Teddy Thompson - Up Front and Down Low

Verve/Universal

The child of folk-rock artists Richard and Linda Thompson, Teddy Thompson has released Up Front and Down Low, a compilation of country music heartachers and heartbreakers and some touching originals by Thompson himself.
The way Teddy Thompson remodels these songs is so passionate, it is obvious that he paid close attention to even the smallest of details. This proves true in songs "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers,"--a Merle Haggard classic--and "My Blue Tears,"--a lesser known, yet emotionally powerful song by Dolly Parton.
This album is impressive on all levels. The band's musical talent is showcased in a delicate sense--never forceful, but always balanced and solid. This is an overall great find.

The Absence - Riders of The Plague

Metal Blade

The Absence was formed through a passion and respect for European metal, especially Scandinavian metal. And they do what they do well. Riders of The Plague boasts a number of guest performances including Jonas Kjellgren laying down some vicious leads, Per Nillson, James Murphy and Jonas Granvick--all well known in the Metal world. One thing I know for sure is that their cover of Testament's "Into the Pit," was full of diverse melodic textures and tempos.

K-OS - Collected

Virgin/Capitol/EMI

This is the new album from the hottest of hot in Canada's music scene.
K-os, if you have to ask who's that--you loose some cool points. Let's play catch up... Born Kheaven Brereton, he is already a platinum selling artist in his home. He has arrived and is taking over the US alt-pop radio waves! Atlantis-Hymns for Disco is the album that secured K-os' place amongst the ranks of artists like Beck, Outkast and Kanye West--all of whom have found individual styles, all blending the intricate flavors of soul, rock and hip-hop. These are the visionaries, the artists who will not be confined to a single genre.
On Collected, K-os comes on strong, breaking all the rules of remixes and remakes. He defies the boundaries for an exciting album that is a flavorful roller coaster for your ears. And this is only the tip of the iceberg, with much left to offer. This collection is intoxicating, the music puts you into a haze of pleasure and you let go and just move. Check this out!
***Love's Song of the Week "The Rain," by K-os***

Roy Acuff - Roy Acuff Sings Hank Williams

Hickory/Varese Sarabande

Roy Acuff was called the "king of country," and for more than sixty years he lived up to that title. If any performer embodied country music, it was Roy Acuff. Throughout his career, Acuff was a champion for traditional country values, and forcing his beliefs as a performer, a music publisher and as the grandmaster of The Grande Ole Opre. Acuff was the first country music superstar, after the death of Jimmie Rodgers, pioneering an influential vocal style that complemented the spare simple songs that he would perform.
Generations of artists, from Hank Williams to George Jones, have been influenced by Acuff, and countless others have paid respect to him. And now here is his tribute to Hank Williams, another cornerstone of country music history. On Roy Acuff Sings Hank WIlliams, features many of the most important Hank Williams classics (which Acuff-Rose published). A necessity for fans of both legends.

Peter Searcy - Spark

Toucan Cove/X/Fontana/UMG

Peter Searcy comes from a highly creative family. His dad was the first American to have art displayed in the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, his mother is a gospel singer and his grandmother was a pianist for silent films.
His music reflects his richly creative background. His lyrical content is like a hearty bowl of chicken and dumplings. Uplifting yet filling, but light and full of flavor. On Spark, each song is unique, echoing a memory from Peter's own life. This album greets you and leaves you in good spirits.

The Pines - Sparrows In The Bell

Red House

The Pines successfully blend roots, blues and indie-rock together, for a compelling and haunting sound. Sparrows In The Bell is their inventive new album. The songs are a darkly romantic mixture of updated traditional songs and heart-pulling originals.
The album was recorded in Minneapolis in just four days. But that doesn't mean they cut corners. David's strong rhythm guitar and firm vocals fuse effortlessly with Benson's groove-picking riffs and raspy voice. And the bittersweet effect of acoustic strums colliding with electric serenades keeps ears eager to experience more. I say experience, because you don't listen to The Pines--you experience their music.

Lloyd - Street Love

The Inc/Universal Motown

Born in New Orleans, Lloyd moved to Atlanta at an early age, performing and recording as a young teenager. He was drafted by Irv "Gotti" of The Inc. Records after a stint with Dreamworks. He was paired with fellow label star Ashanti for Lloyd's hot debut single "Southside."
Lloyd continues his work with top-notch hip-hop performers on Street Love, with guest artists Nas, Lil Wayne, Andre 3000. He has recorded a beautiful recreation of "You," (that soft rock classic that was overplayed in the '90's) with Lil Wayne. The overall effect of Street Love is smooth, with well-worded flows, sensual music and originality.

Sam Baker - Pretty World

Self Released

Although he isn't well-known, even in his adopted hometown of Austin, TX, Sam Baker's lyrics are surely making its way around the globe. After the 2004 release of Mercy he is back to tell us the second half of the story with Pretty World.
His music is his heart's healing art. He relates it all through the powerful magic of storytelling. His influences are vast--from Dylan, Utah and Woody Guthrie to the writers Luis Borges and Leo Tolstoy. This combined with his life's experience and passion for folk tradition creates original powerful works of art. Listeners have many layers to explore, both in Sam Bakers music and themselves.
***Shelton's Single of the Week: "Orphan," by Sam Baker.***

Scott Fisher & 1 a.m. Approach - Step Into the Future

Burnside

Scott Fisher and 1 a.m. Approach have all the charm and skill of a successful jazz band. What makes them exciting is Fisher's fusion of reggae and jazz combined with his flashy pop embellishments.
On Step Into the Future, Scott and his band's exquisitely impressive musicianship has seeded, grown and is flourishing. His band, 1 a.m Approach, is brimming with confidence. They constantly compliment Fisher's keyboarding extrodinaire with charismatic rhythm and cool style. This album will kindle passion in your soul.

Landonband - Defying the Stereotype

Self Released

Landone doesn't take guff from skeptics--it's just fuel for the fire. Hailed as the new Exene Crevenka she comes on fierce as a hurricane. Full of energy and a passion for creative writing, she's enlisted the assistance of producer Drew K., and has given us an explosive album. The band backs her up with a strong performance, powerful bass lines, hot licks and solid drumming. Defying the Stereotype is more than her introduction to the music world--it's her manifesto.

Antsy McClain and The Trailor Park - Trailercana

DPR

How would I define Trailercana, ...hmm... humorous, witty satire nestled in-between the catchy, funky folk-country-rock of the Trailer Park Troubadours. Their songs are devilishly funny and keep your attention with their knack for storytelling. With titles like "I Was Just Flipped Off By a Silver Haired Old Lady With a 'Honk If You Love Jesus' Sticker on the Bumper of Her Car," and "KOA Refugee," I got intrigued. After listening to the entire album, I believe that if you've been there you'll feel right at home with Trailercana.

The Rondo Brothers - Seven Minutes to Midnight

Citrus To Citrus/War Chant

The Rondo Brothers are Brandon Arnovick and Jim Greer, both producers/musicians from San Francisco coming outta the Hawaiin hip-hop scene. Their love for all genres has been a solid foundation, enabling them to create innovative, fresh genre-bending music that is easy for anyone to appreciate. Not commercial enough for pop; it's too diverse to be held in the hip hop class alone. Ahead of their time, I believe that their second album Seven Minutes to Midnight, is going to force the music industry to challenge themselves to catch up.

Various Artists - Every Tone A Testimony: An African-American Aural History

2-disc, Smithsonian Folkways

Smithsonian Folkways always produces quality albums, whether it be new musicians that are the trailblazers of today's folk/grassroots culture, to preserving the absolute best, important, aural history of our country's past.
Every Tone A Testimony explores the extensive history of African Americans, breaking it down to subcategories. On disc one we review The Oral Tradition, celebrating the unique tradition of the spoken word. Testimony Against Slavery tells in itself the stories of Underground Railroad heroes and other powerful figures of African American history such as Phillis Wheatley, Harriet Tubman, Sarah Parker Remond and Frederick Douglass to name a few. And to close out disc one we honor Voices of Pride and Protest, part one.
On the second disc we begin with part two of Voices of Pride and Protest. Then we get to shake the depression with the sounds of the blues in The Sounds of Twentieth-Century America. Then they connect us with the Voices of Civil Rights and Black Power, reminding us that we still have so much work to do as a society to permanently bridge the racial and gender barriers. And finally they close the collection with Contemporary African American Voices.
Having seen where we've been we can only celebrate for where we are heading. This is a powerful, humbling and firmly moving collection. I believe history is crucial to society, because only from learning from our mistakes can we ever have a chance at achieving a truly free future.her class of workers. They inspire all of us Union Organizers. "You can't scare me I'm stickin' to the Union till the day I die!"

Dead Rock West - Honey and Salt

Populuxe

Dead Rock West are the pioneers of kaleidoscope-rock--inventive musicians who refuse to conform to genre labels, combining the prime elements of garage, grunge, pop, punk, country and more, to transcend all genres, creating a kaleidoscope.
DRW's debut album, Honey and Salt, is high powered punk full of perfectly pitched Americana harmonies, gritty guitar solos with all the energy of a bag of poprocks! The songs are well built, with catchy hooks, well put and thoughtful. They are exciting and fun. Dead Rock West is a complete success.

Harry Manx and Kevin Breit - In Good We Trust

Stony Plain

Harry Manx and Kevin Breit are both singularly accomplished musicians. Both have an impressive history of travel and musical prowess. Both have individual style and their husky-voice-meets-sweet-and-rich vocal harmonies compliment each other so well, that we've given them our choice spot as our new album of the week.
In Good We Trust is a rootsy, album with that down-home organic sound. It creates a comfortable atmosphere anywhere you might be. There's something for everyone including a vast array of instruments. The songs are multidimensional and there is a Springsteen cover "I'm On Fire," which Springsteen himself liked so much that he signed Harry's unique cigar box guitar, which is featured on the album cover. This is a gem of a find worth checking out.

Corey Harris - Zion Crossroads

Telarc/EMI

His career has lasted more than a decade, and he has dug deep into the roots of African American music comparable of his predecessors, perhaps even more so. He is far more than just a singer or songwriter; he is a pilgrim on the road to discover the underlying ancient roots of his music. He has searched beyond the Mississippi delta, to the majesty of Africa and the three thousand year old beginnings of contemporary culture.
Corey Harris has shared the pilgrimage with us on Zion Crossroads. This album captures some of the most inspiring elements of African American music and infuses them with modern history, social consciousness and spirituality. This is a great album; it uplifts you yet calls you to be conscious of how you live. Purify the mind with Corey Harris and Zion Crossroads.
***Shelton's Second Single of the Week: "Plantation Town," by Corey Harris***

Daddy Yankee - The Cartel: The Big Boss

El Cartel/Interscope

The guest list on this album is so extensive that I must start off my review with just a recap. Big shot hip-hop artists like The Black Eyed Peas' Fergie and Will.i.am, Jim Jones and Nicole Scherzinger from The Pussycat Dolls are just some of the featured artists.
The Cartel: The Big Boss marks a big leap forward in a phenomenal career. He has been taken from the barrios outside San Juan, Puerto Rico to become one of the 100 most influential people in the world, as named by Time Magazine.
Daddy Yankee is an entrepreneur and a visionary. His music combines all the spice of latin music and brings hip-hop a burst of pride, doing justice to a genre that is spreading like wildfire. I love the Emenime-esque raps and the combination of R'n'B, salsa and jazz. Interesting and lively, you gotta love this!
Editor's Note: If only me and ex-wife Sonia Rodriguez were listening to this music today in Spanish Harlem on 116th St. in NYC between 2nd and 3rd Ave., we'd be dancing down the street and remarry immediately.

Robert Earl Keen - Best

Koch

Singer/songwriter Robert Earl Keen never found the level of fame achieved by his buddy, Lyle Lovett, but his own considerable grassroots following is no fluke. Though he is best known for his beer-friendly live shows (as vividly captured on the album No. 2 Live Dinner) and anthems such as "The Road Goes On Forever," covered by The Highwaymen, and the fractured, white-trash Yuletide classic "Merry Christmas From The Family." Keen is an extraordinary writer with a novelist's eye for character and narrative detail, comparable to forerunners like John Prine and Kris Kristofferson. He has an equally sharp ear for catchy melodies and first-class backing musicians.
On Best, Robert Earl Keen revisits his extensive catalogue, selecting only the best of his hits. The songs were handpicked by Keen, many are live recordings filled with hilarious interludes. An instant classic.
***So Nice, Gotta Do It Up Twice (Created by the Original NYC DJ, Jocko, 1955)***

Baby Boy Da Prince - Across the Water

Universal Republic

It's easy to ignore that New Orleans' Baby Boy Da Prince doesn't bring much new to the hip-hop game. He's got enough charisma, he's got the lyrical skills, and his flow is alluring, especially when laid on instantly gripping hooks and feel-good choruses. Across the Water amazingly doesn't oversell him as a gangster or drug-pushing snowman, unlike the usual ready-made rap albums.
BBDP still earns plenty of street-credit by easily dropping some Southern slang into his rhymes and working with a well-chosen set of hood-minded producers like Paulus and Big Herc. Good-timing anthems and lazy hangout tracks are present in equal shares. What catches me is the crossover cuts like "They Don't Know" with Nina Sky which seem like pleasant diversions rather than forced plays for fame.
Baby Boy Da Prince sounds a lot like the upstarts who have obviously inspired him (B.G., Juvenile, T.I., etc.) without ever outright mimicking them. Label this one "exciting," and "on the edge." Oh, and there is a bonus DVD that comes in the package, say "Sah-weet."

Scarve - The Undercurrent

Listenable

Upon forming in 1993, French Deathsters, Scarve, birthed an intricate, dark and brutal brand of extremity. Their music has enabled them to tour through Europe and gain experience. But
The Undercurrent proves that Scarve earned the prized position of the only support act of death metal superstars Meshuggah. There is simply no way to avoid the whirlwind of Scarve... ahh!!!

The Beach Boys - The Warmth of the Sun

Capitol/EMI

The Beach Boys were America's first major and longest-running rock'n'roll band. Led by reclusive, unstable prodigy Brian Wilson, the group peaked early but has managed to sustain a career that, at least as a live act, continues long after it's members became "Beach Men."
Rising from the sun-and-convertable culture of southern California, and swirling together Chuck Berry's small-combo rock'n'roll and the surf craze of the period, the Beach Boys hits were and remain colorful aural slices of teenage life, before the war in Vietnam (The American War) became debated.
The Warmth of the Sun is a new collection of 28 career-spanning hits. This album travels the iconic band's creative arc in a sunup to sundown musical journey. Going beyond the beach, it presents a broad view of the rich musical legacy of The Beach Boys.
For those who didn't remember, the Beach Boys was originally comprised of brothers Brian, Carl and Dennis, their cousin Mike Love and neighbor Al Jardine. Brian retired from touring, being replaced by Bruce Johnston. They have been inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1988). And they still tour, long after their sun-drenched youth.

Who's afraid of the sun?
Who'd question the goodness of the mighty?
We who banish the threat,
When your little ones all go nighty-nighty.

Well, there's no time for doubt right now
and less time to explain.
So get back on your horses,
kiss my ring, join our next campaign.

And the empire grows with the news that we're winning.
With more fear to conquer
and more gold thread for spinning.
Bright as the sun, shining on everyone.

Some would say that we forced our words
and we find that ingenuously churlish.
Words are just words.
Don't be so pessimistic, weak and girlish.

We like strong, happy people
who don't think there's something wrong with pride,
Work makes them free
and we spread that freedom far and wide.

And the empire grows,
the seeds of its glory,
For every five tanks,
plant a sentimental story,
till they worship the sun,
even Christ-loving ones.

And we'll kill the terror who rises
and a million of their races.
But when our people torture you
that's a few random cases.

Don't question the sun
It doesn't help anyone.

But the journalist cried out
when it was too late to stop us.
Everyone had awakened
to the dream they could enter our colossus.

And now I'm right,
here you said I'm right,
there's nothing that can harm me.
Cause the sun never sets
on my dungeons or my army.

And the empire fell
on it's own splintered axis.
And the emperor wanes
as the silver moon waxes.

And the farmers will find our coins
In their strawberry fields
while somebody somewhere
twists his ring as someone kneels.

Oh where is the sun, shining for everyone.
Oh where is the sun, shining for everyone.

Political Article: Why Is This Man Smiling? By: Robert Scheer Back To Top OK, throw another $50 billion down the rat hole that is the Iraq occupation. ItÕs only money, if you ignore the lives being destroyed. ThatÕs what the White House is asking for, in addition to the $147 billion in supplementary funds already requested, and Congress will grant it after Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker follow President BushÕs photo op in IraqÕs Anbar province with a dog and pony show of their own. Meanwhile, the Democrats are totally cynical about this continuing waste of taxpayer dollars and of American and Iraqi lives, and, wanting Bush to hang himself with his own rope, they will deny him nothing. In the effort to retaliate against terrorists who hijacked planes six years ago with an arsenal of $3 knives, this yearÕs overall defense budget has been pushed to $657 billion. We are now spending $3 billion a week in Iraq alone, occupying a country that had nothing to do with the tragedy that sparked this orgy of militarism. The waste is so enormous and irrelevant to our national security that a rational person might embrace the libertarian creed if only for the sake of sanity. Clearly, the federal government no longer cares much about providing for health, education, hurricane reconstruction or even bridge safety, as the military budget now dwarfs all other discretionary spending, despite the lack of a sophisticated enemy in sight. Numbers are boring, and the media act as if there is no difference between a million and a billion dollars thrown at the military-let alone the trillion-dollar projected cost of the Iraq war. That last figure is well documented in a solid study out of Harvard co-authored by Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz but ignored by the mass media So too a recent authoritative report from the non-partisan Government Accountability Office that, despite the $44.5 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars already poured into reconstruction, little detectable progress has been made in IraqÕs crucial oil and electricity systems. Remember when Paul Wolfowitz, then the PentagonÕs resident neocon genius, assured Congress that Iraqi oil money would easily bear the entire cost of AmericaÕs Iraqi adventure? Now the GAO tells us that, even after spending an additional $57 billion on the Iraqi oil and electricity infrastructure, and assuming peace is restored, Iraq would still not produce enough oil and electricity to meet local demand until the year 2015. Aside from corruption and the lack of security, the biggest problem in supplying Iraq with electricity is that the national electrical grid has broken down, and different factions, divided largely along ethnic and religious lines, are grabbing what they can. This kind of anarchy is emblematic of the new, emerging Iraq, in which the central government has declining sway over the nationÕs decisions. That latter point was underscored this week by BushÕs happy-faced visit to a highly fortified and isolated American outpost in Anbar province. After posing gamely with the troops at the Al-Asad base, Bush celebrated the return of Sunni areas to the control of U.S.-armed militias-composed largely of former insurgents who have at least temporarily decided that their Shiite rivals, currently in control of the central government, are a more pressing enemy than the American occupiers. Speaking of one such group of Sunnis trained by the Americans and dubbed the ÒVolunteersÓ by their instructors, a U.S. soldier told The Washington Post, ÒI think there is some risk of them being Volunteers by day and terrorists by night.Ó That is exactly what has occurred on the Shiite side, where anti-U.S. religious groups have completely infiltrated the American-trained Iraqi military and police forces. In IraqÕs Shiite-controlled south, the domination of the military and police by the fiercely anti-American Madhi Army and other militias was ensured by the final withdrawal of British troops from Basra, IraqÕs second-largest city and a vital center of oil production, on the same day that Bush visited Iraq. Instead of the liberated, united and democratic Iraq promised by this invasion, we are left with a nation ruled by religious fiefdoms sustained far into the future by U.S. taxpayers. The French and the Germans, hoary veterans of various failed European adventures in imperialism, warned us about precisely this outcome. While U.S. troops spill blood to guard broken oil pipelines, the Chinese and others go merrily about the world buying up black gold on the open market. But hey, donÕt worry about your tax dollars and the waste of lives-eat some freedom fries and learn, like our president, to keep smiling. Robert Scheer is editor of Truthdig.com and a regular columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle.

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