CD of the Week: Raphael's Rockin' Retro Rolls Into Future

You could forgive Raphael Saadiq for feeling giddy. The Tony! Toni! Tone! frontman, producer (Joss Stone, D'Angelo) and multi-instrumentalist started out the year playing guitar alongside Mick Jagger at the Grammy's during a rollicking Solomon Burke tribute.

So why not aim high on his new record? Right out of the gate, on "Heart Attack" from WTMD's new CD of the Week Stone Rollin', Saadiq ambitiously channels the Jackson's "Shake Your Body Down (to the Ground)" with a dirty guitar riff that boogies with the best of them.

And whether it's Motown he's channeling or early rock and roll,  Saadiq brings so much zeal and love to his influences that the music sounds as contemporary, cool and snazzy as the suits and sweaters he favors.

CD of the Week: A Compact and Content Wye Oak

WTMD's CD of the Week, Civilian, features Wye Oak's apparent new fondness for shorter songs.

The Baltimore duo of singer/guitarist Jenn Wasner and drummer/keyboardist Andy Stack still build suspense through hushed and sparse beginnings to explosive crescendos- check out Wasner's guitar shredding in the title song.

But Stack's overall tighter arrangements maintain a mood, helping to balance his counterpart's conflicted lyrics about a relationship's end and her quest to find happiness in solitude.

Enjoy this video for "Fish," from Baltimore painter Katherine Fahey, who made the paper dolls, and photographer Michael O'Leary.

CD of the Week: Paul Simon's Rock of Faith

Christmas was a few months go that the song that opens  Paul Simon‘s So Beautiful or So What, seems late to the party.

On “Getting Ready for Christmas Day,” a sample of a 1941 sermon by Rev. J.M. Gates anchors a contemporary mortality tale. And that sets the mood for Simon’s musings on reaching the Pearly Gates on “The Afterlife,”  another standout track on the CD.

Simon returns to speaking in straight ahead rock and roll “Love & Blessings.”
So Beautiful or So What doubtlessly will rank with Paul Simon’s best.

CD of the Week: Listen to The Damnwells

Perseverance pays off on their new fan-funded release, No One Listens to the Band Anymore, WTMD's new CD of the Week.

Getting to this new CD has a back story worth telling.

The Damnwells poured their hearts and souls into into their latest CD only to see it sit on the shelf...and it wasn't even their own shelf.

The Damnwells were signed to Epic in 2004. Following a year of studio immersion for what eventually would become Air Stereo, the release date for the record repeatedly got pushed back until frontman Alex Dezen received the bad news they had been dropped by the label.

The setback only strengthened the resolve of Dezen and bassist Ted Hudson, who stayed together throughout those days of devastating setbacks chronicled in the cant-miss music documentary, Golden Days.

Dezen's lush vocals and sophisticated alt-pop songwriting take on a Neil Finn-like quality.

On the acoustic number, "The Great Unknown," Dezen nods to misfortune, "We are not afraid/we are underpaid/and waiting for the world to disappear."

Thankfully for us, The Damnwells have not.

Listen all week as we take you deep into the welcome return from The Damnwells!

CD of the Week: Amos Lee's Desert Soul

Out of the Desert Southwest city that produced such turbulent and tragic headlines recently, comes some beautiful, soothing, soul-searching sounds from Amos Lee.

Joey Burns of Calexico produced WTMD's CD of the week, Lee's fantastic Mission Bell.

A chance meeting led to Lee packing his bags for Tucson to join Burns and John Convertino (whose drum rolls stand out on the TMD favorite, "Windows are Rolled Down") at Calexico's Wavelab Studios (where Neko Case recorded some of Middle Cylcone)

The Philly-native simply strummed, minimalist songs breathe with wide-eyed added dimension thanks to Burn's expansive brushstrokes of mandolins, pedal steel, organs, horns and other earthy instruments.

Lucinda Williams, Sam Beam of Iron and Wine and Greg Leisz lend their talents, as does the great Willie Nelson, whose comforting, nasal croon graces the closing song, "El Camino (Reprise)."

A fine album for a desert highway, or maybe even a desert island, listen all week long for tracks from Mission Bell.

WTMD's CD of the Week: Allman's Joy of the Blues

"Lord I felt sure like was dying" an unnerved Gregg Allman  growls on Sleepy John Estes' 'Floating Bridge," which opens his mostly covers record and first solo release in 14 years, Low Country Blues.

Far from a last will and testament- he recorded WTMD's featured CD of the Week just before his liver transplant last June- the Estes song and producer T-Bone Burnett's, almost, supernatural way of "getting" him somewhat spooked the Allman Brothers singer and keyboardist. And so did Burnett's fondness for keepng first takes!

The dark piano rolls of Dr. John (who gets credited with his real name Mac Rebnnack),  Doyle Bramhall II's rock guitar brushstrokes and some seductive brass add an uptown sophistication to Allman's homage to rural blues heroes like Skip James and Muddy Waters.

But, it's Allmans' commanding, redemption-seeking voice and Hammond B3 prowess that's not to be missed. Listen all week to hear more tracks from WTMD' CD of the Week!

Check out a live version of the opener, with Allman giving some heartfelt thanks for a second chance.





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CD of the Week: The Decemberists Keep it Sweetly Simple

"Here we come to a turning of the season," Colin Meloy declares over a bluesy harmonica riff which opens WTMD's new CD of the Week, The King is Dead.

It's an organic, straightforward return for this Portland, Oregon band, whose ambitious The Hazards of Love, featured a hard-to-digest plot line and cast of characters. The Decemberists new salt of the earth songs come courtesy of the comfortingly familiar, Fables of the Reconstruction-era guitar and mandolin of REM's Peter Buck, some sweet steel guitar from multi-instrumentalist Chris Funk and the ghostly Appalachian background vocals of Gillian Welch, who sings on most of the album's ten tracks.

A serene, seasonally-themed album that sees Meloy mining American roots influences rather than his usual English folk muse, The Decemberists' The King is Dead makes the first, "now top that!" statement in 2011. Listen this week on WTMD to hear more!

CD of the Week: Stornaway Bursts Technologies' Bubble

Named after a remote town on a  Scottish island,  Stornaway brings a rustic sound to Beachcomber's Windowsill.

The CD is full of Celtic-sounding strings, banjos, parlor pianos, and campfire harmonies so attractive, it's a WTMD CD of the Week natural.  These guys are no academic slouches with two of members having graduated from Oxford University with PhD's and bonded over their mutual love of Teenage Fanclub.

The songs include tracks like "We Are the Battery Human" which speaks of a yearning for a return to nature and by ditching smart phones. Their references to technology's effect on culture are something we can all relate to and are peppered throughout the album.

The glee of "Zorbing" is an endorphin-rush of first love combined with the sensory overload of an extreme sport.  Zorbing the sport,  places a person inside a huge plastic bubble and rolling it down hillsides and around city streets.

Take a listen all week long as we feature all the tracks from Beachcomber's Windowsill.

Best Coast's Wild, Innocent Beach Shuffle

There’s nothing like the innocent sounds of surf rock and girl groups to mask the desperate pain within. Best Coast’s cathartic California beach pop counters the tortured relationships of its airy, yet alluring siren, Bethany Cosentino.

And like some of the sandy summer singles of the past, she and multi-instrumentalist partner Bobb Bruno keep things simple, with only one song clocking in at over three minutes. Earworm “Boyfriend” typifies the direct and revealing nature of Cosentino’s confessionals, though, it’s not all tortured diary entries; her cover cat, Snacks, inspires one of the tracks on Crazy for You.

Like another Golden State frontwoman, Jenny Lewis, Consentino acted as a child, appearing in local and national commercials. And while lyrically dramatic, the happy, sun-kissed, Everly Brothers-inspired sound of Best Coast might make you play beach blanket bingo with Annette and Frankie, or in the case of the video for "When I'm With You," a certain burger-hawking clown.

JJ Grey and Mofro: Singing Songs About the Swampland

There must be something in the water in Jacksonville, Florida besides gators.

Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi make sweet sounds together and with their respective bands in their home studio. And fellow Northern Floridian J.J. Grey re-creates a Staxx-era vibe with old amps and worn-out microphones at St. Augustine’s Resophonics- where he’s recorded since he was eighteen.

A homespun album with a native insect serving as the title inspiration gets CD of the Week honors this week.

Georgia Warhorse gives off a swamp-like funk and seductively moistens the brow on tracks like “Slow, Hot and Sweaty” and the New Orleans-flavored opener “Diyo Dayo,” while Florida land grabbers and other bad guys get Grey’s ire in “The Hottest Spot in Hell,” which features a killer kick drum and fuzzy guitar riff.

Two tracks put the latest from this talented multi-instrumentalist and his collective Mofro ahead of their country-blues class: “The Sweetest Thing” which features Grey coaxing reggae maestro Toots Hibbert into a standout vocal performance and the ecologically-themed Southern rock ballad “King Hummingbird.”

Trucks’s unmistakable melodic note bends close out the album on “Lullaby,” a pine-soaked sendoff from two musicians who make the swamp sound like the land of milk and honey.

CD of the Week: Kings of Contradictions

The Followill boys traded in thrift shop clothes and garage band sounds for Fifth Avenue threads and arena-rocking musicianship for their 2008 worldwide smash Only by the Night. And while the follow-up Come Around Sundown stops just short of outright rejecting fame, high fashion and rock hedonism, the sons and nephew of a preacher man sound like they want to go home again.


“It’s in the water, it’s where you came from,” Caleb Followill wails over an ‘amen’ gospel corner and the familiar wall of ringing guitars from cuz Matthew on “Radioactive,” while on “The Face,” the frontman croons, “If you give up New York, I’ll give up Tennessee.”

It’s an interesting benchmark for Kings of Leon whose quest for authenticity sometimes conflicts with the instantly anthemic music they, now, prolifically craft. While showing disdain for bandwagon fans live, Caleb’s made-for-rock growl and his relatives’ growing mastery of their instruments seem poised to once again to get more people to hop onboard.

A Deceptively Sophisticated Mobile Home

A true radical in sheep’s clothing, Nellie McKay defies convention once again on her latest, Home Sweet Mobile Home.

A year after a Verve-released Doris Day covers CD, the English-born, New York-bred songwriter opens our new CD of the Week with the vulnerable “Bruise on the Sky,” which asks to be sent a “smile like Charo.”

And like the award-winning flamenco guitarist and frequent Love Boat guest star with the wide-eyed “cuchi-cuchi”- catch phrase, Mc Kay’s throwback beauty and broad grin (she looks like she should be on a chewing gum commercial) may deceive the uninitiated into thinking she’s, well, ditzy!

But, underneath the perky, ukulele strum on “Adios,” it doesn’t take long to get a sense of her Randy Newman-like biting wit, sense of irony and comedic timing.

An expert musical masher, you’ll hear reggae on Mobile Home - she recorded several tracks in Jamaica- as well as meringue, tin-pan alley, calypso, gospel, and a New Orleans brass stomp.

Self-produced by the artist and her mother, actress Robin Pappas, and with help from David Byrne, this true chameleon and social activist (she's an outspoken vegan- and hilariously sings about it on "Unkown Reggae") proves once again brains and beauty are not mutually exclusive.

Elvis Costello's Generous Offer

Whether it's a vintage, Steve Nieve organ riff on the title track,  the vaudevillian, Depression-era chamber pop of "Jimmie Standing in the Rain", or the Doc Watson-inspired "Dr. Watson, I Presume," Elvis Costello elevates American music to contemporary heights. His co-genre explorer and producer T-Bone Burnett (their 2'nd straight collaboration)  calls Costello the most generous of artists. And the two dish out a generous helping of delicious mash ups and guests on National Ransom, like dobro maestro Jerry Douglas playing lap steel and versitile guitarist Marc Ribo jamming on the title song and Leon Russell pounding out his boogie piano deep in the record.

From the exploding oil derricks and the wolf making off with the loot on the provocative album cover, it seems Elvis has something to say about moral and monetary bankruptcy and sets each of the 16 songs in a specific place and year.

Learning from the musical glory and the mistakes from scoundrels from America's past seems to dominate the mood on this weeks' CD of The Week. But, it's way more fun to dive into than a history lesson!

CD of the Week: Rustic, Rural Ray

Despite a co-credit with his touring band the Pariah Dogs,  Ray LaMontagne flies solo in the sense that he's left longtime producer Ethan Johns and produced God Willin' and the Creek Don't Rise himself at his home studio in Western Massachusetts.

The gritty, seductive opener "Repo Man" teases with a naughty blues riff, but the rest of the album settles into a gentler groove.  Greg Leisz's pedal steel exudes warmth on "Beg, Steal or Borrow."

His shy, rural-image ever present, on "New York City's Killing Me," LaMontagne's voice marinates in such sweet, mystic tones that you too will want to surrender to the call of the wild.

CD of the Week: As I Call You Down

Three songwriters walk into a studio. They have three days of recording time but nothing written. When Ben Harper, Joseph Arthur and Dhani Harrison left the studio, they emerged as a harmonious new group.

Fistful of Mercy's debut As I Call You Down may be an acoustic one-off, a la Monsters of Folk. After all, Harper's career alone has touched on folk, gospel and straight-ahead rock during the past few years. But the album rewards repeat listening with standouts like the title track and "Father's Son."

Fistful of Mercy perform at Sixth and I Synagogue in Washington, D.C., on November 16.

CD of the Week: Mobile Chateau

Matt Costa embraces the sound of the British Invasion on his new album Mobile Chateau. It's a natural progression for an artist who broke through on the Beatle-esque piano pop of 2008's "Mr. Pitiful." 

And, new music video notwithstanding, this isn't just a case of an artist dressing up in vintage clothes of musicians past. Costa uses the 60's sound as a launching pad to develop a new take on the psychedelic era.

Matt Costa and Everest perform at the Black Cat in Washington, D.C., on November 7.

CD of the Week: Catching a Tiger

Last year Lissie released the critically acclaimed E.P. Why You Runnin'. Recorded with Band of Horses' bassist Bill Reynolds, the Illinois-based country folk singer established herself as an artist to watch. Her full-length debut Catching a Tiger fulfills the promise. 

Tracks such as "In Sleep" showcase her guitar chops while "Stranger" could be a b-side from a 60's girl group. With admirers that include Katy Perry and David Lynch, Lissie is poised for a major breakthrough.

Lissie performs at the 9:30 Club on Wednesday, October 20.

CD of the Week: We Walk This Road

Robert Randolph and the Family Band's fourth studio album started with a musical education. To find new material, Randolph teamed with legendary producer T Bone Burnett to delve into more than 100 years of music.

"T Bone brought in old archival songs from the twenties and thirties," Randolph writes. "I had songs that I had written with the band, or that other artists had sent me, and we sat down and starting sifting through history." 

The resulting album features a musical gumbo of covers and traditional songs that Randolph and Burnett reworked musically and lyrically, including the single, "If I Had My Way." Based on a Blind Willie Johnson tune, guest Ben Harper contributes guitar work and shares vocal duties on Randolph's new lyrics. More contemporary tracks include covers of John Lennon's "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier Mama" and Prince's "Walk Don't Walk," adding additional fuel to Randolph's already incendiary live show.

CD of the Week: Street Songs of Love

Alejandro Escovedo's tenth studio album, Street Songs of Love, was created on the stage. The influential singer-songwriter set up a weekly residency in an Austin club for two months, previewing three works-in-progress each week and testing them out on his willing audiences. 

“It was interesting to see it grow and blossom," he writes. "It started with the room half full, but it built until the last one sold out. Every week it became more intense with the album taking shape in front of us organically." 

The resulting collection continues Escovedo's arc as a vital songwriter, from his punk days in the '70s and '80s to his critically acclaimed solo career that took off in the '90s. Standout tracks "Anchor" and "Tender Heart" are a great introduction to Escovedo's work.

CD of the Week: Truth and Salvage Co.

Amid this year's California country rock renaissance (see Dawes, Band of Horses, et. al), Truth and Salvage Co. stand out on the collective strength of their soaring harmonies and four principal singer-songwriters.

The Black Crowes' Chris Robinson produced the band's self-titled debut album, which boasts the irresistible "Call Back," some gorgeous lap steel work on "Old Piano" and an appearance by North Mississippi Allstars' Luther Dickinson.

Truth and Salvage Co. are on tour with Big Head Todd and the Monsters and they'll hit the road again with The Black Crowes this fall.