Lake Street Drive is a Boston jazz/pop band formed in 2004 who came to my attention recently due to their inclusion in the Inside Llewyn Davis tour.
T Bone Burnett hit the road with a group of musicians from the film’s soundtrack as well as a few others (including these guys) whose music has a similar sound or spirit.
Another new album promised this year — though the date has been a moving target — is the latest from U2.
It’s been five years since their last effort, the underwhelming No Line on the Horizon, and 10 years since their last major success, How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb. That qualifies this upcoming album as a bona fide comeback record, even for the what’s still considered the best rock-n-roll band working today.
The 2014 album release schedule is still a bit murky (as it always is at this time of year) but so far there aren’t a ton of upcoming records I’m excited about.
Interestingly, the releases I’m most looking forward to are all by female artists. Shakira’s new album is out this week, Lily Allen’s long-awaited third record is due soon, Taylor Swift will aim for another smash hit sometime this year and Aimee Mann is releasing a duet with indie performer Ted Leo in April.
Recently, I listened to an NPR interview with Beck about his new album, Morning Phase.
He spoke in his low-key, casually eloquent way about his early influences (predominantly folk musicians) and the hows and whys of the production of this record, one of his best.
At one point, the hosts played the beginning of ‘Morning,’ the album’s opening song (not counting a brief instrumental) and Beck got a bit choked up.
In a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly dedicated to obscure and underrated gems, comedian (and Late Night bandleader) Fred Armisen had this to say about today’s SOTD, by The Damned:
There’s a song called ‘Life Goes On’ which is one of the most beautiful songs ever written on planet Earth. That’s not my opinion, that’s fact. That’s the fact. It’s one of the most beautiful songs ever written. The lyrics have gotten me through bad times, they’ve gotten me through happy times… the lyrics of ‘Life Goes On’ are what life is about.
You read something like that and of course you have to seek out the song, right?
