With their self-titled debut album three years ago, singer/songwriter Inara George and multi-instrumentalist/producer Greg Kurstin -- aka The Bird and the Bee -- forged a tantalizing hybrid of fizzy electronica and smart, tongue-in-cheek art-pop. The sound was sleek, the attitude playful, the songs rich with lyrical wit and hummable hooks. But is this in the neverland of "too pop for the indie intelligentsia" and "too eclectic for the masses"? We certainly hope not -- and the beguiling new project Guiltless Pleasures Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates, arriving March 23 via Blue Note, just might be the ticket. If anyone knows the challenge of straddling critical credibility and pop success, isn't it Hall and Oates?
The spark for the project came after the duo began including the H+O standard "I Can't Go For That" into their live show. Why not a album's worth of classics? Guiltless Pleasures I kicks off with one lone, perfectly nuanced original -- "Heard It On the Radio" -- before George and Kurstin delve into the H+O catalog with glee, bringing a glossy, bubbly kick to eight indelible songs such as "I Can't Go For That", "Rich Girl", "Sara Smile" and "She's Gone". Sure we see a tongue-in-cheek wink here and there in the performances but this is obviously a labor of love. "There’s definitely no irony," says Kurstin matter of factly. "They’re great songwriters and these are great songs." Recommended.
"Emily and I had the itch" says Dixie Chick Martie Maguire of her sister Emily Robinson and their upcoming May-released album under the name Court Yard Hounds. With remaining D-Chick Natalie Maines on hiatus, Maguire and Robinson decided to join forces for a new project. "Every time we’d call Natalie and say ‘are you ready?’ she wasn’t ready," continues Robinson. "She wanted a clear-cut break." New album, as yet untitled, will feature a guest appearance from Jakob Dylan on the song "See You In the Spring".
The music of Hall and Oates gets a makeover courtesy of The Bird and the Bee, the eclectic, electronica-pop duo comprised of vocalist, songwriter Inara George and producer, multi-instrumentalist Greg Kurstin. Guiltless Pleasures Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates arrives March 23. Inara's been extra busy of late with a fine solo album Accidental Experimental out last October, a new project The Living Sisters (with Eleni Mandel and Becky Stark) arriving March 30 and a new baby -- the ultimate new release -- due later this year.
Singer/songwriter Cary Brothers has a date for his new independently released album Under Control: April 6. Producer Bill Lefler (Dashboard Confessional) worked with Brothers for five months in L.A. during the writing and recording process. Based on what we've heard over the last couple of years from Brothers, we're betting that Under Control just might be one of the year's best. Stay tuned for details and advance music.
Alt-pop "supergroup" New Pornographers return May 4 with Together, their first new studio album since 2007's Challengers and fifth overall since forming in the late 90's. As expected, Carl "A.C." Newman is taking the lead on songwriting, penning nine of the album's tracks with Dan Bejar contributing three. Longtime member Neko Case and the usual Porno-stars are on board while guests include Annie Clark (St. Vincent), Zach Condon (Beirut), Will Sheff (Okkervil River) and the famed Dap-Kings horn section.
Hot on the heels of his En Concert live album and DVD documentary, mellow surf-jam/folkie Jack Johnson is back in his Hawaiian studio wrapping up his fifth studio album. Details are sketchy at best -- no title, track listings -- but we do know it's on the Brushfire/Universal schedule for a June 1 release.
Ever wonder what happened to Macy Gray? More than ten years since her groundbreaking bestseller On How Life Is made her a rising star, Gray is getting back into recording mode after a near 4-year hiatus with the release of her fifth album The Sellout on May 18 via new label home Fantasy. "It's about all the mountains I've been climbing to be where I want to be in my personal and professional life," writes Gray. "It is most certainly my best work and we are almost finished."
Rufus Wainwright's new stripped-down piano-and-voice studio album, All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu, is now penciled in for an April 20 street via Decca. New songs, some of which are based on some Shakespearean sonnet references (like the title track), include "Zebulon" and "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk". "There is a lot of very intricate and also simple piano work that I’m excited to share," says Wainwright. "I’m a strong believer that a singer/songwriter is only as good as when they sing their songs alone. Like my father, sister and mother, we all fit into the troubadour tradition." Wainwright's mother, noted folk singer/songwriter Kate McGarrigle, died January 19 of cancer.
Well, Goldfrapp's definitely not in Kansas anymore. After a lovely album of pastorally splendid pop with '08's sinfully overlooked Seventh Tree, the U.K. duo are making a beeline to the retro 70's dancefloor with new album Headfirst and mindless booty-shaking lead single Rocket. Hopefully there's something a little more interesting in the Headfirst track mix...Listen to "Rocket":
Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 12:09PM 
