Just discovered this LA band, The Airborne Toxic Event and I love them.  The sound is raw, plaintive, punk-like, and incredibly personal – think a cross between Violent Femmes and Crash Test Dummies.

 The album was written while lead singer Mikel Jollett was struggling with heartbreak, his mother’s cancer and his own health problems…Needless to say the album is full of raw emotions and surprisingly – humor. 

 In “Does This Mean You’re Moving On?” with the lines like, “Oh Christ, she’s not alone…” and “I’ll bet your friends all hate me now.  I get the strangest looks from that bitchy crowd…guess I am not quite over you.” – let the giggling begin.  Or in “Something New” - a priceless appreciation of hoping the fighting will stop and the therapy works…If you have been in therapy with your mate, well this is a riot.  Set to a hopeful, happy beat – the couple is falling apart…

 Another wonderful quality of the music is the shifting and building tempos of the different songs, such as in “Sometime Around Midnight.”  The song opens quietly, building softly by adding instruments and strengthening his voice with each bar until you hear his anguish refrain, “You just have to see her,”  over and over.  Who hasn’t been to this broken place?  

Must listen to: Gasoline, Does this Mean Your Moving On?, Sometime Around Midnight, Something New, Missy

Want to instantly feel better – listen to Faulkner’s song “Gone In the Morning.”  Every time I hear it, no matter the where I am – in a clothing store or a car  – I’m dancing like a gyrating fool.  This CD is quirky, creative and unbelievably sexy.  Why?  It’s his voice.  My favorite tracks are: “Feels Like Home,” “U.F.O,.” “Ageing SuperHero,” and “Gone In the Morning.”

 I had to laugh yesterday when I googled Faulkner and saw he was a dread-locked, red-haired singer from the UK – my favorite artist is Van Morrison.  I’m a sucker for a Celtic balladeer with smiling eyes…One of my best friends would always joke, “Give Quasimodo a guitar and a mic and you’ve got instantly hot.”  Anyway, I’m hooked…

A little over a week ago I heard this great story on NPR, http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2008/03/21/segments/93888 - it’s about music transcending cultural divides.  Gregory Warner is a reporter in Afghanistan and one day started playing “Those Were the Days My Friend” on his accordion. His translator, shocked, asks, “How do you know Afghan music?” Greg scratches his head and thinks, “But this is just some folk song my mom used to sing to me!”…

 My very favorite part of the story happens when Warner plays Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” to a wild and thrilled Afghan audience.  Warner exclaims, “It was my best crowd ever!”  I love it!  Happy listening.