Patrick Park - Everyone's In Everyone

Newly released on Curb Appeal Records, Patrick Park's Everyone's in Everyone is full of somber emotion in the timbre of Park's voice, but also thrives on bright guitar tones and the occasional piano. You know how they say as one life ends, a new life begins? Well, in the world of insightful-man-with-guitar, this saying works. Jeff Buckley may no longer be with us, but Patrick Park rises like a phoenix from the ashes and carries on. Dare I say it, but "Stay With Me Tomorrow" takes me to a place where I can almost think I'm listening to a discontented James Taylor, as Park's unadorned, yet passionately pleading, voice runs 3:35 over 12 strings and a Hammond organ.

Everyone's In Everyone takes a focal shift away from the introspective and purging LP Loneliness Knows My Name, decidedly standing up and getting on with things rather than continuing to dwell on "Time For Moving On", outwardly criticizing the brutality and violence of war on "Pawn's Song", and exploring the interconnectivity of mankind on the title track, "Everyone's In Everyone". Beyond the audible brilliance of Patrick Park's voice, he blends both acoustic and electric guitars to near perfection.

Everyone's In Everyone demands you to step outside ourselves ("Here We Are") and really think about what it is to be alive in the world we live in. I, for one, am glad to have Patrick Park's music to listen to while I do it.

Patrick Park plays tomorrow and Wednesday night at The 8x10, supporting Grace Potter & The Nocturnals (read a review of This Is Somewhere).

Click the album art above to purchase.

Album Review: Grace Potter & The Nocturnals - This Is Somewhere; Streaming Preview Of The Album

New today from the always soulful Grace Potter & The Nocturnals is the fully rockin' This Is Somewhere (funny how I was listening to Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere just before receiving this album). Potter's voice is alternately breathy and bold, bursting forth with spirit and sensuality. At all but 24 years of age, Grace Potter sings with the force and credibility of a songstress twice her age. Lest this site fall into the trappings of chasing the lead singer of a well-rounded band, the Nocturnals - Scott Tournet on guitar, Bryan Dondero on bass, and Matt Burr on drums - provide the sound that completes the elegance of This Is Somewhere.

The album starts off with a delicate verse in "Ah Mary", reminiscent of the band's last album, before exploding into an aggressively driven roots-rock chorus in a tale of Mary and her dangerously provocative personality. On This Is Somewhere, Grace trades between a Hammond organ and a guitar, adding more punch to this record than on Nothing But The Water. For a band that has fit so nicely into the jam band circuit, this album could present a challenge to fans returning for another groove.

Choice cuts from the album: "Ah Mary", "Stop The Bus", "Big White Gate"

Click here for a streaming preview of Grace Potter & The Nocturnals' This Is Somewhere

Hollywood Records Introduces New Compact Disc Technology To Amp Up Album Sales

I just learned about this new format the other day when I received my advance copy of the new album by Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, This Is Somewhere. So far, the album is something else. Really good stuff, and I love Ms. Potter's pipes! More rocking out on here than the last record, too.

Moving along, Hollywood Records, the label releasing the album, is a Disney imprint. Hollywood is introducing a new CD format called CDVU+ (CD View Plus), effective this past Wednesday. Complete with digital extras like magazines, photos and lyrics, the format will also use recyclable packaging and dispose of the classic jewel cases we know and love (and should feel guilty for using).

According to Hollywood, Grace Potter will not be the first official release to use the new technology, but instead teen "punk" band The Jonas Brothers are first in line when their record streets on August 7. No word yet on whether this new tech will increase floundering album sales, or whether Hannah Montana's next album will be CDVU+ capable.