All That She Surveys

MySpace Rundown: Montana Skies

2008-12-02T15:49:00.007-07:00

Montana Skies is maybe part of indie music rediscovering stringed instruments other than the guitar, or maybe a sign that this rediscovery is waning. They have a nice sense of structure--a similar feel for the architecture of string music as, say, Calexico--but end up somehow more genre-bound, in a schizophrenic sort of way.

They often come close to sounding promising: Canyon Breeze has a simple and almost compelling base line, but remains placidly in the easy listening category; Another Brick in the Wall starts out with drive and energy but loses momentum before it ends. Eventually, though, each song seems to fit into the dreamy-sweeping category, or the folksy-bouncing category, with not much in between.

I get the idea that they would put on a lovely, engaging live show; but somehow there's no real reason to listen to their recorded music instead of other, less binary fare. With a little more contrast, a little more harshness or nuance, and a little less sweep, they could be much more compelling.

tags: [Music], [Montana Skies], [String instruments], [Myspace music], [mp3]

Earworm: "Wild Horses" by The Sundays

2008-12-02T15:26:00.011-07:00

First, I would just like to say that I am now Dr.Queen of Sheba. Thank you.

This one goes in the category of unexpectedly lovely covers--who would've agreed that The Sundays would do beautiful justice to a Rolling Stones song? It's like agreeing that it would be good to make a movie out of a Disney ride, or to put Keanu Reeves in a dystopian cyberpunk epic; it seems a terribly improbable proposal. But I think maybe being The Rolling Stones distracted the actual Rolling Stones from making Wild Horses as it wanted to be. Nothing else in The Sundays' repertoire quite seems to measure up--their other songs are lovely but insubstantial; but achieving aesthetic rightness is nothing to sneeze at, even once.
tags: [Music], [mp3], [Sundays], [Rolling Stones], [Covers]

Earworm: Bob Schneider - Wish

2007-06-04T12:14:00.001-06:00

Bob Schneider used to be a favorite of mine, in the years right after college; I haven't listened to him much lately, but Wish off of Songs Sung & Played on the Guitar came up on random the other day, and it was arresting. It's a wispy, insubstantial song, but the understated grotesquerie of the opening image saves it from being saccharine. It's not as cutting as some of Schneider's other lovely, acidly melancholy songs like The King of the World, but striking nonetheless.

tags: [Music], [Bob Schneider], [Wish]

Milquetoast @ Hennesy's Upstairs

2007-05-31T15:49:00.000-06:00

So I've been honored to be asked by the Queen to help keep the blog moving while she plugs away at the dissertation. Although I'm very good at being opinionated, this is my first time telling the rest of the world what to think, so please bear with me while I get the hang of this blogging thing.

As an introduction, I'll start off with the show that I went to last night. There were a number of bands, but, we went out to see Milquetoast to see what the Queen was on about.

They were very competent. The lead singer started of with a solo guitar that reminded me a little bit of Chris Cornell's solo work (although without the distinctive vocal style.) It was nice, and it was interesting to see how he led in, but it didn't grab the crowd. It wasn't until the cellist came up a few songs later that the show really started to move.

The musical styling moved all over from a Tom Waits influenced waltz, to more classic blues riffs, but the musicianship was quality throughout. In fact, so good was the cellist that she made me truly believe that the cello is the most underrepresented instrument in modern music. After I left, I came somewhat to my senses, and realized I must have had one too many Stellas, but it doesn't diminish the depth and breadth that Robin lends to what might otherwise be a fairly tame set.

That's not to knock the composition. I though that Jimmy's songwriting and composition was very solid with occasional gems (the Tom Waits-like waltz comes to mind.) The music also covered a very broad spectrum without getting spread too thin, which I felt was a nice accomplishment.

Finally, like the musical styling, the stage presence was also a bit erratic; which mostly worked. Jimmy had enough charisma to keep the audience with him through a meandering slightly sappy dedication to his mom, and the rest of the time he was entertaining and funny without resorting to stand-up.

tags: [Music],

ATSS Goes Dark

2007-04-24T12:09:00.001-06:00

Due to impending dissertation proposal, ATSS will be dark for a while. I'll be back when I can!

tags: [Music],

Myspace Find: Plushgun's EP

2007-04-10T09:39:00.000-06:00

Plushgun, who I've mentioned earlier, has an EP up for listening (though not downloading or buying) on Myspace. I'm inclined to be disappointed; the energetic beat of Just Impolite camouflaged the tremendous sentimentality of the vocals, and new tracks "The Dark in You" and "An Aria" aren't nearly as balanced. I'm going to be the ravenous fan and demand more before I make up my mind; you may notice that it's the same mp3 and the same image between the two entries. That's all there is! For the degree of polish in the music, there's oddly few materials available. I'd really like to see Plushgun get some kind of production deal and have enough of a presence that I can finally make up my mind about them!

tags: [Music], [Myspace], [mp3], [Plushgun]

Earworm: Jens Lekman - Rocky Dennis' Farewell Song

2007-04-09T09:51:00.000-06:00

Last winter there was about a seventy percent chance that Jens Lekman would be an earworm at some point in the day; but on going back to him now, I find him uneasily precious most of the time. Melodious and soothing and well-constructed, generally, but very precious. This morning, though, I woke up with the twee twinkling opening of Rocky Dennis' Farewell Song echoing in my head. It's from an EP called Rocky Dennis, which apparently led to some confusion about whether the artist was named Rocky Dennis or Jens Lekman, which was resolved by this song. Now all I have to do is find out why Jens has a thing about the main character in Mask.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Jens Lekman], [Rocky Dennis]

VS: Rilo Kiley and Neko Case

2007-04-04T06:43:00.000-06:00

I remember reading somewhere--Phoenix? Dig?--that there are some who have created a rivalry of redheaded-alt-country-singers between Neko Case and Jenny Lewis (of Rilo Kiley); which seems kinda foolish, since everybody can have both. Neko Case was my first exposure, and I was addicted almost immediately: the loping grace in Star Witness was unarguable. The whole of Fox Confessor Brings the Flood was similarly stellar, and since the Rabbit Fur Coat tracks that I'd heard failed to grab me, I figured Neko'd won. But then Last.fm starting playing me Rilo Kiley songs, they're now back on more of an even par; A Man/Me/Then Jim is particularly compelling.

Neko has more strength in her sound, but Jenny tends to be more willowy; Neko's lyrics are more likely to be reflective and Jenny's bitter; Neko's more consistent, but Jenny sings with Postal Service! How does anyone choose?

Luckily, no one has to.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Neko Case], [Jenny Lewis], [Rilo Kiley], [Postal Service]

Mike Doughty & Zox @ Tufts

2007-04-02T10:21:00.000-06:00

It was an odd gig--students only, in a back room of a cafeteria--still I'm very glad I went; last time Mike Doughty came through he was opening for Dave Matthews in great big arenas, so the small venue was a treat. I still can't pin down why I like Mike Doughty's music so very much; I keep coming up with uninformative answers like "because it's good." It was nice to hear Soul Coughing gems like St Louise Is Listening in the stripped-down current format and alongside newer tracks from Haughty Melodic like Looking at the World from the Bottom of a Well.

The bassist/multi-instrumentalist of the evening, Scrap Livingston, was a treat as well. Dude was an interesting addition: classically geeky in aspect with the collared shirt and wire-rimmed glasses (which traveled further down his nose as each song went on), but rocking some seriously fluid fingerwork and the chillest stage presence I've ever seen. It was a good, good set.

I'd never heard of Zox before the show, and had to look them up afterwards: an unusual quartet featuring an electric-violinist, who played most of the time in a pose that looked strikingly like Quasimodo. They were loud, energetic, and engaging--a nice bonus after the much-anticipated main event.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Live music], [Tufts], [Mike Doughty], [Zox]

Earworm: Sting - Ghost Story

2007-03-29T07:25:00.000-06:00

Sting's Ghost Story (from Brand New Day) is the song sitting in my ear today, after Ray LaMontagne's Be Here Now (from Until the Sun Turns Black) reminded me of it: the guitar lines are very similar in the beginning, and both songs have similarly hushed vocals and hesitant, upward-flowing melodic phrases.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Earworms], [Sting], [Ray LaMontagne]

Myspace Rundown: Greg Schuler, Shrinking Islands, Austin Newcomers, Roy Davis

2007-03-29T06:57:00.000-06:00

Greg Schuler is . . . can boys sing bubble gum pop? Can there be a one-member boy band? That's the sound he seems to be going for, with maybe a little more old-school instrumentation than most: I can almost see the instrument-boogie the horn chorus is doing.

Shrinking Islands has a nice though unexceptional sound--guitars, drum set, male tenor (when did we decide all male vocalists have to be tenors?)--but their vocalists need better mikes.

Austin Newcomers's first track Kamikaze is firmly in the frenetic party pop category, but On the Roof and You Must Try are more meditative. They do sound like a band that would do well live in Austin, too.

Roy Davis sounds a bit like Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst, but not so bloody over-the-top. It can be a nice sound, when it isn't overdone, but there isn't anything else striking enough about these tracks to recommend them.

Overall, a disappointing, unexceptional bunch of MySpace denizens. Dammit.

tags: [Music], [Myspace], [New Music]

Top o' the Inbox: Plushgun - Impolite

2007-03-29T06:37:00.000-06:00

Just Impolite starts out sounding a whole lot like Postal Service, with luminous, upbeat electronica and a thin tenor; the vocals become less Gibbardly as the song goes on, although I couldn't say what they do become. Sadly, that's the only Plushgun song; it'd be nice to hear an EP's worth of this and get a feel for the range of the band.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Myspace], [Postal Service], [Plushgun]

New Laura Veirs!

2007-03-27T08:13:00.000-06:00

New Laura Veirs is very welcome; Carbon Glacier and Year of Meteors are regulars on my rotation, and given her unusual voice and sense of phrase, I'm always curious to hear what she'll be doing next.

Saltbreakers comes out 10 April in North America; "Pink Light" is streamable on her Myspace, and Don't Lose Yourself (Saltbreaker) is floating around on several blogs. The sound is more polished, but still features her unique phrasing and tempo. It does raise the question, though: once Carbon Glacier, Year of Meteors and Saltbreakers are all equally familiar, which sound will win out?

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Myspace], [New music], [Laura Veirs], [Saltbreakers]

Earworm: Lily Allen - Knock 'Em Out

2007-03-22T07:52:00.000-06:00

This is a bit of a mystery. Normally I have an allergy to slick pop (it's pretty bad, I should carry an epipen but I don't)--but I am finding Lily Allen's Alright, Still very, very addictive. I'm not sure how that happened, but I'm enjoying it; her lyrics are nimble and sharp, and delivered with a fluid, easy creativity that makes them better still. It seems all of the tracks on the CD have been earworms, but at the moment it's Knock 'Em Out.

Can't knock em out, can't walk away,
Try desperately to think of the politest way to say,
Just get out my face, just leave me alone,
And no you can't have my number,
"Why?" Cause I've lost my phone.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Lily Allen]

Sia - Little Black Sandals

2007-03-22T06:26:00.000-06:00

I am puzzled by Sia. I enjoy Zero 7 for the most part, but seeing her live was a sore disappointment: the songs sounded pretty much the same as on the CD, and a bloody annoying stage manner meant that I should've just stayed home and listened to Healing Is Difficult. (Her website, unfortunately, is as annoying as her stage manner, with far too much space wasted on big graphics and tiny, tiny frames with frustrating scrolling mechanisms.)

So she's got a new live CD coming out, Lady Croissant, and the nice people over at Astralwerks have sent out a demo from the recording sessions, Little Black Sandals--and even after listening to it for an hour, I can't tell: do I like it? Her vocal style starts out in a creaky tone that's supposed to be heartfelt, I think, but is mostly just creaky. After that, though, it smooths out and takes on the a more familiar chillout flow, although there is the occasional excessive vocal flourish. So I like it, but not the beginning?

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Sia], [Zero 7]

Lost in the Trees

2007-03-21T09:47:00.000-06:00

So, yes, I have a soft spot for Trekky Records because of The Never; I like to think that it's also because they choose music I enjoy. Lost in the Trees is another example of this; it's a hard-to-categorize project of Ari Picker, frontman for The Never (several more points in its favor). I believe their Myspace declares them to be "classical/hip-hop/folk." Be that as it may, the vocals are the usual sensitive-indie-tenor sound, but it's the instrumentals that really caught my attention. Tall Trees starts out with a fairly standard piping, but the quick addition of a wooden-sounding beat that's almost Bollywood, cello loops, and then a chorus of violins put together an intriguing sound that stops just short of florid. The instrumental I've Always Loved the Fall is notable for its occasional urgent passages on the organ, which sets up a nice tension with the mellow, sweeter cello. So I'm liking their very recent EP Time Taunts Me, and may try to check out their March 29 show at P.A.'s Lounge (which gets all the good, under-the-radar acts in town, it would seem).

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Trekky Records], [Lost in the Trees]

A Jesuit Likes Tom Waits

2007-03-20T13:26:00.000-06:00

Well now, this is interesting. Times Online has an article about a Catholic priest, Father Antonio Spadero, writing in a Jesuit journal that Tom Waits represents "the marginalised and misunderstood," and that rock music "has great expressive power which reaches peoples’ souls." Tom Waits's beliefs aren't public as far as I know--which makes the statement just that much more surprising--though he gets into God territory every now and then, such as in Road to Peace or God's Away on Business.

If I were a Catholic, I'd be very sad at how surprising a statement like that is--regardless of how self-evident it sounds to the rest of the world. Can we have this guy for pope next? A world with fewer public figures saying stupid things would be so nice. . .

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Catholicism], [Tom Waits]

Left Out: Peter Bjorn and John

2007-03-19T08:18:00.000-06:00

Seems like there's always gotta be one artist or group that every blogger in the world is hailing as the up-and-coming next thing--that leaves me completely cold. Last year it was Joanna Newsom, whose jumpy, feathery concoctions make me want to, well, turn them off; right now, it's Peter Bjorn and John. They're not bad; but they don't give me any reason to listen to them. Like most bands that come with strong recommendations from good sources, I'll keep listening until I get to the same point I did with Cassandra Wilson, Joanna Newsom, and all the others who didn't convert me: when I realize that I know the music fairly well, and still don't particularly want to hear it. I even think I have a fair sample--their KEXP performance at SxSW. I've heard them called power-pop, or the Swedish Spoon; but although Stars and Magic Numbers are major contributors to Earworms both written-up and otherwise, and Spoon has been a favorite for years, nothing about PB&J is interesting to me. Except maybe the abbreviation--d'you suppose they did that on purpose?

Peter Bjorn & John for KEXP in Austin, TX
Paris 2004
Amsterdam
Young Folks
Let's Call It Off
Object Of My Affection

tags: [Music], [mp3], [SxSW], [KEXP], [Peter Bjorn and John]

Earworm: Psapp - Hi

2007-03-17T19:11:00.000-06:00

Psapp is one of my most charming recent acquaintainces, and only partially because of toytronica, the lovely word invented for the music they make; although both The Only Thing I Ever Wanted and their earlier Tiger, My Friend have some of the tinkly, comforting sound you'd expect from such a name (like Velvet Pony)--an indie music box in the toy world--there are also surprisingly jaunty pieces like Hi, so full of angular, stylized motion it would have to be a clockwork tango doll.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Earworms], [toytronica], [Psapp]

Myspace Spotlight: Mumpsy

2007-03-15T13:06:00.000-06:00

One of the lovely things about a post office box for review goodies is that you never know what's in it; sometimes it's a curious, interesting gem you'd never have found otherwise, and sometimes it's a sad thing that you're embarrased to listen to. Mumpsy is the former. Frontman Jeff Ilgenfritz has a reedy voice that works well within the twee, boppy arena of each song--think Belle & Sebastian, or The Kinks by way of The Shins. It's a less saccharine sound than Belle & Sebastian, and less faithfully lo-fi than The Shins, but it's just as infectious. (N.B.: As far as I can tell, Ilgenfritz really is his name. This is just too cool for words.)

64 Colors is as instantly appealing as the big box of crayons in the title; the lyrics only filter through the bright colors after listening several times, and then the colors get a little bit darker. 3 People stays a careening romp no matter how many times you listen to it--sort of the musical equivalent of pretending to be an airplane in the front yard. These songs're from the EP 3 People--not out yet, but on April 10 it'll be here.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Myspace], [Post-Records], [Mumpsy]

Milquetoast @ Lizard Lounge

2007-03-14T08:39:00.000-06:00

Tuesday night saw Hazel Levy and Milquetoast playing at the Lizard Lounge. Hazel started off the night with her square, easy, unadorned stage presence and flowing songs that don't leave much impression after they end--like a musical palate cleanser; it's a challenge to stand out as a singer-songwriter, with so many around. She did say one thing I remembered: "It's hard to sound rock'n'roll by yourself." Which is true, and might partially explain one really awful show.

Milquetoast started out with Jimmy McAndrew solo for a couple of songs, then joined by cellist Robin Ryczek (Jethro Tull's cellist, no less), and then finally by bassist Joe Mageary and drummer Panama Quinn. With each new addition the sound of the band made more sense, and by the time the full arrangement was reached, it was a dynamic, nimble, driving sound. Cellos are beginning to pop up in indie music (Zoe Keating, Hilary Hahn with And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead), and it's easy to see why: they can (and in this case, did) take a band's sound from driving and intelligent to layered and interesting.

Tess of Miss Tess and the Bon Ton Parade guest-harmonized on Static Cleanse, and that was my favorite song of the night; the extra harmony balanced the song nicely between graceful and strong. Million Ways was another standout, with the clockwork energy in its repetitive chords.

Although it's clear live that it's a young band--not always prepared to start or end together, uncertain about banter--their material, stage presence, and performance were strong enough to make it a night well spent.

tags: [Music], [Live Music], [mp3], [Milquetoast], [Lizard Lounge]

Earworm: Frou Frou - Hear Me Out

2007-03-13T08:51:00.000-06:00

It's been two years since I first heard Frou Frou, and I still think Imogen Heap is one of the best vocalists out there: her voice is powerful and versatile, and either she isn't inclined to melismatic overkill like many vocalists, or she's got a smart listener giving her feedback.

Today it's Hear Me Out from Details that's on repeat; it's got a nice, steady tempo that doesn't quite hint at what the words are describing, but as that's all in Imogen's voice, it makes a nice contrast.

tags: [Music], [Earworms], [mp3], [Frou Frou], [Imogen Heap]

Myspace Find: Mason Proper

2007-03-12T19:37:00.000-06:00

MySpace find Mason Proper is a bit of an odd band: they go from startlingly metallic in My My Bad Fruit, to meandering Explosions in the Sky-style intro to Chemical Dress Eliza, to more usual vocalist-driven rock that reminds me of OK Go--within three songs. It's a little challenging imaging all this melding into a coherent show, but overall the songs have a enjoyable, smart vibe to them.

Fortunately for me, they've got a show at the MidEast Upstairs on March 30; I may have to see if I can't get to that--and it may even work, since Birdmonster will be taking the stage as well!

tags: [Music], [Myspace Music], [mp3], [Mason Proper], [Birdmonster]

Music Around the Web

2007-02-28T17:22:00.000-07:00

Bradley's Almanac has posted a compilation celebrating seven years of the 'Nac; it includes Starlight Conspiracy, a new song from Charlene, the Madelines song that gave the site its name, Starlight Conspiracy, and so on. He's even put 'em all in a handy zip!

Hear Ya has a sampler of mp3s from SxSW bands.

Lala is streaming live performances from Noise Pop, including John Vanderslice, Damien Jurado, French Kicks, Snowden, and Midlake.

Grist has a playlist from Al Gore.

Raghav Gupta has an interesting article highlighting changes and predicting more in the music business on GigaOm.

Tripwire reports that Telefon Tel Aviv is releasing a CD of rare remixes.

I like Califone.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Music news], [SxSW], [Lala], [NoisePop], [Grist], [GigaOm], [Telefon Tel Aviv], [Califone]

Top o' the Mailbox : Thailand

2007-02-27T18:09:00.000-07:00

Thailand is another datum supporting the comeback of Cure-style bombast: keyboards fizzing with effects, unbounded reverb, and a certain fey attitude in the vocals are all getting to be staples of the indie-er side of music. Thailand is an electro take on this, sometimes verging on the toytronica, and their December release Motorcade (which can be bought on their Myspace page) is a strong debut. It should be noted that the album was mastered by Dave Cooley, who's also worked with Silversun Pickups, Long Distance Runner, and Dangermouse (on the Grey Album, I believe). Bergerac is the most immediately appealing, with the luscious, drama-queen sweep contrasting nicely with the world-weary lyrics; This Officer's Life is a compelling, tinsel rock shout, as well--none of it is music to be listened to sitting down, or in sweatpants, in any case: it demands glitter somewhere.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Thailand]

Earworm: TV on the Radio - Modern Romance

2007-02-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

Modern Romance is TV on the Radio's stickiest song, more so than anything from Return to Cookie Mountain; it reminds me of sitting on top of the dryer as a kid, and feeling that buzzy wum wum wum wum vibrating through me.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Earworms], [TV on the Radio]

It's a Josh Ritter Kind of Day

2007-02-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

It would seem, since Chromewaves is covering his show in Toronto last Thursday, and Kwaya Na Kisser posting his live set from KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic, the world is in agreement. The Animal Years makes up most of the set, but Other Side (from Golden Age of Radio) makes a welcome appearance as well. Josh looks so much like a young Tom Waits that it always surprises me how edgeless his sentimentality is; this is clearest in a live cover of Chelsea Hotel, which is played quietly and soberly, downplaying its anger.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Josh Ritter]

Earworm: M. Ward - Vincent O'Brien

2007-02-15T06:14:00.000-07:00

This, it seems, is the song that plays in your head when you wake up at five o'clock on a day where six inches of water have frozen solid in all the places you want to walk.

M. Ward - Vincent O'Brien, from Transfiguration of Vincent

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Earworms], [M. Ward], [Transfiguration of Vincent]

Myspace Find: Caitlin Frame

2007-02-14T09:56:00.000-07:00

Caitlin Frame is a recent Myspace find; she has some of the pleasing swing of Aimee Mann's vocals, but melodic phrases are executed with less hesitation. She's also the subject of Band in Boston's new set, which means everyone who missed her set at Abbey Lounge last night can get filled in.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Caitlin Frame], [Band in Boston]

Song of the Day: Belle & Sebastian - A Space Boy Dream

2007-02-09T09:23:00.000-07:00

It's hard not to dismiss Belle & Sebastian as unbearably twee, the style change in A Life Pursuit notwithstanding. They're so boppy and hair-floppy most of the time that a flash of imagination like A Space Boy Dream is a tremendous surprise. Particularly given how rarely spoken word really works; but there's a hypnotic flow to this track that fits the dream setting well--or maybe it's just Stuart Murdoch's accent.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Belle & Sebastian]

New Music: The Glass Set

2007-02-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

The Glass Set's CD Something Unknown showed up in my mailbox, languished awhile on my desk, and then found its way into my ears. I'm glad it did, because it's in the vein of Metric, minus some of the aggro: sharp, stylish, angular music heavy on the attitude. Maybe less devastatingly elegant than Metric, but maybe also with more sounds to offer. It was difficult to choose the song to post: Telescope's beat is smart as military buttons, but Something Unknown has a nice, graceful flow in the vocals; Tradition won out as the favorite for the moment, with its easy, catchy bounce.

It seems they're playing at Castle Greyskull in Allston tomorrow night. Good timing on their part, or mine, or someone's.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Live music], [Music]

Earworm & Upcoming Show: Alexi Murdoch

2007-02-07T06:57:00.000-07:00

Alexi Murdoch's 2006 release Time Without Consequence is one of those nice CDs where the tracks take turns: each time I listen to it, a different one strikes me. This time it's Home; its lyrical repetition contrasts nicely with the evolution of the sound, from cozy and acoustic at the beginning to the rougher, more impressionistic end.

Alexi Murdoch has a show with DJ Carbo and Midnight Movies at Great Scott tomorrow night, as part of the Fenway Recording Sessions series.

tags: [Music], [Live music], [Alexi Murdoch], [Great Scott]

a'tris @ Tommy Doyle's

2007-02-06T06:20:00.000-07:00

Local favorite a'tris (now semi-local) had their most recent show at Tommy Doyle's on Friday; I couldn't make it, but now there's the next best thing: the whole live set! Conquer All, Difficult Time, and Orion are the new songs, and the rest are off of Appeal. Mason's habit of peeling the middle to end of phrases into the back of his throat becomes obtrusive in Conquer All, but Difficult Time is classic a'tris, nimble and stylish.

a'tris @ Tommy Doyle
01ConquerAll.mp3
02GhostintheCloset.mp3
03DifficultTime(St.PaultheEvangelist).mp3
04CactusBride.mp3
05EvadetheUnavoidable.mp3
06GreenLand.mp3
07Orion.mp3
08YouMadeTheDecision.mp3
09NoSuchThingasSilence.mp3
10Duality.mp3
11Compassion.mp3
Provided by

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Live music], [a'tris]

Earworm: Decemberists - The Sporting Life

2007-02-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

This is one of those persistent earworms that resurface every couple of days; the rollicking sock-hopper sound disguises the bitterness of the lyrics, in the frozen moment of a fall on an athletic field. The Sporting Life has less of a historical setting than most of the songs on Picaresque, but it's no less a comedy-of-manners song.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Decemberists]

Not Music: Aqua Teen Hunger Force Trailer

2007-02-05T08:12:00.000-07:00

Yay!!

tags: [Aqua Teen Hunger Force], [ATHF], [Trailers]

Earworm/Unexpected Cover: Sun Kil Moon - Ocean Breathes Salty

2007-02-01T08:25:00.000-07:00

Kozelek's Tiny Cities keeps surprising me: applying the Patented Kozelek Sound--dreamy, melancholy, and gentle--to a whole album full of bombastic, jagged Brock songs is about as unexpected a move as you could find. And yet somehow, they work surprisingly well. Ocean Breathes Salty is remarkable for this, as well as hearing the furious couplet "You tell me what you want and I'll tell you what you get/ You get away from me. You get away from me" in Kozelek's melting, meandering tenor. But upon rereading the lyrics, it's an unabashedly sentimental song: "Your body may be gone, I'm gonna carry you in/In my head, in my heart, in my soul/ And maybe we'll get lucky and we'll both live again/ Well I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Don't think so."

I wouldn't have expected that from Modest Mouse, but this is what covers are for: revisiting perceptions of a song through a different lens.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Modest Mouse], [Sun Kil Moon], [Kozelek], [Tiny Cities]

Ist - I Am Jesus (And You're Not)

2007-02-01T06:48:00.000-07:00

I get some odd things in the mail, and ist is certainly one of them. I am Jesus (And You're Not) (from 2005's King Martha) is brash and freakishly energetic with the occasional demonstration of admirable dexterity. The rest of their catalog has more to offer than dexterity: it's a gnarly, more relaxed Modest Mouse sort of sound, with only a touch of this reconstructed-new-retro punk sound; and it's good listening.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Ist]

Snow Patrol & Dashboard Confessional: A Meditation on Whinerock

2007-01-31T09:43:00.000-07:00

Snow Patrol is a guilty semi-pleasure: pleasant--good music for painting red housesbut neither sophisticated nor creative, and increasingly plastic to boot. They're relatively palatable whinerock, with the typical shortcomings and appeal--it's sweet in a wistful kind of way, but guilty of emotional posturing and brooding. The saving grace is variety, or at least a shallower monotony: if the songs' narrator were a person, he'd feel pretty much the same all the time, but for slightly different reasons. Behold Mahogany from Songs for Polar Bears, which is wistful at a relationship that didn't happen, and You Could Be Happy from Eyes Open, which aims at one which did.

Which contrasts to Dashboard Confessional, whose sound is more appealing and textured, but whose lyrics are intolerably whiny. Carabba's more consistent in his whining and posturing--the point is generally that he likes some girl who is for one reason or another an unfortunate choice.

Another difference is the vocalists' performance styles, I suppose; Carabba emotes to the back wall of the room across the street, where Lightbody treats the narrator's sadness with more distance. Since he's singing things like "Do the things that you always wanted to/ Without me there to hold you back, don't think, just do/ More than anything I want to see you grow/ Take a glorious bite out of the whole world", anything that turns down the volume on the knob marked Pathos is helpful: it might even get somebody kicked out of the genre, although neither of these two is in any danger.

The only Dashboard song that sticks is A Plain Morning off of Swiss Army Romance, which is frankly beautiful and possibly less whiny. Which brings up another way to get kicked out of the genre: make music which is simply too beautiful to be dismissed.

N.B.: Whinerock is a term I made up, I think. I'm not clear if it's the same as emo, because I'm not clear on what counts for emo; so I'll use my own term.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Whinerock], [Snow Patrol], [Dashboard Confessional]

Earworm: Stars - Going Going Gone

2007-01-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

Stars aren't news to anybody these days; but their music is still a melancholy, hardnosed, powerpop good listen. Had a strange dream this morning, but Going Going Gone is all that's left of it.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Earworms], [Stars]

Dayna Kurtz: Texture, no Structure

2007-01-24T15:58:00.000-07:00

This is a bit of a shame. Dayna Kurtz and Another Black Feather came with mad impressive accolades: "there's no logical reason why singer-songwriter Dayna Kurtz is not a full-blown star," according to the Boston Globe; she's won "Female Songwriter of the Year" from the National Academy of Songwriters, been on NPR's Morning Edition. And yet. . . I think she suffers from the Cassandra Wilson problem: it's interesting, creative music that somehow fails to compel me to listen to it. This verdict always leaves me wondering if one or five more times through the CD wouldn't change my mind; since that question can always be asked, I've never managed to answer it by other than giving up. She's clearly technically accomplished, her voice has an enviable topaz-smoky timbre, and the arrangement and production are thoughtful and unobtrusive; but somehow listening to a track like The Miracle leaves rather a blank impression. The only exception to this is It's the Day of Atonement, with its graceful urgency contrasting with and coarsened by the blunt, political lyrics. The album leaves the listener with questions: what could she be that she isn't? What isn't she? What will she be?

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Dayna Kurtz]

The Never @ SXSW

2007-01-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

Reverbnation.com is running an interesting SxSW contest: based on traffic, song plays, and registered fans, two bands will get slots to play at the Reverbnation SxSW party. My own pick is The Never, from the strength of last year's remarkable multimedia CD Antartica. It's a good opportunity to play with Reverbnation's various tools, too, which are intelligently designed.

So . . .register for Reverbnation.com, become The Never's fan, listen to The Never--and a deserving band will play at SxSW!

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Reverbnation], [SxSW], [The Never]

Cuckoo Canoe Revisited

2007-01-23T07:16:00.000-07:00

Or, an object lesson in listening to the whole CD. . . when first exposed to Cuckoo Canoe's music via
their Myspace, I couldn't put them together into a coherent band with a sound. But now I've got my hands on Basketball Freedom Overdrive and listened to it a few times through, it's much clearer: they're a brash, energetic band leaning towards the latter-day New Wave stylings that are making the rounds again. Alaska Wolf Slay is the most clearly infectious, but that vigor pervades the CD. It's a good listen.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Cuckoo Canoe]

Earworm: Innocence Mission - Moon River

2007-01-22T11:24:00.000-07:00

So it was my grandma's eightieth birthday this weekend, and the family had a surprise birthday party with neighbors, coworkers, kindergarten classmates, bridge partners--all of those connections that accumulate in a small town where people tend to stay put. One of the features of the party was a slideshow of pictures of my grandmother, from childhood til now, accompanied by chronologically-appropriate music; one such selection was an instrumental of Moon River. This reminded me that, as unimpressed by Now The Day Is Over as I was as a CD, the cover of Moon River is graceful and compelling.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Covers], [Moon River], [The Innocence Mission]

Video for Amy Millan's "Skinny Boy"

2007-01-19T06:32:00.000-07:00

Honey from the Tombs was one of the great finds of 2006; besides just being a good listen, it established Amy as the more interesting independent artist out of Stars. Now there's a new video for Skinny Boy, as well as the original single Baby I; they're up on the Arts & Crafts video page. Sadly, though. . . it isn't very interesting. It takes quite an exceptional video to be more than marketing material--a reason to play the song on TV--and this isn't it.

Still a good song, though.

tags: [Music], [Music videos], [Amy Millan]

ATSS on Hiatus

2006-12-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

ATSS will be on hiatus while the Queen of Sheba is in Ghana learning Dagomba drumming. We will return to our regularly scheduled program 18 January; in the meantime, check out these cool people.

aurgasm
Bradley's Almanac
:: clicky clicky ::
Exitfare
The Giant Panther
Hello Gina
On The Download @ Boston Phoenix
Onward Charles
pocket|trax
RBally

Non-Favorites of 2006

2006-12-21T06:21:00.000-07:00

There're musicians much beloved in the blogosphere, that I just don't get. Why is there such massive swooning over Beirut, Sufjan Stevens, Destroyer, and Joanna Newsom? I couldn't say. Most of them do have the occasional nice song--but aside from that, I don't want to listen to them!

Can we please get over Joanna Newsom (Cosmia), collectively? It's interesting, I'll grant that; but it's music-major music, and not in a good way: it reminds me of atonal music in its unevenness and occasional beautiful phrasing. Her voice is so pinched out of shape, and her sense of meter is so odd--it's like Björk without the power or compelling sweep.

Yes, it is amazing that Zach Conden of Beirut (The Gulag Orkester) is only twenty; but does that mean that a full CD of Eastern European brass is amazing music? It does not. And yet I've heard "amazing" so much about this CD that you'd think I'd been listening to Tom Cruise.

Sufjan Stevens (All The Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands): This one, I just don't get; it must be a cultural phenomenon, but I am so tired of twee and sensitive and sluggish. Sufjan more than the others has the occasional successful song, and I understand that his shows are Flaming Lips-esque in their theatricality, but really, can we be done now?

It's not that I hate Destroyer (Your Blood) exactly; it's enjoyable in a jangly, raffish-hobo kinda way, but . . . why is it on everyone's list of bests? There's shrieking and howling, and guitar strings that sound like cats; it's not brilliant.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [worst-of], [Joanna Newsom], [Beirut], [Sufjan Stevens], [Destroyer]

Best Songs of 2006

2006-12-18T23:15:00.000-07:00

Okay! Finally, somebody did a best-of that I could emulate. Best songs is just so much easier than best albums; the tricky question of whether to assess the album as an artistic whole, or based on the quality of the individual songs therein, doesn't arise. At first this makes the task seem more manageable than a best albums list, which it isn't, since technically the possible entries have just been multiplied by--how many tracks do albums have these days?--somewhere between one and fifty-six.

In no particular order, because I can't possibly do that. . .

Regina Spektor - On the Radio: The contrast between its flowing verses and staccato chorus is well done; and try as I might to convince myself that the verses are trite and hackneyed, they still sound wise and lovely in a refreshingly simple way.

Amy Millan - Baby I: You knew her voice was going to be a pleasure; what you didn't know is that her songwriting was going to be so strong. Or maybe that's just me. It's the perfect breakup song, swinging between bravado and clear-eyed melancholy.

Final Fantasy - Song Song Song: Who would have thought one violin and one dude would be so layered and dynamic?

KT Tunstall - Under the Weather: It's not her breakout hit "Cherry Tree," but in some ways it's better: what Norah Jones might have been with a little more creativity and energy.

Gothic Archies - Scream and Run Away: Okay, so it's a bit of a gimmick; it's still brilliantly addictive electropop.

Emily Haines - Nothing & Nowhere: Emily Haines as part of Metric does some of the sharpest, most elegant rock around, so it's a bit of a surprise to hear such deep sentiment; but it never crosses the line into saccharide.

Neko Case - Margaret vs Pauline: This one is practically obligatory--although the album as a whole is no weaker than this song. That's remarkable.

The Never - Cavity: The lyrics and the desperate catchiness of the song give it depth and persistence; what else could you want?

Casey Dienel - Everything: Tough call between this and Doctor Monroe for Casey; but Everything won out for its sweetly-toned jumpiness--which, come to think of it, reminds me of Regina Spektor.

Up Next: Music Conspicuously Not Featured--Beirut, Sufjan Stevens, Destroyer, Joanna Newsom.

tags: [Music], [Mp3], [Best-of], [Regina Spektor], [Amy Millan], [Final Fantasy], [Owen Pallett], [KT Tunstall], [Gothic Archies], [Emily Haines], [Neko Case], [The Never], [Casey Dienel]

R.E.M. Bootleg

2006-12-18T08:19:00.000-07:00

There's a very impressive R.E.M. bootleg from 1981 at rbally--it's a nice opportunity to hear R.E.M. from an era when Michael Stipe hadn't yet endorsed the cancer-patient look and R.E.M. hadn't yet morphed into mellow sweetrock. My favorite track's gotta be Gardening at Night, partially because of the title, and partially because of the intervals of vocal harmony, which contrast nicely with the drive of the rest of the song.

tags: [Music], [Live music], [mp3], [R.E.M.]

Sucka!

2006-12-15T08:25:00.001-07:00

There are things I know make me more likely to enjoy music--although they don't necessarily make it better; just techniques for which I have a soft spot.

First: Vocal harmony (Kings of Convenience, say, Gold In the Air of Summer). Maybe this comes from listening to classical music and medieval antiphonal chants as a kid, but I am a dead sucker for vocal harmony.

Second: Strings in electronica (Her Space Holiday - Tech Romance). Putting strings in an electronica context just seems to make the timbre of both that much clearer, more distinct, sweeter; and since electronica is usually safe from being saccharine, it keeps the strings from going over that line, too.

Third: Cyclical instrumentation (The Low-lows-Dear Flies, Love, Spider; anything by Tool). This, I just like: it's power that doesn't need to shout to make itself compelling. It's the easiest of the three to make into a cheap trick, I think.

None of them necessarily make the music creative, but it does generally make it something I want to listen to; and it's interesting to try and think about techniques that I enjoy as separate from the quality of the music. It's sort of the opposite of Cassandra Wilson--I approve of her wholeheartedly, she's very cool: I just don't enjoy her music; these techniques are enjoyable, but alone, they don't make the music in which they feature anything other than enjoyable.

tags: [Music], [Mp3], [Kings of Convenience], [Her Space Holiday], [The Low-lows], [Tool]

Kaki King @ Club Passim

2006-12-14T06:55:00.000-07:00

Bora Yoon opened up last night, with a performance-arty, loop-heavy set; her use of found sound was creative, but didn't always work--cell phones yes, windchimes no. There were some very lovely and meticulously layered constructions, and some unsuccessful theatricality; but overall she was a good opener, as they often are at Passim.

Kaki King was an interesting show. Her vocal style is one I can't often take happily song after song: whispery, silky and wispy as babyhair. Given the amount of cooing and fluting in indie music right now, I wouldn't be surprised if she did well despite that; it doesn't hurt that her stage presence is effortless, wry, offbeat, and charming, either. In this show at least, she wisely focused more on instrumental numbers. An Elliot Smith cover seemed a logical choice, as they're whispery kin; the vocals on Yellowcake (off of the new Until We Felt Red) somehow work, too, maybe because the rolling, lush guitar contrasts to the wispy vocals. She's an interesting and compelling guitarist, particularly on the dobero, although some instrumental numbers seem like they'd be lackluster recorded, when the counterintuitive technical tricks are invisible. Overall it seems like thinking music--not pensive, but showing practical creativity, an inventive mind working with dextrous hands.

tags: [Music], [Live music], [mp3], [Club Passim], [Kaki King]

Sonya Kitchell & Ben Taylor @ Paradise

2006-12-10T12:12:00.000-07:00

Sonya Kitchell was second opener for Ben Taylor at Paradise last night, and an unfortunate opener she was. Something about her vocal style is flat--maybe her vocal dynamics, maybe her hesitancy to enter into a melodic phrase--and she has neither the stage presence nor the musical chops to handle the classical stylings she takes on.

This is particularly unfortunate juxtaposed with Taylor, who has the songwriting skill as well as the pipes to go up against nearly anyone. Even when he doesn't write the songs, he chooses well; a cover of Mos Def's Favorite Nitemarewas one of his most effective songs, with its lovely, unsettling flow complementing Taylor's smooth, reedy voice. Enjoyable live tricks like singing harmony to his own, ellipsized melody make it clear that he's a comfortable, mature vocalist, and his stage presence is remarkable--one of the few performers I've seen able to induce quiet in the club crowd for a sweeter, unrollicking tune, and effortlessly no less.

tags: [Music], [Live music], [mp3], [Ben Taylor], [Sonya Kitchell]

Flotsam & Jetsam

2006-12-09T18:12:00.000-07:00

There's an interview with Richard Edwards of Margot & the Nuclear So-and-So's over at Things I'd Rather Be Doing; like most interviews about music or with musicians, it suffers from the dancing about architecture problem, and solves this by talking about things peripheral to the actual music: the band's living arrangements, the band's name, and "scarf rock." It's certainly not a bad interview, but I'm not sure it's about music.

Explosions in the Sky is touring later this winter--tickets for the March Boston show went on sale three days ago. Am I wrong, or is that an unusually long lead time for the Middle East Down?

Largehearted Boy has a list of lists: the best-of-2006 from everywhere. I'm no good at remembering the difference between the music that happened to me this year, and the music that happened this year; if I get inspired maybe I'll make a best-of for that.

It seems that Stephen Colbert has counter-challenged the Decemberists? I may have to make an effort and watch that.

Not music-related, but the on-beyond-superlative comic Preacher is finally to be made into an HBO series; I don't know if I'm ecstatic, or terrified. Both, I suppose; if it's bad, I'll have to hunt down and kill Mark Steven Johnson--or get in line to, anyway.

Imogen Heap has done a bit about what she's listening to now on NYT.

tags: [Music], [Music news], [Margot & the Nuclear So-and-so's], [Explosions in the Sky], [Colbert], [Decemberists], [Preacher]

Earworm: Emily Haines - Our Hell

2006-12-09T10:58:00.000-07:00

Devastating, gentle, heartsick, graceful, equivocal, regretful: Our Hell is a blow to the chest, disguised as the first track on Knives Don't Have Your Back. How does she manage to sound so sad without being sentimental?

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Earworms], [Emily Haines]

Virtuoso Performance: Regina Spektor

2006-12-07T13:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, I give up entirely; I'm going to have to retitle this blog All Regina All the Damn Time; I find her such a compelling, versatile, expressive performer, at once sweet and acidic, vintage and sharply new, that, well, let's just say I'm running out of new images to use. Recently found a live performance from The Cabaret Voltaire in Edinburgh, on Good Weather for Airstrikes, and Consequence of Sound from the unfortunately unfindable Songs has just bowled me over. It's a virtuoso performance: angular and graceful by turns, syncopated and strange as Bjork contrasting with interludes of velvety flowing piano phrases, dexterous and funny. She'd best hang around and give us some more--and somebody had best bring out another run of Songs.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Live music], [Regina Spektor]

Earworm: Primus - My Name is Mud

2006-12-07T06:32:00.000-07:00

I'm not the Primus fanatic several of my friends are. I don't declare Les Claypool a god--but I will declare him a remarkably talented bassist. Most of Primus is not too my taste, but My Name is Mud, with its wooden baseline, gets Earworm status pretty regularly.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [earworms], [Primus]

Daytrotter Free Song Set: William Elliot Whitmore

2006-12-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

William Elliot Whitmore is one of those (numerous) artists I keep meaning to keep up with, and now Daytrotter's done it for me with one of their free sets.

Maybe it was the number of names, or the names themselves, or their oddly mellifluous quality, but I expected something quite different--subdued colors and gleaming whites like a Whistler painting, but what I found was dust, stubble, and banjo strings. Once I got used to what I found, I liked it--Dry is unquestionably my favorite, both musically and because of his comment about it:

I’m really proud of this song too. I wrote this when I first started working on my cabin. I was cold and disoriented every morning in my freaky, silver trailer. There were these blackbirds that have this real unorthodox song. It started penetrating my dreams. It’s a crazy song, but it’s beautiful too. The bluebird can sing, but the crow’s got the soul.

His new CD is Song of the Blackbird, and Chariot is my favorite there--an odd mixture of the grisly darkness of sound that Tom Waits has traded on, and the swaying, uplifting vibe of a revival chorus. It's nice to find somebody that uses the traditions of Southern music intelligently and clearly, instead of jumping on the (admittedly appealing!) alt-country bandwagon.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Daytrotter], [William Elliot Whitmore]

Earworm: Rogue Wave - Publish My Love

2006-12-01T20:33:00.000-07:00

I remember that my brother, as a small boy, got his head stuck between porch railings; I think my mother used butter to get him out.

This song is stuck like that.

Rogue Wave - Publish My Love from Descended Like Vultures

Rogue Wave has a particularly pressing claim on your money, too: Pat Spurgeon needs a new kidney. Hear it direct from the kidney in an interview with Lemony Snickett/Daniel Handler, and then donate.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Earworms], [Rogue Wave]

Trend: Sharp Girlrock

2006-12-01T13:04:00.000-07:00

I'm sure it's my selection bias, but I keep running into sharp, elegant girlrock these days. It started out with Metric, but now Roh Delikat is joining up, and I can only approve--and wish they'd tour together.

Roh Delikat's 10 Brand is every bit as stylish, bombastic and addictive, with echoing, cyclic interludes that sound almost like Tool; Laudanum is hazier, less focused, less aggressive, gathering momentum as it goes and then starts releasing suddenly and sweetly. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go buy Sunny . . .

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Girlrock], [Metric], [Roh Delikat]

The Trekky Yuletide Orchestra

2006-11-30T17:36:00.000-07:00

Well, see, this isn't fair. I'm going to get a reputation as an Ebenezer for doing bad reviews of Christmas CDs--I don't mind Christmas, really!

But it does seem that I can't stand the music. Trekky Records has done a New Old-Fashioned Christmas with their various bands (The Never, Lost in the Trees, formerly The Beauregards). I'm big on The Never's latest release Antarctica, so I was really wanting to like this'n.

But of the songs I can get my hands on, I really, really don't. Baby, It's Cold Out There features deplorably Bright Eyes-style scratchy, breaking vocals; It Came Upon the Midnight Clear is a pile of fey, faux-Sufjan sweetness, complete with wind section and dainty bells, and I can't stand either one. It's the dark side of indie these days: sentimental, floppy, and sprinting after the bandwagon.

But! Trekky let The Never produced Antarctica, so they can't be all bad. See?

Sharpest Place in the World
Cavity

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Christmas music], [Trekky Records], [The Never]

Memphis' a little place in the wilderness

2006-11-27T10:41:00.000-07:00

I've reviewed Memphis before, but now that I've assimilated the whole CD more thoroughly, I thought I'd revisit. Which is maybe unnecessary, since my opinion hasn't really changed--I still think Memphis is sweet but too consistently dreamy--but, possibly due to familiarity effects, I like it better. It's good music for a melancholy mood, but it's irritating outside of one; they're good songs individually, but as an album it's overkill. Sweet and dreamy like Iron & Wine, but poppier, and without the jump and beauty of the Iron & Wine/Calexico collaboration.

I find spoken word hard to take, but oddly, I like In the Highest Room nearly best--maybe because it's one of the least whispery tracks, and whispering is even worse than spoken word. It's disappointing; I was hoping for better from Torquil-not-Stars.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Memphis], [Stars], [Torquil Campbell]

a'tris show @ Tommy Doyle's

2006-11-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

This is old news by now, but a'tris played a show at Tommy Doyle's last Friday. It's a'tris mark II, since they've replaced the drummer and the bassist, but the sharp, stylish electro-rock sound from their first CD appeal is still there. They've got a new single Orion coming out on Shut Eye Records, and the creative team of Kreher (producer/writer)and Taylor (vocalist/writer) is clearly intact. It's an exploratory song for the band: incongruously materialistic lyrics, sandwiched by meticulous musical skill and Mason's carefully constructed vocal act, topped off with a wistful, ironic zinger. It brings together the dream of champagne--the sparkling, incisive clarity of opulence--with the need for the dream of champagne. I think the lyrics (all about stardom and bling) come off as aspirational where they're meant to be ironic, but it's got all the hallmarks of the a'tris music I like so much.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [live music], [a'tris]

Live: Amy Millan @ Paradise

2006-11-16T06:32:00.000-07:00

Went to the Amy Millan show at Paradise last night--man was it undersold. One of the consequences of living in the blogosphere is that I have no idea what the average music listener knows about. Stars is pretty big, so Amy'll probably get a lot of that, right? Not s'much--Paradise was maybe a quarter full. Which is too bad, because she's sharp.

Eric Bachmann opened, and I gotta say I was not impressed. Irritatingly unexceptional is the best I can say--a skillful guitar, but immature vocals notable more for their odd, jarring flourishes than anything else. There was a startlingly clear recorder-like tone that I'm surprised any human can make unedited, but there was also a very out-of-place bluegrass nasal vibrato at the end of some phrases, which contrasted pretty unpleasantly with the overall vocal style. Most of his songs slipped by without making much of an impression; the only one that caught my attention was a Crooked Fingers track A New Drink for an Old Drunk, which had more energy than most.

And then Amy came on, and it was all better. She's playing with a band she called Tumbleweed, on which I can find precisely nothing; a country-bluegrass sorta deal with a bass, mandolin, banjo, plus among other things, a trombone and a saw. They only really got to rock on Headsfull, but that song was tight and joyous--you could see the band having fun.

Amy is still an odd bird (her stiff gestures remind me of a few friends, and they're all odd birds too), but her voice has a ribbony charm that's more than enough to satisfy me. The country material on Honey from the Tombs is a departure from Stars-style power pop, but the whiskey-drenched lyrics suit her; she also did a cover of Death Cab's "I'll Follow You Into the Dark" that was well-chosen and well-done.

Live mp3s of her solo are few and far between, but a live set she did at MPR is streamable here.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Live music], [Eric Bachmann], [Amy Millan]

NPR Streaming Ecce Cor Meum

2006-11-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

I don't know what I think of Paul McCartney these days; the Ecce Cor Meum project seems over the top and not even very original, given that the late Ben Britten and the live John Tavener (among others) have been doing this kind of thing for, oh, round about fifty years now between them.

Be that as it may, NPR is streaming last night's performance. Maybe that will help me make up my mind.

(Sample Tavener and Britten mp3s'll go up once YouSendIt is back on its feet.)

tags: [Music], [mp3], [NPR], [Paul McCartney], [Ecce Cor Meum]

Unwed Sailor Tour Dates

2006-11-09T13:44:00.000-07:00

Unwed Sailor is one of those bands I keep meaning to catch up with, in fact I was just thinking about it the other day; turns out I might get a chance to do that live, since he's announced new tour dates. Johnathon Ford has a hell of a resume: Pedro the Lion, Damien Jurado, Roadside Monument, Rosie Thomas, Seldom, Early Day Miners, and Decahedron. Unwed Sailor has Mogwai's wandering, cyclical vibe without the epic sweep or the predilection for noise; sometimes it sounds more like typical guitar-driven rock, but those songs aren't its strongest, lacking the focal line of a voice part. It'd be interesting to see live, I think; that's where these wandering, instrumental things either come sharp or fall apart.

Ruby's Wishes from the Firecracker EP
Cuckoo Clock from The Marionette and the Music Box

16 November - O´leavers - Omaha NE
17 November - The Belmonte - Springfield MO
18 November - The Vaudeville Mews - Des Moines IA
19 November - Schuba's w/ Early Day Miners - Chicago IL
20 November - The Ballroom @ Ball State University - Muncie IN
21 November - The DAAC - Grand Rapids MI
22 November - The Nite Owl - Dayton OH
23 November - Southgate House - Newport KY
24 November - Jacob's Well - Traverse City MI
25 November - Brillobox - Pittsburgh PA
26 November - Champion Ship - Lemoyne PA
27 November - The Middle East - Cambridge MA
28 November - Johnny Brendas, w/ Parts & Labor - Philadelphia PA
29 November - Pianos - N.Y.C
01 December - Emmaus - Gettysburg PA
02 December - Relative Theory Records - Norfolk VA
03 December - The Flat Iron - Greensboro NC
04 December - New Brookland Tavern - West Columbia SC
05 December - Soapbox Laundro-Lounge - Wilmington, North Carolina
06 December - Gypsy G's Roadhouse, w/ The Dark Romantics - Greenville SC
07 December - The Backbooth, w/ The Dark Romantics - Orlando FL
08 December - Jackrabbits, w/ The Dark Romantics - Jacksonville FL
09 December - Transitions Art Gallery/Skatepark Of Tampa, w/ The Dark Romantics - Tampa FL
10 December - Lillian's, w/ The Dark Romantics - Lakeland FL
11 December - The Beta Bar, w/ The Dark Romantics - Tallahassee FL
12 December - Drunken Unicorn - Atlanta GA
13 December - The End - Nashville TN
14 December - Hi-Tone - Memphis TN
15 December - The Cavern, w/ Shapes & Sizes, Oh No! Oh My! - Dallas TX
16 Dec - The Conservatory - Oklahoma City OK

tags: [Music], [tour dates], [mp3], [Unwed Sailor]

Spit on a Stranger

2006-11-08T17:22:00.000-07:00

Well, this is a surprise. I haven't been listening to Pavement as long as the rest of the world--my exposure to current pop culture started in, oh, '99 or so--and I've only just now realized that Nickel Creek's Spit on a Stranger from This Side is in fact a Pavement cover. Now that is strange.

Not surprising, though--this was the CD that made it clear that Nickel Creek was bored with being the most popular bluegrass band in decades.

Pavement - Spit on a Stranger from Terror Twilight

Nickel Creek - Spit on a Stranger from This Side

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Covers], [Pavement], [Nickel Creek]

Top Five Britrock Bands to Watch/Avoid

2006-11-07T14:51:00.000-07:00

According to the Boston Herald, anyway--mainstream media writing about music that is "hip" (please to translate those actual quotation marks into air-quotes) always makes me suspicious. I'm not sure if that's snobbery or experience speaking, but I surely am curious to see how much credibility the BH retains on this one.

So what are the Britrock bands to watch-slash-avoid? Badly Drawn Boy, Babyshambles, The Ordinary Boys, The Fratellis, and Kasabian. Babyshambles I'll go along with, because as far as I can tell it's one of those publicity stunts diguised as a band dealies; Kasabian as well, since I don't hear anything interesting there. The Ordinary Boys and The Fratellis I'm not familiar with, but it's the comments on Badly Drawn Boy that really get my attention.

While he hits pay dirt on occasion - fans of the movie “About a Boy” will remember the gorgeous “Silent Sigh” - tunes with melody are the exception rather than the rule.

See that? Tunes with melody are the exception rather than the rule--so they are. (Although the ones there are, like Walking Out of Stride, from the About a Boy soundtrack, are very, very nice.)

I'll be damned: s/he got it quite right. One point to the mainstream, at least.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Soundtracks], [Britrock], [Badly Drawn Boy]

John Vanderslice - Charles Rennie Mackintosh Numbered Lithograph (live)

2006-11-07T14:34:00.000-07:00

New track from Vanderslice, which is aimed to be on the next album. My attempt at the lyrics is below; I like the song, but I think the lyrics are uneven. The repeated "I've never been lonelier"s are self-pitying and annoying, but I like the images in between the mawkish interludes, and the abrupt end makes the ambiguous last image very powerful.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Numbered Lithograph, from his set in Karlsruhe on Hallowe'en

when you left me at the table
to go to the ATM
I've never been lonelier
and your cell phone it shuddered and blinked
it was your boyfriend again
I've never been lonelier
I've never been lonelier
I've never been lonelier
I've never been lonelier
a light-skinned black held up a
Charles Rennie Mackintosh numbered lithograph
I moved to the edge of the suburbs
and lost most of my friends
I've never been lonelier
I've never been lonelier
bird crashed through my window
and he panicked and thrashed
up against the window glass
he crashed and crashed
I've never been lonelier
I've never been lonelier
I've never been lonelier
the boy recoiled as he
got out of the heated pool
it was midnight

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Live music], [John Vanderslice]

G'bye, Rainer Maria

2006-11-07T12:32:00.000-07:00

Well now, this is an unwelcome bit of news. It seems Rainer Maria has thrown in the towel, and although it is a shame to lose them, I guess they've had their innings, since they've been around for a decade and change.

We are grateful to our new listeners and especially our longtime fans for their endless support and attention. We feel incredibly fortunate to have come up during a unique time in rock music, in a community that grew with us from the Midwest to Brooklyn and beyond. Making records has always been a revelation, and walking onto stage together we found a vision we could share. For us, this transition can be nothing short of heartbreaking. But for reasons both musical and personal, the three of us have chosen this time to move on.

Alchemy, from their 2002 Ears Ring EP

tags: [Music], [mp3, [Rainer Maria]]

Riding Paper Airplanes: Too Dreamy By Half

2006-11-03T08:06:00.000-07:00

Riding Paper Airplanes' self-titled debut CD is kinda Postal Service: sweet melodic electronica, with smooth vocals over it. It's a nice template, but I'm not sure Riding Paper Airplanes holds up as well as Postal Service did. Homecoming Weekend in a Small Town features those smacky-sounding beats and tinkly noises recognizable from Postal Service (most recently, anyway), but John Wu's vocals are dreamier and less energetic than Gibbard's--which is saying something! The other songs on Myspace are less smooth and move a little more, but the lyrics are still painfully dreamy. We need a little more grit, a little more detail, a little more texture, I think. . .

Stream it (M3U)

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Postal Service], [Riding Paper Airplanes]

Myspace Rundown: The Electrolites, Pleasant, The Speakers, Mean Creek, Day Action Band, The Simples

2006-11-03T06:59:00.000-07:00

Oh yes, another one! I've got far too many friend requests from bands I've never heard of, so it's time to weed through them and see if any get the stamp of approval.

The Electrolites are kinda good; very seventies-sounding vocals (they use a tambourine, too!). They're jangly and bouncy and pleasant, if you can take that seventies-style musical optimism. Togetherness: B. Creativity: B.

Pleasant is more usual guitar-driven rocky stuff; there's a tangled harmony in the guitars that's a little unusual (in a good way), but the vocals are doing that retro-mod sound I still need a name for. It's more posturing than I'm happy to hear. Togetherness: B+. Creativity: B-.

The Speakers come as a nice contrast--sweet and dreamy--although maybe equally hackneyed, since the two major types of indie vocals now seem to be the posturing retro-mod thing (think Editors) and the humble blurry sweet approach (think Iron & Wine). Togetherness: B+. Creativity: B-.

I kinda like Mean Creek; they combine brash instrumentals with the softer vocal style, and it works pretty well--the crashing and the sweetness go together rather nicely. Togetherness: A. Creativity: B+.

Day Action Band is immediately appealing: steady, harmonic guitar, fluid vocals, and lyrics with just enough subtlety catch your attention. Togetherness: A. Creativity: A-.

The Simples have a rather awful Myspace page, where the designer can't resist putting a very cool graphic in the background, despite the fact that it makes a good deal of the text illegible. Despite that, they're pleasant if unexceptional. Togetherness: A-. Creativity: A-.

Might change my grading criteria to Skill and Sound, since I think they're more accurate labels.

tags: [Music], [Myspace], [Music on Myspace]

K. Fed Is a God. Clearly.

2006-11-01T12:36:00.000-07:00

Girls say I'm cocky/ I think I'm humble/ Basically y'all just talk like Bryant Gumbel

Genius! I'll never mock him again. (But I'm not sure if I should tag this entry Music or not.)

tags: [Music], [AOL], [K. Fed]

The Sea Navy

2006-11-01T09:02:00.000-07:00

The Sea Navy is a new project with Jay Cox (The Ivory Coast) on vocals and guitar, Stuart Fletcher (The Sorts, Sea Tiger) on bass, and TW Walsh (Pedro the Lion, Headphones, The Soft Drugs) producing (and helping out with bass, for a while). Arctic Advice is their headlining song on Myspace for a reason; the initial guitarwork is sharp and ear-catching. Which seems a common theme, actually; their songs always start off with notably dapper instrumentals, but by the end, the momentum of cool seems gone or tarnished.

Jay's vocals remind me a bit of Conor Oberst when he's feeling adequately medicated, and a bit of Colin Meloy, and a bit of one of the Nada Surf vocalists--I think it's Matthew Caws. I need a name for this infusion of the London retro/mod sound; it seems to be big for up-and-coming bands. It rarely makes for distinctive music, though, unless done devastatingly well; there's so much of it that it doesn't make much of an impression. Unfortunately, in this case I think the music is much the same as the name: initially promising, but redundant on further exposure.

Stream their Myspace-available music (M3U)

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Sea Navy]

Earworm: Electrelane

2006-10-31T12:14:00.000-07:00

I've caved once again and paid for Last.fm personal radio, and I love it; but I'm not sure I understand it--songs I'd swear I've never listened to keep coming up on my personal radio, where I didn't think recommendations figured. This is hardly a bad thing, since one of them was Electrelane's Gone Darker from their live CD Axes.

Ambient instrumental semi-electronica (math-rock, is it?) like Explosions in the Sky or This is a Process of a Still Life, or Mogwai in their less dissonant moods, are good working music: there're no distracting lyrics, but they're not as shapeless as true ambient music. I'm not sure what I think of the tempo change in this track, but given how useful this kind of music is, it's just good to have another name.

Stream it (M3U)

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Electrelane]

One More Drifter in the Snow

2006-10-30T09:44:00.000-07:00

I generally don't like Christmas music with vocals, although there's some instrumental stuff that I'm very fond of; the lyrics rely too heavily on goodwill to men (something I'm hard pressed to believe in), nostalgia and stock images. So I s'pose it's inevitable that I'm not crazy about Aimee Mann's One More Drifter in the Snow, but it's disappointing anyway. It's full of standards I don't particularly like, and the songs that I do like are weak: most notably You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch, which is soiled by some ham reading from the book, working too hard to fail at the Boris Karloff effect. (It doesn't help that it was done so very well by Hip Heavy Lip, either.)

The instrumentations are synth-heavy, and minus the pleasure of Aimee Mann's voice, the songs sound like they're being performed in a depressing lounge somewhere, where everyone is bitterly drunk trying to forget they have nowhere else to go. The only song that breaks through this malaise is God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, which has a brisk, martial tempo that's a breath of fresh air to that particular song. One of the things I like about Aimee Mann is her lyrical approach, which mingles bitterness and loss with untempered memories of good intentions and better things, and I was hoping that she would bring that to Christmas music, either in the songs she chose or how she performed them; but there's not much sign of that. Calling on Mary is more her usual style (and it should be, given that she co-wrote it), and better than the hoary-boring classics, but not her best.

Stream all of 'em

Grinchtags: [Music], [Christmas music], [mp3], [Aimee Mann]

Earworm: Metric - Empty

2006-10-27T08:58:00.000-06:00

Not that I'm obsessive or anything, and not that my particular obsession of late has been infectious, often heartsick, acidic, girl-fronted indie coolness (see also: Spektor, Regina), but today's earworm is Metric's song Empty. (Stream it here.) Does this kind of music herald the return of the rockstar, after the thankfully temporary triumph of the Carrabba-style emo wuss? I'd be happy if it did.

Metric songs make me think of shoe boots--those weird, quintessentially-eighties boots that stop even below ankle-boot territory. Like these.

Is that a bad thing? I can't stand shoeboots, but I love Metric; it's the sharp, fearless, rockstar quality that connects them, I think.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Metric]

Damien Rice's 9

2006-10-25T08:39:00.000-06:00

I still can't accept AOL as a player in the indie music scene, because I was one of those kids whose parents had AOL dialup in the nineties, and then stuck with them far too long once other, better options came along. So blue-swirly-triangle graphics still strike an aversive chord in my spine, and their attempts to break into indie music content even more so.

But. . . on their Full CD Listening Party they're streaming Damien Rice's prerelease CD 9 (it drops 14 Nov). Since I've never been able to make up my mind about Damien Rice, AOL's gotta get credit for this; I definitely want to hear this CD before committing. Even after streaming it, I'm not sure I like it. It's too . . . dreamy. The instrumentation is lush, and there's the occasional wry line (the windows open now and the winter settles in/ we'll call it Christmas when the adverts begin), but . . . it's still too sweet by half. There's a song on O, "Rat Within the Grain," that I like best of his; it's more nimble and less dreamy (it reminds me of old-school folk in that regard), and I b'lieve I wish he'd go that road more often.

Damien Rice - Rootless Tree from 9
Damien Rice - Rat Within the Grain from O, thanks to Good Weather for Airstrikes

Stream Both (M3U)

tags: [Music], [AOL Music], [Damien Rice], [New music], [mp3], [9]

Isobel Campbell: Milkwhite Sheets

2006-10-24T08:24:00.000-06:00

As if there were any doubt, Isobel Campbell gets credit in the very first few sentences of her interview with Scotland's Sunday Times:

Isobel Campbell bridles a little when it’s put to her she may well be the forces’ sweetheart of indie, a Dame Vera Lynn for sensitive young men who like their music lovelorn, thoughtful and laden with chiming guitars. . . .
“No, really?” she ponders in the bar of a hotel in her native west end of Glasgow. “That’s quite patronising, though, isn’t it? It’s like the record sleeve is the thing that really matters, which is rubbish as far as I’m concerned. I put in the slog to be a worthwhile musician. I’m not a show pony.”

But quarreling with heart-throb status is a tricky thing. It's like F. Scott Fitzgerald snarling at every mention of The Great Gatsby--it's all very well to resent its shadow, but where would the artist be without that shadow? Not a question I have an answer to (to which I have an answer).

I'm curious about Milkwhite Sheets (out 6 Nov): how will Campbell fare without Lanegan's gravelly drag or Belle & Sebastian's twee space pop vibe? I'm thinking she might be like Iron & Wine--a technically accomplished artist that somehow needs depth, darkness, or spark from a collaboration to be really excellent.

Isobel Campbell - Cachel Wood from Milkwhite Sheets
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Saturday's Gone from Ballad of the Broken Seas

Stream both (M3U)

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Isobel Campbell], [Music interviews]

Unexpected Covers: Sun Kil Moon - Trucker's Atlas

2006-10-23T16:05:00.000-06:00

Mark Kozelek's entire CD Tiny Cities gets the Unexpected Covers Award. Applying the well-known and -loved, mopey-gentle-indie-boy Red House Painters sound to Modest Mouse must be one of the most counterintuitive moves in music history; but it's a successful one, for the most part. Songs that are aggressively rockin' when played by the Mouse don't leave any trace of their former attitude, and become seamlessly dreamy and comforting in Kozelek's hands. It never ceases to surprise me how good, and how different, both versions are.

For the pleasures of comparison:
Modest Mouse - Trucker's Atlas (live)
Sun Kil Moon - Trucker's Atlas from The Lonesome Crowded West

Stream both (M3U)

tags: [Music], [mp3s], [Covers], [Modest Mouse], [Sun Kil Moon]

A copy of a copy of a copy of a copy. . .

2006-10-20T09:25:00.000-06:00

I don't like Editors because they sound like a plastic copy of Joy Division, among other things; I don't hold it against them for appropriating that sound--it's an undeniably sharp, smart sound--but because they sound like a copy, and what they're a copy of is a secondary concern.

Given this, it sorta concerns me that that I keep running into bands that seem to be copying Editors. The most recent is Favourite Sons; they're working on the same sound, but without the same flashes of borrowed brilliance as Editors. It's not bad music by any stretch--it's probably even likeable--but it's depressingly derivative and undistinguished. Doesn't anybody have anything better to do than make copies of a copy?

Favourite Sons - Walking Here, from Down Beside Your Beauty
Favourite Sons - Down Beside Your Beauty

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Favourite Sons]

Mwahaha! New Tom Waits!

2006-10-19T08:28:00.000-06:00

Tom Waits' great big backlog-clearing triple release Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards is coming up soon, and ANTI has put up a few mp3s.

Bottom of the World is a clear favorite--slurred, husky, vivid, and dismal vocals, backed by twinkling, seaweedy instrumentals, it's vintage Waits; the lurching rhythm of Road to Peace is familiar too, but that contrasts with the subject matter: Waits' lyrics on the war in the Middle East are equivocal and keen at the same time, and their specificity, about people entangled and killed on either side, makes them even more so. You Can Never Hold Back Spring is another familiar trick--using Waits' growl to contrast with a gliding swan of a song--and it's as effective as it always has been. It's shaping up to be quite a release, even if the $45 price tag is hard to swallow.

Every time I see a picture of Tom Waits, I think: why do we not yet have a movie involving Ron Perelman as TW? It might or might not be a good movie, I couldn't say; but the physical resemblance is more than striking.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Tom Waits], [Orphans]

Eventful.com

2006-10-18T15:11:00.000-06:00

A friend mentioned a new event-tracking-cum-event-finding site called Eventful.com, which at first glance kinda sounds cool--it might be nice to have a universal event site, instead of a music-exclusive one. But at second glance, the site is no good. Its profile editing somehow eats edits (repeatedly!), and the music events listed are folk or "family appropriate" (why that includes folk I'm not sure, but apparently it does)--so the calendars for Paradise, Axis, Avalon, TT the Bear's, P.A.'s Lounge, etc, are gutted, while things like The 2nd Annual Milford High School Parents for Music Golf Tournament are listed prominently. There are a couple of incongruent listings--a'tris at Tommy Doyle's, Born Ruffians and Hot Chip at Paradise, Psychic Ills at P.A.'s Lounge--but when P.A.'s Lounge doesn't have a show listed until December, you can be pretty sure something's missing.

No. In its current state, eventful.com is no good for music; it needs a better way to get ahold of shows, instead of waiting for users to input them. Its signal difference is supposed to be the Demand feature: you can Demand a show or event in your area, and if enough people do it, somebody who can make it happen might be attracted. That's an interesting idea, but at the moment it's not doing a good enough job of cataloguing events to create the user clout it would need to really Demand events. Says me.

tags: [Music], [Events]

Ruined Music

2006-10-18T13:04:00.000-06:00

Reminds me a bit of Postsecret, only for music; people write in about the music that's been ruined for them by (good or bad) memories--most about exes, but some about parents, friends, or circumstances. I'm not brave enough to do my own, or selective enough--my last breakup took far too much music down with it, and every place I've lived for the last five years has music it claimed as Belonging to Here. It's a melancholic read.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Spoon]

Scream and Run Away

2006-10-17T09:05:00.000-06:00

Lucky me, I got to go see Stephin Merritt and Daniel Handler play songs from The Tragic Treasury and read from--I don't know which book it was, possibly A Bad Beginning? (So unfortunate that Mr. Snicket himself couldn't make it, but he seems to have briefed Mr. Handler most thoroughly--and clearly, their shared habit of formality is catching!) It may scandalize but it can hardly surprise my audience that I have never actually read any of his books, and I went entirely to hear Stephin Merritt.

I can't imagine two more suited artists: Mr. Merritt's lugubrious, sonorous voice and dropsical face (not to mention the ukelele) compliment Mr. Handler's mournful bearing and dispassionately terrible stories very neatly--and the kids (and the grownups) lick it up. There was a bit of interactive theater that accompanied Scream and Run Away, and it was impossible to tell who enjoyed it more: the children, the parents, or Mr. Handler himself.

The Tragic Treasury is very Magnetic Fields-sounding indeed ("In the Reptile Room," for example, features that squishy percussion that will sound very familiar to Magnetic Fields listeners--and of course there's the ukelele), which reminds me to say that there's a new, actual Magnetic Fields CD being recorded and supposed to be released next spring. Mr. Merritt didn't sound very enthusiastic about touring in support of it, though, so if you haven't seen Magnetic Fields live already, you may have missed your chance. To which Mr. Handler, on behalf of Mr. Snicket, would no doubt have something very apt to say.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Stephin Merritt], [Gothic Archies], [Lemony Snicket]

Scarlett Johansson sings Tom Waits

2006-10-16T10:55:00.000-06:00

Now this is odd; Scarlett Johansson is apparently all ready to make a CD of Tom Waits covers, called (intuitively enough) Scarlett Sings Tom Waits; although I hear she can actually sing (unlike some other actresses with CDs that we all know of), I noticed when reading the article that the name of the CD makes me suspicious of its merit. Why should it? I think it's because, if the project had artistic merit, it'd have a more creative name, that seemed to capitalize less on name recognition. Funny how that kind of thing can bias you, though. I can only hope she does the Semi Suite, because a movie star covering a song about truckers would be just wonderfully bizarre and surreal.

tags: [Music], [Mp3][Music news], [Tom Waits], [Scarlett Johansson]

I hear in my mind all this music

2006-10-14T15:51:00.000-06:00

I know this is quickly turning into All Regina Spektor, All The Time, but damn, her songs are addictive. And I'm beginning to realize the lyrics equally smart: among other things, she uses rotating rhyme schemes!

You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
And try to love the things you took
And then you take that love you made
And stick it into some
Someone else's heart
Pumping someone else's blood
And walking arm in arm
You hope it don't get harmed
But even if it does
You'll just do it all again

On the Radio, from Begin to Hope

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Earworms], [Regina Spektor]

Bishop Allen's September out

2006-10-13T06:47:00.000-06:00

Always makes my month brighter--although the critical part of me will be happy to see them take a different direction in a few months, the voracious-fan part is equally happy to get more.

But I gotta say the first track Begin to See on this EP is the weakest in a while; it sounds more like what one would expect of an EP-a-month deal--poorly recorded and uncertainly performed--and there's some harmony thing that isn't working right. The rest recovers, fortunately; and though their sample Like Castanets isn't my favorite track on the EP (that's either Fireflies or Cassandra), it's not disappointing like the first track.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Bishop Allen]

Regina Spektor - Ne Me Quitte Pas

2006-10-11T11:56:00.000-06:00

Regina Spektor's Fidelity made me a little uncertain; I liked it, but it seemed a bit flat, a little twee. Finding her (sorta) cover of Ne Me Quitte Pas has put me firmly on her side, I think; it has the same pluckedy sound as Fidelity, a little more drive to it. Sometimes her vocals edge on the precious, oddly round style of Joanna Newsom (which in turn sounds like Björk in a cuter moment), and I prefer it when they don't. (This track isn't on Begin to Hope, but from a hard-to-find 2001 CD called "Songs".)

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Regina Spektor]

Earworm: Schooner - Make Me Mad

2006-10-09T10:06:00.000-06:00

The vocals on Make Me Mad remind me of Stephin Merritt, or Jens Lekman, in their ponderous levity.

They've got a show tomorrow (10 Oct) at P.A.'s Lounge in Somerville--looks like their set'll start around 9.30; I'm going.

tags: [Music], [Live music], [mp3], [Earworms], [Schooner]

Swearing at Motorists, Singing in the Ubahn

2006-10-06T07:58:00.000-06:00

Swearing at Motorists has been on my eMusic queue forever, just because of the name; but now I find out that Dave Doughman has been recording in Ubahnhof stations while making a different CD in studio, which should be enough to get anybody's attention.

The echoing Ubahn adds a nice kind of melancholy, which is saved from being lugubrious by the occasional odd echo that certainly wouldn't have been added in a studio. Maybe oddly, my favorite tracks are the ones that have the sounds of the passengers in them; Time Zones and Area Codes ends with the the rebounding flat-strike sound of heeled shoes, and Ten Dollars (False Start)is interruped by train passengers--I wish he'd kept singing and just let that be the backdrop; the German chatter is an appealing counterpoint, and the way it appears gradually couldn't have been better done in a studio. Maybe it wouldn't have ended as neatly as it began--it almost certainly wouldn't have--but it's an eerie break in the solitude of the rest.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Swearing At Motorists]

Earworm: The Features - The Idea of Growing Old

2006-10-05T09:25:00.000-06:00

Today's earworm comes from The Features' CD Exhibit A; The Idea of Growing Old is maybe what Editors were aiming for: smart, infectious, very nearly mod--but without that empty knockoff air that makes Editors so unpalatable.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Earworms], [The Features]

Truth is all my possessions are somehow lost to me

2006-10-05T08:43:00.000-06:00

Today I loaded all of the mp3s I've found on blogs into a colossal playlist and toggled the random switch; there were two that caught my ear.

The first was Toy Fight's The Soldier. It starts off with a studio-type comment in French, which is probably why it caught my ear; it turns into a delicate, fey, faraway wisp of a song.

The second was from Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton's set at Joe's Pub, a song called Nothing & Nowhere. It's the piano here that's a bit fey, and at first she goes with that--Emily's vocals are softer than with Metric, but there are still edges and power that show up later in the song.

They fit together well; I always like it when randomize produces nice pairings.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Toy Fight], [Emily Haines]

Earworm: Jon Brion's "Row"

2006-10-03T10:14:00.000-06:00

This is an odd earworm; it's only a minute long, no lyrics, nothing catchy, just a short piano tune sitting on the fence between comforting and melancholy, cutting off nearly in the middle of a phrase, as if it lost the musician's attention.

The other pieces in this soundtrack have had their time as earworm too--except for the creepily bright Polyphonic Spree track--and most of them (the Jon Brion ones, anyway) are the same kind of earworm: the earworm that creates a distinct atmosphere, but which is much too short to support that atmosphere all by itself. If there were other pieces which created a similar atmosphere, it would make a good seed for a playlist; but as there rarely are, it's just one arresting minute.

tags: [Music], [Movie soundtracks], [mp3], [Jon Brion], [Eternal Sunshine]

New Music Review: Wolfmusic

2006-10-02T09:53:00.000-06:00

My first impression of the first notes of the first song on Wolfmusic's stream is good; there's a two-part harmony, where one part is very much in the background, so it just creates an impression of depth to the sound. It's likeable music, in a very Radiohead-on-a-sane- day sort of way.

There are two versions of one song, Dry--the daylight and the moonlight version. Although it seems to contradict both their names and the comments on the webpage, I find the daylight version much more compelling: it's more uptempo and less dreamy (it has drums), more textured--maybe less emo. The moonlight version reminds me of rugs sold by the side of highway on-ramps, the kind with pictures of lone, noble wolves; the high intent isn't really matched by the material and approach.

The lyrics are unsubtle, in a way that makes me think the writer isn't a native English speaker. "These clouds are making faces/ this is their home/ scary eyes looking at the places/ they call home" . . . both the lyrics and the music over-emote for my taste, I think, but it isn't badly done overall.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [New music]

Broken Social Scene: A Meditation on Supergroups

2006-09-29T10:58:00.000-06:00

Okay, I give up. I like Broken Social Scene. I guess that was inevitable, given recent obsessions with Amy Millan and Emily Haines, and slightly longer-ago obsessions with Feist. But I don't like it as much as I like any of its various members. Is this inevitable? I don't know what I think of supergroups. They sound like an inarguably good thing in theory, but they never quite seem to work out that way--it's the opposite of synergy. Maybe you get synergy in the shows? Recorded, at least, I think they're pretty weak--the best song on You Forgot It In People is Shampoo Suicide, a laid-back, directionless jam that I'd more readily associate with something like Bonobo.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Supergroups], [Broken Social Scene]

Innocence Mission

2006-09-28T11:23:00.000-06:00

Damn. I've had Innocence Mission's lullabye CD Now the Day Is Over on my list forever; I was really thinking I was going to like it, but I don't. Karen Peris has all the twee cuteness of Joanna Newsom or Björk, without any of the former's technical creativity (pronounced craziness in her case) or the latter's unique vocal power. The instrumentals are hard to notice.

Why would you listen to this--unless you're a hipster parent desperate for non-Barney kiddie music? They're sweet, I guess, but they're not particularly good. There are some that aren't bad--Wonderful World and Moon River stand out--but they're still not something anybody not specifically in search of lullabyes needs. It's a pity, because the songs are a well-chosen mix of familiar acoustic songs, old hymns (which might have made very stately lullabyes), and the like, but the annoying vocal manner overcomes any credit the smart song choices might have gotten.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Lullaby], [Innocence Mission]

Joanna Newsom @ MFA's College Night, tomorrow!

2006-09-27T17:03:00.000-06:00

Joanna Newsom is headlining the MFA's College Night--it's tomorrow and it's free with a college ID. (No word on how much without one.)

tags: [Music], [MFA], [Free Music], [Boston], [Joanna Newsom]

Metromix Interview with Amy Millan

2006-09-27T07:43:00.000-06:00

Since Amy Millan is my morning's earworm, and I'm newly obsessed with her Broken Social sibling Emily Haines, it's fitting that Metromix has got an interview with Amy.

Do you and the other female vocalists from Broken Social Scene, Leslie Feist and Emily Haines, ever have sing-offs?

We do have sing-offs. The best Broken shows are when the three of us are doing them together. Whenever Emily and Leslie and I are together, we always talk about how when we ever get five seconds we're gonna make a record together. But we have our whole lives to make music together; that's one of the beauties of this band. I have this feeling that the best Broken record that will ever be made will be made about 10 years from now. I have this fantasy that when we're in our 40s, we'll end up at a farm all together for four or five weeks and we'll make just an outstanding piece of work. That's my dream anyway.

That would indeed be a hell of a show with all three of them. If Feist stays off all the drugs.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Music Interviews], [Amy Millan]

every speed on our knees is crawling

2006-09-26T09:19:00.000-06:00

Last.fm has had Metric on my recommendation charts for-bloody-ever, and I just got around to listening to it in the past week or so--since Emily Haines' solo CD is out today, it seems like a good time to mention both. I like: Jimmy Shaw's guitar lines are compelling--they'd probably steal the show (song?) from a vocalist less powerful than Emily Haines, whose voice reminds me a bit of Amy Millan in its gauzy dreaminess, but it's occasionally harsh or husky, too. Persistent earworms from their 2005 CD Live It Out are Glass Ceiling and "Too Little, Too Late" (streaming below); their tracks have a clear shape and sharpness to them that makes them immediately appealing, but unlike a lot of immediately appealing music, there's substance there too.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Metric], [Emily Haines]

MySpace Rundown: Hannah Speller, Dave Lewis, Get Set Go, Most Bitter, Lindi Ortega

2006-09-25T10:19:00.000-06:00

Another one of the bits on musicians/bands who randomly friend me on Myspace; I wait until they reach critical mass, which seems to take about two weeks. (Wow, this crop has it together; nobody who desperately needs instrumental or vocal training.)

Hannah Speller: Strong voice, dynamic, competent instrumentation, and lyrics that are a litte interesting. Should the lyrics of Never Gonna (I don't need love/ I don't need love/ I do not dream of you) meant to be taken straight, or is it a Methinks the Lady Doth sorta situation? "Hush Hush" is . . . a little blunt, a little too genre-shaped, too easy to pigeonhole; same for "Here Comes the Rain." Togetherness: A-. Creativity: B/B+.

Dave Lewis: Pleasant if wandering instrumentals, less proggy, more jazzy than Mogwai or Mars Volta. The vocals, when they show up, are sort of. . . pointless? shapeless? It's not quite Muzak--but not far away. Togetherness: A-. Creativity: C+.

Get Set Go: Well, they win points for starting off with a bouncy song called "I Hate Everyone." The contrast between the nasty lyrics and the cheerful, enjoyable music reminds me of old-school Guster. Fortunately, they seem to understand that band cannot live on bile alone, so the rest of the songs are varied--although the sweet, happy sound is consistent. Good music to listen to when you're pissed or miserable but not wanting to mope--it's happily bitter bubble gum. Togetherness: A-. Creativity: B+.

Most Bitter: Quite odd. Buzzing, cheap-sound instrumentals and arhythmic almost-spoken-word vocals. Sort of reminds me of Magnetic Fields, without the drive, humor, and beauty. Togetherness: B. Creativity: B+.

Lindi Ortega: Wow, she sounds like a young, less-aggressive Kristin Hersh . . . but the songs aren't very interesting, country-inflected ballads and breakup songs. Not bad, but no real substance. Togetherness: A-. Creativity: C.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Myspace], [Music on Myspace]

Cuckoo Canoe, Can You?

2006-09-24T09:28:00.000-06:00

Given the drubbing I occasionally hand out to Myspace bands or bands that email me seeking reviews, I'm a little surprised I still get those emails; but they come, and I like the opportunity they give me to think and write about music I'm not necessarily crazy about.

Cuckoo Canoe is a bit bewildering; they've got three working songs up on their Myspace, and they don't really seem to go together, although they're all rather nice. Ofrah and Me is an acoustic, drawling, strummy piece about aimless time spent with somebody called Ofrah--and in the little picture bit next to the song listings, there's a picture of Oprah. I don't know what to make of that, but as a song it's appealing. "Alaska Wolf Slay" is more usual indie-rock type stuff, with just a touch of drawl left, uptempo and well-done if not ground-breaking. "You Sunk My Battleship," on the other hand, is an initially more electronic and overall less drawling song that reminds me pretty strongly of someone more mainstream--but I'm damned if I can remember who.

Overall, I like 'em; if they were on one of the Myspace Rundowns, I'd give an A for togetherness (they sound quite professional and well-put-together for Myspace), and maybe a B or B+ for creativity.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Myspace], [Music on Myspace]