Turn the bass up, projecting the sound

I'll get around to reviewing Right Where You Want Me at some point, but I think I'll need to be able to think a little more clearly before attempting that. Instead, it's time for another MySpace check-in.

Ben Adams has another song up at his MySpace site. At this rate, we'll have heard all the songs on the album before it actually comes out, but I have no problem with that. "Crash and Burn" is excellent but sounds really different from any other song we've heard Ben doing. It's upbeat but laid-back, a little jazzy, and with a chorus that'll get caught in your head, even if you can't understand all the words in it. The chorus has Ben's voice processed, tinny, and higher-pitched, but it's a really nice touch. Very chill (it's not overwhelming at any point) but also summery.

Darius shills for the movie An Inconvenient Truth in a very lengthy and (suprisingly) eloquent blog entry. Whether or not you like him or agree with him, did anyone expect him to write that well? I know we can't automatically accept blogs "by" artists as actually being by them, but with someone like Darius, who isn't so prominent anymore (and the audience he's writing for is sort of limited--he's got, what, 1,000 friends on MySpace?), I have trouble believing a record company would decide to have someone write an entry for him. And yes, it features what is possibly shameless promotion for his MySpace under the auspices of spreading the news about global warming and the possibly designed-to-impress reference to him reading "five books on the subject by the world's leading scientific minds," but I can't help it--I like the man's music.

Josh Hoge, who claims he is "taking sexy forward," has a new song up, "Damn Thing." I can't say I'm madly in love with it--the songs on his album sampler beat it out, in my opinion--but, more excitingly, he's revealed that his album is going to be released this coming January.

There's absolutely no news on the Simon Curtis front, but I can't pass up another opportunity to mention him--his album, most of which you can listen to on his official website, is excellent, with a lot of really standout tracks on it. One of them is "Left Right Left." It's got soldier-esque chants and, like most of Simon's songs, a catchy chorus. Anyone want to figure out what the political message of the song is? I know I should probably be able to, but understanding lyrics isn't my strong point and, though I might be able to guess based on the rest of the album, I'm not sure; it'd be nice to know if I agree or disagree with what the song is saying. Regardless, it's musically a good song. This album is going to be a must-buy (if it doesn't come out soon, I may have to do a post just about it anyway, incomplete album or not); choosing what songs to write about is practically impossible, because there are so many good ones.

The Click Five's page says they have a digital single coming out September 25. It's probably a safe guess that it's just the UK/international release of a song that's on Greetings From Imrie House (probably "Just The Girl"). If you haven't bought any of their music yet, it will definitely be worth it to buy it, whichever song from the album it is. Rumors say the next album probably won't be coming out until at least winter/spring 2007.

Edit: in non-MySpace news, Darin has a new single, "Perfect," coming out October 18. It will be the lead single from his next album Break The News (due out November 22). He says it "will sound [a] little bit different than my previous work." Based on the single cover (shown here; taken from his official site), I'm thinking it'll be a fast song (or maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part). Given past history, whatever it is, it should be great!

Next up: possibly that Jesse McCartney review, a review of a different album, or some laid-back songs.