RIYL4

My RIYLmusic Top 30 list for the week beginning May 8, 2006 [Where I get to pretend I'm a program director at my very own hip radio station (full story here)].

A couple old-timers added this week.

Paul Simon Surprise The first few notes are a definitely a surprise with their alt-rocking sound. After that, nothing surprising if you're one of the eighteen people like me who own Simon's often-overlooked and almost-perfect Hearts and Bones from 1983. That's what it sounds like to me, anyway. Brian Eno contributes to the new disc, but it really puts Paul front and center (instead of using guest artists or exotic musical styles like Simon has been doing - sometimes successfully, sometimes not - since Graceland) and he sounds great. Listen to the whole new album, which is being streamed by AOL.

Field Music Field Music Every once in a while WXPN here in Philly has a fill-in DJ on and they slip up and actually play an interesting band you've never heard before. The eight-year-old and I were lucky enough to catch someone playing Field Music and we both agreed it sounded really good. The British band has a few free downloads of their melodic pop at their website, just in case you too are punished with a alt radio station that's afraid to take too many chances for fear of losing its rich Dar Williams-loving donors.

Prince 3121 No surprise that I can't find free mp3s from this disc. You get the impression that Prince controls his property with an iron fist. A purple iron fist. With some weird symbol on it. Anyway, the few songs I've heard from it sound a lot more rocking than anything Prince has done lately - like 2004's Musicology, which did nothing for me. I got a headache trying to navigate Prince's official website, so I can't tell you if he's streaming the disc or not.

Gnarls Barkley St. Elsewhere No downloads from this duo either (seems a lot of their songs were being leaked pre-release and an mp3 crackdown followed), but they are streaming songs on their site. I don't quite know how to explain their sound (dance/funk/rap/soul/rock?) but something tells me they may own the Summer of 2006. Since I trashed them earlier, I should say that this is XPN's album of the week they are XPN's "artist to watch" this month - but it's they've gotten so much good press I wouldn't exactly call it a risky pick.

New additions are in GREEN.

1. NEIL YOUNG Living With War
2. NEKO CASE Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
3. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
4. PAUL SIMON Surprise
5. GNARLS BARKLEY St. Elsewhere
6. FLAMING LIPS At War With The Mystics
7. MASON JENNINGS  Use Your Voice
8. THE SILVER JEWS Tanglewood Numbers
9. THE GO TEAM Thunder, Lightning, Strike
10. THE RACONTEURS Broken Boy Soldiers
11. FIELD MUSIC Field Music
12. DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS A Blessing And A Curse
13. WORLD PARTY Dumbing Up
14. JENNY LEWIS WITH THE WATSON TWINS Rabbit Fur Coat
15. MATES OF STATE Bring It Back
16. RHETT MILLER The Believer
17. STEPHEN MALKMUS Face The Truth
18. WOOD BROTHERS Ways Not To Lose
19. WILCO Summerteeth
20. MARAH If You Didn't Laugh, You'd Cry
21. JOSH ROUSE Subtitulo
22. BETH ORTON Comfort Of Strangers
23. SONDRE LERCHE Faces Down
24. LOOSE FUR Born Again In The USA
25. BELLE AND SEBASTIAN The Life Pursuit
26. CAT POWER The Greatest
27. MATTHEW SWEET AND SUSANNA HOFFS Under The Covers Volume 1
28. EMMYLOU HARRIS & MARK KNOPFLER  All The Roadrunning
29. VAN MORRISON  Pay The Devil
30. PRINCE 3121

Dropping off the list this week:

• DANIEL JOHNSTON Welcome to my World
• STELLASTARR* stellastarr*
• THE EDITORS The Back Room
• BONNIE "PRINCE" BILLY I See A Darkness

Comments

[Donna]

I haven't had the chance to buy the Springsteen Seeger Sessions yet, but they were playing it at Barnes and Noble the other day and he sounds incredible!