Music Minute: 100-Degree-August Pre-Olympic Edition

(Yes, I know that title is dorky.)

Jen here with another Music Minute - I'll do anything to stay inside this week, where the heat index in Nashville has been around 110 degrees every day! The way I see it, when it's this hot you've got two choices: stay inside with the air conditioning turned on or kick it by the pool. Either way you'll have plenty of time for some new tunes, right? Right! (Also try to catch some Olympics action...in college, I was on a rowing crew so I'll be watching that event for sure.)

What's new: Big Daddy Weave, Francesca Battistelli, Nicole C. Mullen, The Classic Crime, Third Day, and The Wrecking all released new albums since we last talked, and Corey Crowder released a great southern-rock single on iTunes.

I'm going to keep things simple and pick three, in no particular order:

What we like:



• Alternative/Indie Rock fans will love the latest release from The Classic Crime. We're not sure what the classic crime is or who committed it, but we like what we've heard of The Silver Cord, especially "Abracadavers."



• Big Daddy Weave's new release What Life Would Be Like. It's full of sparkling, mellow pop tunes that will take the edge off any hot summer day. We like the title track. (Also, if you're a fan of Coldplay, you should check these guys out.) Big Daddy Weave is playing a lot of concert dates this summer so you might want to catch a show - find tour dates at their website.



• We have to admit this is a teeny bit different for Music Minute, but we LOVE Francesca Battistelli's new album, My Paper Heart. A little jazz, a little rock, a little pop, some songs remind us of Feist and Fiona Apple, and others sound just a little bit like Taylor Swift. It's a crazy-sounding mix but sometimes crazy can be good. This is definitely not an album to miss. We like "I'm Letting Go."



What we're looking forward to: Call us cheesy, but we're really looking forward to the new Jonas Brothers record, which is supposed to release August 12. I mean, Camp Rock, cool hair, great tunes - what's not to like?

What we don't like: The end of summer break, mowing the lawn when it's 95 degrees, and chopping onions.