The first time I saw Mission Zero, member David Keith was touring with Blackmore’s Night, so joining Chenot Keith on stage was her friend Chrissy Gardner. I’ve certainly kept up with Mission Zero since (they have a new song coming out in mere hours as this post goes up), but I haven’t talked much about Gardner. Continue reading
Category Archives: Required Listening
Required listening: Paramore’s “Still Into You”
I feel like I might be late to the game with this one, but I caught it on the radio over the weekend and found myself drawn to it. I’d certainly heard of Paramore, and knew of a song or two of theirs, but this one caught my ear more than others (probably because it’s more pop leaning). Continue reading
Hank & Cupcakes’ debut pops up on iTunes, but there’s more
Hank & Cupcakes with me last December at a concert in Hartford.
Yesterday, Hank & Cupcakes’ debut album, “Naked,” which first started surfacing via their website and other sources last year, has made its official debut on iTunes, finally bringing a strong set of songs full circle. (I’ve written about them extensively, including about a concert from December and their April release of the “Ain’t No Love” music video.)
The album released this week is the same as what we had previously, so it’d be easy for hardcore fans to be disappointed. But Hank & Cupcakes rarely fail to superserve their fans, and this time is no exception.
For those of us who already own “Naked,” another release quietly found its way to iTunes as well yesterday: “The B Sides,” which include tracks that they’ve played live over the years. Finally, their version of “Like a G6” can be purchased, and in a recording-studio quality version at that! While there are a couple of songs from their songbook I’m still waiting for, this brings us closer. And while the “B Sides” are largely marginal tracks compared to the superlative songs selected for “Naked” (“Jimmy” is H&C at their most repetitive, which I generally find to be a weakness for them), the songs are as lovingly produced and sound as great as the “Naked” album, meaning hardcore fans will likely find a lot to like here.
If you haven’t heeded the advice to acquire “Naked” yet, it’s gotten a lot easier; be sure to check it out. Meanwhile, the duo are touring this summer, which includes a stop in New Haven in September.
Andrew McMahon enters “The Pop Underground”
How woefully behind am I on my blog that I saw Andrew McMahon live in April, saw Amie in Portland the week it came out (starting to become something of a tradition, however unintentionally, that we see each other upon the release of a new McMahon disc) and it’s now been roughly two months since. As such, this is less a first-reaction review as it is a final digestion of his first music as a true solo artist, following his runs in Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin. Continue reading
Required viewing/listening: ‘Just a Minute’
Thanks to the Internet, it’s relatively straightforward to learn about entertainment produced in other countries. Thanks to Comedy Central, I watched the British episodes of “Whose Line is it Anyway?” long before the American version, and because of the wider variety of contestants found it a bit more entertaining (although I do still love the American version, and look forward to its return this summer). Thanks to my knowledge of that show, I found a radio show (that’s occasionally appeared on TV, such as the above) that’s been keeping me entertained as of late: “Just a Minute.” Continue reading
Required listening: Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky”
Supposedly, disco died more than 30 years ago, yet leave it to a group like Daft Punk to remind people why the genre is one that can still be relevant in 2013. Continue reading
Required listening: Annie’s “Animal”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtrKEO7NxgA
iTunes’ weekly song picks have many times borne fruit over the years, but there’s the occasional selection that, even years, later, still resonates. Annie’s debut album, “Animal,” is one of those selections. Continue reading
Required listening: Dido’s “Girl Who Got Away”
I’ve had a bit of a love-hate relationship with Dido ever since she hit the scene in the late 1990’s. She’s had some massive hits, and those are the ones I struggle the most with; I’m not particularly enamored with “White Flag,” for instance, and never really have been. Yet I’ve always loved tracks like “Hunter,” which featured on her debut “No Angel.” Continue reading
Required listening: Ariana Grande’s “The Way”
I listened to this the first time purely because it had reached iTunes’ top ten singles and I hadn’t heard of it before. It sounds like a Mariah Carey song from about 10 years ago… how is it that a newcomer can do Mariah Carey better than Mariah Carey? Continue reading
Required listening: Cathy Dennis
Work’s been kicking my butt, so apologies for another “required listening” choice that’s from another era, but it’s been driving my energy as the work days maintain their length lately. So, onto another choice that you may be less familiar with: Cathy Dennis. Continue reading