Mayer Hawthorne – Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out
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The vocals of this one remind me a bit of Biz Markie, but after seeing the video, I love how this nerdy white boy is laying down smooth classic R&B like this, and doing it so well. The music style reminds me a lot of the Delfonics, and I think it really does a great job of bringing such an amazing classic sound back into the limelight. Something about this song is just really sweet, and full of a sentiment that made me instantly love it. While the song has been out since last November, it just came across my desk this week, so I am delighted to pass it on to you.

Greg Laswell- Not Out
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It was kind of weird how I discovered Greg Laswell. I was supposed to go and see the AMAZING Elizabeth and the Catapult earlier this month at Edie’s Attic, and unfortunately, I bought tickets before I knew James and I were going out of town for a wedding. I put the tickets in a friend’s name, and went to see who else was playing with them to give her the heads up before she went. That’s where I saw a picture of Greg, and if you know anything about me, you would know that I am a sucker for a guy with a beard, so I instantly knew I had to go and check him out (even though I unfortunately wouldn’t be seeing him live). Well, I downloaded his most recent release, Three Flights from Alto Nido, and I was impressed with how beautiful an album it is! I love his musical style, which is very similar to Mat Kearney and even has touches of Hayden and Duncan Sheik to it. All in all, I discovered a new artist that I really like without even seeing him in concert, because I was supposed to go to the show, and couldn’t! Weird? Yes, but the music is fantastic, and at least I got to take that away from it (I wish I could have seen him live though).

Fiona Apple – Parting Gift
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Here’s my blast from the not-so distant past track for today. I realized this week that I hadn’t listened to Fiona Apple in such a long time, and as a huge fan of hers, I was wondering why, so I decided to remedy that. Well, after listening to Extraordinary Machine again, I recall just how happy I was when it was finally released, which seems like a while ago (2005), and it is just as amazing now as it was then. I love the whole album, and I especially love Fiona’s beautiful lyrical style. I love how she can cut you to the bone with an almost effortless ability to spin very well written lyrics, like this opening BITE from Parting Gift, “I opened my eyes/While you were kissing me once more than once/And you looked as sincere as a dog/Just as sincere as a dog does,/When it’s the food on your lips with which it’s in love”. All in all, I hope that Fiona comes out with another album some time in the near future, because it has been a while since Extraordinary Machine made my day when it was finally released, mostly because she is an extremely talented artist whose music I really enjoy.

Well, there’s your Friday five… what did you think? Let me know, and also let me know what I am missing out on out there, wouldn’t ya? Also… I just found out; apparently I got into the GPC nursing program… finally. Duane’s finally gonna be a nurse someday, everybody!