Friday night, counting at the keyboard

I thought I was going to get to bed early tonight, but I just discovered, while looking to see if Bill Maher is on tonight (he’s not), that HBO is playing the Ricky Gervais stand-up, “Out of England 2” at 11:00. (HA! I just realized that his special is following a Mel Gibson movie, which is pretty funny itself considering how Gervais skewered the anti-semitic GF-beater at the Golden Globes last year.) So, while I enjoy the fang-toothed British wit with the endearing, contagious laugh, I will attempt to catch up with some of this past week’s musical acquisitions. 

With one exception (to be discussed later), it’s been an onslaught of digital downloads for this first week of the new year. Some are freebies I can share, like BLOODSHOT BEST OF 2010 SAMPLER, eight tracks from the respected Americana-skewing indie. (You can grab one at amazon.com.)

There’s also a nifty gifty from Largehearted Boy, who hosts a great blog that offers free legal downloads on a daily basis.  ONE TRACK MIND  - The 10 Best Songs of 2010 includes Sarah Jaffe, The National and more. (Sorry, I went to the site to find the link for that particular collection, but I can’t find it.)

And then there were the zip files, sent from the publicists, for these new/upcoming releases:

AMOS LEE - Mission Bell

JONNY BURKE – Distance and Fortune

JJ – Kills

KELLI SCARR – Piece

WRETCHES & JABBERERS – 

Soundtrack with 20 tracks from a new film, with contributions from Ben Taylor, Judy Collins. Bob Weir, Paul Brady and more.

TINA DICO – Welcome Back Colour

Sent to me because Dico is coming to the area (but not real close) to play the Rams Head in Annapolis on January 30. The 2-disc album (if it were on discs) is a collection of her greatest hits (she’s big in Denmark) and five new tracks.

OBERHOFER – o0O0o0O0o 3-track 7”

That title is cool to look at a pain in the ass to replicate.

(Hmmmm….Gervais just did a bit about the pervert across the street who showed him “magic tricks” when his family went out. Not working. Back to the music….)

 ELIZABETH & The CATAPULT – The Other Side of Zero

The album was sent in advance of the group’s show last night at Jammin Java, which will be an examiner story/gallery soon. (That's Elizabeth, above) I also grabbed the band’s Daytrotter Session (4 tracks recorded live). If you haven’t visited Daytrotter's site, it’s worth checking out for all the live performances, mostly from bands flying just below the radar - although I got one from MGMT this afternoon.

(So, adding in those 12 bold-faced new titles, the O/CD Tally: 14)

As a writer who often has to describe what I'm listening to, I appreciate anyone who can make me laugh while explaining a band's sound. While I don’t listen to metal as a rule, I greatly enjoy reading press releases for their often awful/awesome descriptions of the material. Like the one which came for a band called American Heritage, whose Sedentary comes out on March 1 (which just so happens to be my birthday, for those who want to start shopping early). According the press email I got, Anthem  magazine described the music as "...Wagner after a bottle of Jack Daniel's and some ludes.”  


Something else fun to share. Here are a few samples from a project where graphic artists reinterpret covers from their favorite albums.

Well, time to go to bed. Gervais is done and, although I still count myself a fan, I wouldn't recommend this particular special. He admitted early on that it was a work in progress and some of the stuff would be dumped along the tour as he saw what worked and what didn't. I would say about a third of it wasn't up to his usual standard. The encore piece was yet another bit on child abuse which left me cold, as did some of the middle bits, too. But, as they say, that's show biz...

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G'night, all.