This Week's Newest and Best Music
We are thoroughly unimpressed with the shows in town this week. We will let you decide if that's because there are no good shows or that we are a little dead inside. Despite the lack of good shows, there are some pretty hot new CDs out to satisfy your music fix.
Our personal favorite is 'Illinois' by Sufjan Stevens. If you don't know who Sufjan is (if we may be so bold as to call him by his first name), he is a young singer/songwriter who writes incredibly pretty, sad, and uplifting songs. If that wasn't enough, he has decided to release an album about each of the 50 states. This may sound weird and a little gimmick-y, but we assure you it's really cool. He's like a magical combination of Nick Drake and Charles Kuralt (thankfully for him he looks more like Nick Drake than Charles Kuralt).
Also, 'Illinois' got a 9.2 rating from Pitchfork, if you like your indie cred.
From his 'Illinois' album download:
'The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts'
For NPR, he recorded this song about Brinkley, Arkansas: 'The Lord God Bird'
On the other end of the music spectrum, Missy Elliott's has a hot new album, 'The Cookbook' that is a welcome return to her old slammin' form. Like any Missy album, 'The Cookbook' features stellar production from the Neptunes and Timbaland and guests including the newly incarcerated Lil' Kim, Mike Jones and Slick Rick. This isn't Missy's finest work, but its still better than most albums out there.
Also out this week is the soundtrack for the 'Fantastic Four' movie, but if you're into that we have nothing to say, though in our head we are making fun of you.
