Music & More

Here are my picks for the ten best CDs of 2009. 1. Annekei - Touch Listen to Melt Japan Knows What We Don't ; This is Annekei’s third solo album and fourth album overall, all major label releases in Japan. This fine set of mostly Annekei originals will already be familiar to those who have seen her play New York’s Lower East Side over the last few years. Songs like Melt, Chills, and Keep Playing have been real crowd-pleasers. Song for Ida Marie is an especially pretty song that Annekei wrote for her neice who lives in Denmark. Sadly, the presence of Lee Ritenour as guitarist and producer has yet to secure an American release for this beautiful piece of work. In addition to the originals there is a great cover of Van Morrison's Days Like This on which Annekei duets with Will Downing. Ritenour did a superb production job and got the most amazing sound; nice, deep bass, drums that snap, and all the other great sounding instruments leave plenty of space for Annekei's sweet v...

Next week Chrissi makes her debut at New York City's famed Metropolitan Room, Wednesday October 21st at 7:30pm. If you are anywhere in the NYC area, make it a point to come out to this show. Come hear Chrissi and her amazing band do songs from her forthcoming album Songs From the Concrete ; Chrissi, songs, and band are all road tested and at the top of their game. This is big - advance promo copies of Songs From the Concrete will be available at the show. Meanwhile, check out two new live videos from Chrissi's most recent show at New York's City Winery. Enjoy. "Yours Is the Love", Live at City Winery, 9/21/09. 'Angel Weep For Me", Live at City Winery, 9/21/09. Click here for a preview of Songs From the Concrete , Chrissi's debut album, due out soon. Chrissi Poland's myspace .

Here's a very cool video for Courtney Jaye's "Don't Tell a Girl" from her forthcoming full length CD, The Exotic Sounds of Courtney Jaye , due on iTunes October 13th. I already love this song from a preview EP that Courtney released last year. I'm looking forward to catching Courtney at Next Big Nashville this week. More soon. Courtney Jaye's myspace . Courtney Jaye's website .

Rosanne Cash has made a delightful new record that tributes her dad with a collection of songs selected from a list that Johnny gave her when she was eighteen; a list of the 100 essential country songs that he felt she needed to know. The List comes out Tuesday on Manhattan Records. Listen to "I'm Movin' On" The combination of a great voice and great songs is a can't-miss proposition, but in this case Roseanne's voice is like silk, and the songs are all gems that cover a wide range of styles, every one loaded with history and context. The production by Rosanne's husband and longtime producer/musician John Leventhal is absolutely perfect for the material start to finish, and the musicianship is likewise stellar throughout. Leventhal's guitar work especially makes a number of songs sound extra cool, like on these first two preview tracks. Listen to "Take These Chains From My Heart" In addition to some of New York's best session musicians, T...

Looking forward to checking out lots of new music next week at Next Big Nashville , a festival sort of like SXSW on a slightly smaller scale, 12 venues and 140 artists over four days. It's my first time to go to Music City and I'm excited; will post from the festival with daily photos. Here's the artist list . If you're anywhere in that part of the world, come on down! Next Big Nashville website .

Polly & the Billets Doux is a cool new band from the UK with a cool video for this song, "Head of Steam" which is the title track from their debut EP, released in 2008 and now out of print. Enjoy. Polly & the Billets Doux have just released their debut full length album, Fiction, Half Truths and Downright Lies in the U.K., available worldwide through Amazon UK . Polly & the Billets Doux website . Polly & the Billets Doux myspace .

Wallis Bird is one of the happy discoveries from this year's SXSW, a singer, songwriter, and musician from Ireland who matches the musicality of her songs with an uncommon level of energy. She sang "To My Bones" in Austin and it left me feeling that I had just heard maybe the most optimistic and exuberant song ever. It's included in her new album, New Boots, which has just been released in Ireland with releases in other countries planned soon. Enjoy the video, this is an artist with enormous potential. Wallis Bird's myspace . Wallis Bird's website .

.... Lily Allen - It's Not Me It's...Dr. Rosen Rosen (Remix) Dr. Rosen Rosen, a remixer from Los Angeles, has stretched the envelope of what we know as remixing with a total remake of Lily Allen's lastest release, It's Not Me, It's You. He has taken her vocal tracks, discarded the rest of the music and written, recorded, and produced new backing tracks for Lily's vocals and accomplished the dramatic and unlikely result of producing an album that is both different from the original and totally wonderful. And his remix album is available for free download right now, right here . Listen to "Never Gonna Happen (original version)" Listen to "Never Gonna Happen (Dr. Rosen Rosen Rx)" Check out the above comparison of the original and the Dr. Rosen Rosen remix of "Never Gonna Happen" while you read Dr. Rosen Rosen's own description of this project from his website. I saw Lily Allen for the first time in 2006 while on tour in Icela...