Adam Salsman [dot] com

I’ll just start off by making a bold statement:

While not being the best of 2007, Kate Nash’s Made of Bricks is most assuredly my favourite and will be so for years to come.

There, I said it.

Take Lily Allen. Please. (Couldn’t resist). Seriously, take Lily Allen, take out some of the attitude and fill it with cute. Take Lily Allen, and add some hotness. Take Lily Allen and make her more awesome. Yes, *more* awesome. And that is Kate Nash.

The album is 12 tracks (well, 13, really, but it’s a SECRET) coming in at 56 minutes. So far so good.

Bricks, sadly starts off on an odd, and perhaps jarring, foot with Play, which is just lots of distorted drum machines and Nash “singing” “I like to play.” It’s not so much bad as, arguably, setting the tone of the album wrong. After that “tune,” however, the album just keeps climbing.

To be honest, with the exception of “Play,” I love the whole damned album. Foundations, Dickhead, Mariella, and Skeleton Song are super favourites in an album of favourites.

In the end: Did you like Lily Allen? You’ll love Kate Nash. Were you iffy on Lily Allen? You’ll love Kate Nash? Did you hate Lily Allen? You might like Kate Nash.

Technorati Tagged: Kate Nash | 2007 | Brit-Pop | Best Of

People bash on the internet. They really do. But if it weren’t for the intertubes, I would never have found my latest musical crush, Ms. Sara Bareilles.

I don’t really know much about her, to be honest. I’ve been busy, I’ve been lazy, and I just haven’t done my research, shame on me.

All that being said, she’s amazing. A sweet voice, piano-driven music, with jazz, blues, and folk influences. She’s not reinventing the wheel, she’s not blowing us away with some amazing new thing. Sara Bareilles is just enjoyable, delicious pop/rock music.

Did I mention she’s cute? Yeah, there’s that too.

Before the accolades-o’-plenty, there’s one thing that disappoints: The album, all 12 tracks, come in under 50 minutes. Selfishly, at 12 tracks, I have expectations of 55 - 60 minutes.

Anywho, on to the good stuff: The album, all 12 tracks, are fun, playful, easy on the ears, and make you pray you could have one evening with Ms. Bareilles (Dinner only! Not even all that other stuff).

Of the dozen offerings, Love Song, Love on the Rocks, Bottle It Up, and Many the Miles are my favorites. That jazzy/pop style that Norah Jones brought back to mainstream, but in a sleepy way, Sara brings with a pop kick.

In the end: It’s a solid, if short, offering in the “best of 2007″ list of my heart. Not too sweet, not too serious, just good music. And, hell, I even pick up distinct flavourings of Bonnie Raitt. So, you know, that can’t be bad.

Technorati Tagged: Sara Bareilles | 2007 | Pop Rock | Best Of

Something happened in 2001 to Bob Dylan. It’s called Love and Theft.

Bobby’s fans all cried, and many, like myself, thought “Hmmm, this could be it for Mr. Dylan,” and then went back to looping Blonde on Blonde and Highway 61 Revisited so we could remember Bob in a good way.

This year, however, we were surprised. A blog post somewhere had audio from this disc (specifically, Thunder on the Mountain) and I took a listen. Bob has died. Bob has risen. Bob is come again.

Rising from the ashes of Love and Theft, Modern Times is the Dylan-Phoenix. 10 tracks, coming in just over an hour, Times has already cracked into my unorganized Top 10 of the year.

The moment you hear Thunder on the Mountain, the lead off track, you know Bob “Visions of Johanna” Dylan is back; Spirit on the Water is musically and lyrically beautiful; Rollin’ and Tumblin’ just screams half of the tracks of Highway 61 Revisited, which may make it his least original track on Times, but it’s so damn good; the last track, Ain’t Talkin’ ends the album on a down note, but it’s still an amazing track.

In the end: Dylan’s back, folks. He may have lost his touch live, but hot damn, he’s proven a) why you show respect to Dylan and b) why you can’t keep good musician down. Do yourself a favour and get this album.

On the Web: The Hype Machine has so much Dylan, it hurts.

Technorati Tagged: Bob Dylan | Top 10 | Folk Rock | 2006