Spring Songs #4: The D Word

Understand this: The first truly great album of 2014 is out of left field: Love, Marriage & Divorce by Toni Braxton and Babyface. These tunes are solid 1992 'face and Toni, all creamy smooth and swinging lowwww.

The album's closer, The D Word, is notable for some lush instrumental passages. If you want an up-tempo, check out the phenomenal, slutty Sweat.



The LP is primarily duets, but there are some solo tracks, the best of which is (surprisingly) Babyface's I Hope That You're Okay. That one is actually kind of sweet, while the next song, Toni's self-composed retort - I Wish - has this howler line:

I hope she gives you a disease, so that you will see. Not enough to make you die, but only make you cry, like you did to me. 

Seriously, this record is the JAM.

Spring Songs #3: Not On Drugs

"Baby listen please, I'm not on drugs. I'm just in love."

So goes the first true Swedish slayer of 2014. I have no idea who Tove Lo is and it doesn't matter. It's just a GREAT chorus. It's from her debut EP, Truth Serum, out March 3 on the ever amazing Neon Gold label.



I'd better hear this song non-stop as the weather gets warm warm warm.

Spring Songs #2: Closer

Nerina Pallot is on her game, recording an EP every single month of 2014. Below is a 12-minute mini doc of her recording the first release, January's The Hold Tight. The whole EP is flawless - if you liked the sound of her last full length album, Year Of The Wolf, this is a natural extension of that. The next EP, We Should Break Up, is out March 4.



My favorite track is Closer, which you can hear below. The final minute is a tingler...




Read my 2011 interview with Nerina

Sping Songs #1: Seashells

For anyone who's followed the careful trajectory of Florrie, the arrival of new music is a relief. It's been a long, long wait. The first full track we've got is one she's said is unusual to anything she's record before or since.  It's called Seashells and it's a part of the new 5-track Sirens EP (three new songs and two remixes).


I keep coming like a rollercoaster and it gets me high...

Backtracking: Ten Years of Scissor Sisters

Today I did a post at Idolator, celebrating the tenth anniversary of Scissor Sisters' eponymous debut album. We had the good fortune to speak to the band's Babydaddy about the recording.

If you're prone to wrapping your fuzzy in a big red bow, please check it out.