If they told me you'd be the one, I wouldn't have believed them

So when my stress levels get high enough, I have a habit of buying more music, only blindly. This is usually an incredibly stupid thing to do, as you can easily end up with some really terrible stuff no matter how good that 30 second clip is. Surprisingly, I'd had some really good luck in the last couple of years.

I saw a quick article about an new artist named Liz Tormes, never heard of her before, and apparently her stuff was folk/rock/blues which means the reviewer had really no clue how to classify. I decided what the hell and got her on iTunes (Limelight is the name of the album), and as a back up I bought some more David Gray since I figured he's be a safe bet, and because spending MORE money is always the answer...

Anyway, after listening to her, I agree with the reviewer, we have no freaking clue how to classify this person, but damn its a good album. If you're in the mood for something different, yet fantastic, download "Black Luck", its more of an emotional/musical painting rather than a traditional song. The whole album has this off-the-cuff, raw live feel. This won't be for everyone, if you only listen to very structured music stay the hell away from this one. But if you're in the mood for something different, give it a try.

As for the David Gray album "A New Day At Midnight", quite good, and the man continually finds ways of pissing me off. I should NOT LIKE the song "Be Mine". Its a freaking simple cheesy poppish song....but he has a way of perfect execution that takes stuff like that and makes it irresistible. Frankly the man is a genius when it comes to instrumentation, and can perfectly layout a track so it shines no matter what genre he decides to tackle. All my years of writing and playing music, and the knowledge that I couldn't even think of the stuff he comes up with in the most subtle ways to craft a song irritates me.

Speaking of stuff I shouldn't like. I hate cover albums. I usually hate most cover songs in general. Played live they're usually OK, but in recorded form they usually just fall apart. Either they're not even trying and just copying the song (so why am I buying it?) or putting a 'twist' on the song that usually involves a drum machine to turn it into a dance tune.

So why the hell am I enjoying "Reproductions" from Charlotte Martin so much? When I saw she was putting out a cover album I pretty much avoided it until I heard a clip on her site. That was "Bizzare Love Triangle", and it was a complete re imaging of the song that sounded incredible. I played it for Pam and she liked it as well. She even took songs I wasn't that fond of ("Cloudbusting" by Kate Bush) and made them not only listenable, but loveable.

Charlotte is definitely embracing the iTunes system, while she is putting out albums she's also putting other bits and pieces on iTunes as EPs. And I can't resist gobbling them up (see, thanksgiving reference, you can stop looking now). If you want to try one new artist, try her. Give her some love so she keeps the good stuff coming.