Annie Crane - Jump With A Child's Heart
As a radio DJ I get sent an enormous amount of cd's. Some good and some bad, but it's very rare indeed to encounter a cd like Jump With A Child's Heart. Sparse on instruments but rich with sounds. With only six different musical instruments plus some percussion producers Frank Hoier and Annie Crane herself made the best use possible of, not only those instruments but most certainly of their vocals. The nine songs on the album bring you just under 29 minutes of pure bliss as far as music is concerned. Some might find it to short for a full album but personally I like them short and wanting you more of it. Yes, I love the excelent lyrics, the almost to perfection proportioned music surrounding those lyrics and I love Annie Crane for bringing this jewel of an album into the world.
BettySoo & Doug Cox - Across The Borderline: Lie To Me
Across The Borderline: Lie To Me is proof that music knows no distance or man made bounderies. Living some 2,500 miles apart BettySoo and Doug Cox somehow got together, managed to select ten of the best songs around and completely make them their own. The opening and title track Lie To Me instantly brings the vision of a hot and humid evening, a veranda, rockingchair, hope, dispair and a woman singing her heart, out setting the scene for the rest of the album.
Two voices, two guitars and that's it. Not many artists could pull it off to make a good record with just these few ingredients but BettySoo and Doug Cox made a great album doing just that. Their musical abillity, knowledge of their musical limitations and deep understanding of what the author had in mind when the songs where written make for one of the best albums of 2011.
Chatham Street - Last One Out
There's something about this album that keeps me coming back to it again and again. Is it Christal's pleasant voice, her clear pronunciation or the range of her voice? Is it Peter's quietly and subdued way of playing that support and enhance the songs? Or, is it the lyrics that tell stories that, although some are written from a very personal perspective, we all can relate to and identify with? I guess it's the whole package Chatham Street has lovingly put together on this round disc they aptly named "Last One Out". Christal and Peter Prout are not trying to make pop but music that matters without being pretentious about it. Would I buy a follow up to Last One Out? What do you think ........?
Alicia McGovern - Words Through The Seasons
I've just finished listening to Words Through The Season and the 41.17 minutes it took playing have been the most enjoyable time span listening to music I've experienced in a long time!
Apart from the first 23 seconds of You Do Not Bring Me Flowers (number 6 on the cd) Alicia had me completely spellbound for the full spin of the CD.
It's one of this years best cd's and I LOVE IT ! ! ! ! !
Tangarine - Wintersongs: The December sessions
Warmte, gevoeligheid, herkenning het overkomt je vanaf de eerste tonen van de nieuwe cd Wintersongs: The December sessions.
De diversiteit die Sander en Arnout Brinks in de vorm van Tangerine uit hun schier onuitputtelijke koker weten te schudden is een ding, maar dat zij daarbij het item kwaliteit nimmer uit het oog verliezen maakt hun werk uitzonderlijk.
Ingrid Serban - Grandma's House (single) (Painted Sun Records)
Not an album this time but a single
The song and lyrics radiates such a warm feeling that it took me back to my childhood, and still after seven spins in the player (i do take my reviews serious) it was a real pleasure hearing Ingrid's voice and listening to the lyrics over and over again. If Grandma's House by Ingrid Serban is an example of an upcoming cd, boy oh boy are we in for a treat!
Fred Odell - Carquinez
For me Fred Odell's new cd Carquinez is like a breath of fresh air in a densly populated Americana / Roots corner of the music business. On this 12 song cd Odell shows the world what directions you can take with Americana music without skidding of the road at the first corner. A little rough around the edges with Fred's voice (just as it should be) but with the instrumentation kept in place as a counter balance makes for a most enjoyable listening experience with several surprises along the way like the instrumental Crepuscule.
If I had to pick one song as my favorite it has to be Only For You. A beautifull delicate song with just enough instrumental support to keep you wanting to listen until the very last note has died away. Perfectly balanced with guitar, bass, cello, and in the background a touch of steel wich , thank God, never claims it's moment of fame as these things so often annoyingly do. Delightfull backing vocals at excactly the right places and moments. And I haven't even mentioned Fred's voice yet. Warm with just that bit of an edge (there it is again) to give the song it's feeling and credibillity. Everything in service of the song. Superb!
Forest Sun - Harlequin Goodnight (Painted Sun Records)
Harlequin Goodnight is alweer het zevende album van Forest sun. Een heerlijk relaxte cd die de luisteraars van Folk en Zo ongetwijfeld zéér zullen waarderen. Forest heeft een erg aangename stem en wordt daarbij met maar een paar instrumenten begeleid. Zijn songs zijn net schilderijen waarbij de muziek de omlijsting is en zijn stem en teksten het eigenlijke schilderij. Maar net als bij schilderijen hebben ook zijn songs die omlijsting nodig om het plaatje compleet te maken. Je kent die schilderijen wel die je aandacht blijven trekken. Zo is het ook met Harlequin Goodnight. Zodra de laatste klanken van het slotnummer Your Horizon zijn weggeebt kijk je al uit naar het volgende nummer. Tip, zet je speler op repeat!
Krista DeTor - Chocolate Paper Suites (Corazong)
Wat ook mooi is is de nieuwe cd Chocolate Paper Suites van Krista DeTor. Een cd vol met muzikale ontdekkingen zoals alleen een vrouw dat kan doen. Juist....... met de nodige chocolade overgoten, maar in Krista's geval is het zeker geen mierzoet product geworden. Integendeel. Excact waar zij goed in is. Inteligente teksten omgoten met dito muzikale klanken. Niets overdreven, maar alles in juiste proportie. Precies zoals chocolade genuttigd dient te worden.
