Deep thoughts... Jenn Grant, Cuff the Duke, Pet Sounds vs. Jay-Dee

First off, I'd like to apologize to the legions of you who read this, for slacking a little towards the end of last week. In my defense, I've been playing a lot of NBA Live '06 for the X-box. And, while I really wanted to play with the real Raptors, unfortunately I couldn't bring myself to play with the Raptors BC (Before Colangelo) when their starting line-up was: Rafer Alston, Mo-Pete, Jalen Rose, CB4, and Antonio Davis; sorry if I just made anyone vomit in their mouth remembering that team. Instead, I opted for the Fantasy Draft (position 27 - in every round) now my starters are: Kurt Heinrich, 42 year old Reggie Miller, Shane Battier, Emeka Okafor, and Chris Bosh ... life is much better.

When I haven't been playing video games, I've been listening to Jenn Grant's Orchestra for the Moon, Cuff the Duke's recently released Sidelines of the City, and a mash-up album by Bullion, Pet Sounds: In the Key of Dee mixing the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds with the beats of Jay-Dee. A few thoughts on each.

Orchestra for the Moon - My buddy Rosie who managed to see Grant open for the Weakerthans in Toronto, came away from the show particularly unimpressed with her work. While I can't comment on her show, I can say that her album is definitely worth a listen. The beginning of her album has a Feist-ian quality to it, but as the album progresses she seems to find more of her own voice with the last three tracks 'Rainy Day', 'White Horses', 'Blue Skies' which are all, in my opinion, outstanding tracks.

Sidelines of the City - Cuff the Duke's third album, SotC, is more of a return to a sound that emulates Cuff's live performance that was captured really well in their first album Life Stories for Minimum Wage, but not so much on their second self titled album. They are currently touring in will be in Ontario starting on Wednesday, and I'm going to recommend that you visit them especially if you have a chance to see them with Land of Talk in TO on the 30th.

Pet Sounds: In the Key of Dee - Jay Dee "your favourite hip-hop producer's favourite producer" had legions of fans within the hip-hop community and passed away last February. As an homage to both Jay Dee and DangerMouse (I assume - who produced the Grey Album, a mash-up of Jay-Z's Black Album and the Beatles White Album), Bullion has put together his own concept album, taking the beats of Jay Dee and mixing them with the Beach Boys Pet Sounds with surprisingly good results. The entire album is available for download for free here.