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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

New Release Show Notes for 7-17-07

A couple of really fine CD’s were released this week and a few singles worth mentioning as well. Let’s jump right in with the best of this week.

First CD I’d like to bring to your attention is Suzanne Vega’s BEAUTY AND CRIME. It is WTMD’s CD of the week and it is a good choice. I happen to catch the 48 year-old singer/songwriter at the music conference in Louisville, KY, and she looked and sounded great. Ms. Vega put on a fine show that blended her older, familiar songs with the outstanding material from her new album. We’ve been playing the single “Frank & Ava,” but there are several good tracks on the disc including “Bound” and the track I played last night, “Zephyr And I.”

The next disc that caught my attention is the one from Alison Sudol. Alison goes by the pseudonym A Fine Frenzy. She is a wonderful singer/songwriter and her debut release on Virgin Records, ONE CELL IN THE SEA, is a strong showing. I had the delightful dilemma again of trying to pick which song to play for the show. Track number one, “Come On, Come Out” and number 14, “Borrowed Time” both were in the running but I ended up with track number 11, “Lifesize.” FYI, VH-1 is listing A Fine Frenzy as their “You Oughta Know” artist.

Machine Translations is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist and home-recordist J.Walker. He now resides in Melbourne, Australia and has six full-length albums to his name in his homeland but he is a relative unknown here in the states. We pulled down this single from the Internet; it’s called “Need A Miracle,” from the yet to be titled CD.

Next is the Magic Numbers. The two, brother and sister, duos make up the Magic Numbers: Romeo and Michele Stodart along with Sean and Angela Gannon. Their latest release, THOSE THE BROKES, was originally released in the UK back in the Fall of 2006. Astralwerks picked them up for distribution here in the US. Their US tour starts August 14th. We’re playing “This Is A Song” on our regular line-up so I wanted to give everyone a different take, so I played “Take A Chance,” which was the single in the UK.

The latest from Garbage is the album ABSOLUTE GARBAGE, which is a “Best Of” compilation with this new track, “Tell Me Where It Hurts,” thrown it to make it more interesting. And it does. TMD is actually a little ahead of the curve on this one. The CD doesn’t hit stores until next week. No tour has been announced yet but we’ll keep our ears open.

My personal favorite is the new CD from Patrick Cleandenim. This artist has put together a fine release. Patrick lives in New York but his album BABY COMES HOME was released in the UK in late May but the US debut isn’t until yesterday. And speaking of debuts, this is Patrick’s too. The tracks for his CD was recorded with an orchestra of twelve at Black Lodge Recording Studio in Eudora, Kansas, during the final months of 2005. In fact Mr. Cleandenim refers to his music as Orchestral Pop. Patrick is also an aspiring filmmaker. The little treat I played last night was called “Until You Said I’m Gone,”

Lastly is the album from Tegan and Sara. Originally from Calgary, Canada, these twin folk/rock sisters made an impact immediately in the Canadian music scene by earning the highest score in history at Calgary's "Garage Warz" competition in 1998. Then the next thing they knew, they were playing a handful of dates at Sara McLachlan’s LILITH FAIR that same year. Since that time Tegan & Sara have released four albums, the fourth being THE CON that was released today on Sire Records. This tune I played last night was “Back In Your Head.”

See you next week. TK

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