Cecil Gant- Cecil Gant '44-'45 (Flyright 61)

Blues pianist who had a number one hit with the ballad "I Wonder" in the early forties and later recruited Nashville session players on guitar and bass for boogie stomp numbers, the kind of music that Jerry Lee Lewis would later steal, I mean imitate. Unfortunately Gant didn't live to see the advent of Rock'N'Roll, a genre that he inadvertently helped usher in, because he died at the ripe age of 38. Gant wasn't the best singer or most technical piano player but he imbued his music with personality and humor and created

some rollicking harbingers for today's music purveyors, and imitators.

Buy this record when you wanna wash down those farm-fresh eggs with a glass of milk from the bottle.

www.bluesnexus.com/bio.php?id=400 

Ducktails- Live on WFMU 12/19/08

In-studio performance from Real Estate sideman Matthew Mondanile, who goes by the moniker Ducktails, on the legendary not-for-profit radio station WFMU, based in Jersey City, NJ. This show predates the Jersey native's critically acclaimed Arcade Dynamics III album (check out my upcoming review of it at: www.myspoonful.com) by a year or so. Ducktails live set at this point consisted of heaping spoonfuls of wah-wah guitar, delirious keyboard buffers, and improvised jams. Mondanile is now working on putting together a traditional band arrangement for Ducktails live shows.
Note: this set is, or at least was, available through Inflated Records as a vinyl release, and perhaps as a download?

Buy this record if you yearn for the Jersey Shore that isn't being defamed on that popular cable channel.

www.myspace.com/ducktailss

Daniel Thomas Freeman- The Beauty Of Doubting Yourself

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A soundtrack for the apocalypse, the theme song for a dystopian republic, London-based Freeman conjures images of a bleak and foreboding world with his ambient drones, whirling wind vacuums, and clattering chimes. He does a good job of invoking the spirit of Terry Riley on "The Might of Angels" where an Om-like cello drifts in and out as a single violin note lingers, as if on the precipice of a storm that never quite materializes. There is a lot to explore here but it's going to take patience on the listener's part.

Buy this record if you want to ponder the day with the moon in the sky.

www.descendingangel.com

Jurgen Muller- Science Of The Sea

A kaleidoscopic synth exploration of the oceans deep by an amateur German composer with minimal formal training on the piano. It's really an exercise in meditation with some beautifully succinct moments. Anyone who loves the water will appreciate the earnestness of this work.

Buy this record for a meandering drive down the coast.

www.digitalisindustries.com/digiv034.html

Greenwood Sharps- Things Familiar EP

More of the soup du jour, laptop dubstep. There is nothing more boring than going to a music venue to watch some guy sit in front of his fucking computer. Seriously, what happened to fire-spitting, guitar-spinning, flash pods exploding, performance art theatrics? If any musician could it should be these laptop artists, simply program your beats then start running around the stage blowing shit up and drooling blood while smearing feces on yourself. Anyway, this is busier dubstep than British counterpart James Blake, who draws a comparison here. Not sure why James Blake is getting everyone's lunch money instead of Greenwood Sharps, but that's the magic of the music machine.

Buy this record if you want to bunt with the bases loaded.

www.greenwoodsharps.com

Shabazz Palaces- Black Up

Over-hyped space rap, stepped in static laptop beats, R&B samples, and found sounds from former Digable Planets dude. cLOUDDEAD was doing this ten years ago, albeit with murkier beats and self-effacing lyrics. This is definitely rap aimed at a white audience.

Buy this record if the club doesn't have vodka service and you want to burn one out in the parking lot but it's too cold.

www.shabazzpalaces.com

The Dodos- No Color

Tribal in nature, pounding floor toms, frantically strummed acoustic guitars coupled with pulsing electric guitars, oh, and lots of tambourine. The vocals stand out as the incongruent piece, faux-crooning, emotively twee-ish with soaring background choruses, which takes them out of a hippie family circle and squarely into the indie world. Not sure why Neko Case is singing backup on this record though, her distinct voice is rendered homogenous here, they could have used any female singer for those parts. The band calls the Best City in America their home, San Frantastic, so points for that.

Buy this record if you can't choose between the endive and the watercress.

www.dodosmusic.net