Monday, November 12, 2007

Getting better all the time

It was a joy tonight to discover that my old friend Andrew Sandoval is not only still making music, but is actually sounding better than ever. It's rare to see an artist grow as much as he has. Usually a songwriter and producer's most impressive developments come closer to the beginning of his career, not after more than a decade of songwriting. Andrew always had fabulous influences — the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, psychedelic-era Bee Gees, Van Dyke Parks — but over the years he's grown closer to evoking the beauty of those artists' works.

Listen to "Something Warm," one of Andrew's latest tunes, on his MySpace page. It begins with a familiar nod to the Bee Gees' "Spicks and Specks," but the artist takes it into a different direction, its gorgeous, crystalline arrangement brimful of ear candy.