sweet new music for your mom’s ipod.

i’ve been buying alot of new music recently. here are, in no particular order, the newest discs i’d suggest for all of y’all looking for something different:
1. ben folds and waso – live in perth this is a dvd of a concert that ben put on last march with the western australian symphony orchestra. the setlist is mostly made up of stuff from suburbs and the ben folds five catalog, but with an orchestral spin. the highlights are definatly lullabye, the luckiest, narcolepsy, and rock this bitch (orchestrally). the orchestra can screw up every now and then, but who doesn’t.
2. michael buble – caught in the act over the last two years or so, especially in the winter, i get deep into the standards. it seems like there are twenty or so songs that are done over and over, but there is almost always a different arragement with new orchestrations, tempo, and style. this is another dvd [it comes with an 8-track cd, but the dvd is certainly the highlight], which was filmed for pbs back in august. he puts on a hell of a show.
3. amos lee – amos lee back in november, i worked at a benefit for the joe torre safe at home foundation in nyc. at the end of the night, we got these bags full of free crap, like hair gel and bengay pads. the best thing that came out of the bag of free-ness was this amos lee cd. 9 out of the 10 tracks are mellow, slow-tempo’d ballads…ala jack johnson. when he lets it go a bit on "bottom of the barrel", though, it became the highlight of the disc for me.
4. peter cincotti – peter cincotti not to get stuck on the standards thing again, peter is another twenty-something standards singer who can breathe new life into a freakin’ old tune. where michael buble seems to be the product of bobby darin, cincotti was mentored by harry connick, jr, and that shows through. his piano instrumental of blood, sweat and tear’s "spinning wheel" will take you back…in a way that you never thought a blood, sweat and tears’ song could. "ain’t misbehavin’" and "rainbow connection" also stood out on this, his first disc. also check out his follow-up: on the moon.
5. neil young – prairie winds see, a few months ago, i would never have thought that i’d actually buy a neil young record. i’d never really heard alot of his stuff, but when i did i wasn’t really swayed by it. i got sucked into prairie winds by his gimmicky song "he was the king" where he sings about the last time he saw elvis. the rest of the album is a great relaxing set of rainy, sunday morning ballads. i’d always expected a bit more edge out of him, and that likely exists on alot of his back catalog, but this disc has been a perfect fit for me. theres five for now. let me know if theres anything you like. plus, im always taking suggestions for good new music.