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Claire Blaustein Claire Blaustein is a freelance writer and music critic who writes for a variety of publications, including The Washington Post, Exclaim! Magazine and La Scena Musicale.
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Claire Blaustein

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Monday

Kingsley Flood: Call Of The Wild

Kingsley Flood's "I Don't Wanna Go Home" has a vintage radio feel and the momentum of a great live show. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Review

Song Of The Day

Kingsley Flood: Call Of The Wild

"I Don't Wanna Go Home" has a vintage radio feel and the momentum of a great live show.

'I Don't Wanna Go Home' by Kingsley Flood

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Friday

Hoots And Hellmouth: The Roots Of Americana

"Threadbare" encapsulates Hoots and Hellmouth's laid-back bluegrass vibe, but with enough grit to make it cathartic. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Review

Song Of The Day

Hoots And Hellmouth: The Roots Of Americana

"Threadbare" encapsulates Hoots and Hellmouth's laid-back bluegrass vibe, but with enough grit to make it cathartic. Stretched to the point of breaking, worn until there isn't much left, "Threadbare" unravels easily.

'Threadbare' by Hoots and Hellmouth

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Thursday

Nouvelle Vague: The Sexy Side Of Depeche Mode

Nouvelle Vague makes "Master and Servant" more deeply sexy than Depeche Mode could have imagined. courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Nouvelle Vague: The Sexy Side Of Depeche Mode

Covering new wave and punk songs in a French-tinged, bossa nova-infused style, Nouvelle Vague takes classic songs to new places. In the process, the group makes "Master and Servant" more deeply sexy than Depeche Mode could have imagined.

'Master and Servant' by Nouvelle Vague

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Monday

Bonerama: A Brass-Band Force Of Nature

The New Orleans brass band Bonerama updates "When the Levee Breaks" for a post-Katrina world. courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Review

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Bonerama: A Brass-Band Force Of Nature

Bonerama's version of "When the Levee Breaks" pulls from the famous version on Led Zeppelin IV, complete with sly re-renderings of harmonica solos on swaying trombone. It moves with a heavy groove, dominated by the pounding wave of sound created by the slides of the trombone.

'When the Levee Breaks' by Bonerama

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Monday

Erin McKeown: In Search Of Breathing Room
Michael Weintrob

Review

Song Of The Day

Erin McKeown: In Search Of Breathing Room

As sly as its title sounds, "(Put the Fun Back in the) Funeral" isn't about finding the bright side of bad situations; instead, it finds McKeown moving gracefully through a series of scenarios involving entrapment and enclosure. Whether buried alive or trapped on a stifling bus, her protagonist ruminates on a life in which air is in short supply.

'(Put the Fun Back in the) Funeral' by Erin McKeown

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Tuesday

Review

Song Of The Day

Katie Herzig: A Farewell To Past Love

Herzig captures the way loss leaves behind the sensation of grasping at a vague afterimage, like getting disoriented by the shadows after a bright camera flash. Even amid heartache, though, she finds a bittersweet bright side: "I'll find my way / 'Cause you showed me how."

'Wish You Well' by Katie Herzig

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Tuesday

Review

Song Of The Day

Jones Street Station: Sunlight In The Sadness

The roots-pop song "Evergreen" finds Jones Street Station broadening its horizons. Blending harmonies and country, folk and rock influences, the band crafts a song that's both sweet and sad — about being together and alone, while ultimately looking on the bright side.

'Evergreen' by Jones Street Station

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Monday

Review

Song Of The Day

Alice Russell: Under Smoky Club Lights

Every few decades, the British invade. This time out, the onslaught features a bevy of beautiful women with deep voices and serious soul. Alice Russell hitched a ride on that boat, and with Pot of Gold and the song "Lights Went Out," she plants her flag and claims some fresh territory for herself.

'Lights Went Out' by Alice Russell

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Thursday

Review

Song Of The Day

Run On Sentence: A Lumbering Stroll

Run On Sentence is a vehicle for multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Dustin Hamman, who performs with a rotating band of talented musicians. In "Stonewall," he takes his sharp-edged croon on a tour of cold city sidewalks.

'Stonewall' by Run On Sentence

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Monday

Review

Song Of The Day

Dent May And His Ukulele: Winningly Winking

A crooning throwback to an era of music in which boy bands were likely to be wearing matching sweater-vests, Dent May produces an infectiously enjoyable sound with the help of His Magnificent Ukulele. A Four Preps song from 1958, "26 Miles" gets a good-natured makeover from May and His Magnificent Ukulele.

'26 Miles (Santa Catalina)' by Dent May and His Magnificent Ukulele

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Friday

Review

Song Of The Day

Rupa And The April Fishes: Border Crossing

In a world defined by lines that separate one group of people from another, "Poder" explores the forces that can cross the U.S.-Mexico border: The fish can, the wind can and money can, but "pero yo no" — "I cannot." The music crosses its own borders, falling somewhere between the smoky club and the joyful street parade.

'Poder' by Rupa And The April Fishes

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Monday

Review

Song Of The Day

Time For Three: Beyond Classical

With a love of bluegrass and jazz, Time for Three started along its improvisational way by re-crafting classical favorites (like Bach's Concerto for Two Violins), and has continued to grow and compose its own music. In "Philly Phunk," it pays tribute to its hometown.

'Philly Phunk' by Time for Three

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Wednesday

Review

Song Of The Day

Pacifika: The Dawn Of A New Day

A few droning notes cast their wan rays on the opening moments of Pacifika's "Sol," with twinkling guitars further brightening and awakening the melody. Throughout the track, Silvana Kane's voice bends around the notes, calling out to mother, father, sister and brother to join in the dawn of a new day.

'Sol' by Pacifika

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Friday

Review

Song Of The Day

Ben Arthur: Love And Loss 'On A Sunday'

The quirky optimism that marked Ben Arthur's first album Edible Darling has aged and darkened on his long-awaited second disc, Mouthfeel. A slippery disc in sound and meaning, the set ranges from familiar, pop-influenced Americana to songs like "On a Sunday," which burrows intimately into love, pain, and loss.

'On A Sunday' by Ben Arthur

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Monday

Review

Song Of The Day

Priscilla Ahn: A Life in 'Dream'

As a new singer-songwriter with a new debut album, Priscilla Ahn is an unfamiliar figure. But from her first breaths in "Dream," she possesses a presence that can't be overlooked. It's not just the startling clarity of her singing, but also the lovely and occasionally wry songwriting that's bound to capture listeners' attention and imaginations.

'Dream' by Priscilla Ahn

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Tuesday

Review

Song Of The Day

British Sea Power: For Those Who Like to Rock

The title of British Sea Power's new album (Do You Like Rock Music?) feels like an invitation rather than a question: Judging from the album's contents, the answer had better not be no. "Lights Out for Darker Skies" dispenses anthemic power chords without skimping on the complexities.

'Lights Out for Darker Skies' by British Sea Power

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Monday

Review

Song Of The Day

Amiina: A Dance of Sounds in Space

Amiina's "Rugla" begins with a quiet clicking, which is immediately fleshed out by guitar and ringing vibraphone. For a band that embraces a kitchen-sink approach, what emerges is hardly noise. Instead, it's a series of auditory concepts that capture the mind and soothe the soul.

'Rugla' by Amiina

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Tuesday

Review

Song Of The Day

Infatuation, Love, and All That Follows

These United States' "First Sight" begins unassumingly, offering few hints of the verbal flood to follow: a bevy of images, all delivered with the same gentle intensity. These small melodic bits pull and push the listener's attention, moving continuously under layered melodies and a wash of words.

'First Sight' by These United States

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Thursday

Review

Song Of The Day

A Small Slice of Life, and Perhaps Pie

Greta Gertler was making her living as a waitress when she met her band, The Extroverts. Her experience in the service industry might explain the food-inspired Edible Restaurant, brought to delicious fruition in "Veselka."

'Veselka' by Greta Gertler and the Extroverts

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Tuesday

Review

Song Of The Day

An 'Average Dance' That's Perplexingly Fun

For all its whirling bits and pieces (cyclic banjo and accordion lines, ping-ponging toy synthesizer, overlapping vocals, a repeating bass line), "Earned Average Dance America" finds The Seedy Seeds generating a surprisingly cohesive sound.

'Earned Average Dance America' by The Seedy Seeds

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Friday

Review

Song Of The Day

'Heart It Races' and the Sounds of Stuff

Just about any band with six members, all of whom sing and swap instruments, is bound to operate with a degree of eclecticism. Architecture in Helsinki crams an incredible amount of stuff into "Heart It Races," dashing from one idea to the next with manic speed.

'Heart It Races' by Architecture in Helsinki

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Friday

Review

Song Of The Day

Harsh and Sweet, Fiery and Cold: '24 Hours a Day'

On "24 Hours a Day," amid twangy strings, Elana James bursts into her own particular blend of bluegrass, western swing and jazz. The fiddler has traveled a winding road since the acrimonious breakup of her band Hot Club of Cowtown.

'24 Hours a Day' by Elana James

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Monday

Review

Song Of The Day

'Pretty on the Inside' and the Ugly Truth

The title of Ceann's "Pretty on the Inside" telegraphs the gag from the start, but there's no way of predicting exactly how far it's going to go. The chorus is the least of it: "You're pretty on the inside / It's just too bad I'm an outside kind of pretty guy."

'Pretty on the Inside' by Ceann

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Wednesday

Review

Song Of The Day

Taking Flamenco and Cranking It Up

Flamenco has its own rhythm — a natural pulse of hands and feet and mouths. Barcelona's Ojos de Brujo re-creates the sound of city streets, where many different kinds of music leak out of doorways of clubs and concert halls, then blend together to create one mass of sound.

'No Somos Maquinas' by Ojos de Brujo

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