I really enjoyed She & Him’s debut album, Volume One, but didn’t get into its follow-up (Volume Two, naturally). Hearing today’s random selection, I’m not sure why.
This is the same kind of retro-catchy ear candy that M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel perfected on their debut. Maybe it’s the sort of thing that quickly wears out its welcome. Maybe listening to too many She & Him albums would be like eating at Johnny Rockets every night.
British singer-songwriter Laura Marling was all of 20 years old when she recorded this stunning little song. And this was on her second album, the first having come out when she was 18.
A British Fiona Apple, perhaps? I don’t know anything about Marling except that I’ve stumbled upon a few of her songs and been blown away every time.
Here’s a track from Justin Timberlake’s debut solo album, Justified, released in 2002.
Like most of the album, the track was co-written by Timberlake, Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams. I believe this is the first time I’ve heard the song, and god willing, it will be the last.
This track solidifies my opinion that Timberlake is a better actor than a pop star. I know he went on to bigger and better things, but isn’t it all pretty much in this vein?
It’s been five years since the “supergroup” Monsters of Folk released their self-titled debut album. I don’t know if Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, Jim James and M. Ward have plans to ever record together again but I sure hope so.
I fall in love with this album all over again every time I hear it. The blend of voices and perspectives is spot-on, elevating the material above most of what I’ve heard from these guys doing their day jobs.
In a cute, and probably predictable, turn of events, my 8-year-old daughter Fiona has become a bigger Miranda Lambert fan than I am.
She insists on hearing “her favorite singer” every morning on the way to school and goes to bed each night with Lambert’s latest album, Platinum, playing on her nightstand.
She even has a grand plan to get on The Voice and choose Blake Shelton as her coach during the blind auditions so that she can go to his house and meet his wife. After which she’d quit the show.
Meet Me In Montauk 