Passion Play

Today was a big day for two of my absolute favorite people in the entire musical world. Both Joshua Radin and William Fitzsimmons released their new albums! (Note: if you haven't realized this by now, let me just point out that I tend to get a tad passionate about music. Especially when it comes to Josh ;) ).

Let's start off with Joshua Radin a.k.a. the love of my musical life. If you haven't heard him before then you obviously need to check out my playlist. :) The man has been compared to Nick Drake and referred to as a modern day Simon and Garfunkle. Josh's new album is called Simple Times and it's brilliant. A little different than the first album, but it's still Josh. Let me just tell you why I love this man so much (well, one reason anyway). Colombia Records signed Josh probably two and a half/three years ago. He went with them because they said they'd produce his album just as he recorded it; no changes. Then when it came time for the sophomore record, they wanted him to make changes; move towards more of a mainstream/pop-ish sound. He wouldn't do it. He bought himself out of his contract and signed on with Mom and Pop Records, an indie label and was able to release his music how he feels his music should sound. Even if you hated his sound, you'd have to respect the guy for that.

The album has been up on i-tunes for the past four weeks and beat out Metallica for the number one selling album it's first week out. I was going to wait for the hard copy, but I just couldn't hold myself back. I did of course, order a hard copy but of course it wasn't in the mail. Hopefully tomorrow! Josh also performed on the Ellen Show today. I was stoked until I got home and found that the DVR did not record the event. Tragic. I feel I handled myself well though; no tears were shed, I didn't break anything, just complained a little. Good thing I'm going to see him perform live this weekend, or thing may not have turned out so pretty . . . Now if someone could just get the clip up on youtube . . . :)

Next we have William. William Fitzsimmons also released and album today called The Sparrow and The Crow. It's his third album, and possibly my favorite. I can't get over how talented this man is! I first heard WF towards the beginning of the year when I noticed him on the Hotel Cafe Tour's line-up. I instantly bought one his albums and later fell in love with it so much that I had to have the other one as well. Imagine my delight when I found out he had a third album on the way!

I pre-ordered the cd rather than waiting to buy it on i-tunes because it came with a free subscription to Paste Magazine ("the entertainment magazine for thinking adults, Paste looks for "signs of life" in music, film, and culture") and I like getting mail. I'm generally not big into the whole pre-order thing, but this time it turned out to be the best thing I could have done because when I got home on Friday afternoon, the cd was sitting in my mailbox . . . that's four whole days before I could have gotten it anywhere else. The album is amazing, I can't wait for November 7th when I get to see him perform the songs live!!!

For more details on Josh, William, or the Hotel Cafe tour, or to listen to their music, direct your eyes to the right side of your screen. For those of you who are directionally impaired, just take a look at this . . . (Josh appears at approx. 6:07) ;)