Tiger Suit, KT Tunstall - CD Give Away

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"You've got a vampire on your neck
Everybody knows what happens next...
.. You Fade Like a Shadow."
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That's one thing I don't think KT Tunstall has to worry about, she isn't going to fade like a shadow anytime soon.

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You'll most remember Tunstall from Black Horse and the Cherry Tree which earned her a Grammy nomination.

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Her new cd Tiger Suit hit the US market on Oct. 5. This is her third cd and one in which she has headed in a new direction, what she calls "Nature Techno," a dance-friendly blend of organic and electronic instrumentation heralded as "raw, upfront rootsiness and sleek electronic textures."
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I was intrigued. How does one mix raw, natural and techno dance? KT pulls it off perfectly. I love this cd. So much so, I'm going to spread the love. Leave a comment here to be entered in a random drawing for your own Tiger Suit cd. I'll draw a winner Monday morning, Oct. 18 and post the winner here on my blog.

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The second track, Glamour Puss, with the freakin' Yamaha CS80 is my favorite. A Yamaha CS80 is to instruments what a Grandfather clock is to time pieces.

I almost had to park the car, get out and dance.

KT's voice is very much like Shania Twain's and a couple of the songs even reminded me of Shania's newer stuff. The problem I usually have with techno-dance music is that it's usually accompanied by a high pitched, squeaky, girly girl voice. Not so with Tiger Suit. This album surprisingly blends KT Tunstall's gruff, husky sound with a beat that will make you move.

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Track 5, Fade Like A Shadow may become the most popular, it certainly is catchy, memorable. The album starts getting a little dark sounding from Track 6 on when the violins and cello are introduced. Golden Frames is actually kind of adorable. Come On, Get In is just a lot of fun despite its subject matter: the end of a relationship, but it's a happy ending. I think it's the cute and adorable little stylophone that gives it a fun feeling. Who wouldn't have fun with a stylophone? I think it's significant she chose a stylophone for this song.

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So Track 9, (Still A) Weirdo. What the heck is that? The beatbox threw me for a loop. Two words: Mellotron and Beatbox. I think this was a self-indulgent track just to see if anyone was nodding off to sleep. From an artists point of view, it's very creative. A whistle and beatbox together, eclectic maybe, but the beat just doesn't jingle.

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Hello, slide guitar, I knew you were lurking. Madame Trudeaux introduces the slide guitar and loses me in a heartbeat. Playing slide on an electric guitar is like running your nails down a chalkboard for me. I don't like the lyrics, I don't like the angry sound. But I can see it becoming a girl anthem, lord help us. The final song, The Entertainer is kind of nice. This one is kind of like the Hobo Stew of the album - aw heck, throw in all the other instruments: flute, spanish guitar, flugal horn, trombone and crikey, a vibraphone, which sort of took me back to the marching band days and the often over-looked xylophone playas. Speaking of which... Tunstall uses a glockenspiel earlier on the album - I think it was Fade Like A Shadow - and it was very reminiscent of marching bad for, like, two seconds. Glockenspiel. I like that. I'd much rather say glockenspiel than vibraphone. But it's not really about me, is it?

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Kate Victoria Tunstall... you rock! I love, love, love this cd. I love the variety of instruments and I love the bipolar aspect between first half and second half. I am a KT Tunstall fan forever.

"Making the album felt a bit like an archaeological dig, digging deeper to uncover what most turns me on" says Tunstall. That is what makes a great musician.

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Remember: leave a comment to be entered to win a Tiger Suit cd.

@KTTunstall

KTTunstall.com

Full disclosure: The One2One Network provided a free cd for me to listen to for the purpose of this review. In no way does that affect my review. I received no monetary compensation, although I will be entered for a chance to win a gift card. But I never win anything, so that doesn't count.