Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

Although still best known for singing on Paul Simon’s Graceland album, the South African gospel group, led by Joseph Shabalala, has its own impressive history, including two Grammy winning albums. Here, Mambazo re-records some of its classic songs with Emmylou Harris (“Nearer My God to Thee”) and Taj Mahal (a Delta style “Mbube”), while Sarah McLachlan and Melissa Etheridge lend their voices to Graceland’s “Homeless” and “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” respectively. Sonic sweetness.  

Grime, the British amalgam of rap, garage and house music, is enjoying a huge crossover these days, with the success of artists like M.I.A., Dizzee Rascal and The Streets. Audio Bullys, aka Tom Dinsdale and Simon Franks, clearly hope to cash in on the trend with their mix of beats, samples and Cockney rap. But where The Streets’ Mike Skinner offers satirical and celebratory views of working-class London life, these brain-damaged stoners never rise above their dead-end existence. Desultory and depressing. Jan. 24   

Despite their claim, singer-guitarist Keith Murray, bassist Chris Cain and drummer Michael Tapper are actually math teachers—or at least look like it. Nerdy in the extreme (minus the pocket protectors), the Brooklyn-based rock trio is equally academic in its approach to music. The group’s debut album, named for a J.D. Salinger short story collection, adds elements of punk and new wave on songs like “Textbook,” Can’t Lose” and “Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt.” Catchy pop hooks are also part of the equation. Jan. 10