What's your latest "Discovery"

The Asylum Street Spankers, "My Favorite Record". If you guys don't know the Spankers check them out, they are fabulous!

Afro Celt Sound System. Excellent recording quality. This is really worth checking out for something different.

I like Pbb's format so I'll copy it... (all on CD or SACD)

New discovery #1: Mariza, a fado singer with an absolutely beautiful voice who arrived on the fado scene a couple of years ago (the Portuguese Norah Jones?). I have recently been listening to her albums called "Fado curvo" and "Fado em mim" (my copy is a double CD where the 2nd CD is from a performance at WOMAD 2002 UK). The CD liner notes have the lyrics in English as well so those of us who are Portuguese-challenged may understand if it strikes us - though it is utterly unnecessary to have them in order to appreciate the music. Beautifully-sung music, and very well-recorded to boot.

New discovery #2: Eminem. May be a shocker to some but I'd heard enough snippets to be impressed with his artistry so recently bought the Slim Shady LP, Marshal Mathers LP, and The Eminem Show. So far, I've stuck to Slim Shady. I'll probably start in on Marshall Mathers this week. (May be time to think about getting headphones....)

Re-discovery #1 (not new but recent and still on heavy rotation): Dire Straits remasters. Especially "Love Over Gold", which sounds SOOOO much better remastered.

Rediscovery #2 (not new but recent purchase in new format): Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus on SACD. Wonderful.

Interesting discovered "covers": "Basie Meets Bond". In 1965, Count Basie got together and covered about a dozen tunes from the first four James Bond films. The 24-bit remastered CD sounds surprisingly good and above all, it is a lot of fun (though is probably a pass if you hate James Bond films/music).

Can't recommend Mariza's live cuts from WOMAD enough so will plug them again :-)

T bone- If you enjoy a modern twist on Fado singing, and you haven't yet heard them, DEFINITELY check out Madredeus. I have too many of their albums, and enjoy all of them so it would be difficult to list a favorite, but there is a good compilation disc called "Antologia". Teresa Salgueiro's vocals are so beautiful at times they will make you weep. "Ainda" is also a favorite album of theirs.

For more traditional Fado singing, but still from a contemporary style, check out the discs by Misia. I love Fado music and had the great pleasure of spending a couple of weeks in Portugal back in 97' where you can still go out any night of the week and listen to traditional Fado. Beautiful country. Very warm and friendly people who live life at a much slower pace than most Western countries I've ever been too. Some of the craziest drivers I've ever encountered though, which is so ironic as everything else about Portugal is so laid back, slow and traditional. Gorgeous music though...you certainly don't need to understand the language to appreciate how beautiful Fado sounds.

Jax:

Yes, Misia "Ritual" is very nice.