Swap a CD: 15 Recently Posted CDs in Singer-Songwriters

Hayden - Closer I Get

Hayden — 2013-05-21T16:14:54-05:00

GEORGE AND THE DRAGON

Hayden - Everything I Long for

Hayden — 2013-05-21T16:14:15-05:00

Most of the songs on Hayden's debut album were written and recorded late at night in his bedroom on a 4-track mini-studio. Though he's not the first schmo to embrace lo-fi as a means of low-rent self-expression, Hayden's music is completely the product of where it was created. Hayden, a fairly normal twenty-nothing from Toronto, is pure folk poet--a troubadour of the suburbs, a kitchen-raiding, late-night-cable-TV-watching, oversleeping product of middle class North America. To record him any other way would be like taking bacteria out of its petri dish. Over an acoustic guitar that skronks with the metallic reverberation that comes from strumming too hard, Hayden sings of everyday minutiae with a deep and raspy monotone of perpetual ennui. On the beautifully lumbering "Bad as They Seem," the singer pines for a neighborhood girl and her mother as someone "to share with me my midnight snack," only to conclude, "I got to get out some more." Hayden knows even the most mundane scenes can have tragic undersides. Hence, "Skates" starts off about an old department store job, but ends up about the interminable grief of a customer. And in a story ripped from the news, a child in "When This Is Over" wonders about cleaning his room and brushing his teeth while he and his baby brother are drowned in a car by their mother. The music, which mixes in electric guitars, pianos, and other random noises, is more coarse than most singer-songwriter fare, but often a lot more penetrating as well. --Roni Sarig

Ben Harper - Will to Live

Ben Harper — 2013-05-21T16:07:19-05:00

Ben Harper Photos More from Ben Harper Welcome to the Cruel World Diamonds on the Inside Both Sides of the Gun Live From Mars Fight for Your Mind Live at the Hollywood Bowl

Elliott Smith - From a Basement on the Hill

Elliott Smith — 2013-05-21T15:55:22-05:00

Elliott Smith has been a patron saint of the indie scene since his days helming Portland heroes Heatmiser. As a solo artist, his fondness for Beatlesque melody led to some of the most beautifully orchestrated pop of the last decade. This is his final recording, which found him returning to an edgier, guitar-driven sound, alongside his trademark heart-rending balladry. MUZE Notes: Elliott Smith's death in 2003 left a cavernous hole in the world of popular music. Tender, intimate, and painfully honest, the songs in Smith's catalogue capture the fragility of human existence with rare, breathtaking beauty. On his first posthumous release, Smith reaffirms his status as an extraordinarily gifted artist, giving fans yet another reason to mourn his tragic loss. Conceived as an ambitious double album, FROM A BASEMENT ON THE HILL was ultimately narrowed down to 15 tracks by Smith's close friends, producer Rob Schnapf (Beck's MELLOW GOLD, Smith's X/O) and musician Joanna Bolme (the Minders, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks). The result is a heartbreaking collection of songs that plays like a retrospective of Smith's entire career. "Strung Out Again" reflects the early edge of ROMAN CANDLE; "Last Hour" recalls the bittersweet melodies of ELLIOTT SMITH; "A Fond Farewell" is a sad anthem in the tradition of EITHER/OR; "Shooting Star" employs the more polished sound of ! X/O; and "Don't Go Down" is an extension of the more electrified FIGURE 8. Of course, the most haunting aspect of FROM A BASEMENT ON THE HILL is the lyrical content, which is impossible to hear without placing it in the context of Smith's untimely passing.

Sondre Lerche - Two Way Monologue

Sondre Lerche — 2013-05-19T20:23:24-05:00

The follow up to the critically-acclaimed 'Faces Down', Sondre Lerche's second album is a tour-de-force of soaring pop melodies and rich technicolor arrangements. The 21-year old Bergen, Norway native recalls artists like Jeff Buckley, Elvis Costello, Beck, Brian Wilson, Rufus Wainwright, Burt Bacharach and Cole Porter. From the fragile acoustics of ?It?s Too Late? to the symphonic variations of the title track, from the no depression lilt of ?Stupid Memory? to the uplifting pop of ?On The Tower?, this is an album of breath-taking diversity and imagination.

Neil Finn - One All

Neil Finn — 2013-05-19T10:25:50-05:00

The 12 tracks on One All proffer a more organic, rougher-hewn take on Neil Finn's solid classicism. While Crowded House's populist folk-pop tugged as many purse-strings as it did hearts, Finn's solo career has been characterized by nothing more strident than the soft shuffle of gentle understatement--as if the antipodean troubadour feared his former muse would be insulted by any attempts to out-pop the relentlessly tuneful House. Not that this follow-up to 1998's patchy solo debut, Try Whistling This, is in any way underwhelming. The swirling effects and treated guitars of "Rest of the Day Off" hint more at latter-day Split Enz and even, occasionally, Oasis, than Crowded House. Unfortunately, there is also a sense that the addition of such sonic accoutrements may be little more than a ham-fisted attempt to add techno-savvy flesh to basic, traditional bones--with "Hole in the Ice" and "Secret God" imbued with dubious guitar solos and irritatingly superfluous backing vocals (courtesy, bizarrely enough, of former Prince demoiselles Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman) that merely serve to detract from the music's warm-hearted core. Nevertheless, Finn's long-running lyrical concerns--love, loyalty, and, predominantly, self-doubt--have never been expressed more adroitly. --Sarah Dempster

Ben Lee - Breathing Tornados

Ben Lee — 2013-05-15T15:44:28-05:00

Japanese Version featuring Bonus Tracks.

Fiona Apple - When the Pawn

Fiona Apple — 2013-05-14T15:38:12-05:00

Japanese edition of the hit vocalist's 1999 & second album with two bonus tracks added, 'Never Is A Promise' & her cover of The Beatles' classic 'Across The Universe' that she contributed to the soundtrack to the hit 1998 film 'Pleas antville'. 12 tracks total.

Suzanne Vega - Songs in Red and Gray

Suzanne Vega — 2013-05-11T13:53:24-05:00

Suzanne Vega remains one of the most relentlessly, mercilessly tasteful recording artists alive. Every note on Songs in Red and Gray has been arranged with the meticulous precision of a butler laying silver on a table. Every sound is so polished and buffed that you barely notice you're listening, every syllable of every lyric only admitted to the melodies after painstaking reviewing and rewriting, and every song sung as if Vega believes that her core audience consists of elocution teachers. This has worked, occasionally, for Vega before--it should not be forgotten what an original presence she was with "Left of Center" and "Marlene on the Wall"--and it works, occasionally, for Vega now. There are a few fine songs here, notably the gently acerbic "Last Year's Troubles" and the wryly subversive "Maggie May" (not the Rod Stewart standard), but there is also a whole lot of glutinous, over-refined suet. Vega still needs to give her songs a much longer leash. --Andrew Mueller

Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye

Jeff Buckley — 2013-05-01T06:14:19-05:00

Outstanding hit single from the late singer/ songwriter'ssole album, released in 1994 on Columbia. It's backed withtwo non-album tracks, 'Last Goodbye' (Edit) and a cover ofAlex Chilton's 'Kanga-Roo'. Slipcase sleeve.

Ben Harper - Diamonds on the Inside (O-Card)

Ben Harper — 2013-04-30T15:29:31-05:00

Ben Harper Photos More from Ben Harper Fight for Your Mind Both Sides of the Gun Welcome to the Cruel World Live From Mars The Will to Live Live at the Hollywood Bowl

Jeff Buckley - Mojo Pin / Eternal Life / Je N'En Connais Pas Fin

Jeff Buckley — 2013-04-18T23:42:39-05:00

John Wesley Harding - Trad Arr Jones

John Wesley Harding — 2013-04-16T16:55:17-05:00

Often compared to Elvis Costello, with whom he shares certain smoky vocal intonations, John Wesley Harding is working along the lines of another of his heroes, Bruce Springsteen. This collection, which puts one in mind of Springsteen's forays into acoustic music, features traditional folk songs recorded by the obscure but respected folksinger Nic Jones. (Jones withdrew from public performing following a 1982 car accident.) With little more than acoustic guitars and occasional accordion, Harding lights into ageless tales of unrequited love in which women are maidens and men are sailors forever lost at sea. Recorded over three days in a Seattle studio, Trad Arr Jones is a deceptively simple, powerfully immediate collection that casts its creator firmly in the troubadour tradition. --Rob O'Connor

PJ Harvey - Stories From the City Stories From the Sea

PJ Harvey — 2013-04-12T20:19:56-05:00

UK standard edition of the eagerly anticipated fifth album for the critically acclaimed, alternative singer/songwriter. Includes one bonus track, 'This Wicked Tongue'. 2000 release. Standard jewel case.

John Wesley Harding - New Deal

John Wesley Harding — 2013-03-28T10:21:58-05:00