The Magic of Chocolate

It's early to be doing a Valentine's Day post, I know. I'm also not a particular fan of the holiday, so I don't spend an inordinate amount of my time thinking about St. Valentine and all his little Cupids. This year though, it seems like the universe is conspiring against me, as a certain charming little book was placed in my hands just when I was becoming a sucker for hopeless romanticism. The book is Chocolat by Joanne Harris, and it's really a fantastic story. The thought of it warms my heart on cold winter days, kind of like the delicious title character. Oh chocolate! J.K. Rowling had it right when she made you the perfect bandage for all mental and physical woes. It's not that you fix everything, it's just that you make life a little sweeter, a little warmer, and a little softer around the edges. *Sigh* I'm feeling like celebrating this feeling, so in honor not of Valentine's Day but of true magic, romance, and chocolate, I bring you a little playlist.

"Hell No" by Sondre Lerche & Regina Spektor. It's a soft song with simple lyrics. It's a duet that rolls along gently, reminding the listener that people make mistakes, but love is still pretty powerful. On a more musical note, Spektor and Lerche are a perfect match vocally. Both singers have uniquely charming voices that lend some credence to the comfortable delivery. These crooners sound close, not tightly wound, just snuggly.

"A Kiss To Build A Dream On" by Louis Armstrong. What's more sweetly romantic than this song? To the tune of "La Vie En Rose", Louis hoarsely requests a kiss to build a dream on and then backs his request with powerful horns.

"The Story In Your Eyes" by the Moody Blues. This is very retro, but the lyrics are excellent. The backing "orchestra" as it were, is also pretty phenomenal. I especially like this section:

"...And the sound we make together
Is the music to the story in your eyes
It's been shining down upon me now
I realize..."

"You Are The Sunshine of My Life" by Stevie Wonder. I can't listen to this song and frown. Musically it is undeniable, with a groovy bass-line, Latin percussion, and swinging horns. Stevie's voice is so soulful, so full-bodied, you can't help but feel the lyrics when he delivers them.

"Tell Mama" by Etta James. If these aren't Muscle Shoals musicians backing the unforgettable Etta, then they're just as talented. James herself is soul royalty, and this song always makes me want to wail along. The song can be summed up in one lyric: "I just want to take care of you". Sing it girl. I hope he hears.

"Dreams" by The Cranberries. There is something ethereal about Dolores O'Riordan's voice. Combine that spooky effect with soaring guitars and the completely honest lyrics and you get a perfect song.

These Words (LIVE) - Natasha Bedingfield

Pocketful of Something...

Natasha Bedingfield seems to be one of the more talented pop divas around. On both "Unwritten" and "These Words (I Love You, I Love You)" she stretches her vocals and her hooks to create songs that are ridiculously catchy and really quite pretty. Both those songs are from her 2005 debut album, Unwritten which spans and steals from genres like gospel, hip-hop and electronica. "I Bruise Easily" falls into the cooing don't-hurt-me ballad category, while "Size Matters" is an attempt at humor that falls slightly short (badump-bump!). Overall, Unwritten was not a bad album, it was also not a sad album, which makes this year's Pocketful of Sunshine seem rather redundant.

Pocketful of Sunshine starts off well enough with the bouncy, summery "Put Your Arms Around Me". "That original feeling never went away" is what Bedingfield claims in the lyrics, and it sure seems that way as this song takes you back to the sandy beaches and blasting radios of summer '05. It's on the second song, the title song, that Natasha stumbles a bit. Bedingfield's gifted with a voice that can really make a pop song soar. That's to say, she's far from Aretha, but she's also many steps up from Rihanna. On "Pocketful of Sunshine", Bedingfield settles into a basic R&B pattern that makes her voice sound boring, even with the generously scattered "ohs" that supposedly add flavor and sex-appeal to an otherwise unnecessary song. "Happy" is a huge step in the right direction musically, with an undeniable bass line and Bedingfield happily stretching her vocals. Despite the name, lyrically this song does not seem like one written by a very happy person. It's a laundry-list really, of all the reasons you should be happy, but aren't. The next song - "Love Like This" - is the first single, and it's a nice song. I actually like the song quite a bit, but there's nothing original about the sound or delivery. A little piano here, a few beats there, and everything is groovy. The rest of the songs on the album bounce around a bit. There are uneven patches, like the Fergalicious "Angel" where Natasha stoops to spelling out her title because she has nothing else to say, but overall the album's quite appealing summertime bubblegum music. This brings me to my real question: why wasn't this album released in the summer? I suppose I'll never have an answer, I'll just have to enjoy the sounds I get with snow on the ground.

I Have A Dream - Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Forever Young" - Youth Group

Another List

I know there have been too many "Things to do before I die" lists in the news lately. I'm sick of them, and I'm sure you lovely readers are, but I'm still going to post my own list below. I wrote this about three years ago and just came across it the other day. Most of these things are still important to me, although living in NY and LA, and visiting Gilman Street are now secondary to living in a city that's working towards sustainability and visiting local music venues that are proponents of great local music. Things change, but my basic principles have stayed the same, which is somewhat comforting. If you want to experience another "list", read on. You can also just go and create your own...

Start a band

Live in NYC

Live in LA

Live in the Mountains

Go to Gilman St.

Write well

Work at a record label

Work at a radio station

Learn how to grow things

Work until my hands bleed

Travel with a passport

Do something worthwhile, something that changes the world

Mosh / Slamdance with complete strangers

Try to believe

Die my hair green

Get a meaningful tattoo...not an oops-i-did-it-while-i-was-wasted-always-regret-it tattoo

Learn how to take photos...well

Tell someone I love them...without expectations, or ideas of reciprocation

Take advanced math classes

Speak another language, fairly fluently

Leave notes in the margins

Listen to Led Zeppelin while driving fast in the middle of the night

Thank my parents

Make him the perfect mixtape

Learn to play drums

Take a chance

Make mistakes

Work for a cause

Get arrested for something I care about

Live with friends

Live with people I can’t stand

Live poor

Live

Magnetic Attraction

A couple of posts ago I wrote about the new Magnetic Fields album and Stephin Merritt, the mind behind much of that album. Here, in the Village Voice, is an amusing interview with Merritt. And by amusing, I mean depressing? You'll see:



Misanthropic Fields Forever

Peace out.

The Sounds of Revolution

"Viva La Revolucion!" is the manifesto you'll see on many post-'90s ironic t-shirts, and on the back is usually a portrait of Che Guevara whose eyes are pinpoints of laser-focus, and whose revolutionary figure is backing capitalism, one department store statement at a time. It's kind of depressing really, that this figure has been relegated to discount bins at the local "punk" store. It doesn't make me sad because I'm a particular proponent of his politics, it just makes me sad because it shows a lack of critical thought. As if an entire life's ideals could be summed up in three words and a moody snapshot. These simplifications are created to enslave the proletariat, not to emancipate us.

That's why I was so pleased to find a great album of South American music dedicated to Che Guevara. It's not the music of a bunch of twenty-something nihilists who don't know that Che was born in Argentina to affluent parents only to die at the hands of the CIA in Bolivia. This album - Che Guevara - A Soundtrack to Life - is a proposed journey with Guevara from his roots in Argentina to his work in Cuba.

The first song "Iiueve En Buenos Aires" by Aftertango, is a breezy tango with whispered "vocals" dancing along with the accordion. It's somewhat of an introduction to the album. "El Cafetal/Sarandonga" by Laito Jr. is a celebration song with the sound of excited children cheering in the background. "Echale Semilla" by Axel Krygier is a more wild sounding song with heavy Latin rhythms and a combination of horns and flute that make for a folk-music feeling. Skip ahead a track to "Amalia Batista" by Los Naranjos. This song begins with a speech by - I would assume - Che Guevara himself against the former military leader of Cuba, Fulgencio Batista. Behind this speech is a sad trumpet that gives way to a groovy, bouncing rhythm and original vocals. The two following songs, "Ocaso Otano" and "Bolerito" are filled with similar pieces of speeches. These vocal asides add personality and depth to the songs, but it would be nice if the three were spread over the album a little more, instead of being clumped together. "Mi Isla" by Arte Mixto sounds to me like South American gospel music. There's a soaring string section that makes the rest of the tune float, and the vocals are absolutely sublime.

The following song, "No Mi Provoques" by Arcana is very different texturally. It's a smooth song, almost sensual, with lyrical flow that rivals that of the best rappers from the United States. "No Mi Provoques" also transitions nicely into "Refugio" by Lucio Mantel. It's the slowest song on the album, a real lullaby. The final song, "The Children of the Revolution" by El Medico, Kuva Man to Man & Los Compadres uses the basic rhythm and melody of the T. Rex song, but throws in yells and explosions for revolutionary appeal. The repeated "Viva Cuba Libre!" doesn't get tiring, but the electronic sounding guitar riffs do.

For anyone who has had enough of The Motorcycle Diaries soundtrack, Che Guevara - A Soundtrack to Life is a welcome musical escape, with all the strength of the revolutionary behind these intensely exciting tunes. Throw out the t-shirt, plug in your headphones, and get lost in the sounds of revolution.

Closer to You - Brandi Carlile

The Sound of Silence (LIVE) - Simon & Garfunkel

When Things Get Messy

The Magnetic Fields is the main outlet of musical genius Stephin Merritt (Gothic Archies, the 6ths, and the bizarre and beautiful Orphan Of Zhao soundtrack). If you've listened to any of Merritt's music, then you know that it's completely unclassifiable and amazing. 69 Love Songs is an album that's exactly what it claims and so much more. The song "All My Little Words" has to be one of my all-time favorite love songs, and since love songs make up a huge percentage of the musical catalog, I would say that's saying something. Even though I'm not reviewing 69 Love Songs in this post, I'm going to share the full lyrics of "All My Little Words", just because they make the world a little more beautiful.

You are a splendid butterfly
It is your wings that make you beautiful
and I could make you fly away
but I could never make you stay
You said you were in love with me
Both of us know that that's impossible
and I could make you rue the day
but I could never make you stay
Not for all the tea in China
not if I could sing like a bird
not for all North Carolina
not for all my little words
not if I could write for you the sweetest song you ever heard
It doesn't matter what I do
not for all my little words
Now that you've made me want to die
you tell me that you're unboyfriendable
and I could make you pay and pay
but I could never make you stay...

Isn't that fantastic?

Well, now that I have your attention lovely blog readers, I want to talk about the latest Magnetic Fields album: Distortion. It sounds like something that would come out of a Seattle grunge band's repertoire, and this album is incredibly heavy, fuzzy, and altogether distorted, but it isn't grungey at all.

"Three Way" starts the album off with a Beach Boys underwater feel. It's kinda groggy, but still upbeat. It's the second track - "California Girls" - that's the first song to really make me smile. It's far from another musical celebration of well-endowed blondes who spend their free-time tanning, in fact it's a declaration of pure hatred for girls who buy into the body-image hype and dumb themselves down for their California boys. Refreshingly bitter, and the fact that it's delivered like an unholy mix of Cheap Trick and Supertramp just makes me smile even wider. "Old Fools" is the first song to truly sound like the Magnetic Fields, and maybe this is because Stephin Merritt's undeniably lachrymose voice is all over this track. The song is also down-tempo, slow and steady with chiming background bells and ghostly apparitions of carnival piano. The next song that really strikes a chord with me (badump bump, ahahahah) is "Please Stop Dancing", which could very easily have been a 1980s club hit if it hadn't been made in the 2000s. "Drive On, Driver" follows with cooing lyrics and the melody of a haphazard lullaby. It's quite charming in an extremely messy way, and that's really how I would describe this whole album: a charming mess.

Given the revealing nature of the title, I will assume that Distortion was an extremely premeditated mess, and one that will not be cleaned up anytime soon. I don't mind this mess at all, because I've found, after many years of careful listening, that Stephin Merritt's music is always great. The disorderly piles of sound that emerge from his work with the Magnetic Fields are just more places where Merritt's profound sound can be experienced, and they are all the more interesting for their cluttered exteriors.

Who plays rock 'n' roll anymore?

Marah does, and their latest album Angels of Destruction can't really be designated as any other kind of music. Yes, there's a definite Clapton influence, some Kinks for good measure, and the occasional tune that conjures Mr. Springsteen from New Jersey and worships him in a dusty dive-bar somewhere near a desert. Compellingly, Angels of Destruction is rock 'n' roll without complications. Marah hasn't set the bar unreachably high, so the music is comfortable and usually well-performed.

"Coughing Up Blood" starts the album off with steady guitar strumming and an incredibly catchy bass vocal chorus of "bah bom bah bah bom bom". The title itself would've won points from me, even if the music was pure garbage. Luckily, the music is far from garbage. "Old Time Tickin' Away" is the upbeat single that jams along with jumpy guitar riffs and vocal delivery that combines the Velvet Underground's suavity with the Kinks' bar-rock drawl. "Angels on A Passing Train" pulls out the rock 'n' roll piano for the first ballad. There was something eerily familiar about the piano melody, and I realized that it instantly reminded me of the interlude in "Layla". After a close listen, the two piano melodies are not as similar as I originally imagined, but there's still something there - maybe simmering longing - that instantly groups these tracks together in my mind. The lyrical delivery on this song, instead of being restless, sounds completely weary, almost like the singer is gingerly nursing a hangover while crooning into the microphone. "Wild West Love Song" calls in the remains of a boogie-woogie piano line. Another repeatedly wailing guitar sits just above the lead singer's scattered vocals. For all of the sound layered in this song, "Wild West Love Song" is absolutely a skeleton in the desert. The place where this song echoes is so unimaginably huge that you can just catch the sound as it diffuses through space; it's really an awesome effect. "Blue But Cool" is where I hear undistilled Springsteen, and where I also feel the most affection for Marah. This song is truly gorgeous, probably my favorite tune on the whole album. It plays to a desert as lonely and expansive as that in "Wild West Love Song", but this is a desert at night, so it's also cold and blue when you move away from the campfire. The guitar waltzes along, almost constellating. It truly does remind me of constellations and shooting stars, the otherworldly things that we can almost take home with us if we just reach far enough.

There's only one song on the whole album that I feel should have been tossed to the side before the record was finished. "Santos De Madera" is a bizarre and jolting tune. It keeps company with such graceful songs, it's a bit of a shame it wasn't saved for another album. The tune starts out well enough, although the melody sounds more like Celtic folk than Americana. As the vocals begin, this song takes a sharp turn downhill, with a goofy fading effect more appropriate for progressive rock tunes and a child-sized piano line. This isn't a sound you're likely to hear in an old, dusty bar, or giant desert, or even in Central and South America, places Marah seems to be trying to visit. "Santos De Madera" wouldn't sound particularly out of place on an Animal Collective album, but stay clear of it if you're looking for anything close to good ol' rock 'n' roll.

Overall, Angels of Destruction is an incredibly steady album, and one that will have any fan of rock 'n' roll nodding their head in no time. Marah's been around for quite a few years, but I whole-heartedly hope that they have a few more albums like this up their sleeves.

History Repeating

I was swept off my feet by the depth and beauty of the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack composed by Jean-Yves Thibaudet. By "swept off my feet", I mean that I was completely rapt with attention, pulled into the story, connected to the characters, and immersed in the emotion of the film. For those who don't know, Pride and Prejudice is a love-story based on the classic novel by Jane Austen. It starred Keira Knightley, and was directed by Joe Wright.

Atonement, on the other hand, is a love-story based on the critically-acclaimed novel by Ian Mcewan. It stars Keira Knightley, and was directed by Joe Wright. Hmm, sounds familiar. Well, I've yet again been completely swept off my feet by the gorgeous soundtrack.

Dario Marianelli, who also created the soundtrack for I Capture the Castle (an equally multifaceted, lush, and heartbreaking movie, I must add), has composed a score that's fragile and powerful, just like Atonement. This story is about stories, and the power they have to make and break lives. It's especially fitting that the first song, "Briony", pulses with the expectant tapping of a typewriter. "Robbie's Note" simmers and wanders unsteadily, quite intoxicated with the idea of love and lust. "Two Figures By A Fountain" flits about with the tension and drama that's so imperative to that scene in the book. The rest of the songs on the album find a place between the intensely restless, climactic mood that underscores Briony's guilt and excitement, and a more somber, pained, and thoughtful quality that best expresses the passion between Robby and Cecilia.

Did I forget to mention that Jean-Yves Thibaudet makes a cameo appearance on this album? "Suite Bergamasque - 3. Clair de Lune" is another piano song, that takes the spot of the story's epilogue. Where the penultimate song "Atonement" is weighed down with what could have been, the Thibaudet track is a quiet celebration of what was.

I've yet to see Atonement, but if it's anything like Pride and Prejudice (and I've already proven that it is), then everyone should watch this movie to fully enjoy the depth of the soundtrack. Watch, and be swept away.

Love/Hate

I find something incredibly annoying about music created for art's sake. I think it's pompous and boring for a band to squeeze obtuse sounds out of arcane instruments, while floating obscure literary references in a sea of words handpicked from multitudinous thesauri (yes, I pluralized it.) What can I say? It's a pet peeve. As with my chosen reading material, I require a certain discernible point. This doesn't have to be a concrete allegory, it could very well be another question, but there has to be something that you can take away with you in the end.

This little pet peeve has often led me away from music by the Fiery Furnaces. Yes, there's something intriguing about a sibling band that writes a whole album dedicated to their deceased grandmother, but I can't often stomach the seemingly purposeful inaccessibility of their music. I mostly ignored Rehearsing My Choir (the aforementioned grandmother album), Blueberry Boat, and Bitter Tea. "Benton Harbor Blues" was the one song from these three albums that I found at all interesting, but at over seven minutes even this song was a little too intensely cheery for my ears to handle.

Widow City was released last fall, and its eighteen tracks are only slightly more accessible than those found on the other albums. Still, I find this album immensely enjoyable in small doses. If you made me listen to all eighteen songs in a row, I think I might never listen to the Fiery Furnaces again, but "The Philadelphia Grand Jury" and "Automatic Husband" are actually incredibly enjoyable rock/pop tunes. There's a definite continuity to this album that cannot be found on the other Fiery Furnaces' releases. The instrumental flourishes are similar from song to song, and the vocals are steadier and more self-assured. Unfortunately, the lyrics still lean more towards Dadaism than Impressionism or even Surrealism. In order to analyze the lines and stanzas, you practically need to be in the writer's head, and I have a sneaking suspicion that any underlying meaning you eventually uncovered would still be annoyingly personal. In the end though, I'm unable to completely write off the Fiery Furnaces. Let's hope this is a band that becomes more accessible with age.

Sardonic Sweetness

I'm not someone to shy away from sarcasm. In fact, I find it decidedly refreshing and often exhilarating when I hear it in music that has long gone stale with its own self-importance. When coupled with a voice or tune that would otherwise be sickeningly sweet, sarcasm can give a song dimensions.

Think of Liz Phair. Many music fans know her as a woman who released a fairly mainstream album back in 2003. She received quite a lot of airtime with "Why Can't I", a song that I think is just too wrapped up in itself to be taken seriously. Travel back with me to the early '90s when Ms. Phair was first recording. She released a soon to be cult album entitled Exile In Guyville. Based on the sounds of her more recent album, you might expect Exile in Guyville to be female singer-songwriter fluff without a bite, but the music on this album is vicious and acerbic, witty and sardonic. "Fuck and Run" and "Flower" are both crude, warped, and emotionally raw. The latter is an obscenity-filled ode to a boy, that's basically crooned over some soft folk. "Fuck and Run" on the other hand questions the very idea of a boyfriend, almost eulogizing those imperfect expectations that come packaged alongside girls' dreams of being princesses. Phair wonders:

"Whatever happened to a boyfriend, the kinda guy who tries to win you over? And whatever happened to a boyfriend, the kinda guy who makes love 'cause he's in it?

And I want a boyfriend
I want a boyfriend
I want all that stupid old shit like letters and sodas...

It's simply raw and real, no fluff. Most importantly there are no lyrical cliches that help to build that assumption that relationships are like fairy-tales. Phair was tearing down those assumptions and replacing them with something closer to reality, but somewhere along the way she must have decided that reality doesn't sell on the radio.

Phair laments the loss of "real" boyfriends, but every line in the song describes her relationship with a boy who doesn't even care. Phair is just hurting herself now, and she realizes this and questions her own decisions. This is a good step forward, but there's never any real catharsis on Exile in Guyville.

At this point we can travel back to 2007-2008, a time filled with female singer-songwriters both sweet and sardonic. This is the time when the best-selling movie fairy-tale, Enchanted, is full of sarcasm and self-referential humor. I'm all for this push towards reality. Expectations have been awfully high for a long time. I mean how many guys own a castle? What I think is important though is that girls realize they can still be in a good relationship. Here comes Jenny Owen Youngs with Batten the Hatches. She flirts with disaster and the pain of a bad relationship on "Fuck Was I", and with crooning vocals delivers her own thoughtlessness to any girls willing to listen. The point? Sometimes you fall and it takes a hell of a lot of strength to get back up. "P.S." is a declaration of personal independence from the negativity that surrounds a failing relationship. These songs are raw.

I love fairy-tales and "happily ever afters" as much as anyone, but I also see that sometimes these stories can skew reality. When you need an injection of raw emotion, listen to old Liz Phair and Jenny Owen Youngs. Personally, I'm going to continue to dream of "happily ever afters", while remembering that nothing is perfect.

Have You Gone Completely Daft?

Let's hope so.

I'm crazy for Daft Punk's Alive 2007, an album of their live galvanic music. This is the kind of album that makes me think of Frankenstein's monster and Kanye West in the same moment. Granted, there are more similarities between Frankenstein's monster and Mr. West than you would first assume, but it's still pretty cool that pitchfork riots and Star Trek beats can come together on a live album.

When I listen, I think of Blue Man Group. This isn't because Daft Punk makes music that's particularly similar to that of the little blue men, but more because these two groups have pushed the concert concept further into the future than almost any other band I've heard. In a way, these groups pulse towards the primal. The beats are all-important; the rhythm, lighting, and mood are everything. The technical prowess of the musicians is less important than the crowd's overwhelming need to dance. It's computerized catharsis, and it's wild.

"Television Rules the Nation/Crescendolls", "Around the World/Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger", "Touch It/Technologic", and all of the other amalgamated songs on this album are really one giant song. It's a looping, bouncing, mashing mess of energy and electricity. Listen with care, but let yourself go.

Fall Is Just Something Grown Ups Invented - The Hives

Just Because You're Paranoid...

...don't mean they're not after you :)


Repress U

A three-page Nation article on how our college campuses are becoming centers for the Big Brotherization of the United States. Quite interesting and terrifying.

Baba O' Riley - The Who

"I don't need to fight to prove I'm right. I don't need to be forgiven."

Stuck Between Stations - The Hold Steady

there are nights when i think that sal paradise was right.
boys and girls in america have such a sad time together.
sucking off each other at the demonstrations.
making sure their makeup's straight.
crushing one another with colossal expectations.
dependent, undisciplined, sleeping late.

she was a really cool kisser and she wasn't all that strict of a christian.
she was a damn good dancer but she wasn't all that great of a girlfriend.
he likes the warm feeling but he's tired of all the dehydration.
most nights were crystal clear but tonight its like it's stuck between stations
on the radio.

the devil and john berryman took a walk together
they ended up on washington talking to the river
he said "I surrounded myself with doctors and deep thinkers
but big heads with soft bodies make for lousy lovers".
there was that night that we thought that john berryman could fly.
but he didn't so he died.
she said "you're pretty good with words but words won't save your life"
and they didn't so he died.

he was drunk and exhausted but he was critically acclaimed and respected.
he loved the golden gophers but he hated all the drawn out winters.
he likes the warm feeling but he's tired of all the dehydration.
most nights were kind of fuzzy but that last night he had total retention.


these twin city kisses.
sound like clicks and hisses.
and we all come down and drown in the mississippi river.

well we drink and we dry up
and now we crumble into dust.

we get wet and we corrode
and now we get covered in rust.

Mephistopheles

I was trying to think of a word that evokes deep darkness, and Mephistopheles popped into my head. Devil of the Faust legend, Mephistopheles is cast in shadow, fire, and brimstone. Pretty creepy dude. Miss Ludella Black isn't quite his counterpart on land (and in female form), but her music makes Amy Winehouse's Back To Black seem positively perky.

Miss Ludella Black is Joan Jett meets Grace Slick with a little Robert Plant thrown in for gender-ambiguous rock 'n' roll measure. Her music isn't new by any standards. The music on She's Out There sounds like it was recorded and gestated in the 1960s, but the album was only made back in 2000 (oh, so long ago).

Fourteen songs with shuddery, wailing vocals and crashing, almost anti-melodic guitar-playing. MLB starts with "He's Out There", a heartbroken rocker. The lyrics are almost in complete opposition to the delivery and instrumentation. Miss Black is expressing her emotional depression at the loss of a boy, but the guitars clang and smash around in the background, and Ludella's own voice is full of power, not torn by powerlessness. "This Room" and "Love Pours Out Of My Heart" grab onto different 1960s themes. "This Room" is similar to the Specials' "Ghost Town", full to bursting with spaghetti-western creepiness, and almost unctuous and overly dramatic in delivery. "Love Pours Out Of My Heart" hits a Beach Boys stride, but it's more Pet Sounds than "Good Vibrations". "Why?" sounds eerily similar to "White Rabbit". Heavy and dramatic delivery, and climaxing guitar and drum play in the background.

The rest of the album is composed of fairly similar tracks. Like I said, there isn't much that's truly new on She's Out There; yet, I find this sound intoxicating. It's powerful music coming from an undeniably female voice, and it truly rocks. I wouldn't listen to Miss Ludella Back on dark and rainy days, but when I'm feeling particularly kick-ass, I could definitely throw her album in my stereo. This is pure fire and brimstone, with lots of shadows thrown into the mix, and I can imagine listening to this album after a session of Led Zeppelin on a midnight drive. Let's just hope Miss Ludella Black isn't down for the count, and that Mephistopheles isn't taking over any time soon.

Cold is Just the Absence of Heat

That's what I keep telling myself as I pile on the sweaters and layer my socks, as I gulp down bowls of chili and turn my car heater on full-blast. I was lucky to discover that there's no absence of heat in the songs of Etana, a female reggae artist whose songs appear on volumes 36 and 38 of the Strictly the Best reggae compilation albums.

Hailing from Jamaica, with only a handful of songs to her name, Etana strikes soulful chords and hits creative highs that few full-fledged reggae artists even touch upon in their lengthy careers. "Roots" is a song that combines African rhythms with roots reggae lyrics and jammin' guitar. This song is smooth, and Etana's voice is soulful, full-bodied, and intensely accented by her Jamaican home. Her first single, "Wrong Address", is a story of struggle, a more fitting anthem for the reality of Jamaica than the watered down Marley used to advertise the tourist spots. "Warrior Love" is more straightforward: a love-song in the vein of Rihanna. Still, lyrically this song is more multifaceted than most of the music on Good Girl Gone Bad, and Etana's voice is heavier and more interesting than Rihanna's croaky whine (although, I can't say that I'm not a fan of "Umbrella").

Overall, Etana is a promising new talent on the reggae scene. Her music immediately struck a chord with me, finding that sweet spot where the sound is pleasing but also slightly challenging. Far from mundane and homogeneous, Etana's music is warm and her lyrics thoughtful. Reggae music needs a new injection of life, and this talented songstress may be up to the challenge.

The Many Faces of R. Zimmerman

Where do Karen O, Eddie Vedder, The Hold Steady, and Jack Johnson come together? In a soundtrack tribute to arguably the greatest singer-songwriter in history: Bob Dylan. I haven't seen I'm Not There, because I'm of the belief that Cate Blanchett is androgynous enough as a woman, and also because I've recently been spending all of my extra money on music and not on other activities. A hermit's life is fine, as long as I have a new album or two for my little playlist parties.

In all honesty (my sarcasm has beem placed on a back-burner), I wasn't too interested in watching another movie about Bob Dylan after wasting a couple hours of my life on No Direction Home. This 2005 Scorsese documentary held a lot of potential, but it ended with disastrous anticlimax and left me feeling little affection for the man behind the music. I wasn't even paying attention to all the I'm Not There hype recently, until I heard the song "As I Went Out One Morning" performed by Mira Billotte. This song's pretty damn sexy, with overwhelming 1970's bass pumping up the melodic - almost European - folk guitar. Billotte herself owns a voice which has depth and echo. Where Dylan has an unholy wail, Billotte has an entrancing almost fantastic vocal quality. Drama is the key (can anyone say Joan Baez?).

I was pretty thrown by this song, and I decided that I needed to pay attention to the rest of the album, which - it turns out - is good. It's a bit of an inconsistent collection, which leads me to wonder if the film is also disorienting and jumbled. Still, I don't mind being a little disoriented when there are so many finely crafted songs being expressed in new ways by so many talented artists. With thirty-seven songs (including bonus tracks), this album is stuffed with sounds both popular and more arcane. For a hardcore Dylan fan, this may be a bit frustrating, as there does not seem to be a solid time-line or plan for the song arrangement. I don't really care. I am neither a hardcore Dylan fan, nor an obsessed soundtrack enthusiast who requires that her tracks be played in the order they appear in the film.

I'm very happy to hear songs as inspired as the "All Along The Watchtower" cover by Eddie Vedder and the Million Dollar Bashers, and the title song by Sonic Youth. These two songs are only the beginning, and they are followed by many more explorations in rock-star homage. "Ring Them Bells" by Sufjan Stevens combines the notable whisperings of one fifty-state folk-singer with guitars reminiscent of the Grateful Dead (regular Dylan collaborators). "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" by the Hold Steady is a solid chunk of American rock 'n roll, deserving of a dusty juke-box on the road of any Kerouac-inspired cross-country trip. Then there's "Maggie's Farm" by Stephen Malkmus and those Million Dollar Bashers. Where Dylan's original shuffles along a dusty road with lyrical highs and lows, the Malkmus cover is more spirited and powerfully rebellious. The cover is obviously the product of a generation whose rock 'n' roll is more ironic than life-changing, and I like this fact.

Throughout the album, various artists capture the ideas and beauty of Dylan songs, but do not relinquish their personal artistic spirit in the process. It's refreshing to hear Antony & The Johnsons inspired by Bob Dylan and not Antony & the Johnsons pretending to be Bob Dylan. Too often, tribute albums rehash music that has already been played so well and with such inherent meaning that the covers are superfluous. On the I'm Not There soundtrack, the artists maintain their greatness and originality - which was affected by Dylan's music in the first place - and celebrate the sound with soul and ingenuity.

Alone - Susan Tedeschi

Riding the Subway

In my opinion, there aren't many bands who sound better live than they do recorded. In this category, I can now place the Subways, a punky Brit-teen group that had a hit with the rollicking "Rock & Roll Queen" a couple years back. 2006's Young for Eternity was popular with OC fans and ironic hipsters, but after the maddeningly incessant airplay accorded to "Rock & Roll Queen" the Subways were left to wander their underground tunnels, teenage angst and beat-up guitars in hand.

Well, maybe their fall wasn't that bad. The band is currently recording their sophomore album. I'm just beginning to feel some affection for Young for Eternity, now that my ears have stopped ringing every time I hear the opening guitar noise of "Rock & Roll Queen". That song will be forever linked to the OC in my dark and messy mind, and whether some other young person can extricate the catchy melody from the disgusting drama and awful acting of one horrible television hit is really a question for another time. For now, I'm enjoying The Subways Live and Acoustic in Magdeburg. Recorded in a German city and released in November, this collection of seven songs is truly sublime. The Subways' punk jangle and ragged vocals were meant for live/acoustic intimacy, a far cry from the stadium rock spotlight they found themselves basking under a few years back. The songs are generally short and sweet, and sound more multifaceted with the lack of production effects weighing down their inherent simplicity.

The opening "Oh Yeah" rumbles and jingles with dive-bar grime instead of studio shine. You can hear the titular "oh yeah"s as they bounce around the room. "Mary" is a wailing ode to the girl of every wandering boy's dreams. Mary's the kind of girl who'll let you hang around even when you're lazy and lacking in motivation, and she'll also keep you full of tea and smiles according to the lyrics of this song. Short, sweet, and to the point. In this case, the sound of Billy Lunn's oscillating voice could sate the romantic appetite of any girl who's heard enough "Hey There Delilah" from her boy's MP3 player. "No Goodbyes" reminds me of acoustic Nirvana. The sound isn't as husky or deep, but Lunn brings his voice awfully close to Cobain's weary apathetic whisper-wail. My favorite song on this album is the buzzing "With You", that is repetitively good-natured and sweet. Sample lyric: "When I'm with you it seems so easy...". Maybe it's not the beginning of a Shakespeare sonnet, but the Subways have a way of writing lines that capture an entire emotion with incredible simplicity. The next two songs are the two which have given The Subways the most air-time: "I Want To Hear What You've Got To Say" and (of course) "Rock & Roll Queen". Although I've heard these songs countless times before, I found their acoustic versions particularly refreshing and engaging. Even "Rock & Roll Queen" takes on a new meaning when the underlying lust of the song is loosed upon the listener. The final song is a clapping, raucous, crowd celebration, more of a gift to the big fans than a gem for the casual listener. Still, this song isn't too shabby and would probably be fun background music for a late-night drive or an early-morning party.

Overall, The Subways Live and Acoustic in Magdeburg shows a young band at their best: far from the grasping hands of greedy record company executives and soul-stealing recording equipment.

Orgone Accumulator

For those of you who thought neo-soul was big in the '90s with Me'Shell Ndegeocello and India Arie, let me pass on this information: you ain't seen nothing yet! Granted, Amy Winehouse and Sharon Jones are making music that's a far cry from Erykah Badu, but you can still hear Aretha and Etta in the belting and Muscle Shoals tightness in the instrumentation. This is music rooted in funk, soul, Motown, and R&B, and it's the kind of music that's likely to send chills down your spine and "make you wanna shout" (a little bit softer now?).

With all of these soul classics spinning on contemporary artist's MP3 players, I wasn't really surprised to discover the Orgone band. I was a little surprised to find that this band has been recording music for seven years now. I had never heard their funky tunes until I stumbled upon their name on a KEXP playlist (thank my music-loving friends who pass along excellent resources). Now I'm jamming with their latest album adventure, The Killion Floor. It's got your Meters-inspired funk, your soulful/gospel jams, some Afrobeat-ish explorations, and a couple of almost-Disco boogie songs that are saved by their close relation to Jamiroquai (you can't say bad things about Jam).

The sound on this album is galvanic, infectious even, appropriate given the fact that the band's name is a reference to Orgone energy, a kind of life-force apparently "discovered" by the scientist Wilhelm Reich in the 1930s. I've read about Reich before, and I think he was just building upon an idea that's been thrown around in the Eastern part of the world for centuries (can anyone say chi?). He did, however, have some other interesting scientific theories, including the Orgone accumulator which is an energy-focusing box (fans of Kerouac will remember this from On The Road), and a "cloudbuster" or weather-controlling machine. You can read about Wilhelm Reich online, but I do digress, and really what I want to tell you about is music.

The Killion Floor starts with a steady groove and some funky organ on "Easin (Introlude)", and continues with the fantastically Aretha-esque "Who Knows Who?". I can't tell you if the title of this song is purposely suggestive of "Who's Zoomin Who?", but I do know that the music is closer to Aretha's roots than to her more contemporary songs. It's the song of a powerful woman who has been treated with less respect than she's due. Imagine "Think" or "Chain Of Fools" with cleaner production values and a huskier-voiced songstress. This songstress, by the way, is Fanny Franklin who serendipitously shares her surname with the Queen of Soul. "Sophisticated Honky" is a jam bursting with guitar riffage that would make the great Blues geniuses smile. It also owns a jazzy horn section that's tight, smooth, and funky fresh.

This music is is delicious, and the album is jam-packed with sound. Not only do the majority of the songs clock in at over four minutes, but there are also a whopping eighteen tracks stuffed onto The Killion Floor. For those music lovers who go for quality over quantity, you'll find plenty to rave about on this album. "Dialed Up" channels Jamiroquai, and is one of those tracks that even people who listened to "their music" in a closet when disco was popular could find entertaining. My favorite songs on the album stay away from the disco stuff, but are also inherently entertaining. The trio of "Justice League", "Funky Nassau", and "Lone Ranger" are meant for greatness in some spaghetti western martial arts comedy. "Justice League" combines the Meters' climbing funk with the beating rhythm of Afrobeat. "Funky Nassau" pulls in a tight vocal and a little wah-wah action to make you shake your hips. "Lone Ranger" takes the cake with an almost Reggae smoothness and a semi-sinister undertone. You can just imagine the possibilities of these three songs as soundtrack music.

The Killion Floor is a force of nature as far as musical experiences go. This is the kind of album that anyone could lose themselves in; but, it is a special rabbit-hole for the musical Alice's who haven't had enough soul Wonderland. My advice to you lovely readers is to set aside an afternoon and chill, because great funk and soul cannot be rushed. It's an experience that should savored.

One Sweet Love - Sara Bareilles

The Aorta of a Whale

"The aorta of a whale is larger in the bore than the main pipe of the water-works at London Bridge, and the water roaring in its passage through that pipe is inferior in impetus and velocity to the blood gushing from the whale's heart."

As quoted from Paley's Theology in Moby-Dick by Herman Melville.

I'm reading Moby-Dick now, and although I'm not very far into the story, I've already found a plethora of striking passages. Ishmael is a boy who requires the constant pulsing life of the Ocean, because although there is danger in movement, in travel and adventure, there is also an intensely exhilarating energy and life-force. Sea travel encompasses that enormous feeling of potential energy you have when you stand on the edge of a cliff (figuratively and literally). The sea is a powerful creature all on its own, and it houses some the most powerful creatures in the world.

My readers may be wondering what Ishmael and an infamous white whale have to do with music? Well mostly my wandering mind is working tangentially, finding connections between the most random experiences. I can feel a connection between this enormous potential energy that has Ishmael so addicted to the sea and my personal addiction to music. I'm one of those people who can't sit still. I am a bouncy mess of nervous energy and curiosity, and I like to think that sea-travel would be somewhat comforting to me. I like to think that my mind would be calm as my body was rocked on the waves, that the ocean would center my spirit a little, and that my feet could stop tapping and I could cease fidgeting for a minute or two. This is how I feel when I listen to great music. It has a spiritually calming effect on me, and even though I'm often in motion when I'm listening, I never feel agitated or like I'm about to implode.

I think I'm lucky: many people never find that comfortable place and time where they are completely at ease. In "Loomings", Ishmael (Melville) speaks of the sea and sea-travel as his savior and the savior and temptress of all men. That deep bond between travel and meditation is the key in this story; it is only when men are in constant movement that their minds are truly at rest. Wanderlust happens to be my close companion too, often the shadow in my heart and mind that doesn't allow me to rest. But even when my skin is crawling with the need for absolute freedom and movement, and when my mind is filled with that intoxicating potential energy of adventure, I can find solace and peace in music. It is the constantly rocking ship that lulls me into a place of rest.

Atavism and New Year's Resolutions

I've been thinking a lot about reversion and the process of self-discovery. I feel like there's a pattern to human growth, but it can't be measured in a linear way. People are more like trees: we grow in soft circles that gently pulse away from a center. For this reason, I don't think life should be measured in big, arbitrary chunks like years or even days. Life follows a more windy path, and one that's full of discoveries and re-discoveries. Relationships grow and change shape, the lingo bounces around a little, sometimes the music sounds different, but everything loops back upon itself and often atavism is right around the corner.

On Christmas night, at about 11:00, I found myself watching a VH1 show. It was a mundanely constructed countdown show that revolved around the best songs of the '90s. Now there are things about the '90s I'd rather not remember. I had some good times and I had some lousy times, but most of it was at least okay, and I made it through basically unscathed. Still, there are moments forever tied to the music of the '90s that can be intensely nostalgic and cringe-worthy at the same time. I remember cassette tapes of Gloria Estefan and Sheryl Crow. I remember singing all the words to "Whatta Man" and "You Oughta Know" at a tender age, and getting my first real CDs: Spice by the Spice Girls and Let's Talk About Love by Celine Dion. Well, my earliest musical choices were vindicated by a VH1 countdown show; "Wannabe" and "My Heart Will Go On" both made the list of greatest '90s songs. I watched with some amusement as "Mmmbop" and "Baby Got Back" were replayed on the countdown, and when "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (big surprise) came in first, I glanced at the clock and noticed how time had flown by again. It was like watching my childhood on fast-forward, and feeling about ten-million emotions with every note of almost every song. Intense.

It's not like I ever really wanted to leave some of those emotions behind. The smells and the feelings of being nine are part of me, part of my life tree. I can always sit and count the rings of my life, even sometimes look at the bumps and scars that have added so much character, but there's a difference between remembering a feeling and feeling a feeling.

On Christmas night I bought the album Leaving Through the Window by Something Corporate. It's an old album by conventional standards, released in 2002 to the great excitement of almost every teenage girl with a rocker chick inside. It's lovely and unabashed emotive rock, and it makes me feel some of that enthusiasm and emotion I had when I was thirteen. I'm still enthusiastic and emotive, but a little older and less capricious, I hope. I still crave a good love song as much as anyone, and I've also realized that I don't want to lose the excitement of my youth. Why shouldn't everything be important? Why shouldn't every success be celebrated profusely, and every failure felt? I don't want to grow numb to the things that matter, and I don't want to measure my life in a straight line. My New Year's Resolution is to experience a little atavism. I don't want to revert to immaturity or forget any of the lessons I've learned, but I don't want to lose any of my life either: I want to remember that I have lived and that I am living. I think this resolution will stick.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!



What's better than a piano-dancing Andrew McMahon?

6-8 Black Men - A Merry Christmas from David Sedaris

If you find this video amusing, read "The Santaland Diaries". You'll have eggnog coming out of your nose. :)


MERRY CHRISTMAS!

What Christmas Means To Me - Stevie Wonder

"I wish you a Merry Christmas baby, and such happiness in the coming year!"

And I Found This Boy - Maia Hirasawa

This video is super-fun for indie hipsters who think that Leslie Feist's "1234" is so 2007. Maia makes sweet, folksy, and coy tunes that will make your ears smile. Listen up!

Graduation - XKCD

http://xkcd.com/

Frisson

For awhile after my discovery of the Garden State soundtrack and my complete obsession with Elliott Smith, I thought that alternative folk could only get worse. The singer-songwriter seemed over-utilized in my musical world, and I was feeling bored with the genre. Then I found Regina Spektor, and everything went topsy-turvy as it so often does in my mind. I realized that just because you strum a sweet acoustic or play a mean piano, just because you throw obscure literary references into every other stanza and offer up images as cut and paste as "rosy-fingered dawn", doesn't mean you don't have heart and soul in your music. It also doesn't mean that you can't create a fucking gorgeous tune.

I've continued to listen to alterna-folk, and my ears are supremely happy for the sounds of Antje Duvekot, Jaymay, Ingrid Michaelson, and Iron & Wine. There is something about that stripped down, washed out sound that is so intensely exhilarating and thrillingly close. Listening to "Gray Or Blue" by Jaymay makes me feel that not only has someone looked inside my head, but they've also felt my scrapes and scars, bumps and bruises. The rawest part of my soul is sometimes glimpsed in the passing phrases and chords of a Billy Joel song, and I know that I'm not alone.

I listened to the Juno soundtrack all weekend long. Even though I'm not a huge Moldy Peaches fan and even though I've never owned a Belle & Sebastian album, I felt personally connected to the universe while hearing the songs "Anyone Else But You" and "Piazza, New York Catcher". This album is a gorgeous example of the frisson that can occur when music is perfectly mixed and completely established as the soundtrack to a feeling. Juno's sarcasm, spirit, loneliness, and obsession were expressed perfectly with Kimya Dawson's merrily hummed expletives and the mix of classic rock and alternative tunes that create the backbone of the rest of this album.

I've never been a pregnant sixteen-year old, but I have been lonely and afraid, intensely introverted and insanely bored, with nothing to do but perfect my sarcasm and add to my obscure musical knowledge. This is teenage angst for the 21st Century, the kind of painful growth that's equally maximized and minimized by our unintentional proximity to massive amounts of information. Our entire lives change in seconds and our minds are suddenly obsolete. With all of this progress, our relationships remain confused and tangled, a jumbled mess of emoticons (yes, I meant emoticons).

How do you navigate a world without a map? Well you glom onto things that you understand, and herein lies the beauty of the singer-songwriter genre. "So Nice So Smart" by Miss Dawson is a story of what can happen when you fall in love with friends. Dawson begins with a nursery rhyme stanza that includes mice, roofies, and blood/wine drinking, but the chorus is much more mundane and close to the heart.

you're so nice and you're so smart
you're such a good friend i hafta break your heart
tell you that i love you then i'll tear your world apart
just pretend i didn't tear your world apart


It's a plain and naked song, and you don't always have to understand it intellectually, you just have to feel the pulse of the music and the emotion therein. Follow that with the superb cover of the Moldy Peaches' "Anyone Else But You" by the Juno movie stars Michael Cera and Ellen Page. The lyrics are little celebrations of personality. These lovers are reveling in each other's geekiness and perfect individuality. My favorite lyric which isn't included in the cover version is:

Up up down down left right left right B A start
Just because we use cheats doesn't mean we're not smart
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you

It's a primal song that bares its soul; and it stands alone in a jungle of wires and electric signals with its slowly beating heart. Keep singing Kimya, and I'll keep listening.

Anyone Else But You (Abridged) - The Moldy Peaches

You're a part time lover and a full time friend
The monkey on your back is the latest trend
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you

Here is the church and here is the steeple
We sure are cute for two ugly people
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you

We both have shiny happy fits of rage
You want more fans, I want more stage
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you

You are always trying to keep it real
I'm in love with how you feel
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you

I kiss you on the brain in the shadow of a train
I kiss you all starry eyed, my body's swinging from side to side
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you

The pebbles forgive me, the trees forgive me
So why can't, you forgive me?
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you

Du du du du du du dudu
Du du du du du du dudu
Du du du du du du dudu du
I don't see what anyone can see, in anyone else
But you

I'll Take You There - The Staple Singers

"I know a place..."

and everything else is soul history!

Proud Mary - Ike & Tina Turner

"Y' know, every now and then
I think you might like to hear something from us
Nice and easy
But there's just one thing
You see we never ever do nothing
Nice and easy
We always do it nice and rough
So we're gonna take the beginning of this song
And do it easy
Then we're gonna do the finish rough
This is the way we do "Proud Mary"

And we're rolling, rolling, rolling on the river
Listen to the story

I left a good job in the city
Working for the man every night and day
And I never lost one minute of sleeping
Worrying 'bout the way things might have been

Big wheel keep on turning
Proud Mary keep on burning
And we’re rolling, rolling
Rolling on the river

Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis
Pumped a lot of tane down in New Orleans
But I never saw the good side of the city
Till I hitched a ride on a riverboat queen

Big wheel keep on turning
Proud Mary keep on burning
And we’re rolling, rolling
Rolling on the river

If you come down to the river
I bet you gonna find some people who live
You don’t have to worry if you got no money
People on the river are happy to give"

This video is amazing. One of the most electric live performances I've ever seen, and I'm sure actually being part of the crowd, immersed in the experienced was even more electric. Sing it Tina!

Gray or Blue by Jaymay

"i feel so helpless now, my guitar is not around
and im strugglin w/ the xylophone to make these feelins sound
and im rememberin you singin and bringin you to life
it's rainin out the window and today it looks like night

you havent written to me in a week im wonderin why that is
are you too nervous to be lovers-- friendships ruined with just one kiss
i watched you very closely i saw you look away
your eyes are either gray or blue im never close enough to say

but your sweatshirt says it all with the hood over your face
i cant keep starin at your mouth without wonderin how it tastes
im with another boy (he's asleep, im wide awake )
and he tried to win my heart, but its taken . . . . . time

i know the shape of your hands because i watch em when you talk
and i know the shape of your body cause i watch it when you walk
and i want to know it all but im giving you the lead . . . . .. . .. .
so go on, go on and take it, dont fake it, shake it

(charmin//crazy eyes have u/r they gray or blue/i wont make the move/u must make the move/if u make the move/i will then approve/if u do not move/we will surely lose)

dont second guess your feelins you were right form the start
and i notice she's your lover, but shes nowhere near your heart
this city is for strangers, like the sky is for the stars
but i think its very dangerous if we do not take whats ours

and im winnin you with words because i have no other way
i want to look into your face without your eyes turnin away
last night i watched you sing because a person has to try
and i walked home in the rain because a person can not lie"

Tell Me 'Bout It - Joss Stone

She can belt like Janis. Let's hope she doesn't burn out like Janis!

Jazz for All Seasons

Over the Rhine is a jazz two-piece that's been making music for a happy 15 years. Their "Norah Jones" sound flowed from speakers when Norah was still known as Geethali Shankar, and in their 15 years at work they've released 18 albums. They make beautiful, soft, heavy jazz songs that keep your ears toasty or cool depending on the weather. With two full-lengths released this year, Over the Rhine doesn't seem to be slowing down with age, and that's a good thing for music-lovers who need a jazz soundtrack for all seasons.

This summer Over the Rhine released The Trumpet Child, an exploration in cool jazz. The album's chock-full of cool horn-playing and Latin grooves. The opener, "I Don't Wanna Waste Your Time" has been described by the band as a manifesto of sorts for their music. Lyrically, it's the story of two people who aren't exactly on the same page. Instrumentally, the song is fairly straightforward and jangly. It actually strikes me as a good finale song for the album, but kind of a downer way to begin your Over the Rhine experience. "Trouble" and "I'm On A Roll"are lazy summer songs perfect for picnics. "Nothing Is Innocent" is a Latin-influenced song with bitter, almost acerbic lyrics. The title song is an ode to the trumpet, with awkwardly biblical lyrics that don't gel with the rest of the album. This is a shame really, because the song is quite lovely when separated from the other songs on The Trumpet Child. The next few songs are quite diverting and experimental. "Entertaining Thoughts" is a thoughtful ode to friendly lusting, while "Who' I Kiddin' But Me" is a jangly, Susan Tedeschi-ish romp that discusses depression in an up-beat context. "Let's Spend the Day In Bed" and "Desperate for Love" move back towards the adult contemporary crowd, but inject a little life into the mundane with a few off-beat lyrics. "Don't Wait For Tom" seems to be an ode to Tom Waits. I assume that Tom Waits is the inspiration based on the title and the sound of the track itself, which has so much in common with Waits' music that it's almost impossible for me to think that the two aren't connected. The song is an interesting move away from the rest of the album, and a bit of a poor juxtaposition. Like the title song, "Don't Wait For Tom" is too much of a departure from the rest of The Trumpet Child for it to be fully appreciated in context. "If a Song Could Be President" is the final original song on the album, and it flows along on a twanging, country guitar sound that seems to slide into the sunset. The idea behind the song is quite entertaining. Well-written music becomes an allegory for a well-run country, and harmony between nations is achieved with harmonious instrumentals.

Unfortunately, The Trumpet Child isn't always a cohesive mix of sounds. There are quite a few experiments that work well on the album, and a couple that would work well on a different album but only diminish the sound of this album.

The second full-length released by Over the Rhine this year is the wintry Snow Angel, and overall I think the band does a better job of sticking to theme on this CD than on The Trumpet Child. It's not a Christmas album per se, but there are few toasty Christmas songs that will remind you more of "Baby It's Cold Outside" than of "All I Want For Christmas is You".

"All I Ever Get For Christmas Is Blue" starts off sad and lonely, but finishes with a twist: the girl gets the guy. Happy endings are oh so Christmas, and this first song wraps the happy ending formula in a fairly adult theme. "Darlin' (Christmas is Coming)" is so similar to "All I Ever Get For Christmas Is Blue" lyrically that it seems a little silly to place the two right next to each other. "White Horse" and "Little Town" are bucolic, jazz diversions. They're perfect songs to soundtrack Christmas visits home. "New Redemption Song" is a beautiful almost country-gospel request for a new song of hope. It's imploring but not begging, and the piano itself is a veritable celebration of sound. Follow that up with "Goodbye Charles", a definite homage to the late Peanuts writer that just oozes Vince Guaraldi Trio , and you have yourself a mellow Christmas party. "Snowed In With You" and "North Pole Man" are playful tunes that mix up the sound of the album while sticking to theme. "Here It Is" is home to the the wonderful chorus "I'm wrapping up my love this Christmas", which just makes me smile every time I listen. "One Olive Jingle" is a smooth cover of "Jingle Bells" and "Snow Angel" is a gentle story populated with gorgeous images. The final song - "We're Gonna Pull Through" - is less Christmas than New Year. It's a story about trouble and strength in relationships, and it's a well-executed and appropriate finale for this album.

Overall, Snow Angel is lush and comforting. Even the blue songs carry hints of red and green, and the lyrics elegantly approach the tough topics that are so repressed during the holidays. There's nothing wrong with winter melancholy, and it often comes along with all the usual Christmas cheer. I think this album will be one of my winter favorites from now on, and it makes me particularly excited for the next Over The Rhine album.

Taking Chase - RX Bandits (Live @ Bonnaroo)

"...And the Battle Begun" - RX Bandits

!!!

This band is my latest musical obsession.

Rock and Growl

The Sound of Animals Fighting is both an original and awkward name for an experimental rock band, and when I first came across this name, I was slightly put-off. For me the moniker conjured images of a messy Animal Collective, with plenty of shrieking and purring to set the tone; but, what I found was a band that loosely gathers the strings of disparate sounds and genres into a single, cohesive and slightly moody album.

Tiger and the Duke is this album, and it often reaches monumental rock heights. Drama is imperative to this album's execution, but in a way that feels only engaged and creative rather than pretentious. It's the kind of drama you find on an album by Dredg or Coheed and Cambria: introspective and perfectly progressive rock. Pink Floyd meets Rush in an all-out battle of spacey weirdness is the way I would describe most of the songs on Tiger and the Duke, but there are also odd, staticky forays into electronica and some bouncy, trip-hoppy skipping songs. This is basically the missing disk to the Children of Men soundtrack. It's dark and futuristic, rhythmic and robotic, chilling and hopeful.

"Act I: Chasing Suns" has careful, punctuating guitar solos (almost Mark Knopfleresque) placed over pulsing percussion. When the vocals fall from the sky, there isn't anything keeping this song from growing to anthemic proportions. "Act II: All Is Ash or the Light Shining Through It" rocks in a different way entirely. It begins as a more straight-forward, post-punk exploration, with choppy guitars that smash around the drums. As the song progresses, it jumps into fully experimental gear, with a little sing-shouting and some well-placed, almost jazzy background guitar. The not-so-creatively titled interludes are all little palate cleansers of super-charged electronic music. They nicely bookend the rock anthems, so that each new song is its own pearl of sound. My favorite song on the album is "Horses In The Sky (Live version)" because it's a more raw example of the talent of The Sound of Animals Fighting. This band can make songs that are aurally interesting and thought-provoking, but it's great to know that when placed in front of a live audience they can also rock the room.

Tiger and the Duke is a musical investment. It's not necessarily what you want to listen to every day, and it definitely isn't as accessible as some great rock music, but it's absolutely worth your time and energy. Each song evokes a feeling of careful craftsmanship, and there are guitar solos and percussive surprises that will excite even the most jaded listener. Save this album for a night when you have time to get lost in a sound or two, you won't be disappointed.

The Sound of Animals Fighting - "Act I: Chasing Suns"

Mrs. Potter's Lullaby - Counting Crows

"...all the blue light reflections that color my mind when I sleep,
and the lovesick rejections that accompany the company I keep,
all the razor perceptions that cut just a little too deep,
hey, I can bleed as well as anyone, but I need someone to help me sleep..."

This song was written for me. Actually, it wasn't :) Still, when I listen to the lyrics, I feel like Adam Duritz was in my head writing out my thoughts. Amazing!

Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen

"Woahh!"

Definitely the classic story of American Teenage angst, with amazing lyrics and energy. Rock it, Springsteen.

It goes up to 11 - Spinal Tap

Take It Off - The Donnas

I haven't really listened to these girls in about three years! There was a time when I listened to them almost exclusively. Big time nostalgia.

Nerdcore and Geek Rock

I whole-heartedly embrace nerdiness in every facet of my life, because - like blondes - I think nerds have more fun. I can hold up my end of a Star Wars or Lord of the Rings conversation, I own a bunch of "graphic novels", and I'm a big fan of Super Mario and Tetris on the Original Nintendo (you know, the one with like four buttons). Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I'm a music geek. I'm not quite "dead-head" material, because I've never kept notebooks full of set-lists from my favorite band's shows, but I get pretty freaking excited when I find an old Hendrix clip or "discover" Tuvan throat singing (I'll save that story for another post).

It always makes me happy to hear music that embraces the fresh, free, and funky side of life where the nerds reside. Not all of us can constantly connect with the super-smooth world of Justin Timberlake and the Jonas Brothers, plus why would we always want to? I'm a fan of a world with surprises, and if every boy were super-smooth there just wouldn't be many surprises to make life exciting.

In this nerd-friendly mood, I found a happy surprise on another blog (Mainstream Isn't So Bad, Is It?) in the form of Yea Big and Kid Static. This is a nerdcore duo who create hip-hop music that can tap into the geek in anyone. The beats are good, and the lyrics range from amusing to serious, but always hold onto that geek charm that's so endearing. You should check out the Mainstream blog for a real review of the new album Yea Big and Kid Static, because I'm just here to point you in the direction of nerd-greatness. I will say that the song "We've Built A Time Machine That Runs On Beats. We Shall Only Use It For Good." makes video-game bleeps fair game for the hip-hop community.

Music geeks who want their video-game sounds separated from any other genre, should listen to "chiptunes" by artists like Bubblyfish and Sayaka Suzuki. The compilation cover album - The Music of Kraftwerk Performed on 8-bit Video Game Systems makes that annoying, blippy music very cool. "Computer Love (2007 Remastered)" by Covox is an elegant bit of beeping, computer joy. "Pink Flower" by Sayaka Suzuki achieves a sound that reminds me of pink flowers and the Mario Brothers. Chiptunes aren't just for boys!

There are different kinds of geeks, and to each their own music. One kind sits in a room with headphones on and analyzes every instrument and lyric in a single song. I know this kind of music nerd would listen to Devendra Banhart's "Lover" with some satisfaction and interest. S/he would also digest the lyrics of "Anti Love Song" by Betty Davis, while taking into account the Miles influences. These songs aren't Geek Rock per se, but they are amazing songs that lend themselves to musical deconstruction.

Join the Geek squad and have fun!

If This Ain't Love (Don't Know What Is) - Nicole Willis and the Soul Investigators

Neo-soul is now retro-soul, and I love it! Also, I think there should be a flute solo in every song.

Quidditch

Read this article and smile: Collegiate Quidditch Takes Off - Figuratively, At Least by Craig Wilson.

Once you get beyond the awkward article title, the article body is actually pretty interesting, including a play-by-play of a Quidditch game on the Middlebury campus. Three games in one (goal-scoring, tag, and dodgeball according to one of the players), the only difference between this Quidditch and the game found in the Rowling books is magic. I think it's appropriate that Quidditch finds its "mainstream" equivalent on the Middlebury campus. Those Middlebury kids are practically as bookish as I am, and Vermont has such a small population that you have to have a few eccentric hobbies to fill up all of that empty time. Apparently, Ultimate Frisbee also originated at Middlebury, but I know many students of the Five Colleges who would argue otherwise. It doesn't really matter. In the end, it just makes me happy to know that there are large groups of college kids running around on broomsticks in Vermont (and apparently, also in New York).

I think I'll be smiling all day. This is really priceless.

A Message to You Rudy - The Specials

All I can say is kudos to the keyboard man. It's hard to rock out with keys! Classic ska love.

As Green as a Christmas Tree

I was amused by the article Jolly and Green, with an Agenda by Alex Williams in this morning's New York Times. Apparently the new "grinches" of Christmas are environmentalists. They force their families to discontinue the art of wrapping; they give environmentally-friendly gifts like hugs, recycled clothing and cds, and fluorescent light-bulbs; they read Christmas stories about Global Warming; and, their grinchy hearts are two sizes too small because they want to conserve energy. Ouch!

Well, I'm enviro-conscious, as it were, but I still maintain a lovely relationship with Christmas. I don't really understand why Christmas needs to be the time of year when people proselytize anything but goodwill toward men. I mean the holiday has already been corrupted by corporate America. People are already forced to feel guilty about not giving enough or not giving the right thing. Why sully the holiday even more with environmental antics? It's neither the time nor place to instigate an argument with your family about their free-range turkey or their political beliefs. I personally find it more helpful to lead by example throughout the year, and yes, this approach is more difficult, but I'm always up for a challenge. In May, when I started hardcore recycling, my family's reaction was somewhat apathetic. Yet, through the summer my parents bought cloth bags for groceries, started investing in companies whose packaging is recyclable, and most recently, requested that we "wrap" a baby-shower gift in a nice, reusable bag. No arguments, and a nice, smooth transition towards sustainable. On the other hand, my choice to unplug all of the electronic things in my room (including my lights), has met with a little more opposition. I've tried to explain that I'm saving money by refusing to pay for phantom energy (look it up, it's real), but they just can't deal with the thought of me reading in the dark.

To get back to Christmas, I have no problem splurging once a year to celebrate the holidays. It's not like I write off all of my ideals, I just choose to make everyone's lives a little happier by refusing to argue about lifestyle choices. I think it's really very selfish to ruin the holidays by causing strife. I also think that this approach to a sustainable lifestyle is decidedly bad for the Earth.

Doo Wop - Lauryn Hill

"Don't be a hard rock when you really are a gem"
- Lauryn Hill

Dogg Starr - Ladybug Mecca

Jazzy street poet who reminds me of Lauryn Hill, what could be bad about that?

Duh-Jango!

Django Reinhardt has to be my all-time favorite jazz musician. How many jazz musicians who performed in the '20s and '30s have their songs in the Matrix, huh? Django does ("Rhythm Futur"). His work sounds like it was made in the early 20th century, but it feels just as challenging and current as it did when it was released.

He used a guitar as a percussion instrument! He played rhythmically and manically, and opened the possibilities of music. He invented gypsy jazz with Stephane Grapelli. We love you Django.

Be Easy

I was reading an article about Sharon Jones and the Dap-kings on WERS, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Jones is appearing in a Denzel Washington movie (The Great Debaters) and has done work on the soundtrack.

This soundtrack is soulful, if not quite as funktastic as most of Sharon Jones' music. In general, the music tends to lean more into blues, bluegrass, jazz, and gospel territory than towards heavy soul, R&B, and funk. Some of the music really reminds me of Chicago (the musical, not the band), while other tracks are absolutely Robert Johnson influenced. The Staple Singers are also a big influence. What's most interesting and exciting about this soundtrack, is the fact that the performers are mostly contemporary, and all wonderfully talented in their diverse musical fields.

Alvin "Youngblood" Hart is a contemporary blues man (a "prisoner of hope" to quote Cornell West) who plays a mean, blues guitar and has been known to cover Led Zeppelin (who stole most of their sound from blues men in the first place.) On his many albums he bounces from straight-up acoustic, guitar blues to crackling electric rock songs to country swing. This is a musician who truly loves music, and this love is obvious no matter what he's playing. On The Great Debaters soundtrack, Alvin appears eleven times. He channels James Brown on "My Soul Is A Witness", shows his blues roots on "I've Got Blood In My Eyes For You" (which must have the coolest name of any song, ever), and harmonizes on "Two Eyes".

Sharon Jones has already been given a detailed portrait in this blog, along with her lovely Dap-Kings. David Berger, on the other hand, has never even been mentioned in this blog, a sad oversight on my part. David Berger leads David Berger and the Sultans of Swing, the jazz orchestra that truly reminds me of Chicago. "Delta Serenade" and "Rock N Rye" are pure concrete jungle jazz, the kind of horn swinging, party tunes that would make King Louis shout.

You can listen to parts of the album on iTunes, and watch the movie when it's released on Christmas.

Mandelbrot

"Clouds are not spheres, mountains are not cones, coastlines are not circles, and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in a straight line." – B.Mandelbrot, introduction to The Fractal Geometry of Nature

I don't pretend to understand fractal geometry, but I don't have to understand it to enjoy the magnificent art that comes from fractals. Mandelbrot was the father of fractal geometry, and his "sets" laid much of the foundation for the connection of geometry and art. I've never really understood why abstract art is so, well, abstract. To me, the entire world is abstract and I like the mystery that's coupled with this abstraction. Mandelbrot's art reminds me of stars and water, deep sea creatures and the insides of flower buds. Basically, it reminds me of everything beautiful and mysterious in the world, and that's why I love Mandelbrot.

I Feel Love - Blue Man Group

These men are amazing! I want a flashing dress that strobes different colored lights to the beat of my own personal soundtrack.

Seeming Redundancy

Purple Violets is an indie film that has recently made its debut on iTunes. It's about writers and love. Wow, really original, right? Well, sort of. I haven't actually seen the movie, because I've been too busy listening to the soundtrack and puzzling out the title.

According to Wiki, the title isn't actually redundant. Purple is defined as any color in the space between red and blue, whereas violet is a spectral color with its own wavelength. All of this stuff is mind-blowing to me, because I've never thought of a science of color. I suppose there could really be a science of anything.

Applying that subtle science of color to the Purple Violets soundtrack, my first feeling is kind of pink-orange followed by a soft change to blue. This sunset effect is produced by melting the sounds of The Kings of Convenience with Calexico and Iron & Wine. "Misread" is sort of sleepily energetic (is that an oxymoron? I think not) and it's followed by "He Lays In the Reins" which feels like the ocean on a warm night. Mmmm, this is lullaby territory.

The Drive-By Truckers bring it all back home, but also make me a little blue. Not the soft blue of "He Lays in the Reins", but a sharper, colder blue. Have you ever looked at the stars in the mountains? It's that feeling of being completely lost in the world that the Drive-By Truckers achieve. Then the Blue Jackets whisper about memories over stark, almost Blue-man group beats, and I feel a little warmer.

The Doves and the Magic Numbers bring us back to the daytime, by painting a silky sunrise of yellows and oranges. You don't need to wear your rose-colored glasses when you're listening to these songs. "No Satisfaction" by Black Mountains is absolute, golden, mid-day joy. I love the rattling blues that sounds like corn husks in the wind. The Blue Jackets make another appearance with "Way Back Home" which is a veritable rainbow of sound, jangly and sweet.

Gomez and kBRANDOW drive you into the dusky afternoon. Those blue-green, bruisey shadows of the early afternoon fill the empty space in "Sound of Sounds" and "Lost". These songs are chill, with an almost free-jazz composition. They're also a little earthy: subdued and elegant.

"Everything is Talking" by the Long Winters reminds me of dinner out. Your napkin is starched and uncomfortable in your lap, and the silverware feels like it belongs to someone else. The repeated titular phrase makes sense in this atmosphere, because not only are other people talking all around you at a restaurant, but in some ways the whole room is talking. Everything is designed to get your attention, and so everything is talking to you. This song is metallic and loud, clanging for attention before bedtime.

The Blue Jackets finish off the album with a rolling song that is absolutely reminiscent of the ocean. "You Send Shivers" describes a less frolicking and more roiling ocean than that felt in the Calexico/Iron & Wine song. A more romantic ocean, in my opinion. I love this album closer because it really makes me feel purple and violet. It's the only song that achieves that playful, subtle, romance evoked by the titular colors. It's the best song on the whole album, and a grand finale of sorts, where the spectral violet and haunting purple combine in musical ecstasy.

I can't know, based on soundtrack alone, if Purple Violets is a good movie. I can't even really guess what the plot will hold or how color will come into the picture. I can tell you that the soundtrack sent shivers down my spine, and that when I listen to the music I feel a spectrum of emotions as varied as the spectrum of colors. Whoever mixed this soundtrack was definitely on my color wavelength.

My Humps - Alanis Morissette

This video is priceless. I don't know who remembers Alanis (I do!), but she was freaking popular in the early '90s. Sometimes her original work is amazing and her voice is gorgeous, and sometimes it's so annoying and overemotional. It probably all depends on my mood. One reason why this cover video is so amusing, is because she's making fun of herself while she's making fun of Fergie.