Media Trippings June 2005

Here's what's been grabbing me over the past week or two.

1) Don Latarski: Fab 4 on 6

(You'll have to search iTunes for "Fab 4 on 6" as the ID3 tags are listed as "Beatles" in their music store.)

Unfortunately, you can't buy the entire album for $9.99 on iTunes - you have to buy each track individually - but it's well worth it. His arrangements are for a baritone guitar, tuned much lower than a normal guitar, and unlike many Beatles covers, he gets creative and employs some thematic variations every so often. I dig. Especially "Mother Nature's Son." I gotta learn that one.

Stream clips from the album here.

2) Marjorie Fair: "Waves"

This is a good one for summer...I feel a breeze just listening to it. You can sample some tracks from their album, Self Help Serenade, here. And what the heck, while we're talking about summer, download "Indian Summer" by Maplewood here. I love this one too. (More Maplewood information here.)

3) Okay, I posted about this once already (thanks to Stereogum), but I gotta post again, now that the Times has picked up on it:

Paul Anka Is Back, 63 And Swinging

So I did hear the whole album (and pity, there was a stream on VH1.com but apparently it's been taken down), and although it only takes a few songs to get an idea of how the rest of the album is going to sound, the arrangements are quite inventive and catchy. At least check out the article. I had no idea that Paul Anka wrote the theme for Carson's Tonight Show.

4) Amos Lee: "Arms of a Woman"

I love WFUV on the weekends. There's nothing better than driving on an early Saturday or Sunday morning, feeling in a peaceful mood and finding the perfect song to accompany that mood. I was driving through Queens on an early Saturday morning recently and found this one. I pulled over to write down some of the lyrics so I could find it online later. I found it on iTunes but you can hear a streaming version here. Video for the same song available here.

5) Josh Rouse: Nashville

I've had this album for a few months. It's one of the most perfect releases I've heard in a while. Here are RealAudio streams of two awesome songs: "Winter In The Hamptons" and "It's The Nighttime."

(And, because Mike loves it so much, here's "Comeback" from his previous disc, 1972. Gotta love the bassline and the synthesizer string section!)

The best song on the disc is called "Streetlights." I feel sorry for my officemates who have to listen to me sing it day in and day out (especially the falsetto part on the bridge). I searched high and low for a simple stream of this song. The only way to hear it in full is to sit through this E-Card - after it's done, you can listen to it, as well as all the songs I've mentioned above, plus a few others. It's well worth it, to the five of you who read this blog regularly. :)