When Armchair Apocrypha came out, I had a hard time listening to anything else. In fact, I felt a similar way when I first heard Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs. There’s something very infectious about his music; there are pop sensibilities without compromising any lyrical depth. The wait for this new album Noble Beast will be a long one (it’s released 1/27/09), and after hearing this track, you’ll only want to hear more.

MP3: Andrew Bird - Oh No 

Bonus MP3s

MP3: Andrew Bird - Fake Palindromes (Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs)

MP3: Andrew Bird -  Heretics (Armchair Apocrypha)

I came across Sunny Levine’s music a few weeks ago, and haven’t stopped listening since. He has a lot of influences, it’s hard to make an exact comparison to other musicians. Songs like “Relations” bring to mind Dave Matthews. Other songs remind me of Jack Johnson, but less acoustic based. At times, I also hear Beck a little. Even if you aren’t a fan of Matthews or Johnson, check out Levine. He has his own sound.

Levine’s recently released solo album, Rhino Love, is Californian electro/soul reggae/pop. I like most of the songs on the album, the only one I really dislike is the single for the album, “Daylight.” It sounds like a single. The rest of the songs range from decent to great. I’ve been listening to “Love Rhino” the most. I really like “Relations,” “Glass Jaw,” and the banjo in “Love On The Rocks.”

Sunny Levine is from Santa Monica, California. His family is deeply involved with the music industry, as his grandfather is Quincy Jones, his father is Stewart Levine (Simply Red, Joe Cocker, B.B. King, Dr. John, Minnie Ripperton, and Jamie Cullum), and his uncle is producer QD3 (Tupac Shakur, Ice Cube). Love Rhino is out on Quango Records. He was in the band Mata Hari for a short time a decade ago, but before releasing this solo album, has mostly been producing (The Happy Mondays, Mickey Avalon, Pete Yorn, and Hugh Masekela).

Love Rhino (2008):

Sunny Levine - Love Rhino

Sunny Levine - Relations

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