CIMS RECOMMENDS: MADELEINE PEYROUX'S 'THE BLUE ROOM'

Madeleine Peyroux - The Blue Room (2013)BUY THE CD HERE

Madeleine Peyroux has proved to be an uncannily insightful interpreter with her consistently impeccable choice of material. Peyroux’s new album, The Blue Room, sees the genre-blending singer reworking some landmark musical gems, in a repeat collaboration with longtime producer Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell, Walter Becker, Tracy Chapman, Herbie Hancock). The Blue Room started life as Klein’s re-examination of Ray Charles’s classic Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music but soon moved away from being strictly an homage to that album. So, alongside tunes such as “Bye Bye Love,” “Born To Lose,” “You Don’t Know Me” and the anthemic “I Can’t Stop Loving You” are Randy Newman’s “Guilty,” Warren Zevon’s “Desperadoes Under The Eaves,” John Hartford’s “Gentle On My Mind,” and Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on a Wire.” Much like Charles, who in 1962 jelled R&B, gospel, country and jazz, The Blue Room is at a nexus of styles, blending jazz, blues, country and pop. The sometimes eerie, often sparse arrangements prove the perfect canvas for Peyroux’s musical palette and seem to effortlessly blend with her voice.

CIMS RECOMMENDS: MUMFORD & SONS

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Mumford and Sons sure can make an entrance. When the British group took the world by storm (and surprise) a few years ago with their unique take on American Roots Music, they found lots of new fans due their exuberance, passion, and exciting live act… And few detractors who, quite frankly, just had nothing better to do. Now M & S are back with a new album called Babel and, well, they can’t wait to tell you about it: “We had started writing new songs well before we got into the studio to record. At first, we peeled ourselves off the road quite reluctantly. We love playing live, obviously, but it had also become an important part of our creative process, we had been writing and rehearsing in soundchecks, and sort of ‘road-testing’ new songs on our very gracious audiences. But then we fell in love with recording again. The album started to come together, and with the help of Markus Dravs once more (and engineer Robin Baynton), we started to relish the challenge of making this album. As a band, we’ve never been closer or more collaborative, all working to our strengths. And so we feel that this record is a natural progression that we’re proud of, and we cannot wait to take it out on the road.” We’re betting you’re excited, too.

CIMS RECOMMENDS: NO DOUBT

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No Doubt has achieved a lot as a band, including releasing several multi-platinum albums (1995’s diamond-certified Tragic Kingdom, 2001’s Rock Steady, and a 2003 singles collection) and a string of chart-topping hits (“Just A Girl,” “Don’t Speak,” “Hey Baby,” “Hella Good,” “Underneath It All,” and “It’s My Life”). They’ve launched international sold-out tours, won two Grammy Awards and five MTV Video Music Awards, and were invited to perform for Paul McCartney and the President at the annual Kennedy Center Honors in 2010. Lead singer Gwen Stefani has further emerged as a global music and fashion icon. Through all the success, the band members have remained grounded by a long-standing friendship. Their natural camaraderie, not to mention the musical alchemy that occurs when these four friends reunite, is palpable throughout the band’s new album Push And Shove — a supercharged blend of ska-rock, dancehall and electronic pop that will remind people why No Doubt has maintained its position as one of the most beloved and commercially successful acts of the past 20 years. Major Lazer guests.

CIMS RECOMMENDS: THE CHEVIN

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From panoramic vistas from the peaks of stately Yorkshire ridges to drug-running ranches in the deserts of Texas, The Chevin are a band steeped in natural grandeur. They’re a band who grew up relishing the magnificent swathes of moorland stretching from York to Leeds visible from atop the hill overlooking their home town of Otley – the geological marvel after which they’re named – and instinctively destined to recreate the wonder of it in music. They demoed Borderland in the band’s makeshift studio (recordings The Chevin were so pleased with that they kept many of the original keyboard tracks for the finished album), and using them to lure in a manager, the band concentrated on perfecting their songs in rehearsal rather than playing live and opted for the increasingly fashionable approach of self-financing their debut album and approached L.A. producer Noah Shain early in 2011 to find them a studio as dramatic and dislocated as their music and origins required. That meant heading to a studio on the Mexican/American border where they would hone Peter Gabriel-like drum sounds and huge organ-fueled epics like the title track. Fans of The Arcade Fire, Springsteen and Morricone will find much to love in Borderland’s mountainous sound.

CIMS RECOMMENDS: GRIZZLY BEAR

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Shields is the fourth and most fluid album by Grizzly Bear to date. The quartet of Chris Bear, Ed Droste, Daniel Rossen and Chris Taylor have never made a quick follow-up: It took them three years to get from Horn of Plenty to Yellow House, three more to get from Yellow House to Veckatimest. Between those records, though, they’d not only toured (headlining as well as with the likes of Radiohead, Feist, Wilco, TV on the Radio and more), but issued singles and splits, EPs, remixes and solo projects. The potential energy gathered in tour vans and busses, in studios and on stages for years was finally released, giving the individual band’s pieces the chance to recover and, after a year, return to being Grizzly Bear, and delivering their best album yet. ”This has a different energy behind it,” concludes Ed Droste. Veckatimest was a little more of a polite album; the desire to keep the vocals smooth might have kept a little distance between us and the audience. This one feels a bit more rough and exposed, so that on Shields, everything speaks for itself.” Indeed, Shields is filled with a raw, shocking power that goes for the gut without ever sacrificing the languid beauty of Grizzly Bear’s gorgeous four-part harmonies. Spectral, visceral, and beautiful, Shields is Grizzly Bear at their finest.