Ani DiFranco - Red Letter Year

Righteous Babe

More than anything, I am just in awe of how often DiFranco releases a new album. It honestly feels like 3 or 4 a year, which is rivaled only by club and noise musicians. And, somehow, she has yet to write a bad album. A few hit or miss tracks throughout the years, but that's only in comparison to her ten billion other tracks. You can't be gold one hundred percent of the time.
Red Letter Year doesn't change her track record. Maybe even knocking her up a thousandth of a percent point by writing yet another flawless record. Her normal collection of odd sounds, dissonant harmonies, and really awkward progressions that somehow blend in beautifully with her endless concoction of pop songwriting.
There is a bit less noise than some of her other contemporary releases, and bends a bit in the direction of conventional songwriting, but don't be fooled: this is the same DiFranco that it's always been. The albums namesake track is probably the best: mostly atmospheric sorts of production mixed with the lady's rambling and rhyming that produces another phenomenal outcome.

Dan Wilson - Free Life

American/Red Ink/Sony BMG

Dan Wilson was a founding member of both Trip Shakespeare and Semisonic. This, his solo debut, is a continuation of his dynamic and acclaimed career. The album, produced by Wilson, along with Rick Rubin (awesome!), collects thirteen songs that traverse and fuse the musical worlds of country, rock, and pop.
For the most part, the album is a dark and mournful listen, filled with piano and acoustic guitar driven ballads, the third track, "Breathless" perhaps being the most wrenching of them; though it does have its up moments, "Against History" being a perfect example. The album is a varied and interesting effort from a man who has himself had a very varied career. Though the songs on this cd aren't as rock oriented; fans of Wilson's past efforts will not be disappointed.

B.B. King - One Kind Favor

Geffen/Universal

Larger than life persona, legendary voice, and certainly a household name: B.B. King hasn't let off in the 50 years plus of his career. One Kind Favor is a revitalizing fix in the King legacy: instead of moving forward with awful production and obnoxious cameos, the newest album is a step into the past: an attempt, as producer T Bone Burnett says, to sound like King's early work.
Using the typical blues band format (stand up bass, piano, King, and percussion) and recording in a much more low fidelity quality, the album is an induction into the journey traveled by one of the world's most honored and awarded musicians. All the tracks on here are classic covers from people including, but not limited to: T-Bone Walker, Lonnie Johnson, and John Lee Hooker.

EDITOR'S NOTE:
Translucent images of long ago, of black men and women, backs bent, picking cotton under an unforgiving sun, are displayed on standing glass panels in a museum carved out of an old brick cotton gin mill in the Mississippi Delta.
They're a reminder of those who labored by day in a segregated society. But at night they escape to Indianola's Church Street to be entertained by a young man later known as B.B. King, who would throw his hat on the ground to catch coins as he conjured devil's music from his guitar.
More than a half century after King left Indianola in search of fame, the $15 million B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretative Center has opened in his hometown and is as much a tribute to him and his blues music as the culture that inspired it.

Robin & Linda Williams - Buena Vista

Red House

Country music veterans, Robin and Linda Williams, once again grace us with their gentle fusion of bluegrass, western, and Americana. The twelve songs on the album (eleven originals, one Lefty Frizzell cover) are all stories. Stories of love, loss, and the open road.
The couple's alternately plaintive and joyous harmonies serve as the perfect narration for the album. The recording is strictly no-frills, and devoid of any sort of pretension. While certainly not ground-breaking, the duo are undeniably charming and their honesty goes miles.

Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It

Columbia/Sony BMG

WOW! A contemporary artist that convincingly pulls off the retro soul sound in not only their songwriting but also their recording quality. Raphael Saadiq, member of Tony! Toni! Tone! manages to do just this with his newest solo album.
The songs are perfect, evoking flashes of the Temptations, Smokey Robinson, and other soul greats. The recording is also perfect. Warm, fuzzy, drenched in reverb, echoing classic Motown and Stax recordings. Even the packaging has the aesthetic of the old soul records down. I can't recommend this album enough. It takes a special artist to be able to pull a record like this off, and Saadiq does it almost flawlessly. Pick it up.

T Bone Burnett - Tooth Of Crime

Nonesuch/Warner Bros.

Jazzy alternative rock, with a bit of a quieter tint, T Bone Burnett's lengthy career has all led to this: a solidly produced rock album. Think, perhaps, a dreamier and less good version of Lou Reed. Rock, soul, and song writing collapsing in on itself to form a whole lot of beautiful melodies and heartfelt lyrics. Definitely for fans of Lou Reed.

Various Artists - Hard+Heavy: Shout It Out Loud

Time Life/Sony BMG

Oh how these compilations will never get old! More hair, glitter, and bad sexual inuendos from your favorite over the hill performers. Including Judas Priest, Heart, Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear The Reaper," and Deep Purple to say the least!

Kimmie Rhodes - Walls Fall Down

Sunbird

Kimmie Rhodes is an Austin, Texas based musician whose praises have been sung by Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, and Trisha Yearwood, amongst others. Her music is characterized by gentle, low-key arrangements and her breathy, gentle twang.
This simple and lovely album will hopefully launch this under-acclaimed artist past cult-popularity and into the notoriety that she deserves. Give it a listen, hear what the country music greats have been talking about.

Morgan Page - Elevate

Nettwerk

Elevate is an unremarkable collection of forgettable, easy-listening, electronica. The originals are uninspired and producer Morgan Page's remixes of other artists are nothing short of frustrating. His re-imagining of Nelly Furtado's "Maneater" is particularly irritating. What was originally a driving and imaginative dance song has been butchered and smothered with weak drum programming and overbearing synths.
I can't really recommend this album for any reason, unless maybe if you're a friend of Mr. Page, and you're just being nice. In which case, please try to offer him some constructive criticism in the hopes that his next effort won't be so mind numbingly dull.

Gladys Knight & The Pips - Greatest Hits 1973-1985

Varese Sarabande/Fontana/Buddha/Sony BMG

Awesome. Just Awesome. You know what you're getting here, some of the best R&B in history. This cd collects twenty of Gladys Knight & The Pips' classics in their original single versions. If this doesn't thrill you, just listen to "Midnight Train to Georgia" again and try to pretend that it doesn't move you. The songs are soulful, funky, fantastic. This collection is essential.

Luke Mulholland - Further

Self-Released

Luke Mulholland has released 4 full length albums before his 20th birthday, which is a fact that speaks for itself. Amazing blues progressions, not really stepping out of the standards but still doing it well. His voice does not sound like a 19 year old, but thats what they say. Heavily produced, with a great backing band, this record is for any interested in solid blues.

Deadmau5 - Random Album Title

Ultra

Deadmau5, one of the hottest names in the house scene right now, has given us his newest album, stupidly titled Random Album Title. While the name is lacking any genius, the music more than makes up for it: at moments danceable, at times, well, I guess, "chill" would be the best word for it. Daft Punk-esq electronics mixed with Tiesto, with a bit more groove than either. Great song names shape this album into a huge club hit.

Bob Geldof & The Boomtown Rats - Great Songs of Indifference

Legacy/Columbia

Live Aid personality himself Bob Geldof rarely gets enough credit where due. While most of his poltical endevours are more or less a joke, The Boomtown Rats are actually something to tout around.
Incredible pop rock along the lines of Elvis Costello, The Boomtown Rats were active in the 70's and 80's, hitting their peak with song "I Don't Like Mondays", based ruffly on the Brenda Ann Spencer shooting spree in San Diego. Heavily based in song progression and melody, Geldof pulls off his music as soulful as pop rock can allow. Highly recomended.

Theresa Andersson - Hummingbird, Go!

Basin Street

This album is really interesting. While ultimately identifiable as indie-pop, this release stands out from the legions of cutesy lame-o's that share the genre. The songs veer from percussive driving dance numbers to atmospheric vocal washes, all guided by Theresa Andersson's powerful voice. A voice that is unusually powerful and full-bodied for indie-pop of this variety.
There is no mousey whining here, only Andersson's formidable vocal chords, and she is not afraid to belt. The performances are stupendous. In addition, the production is perfectly lo-fi.
Recorded mostly by herself in her kitchen, the album has a cozy home-grown quality. Andersson is an emerging talent to look for, and this album is a powerful document of her monumental creativity. I recommend it, even if "indie-pop" isn't usually something that you'd find yourself going for. It's that good.

The Reign Of Kindo - Rhythm, Chord & Melody

One Eleven

Taking up pace where bands like Ben Folds and John Mayer may have left off, The Reign Of Kindo are trying to take up the space now empty due to passing fads. Personally? Not my thing. Ben Folds had its moments, but overall annoying piano pop-rock just grates me. Boring progressions, fakely emotional lyrics, and even cheesy over-the-top production account for most of this album. Sorry to be honest, but I am just bored.

Rory Block - Blues Walkin' Like a Man: A Tribute to Son House

Stony Plain

Another blues album on this week's top 21, Rory Block's tribute to blues legend, Son House, is quite simply blues done right. Block plays simple, straightforward, traditional acoustic blues the way they did back on the delta.
Her virtuosic guitar playing, and expressive singing do justice to these thirteen House classics; the way they deserve. Scott Ellison (from later on the list) could learn from Block that sometimes less is more. Block's minimalist production illustrates this lesson perfectly. It is also refreshing to hear a powerful female voice emerging in the blues. Through and through, this album is simply wonderful.

Scott Ellison - Ice Storm

Earwig/Burnside

Scott Ellison has had a long career of being a background man; playing in backing bands, and composing for soundtracks. Rarely getting his moment to shine. Unfortunately the release of Ice Storm, his newest solo album, isn't a particularly show-stopping moment either.
While boasting a fantastic cast of Los Angeles area musicians, the album still falls mostly flat. Most of the twelve Ellison originals that comprise the release, fall into the category of stale, uninspired blues-rock. Lyrics like "roses are red, I'm so blue" give you an idea of the kind of clichŽ that we're dealing with here.
However, Ellison is still certainly capable of producing solid singles, if not an entire album. The acoustic guitar driven "Keys to my Heart" is a catchy feel good blues pop song. Based on Ellison's track record of TV and movie contributions, I wouldn't be surprised if I heard this song playing during some new television program. Considering the rest of the album though, I think I'll just wait till then to listen to it again.

Various Artists - Acoustic France

Putumayo

Never ceasing to amaze, Putumayo releases Acoustic France, which is fairly self-explanatory. I am by no means a francophile, but I can't help but love the intonations of the French language sung: something about the way the syllables just roll together in ways that English could never dream of sounding. Just the facts of life.
Almost the entire CD is singer/songwriter tracks, which end up better than almost any of their American conterparts. A few folkier songs, and even some jazz, this CD, as all of Putumayo's releases, is just gorgeous. Including Les Escrocs, Gordon Sanchez, Rose, And Rupa & The April Fishes to name a few.
EDITOR'S NOTE:
The Putumayo label is totally unique in that it covers music from around the world, not the so called "world" music, as if the United States was the whole world and the other 190 countries consist of "world" music. Putumayo releases albums from France, Israel, Cuba, Canada, etc. Putumayo is trying and doing its best to open our souls to see that there is much more in this world than the United States.
***So Nice, Gotta Do It Up Twice (Created by the Original NYC DJ, Jocko, 1955)***

Natalie Cole - Still Unforgettable

DMI/Rhino/WEA/ATCO

After a 17-year wait, Natalie Cole finally follows up her wildly successful Unforgettable... With Love, and does not fail to delight. This new collection branches out from only songs made famous by her father, Nat King Cole, and explores classics immortalized by singers as diverse as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Peggy Lee (amongst others).
Natalie's voice is as tender and expressive as ever, and the arrangements are absolutely dynamite. This album is jazz played right, with all the charm and bombast that a swinging big band should have. Timeless classics re-imagined by one of the absolute best contemporary jazz vocalists. I can't recommend it enough.

94 East (featuring Prince on Guitar) - Self-Titled

Hot Pink/Reo Deo/Pepe

94 East, formed by Pepe Willie, played an integral part in the formation of the Minneapolis R&B sound during the 1970s. The group is also notable for giving a start to the career of a young Rogers Nelson. You might also know Nelson by the stage name that he later adopted, PRINCE. Yes, THAT Prince.
The album features twelve songs spanning 94 East's three decade long career, but the highlights are two songs recorded back in 1977 featuring a teenaged Prince on guitar. Even then, his characteristic wah and jangle were present in his playing. Prince aside though, the album features a collection of historic Minneapolis R&B, and is well worth the listen for the other tracks as well. Check it out.

Taj Mahal - Maestro

Heads Up/Kan-Du/Concord

After four decades of doing what he does best, Taj Mahal has released Maestro, which sort of leads in a more up-beat full band feel that is, personally, one of his weaker points. The tracks I have heard of him playing accoustic and solo seem to fit better for me. Also the special guest appearances are a bit of an embaressment for a renouned legitamite blues artist: Ben Harper and Jack Johnson are the two most notable names.
But those are really my only criticisms. The album has stepped out of the blues camp more than normal, and a lot of it is great. Second track "Never Let You Go", which is halfway between traditional ska and reggae, is a solid hit. After writing music for longer than most of his listeners have been out of diapers, I feel it's acceptable to do a few less than perfect cameos. But just this once. center>

***If You Like Music, You're Gonna' Love This!***

Jesus Christ didn't have blue eyes or blond hair
He looked just like all those people that you want to kill
Spin your hell into a heaven you can sell
Make it look like California with a bible belt
Jesus didn't look like the boy next door
Unless you live in Palestine
I wonder what you mean by the golden rule
I think it is a scary play on words
I wonder what they taught you back in Sunday school

I bet you think of him
As a nice clean long haired republican, nah
He would be all locked up in Guantanamo Bay
If he were alive today
He would have been a revolutionary wanted by the CIA
I picture him in all the wrong places finding diamonds in the dirt
A Star of David tattoo and a Che T-shirt
Jesus was a left wing radical Jew
Murdered by people like you

If Jesus was a democrat like the bible says he was
I don't think he's going to want to take the blame
For all the awful things you say and do in his name
If Jesus was alive today he would be sad to see
That it is no different than it used to be
He's going to call you out
I am pretty god damned sure
He is going to be angry
He is going to be angry

You want to know what I think?

I think Jesus would have been a card carrying liberal
If he was a young man born in the USA
He would not be "fiscally conservative"
And he wouldn't vote for John McCain
All those so called Christians that you see on TV
Maybe they scare Jesus like they scare me
Kick you the hell out of my temple too
Too many elephants in the room

If Jesus was a democrat like the bible says he was
I don't think he's going to want to take the blame
For all the awful things you people do and say in his name
If Jesus was alive today he would be sad to see
That it is no different than it used to be
Someday he's going to call you out
I am pretty god damned sure
He is going to be mad
He is going to be angry
He is going to be mad
He is going to be mad

You say Jesus loves the little children
And I say I know that's true
I say he loves all the Muslims and the Jews
All the addicts and the porn stars too
You say Jesus died to save us all from a fiery hell
I say Jesus died to save us
Save us from ourselves

Will you save me from myself?

If Jesus was a liberal
Like the red letters say he was
I know he would have big love
For all the killers and the racists
And the bully's in this world
If Jesus was alive today
And you had a chance to meet him face to face
I'm pretty god damn sure that you and your friends
Would find some way to kill him all over again

You would kill him all over again
Again and again and again
Just like you always do
You do just what you always do

Political Article: Anti-Democratic Nature of US Capitalism is Being Exposed By:Noam Chomsky Back To Top Anti-Democratic Nature of US Capitalism is Being Exposed: Bretton Woods was the system of global financial management set up at the end of the second World War to ensure the interests of capital did not smother wider social concerns in post-war democracies. It was hated by the US neoliberals - the very people who created the banking crisis writes Noam Chomsky THE SIMULTANEOUS unfolding of the US presidential campaign and unraveling of the financial markets presents one of those occasions where the political and economic systems starkly reveal their nature. Passion about the campaign may not be universally shared but almost everybody can feel the anxiety from the foreclosure of a million homes, and concerns about jobs, savings and healthcare at risk. The initial Bush proposals to deal with the crisis so reeked of totalitarianism that they were quickly modified. Under intense lobbyist pressure, they were reshaped as "a clear win for the largest institutions in the system . . . a way of dumping assets without having to fail or close", as described by James Rickards, who negotiated the federal bailout for the hedge fund Long Term Capital Management in 1998, reminding us that we are treading familiar turf. The immediate origins of the current meltdown lie in the collapse of the housing bubble supervised by Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, which sustained the struggling economy through the Bush years by debt-based consumer spending along with borrowing from abroad. But the roots are deeper. In part they lie in the triumph of financial liberalisation in the past 30 years - that is, freeing the markets as much as possible from government regulation. These steps predictably increased the frequency and depth of severe reversals, which now threaten to bring about the worst crisis since the Great Depression. Also predictably, the narrow sectors that reaped enormous profits from liberalisation are calling for massive state intervention to rescue collapsing financial institutions. Such interventionism is a regular feature of state capitalism, though the scale today is unusual. A study by international economists Winfried Ruigrok and Rob van Tulder 15 years ago found that at least 20 companies in the Fortune 100 would not have survived if they had not been saved by their respective governments, and that many of the rest gained substantially by demanding that governments "socialise their losses," as in today's taxpayer-financed bailout. Such government intervention "has been the rule rather than the exception over the past two centuries", they conclude. In a functioning democratic society, a political campaign would address such fundamental issues, looking into root causes and cures, and proposing the means by which people suffering the consequences can take effective control. The financial market "underprices risk" and is "systematically inefficient", as economists John Eatwell and Lance Taylor wrote a decade ago, warning of the extreme dangers of financial liberalisation and reviewing the substantial costs already incurred - and proposing solutions, which have been ignored. One factor is failure to calculate the costs to those who do not participate in transactions. These "externalities" can be huge. Ignoring systemic risk leads to more risk-taking than would take place in an efficient economy, even by the narrowest measures. The task of financial institutions is to take risks and, if well-managed, to ensure that potential losses to themselves will be covered. The emphasis is on "to themselves". Under state capitalist rules, it is not their business to consider the cost to others - the "externalities" of decent survival - if their practices lead to financial crisis, as they regularly do. Financial liberalisation has effects well beyond the economy. It has long been understood that it is a powerful weapon against democracy. Free capital movement creates what some have called a "virtual parliament" of investors and lenders, who closely monitor government programmes and "vote" against them if they are considered irrational: for the benefit of people, rather than concentrated private power. Investors and lenders can "vote" by capital flight, attacks on currencies and other devices offered by financial liberalisation. That is one reason why the Bretton Woods system established by the United States and Britain after the second World War instituted capital controls and regulated currencies.* The Great Depression and the war had aroused powerful radical democratic currents, ranging from the anti-fascist resistance to working class organisation. These pressures made it necessary to permit social democratic policies. The Bretton Woods system was designed in part to create a space for government action responding to public will - for some measure of democracy. John Maynard Keynes, the British negotiator, considered the most important achievement of Bretton Woods to be the establishment of the right of governments to restrict capital movement. In dramatic contrast, in the neoliberal phase after the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system in the 1970s, the US treasury now regards free capital mobility as a "fundamental right", unlike such alleged "rights" as those guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: health, education, decent employment, security and other rights that the Reagan and Bush administrations have dismissed as "letters to Santa Claus", "preposterous", mere "myths". In earlier years, the public had not been much of a problem. The reasons are reviewed by Barry Eichengreen in his standard scholarly history of the international monetary system. He explains that in the 19th century, governments had not yet been "politicised by universal male suffrage and the rise of trade unionism and parliamentary labour parties". Therefore, the severe costs imposed by the virtual parliament could be transferred to the general population. But with the radicalisation of the general public during the Great Depression and the anti-fascist war, that luxury was no longer available to private power and wealth. Hence in the Bretton Woods system, "limits on capital mobility substituted for limits on democracy as a source of insulation from market pressures". The obvious corollary is that after the dismantling of the postwar system, democracy is restricted. It has therefore become necessary to control and marginalise the public in some fashion, processes particularly evident in the more business-run societies like the United States. The management of electoral extravaganzas by the public relations industry is one illustration. "Politics is the shadow cast on society by big business," concluded America's leading 20th century social philosopher John Dewey, and will remain so as long as power resides in "business for private profit through private control of banking, land, industry, reinforced by command of the press, press agents and other means of publicity and propaganda". The United States effectively has a one-party system, the business party, with two factions, Republicans and Democrats. There are differences between them. In his study Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age, Larry Bartels shows that during the past six decades "real incomes of middle-class families have grown twice as fast under Democrats as they have under Republicans, while the real incomes of working-poor families have grown six times as fast under Democrats as they have under Republicans". Differences can be detected in the current election as well. Voters should consider them, but without illusions about the political parties, and with the recognition that consistently over the centuries, progressive legislation and social welfare have been won by popular struggles, not gifts from above. Those struggles follow a cycle of success and setback. They must be waged every day, not just once every four years, always with the goal of creating a genuinely responsive democratic society, from the voting booth to the workplace. * The Bretton Woods system of global financial management was created by 730 delegates from all 44 Allied second World War nations who attended a UN-hosted Monetary and Financial Conference at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods in New Hampshire in 1944. Bretton Woods, which collapsed in 1971, was the system of rules, institutions, and procedures that regulated the international monetary system, under which were set up the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) (now one of five institutions in the World Bank Group) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which came into effect in 1945. The chief feature of Bretton Woods was an obligation for each country to adopt a monetary policy that maintained the exchange rate of its currency within a fixed value. The system collapsed when the US suspended convertibility from dollars to gold. This created the unique situation whereby the US dollar became the "reserve currency" for the other countries within Bretton Woods

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