I bought a couple of CD's on Monday: Made of Bricks (Kate Nash) and Handbuilt by Robots (Newton Faulkner).

Most of Made of Bricks has been available on the internet (YouTube) for a while.  Kate Nash sings with a London accent (similar to the way I speak when I'm at home but a little more east end).  A bit reminiscent of the Streets and Lily Allen.  I can hear some Elvis Costello in her stuff.

Listening to the songs is a bit like peering into someones diary, little slices of life.  Sometimes the lyrics and music appear childlike for example in my favourite song "Mouthwash": "I use mouthwash, sometimes I floss, I've got a family and I drink cups of tea....".   I can see that and the accent putting some people off.  It shouldn't because there are some really good pop songs on this album.

I liked the whole album, which is unusual these days.  I love her voice.  Stand out tracks for me include:

Mouthwash
Foundations
We get on
S**t Song

The only disapointment if there is one would be the swear words in the lyrics.  I get that she's singing about "real" things but I think the swearing limits her audience.

I was expecting great things of Newton Faulkner he's an excellent acoustic guitar player and studied with Leo Kottke.  I was disapointed on first listening it felt bland.  It deserves a second listen but that won't happen before I get throughly bored with Made of Bricks

Better tracks include:

Teardrop
Dream catch me (which sounds like Crowded House)

ttfn