New Maria Taylor this Spring

Maria Taylor, half of the amazing duo that was Azure Ray, has announced the release of her third solo album for this Spring. She has recently parted ways with her record label, Saddle Creek, and teamed up with Canadian record label Nettwerk. The album is entitled "LadyLuck" and should hit stores on April 7th.

According to her MySpace page, the new album is diverse, inspired by the end of a relationship, and finds a good balance between the melancholy and the inspiring. Nettwerk has pre-released two songs from the forthcoming album, "Time Lapse Lifetime" and "Orchids", and made them available on iTunes. From what I've heard, it has a lot of promise and sounds very much like some of her best solo work to date.

• Time Lapse Lifetime

Maria Taylor

One of my favorite bands is Azure Ray. It is composed of two women, Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor. Both ladies have recently set off on their own to work on solo records, but I will admit that Maria has always been my favorite half of the Azure Ray team and my preference held true for me for their solo efforts as well.

Maria's first solo record "11:11" was beautiful and was very much in the same vein as Azure Ray but with a perhaps less somber air about it. Maria has recently announced a new solo album is to be released in March, on my birthday no less! Her new record is to be called "Lynn Teeter Flower" after a childhood friend of hers. They are offering that all pre-orders of the new album made through the record label, Saddle Creek, will be shipped out a full two weeks before the actual release date. I am eagerly awaiting it as the available tracks from the album are all classic Maria quality. I am excited.

For anyone unfamiliar with Azure Ray and Maria and what to expect, they are somber, what some might call "slow-core" music. A very soothing voice over moody and ethereal music. The lyrics are the selling point for me, though. They have some beautiful crafted stories and feelings within their songs that seem to get at something deeper than just the same ol' love songs, even if the song IS a love song. They often leave me feeling haunted and connected to something bigger than this world. I can't say enough about them really.

Check out some of Maria Taylor's solo tracks:

• Song Beneath a Song (from 11:11)
• Speak Easy (from 11:11)
• A Good Start (from Lynn Teeter Flower)
• Lost Time (from Lynn Teeter Flower)

Round 2: Los Angeles

I get to Los Angeles a few times a year. It's gotten me spoiled, now I can barely handle going to a store like FYE or Coconuts to buy music. $17 for a CD? Are you kidding me? In L.A. most of my music shopping happens in two stores, Amoeba Hollywood and Second Spin on Ventura Blvd. There also used to be Aron's which was a great store, but it recently closed.

I think I am right, the Hollywood Amoeba definitely seems bigger than the Berkeley one. I also enjoy their set up more, as they separate the used CDs from the new stuff. In Berkeley you had to search through them all together. Their bargain bin seems not only much bigger, but I found much more in it. It also has to do with the fact I wasn't flying through it because of time constraints (I get dropped off around 1:30 and then a ride home around 4:45pm). I managed to get 8 CDs from the bargain bin, and since the buy 4 get the cheapest free deal is on, I pay for 6 of those.

Amoeba has a huge selection, but often if they do have a newer release used the price will be way too high for me to consider buying ($10-12). They have stranger stuff though, especially in the bargain bin, things you are amazed to have found, and this is what makes Amoeba great. Second Spin is good for its selection of more recent releases at better prices ($7-9) and I always find the more popular releases there (the ones where you say "why would someone have sold this back already, damn!"). Second Spin also has a bargain bin, and though it's very small in comparison, you can't beat the prices as most are $2 or less and usually they have a 50% off deal on them, so you can walk out with some 50¢ CDs if you're lucky enough to find something worth buying.

I've done very well for myself in the music shopping here in L.A., here's a sampling of some of the artists I picked up music by while I was out:

• David Poe - "Reunion"
• Venice is Sinking - Undecided"
• Matson Jones - "He Means Nothing, Dear"
• Regina Spektor - "Us" (left click)
• The Boy Least Likely To - "Be Gentle With Me"
• Maria Taylor - "Song Beneath a Song"