Dance Flick [Soundtrack]

The spoof movie Dance Flick is the creation of an army of normally funny Wayans men: Damien Dante Wayans directing, from a script written by him and Keenen Ivory Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, and Craig Wayans. Craig Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. star in what should have been, in the tradition of Airplane!, a rich parody of a genre that could use a little spoofing, i.e., earnest dance movies in the vein of High School Musical, Flashdance, and, especially, Save the Last Dance. Damon Wayans Jr. plays a determined, African American hip-hop dancer named Thomas Uncles, who becomes romantically and artistically involved with a white wannabe ballerina (Shoshana Bush in the Julia Stiles role from Last Dance). Dance Flick goofs on Last Dance in obvious and silly ways, but the Wayans also take shots at just about everything that pops into their heads: Twilight, Dick Cheney, the self-consciousness of interracial romance. There are a few laughs, but in the absence of a sustained comic tone and consistently good ideas, the script relies on endless bathroom humor and such throwaway visual ideas as a baby stored in a high school locker. Click here for more details!

Thirteen for Halloween (CD)

The "Thirteen for Halloween" album features 13 songs (of course); some are classic folk songs and others are completely new from M. Ryan Taylor. A favorite for many elementary school children is the album's opening song, "'Welcome' said the Spider" which can be listened to complete on ThirteenForHalloween.com along with the rest of the songs. Taylor was inspired to create the album from his own childhood memories of singing Halloween songs in school and with his family as a child. "Music made the Holiday more than being just about 'trick-or-treat' for me. Some of my favorite childhood memories involve singing songs like 'Halloween Tree' with my mum and brothers. I wanted to share that kind of experience with kids today. The album includes additional karaoke tracks for each of the songs so they can have fun with it." Click here for more details!

The Terence Blanchard Group- Choices (CD)

The world of ideas is an endless sediment deposit of old and new dreams, decayed thought and weathered craft, shifting endlessly in time. New soil is the first element of the jazz idiom — a music that demands immediate choice from an artist duty-bound to the cause of creation and the interpretation of sound as language. Click here for more details!

The Love Willows

Not that The Love Willows doesn't speak to young adults. In fact, most of Hey! Hey! tracks the evolution of their own relationship. "It's all about fetishes, love and hate," says Hope. "It's a product of what we've gone through as a couple, the battles and the glories, everything that's happened in the past few years." The accessibility of their songs also belies their inventiveness and, oftentimes, their subtle sophistication. "I feel like we bring something different to the table," says Ryan, who produced and engineered the album. The pair recorded Hey! Hey! in the attic studio of Ryan's parents' home outside of Atlanta, with Ryan playing every instrument and both of them songwriting. The tunes are brightly colored - much like Hope and Ryan when they perform live, with swaths of neon yellows, pinks and greens adorning their clothes and gear. The first single, "Falling Faster," is mid-tempo romantic narrative; "A Day in My Life" reveals their sly complexity, with Hope's enthusiastic vocals layered over sonic themes which embrace pop conventions as they tip a hat to both Irving Berlin and Brian Setzer. "Strut My Stuff," featured on the season finale of "The Real World: Hollywood," is a quirky tune with a music-box riff throughout, while "Shoes," a tribute to soul over soles, is equal pop and polka. Other tracks are more straight-ahead, from the punchy "Gotta Make You Mine" to the encouragement of "Keep Your Head Up." Hope Partlow was born near Memphis and grew up on her dad's collection of country music: from Jim Reeves to Patsy Cline. She was six when she did her first paying gig, earning $25 for singing Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues." At sixteen she saw the release of her first solo album through Virgin Records and toured with the likes of Jesse McCartney, but an executive shake-up at Virgin sent her back to square one. Ryan Wilson grew up in Atlanta with a variety of pop/rock influences, from classic (The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Queen, ELO) to modern (Weezer, Jellyfish, Jimmy Eat World, The Format). He played in bands in and around Atlanta until auditioning as a guitarist for Hope's touring band a half-dozen years back. The admiration was mutual - and immediate. "I saw his curly hair from behind, and I thought, `He's cute, I hope he can play,' and he was awesome," says Hope. "When I first saw her, I was like, `This could be trouble,' Ryan recalls. "And when I heard her sing... I never heard a vocal like that live and in person. I was like, `Wow, that's real, raw talent.'" Hope moved in to Ryan's parent's attic where he began courting her by building a recording studio. In lieu of college life, they began writing songs together with the vow to do things their way, making music that they felt. Decca Records felt it, too, signing the duo on the spot after the label's first listen to their demos. "I feel like everything has happened for a reason and we're getting closer and closer to that reason," says Hope. "I feel like people are so ready for something new." Whether new or maybe just fun, it's all fine for The Love Willows. Hey! Hey! Click here for more details!

Tamarama Debut CD Wonderland City

The release of the first TAMARAMA EP, WONDERLAND CITY, comes as the duo (Jay Lyon, Nicolas “Pottsy” Potts) play prominent recurring roles as themselves in the new MTV series THE CITY. Jay is in particular focus as the new love interest of series co-star Whitney Port, but the band itself will be integrated into the plot arcs of the show, as will its music and live performances. Already, print and broadcast media have responded to the juicy celebrity aura of the new series and its cast members: three episodes in, the show’s website has drawn an instant seven-figure hit total. Click here for more details!

Songs from the Garden of Eden: Jewish Lullabies and Nursery Rhymes (CD)

28 Jewish lullabies, songs and nursery rhymes originating from the Ashkenaze, Sephardic, and Yemenite communities perfomed in Hebrew, Judeo-Spanish, Yiddish and Arabic.

Sex And The City: Music From the Original Motion Picture (Soundtrack)

The soundtrack was created with the help of Salaam Remi, whose challenge, says the film's writer and director Michael Patrick King, was "To create a soundtrack for the ultimate movie about love." Remi adds, "For every fan of this show and film, this soundtrack is the perfect companion." The original motion picture soundtrack features songs from artists such as Jennifer Hudson, Jem, Joss Stone, Fergie, and more!

Scott Hamilton & Friends: Across the Tracks CD

Scott Hamilton can't recall exactly, but the tenor saxophonist estimates that the number of albums he's recorded for Concord Jazz as a leader or co-leader is somewhere around 60, which makes him reigning champ of the imprint's catalog. He made his first album, an eponymous beauty, in 1977, and has been a swinging stalwart for Concord Jazz ever since. Given Hamilton's prolific output, it's surprising that his cooking and soulful new album of jazz originals and ballads, Across the Tracks, produced by Bob Porter, is a first on two fronts: (1) It's his first recording tracked at legendary engineer Rudy Van Gelder's New Jersey studio; (2) It's his first album that features, on all nine tracks, blues guitarist Duke Robillard, his longtime friend and collaborator (the two had appeared as guests on each other's albums over the years).

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Raul Midon - A World Within a World (CD)

Raul Midón, a New Mexico-born, New York-based writer/vocalist/guitarist burst onto the scene in 2005 with his audaciously original debut album, State of Mind, and he's followed it up with an even more memorable song cycle, one that substantiates the depth of his talent and the degree of his dedication. A World Within a World, the title of the new album (Manhattan Records, Sept. 25), might refer to the status of pop music within the culture as a whole; it could also describe the expansive interior realm that this single-minded artist, blind from birth, has created with his imagination.
This is that rare sort of pop album that could actually make a difference, and as such, it stands right alongside the pivotal works of the artists who inspired it.

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My Name Is Chicken Joe (CD)

Songs by Trout Fishing in America. The CD includes 11 audio recordings and additional files with illustrations and lyrics! Click here for more details!