about new hip-hop releases - some of which I am a really big fan of. But some listeners weren't into it!  This week, I'll be focusing on some great Americana-type music, and I'll be writing about these records more in the coming weeks.  Los Lobos' new album Tin Can Trust, the first single from Robert Plant's upcoming Band Of Joy album, "Angel Dance" (which is a Los Lobos cover!), The Black Crowes' collection Croweology (newly re-recorded acoustic versions of thier songs, this is a gift to fans before they go on another hiatus), something new from Dr. John and music from two relatively new artists, Trombone Shorty and Eli "Paperboy" Reed, either of whom has gotten too much hype, but I believe people will really like both if they get the chance to hear them.