Each week, Playlist’s Glenn Peoples looks at special tracks offered by the iTunes Music Store and other select online music merchants. Here are the selections for the week of January 31st.
This week’s free iTunes download is Hoodstomp (Clean Version) —a gritty hardcore rap track by NYC native K.V. Great beats, great rhymes. Do check it out.
Among the new arrivals at iTunes is the four-song Hell Yes EP by Beck, a sneak preview of his upcoming album Guero . The songs are far removed from his last album, the mellow, morose Sea Change . Hell Yes finds Beck going back to the days of “Beer Can” and mixing crunchy rock riffs, slack hip hop and his newfound love for Gameboy sound bites. iTunes also has the new single, “ Little Sister,” by Queens of the Stone Age, that’s a preview of their next album, Lullabies to Paralyze .
As for singles…Rapper 50 Cent has a new single on iTunes, “ Candy Shop.” His album, St. Valentines Day Massacre , will be out in March. Bright Eyes’ “ When the President Talks to God ” is also new and exclusive. Hard rock is represented with Mudvayne’s single “ Determined.” And Joe Cocker’s new single, U2’s “ One ” is also in the store.
There are many albums worth checking out at iTunes. One new group that made a big splash at the last CMJ music festival is The Brazilian Girls. Their quirky, perky, samba-drenched self-titled debut for the Verve Forecast label. Also new and exclusive is Solarized , latest solo album by the former front man for The Stone Roses, Ian Brown. Going underground now, there’s a new album by The Wedding Present, Take Fountain . And finally there’s Music from the WB Television Series One Tree Hill , with songs by Gavin DeGraw, Jimmy Eat World, Keane, Sheryl Crow, Story of the Year and the Get Up Kids.
Exclusive at Napster is Live at Zona Rosa by Ozomotli, two tracks that manage to capture the energy of the band’s legendary live shows. Also exclusive is “Open All Night” by Bon Jovi. Rooney, a young band that found fame through the TV series “The O.C.,” has an exclusive “DVD version” of their song “I’m Shakin’” at Napster. Youngster Ben Kweller recorded an EP for the Rolling Stone Original series. The three tracks are intimate acoustic recordings of catchy bubblegum folk.
New at Calabash Music (a great site that offers world music difficult to find elsewhere) is Palabras , Omara Portuando’s album that preceded her involvement with the famous Cuban musical collective, Buena Vista Social Club. Also new is Tapanuli , an album of traditional songs played on traditional instruments by Partopi Tao Group from the northern part of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Calabash will donate its share of the proceeds from sales of these songs to the Sumatra Sunami relief efforts.
With two Brian Wilson albums out in 2004, one of which was his long-lost, long-awaited Smile, it’s perfect timing for Rhapsody to add his 1995 album I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times . Also added was his Wilson’s 2000 album Live at the Roxy , a great set that was originally released exclusively through his website. Also added: Jay-Z’s Blueprint 2.1, New Order’s Get Ready , Steve Earle’s Jerusalem , Gotan Project’s La Revancha Del Tango , Francois Hardy’s Message Personnel and the Drive-By Truckers’ Pizza Deliverance .