Naomi&TheCourteousRudeboys: Press

A big factor in Naomi's favor is her voice—one of those taunting, sultry coos that sounds like innocence and naughtiness sharing the same sleeping bag.

It's a stone cold heart that can resist the soul-soothing grooves, meditative funk and "love heals" missive of Naomi and The Courteous Rudeboys. Their brand new LP, Beautiful Beings, is a triumphant amalgam of funk and soul, driven by a tight-knit instrumental ensemble replete with sexy bass lines and full-bodied percussion, and buoyed by the equal parts sass and sincerity of Naomi's agile vocals.

With tracks like 'Betty Confetti' where her vocals are reminiscent of Nelly Furtado...or the funky, bluesy strains of the wildly sensual 'Crazy Mama', Naomi and her band leave an indelible mark on your musical psyche.

With a winsome voice that fools you into assuming she's a delicate little flower, Naomi uses her CD Life Lives to affirm a relentless positive vibe in the face of life's many travails. For the 100th time, I find myself reviewing an indie CD that has more creativity and talent in one song than all of Britney combined.

Naomi mixes Edie Brickell and India.Irie and her own amazing coastal meets mountain quality of sounds from the roots up. She is high and flying and pixie-like with the grounding of drummy and bassie. She is Ella, The Forest Queen of All Faes. She makes me happy. Silly. Smart. She makes me think. She is everything but Bling and I love it. Good music to play hard to. Wear combat boots to. Wrap up your hair to and just get dirty in the garden with.

Whenever music journalists talk about Naomi and the Courteous Rudeboys, they obsess over one thing in particular: Naomi's angelic, whiskey-soaked voice. And at the risk of being a complete lemming, that's exactly what I'm going to do.

There's something thoughtful, yet dangerous vibrating in the depths of Naomi's throat. When I was a young lad growing up on the Colorado prairie, I used to sit on the porch on warm, summer nights and wait for the first crack of lightning to rip apart the dark sky. Naomi's voice is the thunder that follows the lightning — sometimes low and rumbling, sometimes as sharp as a whip, but always demanding attention.

From the title track (funk) to the insane block party of 'Flamingos’ (Latin) to the brilliantly named ‘Naan n’ Curry’ (ambient) there’s not a type of music NCR don’t try (aside from maybe Teutonic techno) and succeed in. ‘Beautiful Beings’ may yet be added to that growing list of exceptions that prove the rule, namely it’s better to be a master of one trade than a jack of all of them. U2 take note.