With major record labels in a bit of a paranoid funk, focusing more on selling cell-phone ringtones and single-song Internet downloads, indie music labels are gaining a bit more prominence. When the biggest band in the world - Radiohead - is on an indie label, you know things are changing.

 

Anyway, in recognition of that and the killer music indie labels are putting out, we're starting up Press Play, a blog dedicated to indie-label music. It'll be mostly reviews - posted Tuesdays and Thursdays - with a smattering of news and links tossed in.

Our reviews are short and sweet, and while it's a bit bare-bones now, we'll add a few features here and there. As we get started, we'll be catching up on the year, so far. Up first is the eighth CD by Chan Marshall, AKA Cat Power. Enjoy.

 

 

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"Jukebox" by Cat Power (Matador) - Out now

 

 
Few artists are humble enough to even attempt a covers album, let alone two. Even fewer can pull it off and still look cool while doing it. With “Jukebox,” her second full album of covers, Cat Power turns the trick, with coolness to spare.

The sound here isn’t much of a departure from her last two albums – “You Are Free” and “The Greatest” – just with more of a blues rock twist.

Just like her last covers album – appropriately titled “The Covers Album” – this one has a sweet mix of tunes. Sinatra, Dylan, Joplin, James Brown, Joni Mitchell and Billie Holiday are all there. The album isn’t completely devoid of Cat’s songwriting, though. There’s a cover of one of her own tunes (“Metal Heart”) and an original (“Song For Bobby”), too.

Even if she didn’t write the rest of the songs, she and her backing group, The Dirty Delta Blues Band, piece them together nicely. They expertly smooth out the rough edges between the ass-kicking opener, a blues-rock “New York, New York,” and the more sedate “Rambling (Wo)Man,” a Hank Williams cover.

The other hefty blues-rocker, Bob Dylan’s “I Believe in You,” is the real standout here, but there are a few other real gems, including The Highwaymen’s “Silver Stallion” and George Jackson’s “Aretha, Sing One For Me.”

And of course, you can’t forget “New York, New York;” thankfully, a version that doesn’t make you retch thinking of Yankee Stadium.

Download this track now:

"I Believe in You" 

Where to get it:

eMusic

iTunes

Amazon