ALBUM PREVIEW: KT TUNSTALL

Last week a friend and I headed out to the Hotel Cafe to catch Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall showcase material from her upcoming album Tiger Suit. The gig was billed as a solo acoustic performance and it was defiantly solo, but NOT acoustic. With the help of looping pedals, Tunstall recreated the new material that she described that night as "Eddie Cochran mixed with Leftfield."

Tiger Suit, Tunstall's third studio album is due out in September and is defiantly more beat driven than her previous work. Tracks "Fade Like a Shadow" and "Glamour Puss" are prime examples of that.

It will be interesting to see how listeners respond to the new material, as her follow-up (2007's Drastic Fantastic) didn't fare nearly as well as her 2004 breakout Eye To The Telescope.

ART AND MUSIC COLLIDE

I find myself fascinated by the way an artist's (in any of the arts) mind works and how they come up with such original ideas. That said, I recently discovered an artist by the name of Erika Iris Simmons and her series of work "Ghost in the Machine."

Simmons takes old cassette tape and arranges it on canvas creating instantly recognizable images of famous faces. The "Ghost in the Machine" collection includes pieces ranging from The Beatles to Lenny Kravitz.

For more information on "Ghost in the Machine" or Simmons other work, you can visit her website at: http://www.iri5.com/Home_Page.html

A STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE

I was recently thumbing through the pages of an old SPIN magazine and came across an oldie but goodie- a ad for Columbia House (CH). Remember those services like CH and BMG where you got 12 CDs for a penny and agreed to buy six more CDs over the course of two years at regular club price?

I surely remember those days and there always seemed to be a brown paper box (that was impossible to open) awaiting me when I returned home from school. I used to get so excited because half the time I forgot what I had ordered and it was like Christmas several times a month. I would go back to my room and play the latest works from No Doubt, Savage Garden and Janet Jackson, only coming out of my room for the mandatory supper break.

Those were the pre-iTune days, where you bought the whole album based on the chart topping single. Sometimes you got a really solid piece of work like Sarah McLachlan's Surfacing and other times you got a so-so album, say for example Tonic's Lemon Parade.

Regardless, I just remember the whole process as being fun. You scanned the rows and rows of album options, debated which ones to buy to fulfill your obligation and then cancelling your membership only to renew a couple months later when there were 12 new CDs you wanted.

Good times, good times!