Review: Jennifer Knapp - "Letting Go"

One-time Christian rock singer Jennifer Knapp releases her first album since coming out as a lesbian, and her fourth major-label studio album overall. Letting Go should play well to her old fans, sounding very much like her albums on Christian label Gotee. Lyrically, the music has a spiritual bent but deals with more earthly desires. Heck, it even has swear words!

For those paying attention to Ms. Knapp's music for the first time, this album is a decent gateway. It's emotional folk-pop, a lot of strumming guitars and introspection. If you enjoy Mat Kearney, Matt Nathanson or Sara Bareilles, Letting Go is your cup of tea. I just wish the songs had better hooks, they run into each other and I have a hard time distinguishing between tracks. I would recommend Kansas, Jennifer's Gotee debut, over Letting Go.

Review: V.V. Brown - "Travelling Like The Light"

It's been several months since British fauxtown singer V.V. Brown released her debut album Travelling Like The Light here in the states. I kept hearing the single "Shark In The Water" on DMX 24, and I slowly became obsessed with this new variation on the Winehouse/Duffy sound that so many girls have been trying.

It's got a retro sound, but intermingling with the girl-group harmonies and tambourines are nods to the 80s electronic flourishes and 1970s punk. It has as much to do with the 60s as Grease 2, but that's OK. The songs are sticky bits of pop fluff with a soulful backbone. Nearly every track is a sing-along, and while it lacks the epic heartbreak of Amy Winehouse's modern retro masterpiece Back To Black, there are moments of real beauty.

"Bottles" reimagines "99 Bottles On The Wall" as a love song with a great garage rock sound, "L.O.V.E." covers its romantic sentiments with swing dancing, and "Shark In The Water" is simply genius. I'm afraid America might be too over saturated with retro pop acts, which is a shame because V.V. is worth a spin. Canada on the other hand?

Florence + The Machine Is "Heavy In Your Arms"

Florence + The Machine really snuck up on me. All the blogs were talking and I wasn't listening at first. But the one woman band wowed me with her "You've Got The Love" and again Sunday's VMA's. But my favorite track is from the Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack, "Heavy In Your Arms", the video for which appeared on the web this week. It's a strange B&W clip with a Paranormal Activity look, with no Twilight clips. But the real reason I'm posting it is because the song is 14 kinds of awesome. The dramatic vocals, the creepy instrumentation and the haunting lyrics combine to rock this single. My favorite line? "This will be my last confession/I love you never felt like any blessing/Whispering like it's a secret/Only to condemn the one who hears it/With a heavy heart"
Watch:

VH1's "100 Greatest Artist Of All Time" - Really?

I love lists. I love arguing over them, I love reading them, I love making them. I love lists.

So when I heard that VH1 would be counting down the 100 Greatest Artists Of All Time, as voted on by over 200 artists, I got excited. I knew The Beatles would be number one, because Boomers have been wacking off over them for so long that I think little babies are currently being born knowing the words to "Let It Be" and thinking they mean something important. I thought MJ might sneak ahead, but since only rock bands matter in this world, I shoulda known I'd be wrong.

But the list, which you can read in it's entirety here, pisses me off. Why? Cuz I like being pissed off. As usual, men make up the bulk of the list. Only 14 of the artists are female solo artists or have female leads.

Also, only one country artist (Johnny Cash) and one jazz musician (Ray Charles) made the list. And these men both crossed over into rock in major ways.

So who is missing? For starters, Dolly Parton, a songwriter and guitar player with a beautiful voice and major star power. Songs like "Jolene" and "Down From Dover" are some of the most powerful pieces of music I've ever heard. And while we're talking country, Loretta Lynn, Reba McEntire and Hank Williams could have replaced Van Morrison, Pearl Jam and Peter Gabriel on the list.

Moving past country, The Pretenders are the only band holding it down for the female rockers. Where are The Go-Go's or Pat Benatar? Or BLONDIE? For fuck's sake, they did everything The Police did AND had a disco hit!

And let's talk classic artists of the pre-rock era. Billie Holiday? Frank Sinatra? Judy Garland? really, these people mean nothing? What about Nina Simone? Did everyone miss "Mississippi Goddam"?

I must say, a few people did surprise me in a good way. ABBA making on was a delight. I really think they are greatly underrated. Listening to their full albums leave the listener a glimpse into a weird world of pop songs refracted through many genres throughout the world. And Justin Timberlake has a lot more up his sleeve than people see. Mary J. Blige is a gift as well.

I think what it comes down to is that musical appreciation is subjective. And what I love others may hate, and vice versa. I just hate the fact that men get the praise for doing the same thing over and over while women are presented as just sex objects with little talent.

Review: Robyn - "Body Talk" (Part 1 and 2)

Longtime readers of my blog may recall that I was obsessed with Robyn's triumphant return to the international pop scene in 2007 and 2008. While America didn't get on board with the "Show Me Love" singer's off-kilter millennium pop, the rest of the world was grooving to her collaboration with Kleerup and hijacking of Dave Chappelle lines.

Girlfriend is back, with a three album cycle called Body Talk. Part 1 released earlier this year and I dropped the ball with coverage. The 7 song disc (iTunes tacks on two bonus tracks) is fantastic. Some songs are a little schticky - "Dancehall Queen" is a reggae-via-No-Doubt jam, "Don't F******g Tell Me What To Do" is a monotone wonder and "None of Dem" hooks Robyn up with previous collaborator Royksopp for a M.I.A.-style world-meets-techno thing. The girl has a thing for robots, following up Robyn's "Robotboy" and Junior's "The Girl And The Robot" with Body Talk's "Fembot." It's an obsession I can get behind if the tunes stay this good. The real star is lead single, "Dancing On My Own" which finds Robyn returning to the heart-wrenching "sad gay disco songs" template of "Be Mine!" and "With Every Heartbeat." She has a wheelhouse she can embrace. The album closes with an acoustic version of "Hang With Me" - which shows up again on Part 2 in it's pop version.


Body Talk Part 2 is a little more focused. Euro-pop curls up with hip-hop and dance, with lots of 80s influences. The first four songs create a mini-album of dancefloor fillers with heart and soul like "Hang With Me." Meanwhile, "We Dance To The Beat" is the kind of crazy that fans of Bjork and M.I.A. can appreciate. And Snoop Dogg returns the favor after Robyn spiced up a remix of "Sexual Eruption" by trading "Curriculum Vitae"-style brags on "U Should Know Better." It's equal parts awesome and ridiculous - from Robyn claiming to tell the Vatican what's up on race, sexism and celibacy in one line, to mispronouncing French words on purpose. The closing track is an acoustic version of a gorgeous song called "Indestructible" that I have no doubt will be a show stopper on Part 3.