A few weeks ago, I got a note from Jeremy Toback, half of the LA duo Renee and Jeremy (you guess which half) which said that they were going into the studio to record the follow-up to their sweet and hypnotic debut It's A Big World!. Toback described the album as "definitely not lullabies... groovy and sweet. A little light, a little dark, like smores."
Well, music from those recording sessions are starting to trickle out. Luxury Wafers, the blog of the ChessVolt studios where Toback and Renee Stahl are recording the new album, has posted five new live mp3s for listening or downloading. "Share" is definitely the more upbeat of the tracks, while "Is It Really Any Wonder?" is a little more downtempo along the lines of the first album. If you liked the first album, you're gonna like those. (And if you haven't heard the first album, live tracks of "Free," "Night Mantra," and "We Are One" are there for your enjoyment, too.)
Toback wrote in to clarify that they're actually recording the album at his house -- they just finished this past week. So those tracks up above, which were definitely demo-style anyway, have nothing to do with the actual recording session for the album, photos of which are after the jump.
Listen To This: A Bunch of "No Character" ScribbleMoster Tunes
Songs With No Character has had many different planned release dates, but it appears that ScribbleMonster has settled on November 4th for the official release of its self-titled "first 'family album'."
Want to hear some of the new album? Then get yourself over to the band's Myspace page, where you can hear the newly-posted "Good Morning Little Children," "All Ready To Go,""Doing The Right Thing," and "Scratchy Records," along with the previously-posted "The Game of LIFE." All four songs have their charms, but it's "All Ready To Go" and "Doing The Right Thing" that will get your family bopping. Nice use of horns on those two.
Oh, and I love about halfway through "Scratchy Records." Made me laugh.
Listen To This: "Heading Home" - Central Services Board of Education
I gave you a chance before to download a track from the upcoming Central Services kids' project. If you missed it, well, too late, because I've taken it down.
But the band's let me put another track up, and I thought it'd be appropriate to post the companion track, the slower "Heading Home," which captures how my daughter feels when she comes home on the bus after a long day at school. Though in a good way, musically.
Anyway, Central Services Presents The Board of Education (I think I've got that name right) will be available for the whole world to hear in just a week or two. Until then, you can enjoy this track for a limited time.
Central Services Board of Education - "Heading Home" (Too late!)
Laurie Berkner Does Have Nice Hair
Sometimes I get stuff in my inbox and don't get a chance to post until the next day. So in today's first example, I present to you Laurie Berkner's Soundcheck performance. Now, some people have spent almost as much time talking about the sponsor -- SUAVE! A Unilever brand! Plus Walmart! -- as on the show.
And so in response, I'll probably do the same. To be clear, aside from a five-second ad at the start of the full performance and a tiny logo in the lower right-hand corner and occasional glimpses of "Suave" from the rotating camera, it's definitely not a hard-sell. I'm not a fan of corporate sponsorship -- as far as corporate sponsorships go, this isn't bad.
Anyway, tracklist for the 20-minute video is after the jump. There are four videos from this week's release Rocketship Run, plus two Laurie classics. The interview, as others have mentioned, is worth watching.
World Premiere: Stream the New Terrible Twos (Jerzy the Giant)
Oh, boy, am I geeked about this.
The Terrible Twos' great new album Jerzy the Giant is out next Tuesday the 29th on Vagrant Records and if you don't want wait for my review, or want to see what the fuss is all about, or just want to listen to the album, have I got a deal for you.
Vagrant Records is allowing me to world premiere the stream of the entire album, and I wouldn't have said yes if I didn't think a lot of you were going to love it. Just click on a song track below to get started. Might I suggest #1 ("Old Man Miller")?... (And go forth and explore that player, it'll even allow you to post it on your own website -- or your kid's if you're that type of family.)
You can preorder the album here or here.
You can preorder the album Disney = "Funky Old Songs": Los Lobos To Release New Kids Album
Well, it's not quite an album of songs from Mexico and Latin America along with some originals, but it'll be cool nonetheless, I should think -- Los Lobos is releasing a family-friendly album of Disney classics for a November release. Let's let Steve Berlin describe it (to Billboard):
"The conceptual framework is, we interpreted classic Disney songs like 'Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah,' 'When You Wish Upon A Star' and 'I Wanna Be Like You (The Monkey Song). There are no Elton John-era Disney tracks. But it came out really good, and we're all happy with it."Frankly, "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" gets covered enough, we probably don't need yet another version. That song is many things, but it is not a "funky old song," which is how Berlin describes the record. The mention of Los Lobos' contribution to Stay Awake, the collection of reinterpretations of Disney classics from artists such as Tom Waits, Sinead O'Connor, and Sun Ra, makes me think that, 20 years after the release of that album, it's time for a sequel. Sure, Disney's got their DisneyMania line, but most of those artists weren't, er, born when Stay Awake was released.
