just when you thought you'd heard the last of todd rundgren.... he surprises and delights you yet again.

my son eric occasionally runs into todd in kauai, where they both live. once i asked him how todd seemed, how he looks these days. eric said, "dad, he looks like an eccentric rock star." and i thought, "good, that means  todd's still got it." and indeed he does, as most of his new album called "state" shows. he records it all himself, with a beautiful female vocal added to the beautiful song "something from nothing."

i've also got new tunes by alabama shakes, david bowie, the yeah yeah yeahs, and the artist formerly known as snoop dogg, who went to jamaica, and was so inspired by the smokey air there, that he did a brilliant and sometimes sweet album of reggae and became reincarnated as snoop lion. it's an amazing cd, which i'll feature more of next week.

This week's 2011 mix of tunes includes the range of powerful guitar-based bands Jane's Addiction and 311, insightful songwriter Bright Eyes, interracial mix of sounds TV On The Radio, new wave rapper and Snoop protege Wiz Khalifa (pictured), sweet Danish voice (wa-ay sexier than the testosterone-driven big-voiced women that dominate the American music scene) Oh Land, smooth-sounding Jewel, acoustic stylists The Decembrists, and a surprising collection of covers by Todd Rundgren playing music by some of the artists he produced in the 80s and 90s.

If you miss my show Thursday night at 8:00 pm, be sure to get up Sunday morning and catch it at 8:00 am.

Here's my playlist.

Read More...

Remember the Sikh devotional singer, Snatam Kaur who came to Fairfield a couple years ago? You won't believe what her beautiful "Ong namah" sounds like on my show this week.

2011 saw some accomplished artists like Robbie Robertson and Todd Rundgren play music inspired by even older artists, Django Reinhardt and Robert Johnson. And new guys like ambient tune-smyth Tycho (pictured), the undefinable Brooklyn duo Tanlines, Fairfield's Wade Travis, and Pretty Lights were advancing the musical frontiers last year.

And then there's big-voiced Eddie Vedder and his tiny ukulele, straight from the shores of Hanalei, Kauai.

All the songs are here.

I've spent most of the last 3 months helping to keep my father healthy, as he goes in and out of hospitals, rehab facilities, and psych wards, so this week I'm conjuring the magic of Todd Rundgren's albums "Healing" and "Initiation." Here's what he's singing:

I had a visitation in my sleep last night
Something was calling to me from a blinding light
And told me not to fear it; hear it.

It said "it’s time to make the world a little wiser.
There are enough destroyers and criticizers.
The world needs a healer, a healer."

and

[click "Read more" below]