DAR WILLIAMS - PROMISED LAND (I PRESSED THE BUZZER)

Picked up a hard copy of Dar's new cd today. "Promised Land." I was a bit floored at my local Borders when the sales associate told me that i was dropping near $17.00 on the cd. It was even price dropped down to 14.97 or whatever (Cigarettes and music! What's next coffee??? bitches...). No wonder the record industry is having issue...

Anyway - I do believe in dropping my money on an artist i honestly DO support. Money well spent as Dar's new album kicks continuously on my ipod today ever since i uploaded the CD the second i got home.

It starts with "it's alright" which is pretty much my favorite song EVER right now. Other noteworthy tracks to me after a few hours of straight listening are "The Easy Way," "Go To The Woods," (she does this one with Suzanne Vega and it is one of the best things i've heard in a while! Lyrics to note are: "is there a windy path, angry ass woman who will eat you" (ahh vah, Dar!)).

Let's see... Fountains of Wayne cover "Troubled Times" is pretty great. A bit weird until you get the ties is her cover of "Midnight Radio" from Hedwig. I dig Dar a lot so the reality that she was doing a Hedwig song to me was just cool. Apparently one of her professors in college wrote the actual song, so what we're hearing here is her paying homage to him. Makes sense... great cover!

How about "Buzzer." A pretty rockin song about the Stanley Milgram experiments that were done at Yale back in the day. PUR-TEE creepy but makes for an awesome song!

Um.. so ok, don't get me wrong. It's her best since "The Beauty of the Rain" in my opinion but not better than "The Green World." The rest of the songs are good... but those were the most notable ones for me right now.

Also helps that the cd booklet is full of local artists from the area of New York she lives in. A terrific concept from a cool chick. Plus, she looks super cute on the back cover of the album =)

Go Dar!