Spin/Spun

I'm heading off to Connecticut today and probably won't have time to update this blog before next week so I thought I'd post today. The Stars' Comeback EP is a cute bit of indie pop, incorporating electronic beats on one track, string arrangements on another. One song even makes me think of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, as much for the lyrics as the simple piano and bass that supports the song. Romantica is the latest Luna album. I had stopped listening to them after Penthouse but caught this one playing at the Grey Dog Cafe. I couldn't place it at first, and had to ask the waitress. Then it all clicked. Somehow, after seven albums, they've managed to come out with a new album that reworks their sound to very good effect. One song, interestingly, has a very "Radio Song" intro to it... I've been listening to a lot of classical music this week to calm my nerves (it's been a bit frustrating this week) and so I've been listening to Mitsuko Uchida's renditions of Mozart's solo piano work. It's a hefty box of music to get through, but it was just what the doctor ordered. And the new Norah Jones. I thought her first album was really boring. The new one delves a little more into roots music, and I find that it's much more grounded. Plus the production and engineering on it are great. I love the way the bass sounds on the first song. It's still doesn't keep my interest all the way through, but it's a marked improvement over the last.     As far as singles are concerned, there's only been one that I keep returning to again and again. And that's Norma Fraser's "The First Cut is the Deepest" from the Studio One Soul compillation that came out a while back. I heard that song for the first time in a Brooklyn cafe cum record store (I can't for the life of me remember the name at the moment) and then had to buy the record. I've since worn out that one groove.