The Weekly Music Magazine CD Sampler Review

The Weekly Music Magazine CD Sampler Review, # 3.

Every month, I read many music magazines. Several of them have sampler CDs that have both known and lesser-known artists. This column covers my thoughts on the only the tracks that made a strong impression on me.

Paste is a fairly new US bi-monthly magazine that also covers music, concerts, film, DVDs, and books of new releases. They tend to focus on current pop and roots artists, both major artists and indie. of the past rather than the hot new artists of today. This issue has Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberest on the cover. The sampler CDs tend to have a laid-back feel to them. You will not hear nu-metal, rock, punk or hip-hop to any great degree, but singer-songwriters abound.
















01 Bright Eyes “Take It Easy (Love Nothing)” (Digital Ash in a Digital Urn)
02 Low – “California” (The Great Destroyer)
03 Aqualung – “Left Behind” (Still Life)
04 Kathleen Edwards – “Back To Me” (Back To Me)
05 Ben Lee – “Catch My Disease” (Awake Is The New Sleep (Dig))
06 Sputnik – “Hello” (I, Cosmonaut)
07 Lou Barlow – “Home” (EMOH)
08 Diego Sandrin – “Dog” (Ten Songs In The Key of Madness)
09 Eisley - “Marvelous Things” (Room Noises)
10 Reckless Kelly – “Broken Heart” (Broken Heart)
11 Mary Gauthier – “Mercy Now” (Mercy Now)
12 Amos Lee - "Keep It Lose, Keep It Tight" (Amos Lee)
13 Al Green – “Be My Baby” (Everything's Ok)
14 Christopher Williams – Did Not Draw” (When I Was Everything)
15 The Duhks – “Mist Of Down Below” (The Duhks)
16 Mando Saenz – “Julia” (Watertown)
17 Reid Jamieson – “Last Day Of The Year” (The Unavoidable Truth)
18 Ivy – “Thinking About You” (In The Clear)
19 Slow Motion Reign – “Isn’t It Time (Rats) (Slow Motion Reign)
20 Suit Of Lights – Goodbye Sick City (Suit of Lights)
21 Aqueduct – “Five Star Day”(Aqueduct)
22 Bright Eyes – “We Are Nowhere And It’s Now” (I'm Wide Awake It's Morning)

There’s a lot of good music on this particular CD. But few tracks make me want to jump up and head over to the record store. Or to the artists’ web site. And this is after several listenings, just to be sure.

Bright Eyes' “Take It Easy (Love Nothing)” is my first exposure to Conor Oberst, since he flew beneath my radar until now. This is an addictive, sparkling, pop gem. It’s bound to open a lot of doors for folks who like electronic-flavoured pop.

Lou Barlow “Home” starts off with an acoustic guitar and some very catchy foot stomping rhythms. You’d also expect this to turn into a hoedown! Without these extra sounds, the song is like many others on the disc – a good listen, but not something truly exceptional. Read Aaman Lamba’s Blogcritics review of Barlow’s “Emoh”

Mary Gauthier’s “Mercy Now” is a spare acoustic ballad, but your attention is focused by her vocal delivery - there’s beauty, soul and harshness and it just grabs you. Less is more with this song. She also out thought into her lyrics, and you may want to compare notes with other listeners. Is this song country or folk? It doesn’t matter, but I want to hear it again and again.

Ivy’s “Thinking About You” is an upbeat pop tune with breathy vocals and an instant appeal. It’s basically pretty pop music with a female singer, Dominique Durand, from Paris. James Iha from the Smashing Pumkins contributes guitars and one of the guys from The Fountains of Wayne is one of the songwriters.

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/04/02/013123.php
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/26/160721.php