New Music To Try Out

Today I am going to present a couple of nice albums I had to chance to browse and listen to during these agitated weeks/months.

Daniel Lanois - Here is what is (2007) (8 out of 10)
"Here Is What Is" is the fifth studio album by Canadian songwriter and record producer Daniel Lanois. It was first released in December 2007 as a high-quality download, and later released on CD on March 18 2008.Lanois has premiered a documentary entitled "Here Is What Is" at the Toronto Film Festival on September 9th, 2007. The film, co-produced by Adam Vollick, includes footage of the actual recording of the album bearing the same name. The film also shows Lanois' usual collaborators such as Emmylou Harris, Billy Bob Thornton, U2, Brian Eno and Brian Blade. There are also a guest appearances by Garth Hudson and Brady Blade Sr.
Excellent blend of jazzie, blues slow and instrumental music.

Portishead - Third (2008) (6 out of 10)
On October 2, 2007, Portishead stated that the new album, titled Third, had been mixed and was nearly complete, and was due for release in early April 2008. The release date was later pushed back to April 28. On December 8-9, 2007, the band participated the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Minehead, England. The festival featured their first full live sets in nearly 10 years.[10] They premiered five tracks from the new album; "Silence", "Hunter", "The Rip", "We Carry On" and "Machine Gun". On January 21, 2008, a European tour to support the album was announced.
Overall, typical Portishead release, mellow yet sad and probably with more electro influences than before. Good for fans especially.

Utah Saints - Freshtraxxx vol.3 (2008) (8 out of 10)
Some of the grandfathers of techo sampling and electronic music are back with a vengeance. Along Underworld or Prodigy, they were quite active in the early 1990s. I cannot remember their songs but Believe in Me was right by Out of Space on a tape I was listening back in '93:)). Woow...it is a long time. Well the boys are back with a catchy video (Something Good '08) which can succeed again in the charts. Their mix album is also pretty good and doesn't fall into the usual trap of such releases (aka boredom) but ei, de gustibus also. PS I like the Hammer joke in the video:)

The Roots - Rising Down (2008) (8 out of 10)

This is the eighth studio album for the Philly based hip hop band. The official release was on the 29th of April and it is the second LP with Def Jam records after 2006's Game Theory. The sound is quite different from previous releases and while in some cases comes great, other times is hard to adjust to. Overall, interesting..and intriguing with at least 4-5 good tracks.