This is another album that I have been anticipating for so long this year. I just could barely hold in my excitement until today to talk about my little friend Jens Lekman. He has been creating brilliant little albums for a couple of years now. But I really think that this is the year of the Jens. The new album is called "Night Falls Over Kortedala." I can't stop listening to this album. It also seems that anyone who has already heard it is as obsessed with it as I am. Sometimes it is nice to have your little secret artists that not too many other people know about. But I have really been wanting the rest of the world to love Jens as much as I have the last couple of years.

I began my obsession with him when he put out "Rocky Dennis' Farewell Song to the Blind Girl." This is of course in reference to the brilliant film that is "Mask." Most people can't really handle the excellent makeup work that transformed Eric Stoltz. But I really do love this movie. Please go and watch it right now if you have never seen it. You can find the 3 Rocky Dennis songs on the EP collection album "Oh You're So Silent Jens" or the original "Rocky Dennis" EP. This new album is actually only his second real album. The first being "When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog."

Jens is a little bit Stephin Merritt and a little bit Sufjan Stevens. Sort of like an orchestrated indie rock lounge singer. I just read a review today that said his music was perfect for swingers parties. I really would not go that far. But I could imagine it being played live at maybe some piano bar in Portland or something. But with a full band and backup singers. The first song begins with music very similar to the theme of the Hellraiser movies.  However, I know he is sampling someone else on this song. But it really reminds me of the Christopher Young Score of Hellraiser. So it sort of puts me in a weird mood every time I start the album.  Jens is really a great songwriter and like Stephin Merritt or the great Paul Lynde, he has great delivery of his lines. The songs are actually fun little love songs with great lyrics like "I would never kiss anyone, who doesn't burn me like the sun." He is telling stories with his songs and albums but seems to be sort of making fun of himself while he is singing. Like he is telling us by his delivery that he really does not take himself as seriously as he seems to be. He is having fun with himself on these albums. He also sort of reminds me of Neil Hannon from the Divine Comedy.
In that European indie rock showtunes kind of way.

I can't really believe that it is already October! The great and fantastic Siouxsie Sioux has a new album out today. What a great way to start the month off right. Just saying her name out loud gets me all excited and nostalgic. I can't really imagine growing up without Siouxsie, Morrissey, and Robert Smith. It seriously scares me to think what would have happened to all of us without their music. Siouxsie really helped me become who I am today. She also influenced hundreds of artists and bands that followed her. She just turned 50 years old this year and she still is as relevant and talented today as the day she started. The new album is "Mantaray." It is actually her first solo album. The last Siouxsie & the Banshees album, "Rapture," was released over ten years ago in 1995. Siouxsie and Budgie have been performing as The Creatures for the last decade or so. The last Creatures album "Hai!" came out in 2003. She has since parted ways with Budgie and is now recording and performing as just Siouxsie.

The artwork for the new album is fantastic. And the songs are fantastic as well. This is not a Siouxsie & the Banshees album. But it is most definitely a Siouxsie album. Her deep recognizable voice is as powerful as ever. The album has been out for a couple weeks as an import. But her new label "Decca" is bringing us the album out domestically today. I am always worried when I listen to the new album of one of my favorite artists. Although, she really is just competing with herself. Nobody else can really compare to the brilliance of Siouxsie. But with such an amazing history and catalog of albums, it is really hard to put out a new album that can compare to her old ones. Her albums and songs with the Banshees are such a part of my musical upbringing and history that it really makes it even harder to compete with those memories. How do you put out an album that can even compare? Siouxsie has really done it. She has not tried to capture the brilliance of her albums with the Banshees. She also could have tried to create some super modern trendy album. But instead she creates something all her own. She has never been one to just simply fit into one simple genre. She may have helped to define what became goth music. But the Banshees were never simply a goth band. Her music has always been a combination of punk, glam, goth, new wave, experimental, electronica, world music, and art rock. The first single off the album is "Into A Swan." It is a fantastic little song with a great little video to go along with it. But there is so much else that is great on this album. I can't wait to hear these songs live when she performs them out on the next tour. I could not be more proud and excited that Siouxsie has not let us down. She is still very much the Siouxsie we all grew up with and fell in love with.

I don't even really know how to describe the feeling one gets after seeing a Morrissey show. You really have to be there to really understand it. It is a weird mix of feelings. After liking and listening to someone for 20 years or so you start to feel like you almost know them better than you know yourself. Morrissey is one of those artists that gets deep into his fans hearts and minds and stays there forever. He is like your best friend that never lets you down and is always there to get you through the rougher bits of life. All you needed was a Morrissey or Smiths album and you would be OK. I have seen him play many times over the years. But never in anywhere as small as the Fillmore. The Fillmore is a rather large venue. But for the Morrissey sized crowd, it is sort of small. It was perfect.

We actually got to the show early hoping we could get some of those seats up in the balcony. There is really only room for about 16 people up in the side balcony. So we were counting on the 100 or so people in front of us rushing to the stage downstairs. I ran up the stairs only to find the 2 people in front of me grabbing the last 2 seats. But then I noticed 2 large security types sitting in one of the sections. I asked them if they were going to stay there and they told me they were just checking out the crowd and would be leaving in a couple minutes. There are some crazy fanatical Morrissey fans and I think they were just trying to figure out the crowd for the night. They were probably counting the flowers and gifts in the audience and trying to figure out who would be the ones to try and jump on stage. So we got our seats and were actually going to eat at the show. I usually hate those people that eat at shows but in order to get there so early we sort of had to. But the amazing thing was that the whole menu was all vegetarian! Amazing! We vegetarians often have to search menus for the one garden burger or salad. Or maybe we can get the nachos with no meat. But there were like 10 things on the menu and they were all vegetarian. I was trying to figure out if Morrissey had requested some of the items or not. I got some potato latkes and they were delicious. I was just so excited I had to take the menu home with me. We hurried to finish our food before the show started though. I really didn't want to be one of those people that eats during a show. Even if it was just the opener who we had already seen two times before this.

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Out today is the beautiful new album from Jose Gonzalez. Mute reissued his first album "Veneer" about 2 years ago. So this is his second album. But his first real album for Mute. It is called "In Our Nature." I will admit that Jose Gonzalez is not for everybody. I was not even sure if he was for me for a long time. It took me a little while to give in to Mr. Gonzalez. Most of his popularity initially came from his brilliant little cover of "Heartbeats" by the Knife. It was used in a commercial that everybody seemed to watch on the internet.  I am not sure if the commercial sold more Sony Bravia LCD TVs. But it for sure sold thousands more copies of his debut album "Veneer." I think I actually heard his version of this song before I even heard The Knife. I would eventually become obsessed with their version as well which was on their album "Deep Cuts." Jose and The Knife share more than just this great song. They both come from the land of Sweden.

 Jose Gonzalez was born in Sweden but his parents are from Argentina. His music doesn't really sound like the mix of ABBA and Astor Piazzolla that you might expect from a Swedish Argentine. It has more of a minimal Nick Drake sound. Beautiful little minimal indie rock with just mostly guitar and vocals. He is sort of known for his covers and performs many of them live. His version of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" is almost as magical as the original. He also has a cover on the new album which he has already been playing live for the last couple of years. The song is "Teardrop" by Massive Attack. It took me a while to actually even recognize it. Which is very impressive since it happens to be one the most overplayed songs of all time. The Massive Attack version with vocals from the wonderful Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins is fantastic. But I have heard that song so many times over the years that I had pretty much decided that I never needed to hear it again. And I also love Cocteau Twins more than anything. So it is a hard original to compete with. But his version is just as brilliant but completely different.  The whole album is  absolutely beautiful. It is simple and uncomplicated. Just a great album. Jose Gonzalez is actually one of those people that deserves any fame that he has acquired over the last couple of years. I just hope all those fans he got from that commercial don't forget about him. He has managed to create a second album that is just as good as the first. I am going to go listen to it again right now. And unlike that original Massive Attack song that he covers, I am not even close to being over Jose Gonzalez.

I just went to go see the wonderful Sinead O'Connor this last Sunday at the fantastic Davies Symphony Hall. I absolutely love this venue. Not only is it a wonderful little venue with great architecture and sound but it is so close to my house. The only other time that I had been there was for the Margaret Cho show a couple of years ago. We had seats in the balcony this time, so it gave us a different perspective on the whole venue. It is nice seeing someone like Sinead in a venue where people usually see classical music and symphonies. The Margaret Cho show was great expect for the fact that we had a loud dude sitting behind us. He really felt a connection with Margaret and felt the need to yell out "true" after every single joke that she told. I can literally still hear the sound of his voice in my head.  Now it makes me laugh, but not so much at the time. Lucky for us, I don't think he was at this show. But we did have one of those dudes who likes to sing along sitting behind us. I am not sure if he wanted to show us how cool he was because he knew what the songs were before they even started. Or maybe he was just such a super fan that he could not hold in his excitement. There were many others that felt the need to clap during the first 30 seconds of most songs. It had Curt and I wondering why this always happens. I understand that they want to show the artist how much they love them. However, it seems that what they really want to do is show the rest of the fans what a bigger fan they are. These types especially like to clap for the more obscure songs as soon as they recognize them. I totally understand clapping after a song is over and I usually participate in this activity. But clapping and cheering at the beginning of the song just sort of ruins the beginning of the song. But then again, maybe people like Sinead would start crying and refuse to play the song if nobody clapped at the beginning. But I seriously doubt it.