It seems to be a good time for music, or at least for me discovering music. A few nice things I’ve come across lately:

  • The Goat Rodeo Sessions (click the “Preorder now” link to see more about the album itself, while mentally cursing a musician’s idea of web design). I don’t have this yet, but it promises to be excellent: a Yo-Yo Ma project featuring Chris Thile on mandolin. YouTube has plenty of teaser material and one entire track to whet your appetite. The album lands October 24th.
  • Floex / Zorya by Tomáš Dvořák is a really neat combination of electronic and acoustic elements. Dvořák (aka Floex) is the musician behind the soundtracks to Machinarium and the Samarost games, and the studio he works with (Amanita Design) has a new game coming soon which I’m excited for.
  • My third discovery is more of a rediscovery. I have the (excellent) Tim O’Brien and Darrell Scott album Real Time, and last month on eMusic I picked up Darrell Scott’s 2008 solo album Modern Hymns. I’ve just had to delete a paragraph here extolling his virtues as a wordsmith: the songs on that album aren’t his. (I only recognised “American Tune”, shame on me.) Anyway the songs are excellent, and kept me thoroughly distracted for about an hour when I was supposed to be proofreading.