I Left My Hat in Hades
Drazzig Records

Fuzzy skanky rock that sounds like it was recorded in the 70’s. It’s not bad, but it’s nothing that is going to keep me coming back.

http://www.myspace.com/chrisstrawn

Do You Like Waffles?
Oglio Records

Twenty-two tracks (plus a sing Along and Karaoke Mix of the title track) that are essentially commercial jingles that never made it into commercials. The lead singer of Nerf Herder is a master of the tongue-in-cheek (just listen to their song “Van Halen”). The highlights here are the title track, “Got to Dip It!” and “The Ballad of Melvin the Magic Hot Dog.” He’s good at what he does and he does this really well, but it’s hard to pop in a 24 track CD that is less than 20 minutes long.

http://www.parrygripp.com

Get Onboard

Flatbrim Recordings

Bibb is an acoustic blues/gospel troubadour who puts so much soul into each of his records that you wonder if he has any left. Then he comes out with another one that is better than his previous best. His best keeps getting better.

http://www.telarc.com

The Other
Loose Tooth Records

These three brothers speed through eight songs in under 21 minutes into a musical casserole that includes bits of jazz, pop, orchestral, rock, electronic and avant garde. The result is palatable in small doses. It’s a little too much.

http://www.needersandgivers.com

Energy Czar

Yosada Records

This is one of the worst albums I’ve ever heard. It’s an absolute cacophonous mess. It sounds like a 5-year-old who found drumsticks and a drum set and started going crazy and one of his friends yelling incoherantly into a microphone while trying to figure out how a guitar works. It’s not worth the disc it’s printed on. Unless they are trying to be dadaists, they should quit. Honestly.

http://www.hunting-lodge.net

Everybody Loves a Villian

Blue Tuxedo Records

Citing Elliott Smith, Jeff Buckley, Elvis Costello and three of the four Beatles (sorry Ringo) as inspirations, one-man band Simon Bristoll sounds like a poppier and less-depressed Elliott Smith with a little Costello grit sprinkled with a dash of Buckley musical atmospherics. It’s decent Euro-pop.

http://www.captainwilberforce.com

Dave Matthews Band has been, in my eyes, one of the most talented groups of my generation. One of my lifetime goals was, and still is, to see them live because their music mesmorizes me and their concert DVD’s are nothing short of amazing. So finding out that DMB saxophonist and sunglasses purveyor Leroi Moore died after complications that arose from an ATV accident back in June was devastating. Dave Matthews Band has always been better than the sum of it’s parts and now that one of it’s parts is gone, I can only imagine that the band itself will suffer as a result. Sure they can bring on someone else to fill in (they brought in the sax player from Bela Fleck and the Flecktones to finish the current tour), but it won’t sound the same. I’m curious what they will do for the next album and subsequent tours, but one thing is for sure, the music world lost one of the most professional musicians around.

Okay, first the obvious: How did Herbie Hancock win album of the year?! I know that he is a jazz legend and everything and I’m sure that the album is good, but how does he beat any of the other four albums? I’m not a Vince Gill fan, but when you put out a 4-disc set of all new material that is as good, if not better than anything else he’s done, that’s saying something. Or how about my beloved Foo Fighters? I’m a die-hard Foo fan and I love their new album. It’s their best work since “The Colour and the Shape” and rightfully belonged in the top five. I would have been all right with them losing to any of the others, but not Hancock. And what does Kanye West have to do to win Album of the Year. He is the only artist to have his first three albums nominated for the award and he hasn’t won yet. He continues to get other awards, but at some point the acadamy has to give him the top prize. He may have a bigger ego than Bono and Shaq put together, but you can’t tell me that he doesn’t deserve that award. (And his performance was one of the best of the show, as usual.)

And then there is Amy Winehouse. Yes, she has issues. A lot of issues. But she’s a great artist. I bought “Back to Black” strictly based on all of the buzz and I love it. She was nominated for six awards and won all, but the coveted Album of the Year award. Honestly, out of the five nominated, I would’ve voted for Winehouse (even though I love the Foo Fighters and Kanye is more than deserving). Her album does for soul what Norah Jones did for lite jazz and Lauryn Hill did for hip/hop. Now let’s hope she can keep her head on straight.

I got to thinking about Winehouse when she was performing and comparing her to Britney Spears. Both are troubled and in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Britney performed at the MTV VMA’s and was terrible. It started her downward spiral that has captivated the douche bags who actually give a crap. Winehouse performed on the Grammys and knocked it out of the park. She was dynamite. She looked healthy, on top of her game and like she was having fun. But the highlight was her reaction when she found out that she won Record of the Year for “Rehab.” She was flabbergasted. She looked like a deer in headlights. She didn’t know what to do with herself. It was the same reaction Christina Aguilera had when she won Best New Artist. But I’m happy for her. I hope that Winehouse uses this to boost her career and become a bonafide superstar. Don’t go the way of the Britneys.

As for Herbie Hancock, this seemed more like a lifetime achievement award (just like when Steely Dan won for “Two Against Nature” and Bob Dylan won for “Time Out of Mind”). He’s undoubtedly a jazz legend, but the other four albums were more deserving.

As for the other performances: What was the deal with will.i.am’s little mash-up? That was just strange and should have been scrapped. Fergie actually sounded really good with John Legend. I’m not a Fergie fan, but she nailed it. The string interlude during the Foo Fighters’ “The Pretender” took all the steam away from the song, but it still rocked. Aretha still has it. John Fogerty does not. At all. And there is no way that Little Richard is three years older than Jerry Lee Lewis. Lewis looked like my grandpa and Little Richard looked like he was teleported straight from the 60’s. Alecia Keys is extraordinarily talented, so why does she think that she needs to dress like a skank and strut around the stage. Yes, you’re beautiful, but keep to doing what you do best…singing and playing your heart out.

That’s all for my Grammy thoughts, please feel free to comment.

Eye of the Storm

Tango Palace Entertainment

The press release says it wants to introduce us to “Greg & Brian,” but the picture on the CD has three people on it. Who is the omnipresent third person? Is it the person that makes this album suck so hard?

http://www.tangopalace.com

In Between

Mute USA

Close your eyes. Imagine you are at a swank trendy nightclub. Drinking a cosmopolitan with Lindsay Lohan. This is the soundtrack.

www.paulvandyk.de/