What's Jeff listening to lately? Girls.
Given the How To Be A Megastar Tour, I'm naturally quite into Tracy Bonham lately. I don't know why I didn't make a greater effort to check her out after the Complex tour, but I totally dig her now, especially after seeing her live. It's such a bummer that she won't be on the tour after this month. If I do go to the spring shows, it won't be the same without her.
I first saw Nitza as the opening act for the Cirque du Soleil show "Delirium," which was their version of an arena rock tour. She has a unique mix of sounds that include Indian, Middle Eastern, Asian, African and Latin. Yeah, like I said, unique mix. If you go to her site, you can hear "Ageless" in its entirety right from the home page. I've exchanged e-mail with her, and I'm impressed the way she not only loves music, but is hell bent on maintaining her own destiny. She's self-publishing and retaining her copyright. Good for her.
In the summer of 2005, my friend Jess suggested I check out Jem, since I'm a big Dido fan. Somewhat similar in vocal sound as Dido, but she's got her own styles too. I don't know why I waited so long to actually buy her stuff. "Just A Ride" is a song I can't get out of my head, given the obvious roller coaster allusion and "shit happens" sentiment.
Evanescence released a new album finally, sans the guitarist who shared writing duties on the first album. Let me first say that I'm still totally infatuated with Amy Lee, even though her live performances showed a lack of practice. But as much as I had high hopes for the new record, so much of it sounds the same, and the guitar stuff feels forced and repetitive. That's not to say there aren't some grate moments. The song "Good Enough" is beautiful, with all of the piano and strings you love to hear with Amy's voice. Her writing strength is still there, but she needs someone who can compliment her with the rock side of things.
I guess I'm just so happy that Amy & Co. don't suck without the drug addicted guitarist that I was very pleased with The Open Door. It isn't Fallen, but it's still pretty good.
One of my favorite things with Evanescence is that they can make an entire album without profanity, and somehow, they manage to STILL get the point across. I <3 Amy Lee.