Pork here.

What’s shaking, AKA Listeners?

You’ll read enough about Beyonce’s I Am Sasha Fierce in your newspaper and/or on just about any other site you’ll visit today, so I’m relieving myself of all Beyonce duties and focusing more on some releases that I’m actually excited about. After hearing 5 of its tracks, I Am Sasha Fierce leaves me not only unexcited, but also uninterested. Sorry, B.

Much more worthy of your eartime this week is Safe Trip Home by Dido. This is her third time around with a full length album and when I first read that she’d be working with Jon Brion, who is responsible for producing some of my all time favorite albums by Aimee Mann, Rufus Wainwright and Fiona Apple, I was surprised and elated. Upon hearing the results of their collaboration, I’m almost overwhelmed. In the span of just three albums Dido has managed to become a voice that can cut through the thickest of my mental preoccupations and reduce me to the most vulnerable of states. The subtle swells in Jon Brion’s production and multiple instrumentations are simply stunning when paired with Dido’s fragile-yet-firm vocals.

Both parties seem to be masters in restraint and demonstrate these strengths while painting some of the most beautiful scenes I've encountered this year. One listen to “It Comes And It Goes” and this should be apparent to even the most passive of listeners.

Slow and steady is how “Don’t Believe In Love” is delivered and that’s also how it hits. As a first single, it may lack the initial impact felt by “Here With Me” or “White Flag,” but upon repeated listens, it’s weight is slowly revealed . . . and felt. Once opened, Dido slips you some “Quiet Times” and proves yet again that she can slam you to the floor with the softest of blows. (Listen to it today in our Music Player.) Beauty through simplicity. This album has so much of both. It also has some “additional keyboards/ambience” by Brian Eno, so . . . you can guess what’s going on here.

Sometimes haunting. Sometimes embracing. Often both. In times like these, which seem to be the craziest, it’s music like this that’s necessary to heal you up a bit. It will soothe your soul in the same way that the madness riles it up.

A few weeks back I mentioned that Travis was my second favorite Scottish collective without taking a minute to mention who beats them out. No, it’s not Del Amitri (though I do enjoy them some). It’s not The Proclaimers. Nope, not Snow Patrol or Cocteau Twins (although brilliant as can be). Well, surprise, surprise! It’s none other than Belle and Sebastian. Nothing moved me more than If You’re Feeling Sinister in 1997 and I have been devoted ever since. I had only moved to New York City one month before being instructed by a friend of mine to immediately go to my nearest record store (at that point the HMV on 86th and Lexington) and buy this ground(and heart) breaking album. Er, cassette actually. Shut up. Let’s just say that I’ll never forget listening to it for the first time and desperately trying to keep up with where the music was taking my mind. Places I’d never been. Things I’d never seen. Friends I’d never met. Love I’d never felt. Let me be that friend to you now and urge you to own If You’re Feeling Sinister, which isn’t what’s even on today’s release schedule, but responsible for what would make me obsess about this particular release 11 years later. A collection of their BBC sessions is obviously what makes up The BBC Sessions (1996-2001) and hearing these performances laid out in such a way is more than a treat for fans like us who don’t get regular access to such amazing performances often. B-sides and rarities abound in these live takes that will leave you as numbed as their studio counterparts.

And then blah, blah, blah...something about David Cook.
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(Take a little time and enjoy . . . ) The List. All new releases for today, Tuesday November 18, 2008. After the jump!

Belle and Sebastian – The BBC Sessions (1996-2001)
Beyonce – I Am Sasha Fierce
The Black Keys – Live at the Crystal Ballroom (DVD)
Chris Botti – Live In Boston
Bring Me The Horizon – Suicide Season
The Byrds – The Notorious Byrd Brothers
David Cook – David Cook
De La Soul – De La Sous Is Dead
Dido – Safe Trip Home
The Doors – Live at The Matrix 1967
False Icons – God Complex (produced by Al Jourgensen)
Foo Fighters – Live at Wembley Stadium (DVD)
Sammy Hagar – Cosmic Universal Fashion
Il Divo – The Promise
Ricky Martin – 17
Paul McCartney – The Space Within Us (Blu-ray)
Mudvayne – The New Game
Nickelback – Dark Horse
Danny O’Keefe – In Time
Luciano Pavarotti – Life in Seven Arias (DVD)
Shontelle – Shontelligence
The Who – The Who at Kilburn 1977 (DVD)

and today’s the day for all you Madonna fans to prepare for 2009 by getting your official 2009 Madonna calendar. Now you know.

All New Music Releases - November 18th, 2008

Pork here.

It’s a week where I am full of confessions. First, I’m not able to properly review any of the numerous, notable releases landing in stores today because I simply haven’t had the albums to do so. That being said, the next few days will find me happily ingesting new albums by Tracy Chapman (always a cherished occasion), Grace Jones, Seal and (here comes Confession #2) David Archuleta. Yes, Pork is an Archie . . . er, Arch Angel . . . or whatever people who swoon over Lil’ Davey want to call themselves. (Stay tuned for more in-depth analysis of David’s self-titled debut and Tracy Chapman’s Our Bright Future.)

One confession I’m not afraid to declare is my lack of excitement about one of today’s hottest acts, T-Pain. No matter how many words he can cleverly misspell or how many top 10 hits he stamps with his vocoded signature, I couldn’t be less interested in hearing Thr33 Ringz, his new full length which will most likely be this week’s biggest seller as millions seem to be captivated by this hip-hop clown with the midas touch. T-Pain’s not my cup of "T," and I’m not going to front that he is. I’ll just hope that he and his circus of crunk fall off the map soon so the R&B/Hip-Hop genre recover . . . like it has from reggaeton.

After the jump, Grace Jones, Seal, and, you guessed it, Vanilla Ice! Plus, The List of all new releases for Tuesday, November 11, 2008.

Enough with what doesn’t make my blood rush. It’s time to put some Grace in your face . . . and ears. Grace Jones storms back with a full-fledged Hurricane, her first album in nearly 2 decades. Get a taste of “Corporate Cannibal”, the lead single and video, and you’re likely to be as captivated and hungry for more as I was. Riding the perfect balance of sexy and scary, Grace quickly reminds you that it’s “[her] rules, you fools” with a delivery so slinky and distinct that you must submit to this “man-eating machine.” I can’t wait to see what else Grace has got on her plate. Check out “Corporate Cannibal” in today’s Media Bar as the featured Music Video of the Day.

I haven’t heard Seal’s Soul, but I must say that the idea of him spinning his vocal abilities all over some legendary soul classics is a no-brainer that has the potential to be a smash. I must say I’m more than a bit worried about his decision to give the production responsibilities to David Foster, famous for (over)producing Celine Dion, Michael Bolton and Barbra Streisand. This is supposed to be a soul classics record. Hell, it’s called Soul! I’ve got my fingers crossed that his bombastic, slick production won’t shellac the sessions with schmaltz and suck the soul out of Seal’s groove.

Proving that real cover-album dreams can come true, Vanilla Ice Is Back! gives you no less than 9 covers of “hip hop classics” (think “Baby Got Back” and “Jump Around”) by Mr. Van Winkle himself along with 4 “Ice Ice Baby” revisits. White hot.

(Take a little time and enjoy . . . ) The List:

All New Music Releases - November 11th, 2008

David Archuleta – David Archuleta
Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise – Out of the Wilderness
Tracy Chapman – Our Bright Future
Deborah Cox – The Promise
Enya – And Winter Came
Grace Jones – Hurricane
Live – Live at the Paradiso (DVD/CD)
The Police – The Police: Certifiable (DVD/CD)
Musiq Soulchild – On My Radio
Seal – Soul
Smashing Pumpkins – If All Goes Wrong (DVD)*
Taylor Swift – Fearless
T-Pain – Thr33 Ringz
Vanilla Ice – Vanilla Ice Is Back! Hip Hop Classics
Butch Walker – Sycamore Meadows
Various Artists – Now That’s What I Call Music! 29
Various Artists – Zack and Miri Make a Porno(Soundtrack)

Greatest Hits, Box Sets, Re-Issues and Re-Masters by: Abba, Christina Aguilera, Patti Austin, Bad Company, Natasha Bedingfiled, Bee Gees, Big Mountain, Boney M., Cheap Trick, Alice Cooper, Dio, Hilary Duff, Aretha Franklin, Genesis, Enrique Iglesias, Jurssic 5, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin*, New Order* (5 Collector’s Edition Re-Issues!), The Osmonds, Gilda Radner, Cliff Richard, Carly Simon, Sister Sledge, The Smiths*.

Look any closer and you’ll find new music from Billy Bob Thornton and Kevin Costner. Yes, you read that correctly. Consider yourself warned.

* = acceptable Christmas presents for Pork.