I discovered Ingrid Michaelson awhile back and have consistently had a difficult time keeping her work out of my playlists. Girls and Boys is most definitely a masterpiece in the singer/songwriter genre. Wonderful, smart lyrics, great performances, and wonderful recording. It really doesn't get much better than this. I guess one of the tunes, The Way I Am, was on an Old Navy commercial. I wasn't aware of that until I started reading about Ingrid. Don't let that stop you - the song is great and The Hat and Die Alone are at least as good. Staring Now and Highway are also most definitely worth your time. Heck, the whole album is worth your time - I rarely skip a track.

The Way I Am is kind of a smokey, jazz song with wonderful upright bass working in the background. The recording captures the nuances of that sound perfectly. It follows The Hat, an up tempo pop/folk song that I can't help but sing along with. Much in the same vein as Lucy Kaplansky or Kris Delmhorst - two of my favorite folk artists. Definitely folk, but more on the urban side. Not much twang working here. I also dig the opening track, Die Alone, another nice urban folk song.

I hear Ingrid is opening for Dave Matthews - great for her - but she would work equally well at the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival. Definitely a rising star here that I'm rooting for. How in the world she went so long without being discovered is beyond me...

echolocations (formerly inRadio) is no more. I've subscribed to echolocations for several years and have found it to be a great source of indie music that is farther outside the mainstream than what I learn about through Paste and the review websites I frequent. Thankfully Pitchfork and Metacritic are still around and seem to be thriving. I guess I'll be on the lookout for a new sampler CD service to support. So long echolocations - it was nice while it lasted.

I spent part of my evening last night listening to Tortoise and Bonny Prince Billy's collaboration called The Brave And The Bold. Excellent collaboration on the experimental side of rock and jazz. Highly recommended if you like this kind of stuff. Not a typical Tortoise album in my mind, but excellent none-the-less. The album is worth getting just for the opening track, Cravo E Canela, a cover of the classic Daniel, and a Pancho. The latter is a wonderful reference to Pancho, the Tonto character from the Cisco Kid. A bit before my time, but I remember watching the reruns when I was a kid.

Wow. I don't run into new things very often that make me this happy. The Midnight Organ Fight is a rare treat and I definitely agree with Pitchfork's 8.1 rating, although I think I would have gone even a bit higher. I was unfamiliar with Frightened Rabbit prior to hearing this album and I'll definitely be on the lookout for more of their work. I suppose this work falls in the alt-folk or folk-rock genre, reminding me of the local Lawrence band, Old Canes. As Pitchfork points out, Frightened Rabbit, like Belle and Sebastian is from Glasgow. However, Frightened Rabbit is much more a traditional indie rock band than Belle and Sebastian. Plus, you'll definitely hear their accents push through now and then. A great thing in my opinion.

The album opens with two 5 star tracks, The Modern Leper and I Feel Better. The first is a classic, upbeat indie rock anthem. Excellent song and excellent performance. The second is also excellent in a similar vein - upbeat indie rock, but with a bit more playing around with rhythms and a few more strings at work. Where The Modern Leper has a few folk twinges here and there, I Feel Better is a straight up pop/rock tune. Again, excellent song and excellent performance.

Good Arms vs. Bad Arms slows things up a bit and throws in what sounds like pedal steel guitar and acoustic guitar replacing the electric stuff. (I won't swear that it's a pedal steel, but it would seem that's the sound their looking for.) This song and Fast Blood tend to give a nod to Dave Matthews, but they certainly are not Dave Matthews clones. Old Old Fashioned is the folkiest track on the album and is what really reminds me of Old Canes. Somehow it fits perfectly in the song sequence. Finally, The Twist begins to move back towards traditional indie rock sounds, but still with a twinge of folk or old time sounds. When the chorus kicks in we're definitely back to indie rock, but in a gentle way. Bright Pink Bookmark is the first song on the album that I did not get 4 or 5 stars. It's a short instrumental filler, but I don't skip it. Head Rolls Off puts things back on solid, indie rock footing. Nice organ work leading again to a folk-tinged indie rock song.

The remainder of the album stays true to form and quite excellent. Floating in the Forth is the remaining five star song on the album. Once again, a kind of indie-rock anthem. Big, full sounds nicely put together.

I really do like The Midnight Organ Fight and would have to include it on my top finds of 2008 list. As you might gather, I put in squarely in the indie rock genre. Some albums are difficult to classify properly, but this one certainly is not. That's not a bad thing as this is indie rock at its best.

Okay, so this blog is supposed to document my music addiction. However, my family saw the movie WALL*E today and I just had to add something here. One of my favorite parts of the movie are the references to Hello Dolly, so I guess this is at least somewhat consistent with the blog theme...

WALL*E is, in my opinion and my wife's opinion, the best Pixar movie to date. I admit that I had my doubts going in, but it really is amazing. There are no words spoken for about half the movie, yet much is communicated. The story is simply fantastic and has a wonderful message. The animation is stunning, yet you will no doubt forget you are watching an animated movie. I know this is a kids movie, but you need to see this whether you have kds or not. Like all great kids movies, there is much going on at many different levels. My kid did not move for the entire movie. Lots of references to Apple, lots of references to Hello Dolly, and lots of references to things that ail our world today. All this in a G rated movie. Oh, and the animated short before the main movie is as good as the movie. Go see this.

The Weepies are a folk/pop at that is rather new to me. Imagine people sitting around swaying, singing, and making goo-goo eyes at each other wearing tie dye and loafers. The music they would be listening to in 1970 might be Peter, Paul and Mary or Simon and Garfunkel. In 2008, the music they would be listening to would be The Weepies. By the way, I mean that in a very positive way - I really like The Weepies. Honest! The album that I'm listening to is Say I Am You, which is not their most recent but worth a listen anyway.

I'm not sure quite what to say about Say I Am You other than it is a killer folk/pop album. Superb production and sound. The Weepies are a married couple and their songs are musically sparse, but sonically rich. I'm not sure if that makes much sense, but there is a great deal of space in their songs but they are not quiet. Deb Talan's voice, featured on most of the songs, is a classic folk voice. Light on vibrato and somewhat airy. I'm trying to think of someone from my folk background to compare her to and really can't. I assume that her husband, Steve Tannan, is doing the nice guitar work in the background. Fingerpicked in the true folk sense and done very nicely. There are some other sounds working - strings here and there, a bass appears from time to time along with very minimal keyboards and no percussion to speak of. By the way, when Steve Tannan does take the vocal lead, his work is also excellent.

The opening track, Take It From Me, sets the bar very high for the rest of the album. Nice lyrics with a little reverb working. Guitar and drum work is wonderful. Take It From Me could get play on any modern folk radio show I've ever heard with a sound similar to The Neilds, Lucy Kaplansky or Ellis Paul. At the same time, it could also play on an AAA station or even a pop station. Very nice song.

Also of note are the third track, World Spins Madly On and the fifth track, Riga Girls. World Spins Madly On is a song that I end up listening to often. The title accurately suggests the song's theme and it features both artists vocals, guitar, strings (predominantly a cello I think). Wonderful folk tune. Riga Girls is cut from the same cloth with some percussion and a bass thrown in for good measure.

This is an album without a bad track. I gave most songs 4 or 5 stars in iTunes. Well worth your dime, particularly if you enjoy modern folk music.

What a wonderful day it is when the eMusic monthly download count resets to 90. Here are some of today's downloads:

• Ashleigh Flynn - Chokecherry
• Birdie - Some Dusty
• Joan as Police Woman - To Survive
• Matt Pond PA - Green Fury
• Mystery Jets - Zootime
• Shearwater - Rook
• The Instruments - Dark Smaland

I am particularly excited about the new Joan as Police Woman and Shearwater. Joan as Police Woman's last album is wonderful. Shearwater is described as "opera", but it is definitely a pop album. More on these later...

I downloaded Alopecia by Why? based on a quick listen to one track and a couple of online reviews. I was ready to write that a blew this one, but a second listen is proving that this is a pretty good album. I think experimental rock might be the best classification for it, but it ranges from spoken word to straight up indie rock. Song of the Sad Assassin tends to be my favorite song on the album, but The Hollows and particularly Fatalist Palmistry are also excellent tracks. Still a bit too much rap for my tastes, but that's just my tastes. This is a nice album that I don't regret downloading from eMusic in the least.

I first heard Kris Delmhorst at a Westside Folk concert several years ago after her first album went big on the folk/singer songwriter circuit. She was one of those artists that I was pretty certain we would never be able to get back to Lawrence for such a small show. Kris just had everything working and was at the beginning of something big.

Shotgun Singer is viewed by some as a departure from traditional singer/songwriter work that Kris is known for. I would beg to differ. Yes it is different from earlier works, particularly the stuff I heard in Plymouth Church way back when, but it is still true to her songwriting roots. Smart lyrics and songs. It is my understanding that she recorded this album alone somewhere off in the woods, but it doesn't have that kind of feel to it.

Blue Adeline and Heavens Hold the Sun have a dark feel to them that may be the source of the belief this is a departure from Delmhorst's previous work. However, To the Wire brings us back home to what we traditionally think of when we hear Kris. All great songs mind you, just different feels. Another favorite of mine from the album is 1000 Reasons. Unlike the first couple of tracks it is pretty upbeat, but in a kind of muted way consistent with the rest of the album.

Kris definitely doesn't disappoint with Shotgun Singer. In fact, I would have to say it's my favorite Delmhorst album to date. If she continues on this trajectory, I'll be buying quite a few more of her albums...

Crooked Fingers has been a favorite of mine since Dignity and Shame from which the title track is among my favorite songs of all time. I discovered a new Crooked Fingers album on eMusic and put in on the wish list without even a listen. When I did get a chance to sample the tracks I downloaded it immediately. It's a rather short album at 8 tracks, but an excellent album none-the-less. Oddly enough, many of the reviews I read had Bring on the Snakes listed as a disappointment when compared with Red Devil Dawn, but I would tend to disagree.

The first track, The Rotting Strip, immediately gets a 5 star rating. It's kind of a droning song with a strong pulsing kick drum and bass in the background. Also some very odd things going on that make the song more haunting than it would be otherwise. Difficult to classify the sounds, but they work very well. As the title might imply, the song's lyrics are about abandoning a life that the singer is not so happy with. Standard pop song topic, but wonderfully presented.

Devil's Train is in its own way as good as The Rotting Strip. Same kind of feel, but significantly less ominous and heavy. Not that heavy is bad, this is just a lighter song. Same with Surrender is Treason. Nice kind of bagpipe drone going on with a lovely accoustic, finger picked guitar backing the vocals. Might as well mention the vocals at this point. They are gruff in the Lambchop, old Bob Dylan sort of way. Truly wonderful on every song.

Sad Love changes gears in a pretty serious way. Simple acoustic guitars with some sad, ominous, haunting synth sounds in the background. Not as strong as the first three tracks, but I definitely won't skip it when I play the album.

Doctors Of Deliverance changes gears again, going back to a style similar to the first three tracks. Again a driving background kick drum, simple acoustic guitars, and a wonderful drone. Like the first three tracks, Doctors of Deliverance, tells a great story. I'm not much one for vocals and stories, but when it works it works. Definitely worth listen here.

Every Dull Moment is somewhat indistinct from earlier tracks as is Hear Comes the Soldiers and There's A Blue Light. However, being similar to really good songs is not a bad thing.

All in all, this is a great album in the classic Crooked Fingers feel. Acoustic, finger picked guitars, simple drum riffs over ambient, synthesizer sounds with fabulous vocals. All the songs tell compelling stories. My only minor quibble is the songs do tend to blend together. I like varying styles on an album. I'll look past that in this case as this is just a great album and we'll worth your time.