Grab your nyckelharpa!

An exclusive free download "Lord of the Rings" fans will love. Plus: New music from a Norah Jones precursor and an upbeat rocker from former Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg.

By Thomas Bartlett

Sept. 15, 2004 | We all know that major labels make goofy decisions and like to throw heaps of money into obviously unmarketable acts. But no recently launched major-label career is so absurd, so purely risible, as that of Universal recording artist Miri Ben-Ari, "the hip-hop violinist." I use the tag in deference to whatever hard-working spinmeister put together her publicity campaign and Web site, because they seem to have decided, Homer-style, that her name should never appear without the epithet attached. (It's presumably the same person who came up with the priceless description of her sound as "urban classical.")

My first encounter with "the hip-hop violinist" was six years ago, when one of my bands was on a bill with her. At that point Miri, who had not long before moved to the States from her birthplace, Israel, was a chopsy jazz-fusion player. Her jazz career was moderately successful but never really took off, so you can imagine my surprise when I recognized her as the violinist in the video for Twista's (fabulous) "Overnight Celebrity." She also did all the string arrangements for Kanye West's "The College Dropout" and apparently impressed enough people to score a contract with Universal to record a hip-hop album. That's right, a hip-hop album, on which a host of guest MCs handle the rapping, while Miri does ... the string arrangements!

To make matters worse, her string arrangements are played with an obnoxiously stiff, "I used to be a classical violinist" sound. Give me cheesy string samples any day. Ben-Ari's first single is titled (get this) "Sick Wit Da Flip," and it's even worse than you might expect.

Am I the only person who finds Usher entirely unexciting as a singer, a songwriter, a dancer and, yes, even as a sex object? Apparently I am, because a scant few weeks after he (finally!) lost his summer-long chokehold on the radio charts with "My Boo," his newly released duet with Alicia Keys, the song is climbing right back up those very same charts. Despite the cute little cooed "my boos" sprinkled throughout the song, it's bland as can be.

For something a little livelier, head to any of the digital music stores (or your favorite file-sharing network) and grab Snoop Dogg's "Drop It Like It's Hot," produced by the Neptunes. Where have they been all summer, anyway? A welcome return. In truth, Snoop sounds a little too Neptunized here, but the beat is hot -- even if it is basically a Timbaland track as covered by the Neptunes.

"Dance Me to the End of Love," Madeleine Peyroux, from "Careless Love"
Madeleine Peyroux's vocal similarity to Billie Holiday is so extreme that her new record, "Careless Love," affords us the acute, if anachronistic, pleasure of hearing how Lady Day might have tackled a Leonard Cohen song ("Dance Me to the End of Love") -- or better still, hearing the record that might have been made if Billie decided it was time to kick Norah Jones' ass. Not that Peyroux is following in Jones' footsteps, far from it: Her 1996 "Dreamland" (along with Cassandra Wilson's "New Moon Daughter") is the ultimate proto-Norah record and a good deal better than anything Jones herself has done. Peyroux is just reclaiming her own turf, albeit after an unexplained eight-year absence. (I heard that she had some damaged vocal cords, but there's no official word on that.)

"Careless Love" is, like Norah Jones' records, a seamless blend of jazz, country, folk and sophisticated modern pop, with a reigning aesthetic of understatement. The only significant difference is in the singers, and while many will disagree, I find Peyroux a more intriguing, and moving, vocalist. And really, I'm not being fair to Peyroux when I imply that she's just a highly skilled mimic. Listen for a while and her similarities to Holiday begin to sound less dominant, her own voice comes through loud and clear, and a significant emotional difference between the two singers becomes obvious: In place of Holiday's pain and heartbreak, Peyroux offers serenity and contentment. (iTunes, RealPlayer, MusicMatch)

Next page: Nyckelharpa music like you've never heard before!