New Music Tuesday – May 5, 2009

St. Vincent – Actor
(Buy it in iTunes or on Amazon.)

2007 was a really, really good year for music. So good, in fact, that St. Vincent’s Marry Me was lost a little in the wake of huge releases from established artists. That was the year Feist’s The Reminder came out, permanently etched into our brains by Apple’s iPod commercial. Radiohead released In Rainbows. It was like that all year long. There were literally dozens of others.

Still, out of all the great music from that year, St. Vincent’s Marry Me ended up being one of my favorite albums. Today she’s back with Actor. From what I can tell, this album is poised to get a lot of well-deserved attention. Annie Clark’s voice is almost like a musical instrument, dancing lightly and airy one moment, gravely and sincere the next. As was true with her prior efforts, this album deserves multiple listens, from start to finish. It’s complex, but easy on the ears at the same time, no easy feat. It will be easy to pick out something new with each listen.

Go pick up this album. Your friends will all be talking about it in three months.

Cracker – Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey
(Buy it in iTunes or on Amazon.)

What? Cracker is still around? They have a new album today? And it’s good? Sign me up.

This album is very 1990s, and I always use that as a compliment. Listening quickly through the tracks, it’s amazing how it instantly transports me back to HFStival ‘96 at RFK stadium in Washington, DC where my high school friends I stood all the way up by the front of the stage in the very, very sweaty crowd so we could get a good view of the band. Sometimes a drunk guy would spill beer on us. 21 seemed so old! I can hardly believe that was 13 years ago. Okay, now I feel old.

David Lowery’s voice is exactly the same now as it was then. How does he do that? And how does Cracker take such a simple-sounding version of American rock and make it 100% uniquely theirs? Johnny Hickman’s guitar work should probably take a lot of the credit, too.

This is going to be a great warm-weather album. If I had a porch, I’d put this on the stereo and sit outside with a well-stocked cooler. I’ll have to settle for an open window in my basement apartment. The music will take care of the rest.