Listening Assignments 5.12.08

1. Eric Hutchinson - Ok, It's Alright with Me - There's not a lof depth here, just an irresistible chord progression hook and the moxy and voice to pull it off. RIYL: Jason Mraz, Gavin Degraw, Jamie Cullum, Maroon 5 [from Sounds Like This (re-release 5.20)|buy]

2. Julian Velard - End of an Era - The velvety-voiced wonder is back with a preview of his debut LP The Planeteer, due this fall. Geek's been holed up in London, selling out shows, blogging about it sporadically, talking like Tom Waits, the usual. There are few artists that excite me like Julian Velard. Get your mind out of the gutter. [from The Planeteer (out Fall 08)|myspace!]

3. PlayRadioPlay! - Madi, Don't Leave - I'm middle-road on this one. I heard it in my bar first, a place where you don't hear all the details, just the basic gist. And for the whole song, I thought it was new Imogen Heap, and I dug the melody. Then I get home and look it up and it's not Imogen, it's the synth-pop project of some girl-pants-wearing dude. So I feel betrayed, and I do feel guilty about liking it. Someone needs to break all vocoders in existence. Who's with me? [from Texas|buy]

4. Jason Anderson - Hidden Light - This song tears me open in a rare way. This microphone must have been hidden in the shadows as Jason toiled atop the keys, thinking he was all alone in the world. [from Life Sucks Love Sucks Dose Out|buy]