The Tuning Room 2.0

Not Again!

2009-11-01T08:31:00.001-05:00

Well, here we go again. It appears that keeping The Room going is not really viable and it is time to move on. But this time, it is a bit different. Rather than just stop blogging, I am shifting to a new venue to try my hand at blogging a bit more expansively and a bit more personally.

Ultimately, trying to write intelligently about music, as was the goal here, simply took too much time. As Wobs pointed out when I talked to him about this "if I could just get to posting before each day's work was done, I might have the energy." But ultimatley I think that had to do with the ideal we were aiming for here at The Room. So, I hope you will put up with another shift and stay with me over at the new place. I will leave it to Wobs to tell you where you can follow him and his many thoughts.

Thanks everyone for staying with us for the last year and a half or so.

Excuses

2009-10-07T19:31:00.004-04:00

Yeah, yeah. I know. Start the blog up again and then only a few months later can't even manage to eke out a post every couple weeks--and, really, this won't count either. It isn't that there has been no music in my life lately, but rather that life has been just too busy to find the inspiration to blog (no commentary on whether or not posts here in The Room are inspired or not please). Here are my excuses:

I haven't picked up any new music in weeks and I haven't been listening to artists that would qualify for the new Missing Essentials category of posts.
Okay, actually, it is just that I can't stop listening to Frontier Ruckus.
There is this thing called work that happens most days. Sheesh!
The Artist and The Engineer are both taking pretty serious piano lessons requiring about an hour of ~~parental prodding~~ patient encouragement.
Even if I had some new music hanging around, I am not Robin Hilton and I have to actually listen to an album more than once to form an opinion about it.
I started to think about new music, but got lost at AccuJazz.
The fear of not finishing the family room before Thanksgiving (we will and there will be Bose surround sound people).
Did I mention I have an actual job?
Wobs keeps distracting me.
I spent the last month watching my dear Tigers melt down rather than blogging.

But soon, soon I say, this blogger is going to get back in tune and there will be more music here in The Room. As soon as I . . .

Preferring the Former to the Latter: The Dodos and Joe Henry

2009-09-26T20:30:00.003-04:00

When I first heard the Dodo's Visiter album last year, I, like so many others was impressed. It wasn't perfect, but it seemed to me that these guys were potentially on the verge of developing into something unique and special. And so I, like so many others, looked forward to their next effort. But if Visiter was a series of wonderfully fresh songs that served as the peaks of the album that were interrupted by a few notable valleys, their new album, Time to Die, is more of a series of consistent hills with fewer peaks or valleys. As you listen, you don't have any of those "what the hell is this doing on the album" moments, but there are few fewer "wow" moments. But I feel like I am just rewriting the Pitchfork review here which sums it all up quite nicely:

So you really can't call Time to Die a disappointment, not when it actually improves on Visiterin some ways. It's not the full-out leap into "pop" that it would initially seem (for that, you'd need to hear the difference between Visiter and their self-released full-length, from back when they were called Dodo Bird), and for all its charms, Visiter wasn't exactly the tightest hour going. Time to Die bests it as far as consistency goes-- might not get a "Fools" here, but you won't get a "Park Song" either. And it's hard to envision Time to Die slowing the momentum of the Dodos' ascendance, not when their live performances are still thrilling as ever, but Time to Die comes off like a temporary decision to forgo made them lovable, flaws and all, and stress what makes them likeable.

Now if I were in charge of the world, I would rewind time knowing all the tunes that would be on both of these albums, and I would have turned two albums into one glorious effort (which would have been about 70 percent Visiter and 30 percent Time to Die). Here are two of the songs off the new album that would go into that mix.

Dodos / Time to Die (Buy Album)

This is a Business

Acorn Factory

The new Joe Henry disc, Blood from Stars is both a similar and a bit of a different story for me. When College Roomy gave me a copy of Civilians, JH's previous release, I wondered how I had missed this guy. The Tom Waits like voice, the wonderful lyrics and his sense of timing--it was an album I kept going back to (and if you do not have it, you should pick it up). So like with the Dodo's, I anticipated the next album from Henry.

Now Henry is not moving to safer or more pop-oriented ground here, but he is moving to a sound he has been toying with and that would be jazz. And when he gets there on this album it is quite wonderful. The musicians he pulls in here, most notably Jason Moran who opens the album and Marc Ribot whose guitar work is really enjoyable, add wonderful texture to the album. But unlike Civilians, it just doesn't hold together and the less interesting spots detract from the album as a whole.

Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad album by any stretch, it just isn't Civilians where his lyrics seems to scratch at the surface of the everyday and get inside relationships, motivations, and generally the messiness of life. But here as the NY Times review points out "His lyrics can feel too artful, too self-conscious. . . . Mr. Henry sings, repeating the word disarray as a meaningful echo. Still, he sounds as if he has everything pretty much under control." Still he has some absolutely wonderful songs on this effort.

Here are a couple that include the fine contributions including Moran's beautiful opening and the first tune, which had me really jazzed--no pun intended. The next tune has some wonderful guitar-work by Ribot and also exhibits one of my favorite characteristics of Henry's--the way he plays with words, and rhyme schemes to create tension and resolve (which usually masks more tension).

Joe Henry / Blood from Stars (Buy Album)

Update: just got hit with a copyright violation for the JH's tunes, so they are now unlinked. You can hear them streaming here.

Prelude: Light No Lamp

The Man I Keep Hid

This Is My Favorite Cage

All in all, I prefer the albums that precede both of these, but that doesn't mean these aren't still worth checking out and both artists definitely worth watching to see where they go next.

The Crushing Beauty of The Antlers' Hospice

2009-09-15T20:33:00.010-04:00

One way to judge a new album is by both the number of reviews it gets (attention) and the quality of those reviews (engagement). This is particularly true of a lesser known band since you can dismiss the assertion that everyone is reviewing the album because of the band's previous success. And so it is with the latest effort by The Antlers, Hospice, which has been receiving very solid reviews over at the big board--now holding a top ten placement for the year.

When there are so many reviews (and so many well written because the reviewers are clearly engaged with this album), it is somewhat difficult to even imagine where to begin--what to say that hasn't already been said. These reviews cover many wonderful aspects of this album, but the review that best captures what I want to say is not by any of the official review sites, but by My Old Kentucky Blog who has been carrying the flag for these boys for a while now and opens their review with a very appropriate warning.

Allow me to forge a fair warning: The Antlers' Hospice is not an easy record to sit through. With the right focus, in the right mindset, this album is as powerful on the soul as climbing a mountain is on the body. This album will crush you if you don’t know what to expect.

Pretty ominous, but really not all that far off as far as I am concerned. See this album (you did note the title, right?) is an album with a theme (rather than a concept album) and that theme is death and loss. Built around a central relationship between a dying patient and a caregiver, it tumbles through the spectrum of emotions that might occur during and around that relationship, moving from dreamy sad reflections to anger to some sort of understanding and back again to all of that. I am not sure it is the straight narrative the MOKB lays out in their review, but as lead singer and song-writer Peter Silberman writes in the Prologue notes about the story, "it's all connected in these complicated nightmares that we weave."

Now a colleague asked me the other day if I am one of "those people" who obsess about lyrics and I replied that I am probably a bit more concerned with the music than the lyrics, but in this case you cannot ignore either. I really think that if you are someone who has lost someone in anyway remotely like the story here, that this album will be a difficult listen. It is pretty moving in any case, but could be very raw for someone in that situation. And that is because Silberman constructs such a convincing relationship (whether real or not) and so the bond and tension and loss are palpable. That is not to say that this is some simplistic narrative--it is not. The songs are more about moments in time and stages of a relationship.

And the music is just as important. The Antlers are clearly going to be seen as part of "the Brooklyn scene" as I have already seen comparisons to Grizzly Bear and their are moments that are very Walkmenesque here, but that just gives you context. The album, for me, is divided in two parts. The first has a number of slower, grainier, and noise-infused songs with the vocals woven into the music as if someone is trying to emerge from a hazy dream--although "Sylvia" clearly has a chorus of angry outburst in it where Silberman rises above the music. The second half starting with "Bear" (which might be the highlight, but also doesn't fit the narrative as neatly as other tunes) emerges from that murkiness with more clear acoustic guitar lines and melodies (although "Wake" brings us back to that dreamy desperation).

It is an album that if you are to accept, you must both buy the sound and allow for the premise. But if you do, it is a powerful set of ten songs that will surely garner critical acclaim this year.

To give you a sample, I am including the second and third songs on the album which provide a good sense of the opening half of the album in both it's quiet, fuzzy, contemplative orientation and in its searching, combative sound.

Kettering (got the no share message on these too--but check out the video!)

Sylvia

And then to give you a sense of the second half of this album and The Antlers in general, here is a wonderful video of "Two" which is probably my favorite song on the album.

So, get on over to French Kiss and buy this album if you think you are up to it.

Missing Essentials: The Basic Idea

2009-09-09T22:01:00.001-04:00

As I noted a couple posts back when I was talking about working to get more jazz into my life and into this here blog (note to self: go back and see what I am supposed to be doing), I mentinoed that I was developing a strategy (okay it is more of a hook really) for writing about "not new" music. After all, there is a ton of great music that isn't new that deserves some attention, right? So here is the approach.

We are going to start up a new series of occasional posts called "Missing Essentials" in which we look at a particular artist or band, albums and songs we love and currently own, and wonder out loud if there are other albums by said artist or band that others would consider essential.

This idea comes from the fact that when I was younger, I often set out to own "everything" by certain groups which inevitably led me to buy less than stellar albums and then inevitably led to the realization that I didn't need to own everything by a particular artist or band. As I have grown older those realizations have morphed into a certain sense that, in fact, once I have a few albums by a particular artist or band, I feel as if I perhaps "have enough" and don't worry too much about getting more by that group.

In fact, as I thought about this idea, I wondered if I thought there was an artist or band that I did think one would want to have every album they produced. And, really the only band that came immediately to mind, and that might not be coincidence given what was released today, was The Beatles (okay, minus the Yellow Sub soundtrack which I never really think of as one of their core albums). This is not to say that there aren't others--in fact, I hope to hear from some of you on that point.

This line of thinking though, leads to the real possibility that I am missing really important, historic, well, essential albums by an artist or band. Of course I am not thinking about new bands that have just released their first or second great album, but rather bands that have been around a bit or have broken up that have a catalog of albums to consider.

So that is what we intend to get your input on in the future, but until then, let's hear what artists/bands you think deserve to have their entire oeuvre collected.

Delayed Reactions: Meursault

2009-09-07T20:44:00.008-04:00

It has been almost a year since Meursault released it first album, Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing with Tongues courtesy of Song, by Toad, a little less time since I first heard and saw the band doing wonderful acoustic versions of their songs at Toad's house, and a few weeks since I actually got around to downloading the album which has pretty much been in nonstop play mode since getting it.

The basic recipe here is one part traditional Scottish folk music, one part rock band and one part techno-dance mix. Stir. Place in studio. Bake. As with any recipe, you might like one bit more than the other, but they are all important. Some songs are techno-dance heavy, others sound like Scottish folk-rock, then there are wonderful instrumentals and a couple slow ballads--and others sound like all of those pieces magically blended together. And as an album, they do a really nice job of lining up songs so that just when you are feeling a bit worn out by the electronica, you get a beautiful ballad with no techno-sound at all. And to that point, I think the ordering of songs here is just about perfect.

That said, you do have to like all the ingredients here. You have to like the Scottish sound mixed with the rock sound (any Waterboys fan will), and you have to be willing to go with the electronica/techno (my wife would say noise) factor as well.

The lyrics are quite wonderful, albeit sad and searching for the most part. The slow tunes are most notable here. Perhaps the most beautiful song on the album, "Small Stretch of Land," is a perfect example. I always intended to have it as a sample for this post, but since even parents like this tune (and you can hear this great tune at that link), I thought it not very representative of the album and am going to give you some other samples. Still, here is the first verse to give you a sense of the lovely lyrics on this album

It's a beautiful way to get lost
All you need is a bottle and a few nagging thoughts
And a strong sense of all you ever wanted
And the strength to hold it to your chest as you kill it off
Oh, the road it will light up and guide you home
To a place as unfamiliar to you as a soul
There is nothing left now not to understand
And you were lost on such a small stretch of land

The writing on the upbeat tunes are similarly pensive and searching.

Now, one note. I am no engineer, but I assume that some of the "roughness" of the album comes from being a bit of a lo-fi production as the starts and stops are a bit abrupt and there is a certain amount of tape-hiss going on, but ultimately this ends up being part of the endearing quality of the recording. It adds to the feeling that you might be in on the early recording of a band that is going to get more attention in the future.

So for all you Scottish, techno-folk rockers out there who have not heard Meursault, let me be the one to introduce you. First up in the samples is the title tune which is the song I first heard that got my attention and I think well exemplifies the mix of the three basic ingredients on this album. This is followed by "Salt, Part 2" which follows the title song on the album and is a fine example of their slower songs. And lastly, "A Few Kind Words," an upbeat, techno-oriented tune that bops along while the lyrics tell a somewhat less upbeat story.

Buy the Album

Pissing on Bonfires/ Kissing with Tongues

Salt, Pt. 2

A Few Kind Words

All and all, quite a fun album that deserves more attention than it appears to have received here in the States.

Three To Consider: Daytrotter Sessions

2009-09-03T20:30:00.004-04:00

If you don't know about Daytrotter (or haven't visited in a while) you should get yourself over to the Horseshack and check it out. What happens there is that bands and performers of all stripes stop in, drop a few live tracks down on Sean and the gang that they then roll those original performances back out one a day. And the lists of bands who have stopped in to do sessions over the last few years is simply damn impressive.

Still, I am not sure that justifies the level of self-righteousness in their "About statement." I mean really, we don't all have studios and a crew to produce music with and many of us are trying to ethically promote music and artists. But I digress.

The point is that Daytrotter provides a way to hear new music and original recordings of bands you already love. Here are three from the last week that are all on my "to get" list. Click on Daytrotter's embed player to listen, but also you really should follow the links in each description to read the session notes as well.

First up is Rural Alberta Advantage who recently released their debut album, Hometowns. Not shockingly this indie rock band hails from Alberta, Canada and writes and sings about just that. They sound great here in this session and appear to be on the way to a successful start. Hell, even Pitchforklikes them! Check out the full Daytrotter session and their album can be picked up atSaddle Creek Records.

Next up is Nomo, the Ann Arbor, MI "post-Afro-beat dance explosion" jazz band that plays, as Sean describes in the full session notes, "street jazz or the kind of jazz that academics do when they're slumming it and actually enjoying themselves a little more than they thought was possible." Bottom line--whole bunch of folks, making a whole bunch of sound. You can pick up Invisible Cities and other efforts at Ubiquity Records.

Last up is the one I am most excited about from listening to the Daytrotter sessions and that Daytrotter seems most responsible for pushing out there into the noise of all the music floating around the nets: Union Suit Characters. This Joliet, IL duo earns the title of Daytrotter's "Favorite Lo-Fi Wonders" in the full session notes (which you must read). And, really, you have to give Sean and crew props here since once you go looking for the album you will find it is only available from the band directly and in mp3--all of those options are available over at their MySpacey place.

So if you haven't already, get on over to Daytrotter and check out the wonderful stuff they are doing. You can also follow their daily tweets so you know when each new session is up.

Trying to Keep Tempo with Jazz

2009-09-01T21:00:00.003-04:00

One thing I have always wish I did better here in The Room is offer up a bit more discussion of different musical genres, particularly jazz. Sure, there have been the occasional post, but as I look back over the posts, this blog is definitely heavy in the indie-rock-folk-pop-etc. vein which does not necessarily reflect the balancing of listening that goes on here in the homefront. I think that is in part due to, at least, three things.

One, I haven't found a good way to write about music that I have listened to for a long time and have been more focused on new music. That is related to the second item which is that I don't buy as much new jazz as those other categories (or classical for that matter) which leads to the third reason, which is that I tend to think of jazz albums as having more staying power and therefore I am willing to listen to them more often over time and feel less need to search out more or new albums.

Now I believe I have a solution to the first problem which I will be trying my hand at soon. As for the third reason, while the staying power of certain jazz albums is accurate I think, it is also a mistake to assume there is not more and different efforts coming out that deserve a listen (which means I am just being lazy, right?). Which leads back to the second issue of searching out and checking out (literally) more jazz. So over the last few days, here and there, I have been trying to track down different resources for finding new jazz. Here are a few that I have found interesting and will be checking in with in one form or another.

In the obvious category, Downbeat is still the staple and serious consideration to renewing a subscription is occurring. Actually, I just need to do it, in part, because their website is, well, not really all that helpful, which I find curious.

The Checkout is an NPR a show by Josh Jackson about new jazz music which appears on the big jazz station WBGO streaming out of Newark, but The Checkout also has a great website where you can keep up with new music and hear live studio sessions like this nice interview and session last week with Gretchen Parlato whose new album is on the to get list. WBGO also has a fine blog for keeping up with the jazz goings-ons. And, of course NPR also has it's own blog devoted to jazz, A Blog Supreme, which is worth following.

Another interesting effort, which we recently tweeted about is Nextbop which is a site by two young guys trying to offer up jazz catalogs on line for folks to check out--although they have been running into a few hiccups that will be familiar to all of us who have been discussing post take downs, recording companies, and the ethics of what we try to do with music blogs.

Lastly is Jazz.com which has got a great aggregator page of perpetually updated links to all the jazz news that is breaking at other sites--just point and click. They also have a fine blog.

That is a start. Obviously there are a lot more out there and I would love to hear about resources you follow for jazz, whether they be print, web, Twitter or somewhere else. And hopefully, this will all lead to a bit more jazz talk here in The Room.

9/14/09 Update: A Blog Supreme just launched Jazz Now designed to introduce jazz artists of the present--great idea!

A Wonderful Ruckus of Music and Lyrics

2009-08-27T19:00:00.003-04:00

Late summer. The air hangs close with humidity, the cicadas riot in the trees and the world seems overgrown from some sort of mad crush of production before fall arrives. A perfect time to talk about Frontier Ruckus. With songs that are thick with harmony, a full, backwoods acoustic folk sound and crammed full of lyrical poetry, this indie folk band from Michigan provides a bounty of sound and imagery that seems to revel in the physical and natural world while simultaneously worrying about the inevitable changes of season, spirit and time.

The album in question here is The Orion Songbook released in 2008 which you can pick up over at Quite Scientific Records. There is also an extended version with new songs an additional EP available on vinyl over at Lower Peninsula Records and there are lots of other songs for the listening over at their MySpacey Place.

I will say right off, that had I stumbled on FR last year, they would have definitely been on the list of albums from 2008 to pick up. That said, these guys are either a "like 'em or leave 'em" band for most I imagine and that has much to do with front man Matthew Milia who also writes all the songs on this album.

Let's start with the lyrics (which makes me wish we had a poet here in The Room to help with the analysis). Milia's songs, while not all the same by any stretch, are primarily a free form set of images on a theme. Some songs do have verse and chorus, but many are much more like blank verse starting with an image and pushing that forward with smart connections and related imagery. I don't think it is unfair to suggest you may think of Dylan when listening to the lyrics here (no, Dylan fans, I am not saying he is Dylan, but the form and approach is similar).

Themes are focused on love and relationships, growing up and family, religion and (to my delight) these are often overlaid with a good deal of Michigan imagery and references. As I have suggested, Milia seems very focused on the physical and natural and there is a whole lot of animals, bodies, fluids, love, plants, smell, decay, death and the everyday physicality of life (perhaps Whitman is the better reference here than Dylan?).

Now the music needs some discussion, because I imagine this will have more to do with your reaction to them. First, Milia has a very warbley, tenor voice and you gotta dig that if you are going to like this album--think Colin Meloy from The Decemberists or even Pat McDonald from Timbuk3 at times. Of course, most songs also enjoy the harmonies of Anna Burch which are key to the music (and their voices together are what made me think of Timbuk3). The two together have a wonderful sound and they sing with such sincerity it is hard not to get caught up in their singing.

Milia also plays some wonderful guitar on this album. His musical partner in crime here is David Jones who plays banjo throughout the album, providing both a steady rhythm to many tunes, and some nice fills and leads, particularly on the upbeat tunes. There are a variety of instrumentations here with harmonica, dobro, piano and trumpet added in, but we cannot finish this post without discussing the saw. Yes, the saw.

I don't think that I have another album where the singing-saw plays such a role (or any for that matter). Now not to pick on Zach Nichols who plays the saw, but it is a bit overdone here. There are songs where it is understated and add a haunting texture to the song, but then there are others where it seems like more novelty than anything and I would have preferred another instrument. But this is a small complaint in the end compared with the overall strength of this album.

Okay, so I have already told you where to go get the album, so let's check out a couple tunes. As usual with discs I really enjoy, choices are difficult. I probably could have given you a couple others to convey the full range, but here are two that I really like both musically and lyrically.

Bethlehem

Rosemont

And as an added bonus, here is one more of those great wandering around Michigan videos that made me want to hear more of this Ruckus. This also happens to be one of my favorite tunes on the album.

Dexateens Serve Up The Summer Album of 2009

2009-08-04T20:00:00.005-04:00

Earlier, I hinted that you would be hearing about the album I thought was the find of the summer, but really all the credit goes to LD over at the The Adios Lounge who has been carrying the Dexateens torch and got me to pick up their latest effort Singlewide. I suggest that you do the same. First, a little background for those of you, who like me until three months ago, didn't even know this band.

The Dexateens are based out of Tuscaloosa, Alabama and are centered around the writing, singing and playing of John Smith and Elliott McPherson. They have actually been around for a decade in one form or another and Singlewide is their fifth album as far as I can tell. A big question will be where to go in terms of other albums since this outing is so strong in my opinion. But first to the album at hand.

First off, this album hit at just the right time. The great garage country sound was perfect for the summer. The tunes are toe-tappers and laid back all at the same time. The duo sings like a southern version of the Jayhawks with their southern accents coming through loud and clear.

But this is not just a simple summer album either. The songs are varied enough in tempo and sound to keep you interested all the way through and the lyrics, while not overreaching, are solid. I mean anyone who can draw a line from Charlemagne to Jesse James through to Bob Crane has got it going on--the connection being the devil who shows up a couple times on this album. There is definitely a sense of these guys finding themselves and learning to accept who they are. The highlights in that vein are the two slow tunes "Singlewide" and "New Boy."

Ultimately, this is one of those albums I keep finding fits my mood whether I am driving, hanging out or dancing about in the kitchen while whipping up a meal.

Let me leave it there and let the music speak for itself. First up in the samples is the opener which exemplifies both the live feel of the recordings (you have to wait a moment until someone in the booth suggests they get going). Second up is perhaps my fav song, "New Boy" which captures a feeling I often have of wanting to change, but also accepting who we are: "I want to be a new boy, but I can't regret." Lastly is Charlemagne with it's intricate lyrics looking at forces that drive behavior that might be thought of as a bit on the deviant side. Could have picked just about any of the songs, so you are just going to have to pick this one up to hear it all.

Dexateens / Singlewide (Buy Album)

Down Low

New Boy

Charlemagne

Hiromi Makes Me Smile

2009-08-02T18:21:00.010-04:00

So I realize that I haven't been bringin the love lately on the albums I have reviewed and I had every intention of posting about what has been my favorite find of the summer tonight (and promise I will in the next couple of days), but truth is it just wasn't in the cards today. I just returned from taking the family up to Cleveland this weekend where they are going to hang a few days before we head up for vacation on the big lake and had to return for a few more days of work and that just put a damper on the mood.

But while finishing up some work around the house and dealing with the prolific garden, I heard a great interview on WPFW with Hiromi Uehara who is playing at Blues Alley this weekend. Now Hiromi is someone who has been getting a lot of attention for the last few years as a young jazz/fusion piano player because one, she can play the ivory right off of the piano keys and two, because she is a young phenom who seems to attract some of the greats of jazz--Ahmad Jamal, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and more. But I am a bit stodgy about jazz, so I have my reservations.

But in her interview today, Larry Applebaum asked her what she thought success was for an artist and she said she just wanted people to smile--and was she was so damn sincere and innocent sounding, you had to believe her. So a little poking around on the tubes led me to some various tunes, and watching and listening to them, I could not help but, well, smile. And that is truly a wonderful thing. So while I am not able to offer up much critical reflection on her music (happy to hear it, if you got it), I am going to share a couple videos that will hopefully make you smile as well.

First up is some totally funked out jazz.

Next up, Oscar Peterson meets Tom and Jerry.

Son Volt's Long, Slow Trip

2009-07-30T20:27:00.006-04:00

The new Son Volt effort, American Central Dust, has me thinking about driving across Nebraska in the summer time (and I don't mean the short way, I mean east-to-west or west-to-east). Here's the deal.

I have driven across Nebraska in the summer, both directions, a few times. There is no way to get around the fact that it is a long drive and as you make your way, you can't help but be amazed at the sameness as you pass mile after mile. There are wonderments along the way, like the moments when the Platte drops down and winds around the highway and you can't imagine how that water keeps moving through this flat plain and isn't it wonderful how it connects the mountain water from the east of the continental divide with the big ole' Miss. Or when you hit the western end of the state as you start climbing into Wyoming and the outcroppings of rock begin to appear and the fields of sunflowers bending to the slanting sunset stretch for miles. But ultimately, when you are driving through Nebraska, you are generally pretty much just looking forward to being in Wyoming or Iowa and, well, that is saying something isn't it?

And that is how I feel about the new album. There are a few interesting moments here and there, but the sameness comes across less as a well thought-out consistent collection and more as a somewhat unimaginative routine effort. I have put this album on a lot in the last few weeks since I got it along with the new Wilco album (couldn't help it), but I continue to find myself losing attention and then wondering where I am--what song I am currently listening to as it sounds a lot like the other songs?

The album opens just fine, but then never really goes anywhere. There are moments when you say that is a nice waltz, or nice low-key growly guitar, or etc. But there are just as many times that it is unremarkable at best. I could kind of dig the long, slow musical dirge as I watch the miles past theme if the lyrics were stronger, but they end up being somewhere between overstated to bad poetry for the most part.

Now, I am over-doing it a bit here--I am still hoping for another Son Volt album that I can really dig, but for now, I am going to always choose Trace or The Search from the spectrum of SV albums before this one.

So before this post starts to feel like dirving across Nebraska, here are a couple tunes to give you a sample. It was hard to choose given the sameness of the album, but here is the opener and one of the few electric guitar tunes on the album.

Son Volt (Buy Album)

Dynamite

When the Wheels Don't Move

Mike Clark: It's About the Jazz

2009-07-25T21:58:00.013-04:00

Summertime isn't necessarily a heavy jazz-listening season for me, but I have had Mike Clark's 2008 effort stacked up in my potential blog posts for a while, so I thought we would switch gears for a minute here and talk a little jazz.

So first off, I am going to bet that the name Mike Clark is not all that familiar even to jazz listeners--at least it wasn't to me until this album. That is probably for two reasons. One, I am hopeless about attending to who plays on what album in supporting roles. Two, I am not a big fusion fan and so don't have a lot of Herbie Hancock coming through the Headhunter phase. And it is there that Mike Clark got his real recognition, playing with Hancock on several albums though the mid-70s.

But with this album, which is part of a series intended to focus on "some of jazz music's eminently worthy but less widely known innovators," Clark, according to the liner notes, is out to

defy the stereotype of my identity as a funk or fusion drummer. I have devoted my entire life to playing jazz--the music I love the most--both before and after my successful association with Herbie Hancock's Headhunters. While I made a name of myself during the early years with Hancock, specifically on the Thrust album, and I love that music, has has always been where my strongests talent lies and my devotion begins.

Many seem to believe he succeeded as this album was clearly well received, getting solid reviews including making Downbeat's Best of 2008 list.

This is definitely a strong album--with Christian McBride on bass, Patrice Rushen on piano, Christian Scott on trumpet, Donald Harrison on alto (who many think steals the show) and Jed Levy on tenor (see that is me attending to the cast of characters)--but you have definitely got to be into the bop and still a little bit into the funk for this one--don't be hanging around waiting for the slow-swinger here.

Now, I have to say that I am not a huge follower of bands led by drummers with the notable exception of Art Blakey. The reason is that I am not real keen on either drum solos (which in my estimation should be left to live performances as they are in part visual spectacle) or, quite frankly, the drums being way out in front musically. Don't get me wrong, I love a strong drummer in the rhythm section who drives the beat and a well-done drum fill is a thing of beauty, but I am too hooked on melody to have the drums leading the song. And in some cases, that is a problem on this album for me, but only a little.

The tunes have a certain quality that is reminiscent of some great 50's Blue Note bop with the theme laid down and the band, which is definitely tight, passing the improvs around but with the theme re-emerging throughout. From a musical performance standpoint, you can see why the album received high marks. Most of the songs are straight jazz and even when they do veer into a funky attitude, it fits. Clark's drumming is quick and light, although very omnipresent in these songs--space is not really the goal here.

Ultimately, you gotta like the bop and you gotta like the drums and a lot of sound to dig this album. Here are three tracks to give you a taste. First up is the opener "In The House" which is a really solid opening track but a perfect example of a drum solo that is more an interruption to me than a highlight. Next up is Tim Ouinette's fine composition, "10th Ave. 1957" which brings some fine New Orleans swagger to the album. And last up is "Loft Funk" which brings the bop/funk sound fully together.

See what you think.

Blueprints of Jazz, Volume I (Buy Album)

In The House

10th Ave. 1957

Loft Funk

Forbidden love; or, Wherein wobs has his posting privileges summarily revoked

2009-07-24T21:31:00.004-04:00

Craig had some awful nice things to say about me in his introductory post. I do like to think that I have a good ear for music and that my understanding of it has evolved past the Beavis & Butthead binary of "this rocks/this sucks." I think it's fair to say that my appreciation of music mirrors my appreciation for beer - I have a palate for all of the various incarnations, I have an understanding of the processes that go into producing each type, I can intelligently discuss the subtleties, and, of course, I can spend hours enjoying it.

And with music, as with beer, there is some (what some might term "sub-standard") b(r)and that led me down the path to a broader appreciation, a b(r)and to which I continually return - shamelessly - for reasons of nostalgia and because, quite frankly, I still like it. Ladies and gentlemen, David Lee Roth-era Van Halen is my PBR of music.

So what if the lyrical content never veers beyond your standard "beers & broads" hair band fare? I defy you to name a band that did it as well, or who did it in a way that withstands decades of listening. Over 30 years after its initial release, Van Halen still possess in its rawness and aggressiveness, in Roth's smirking delivery, in Eddie's pyrotechnic genius, and in Michael and Alex's unremarkable but competent rhythms, an undefinable joy that still draws me back years later. Their whole Diamond Dave-era output is worth revisiting, but honestly, there is one reason I will always return to this band: the opening drum solo and guitar licks of 1984's "Hot For Teacher" played at speaker-blowing volume. It's the equivalent of an ice-cold tall boy of PBR on a hot summer day.

Our musical tastes had to start somewhere. Mine started here with a band that never sucked (at least until Sammy Hagar showed up).

Sprucing Up the Room with a Little Birdie

2009-07-24T19:16:00.010-04:00

For all you little birdies down on Jaybird Street who love to hear that tweet, tweet, tweet, we are trying a little experiment here at The Room. We have added a Twitter feed (really, look over there on the right). The idea is that since there might be days between posts (we are busy people after all), that doesn't mean we aren't listening and checking in on music, artists and other music bloggers. So this will be a way for us to keep a little stream of interesting tidbits about music flowing here (and occasional bad musical references in relation to other world events).

So check in with us for updates, or just follow us over at Twitter. If you got some interesting music news, tweet us for a retweet. And please, if you are following interesting music tweeters, please share with us so we can too!

Hosapple and Stamey: Memories and Ambivalence

2009-07-22T20:36:00.011-04:00

So here is an ongoing internal question I have. Since this blog is intended to be about the love of music and sharing that music, should we include reviews of albums with which we are, let's say, less than impressed. My first reaction is to stay focused on the positive, but then I realized that that might make me write reviews that were a bit misleadingly positive (this one comes to mind) in my effort to be supportive. And then, I keep imaging this discussion between me and a good friend.

GF: So I just picked up the new album by "random artist" and boy was that a let down.
Me: Yeah, I know.
GF: What?!
Me: I mean I thought it was pretty unimpressive too.
GF: You have that album?
Me: Yeah, I got it a couple weeks ago.
GF: What the hell?
Me: Huh?
GF: You didn't write anything about that on the blog--you could have saved me the trouble!
Me: Sorry, didn't know that was my responsibility.
GF: You stink!
Me: YOU stink.
Me: Like poop.
GF: I am never reading your stupid blog again.
Me: Fine.
GF: Fine.

Okay, so that is a bit of an exaggeration (other than the fact that I do now argue like my children) but it does strike me that perhaps it would be fair to at least mention albums that have met with my ambivalence in case that might matter to anyone. But I will try to keep such posts short rather than long Pitchfork-like tear-ups.

So, a while back I read that Peter Hosapple and Chris Stamey, formally of the dBs were about to release a new album. This news caught my attention because I had such fine memories of their last effort Mavericks from way back in 1990. I hadn't heard that album in forever as I had it on a long-gone cassette. So I ordered up the recently re-released disc version which includes a few extra tracks as well as the new album Here and Now.

You can see what is coming right? Disappointment.

Now these guys still know how to craft a pop song and they still have really solid harmonies, but the problem (for me) is that most of the songs are, well, corny. Now you have to realize that "Mavericks" was basically a whole set of love songs (true and broken), so nothing all that fancy. On H&N they take on a variety of topics including one of my favorite these days--growing older--but they end up coming across as more silly than reflective. So we get songs about "just wanting to hang out with you" and how it's okay that now they "get up early in the morning."

Then there is seeming obsession with self-refernce to the reunion itself which is the text of the title track. As PopMatters notes in their review:

Indeed, Holsapple and Stamey reference their new connection so often that even songs on a different subject begin to feel like more steps along the same path. For example, once you’ve heard “Here and Now” and “Broken Record”, “Begin Again” (Holsapple’s ode to his fragile New Orleans home) seems like a reunion reference. And after hearing “Long Time Coming” and “Tape Op Blues” (a tune about being in the studio), it’s hard to wonder if even “Santa Monica”, with its chorus of “I want to hang around with you… until my life is through”, should be interpreted not as an ode to a lover, but to a treasured bandmate.

There are some great sounding pop tunes more reminiscent of the dBs, which are wonderfully boppy background music, but lyrically just don't make it for me. Then there is some odd use of saxophone on a couple tracks which I joked was probably added in because they had some friend who plays sax that they wanted to give a shot. Turns out it is Branford--oops!

Of course, once I started deciding to write through my disappointment in the album, I kept listening and started to feel like perhaps I was being too hard, but I don't think so.

Now that said, if you don't have Mavericks, I would still recommend grabbing a copy of that. It still holds together well despite the 80's sounding production and the somewhat heavy use of reverb or chorus (or whatever you call that somewhat echo-y sound with techno sounding drums). So let me serve up a couple tunes from that album as well as the opening track from H&N, a cover of My Friend the Sun, which had me hopeful the first time I listened to it. And if you want to hear more from the new album--they have much of it streaming over at their site.

Mavericks (Buy Album)

My Friend the Sun

Here and Now (Buy Album)

I Know You Will

I Want to Break Your Heart

Country Music, Monsters of Folk and a Frontier Ruckus

2009-07-20T20:04:00.006-04:00

I have a stack of music to write about, but I haven't quite settled in enough with any of it to actually compose a coherent post. On top of that I am in a crabby mood and I figure it isn't fair to write about a disc in that state, so let's see if we can look at a few random items designed to lift the spirits a little.

First up, if you hadn't noticed the new little badge down there on the right side, we are now subscribed to Review Shine, which is a neat new site designed to connect artists and music bloggers. Artists can upload their tunes (please do!), and bloggers then get the right to review and share that music. In the first week, we have already had several albums offered up to us for review which is cool, but I can't help but notice that most of what has ended up in the ole Tuning Room inbox is very country oriented and a lot of tunes have to do with drinking. Hmmmm. Is this some commentary on the content here? I will let you be the judge.
Then there is all the commotion going on about the upcoming album from Connor Oberst, Jim James, and M. Ward known as the Monsters of Folk. And today, we find out that the first single is being offered up for free download over at their site. Just say "please" and the tune is yours.
And lastly, I was recently surfing around and ran into this great video of Frontier Ruckus live in the Paste studios which made me explore the band a bit more. That exploration taught me that these guys are from Michigan (bonus!) and that there a bunch of videos of them popping up all over the Great Lakes State and playing tunes. Here is one of my favs shot on the side of the road in northern Michigan which made my boys wonder if we will see them on our vacation--that would be too cool. You can count on some further exploration of this band's music in future posts.

Wow. I feel better already!

The Tuning Room Welcomes Wobs

2009-07-17T20:22:00.009-04:00

Some big news here at The Room. As of today, The Room officially has a new contributor. For all of those of you who fondly remember The Medulla Noodle with its regular PRM installments or were fans of Organizing Grievances, then you will know that we are lucky to have Wobblie join us here at The Room.

Personally, I am excited, because it is in no small part because of Wobs joining me as a colleague at work that I got refocused on music. I had a period of life where I really lost track of new and hip music and Wobs caught me up on several important groups from that period. Just to name a few: Wilco, Flaming Lips, Phish and The Walkmen. There are others, but that is a pretty impressive list right there, ain't it?

I think we can expect a few changes here in The Room which will definitely expand our focus. I am going to forecast that The Room will now be a bit more funky, punky and groovy. And won't that be fun?

So I hope everyone who checks in here regularly, will welcome Wobs. Likewise, we also welcome all those who will surely now check in with us because Wobs is "in The Room!" (sorry, couldn't resist)

And now back to our regularly scheduled blogging about the tunes.

Wilco Offers Up Its Big Sonic Shoulder

2009-07-15T21:01:00.000-04:00

I know that while Wilco (The Album) has already been reviewed about a gazillion times in the first two weeks it has been out, everyone is waiting for The Room to weigh in. And for good reason. I am not a "true Wilco fan." The evidence:

I didn't own any Wilco or even really know about the whole Uncle Tupelo/Wilco/Son Volt complex until only about a year ago. We will wait while you take that in (and hope it doesn't mean you will never return).
I would take Sky Blue Sky or Being There over Yankee Hotel Foxtrot any day, which is to say I like them the best when they aren't in their edgy, experimental mode.
I also like Son Volt very much which any true Wilco fan would probably consider at least a venial, if not a mortal, sin.

All of which gives me my particular perspective on Wilco. I don't have piles of expectations to heap upon this album (or any of their offerings), which also probably means I am not in a position to be hugely or even mildly disappointed. And that results in this incredibly insightful assessment of their new album.

I like it. Actually quite a bit. And like it more, the more I listen to it.

It is definitely more cool, groove Sky Blue Sky than dissonant Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but still there is something for everyone here I think. Of course, that might also mean that the album is not consistent enough in one direction to please anybody--I note that while those gazillion reviews are generally favorable they are all a bit tepid. Ultimately, though I think the All Music review has it down.

If Wilco (The Album) as a whole is considerably less ambitious than its predecessors, it compensates with its easy confidence and craft: it's the work of a band that knows their strengths and knows what they're all about, and it's ready to settle into an agreeably comfortable groove.

I am going to go out on the self-projection limb here and say that it is possible that this has a bit to do with age as well. Tweedy seems much more interested in relationships, reflection and adjustments than angst and being misunderstood.

But enough meta, let's look at "The Album" a bit shall we and let's start right at the beginning with "Wilco (The Song)" which is simply a fabulous Wilco pop romp to open up with and I can imagine it being a favorite show opener as well. This song got me thinking that someone should write about great first songs (someones, are you listening?) and this would be one of my choices.

For me a great first song immediately makes you know you want to listen to that album, right then--it is the right choice for your mood. It sets the tone and gives you a positive emotional feeling (not necessarily happy, but more at satisfaction). Now this opening song does, in fact, make me happy. After all, who can resist the charming refrain of having Tweedy tell you that "Wilco will love you baby?" And it is as they say a "big sonic shoulder" that you can cry on, but more than that. It is Wilco putting their arm around you and letting you know everything is okay--really, they understand. And somehow, that actually conveys and works with this song.

There are several other very Wilco pop/rock tunes mixing both Beatles sounding harmonies and music with a certain level of dissonance and feedback. "Sonny Feeling" offered up below is a good example. The only real edgy tune musically is "Bull Black Nova" which is the most Yankee sounding tune with guitars vs. techno sounds creating a certain repetitive discord with feedback and high volume lyrics resolving the tune.

Then there are the slower and mid-tempo tunes which form the majority of the album--although scattered so as not to feel like the album is dominated by them. Most have interesting musical identities from the Nick Drake sounding "Solitaire" to the 70's groove thing that is "Country Disappeared" which you can sample below. Then there is the "You and I" duet with Feist which is not quite Neil Diamond and Barbara Streisand, but is, well, as close to that as you want Tweedy to get. Then again, it seems to work as the antithesis to "Bull Black Nova" which it follows.

And so all and all, this might just be a solid, but unremarkable album for Wilco, but I suspect that the more folks listen to it, the more they are going to find themselves wanting to listen to it more. And goodness knows if this were their first album, people would probably be thinking they were geniuses!

So check it out. Here is the opening "shoulder" along with two others to give you a sample.

Wilco (The Album) Buy the Album

Wilco (The Song)

Country Disappeared

Sonny Feeling

While I Was Away: Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers

2009-07-11T09:51:00.012-04:00

Here is another artist/band that got some heavy listening to (thanks to Payton) while I was temporarily off-line. Samantha Crain and her band, the Midnight Shivers, have put together a very solid first album, Songs in the Night, released earlier this year.

The first thing to comment on is Crain's voice which is as unique as any out there these days. It is also hard to describe. Yes, she is from Oklahoma so it has a certain drawl to it, but it is more than that. Most of the songs have her in a full, alto mode, but she also clearly has range and control allowing her to sing beautifully in higher ranges and on softer pieces with more delicate vocals. I think Rolling Stone's description is as good as any I have read.

Her voice is gorgeously odd — all fulsome, shape-shifting vowels that do indeed billow like fog.

And that voice is at its best when it is fully integrated into the rest of the band--which it is on most songs.

The tunes range from country to mid-temp rock to haunting dirges that make you feel like you now understand where the band thought up its name. They all have a bit of a dark sound given both Crain's voice and the fact that most of the songs seem to be set in keys (minor, I assume) that have that darker, blues feel. A few tunes don't seem as well constructed as others musically, but that is typically temporary and followed with an even nicer musical move to erase any criticism. For instance, the third track "Long Division" has a guitar line that seems a bit simplistic and separate from the tune (to me), but then the song recovers with some nice horns that really fill out the tune--and then the next tune, "Get the Fever Out" hits it just great right from the opening.

In the end, I have to say that I am a bit curious as to why this album has not gained more attention, although they did get some nice attention from the Times--in that Times kind of way.

As I have listened to them, I keep thinking, this is what would happen if The Pretenders came out of Oklahoma with an alt-country feel. No they don't sound like the P's, but they have the same make-up--strong and unique female vocalist out front with a guitar, with three strong guy musicians behind. A certain moodiness to songs, but with a swagger that makes them rock through the darkness. And the unique sound of Crain's voice.

You can be the judge--here are three. First up is "You Never Know" which is the second to last song and shows off their solid rock chops and song structure--nothing overly adventuresome, just a really good straight-forward tune. Next up is the last song on the album which might be my favorite. "The Dam Song" shows off some of Crain's best singing and is a wonderful end to the album. Lastly, I give you the first tune on the album, which is a fine opening, but is all the better on the all-important disc-replay rollover. Hope you enjoy.

Songs in the Night (buy album)

You Never Know

The Dam Song

Rising Sun

Madness, Vivaldi and Other Conundrums

2009-07-08T20:02:00.006-04:00

So lately I have been noticing more than a few music bloggers posting "random notes" about music as a way to fill in for a lack of more substantial posts. I recognize the strategy to keep some fresh content up without quite as much effort as I often do this on my work blog, but haven't really resorted to it here. Not sure why, since, even though it might be just a filler strategy, I often find these posts as informational as any in the long run--so here is one of my own.

I was totally surprised today to learn that Madness has a new album out. Madness I say! I was totally a fan of the whole ska thing in the 80's (and the more recent resurgence) and had lots of albums (vinyl that is) of Madness, The Specials, The Beat, etc.--although very little on disc. Here is the question. Check out the new album? Pick up favorite ska albums on disc or download mp3s? Get one of these? Just wait, this will pass? Do tell.
Switching gears, the Allmusic Blog asserts that the best classical album of 2009 (so far) is Lara St. John's pairing of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and Piazzolla's The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. The conundrum is that while I love Vivaldi's Four Seasons, despite its insane popularity and overuse, I already have two versions--neither of which I bought myself (and one which I am pretty sure Neats gave me just to get the poster of Josh Bell)--but I don't have the Piazzolla. Get another version of Vivaldi to get the other? Not worth it? Is there some other version of the Piazzolla I should have? If so, which one?
After restarting The Room, I have already received an email from someone clearly wanting me to review/promote a band. The band is Englishman which I have listened to a few times on their MySpace page. The music is intriguing--the next Iron and Wine perhaps? But what is one to do with these kinds of inquiries? Review regardless of what I think, good or bad? Just the good? Ignore because, really, who am I to judge?
Today I noticed that Nelson was celebrating his blog anniversary (belatedly I think) which made me realize that I started this blog over a year ago and so I missed my own blog anniversary. Or did I? Does it count if you stopped the blog midway and then restarted? When is this blog's anniversary? Hard to say.

Any and all suggestions welcome. Until then, I give you Madness!

Out of Season: Grizzly Bear

2009-07-06T20:54:00.010-04:00

Some one who knows me well told me recently that I was "so moody" about music. His comment referred to my seasonal (music) affect disorder which basically means that I randomly think of certain music belonging to certain seasons. This tends to mean that if I get an album at a certain time of year that I might otherwise like, my reaction might be a bit cool if it is "out of season" so to speak.

This was clearly the case with the Fleet Foxes, for example. While everyone was going gaga last year over them, I just couldn't get into the album (but wisely noted that I should put it away for a bit). Sure enough, earlier this year during a few months when the Capital City basically turned into Portland, I returned to the Foxes and fell in love with the album. In that spirit, I am going to start a new category of post for albums that I recognize as having a lot of quality or potential, but that I fear might not be getting my full appreciation for the simple and random reason that it is just not the right season in my brain.

First up in that category is the new album by Grizzly Bear--and you thought this post was about hunting didn't you?! Veckatimest (apparently named after a small Massachusetts island) is getting really consistently solid reviews from all over the place and only a few listens will tell you why. It is both complex and interesting and definitely a unique blend of sounds and styles which is a bit of a challenge to describe. Imagine starting with the Beach Boys of Pet Sounds, throw in some pensive Walkmen guitar work, perhaps a bit of Flaming Lips synth and bass work here and there, a certain 70's vibe, a touch (just a touch) of Gabriel era Genesis, then add some glam-rock like vocals (although I can't real pin down one vocal comparison) and a choir, and maybe, just maybe, you get a sense of it all.

The tunes are mostly mid-tempo with lots of layers of both music and vocals and most with many different mini-movements to them. The front end of the disc is a wonderful set of five tunes that if I had this on vinyl might mean that the flip side might not see the needle very often. The back half have some strong pieces, but Pitchfork nails it in their review of the middle of the album.

Save "Cheerleader" and the lilting "Ready, Able", the stretch between "Fine for Now" and "While You Wait" wanders a bit; certain moments, like Rossen's "swim around like two dories" line and the wispy, wheezing "About Face", hit harder than others. But you'll be looking for a while to find anybody who thinks the center of Veckatimest is as strong as the stuff surrounding it.

That said, this is still obviously going to be one of those albums that a whole lot of folks talk about this year and I suspect at the end of the year when those inevitable lists get made.

So, wait, wasn't this supposed to be about my ambivalence or something? Well, the truth is that as much as I appreciate the album (and as some in my household might point out, I have listened to it "a lot") it is going into the wait for Fall pile because ultimately it makes me think of the kind of album you listened to as a hip new college band. Not a bar band--no, no--but rather one of those albums that is always on at some one's party, in a dorm room or college apartment, cuz, well, it is hip. I don't mean this in a superficial, hipster way--but rather to say that this album is, in fact, very cool--like an autumn weekend afternoon hanging with friends.

For those of you who don't suffer from my version of SMAD and think you might want to pick up some cool, hip Brooklyn-based tunes now, here are some samples which I think cover the range from the poppy beginning to the slower-tempo tunes and on to some more jangly guitar pieces.

Veckatimest (Buy Album)

Two Weeks
Fine for Now
While You Wait for the Others

Update: Had to take the mp3's down as they were getting pulled from Box, so I am trying to avoid my first Google take down since returning. Check out GB music here instead.

While I Was Away: Sun Kil Moon

2009-06-30T20:36:00.008-04:00

Somewhere in the last six months, the Pandora delivered a wonderful nugget via my acoustic station when the soft vocals of Mark Kozelek caught my attention. The song was "Carry Me Ohio" off Ghosts of the Great Highway by Kozelek's current project known as Sun Kil Moon. (I will say right off that I have none of his previous work with Red House Painters, but will be looking into it.) So I picked up Ghosts which was released in 2003 and subsequently have picked up the more recent release, April from 2008.

This is one of those bands who I found through listening and then listened to a lot before I really read anything about them other than some background info, so it was interesting to then head over to the big board and read various reviews that reflected much of what I heard (well the positive reviews, of which there are many for these two albums.) Still I find it hard to describe the music.

Let's start with the obvious. It is slow. I mean all of it. Even when the band plugs in a few more instruments, the tempo is still slow. This is certainly not to say uninteresting, just slow. The music is primarily Kozelek, which is to say guitar and vocal oriented, with guitar often layered on other guitar. Most of it is acoustic, but some of the nicest tracks involve a wall of low volume distorted electric chords running throughout. Within that context, Ghosts is more varied musically with a bit (I mean a bit) more rock to it.

The lyrics all have the feeling of haunting memories--although it is more poetry than story telling (with some exception). Ghosts has a much more historical feel while April seems more personal more often. Kozelek's vocals are smooth, embedded and almost lost in the tunes, but like the music as a whole, they invite you in to stay for a while and dwell with them.

Now this is certainly not for everyone. I think you have to start with a certain appreciation for a kind of alt-country sound that is a bit more stylized and then you have to be willing to hang with songs (Kozelek seems pretty set on only writing songs closer to seven minutes in length than three). Most are subtle variations on a theme rather than songs with radically different parts as Kozelek seems to want to work thourgh an idea or feeling, as well as certain musical phrases, in multiple ways before leaving them.

That said, I have found myself pretty entranced by the music. I think Ghosts is solid from start to finish with a wonderful mix of songs. April suffers from length a bit. It clocks in at about 73 minutes which is just too long for me (still a child of the 50 minute album ya know) and I could find a couple songs to drop (although there are only ten--again my point about longer songs). Still I keep coming back, finding a different song or sound or lyric catching me each time.
A nice aside about April is that there are four alt takes, but SKM has packaged them neatly on a separate disc for your consideration.

Okay, that is enough of an attempt at explanation. Let me give you a couple samples to see what you think. First from Ghosts, I am going to start with "Carry Me Ohio" since that is where I started. That is followed by "Pancho Villa" which is an acoustic version of "Salvador Sanchez" (which is the most amped up tune on the album and on my first listen seemed out of place, but I now love) which I think captures a key Kozelek sound. And then, moving on to April, I am just going with one tune (since the three together will require a bit of your time already). "The Light" is the second tune on the disc and will give you a sense of Kozelek's use of electric guitar which often sounds very Neil Young like.

Here is hoping you enjoy as much as I have.

Ghosts of the Great Highway (Buy Album)

Carry Me Ohio
Pancho Villa

April (Buy Album)

The Light

Regina Spektor: What Say You?

2009-06-27T18:11:00.005-04:00

So in the last week I have noted more than a few mentions of Regina Spektor's new album, Far. I have none of her stuff which always seemed beautifully sung, but a bit quirky, leading me to think I might not really listen to her music routinely (which I generally hope for when I buy an album). Then today, while running an errand, I heard this interview with her on Studio 360 which raised my interest again.

The last time, I considered picking up her work was based on Lisa B. playing this video for a while over at The Store--it is a beautiful tune.

Regina Spektor - Samson
by reginaspektor

So Spektor fans (or detractors), what say you?

While I Was Away: Justin Townes Earle

2009-06-26T18:44:00.023-04:00

So one of the artists I was catching up with during my little blog hiatus was Justin Townes Earle.

You may insert your own paragraph here about his namesakes: Papa Steve Earle and best bud Townes Van Zandt. The questions of heritage, pressure, etc. have already been covered to death so I am going to skip it other than to say that his music has some influences and is at the same time different. Duh. Oh and then there is the obligatory discussion of his early addiction problems that have been now held in check resulting in these two albums which I am also going to pass on given how thoroughly that has already been covered.

No, the question before us, good readers, is the two full albums he has released in the last two years, The Good Life (2008) and Midnight at the Movies (2009). Here again, I am not breaking any new ground by suggesting that while they are both well worth a listen, the second effort clearly out does the first. But in my mind there is no real reason to evaluate them in that way. They are different in some significant ways, but I tend to think of them as two discs that simply should be listened to at different times in different moods.

First the similarities. Both albums are throwback, honky-tonk country albums with similar subjects. I am hard to live with, why do you put up with me? Your hard to live with, why do I put up with you? I have messed up enough in my short life, why should I judge you? You have your own problems, why are you judging me? Relationships, vices, family, overcoming vices and occasional character sketches.

They are both well mixed. Good Life is brighter with a more "live" sound while Midnight is more polished and orchestrated, but both are open with a solid balance of instruments whether it involves pedal steel, fiddle, or just guitars and the rhythm section. Each song on it's own is well-constructed and Justin's song writing abilities are clear.

The differences? From where I stand, Good Life is a good collection of songs like a good set at show. The songs are more upbeat overall than Midnight, but the latter album is just that: an album. It holds together better and ultimately the songs themselves are better for it. They are more complex and move from one to another better. Good Life feels a bit more like Justin is trying out different sets and styles moving from honky-tonk, to 2-step shuffles, to slow blues, while Midnight feels like it was put together in a more thoughtful way. It isn't that Midnight doesn't have variation, but more that it feels like variation on a theme--a theme that is, in fact, Justin's life--that makes for a good story.

So while I would clearly recommend Midnight if you were only picking up one, I would recommend both. Play Good Times early in the evening while hanging out with friends on a Friday night and things are getting going. But as the night progresses and you are chillin' a bit (and perhaps you have moved on to something requiring sippin'), throw on Midnight and let it drift over the talk. Or given that the two albums together only last a little over and hour, listen to them back to back as one flows nicely into another.

Here are a few to give you a taste. As usual it is hard to figure out how to just provide a snapshot of a whole album, so I am going with title tracks and then one other tune that reflects some of the variation. As it happens, if you let the player go, you will get the experience of one album ending and the next beginning. Bonus!

The Good Life (Buy Album)

The Good Life
Far Away In Another Town

Midnight at the Movies (Buy Album)

Midnight at the Movies
Halfway to Jackson

Michael Jackson: RIP

2009-06-25T19:43:00.004-04:00

Okay, I am not going to say much here, but as someone who lived in Motown from 1969-1973 and hung out with his sibs listening to the CKLW: The Big 8, Michael Jackson and his brothers were a big part of the sounds of my early music listening days. So today, a piece of my childhood just passed. Rest in peace.

Silver Spring: The New Brooklyn?

2009-06-24T20:08:00.013-04:00

Odd how music intersects with life. I haven't listened to Branford Marsalis' award winning 1992 jazzy-blues effort I Heard You Twice the First Time for a loooong time, but it used to be a frequent listen, particularly during hot summer days (it always seemed like a disc designed for hot sultry summer nights). But then this past Monday a colleague from work and I were working hard to catch a cab since we were two of the thousands stranded in downtown D.C. due to the awful accident on Metro's red line which we ride daily.

We were at Union Station, but the taxi line there was a gazillion folks long, so we walked over to a hotel where cabs normally congregate only to find, well, no cabs. However, we were able to flag one down and jumped in quickly as we were, of course, competing for the driver's attention. From there, the conversation went something like this:

Us: We are going to the Silver Spring Metro stop.

Cabbie: Uuuhhh . . . .

Us: Silver Spring Metro stop?

Cabbie: Pulls over toward hotel where someone is shouting they need a ride to a recognizable location nearby.

Us: Silver Spring?

Hotel Bellman: These guys are going to Cleveland Park.

Cabbie: Hmmm, I know Cleveland Park.

Us: No, Silver Spring.

Pause . . .

Us: Do you know where that is?

Cabbie: No.

Us: Ah! We will direct.

And we did and he was gracious about it all--weaving in and out of DC streets to get to that foreign land known as Maryland (and yes, we made it worth his time). But the whole time, I kept thinking about the opening track of Branford's album. Now don't get me wrong--I am not suggesting there was anything remotely racial going on as is the case in this tune, it just made me think about it and made me break this album out.

It is a great set of blues driven jazz tunes with Branford's band at the time including Kenny Kirkland on piano, Jeff "tain" Waits on drums and Robert Hurst on bass. The guests on the album are a who's who of blues: B.B. King, Russel Malone, John Lee Hooker, Brother Wynton, Linda Hopkins and others. Neats and I also had the pleasure of seeing a version of this cast of players during our first stint here in DC.

The album runs the gamut from Branford's boppy jazz orientation to the KC/Chicago blues sounds of B.B. and John Lee to New Orleans jazz scene and generally explores all the connections between jazz and blues even looking back at working songs brought over from the fields of Africa. So here are a few samples for those of you who dig that wonderful intersection of jazz and blues (although it is hard to pick enough samples to represent the whole diversity that is this disc).

So why not just pick it up for yourself over at Branford's page.

Brother Trying to Catch a Cab (On the East Side)

Rib Tip Johnson

Mabel

Re-Start Me Up

2009-06-23T17:50:00.005-04:00

Lately this blog has been calling me back. Why? Possible reasons:

The desire to share thoughts about the stack of music I have listened to since I left?
The need to express my dissappointment that Nick over at Indie Muse was right that the Decemberists went over the edge with Hazards of Love?
The worry that the world won't be complete if another blogger doesn't mark the release of the new Wilco album (oops, too late)?
It's summer?
The fact that writing the blog made me more attentive to other music bloggers and I miss that?
I don't want to dissappoint my two--count them two--followers?
Where else will I get to write about my daily check-ins with the Regeneration Tour?
The same silly assumptions I had when I started in the first place?
The even sillier assumption that I have enough time?

Who knows. But either I am or I am not. If not, then this is just a little snarky distraction on a random Tuesday. If I am, then we need to establish some new guidelines damnit, because the old ones just weren't working! Who established those previous guidelines anyway? And does anybody but me even know what they were? Okay, here are the new ones just in case I re-start.

While most of the posts will still be about music, I am not going to limit myself just to music . . . afterall, I have a life, you know.
I will not be obsessed about trying to stay current--I am too damn far behind as it is. (I have also apparently decided the new version of the blog will be cussier.)
Neither will I be obsessed about regularity (in posting that is)--we post when we feel like it at the Tuning Room 2.o (and don't test me with you plantive emails!).
There will be no scoring of discs, only reflections.
I am giving up on the idea that someone is going to join me and turn this blog into a group blog . . . and you call yourself friends!
Okay, I am sorry for that. Anyone who wants to start up a new group blog dedicated to music simply has to ask and I will be there like an excitable cocker spaniel.
And one final note to say that all guidelines are subject to random changes without notice.

And now I return to much self-reflection and questioning about me and this here blog.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

2009-03-21T21:14:00.007-04:00

Hello? Tap. Tap. Anyone still here? If you are, you probably are wondering if I am still here. Sort of. But not for long, I think. Life has simply become to busy to find time to get the Room going (at least as I was trying to). Why? Not because I haven't been listening to lots of music--I have half a dozen posts stored up about albums I have been listening to and questions I have about what others think about different aspects of music. No, the real answer is simple. Time. It is just in too short of a supply and other priorities need what time I have.

Of course there is work which is just all consuming and travel has been particularly heavy lately. Since Miami there have been trips to NY, California, and another one coming back to NY and probably Ohio, well, you get the picture. On top of that I realized that trying to keep the Room updated was taking away some of my energy from the work blog and that one actually helps pay the bills.

More importantly there is the family and home life. Keeping up the blog was also clearly taking precious time away from the ones who deserve more attention--not to mention that The Artist was getting worried that the Room was getting more attention than the Brothers K blog (invite only--friends and family let me know if you want one so you can see all the antics of the boys--the video they took of themselves dancing to "It's Raining Men" is worth it all on its own!).

And ultimately, when I started this not that long ago, it wasn't because I thought the world need another music blog or that I was even a real music blogger. Rather, I was hoping that it would evolve into a place where the many friends I have would congregate to talk about music and share ideas. That happened to some extent and I am so happy about reconnecting with some long, lost folks and to be talking with them again not to mention meeting some other great music bloggers on-line. But really, I think my time would be better spent just working on keeping those connections alive rather than assuming that everyone wants to communicate via the Room. No, I am not fishing here, just being honest and a little embarrassed at stopping so soon.

So, for now, we are taking a very long, probably permanent break. There is a slight chance I might change the focus of the blog to not just be music which I find takes more time to write about than other things. And I still have a hope of eventually starting a more group oriented blog with some friends that will cover music and more, but I think (hope) next time I will be start enough to figure out who might be interested in that before starting rather than going with the "build it and they will come" strategy.

Until then, thanks for all who have stopped by, commented and sent emails--it really has been fun to do and it surely has made me get back into music as I once was. Of course, I reserve the right to be totally fickle and randomly at any time go back on this decision and just start again when time and energy allow.

Ciao for now.

Sounds of Miami

2009-03-01T20:36:00.010-05:00

Just a quick note to say that things here in the Room will be even slower than normal as work has headed into overdrive. I will be headed off to Miami for a week--and before anyone starts thinking this is about fun and pleasure, let me just say that I will be working nonstop with little time for fun or music. That said, we will get a night at the The Freedom Tower in Miami for an evening reception that will include Cuban food and music. For those who don't know the Freedom Tower, it was originally the home of the Miami News, then became the building that handled the refugees from Cuba who fled from the Castro government and is now a museum to Cubans who emigrated to this country.

I am not trying to wade into the whole question of Castro, Cuba and the U.S.--just noting that about the only chance I will get to enjoy some music (and food) will be that night. Here is hoping the tunes sound something like this.

If by some chance you were not one of the millions of folks who picked up the Buena Vista Social Club's album in the late 90's, then do so now. You won't regret one minute of that decision. And when I return in ten days or so, I am pretty sure I intend to suggest some changes here at the TR.

Until then, let's hear what you all are listening to as we get ready to change seasons.

Open Thread: The Whispertown 2000

2009-02-24T20:37:00.004-05:00

What say ye?

Hot new indie band?
Wait and see?
Ain't no Jenny Lewis or Rilo Kiley?
Who?

Drowning in Harmony: Olson and Louris

2009-02-20T19:49:00.006-05:00

I am an old and angry man

Can’t you see that the trap’s been set . . .

Despite this not being an official Jayhawks’ album, the latest effort by Mark Olson and Gary Louris will surely suffer from the burden of expectations. As a result you get lots of luke-warm assessments such as that of Rolling Stone:

Mark Olson and Gary Louris' new disc may not be the Jayhawks reunion some fans hoped for, but it's a respectable set of mostly acoustic folk songs sweetened by the duo's bright, sibling-like harmonies.

Of course, one might split hairs and (again) point out that this isn’t in fact “the Jayhawks,” but that is a bit disingenuous. I do think it is fair to say that this album is definitely Olson and Louris in a very different place than when they were writing and performing as the J’s. Here we have two talented guys who get compared to other very famous duos. But unlike Lennon and McCartney or Simon and Garfunkel, these two are getting back together and aren’t just reliving past hits. Rather they seem to be figuring out how to make new music and move forward. And, in that context, I have to say that as I have listened to this album a lot for the last month, it is a really nice reunion that I hope leads to more collaboration as they clearly still have a lot of music in them.

The approach here is simple and straightforward. It isn’t going to blow you away. Rather it will court you patiently. Most tunes are slow to mid-tempo with the instrumentation being focused mainly on two guitars and a rhythm section. That said, there are some nice subtle musical arrangements with the rhythm guitar nicely countered with clean acoustic leads and fills as well as nice use of electric guitar, organ and harmonica on various songs, but the bottom line is two guys with guitars playing tunes.

And of course, there is the harmony—oh the harmonies. Anyone who likes to sing along with a song and add your own harmony, there is no disappointment here. Olson and Louris haven’t lost that great blend of voices, but like a good gospel tune, there is always room for you to add another harmony to their songs as you sing along.

The lyrics are searching and sometimes a bit too much Salvation Blues to me. Most songs are center on loss, growing older, trying to stay focused on the good—trying, and generally finding one’s way through the messiness of life. They all have a real sincere feel to them, but they aren’t what you would call uplifting. Even when you get a more rockin’ tune like “Chamberlin, SD” the lyrics about “draggin’ the Missouri river” give pause.

I wouldn’t mind the disc being a bit shorter—but I ambivalent on that point, since two of the tunes I really enjoy are considered “Bonus Tracks” since I assume they are not on the vinyl—too bad, as they are both nice country-oriented pieces.

So perhaps it has to do with my own identification with some of the themes here or that I just appreciate the sound of the album which has the very natural feel of two guys sitting together and sharing music (the trap was set), but I have found myself listening to this over and over and growing fonder of the album each time. Good albums to me are ones that have songs I immediately like and others that I come to appreciate—adding up to an experience that is, overall, really enjoyable. I suspect I might be enjoying this one more than others will (and in many ways it has been a musical oasis in a desert of work these last few weeks), but that is my take.

As I have been listening to it a lot, it took me a long time to decide on samples, but here you go.

Ready for the Flood (Buy Album)

Bicycle
Saturday Morning on Sunday Street
Cotton Dress (Bonus Track)

Now We're Cookin: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

2009-02-16T20:25:00.012-05:00

If you aren't one of the folks who already knew to check out the new An Album A Day blog, then let me suggest you do. Why? Well, because this random, wonderfully written daily review of albums (every day!) based on whatever happens to hit this blogger's fancy will make you want to revisit classics, pick up something new you haven't heard about, or remind you of albums you should pick up but you haven't. And that is the case for me with Wes' review of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings third album, 100 Days, 100 Nights.

Bottom line here is that this is a wonderful take on Stax-era soul. I will only add a couple things to Wes' review. First, I appreciate the tempo of this album. The DK's resist any temptation to speed up the music to the quicker hip-hop tempos of contemporary music and keep the tunes at that wonderful tempo of early soul. And second, while there are great horn parts here, it is all mixed wonderfully behind Jones' vocal--it is afterall Sharon Jones and the DK's and not the other way round.

So while we have been busy the last few days with this and that, there has been plenty of dancing to these tunes as we cooked up a storm of food. If you are a fan of Otis, Booker, Wilson, early Aretha, or any others of that era and you haven't picked this one up, then send a word of thanks to Wes, pick up the disc, and get ready for some swingin and rockin. Here are a couple to get ya started.

Nobody's Baby

Be Easy

Furry Memories

2009-02-12T19:47:00.008-05:00

Wow—just seems impossible to find time to even think about music say nothing about write about these days. Either that or the cable package we just got after nearly ten years without it is rotting my brain. For instance, I could have been listening to and/or blogging about music the other night when I found myself watching The Wedding Singer (and yes, enjoying it—I admit that).

I take it that when you watch that show, you are supposed to giggle at that wacky 1980’s music and I did . . . until I started to realize that I owned, at least at some point, almost every album that is featured in that film. And I liked a lot of them too. In fact, I noted that I still have quite of few of them and even listen to them occasionally. It had been a while though since I dipped in any Psychedelic Furs who get some good air time in this flick.

Ah the Furs—how can you not like the wall of sound that comes through in their (earlier) music? And c’mon, you’ve got to dig Richard Butler’s voice, right? And they even have some kind of cool and punky lyrics if I recall. All I know is that they make me think of house parties that I remember fondly and am now worried about my children attending.

But we still have a few years for that (I think). So muss up that hair, turn up the volume and enjoy a few Fur tunes for old time’s sake—and really, you want to hear those movie hits I know it. First up is the tune that probably go them more air time than any other thanks to the movie by the same name (although that doesn’t mean it isn’t a great tune). Then we have another hit which is the tune that gets most time behind Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore in the Wedding Singer. And lastly, just for a change of pace, here is the single (and title track) from the Furs greatest compilation which represents a nice return to the earlier sound.

Pretty in Pink (Buy Album)
Love My Way (Buy Album)

All of This and Nothing (Buy Album)

Emmylou: As Slow, Sad, and Beautiful as Ever

2009-02-08T08:03:00.006-05:00

Someone once said that Allison Krauss could sing the phone book and it would be beautiful. True. I submit that if Emmylou Harris sang the phone book, you would end up feeling like you knew the people she sang about and even more, you would empathize with them. I mean really, can anyone sing about buying someone a crescent wrench without sounding silly? Emmylou can.

Now her 2008 release, All I Intended to Be is certainly not the kind of adventurous and remarkable album, that say Wrecking Ball was. The songs are all straightforward constructions, with a standard country feel and sung at Harris' favorite tempo: slllllooooooowww. That said, it is a beautiful album with spacious arrangements that allows you to hear the wonderful warm tone of Emmylou's voice and the sincerity of her singing.

The tunes include a few originals and collaborations with Kate and Anna McGarrigle, but there is also a healthy dose of covers here, including tunes by Merle Haggard, Tracy Chapman to Patty Griffin, but all fit together well in a landscape painted with personal history, self-reflection and the lessons of life. Standard Emmylou--picking great songs and weaving them together as if they all belonged there.

This is definitely a sit on the porch and watch the sun go down kind of album--there is no dancing around to Bill Monroe tunes here. So settle in and take a listen if you haven't.

Hold On

Gold

Kern River

Three to Consider: Blues, Pop and Disco Be-bop

2009-02-05T19:19:00.013-05:00

Here are three to consider from the recent Relix sampler. A bunch of dudes, but all with a very different orientation.

First up is the Jaik Miller Band featuring NYC frontman, you guessed it, Jaik Miller. I won't try to give you the whole history as I know little to nothing of ancestral efforts including Xanax 25. The new band includes Ryan Adams and the Cardinals guitarist JP Bowerstock (who also produced the album) and got quite a good deal of positive feedback for this self-titled album. Not sure what I think about the whole enterprise overall, but this slow blues tune has a nice feel. If you like it, visit their site to learn more.

Orange Sunshine

Next up is "him" otherwise known as M. Ward who most recently became famous as part of this duo. Of course it will be interesting to see how things change for, er, "him" on his seventh solo effort after that popular album. If this cut is any indication, I imagine he is going to find a larger following since it has much of the great pop feel of the duo album--in fact, I think you might hear a familiar voice in the background. For more on M Ward and the new album Hold Time, check out the release site.

Never Had Nobody Like You

And lastly we send a shout out ot anyone from Ann Arbor, MI to tell us about Macpodz who have coined the term "Disco-Be-bop" to describe their music. You have to be thinking Medeski, Martin and Wood here, but I don't have lots of info. This is their third studio album and they appear to have developed a following, but let's hear what others have to say. And like any good funky fun band, you can hear lots more just by heading to their website here.

Followaduby

Trying to Get into the Present Tense with James Carter

2009-02-02T20:39:00.010-05:00

I remember the first time College Roomy had me sitting in his back room (post college) and put on James Carter's 1995 release, The Real Quietstorm which opens with the phatest baritone sax openings of "Round Midnight" one could ever imagine. It was a sound that made you melt the minute you heard it. That whole album, which I picked up the first chance I could after I heard it, was simply wonderful all the way through with that totally sexy late night jazz feel to it. I thought, this is a player I am going to be listening to for a very long time. Carter's contrbutions on Robert Altman's 1996 Kansas City soundtrack did nothing but confirm that sense as Carter's distinctive growl on any saxophone he touched--whether bari, alto or soprano--and on any style of song he played, was both distinctive and a pleasure to listen to. As Pico puts it:

When you hear Carter play the saxophone, it's pretty unmistakable that it's him: he's got the soul of Lester Young, the grit of Eddie Harris and the technical proficiency of John Coltrane.

But alas, I didn't keep up (at all) and it was only recently that I picked up my second James Carter album--his 2008 release Present Tense. Now you have to be a real curmudgeon to not enjoy Carter's playing, but I can also understand some of the slightly, er, nuanced reactions to this album. It has exquisite playing throughout and great mixes and each song is worthy of comment, but it doesn't quite hold together as a whole.

Carter plays just about anything that has a reed and requires wind and then throws in a little flute for good measure--so talent is not an issue. And the album contains a variety of influences from standard swing, to Latin, to alternative jazz, so you have to respect the variety. And all of it does have a certain Carter touch--this isn't just a cat with a sax showing off his skills . . . but it still doesn't move me as a great disc (although it has, for the most part received some very solid reviews).

The disc opens with "Rapid Shave"--a swinging Blue Note era sounding bop tune by Dave Burns that sets the tone. That is followed by "Bro. Dolphy"--a Carter original that leans toward the atonal, alternative jazz Dolphy played and Carter, on the bass clarinet of course, does Dolphy justice. That said, the tune throws off the album for me as it is as if I just hit the shuffle button on the iPod and jumped from one era to the next. Eclectic and wide-ranging yes, but not really how I like my discs to flow.

In fact, I think it is this moment in the disc which is the real hitch for me as after that we settle in with a Django ballad (never can you go wrong there) and a slow cha-cha piece where Carter's growling sax is at its best--slow and menacing. We then move into a pretty nice mix of pieces although I have to say I am not real keen on jazz albums where the artist is dueling himself on a multi-track mix of, well, himself, which we get on "Song of Delilah." The disc has some nice pieces in the later half with a great swinging version of Gigi Gryce's "Hymn of the Orient" and some nice Latin-flavored pieces.

Ultimately though the breadth of styles becomes a bit too much of a mish-mash for me. I don't want it all to be the same, but I would really have liked a bit more sense of how it all fits together. Perhaps I am a bit too wed to a certain type of jazz album and am just still trying to figure out how to move forward with jazz rather than being hung up in the classics of the past. There are many wonderful moments here (with Dwight Adams' trumpet work and D.D. Jackson's piano providing great complements to Carter's sensibilities) and it is definitely worth a listen. It just doesn't reach the level of classic to me--a high bar I suppose, but one that this guy has the talent to reach. Of course to be fair, I should listen to something from the previous 15 years (and if you have a sense of offerings between Quietstorm and Present Tense that should be looked into, please advise).

Check these out, which I think are a few highlights of the album (which you can buy here).

Rapid Shave

Sussa Nita

Hymn of the Orient

And if you haven't heard this from Real Quietstorm which you can also buy here, well then let me share!

Round Midnight

And lastly, check out this swinging tune from Kansas City, on which JC takes a rippin solo (oh and you can buy that there too).

Moten Swing

Barely Contained Pandemonium: Second Thoughts on The Dodos

2009-01-29T20:00:00.006-05:00

After I got done watching the video of “Fools” by the Dodo’s a bazillion times like I was a teenager who just discovered MTV (or whatever the kids watch these days), I actually picked up Visiter and have been exploring it heavily for the last few weeks.

First off it is important to get into your mind that this is basically two guys, Meric Long and Logan Koeber, making a lot of sound that reminds me of XTC. Their tools include one acoustic guitar (although there is electric guitar, particularly feedback, scattered throughout the album) and drums—and I mean drums. There are no cymbals although there is the occasional tambourine or bell thrown in for jangle and a metal sound, but for the most part rims and sticks serve to create the counter-punch to the heavy deep tom-tom sound. Oh and their voices. But basically everything is percussive—even when they are in quiet mode, the drumming and banging is anticipated.

Parts of this disc are simply wonderful—if I compiled a best songs of 2008, “Fools” certainly would have been near the top the list. In fact, the opening four songs which are really just two short acoustic pieces (“Walking” and “Eyelids”) each which set up great drum-driven, fast strumming acoustic pieces (“Red and Purple” and “Fools”). And I think we know how important those opening tracks are to me.

Plenty of folks have made the comparison to Animal Collective. Yes, there is yelling and hooting—one might even suggest barking—and yes, there is plenty of primal drumming and repetitive beats, but the Dodos just aren’t that complicated in the end. Ultimately, they are two young dudes who have a bunch of talent and an interesting idea about song arrangement, but mainly they have tons of energy that they seem to be doing all they can to contain within the structure of these songs. So it doesn’t come as too much of a surprise that while the lyrics are fine for the most part, the middle of the album contains a couple really sophomoric songs, which, Crawdaddy precisely assesses as the valley of the album. Similarly, most of the songs have some great build and tension and resolution, but here and there the boys to go on as long as a Genesis keyboard solo. In short, they could have used one more good edit.

Still, this is a romp of an album and a really fresh sound. That said, I can’t help but feel that they are still working it out a bit and finding their stride—as if they are on the verge. We will see. I think they have the potential to put out a really amazing album if they can narrow in on the best parts of their music and lose just a tad of the silliness without losing their edge.

Buy Album

Walking
Red and Purple
Jodi

Acid Tongue: Perhaps a Bit More Base?

2009-01-25T21:36:00.006-05:00

As I continue to catch up on albums from 2008, I have been listening a lot lately to Jenny Lewis' second solo effort, Acid Tongue. Having enjoyed exploring some of the work of Rilo Kiley last year, I was hopeful about getting into Lewis' solo work. The album was getting a solid set of reviews and as the year was coming to a close, it was showing up on a lot of top "this and that" lists.

Now surely you are hearing the sound of the other shoe getting ready to drop. Only kind of. It isn't that I dislike this album or think it is undeserving of some of the praise it received, but rather that I found it inconsistent and my reaction therefore is a bit ambivalent (leaving me unable to weigh in on either side of the haiku debate over the album in Paste). Much of the debate about this album seems to be related to those who were positive about her first non-Rilo Kiley effort (they don't like this one as much) and those who didn't like the first effort (they loved this one).

The album opens with, in my opinion, what is one of the weakest tracks, "Black Sand," which is simply too sparse and repetitive for my taste. The second track is an improvement, but at this point of the disc my first impression was "really underwhelmed" (and that hasn't changed much after many, many listens). Albums with a track or two that don't measure up to the strongest parts of the album are neither uncommon nor unbearable, but when an album opens with one or two of those tracks, it is harder to get past.

The disc takes a decided turn at this point though, with the third track, "The Next Messiah," being the single that has garnered some of the most attention. It is an 8 minute-plus, three part bluesy-gospel-rock affair that starts with a Doors-like guitar riff (think "Love Me Two Times"), followed by a section that has a Talking Heads "Take Me to the River" feel, and then a section that has an INXS sound to me, with a final culmination of the song's theme to wrap it up. The song's story, involving a "troubled relationship" sets up the next song, "Bad Man's World," both thematically and musically.

At song five, the album finds its stride. As the UNCUT review puts it "from that point on, fortunately, there’s a perceptible sense of Lewis finding gear." The next three songs, which are those sampled below, are by far the best on the album and show Lewis' best songwriting ability. Honest and revealing, simple and straightforward but with an edge to the character sketches and stories, and beautiful. And the mix at this moment of the album is wonderful--with "See Fernando" perfectly framed by the revealing title cut and "Godspeed."

From there, I hang in on the strength of these central songs. The next tune "Carpetbagger" is a great rollicking tune that I was all into until who should appear? Elvis Costello of course, who appears to be making a new career out of guest appearances. Now, as I have said before, I love Elvis, but this obsession of apparently everyone to have him on their album is getting a bit obnoxious--it even made me laugh when I read Pitchfork's assessment:

The first minute or so of the shit-kicking "Carpetbaggers" is pretty thrilling, too, at least until Elvis Costello shows up to wheeze all over everything.

That said, the last three tracks are interesting and round out the album quite nicely. In addition the live-in-studio recording gives the album a nice intimacy and energy. Definitely going to go back and pick up the first Lewis solo effort and will follow her in the future as well. If you haven't, you might want to pick up this album too.

Acid Tongue

See Fernando

Godspeed

Distractions

2009-01-21T17:34:00.002-05:00

I have noticed a number of folks posting about not posting a lot lately—guess that includes me. Here are my excuses.

First off, this past weekend involved the metropolitan area in which we live being overrun with people wanting to get to a certain event, which while it did not consume a lot of our time, was a very welcome distraction—particularly seeing more people gathered on the National Mall than the number of people out there who still approve of the last eight years!
Then of course there was The Next Big Project which is really what is taking up my time and will continue to for the foreseeable future, although hopefully not forever.
That project meant that the TV got moved down into the basement (aka, the Last Big Project) whch meant that after eight years of nothing but network and public television, we bit the bullet and had FIOS TV installed resulting in much slouching on a couch surfing hundreds of stations and staying up way too late watching ~~culturally important~~ cult films.
This was only exacerbated by the NetFlix queue being backlogged and our guilty consciences that if we are paying for these, we better watch them—not that we don’t enjoy the movies and it was especially fun to finally see the Wilco documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart at long last (during which I kept thinking they should have just cast Jack Black as Jay Bennett to fully convey the “he is the high-maintenance, pain in the ass, whiny, uptight guy who was ruining the band” message).

And, of course, there is the blogging about not blogging about music which takes time away from, well, blogging about music.

More Cathedrals, Fewer Cowboys: Second Thoughts on Joan Osborne

2009-01-16T18:33:00.002-05:00

Ever since I suggested that I wouldn’t be able to keep myself from purchasing the latest Joan Osborne album ~~I have been swamped with emails from anxious readers wondering whether or not I did, what I thought, etc.~~ I have been meaning to write about it since I did, of course, get it (the next day) and listened to it considerably. The fact that I generally thought it a pretty mediocre album has probably been why I have put it off. I guess I can’t love everything—although I try.

Here is the deal with Little Wild One. I bought it because the single I heard had all this wonderful New York imagery overlaid on a hymn-like-tune and I could just imagine an album of such landscapes generally in that style—with appropriate variation. And, in fact there are other songs that are in that vein and are equally as good. Unfortunately they are interwoven in with just as many songs that are okay, but nothing special with the occasional song that makes me reach immediately for the skip button. For instance, I wasn’t really ready for the western motif to be dropped on me in the middle of the album with Joan singing yippee-aye-eh, yippee-aye-oh (about her long lost cowboy lover). Ack.

No, the album I was hoping for would have sounded like the three songs I am going to share (including “Cathedrals” which I shared before)—although this should be considered the highlights rather than a sample in my mind. They all have a New York theme/setting and they all have gospel and blues running through them that really let Osborne show off that great alto voice.

And lastly, in the category of "my obsession with song order," I really love how the disc-replay-rollover (technical term) gives you “Hallelujah In The City” (the first song on the disc and a fine opener) after you have just heard “Bury Me Down On The Battery” as the last song on the disc—in fact, let me give you the songs in that order. And, of course, you don’t have to take my word for it, you could buy the album.

Bury Me Down On The Battery
Hallelujah In The City
Cathedrals

"R" is for Raconteurs

2009-01-15T17:20:00.005-05:00

The Raconteurs 2008 release Consolers of the Lonley:

rocks hard on the the majority of the album including the rouncus opening two tracks;
reflects (at times) the move from the Motor City to The South;
has rippin' guitars and Jack White vocals that often sound like rippin' guitars;
recounts (of course);
rated a consistent 80/100 over at the Big Board (with some hard and low outliers that dragged their rating down a bit);
resembles a Who-angst-driven-teenage-rock-opera at moments;
rollicks;
rages about middle-aged boredom with work (although this might be over-reading);
relies heavily on the blues;
rebels (also, of course);
is accurately reviewed by Rolling Stone when they note: "Overall, Consolers feels less like a project and more like a jam session. But it's fun to watch White make things up as he goes along"; and,
presents a real challenge in terms of which songs to share.

Here R three that hopefully reflect the overall rockin affair. Bottom line is that you must be ready for some heavy blues rock, with some wonderful accousitic intervals and even an ocassional bit of horn playing.

(Buy Album)

Old Enough
Hold Up
Carolina Drama

Three to Consider: Video Edition

2009-01-13T20:53:00.002-05:00

I am swimming in tunes but am too lazy today to try to write about any of them right now. So why not distract myself with three albums from last year that I have a suspicious feeling will be winding their way to the Room. And let me give them to you in video version which (unusually for me) makes them all the more interesting given the energy all three bands exude.

First up is The Dodo's with "Fools" from their new album Visiter.

Next is Elbow with "Grounds for Divorce" from Seldom Seen Kid but you have to go over to the Tubes proper to see this one which will give you the advantage of checking out others as well. And last, via Song, By Toad is Meursault with "Pissing on Bonfires" from Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing with Tongues.

She & Him: Sweet and Sticky

2009-01-12T18:52:00.015-05:00

For a brief moment, I thought I'd try to catch up on albums I missed in 2008. Then I ran into Music Blog Zeitgeist (warning: you'll never return) and realized the folly of my endeavor. Still, I shall persist.

First up is She & Him: Volume One which I had read about in bits and pieces about through the second half of last year, but it just wasn’t jumping up in the Room queue. However, it started showing up in all kinds of year end lists including ended up at the top of the heap for Paste and so in the last round of consumption, Zooey Deschanel and Matt Ward ended up in the players (focus on the “s”—it is important).

Why the hesitancy in the first place? Well, there is that whole thing that most artists that I tend to like, don’t come fresh off of a Jim Carrey film (not that I am judging Jim Carrey). Okay, that isn’t totally fair—Deschanel has made a lot of other films and has been singing in them and in other venues/arrangements for longer than one might think. And M. Ward has his own rising career that is worth noting as well. And yet, it seemed so awfully poppy sounding, but off I went.

My first reaction was to wonder what all the glowing reviews were about. It was cute and fun--a throwback novelty. It gave me the feeling that I could throw this in the player with some other hip lounge tunes and have friends over for a retro-1960s party with Pink Ladies and Grasshoppers. It probably didn’t help that I was driving home on a drizzling, cold Saturday evening in downtown Washington, D.C. with all the lights glimmering off the wet pavement and cars as I watched couples wrapped in long coats and scarves scamper from taxis into restaurants and bars like something out of a Rat Pack movie. But then I am home and She & Him are on while we are making dinner and later it is on the stereo, and back in the car the next day, and why can’t I stop listening to this album?

Well, I am not sure, but I ~~couldn’t~~ can’t. The songs are nothing sophisticated, although the more I listen the more I appreciate the arrangements which have some really nice subtle touches--a little piano fill here, subtle strings there, nice synchopation over there, etc. Deschanel doesn’t have what you would describe as amazing range, but somehow the sincerity of her singing overcomes the sweetness of the songs. There is a mix of standard love songs, lazy country-swing tunes and upbeat pop tunes with girl-group harmonies and, of course, a certain indie feel. Rolling Stone is right that the original stuff (all the songs but two are composed by Zooey) is better than the covers, but ultimately the whole thing holds together in one tasty melodic treat.

Still not sure it would make my top ten list (if I had one), but I do think I get what others saw in this album, or perhaps it got me. Here are three to take you back to your AM radio listening days.

Buy Album

This Is Not a Test
Take It Back
I Was Made for You

Rambling Boy Rambles

2009-01-09T20:57:00.009-05:00

Let’s start with this. I love Charlie Haden. First off he has a discography that is simply amazing both in terms of its breadth and in terms of the number of different musicians and bands with whom he has collaborated. Now if you are not a jazz fan (primarily) you may not know Charlie Haden—although his collaborations with Pat Metheny has brought him more mainstream attention I suspect. But you don’t have to be a jazz fan to like this album. In fact, I suspect some Charlie Haden jazz fans won’t totally dig this album.

See Charlie Haden started out as a member of his family’s country and bluegrass band singing on radio shows in the 1940s and 50s (beginning when he was two years old) and this album is his return to that genre. This time, however, it is with his own children and family (and the help of an impressive line-up of friends).

Now these me and “all-my-famous-friends” discs can often be less than notable and rarely hold together as albums, but in this case it does. The songs and the music are well arranged both musically and sequentially (with exceptions noted below). The stars fit into the overall theme rather than standing out like odd additions or a random collection of famous folks. For example, I love Elvis Costello, but lately it seems he has been showing up everywhere in not so subtle ways; but here he blends in just fine—as does Bruce Hornsby, Vince Gill, Rosanne Cash, Ricky Skaggs and even Jack Black.

Yes, that Jack Black. See he is married to one of the Haden triplets who are central to the album as this is, after all, a family affair. And let’s talk about the family. First off, the pieces where the triplets—Petra, Tanya and Rachel—are singing together or in duets are wonderful and run throughout the album. Josh, the son, also has a great solo piece on the album. But ultimately, I have to say the weak pieces are the solo efforts by the daughters—and as the album is very long (18 songs) it could benefit from some editing.

Now, who am I to say that Charlie Haden, who has played with Ornette Coleman, Keith Jarrett, Kenny Barron, Pat Metheny, Ricki Lee Jones and on and on, doesn’t have the right to let his daughters (who have their own musical credentials) sing solos? “No one” is the answer. And actually, I am getting attached to the whole disc as it is as a family effort (with great musicians supporting them), but my first reaction was to edit this down by three or four tunes.

Ultimately this is a fun album from a great artist and his family and it is worth more than a listen.

Buy Album

Here is a sample of the trio (a song my wife seems to take great pleasure in), a guest, the son, the son-in-law and Haden himself.

Single Girl, Married Girl

20/20 Vision

Spiritual

Old Joe Clark

Oh Shenendoah

Second Thoughts: Shorter Cory Chisel

2009-01-07T20:14:00.007-05:00

I already indicated that I am intrigued by Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons (enough to include them in the year-end wrap up), but the reality is that we will have to wait and see as there is just not that much to know yet. We have the EP which, by definition, is short. We have reviews, which due to the limited amount of music out there, are short. And we have video, which there is quite a bit of, but which just about covers all the music out there, which is, well short.

I have listened to the EP a lot over the last few weeks and I really like the sound and particularly Chisel's vocals. The songs are solid as is the music. It is honest, but not all that sophisticated which is fine for openers, but we will have to see how it comes out in an album or two. I am hoping we get to see this group grow and produce music that will stick, but that is yet to be seen. Until then, here is one more tune from the EP for your consideration.

Lovers and Friends

New Year's Blog Resolution

2009-01-05T20:34:00.004-05:00

So starting this blog last year was both fun and educational. I learned a lot from other music bloggers and have tried to ~~steal~~ employ their best ideas. In particular, I have been trying to do what needs to be done to promote music and artists. To that end, I am now going to implement a policy that many others have which is to unlink the mp3 files after a certain amount of time. Many take files down after a week or two, but I am resolving to do this in a somewhat different manner. Once a post gets bumped off the front page, the mp3 will go away as well (if the post has one). All of which is to say that if you want to check out a tune, you need to do it during its brief stay on the home page.

And now back to cleaning up all the old posts with files still embedded in them!

RIP: Freddie Hubbard

2009-01-04T20:15:00.010-05:00

I was so entrenched in my family vacation visit, that I missed the passing of one of the greatest jazz trumpeters from the Blue Note era: Freddie Hubbard. He, of course, came up with all those great players in the late 1950s and early '60s. He had an absolutely wonderful ability to mix bop and smooth playing to create a beautiful lyrical sound that will carry on forever.

Here are a couple tunes that I love--one from his famous Ready for Freddie album and another from one of my favorite Herbie Hancock albums that Freddie played on, Takin' Off.

Crisis (from Ready for Freddie)
Watermelon Man (from Takin' Off)

And of course there is the Art Blakey connection as there is with so many of the greats. Here is a take on "Moanin'" from a Jazz Messenger classic with a young Freddie rippin the lead solo.

Vienna Treats for the New Year

2009-01-01T20:56:00.006-05:00

I continue to debate the question as to whether this blog should focus exclusively on one genre of music (what I listen to most often) or strive to be more eclectic (everything I listen to or read/hear about). Who is the audience he wonders? But while I ponder that I sit hear in a German household on New Year's Day night which means one thing: football! Just kidding. It means the traditional New Year's Day Concert from Vienna.

For those who are unfamiliar with this event, it is performed by the Vienna Philharmonic and is one of the most popular concerts of the year which includes silly visual imagery and dancing (horses and people--don't ask) supposed to reflect the music which is predominantly upbeat with lots of the Strauss family and a few other Austrians. I love the music and would prefer just watching the orchestra, but who am I to mess with tradition?!

Seems like a nice moment to share a disc from this past Fall that I never got around to writing about. My Heart Alone features Angelika Kirchschlager and Simon Keenlyside singing selections from various operetta from Strauss (Johann II) and his buds around the continent.

Now I know virtually nothing about operetta and I really don't have a clue about how to start writing about this disc. It came to me by way of Gramophone which gave it a high recommendation and was included in the Editor's Picks for September 2008. This is not to say it is widely acclaimed--some went at it with a snideness I believe is reserved for reviewers of classical music.

All I know is I enjoy the performances (particularly Kirchschlager's) and the music. It is amazing how effortless the singing is (to me) and the general "waltziness" of it all is an interesting twist on opera (again, to me). One last bonus--the liner notes to the disc are a great introduction to the music and the genre so it is a nice place to start.

Enough. I will not try to say more than I know. Here are three tracks--one duet and one aria by each--for you to judge. Evening attire and champagne is required before listening.

Weißt du es noch (from The Gypsy Princess)
Es lebt eine Vilja (from The Merry Widow)
Du sollst der Kaiser meiner Seele sein (from The Favourite) Buy Album

My Not Top Ten List

2008-12-31T10:38:00.004-05:00

Update: This post suffered a Google take down and so I am reposting without the mp3 files.

Why this should not be considered a real top ten list of the year.

I only started this blog midway through the year and it was only then that I was really trying to stay connected to what was happening out there musically and so this could, at best be considered a top ten list from the second half of 2008.
I don't even want to compete with the so many others out there who are so much more informed than me.
I actually kind of hate these lists and find them a bit pretentious.
I have conflicted feelings about list making.
I have more than 10 albums on the list.
And really, it isn't like I was scanning the entire, or even a majority, of the music world so it could only be a top ten list of my limited perspective and that really isn't a top ten list, is it?

And so that really is what this is--my limited take on the music world for 2008. And not really a ranking, but rather a recounting of the albums that I enjoyed enough to recommend to others and to you dear readers. So here are samples from each album not arranged in a hierarchical order with pithy commentary, but rather in the order I might put them if I were making a mix disc for a friend to let them decide what they thought since obviously as the maker of the mix, my feelings are fairly well known. Some of these I have posted before (although I will spare you all the self-referential links), but many are new offerings from these discs. A few more thoughts follow the playlist.

Flume / Bon Iver
Crook of My Good Arm / Pale Young Gentlemen
Love Me Tenderly / Felice Brothers
Honor Among Thieves / These United States
Man Sized Wreath / REM
Four Provinces / The Walkmen
Modern Guilt / Beck
Harps and Angels / Randy Newman
20/20 Vision / Charlie Haden
If I Die Sudden / John Mellencamp
Real Love / Lucinda Williams
My Two Feet / Old 97's
It Won't Be Long / Corey Chisel
Re: Stacks / Bon Iver

Regarding Bon Iver: you will notice that the list opens with tracks from that album (the actual opening and closing tracks from that album) and yes you can assume that it means that were I forced to pick an album of the year (which for me means that it will be listened to the most in the future), it would be this one from Justin Vernon.

A few comments about omissions. There are a few like Fleet Foxes who made many others' lists, but aren't here by choice (for whatever reason they just didn't resonate with me as they did with so many others). However, many omissions are due to lack of time rather than a matter of opinion--albums like this year's releases by Connor Oberst, The Pretenders, the Raconteurs and so many others just didn't make it into the little listening time I have.

I should also note that there are a couple tunes in the list that are pretty new to me and I haven't really written about yet much although I have been enjoying the discs a lot this December (and I shall take care of the writing about them in the new year).

And finally, the list is obviously focused just on rock/alt-country/indie tunes, but obviously there were some great albums in other genres that deserve attention. Unfortunately, I just didn't keep The Room as eclectic as I first intended and so I have focused on just this group this year (can you smell that New Year's Resolution coming?).

So there you have it. Thanks for all who stopped by this year as I tried to get this little blog going. I didn’t put "Buy Album" links by every song, but please support the artists.

Happy New Year to all and Bon Iver!

RSHIP: Close to Me

2008-12-29T12:22:00.006-05:00

I will be trying to get some sort of end of the year list together during our "vacation" in parental land. Until then I give you The Cure's "Close to Me" which is featured as the closing song of the fine film Son of Rambow (which we just watched and so this tune remotely qualifies for RSHIP status). All through the movie you get to chuckle as they not-so-subtley take the piss out of 1980s techno-pop scene, but then I found myself grooving to this tune with all the little jazzy licks in it. Of course, I have a soft spot for The Cure who has been cranking out the pop hits for an Elton-John-like-long-time starting back in my college days which gives them a leg up.

The Cure |MTV Music

Car-Tunes: Things I Learned Today

2008-12-27T21:42:00.006-05:00

Made the 8-hour trip from Washington, D.C. to the home of rock n' roll today with Neats and the boys. That would be basically six hours of driving with prerequisite stops for dough and gas and the requisite stops at Bob Evans for lunch (lest we have a children riot on our hands) and the Latte Mocha stop in the afternoon (lest we have a parental riot). Here is what we learned about music from this trip.

After nearly twenty years of marriage, Neats is still amazed that it takes me longer to decide what music to take with me than to pack my clothes (or do anything else related to the trip).
Hearing Lucinda Williams sing AC/DC's "Long Way to the Top" is fun, but not as fun as hearing The Engineer singing it from the back of the van afterwards.
Traveling through the hills and mountains of Pennsylvania was a good time to listen to Charlie Haden's new bluegrass disc.
Forty-five minutes of live Phish jams will, in fact, drive my wife to take control of the music.
The Artist is perfectly happy to ignore the music being played to sing his own songs that he is making up as he goes along.
Fortunately, we have discovered that if you play REM's album Accelerate very loud, you can drown out three boys screaming nonsense--yes that would be four middle aged men screaming nonsense drowning out three small children, and that is not fair, but this was before the requisite coffee stop.
Despite heading home for multiple holiday gatherings, we are musically done with the holidays as nary a single holiday disc made it into the player today.

Merry Christmas All

2008-12-25T00:01:00.003-05:00

Here is this year's pick for classic holiday album of the year. Guaraldi's music on the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas (buy album) has the ability to transport me to my childhood and all the nostalgia of the those holidays like no other album and that is a wonderful thing. And now I get to watch my own children and their excitement and wonderment during this time of year.

May your day be peaceful and warm and full of fond memories and the glee of young children.

Skating
Christmas Is Coming
Christmas Time Is Here
Greensleeves

Three to Consider: Hidden Holiday Treats

2008-12-22T12:20:00.004-05:00

I am still happily preoccupied with seasonal activities (and less happily still dealing with work too close to the big day). So ~~here is a lazy offering to fill the time~~ let's take a look at a new category--holiday tunes that appear on regular albums as opposed to included on entire holiday albums. They just sort of pop-up on these albums.

In many cases, I am not a big fan of these as they seem terribly out of place to me. For instance, one of my all time favorite jazz artists is Dexter Gordon and one of my favorite tunes of his is "The Panther" which is on the album with the same title (it is also the reason our big black and white cat's name is Dexter). Anyway, in the midst of this album comes Dex's version of "The Christmas Song." It is a great version and, in fact, leads off a nice jazz holiday compilation album I have . . . but it is totally out of place there.

Now this is surely part of my over-the-top rules about holiday music which shall never be played before Thanksgiving our after New Year's Day (really, that is enough isn't it?). Of course, as with all hard-and-fast rules, there are exceptions and here are three of mine. The key to all of these very different tunes is that they all work as holiday songs and as songs on the albums they appear on.

First up, we have The Waitresses with "Christmas Wrapping"--and this is a bit of stretch since it was first released as an EP, but I have it where I suspect many do which is on their Best Of album. So we find it mixed in with other holiday favorites such as "I Know What Boys Like" and "They're All Out of Liquor, Let's Find Another Party." And yet, it works--perhaps cuz it is so eighties danceable, who knows.

Next we have an absolutely beautiful retelling of the Christmas story from Bruce Cockburn. No sap here, just a great storyteller putting his spin on a narrative that has been told a million times. I love, in particular, how he characterizes Joseph as the miffed-jealous partner and how Mary sets him straight. "Cry of a Tiny Babe" sits in the midst of a great Cockburn album Nothing But a Burning Light which is held together by a theme of searching for the character of a man's soul (and for Bruce, I do think it is about a man's character), which is perhaps why this fits so well.

And last, we have Chrissie Hynde singing "2000 Miles" from the Pretenders Learning to Crawl album. This tune is really a song of love and longing, but the use of Christmastime as a place-holder for happier times and the snow imagery make it a fine holiday tune, although it also serves as a wonderful closing tune to this album.

Christmas Wrapping
Cry of a Tiny Babe
2000 Miles

Whistling While We Wait

2008-12-17T23:20:00.001-05:00

Still trying to keep up with work and the holidays and finding it a bit hard to blog about music, but I have been meaning to note the upcoming release of Andrew Bird's new album and now is as good a time as any. Me, I am hoping for an album that is more in the direction of Armchair Apocrypha than, say, The Mysterious Production of Eggs. I know that the latter (which is really the former) got a better critical reception than the former (which is really the latter) did--although they were both very well received.

I am also quite well aware that the things I like about Armchair are the very things that critics didn't--more pop-oriented, more upbeat, more straight-forward lyrics, more not as hip artsy-indie music. But remember that is within the spectrum that is multiple-string-instrument-playing, best-indie-whistler world of Andrew Bird, so even the most "pop" AB album has a certain feel to it. This isn't to say that I don't appreciate the Eggs, but rather that I find it a bit more produced and intentionally artsy or overly cerebral (or both) where I find Armchair somewhat more honest and, dare I say, fun--and therefore more effective in its mission.

So, in anticipation of the new release, here are the opening tracks from Armchair (buy album), which I really enjoy.

Fiery Crash
Imitosis

Holiday Music: Squirrel Nut Zippers

2008-12-14T20:37:00.006-05:00

The first two installments of holiday music have been beautiful acoustic albums, so let's step it up a bit. One might suggest that this week's installment would be better categorized as a jazz album rather than a pop influenced album, but my sense of the Squirrel Nut Zippers is that they were always about making their brand of jazz influenced music popular.

The SNZ have always been true to their wonderful mix of Dixie-influenced jazz that has a certain bluegrass feel to it and always has that great feel of music made in the mountains of Carolina. Their holiday effort is no exception. On top of that, this effort has that feel of musicians who grew up and experienced the holidays through the lens of the 1950's or 60's. The beauty here is that you know this is all history and a passing down of tradition.

So put on SNZ's Christmas Caravan, stir up a batch of egg nog, get out your Lionel train set and imagine yourself in the snow covered southern appalacian mountains and enjoy some holiday fun.

Squirrel Nut Zippers (Buy Album)

Winter Weather
Carolina Christmas
Hot Christmas

Three to Consider: Maybe, Probably, Can’t Help Myself

2008-12-12T20:29:00.009-05:00

I’ve been traveling quite a bit for work without much time to write or even listen to all that much music. So here are three to consider that caught my interest in recent reviews and samplers—two new artists for me and one I have lost track of.

First up is the indie instrument infused Anathallo’s second album Canopy Glow. I have been listening to “The River” which reminds me of Andrew Bird (particularly the Mysterious Production of Eggs) with its ornate layering and complex lyrics. Reviews of their first album suggest that perhaps they are trying just a bit too hard, but reviews I have seen for Canopy Glow suggest consistent song writing with a wonderful mix of music and choral arrangements. The key for me will be whether the album has good variation in song style which I am not sure, so any input there or in general is appreciated. For now it’s a maybe.

The River (Buy Album)

Now what is up with dudes and cabins in the Wisconsin woods? First we had Bon Iver which probably still holds favorite album of year status for me. Now along comes Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons for our second consideration. I have been listening to “Home in the Woods” from the EP Cabin Ghosts which is apparently named for his family’s cabin in the Wisconsin woods where this is recorded. When I first heard the song, I thought it might be an older artist who had been working for some time and I had just missed him like so many others. His voice has a kind of Marc Cohn sound to it (which I really like), but the sound is more bluesy and raw in a way that makes me think of Greg Brown. To my surprise, Chisel is a newer artist (and young) which might mean we are hearing someone who is at the beginning of a promising career. I am looking forward to hearing more, so this one is a probably for me.

Home in the Woods (Buy EP)

For the last consideration we have Joan Osborne’s latest release, Little Wild One. I confess to being one of those people who only have the hit album Relish which I really loved and played a lot one summer back in Salt Lake City. I remember thinking that this is someone I am going to explore and then didn’t. I got interested again when I read the reviews of her latest album. They (the reviews) weren’t all that great, although respectful of her as an artist. But all the descriptions about songs set in New York City and her role as a newish parent attracted me—but again, I didn’t pursue. However, when I heard “Cathedrals” I couldn’t stop playing it. It isn’t the most complex song, but I simply love the arrangement, the way the tune builds and then resolves. Osborne has such a strong alto voice and the lyrics are clearly from someone who I can identify with. It reminds me of early Billy Joel in many ways, but that is a whole other issue. In short, I am quite sure this one is going to be picked up unless some dear reader tells me otherwise.

Cathedrals (Buy Album)

Holiday Music: Shawn Colvin

2008-12-07T20:49:00.001-05:00

Not that I think anyone is paying that close attention, but I am going to change the holiday music posting approach. I am still going with the advent approach--that is, a post a week for the four weeks leading up to Christmas for all you heathens. However, rather than doing the various genres I suggested last week, I am going to stick with one type of music for this year (pop/rock influence) followed by a final post on a classic album. If we are still around next year we will take up another genre or style--jazz, classical, compilations, etc. All of which is to say, we are sticking with pop/rock influenced holiday album this week (as if you didn't know that from the title).

This week's pick is influenced by the weather (and of course my attachment to the album). Yesterday started cold (about freezing) with blue skies but quickly became a gray day with low December light. Mid-afternoon brought a light snow that continued into the night and left a skiffof snow on the ground this morning with flakes still swirling in the air. We spent the weekend doing holiday errands, putting up a few tasteful outdoor lights (in case anyone is taking video), building fires, making lists, walking in our little snow, and drinking eggnog (and a few other holiday spirits).

Shawn Colvin's Holiday Songs and Lullabies was made for just such weather. Calm and peaceful like a first December snow, Colvin arranges a host of wonderful songs on this 1998 release. It has the potential to be a sugary holiday overload, but Colvin's sincerity and vocals (that could make the phonebook sound like great lyrics) overcomes any such worries.

Now this album is slow with little attempt to be anything else, so don't try it on unless you aren't ready for some quietude. I surely have a soft spot for it since I have been listening to it for the last eight years which has, for at least six of them, involved rocking small boys to sleep, so it has been the perfect holiday album. But a fire on a cold night and your favorite sippin' and a good book (or blog) is the perfect companion for this holiday album.

The song choice is also key. There are some traditional tunes here (e.g. Silent Night), but a good number of the songs are not ones you will hear on your local holiday radio station, or, frankly, on other holiday albums. So all you peaceful folks or new parents looking for an album to quiet the little one in your home, here are a few samples to put you in that seasonal and contemplative mood (0r you can just Buy the Album).

In the Bleak Mid-Winter
Love Came Down at Christmas
Little Road to Bethlehem

Lucinda Returns from the West

2008-12-04T17:29:00.002-05:00

Despite the fact that I have been listening to Lucinda Williams' latest album Little Honey off and on for a couple months now, I just seem to not get around to posting about it. There are a variety of reasons, but one of the main reasons was that so many folks seemed to be so happy about this album in juxtaposition to the previous release West. Here is Paste:

A sharp contrast to the studied tapestry of sound and embittered lyrics of West, Little Honey finds Williams in celebratory mode, with raucous rock, bluesy testimonies and tongue-in-cheek twang.

But all of these "thank God she is over that" comparisons made me keep thinking: "But I liked West!" More to the point, I kept going back and listening to the two albums, one against the other.

Sure, the new album is more upbeat and it definitely has the Lucinda swagger that you have to love, but dang people, West is about loss and hurt, and really does anyone do that better these days than Lucinda? The songs on West take anyone who has lost someone back to that moment in time and weep. They make jilted lovers remember both the hurt and anger. And they make anyone who has hurt another, feel the razor's edge of guilt and regret. Little Honey on the other hand makes you laugh, dance and nod knowingly.

All of which is not to say that I prefer West to Little Honey, but rather to say that they are apples and oranges in one sense, but in another they are all the fruit of Lucinda's emotions and that is what makes them so sweet (sorry, bad metaphor, but it just happened).

So let's talk just a little bit about the new effort which in overall is a really fine and fun album. It is confident with that don't mess with me--alright you can mess with me a little--attitude. The songs are varied both in style and content from honky tonk to blues to rock but they all express a certain sense that Williams is settling in with who she is. On West she longs for her Mama (who had recently passed) and tells her she's sweet, but on Little Honey, "she is gonna see her mother in heaven," not to mention "talk to God" and "set things straight."

Some have pointed out that the album is a bit inconsistent which I would sort of agree with (it might have been a couple songs shorter and I, too, would have lost the duet with Elvis Costello--despite loving the Elvis man). At the same time, I agree with those who have suggested that some of the nit-picky criticisms of this album are, in part, has to do with the bar being set high for Williams. If you had never heard Lucinda prior to this album, I think you would feel like you stumbled onto something great and that is something to remember. So, sure covering AC/DC is a bit silly, but I confess it makes me happy every time I hear it! And while it doesn't quite hold together as a perfect album, it is really an above average album--definitely worth a spin.

Here are a couple tracks to give you a sense, and since I spent more time than I meant covering West too, I have thrown in a couple from that album as well to give you a flavor if you don't have it.

From Little Honey (Buy Album)

Real Love
Heaven Blues

From West (Buy Album)

Mama You Sweet
Wrap My Head Around That

Holiday Music: Bruce Cockburn

2008-11-30T20:17:00.014-05:00

As we emerge from the Thanksginving weekend and enter into the high holiday season, I must admit that I am a total uncrtical fan of holiday music (primarily Christmas tunes given my upbringing). I have a kind of embarassing amount of holiday music and I am really pretty resistant to hearing too much of it during December. Don't ask me to listen to a single track before Thanksgving, but after that, it is my primary set of music.

As a result, it will be unavoidable for me to not write about it since it will represent the majority of what I will listen to for the next month. However, in the interest of hopefully keeping the small random group of TR readers coming back, I have developed a kind of "advent strategy" to posting about holiday music. I am going to limit myself to one disc a week leading up to Christmas. My goal is to give you one pop/rock influenced album, one jazz, one classical, and one "classic" holiday disc--the last category providing me the opportunity to post on anything I want as long as I deem it a classic. See how that works?

Okay, so let's get started. My first offering is Bruce Cockburn's 1993 release simply named Christmas. If you like Cockburn's music and you like holiday tunes, this is a must have. It is all acoustic, just in case you were worried that Bruce might bust into one of his rocking rages where he tears into the commercialism of the holiday--his point is more subtle here. This album is focused on the history of this music and on conveying a real sense of belief in the best of this season.

He travels through music to give us 16th century Spanish music, to "The Huron Carol" from the 1600's in Jesuit influenced Canada, to a host of traditional carols. But this is no world-music disc as the music really feels like a group of musicians sitting around with guitar, fiddle, dulcimer, harp, accordion and more re-telling these stories and celebrating something quite spiritual through their interpretations of these songs.

The arrangements are the key with gospel and blues being the driving genre. Cockburn's folk sound (here with a heavy dose of French-Canadian feel) mixed in with his usual story-telling orientation creates a certain sound that is simple and joyful.

Here are a few samples. The first is "Early on One Christmas Morn" which Cockburn reports first hearing on an anthology of early gospel recordings--this one by The Cottontop Mountain Sanctified Singers (dig that name!). The second is one of my favs "I Saw Three Ships". Lastly, there is "Les Anges Dans Nos Campagnes" which you will quickly recognize as "Angels We Have Heard on High" which is a traditional French carol from the 18th century, but as Bruce notes has a "rhythmic groove . . . written right into it."

I think these will give you a sense of what makes this album so special.

Early on One Christmas Morn Buy Album
I Saw Three Ships
Les Anges Dans Nos Campagnes

Happy Thanksgiving All!

2008-11-26T18:55:00.005-05:00

May your day be warm, safe and shared with friends and family.

Thanksgiving

RSHIP: Easy Listening

2008-11-25T20:14:00.006-05:00

Haven't had a whole lot of time to think carefully about music and posting--in part because work has been eating up life in a variety of ways. One way was the conference I ran this past weekend at your basic DC hotel which involved a variety of, um, melodramatic events. But the 48 hours in the hotel was highlighted by far too much time hanging out in the hotel general space listening to the easy listening soundtrack they were playing.

We were amazed by songs that apparently were too rowdy in their original form to be included and so required being remade into softer, easier to listen to tunes. Songs like "Don't Stop" by Fleetwood Mac or "Beautiful Tonight" by Eric Clapton apparently were just too hard in their original form. And if I could even name one of the hundred bad easy-listening-love-duets they played I would, but I can't.

But here is the song that gave me my biggest eye-roll of the weekend. I challenge you all, dear readers, to name a sappier song.

Getting Ready for the Flood

2008-11-21T10:57:00.006-05:00

Seems we have been hearing about the forthcoming almost-Jayhawk reunion album Ready for the Flood for some time with even a review or two despite the fact that the album isn’t due out until early next year. However, I did notice that the import is coming out in just over a week so it seemed appropriate to do a little pre-release post on Mr. Louris and Mr. Olson.

I am pretty anxious to hear this new effort as I have been recently going back and listening to the early Jayhawk albums which are really quite wonderful. I have also been listening to Louris’ new and first solo album Vagabonds (which I discussed briefly earlier this year) and Olson’s latest solo effort Salvation Blues.

Both of the solo efforts are worth a listen, although neither of them measure up to this duo’s work together. Olson’s album is just a bit too melancholy and barren for me even when he is singing about redemption and that he is now in that happier place. His songs are well-crafted (better than most these days) and the music is fine, but I am just not a huge fan of his vocals on their own.

The Louris album is stronger I think, although he relies more on arrangements and production that seems closer to Jayhawk style, which might be why I prefer it. There is a better mix of country, blues and rock. He employees some great backing vocals so you get those great harmonies that the Jayhawks have and overall it is just a more interesting disc.

But still, there is not a chance I would pick either solo effort over albums like Hollywood Town Hall and Tomorrow the Green Grass. These albums, particularly the latter for me, are just solid all the way through with some near-perfect songs to my taste. The singing is beautiful and as I suggested above they are better together than apart. There is something about how their vocals mix that makes their voice in some cases seem wonderfully indistinguishable and in others the perfect counter to each other (dare I say Lennon/McCartney).

They also seem so confident on these albums—not like they know everything, but that they are sure of their intent with the music (which I find a bit missing on their solo efforts). Makes me wonder if that is age or circumstance, or if there is something about them singing together that elicits that quality—we will see. Until then, here are some samples for you to compare.

Salvation Blues – Mark Olson (Buy Album)
Vagabonds – Gary Louris (Buy Album)
Sister Cry – Jayhawks (Buy Album)
Blue – Jayhawks (Buy Album)

Oasis, Coltrane, Soundgarden and Originals: Must be Brad Mehldau

2008-11-18T19:15:00.011-05:00

Covering the waterfront doesn't quite capture what Brad Mehldau and his trios (and other iterations) have been doing for the last decade. This is a guy who can not only do the whole soft jazz trio thing and then jump to some serious bop tunes with a wall of notes, he can also move into a free jazz frenzy or play the blues. And of course, what a Mehldau group might be most known for is identifying modern pop tunes and moving them into the jazz genre in such a way that you feel like you are fortunate enough to be listening to that moment when a song gets wrenched from its origins to become known as a jazz standard rather than just a jazz cover of the latest rock or pop tune. And what I think makes Mehldau different on this front is his ability to choose the right songs from the Beatles to Radiohead.

So it should have come as no surprise to me when I first heard Mehldau's latest effort with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard and the disc opened with a cover of "Wonderwall" by Oasis. Well, cover doesn't really, er, cover it. The guys take a great pop tune (regardless of what you think of those Gallagher brothers), and turn it into an absolutely fun nine-minutes of swinging jazz, highlighted by Grenadier's wonderful funky bass line underneath Mehldau's great sense of melody and improvisation.

But that is really only the beginning of this fine two-disc compilation from their 2006 stint at the Village Vanguard in which they play everything from slow lovely standards such as Ray Noble's "The Very Thought of You" to rippin John Coltrane pieces such as "Coutndown" to a 23 minute version of Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" (which gets a bit too free jazzy for me, but just for a moment). In addition, there are some great Mehldau originals here, the best being "Ruby's Rub" which really shows off the trio's range of abilities.

The playing, as always seems to be the case with a Mehldau trio is Keith Jarrett trio tight. I have to say that I really like Jeff Ballard's work on this effort. I am no expert on drummers (and would have to go back and listen more closely to Jorge Rossy on earlier trio albums to see how it compares), but something about Ballard's touch which seems quick and very responsive to Mehldau's keyboard work--almost as if they are in a conversation at times--really rounds out the trio on this album.

So here is the trick. Since the shortest track on this outing is almost nine minutes (and I know that most folks aren't hanging around here that long), I am hard pressed to pick out one track to share. I really want everyone to take a listen to "Wonderwall" and as I said "Ruby's Rub" is an excellent and representative piece--but you can hear samples of those along with "Blackhole Sun" over at the official site. So here is O Que Sera by ~~Doris Day~~ Chico Buarque. This no simple bossa nova tune, but rather more of a laid back samba feeling blues which slowly moves into a more up-tempo musical back and forth between these three talented players.

Enjoy and use that buy the album link as this one gets a 95/100 from the TR.

O Que Sera (Buy Album)

Cardinology: In Which My Grading Philosophy Enters the Room

2008-11-16T11:38:00.003-05:00

Note: so this is a post that I put up several days ago and it was summarily swept off this here blog which you can read about below. As I note, I am not re-posting because I think this is such a great post, but rather because it was something I put an effort into and I think this album is worth discussing (which is the reason for the post in the first place). So here we have it again without the music files.

________________________________________________

I am not a music critic. In fact, one might suggest that I am a bit too positively uncritical. Fair enough, but this leaves me in a bit of a pickle when I want to write about music that I find interesting, perhaps worth a listen, but not amazing. I want to be positive, but, at the same time, I want to provide some sense of my ambivalence or even dislikes--all of which makes me think back on grading college papers in my previous life as a faculty member.

See, writing comments on a student paper and giving a grade are two very different activities. Comments (hopefully) are formative and encouraging; whereas grades are summative and judgmental (I know it isn't that clean all you teachers out there). I will never forget how hard it was to give my first grades on a round of papers--I was so unsure about them. I knew what I wanted to say to each student regarding their paper, but judging them in that finalistic way (particularly when so many seemed like grades I wouldn't want to receive) was much harder. But ultimately, the grade became helpful.

It helped to know that the students were going (as I would have) straight to the grade and then (if they didn't agree) to the comments for justification (and if they did) for more pleasantries about how fine they were as writers. And so my comments were often oriented that way. Hey, wondering why you got a B? Here you go. But ultimately, I always tended to try to shape the comments as positive as possible.

Why oh why am I subjecting you to this recounting of my grading philosophy?! Well, here is the thing, I have been thinking that there might be some advantage to quantifying my reactions to music here in the TR with some sort of grade or score so you, dear reader, would know that while I liked two different albums, I liked one much more than another. And the new album from Ryan Adams and the Cardinals makes me think that this is definitely a good idea. Why?

Well, you see there has been so much hype and talk about Cardinology and then it was released and so many folks were disappointed (including our favorite Ryan Adams scholars) which resulted in others getting all defensive, so it seemed that it might be helpful to be as clear as possible when weighing in here.

And this (to take another digression) is why I really do love the Metacritic which aggregates and "quantifies" reviews on a standard scale (oh, the false security of numbers). The results for Cardinology thus far are a solid B- (80/100)--oops, a C+ (78/100) as there are new reviews in. It works (in this case) to eliminate overly cranky Pitchfork reviews and overly fawning Entertainment Weekly reviews and gives you a decent mean and median of the reviews that I generally find pretty accurate (including this album although I am going to come out slightly higher with my grade).

Are you still with me? Thanks (we will actually start talking about the album now).

So, if I were to grade the new effort, I am pretty sure I would come down somewhere around a low B--perhaps an 83 just to let Ryan know he just barely scrambled into the B (not B-) tier--I am sure he will care. So why a B?

First, I agree with many of the critiques that this album is not on par with other efforts from Adams and in particular you miss the country influence a bit on this album. Second, there is a bit too much middle-tempo music and lastly and most importantly the lyrics are lacking, even sophomoric at times. That said, I also don’t think this is just a "C" (average) album either. Here is the deal.

My first listen to this album confirmed every disappointment that has been written about Cardinology, but I listened more and then I found myself choosing to listen again and again. Hop in the car with a host of discs to choose from--in it goes. Riding the Metro or sitting in the airport, what's on the iPod, Cardinology. And what I have decided is that, well, I really like it as an album.

I like the transitions--one song ends and the next begins and you feel like one song follows another quite naturally. I admit that by the time we are near the end I am longing for the earlier part of the album, but that is a minor criticism. I like the trying on of the different musical influences going on here--whether it is the R&B feel of "Fix It" or the gospel sound of "Let Us Down Easy." I even dig the somewhat silly lyrics and early Tom Petty rockin' sound of "Magic" which I would listen to just to hear Ryan's spittin P's and B's.

There is simply no argument about the musicianship here--even those who are disappointed with the album appreciate the musical performance of the Cardinals, the singing of Adams and the production of the album. And despite the less-than-perfect lyrics, often the well-produced mix of lyrics and music overcome that fault.

And lastly, I think I am into this album because at this point in my life I appreciate the "maturing" narrative and the fact that Adams is trying to deal with managing change and growing up. I find myself patient with the effort and the subject and am willing to see the value in what is being dealt with here. I feel tremendous calm and hope in listening to the final track "Stop" as Ryan clearly articulates recovery efforts (not to mention I love how that tune transitions back to the opening "Born Into A Light" for those listening on CD with repeat on).

So objectively, I am going to stick with the low B grade, but I also have to say that it is a B effort I have enjoyed while recognizing its place in the overall Adams' catalog. I still encourage folks to take a listen and see what you think as I am not convinced this album should be kicked to the curb just because it isn't the best thing that Ryan and the Cards have produced. As UNCUT puts it so well in its review:

Ultimately, “Cardinology” serves as another minor indictment of Adams’ famously lackadaisical internal editor. Nevertheless, it is still, almost infuriatingly, a stretch better than most people at their best. And, it being a Ryan Adams album, its misfires and drop-shorts matter less than they otherwise might. He clearly can’t help himself. There’ll be another one along presently.

Hard to decide what to put forward for samples given that I would like to share the first several tracks to give those who haven't heard the album a sense of the track progression, but here are three that I think represent the album pretty well.

Check out the official Cardinology site, where you can jump to their MySpace page to hear tunes and also buy the album.

My First Google Take Down

2008-11-14T20:23:00.007-05:00

Did you stop by in the last 24 hours? Did you manage to work your way through the long post about Cardinology and my grading philosophy from my previous life? Were you here early enough to check out any samples that were put up with the intent of promoting said album? Were you here when I immediately took down the samples as requested by Box.net (which I use to host music files for the site) so you only got to read the tortured post but didn’t get a sample, but still were provided with a link to BUY THE ALBUM?! Were you here before the entire post was removed by the all-seeing Google without so much as a how-do-you-do?

Okay, so I wrote about this whole issue (which was really just picking up on Paul’s more comprehensive post) about our outdated copyright sensibility in the new world order a week or so ago, but I am surprised how personal it feels that Google just “swept” my site. Of course the real question is why? Am I irritated because:

I spent too much time on this particular post and didn’t save it outside of Blogger (which I actually thought about given the recent discussions of this very issue)?
Am just a bit peeved that it was a post about Ryan “I can’t be bothered with your stinking rules of behavior” Adams that provided me with my first “take down”?
I just feel so violated?
I was just thinking what a great idea this commenter had to say on STWOF and was thinking that perhaps I should put the samples in a side bar widget so the take downs wouldn’t impact a particular post?
I thought Google was going to be more hip and less corporate than any other, um, huge corporation?
Gosh, I might have actually believed I was promoting music not theft, copyright infringement or anything else you old-stinkin-property-owning-capitalists are ready to accuse me of! (sorry)

Well, needless to say it is just one, not all that well, tortured blog post lost. And now I will join others in thinking through the whole enterprise. But for now this is how I feel about the whole thing.

Be My Enemy (The Waterboys)

Update: with a clearer head this morning, I realized that Google is most likely its own worst enemy and indeed am right. Here is the cached version which I will probably clean up and repost sans mp3s--just cuz I am stubborn SOB, not becasue the post is so important.

RSHIP: Borderline

2008-11-08T16:26:00.004-05:00

First song Neats and I heard upon arriving in the cosmopolitan city of Montreal (in the taxi from the airport as we hurtled toward downtown). I try not to read too much into these things.

Madonna |MTV Music

Tres Bien! Hot Club of Detroit

2008-11-06T19:58:00.016-05:00

So Neats and I are going to escape to Montreal for the weekend where we have not been since we honeymooned there (as children--without children) nearly 20 years ago. This gives me the perfect opportunity to talk about the new album, Night Town, by the Hot Club of Detroit since jazz and Montreal are clearly just one step away from Paris, n'est-ce pas? Obviously named after the Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli, this is a guitar-based, 1930's-influenced swing band focused on Django-compositions, but there is more.

These guys clearly love the Django and so do I. In fact, I generally don't want hear anyone trying to copy Django as I almost always react to bands trying to emulate him and his band by thinking of Emmet Ray in Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown--Emmet was the greatest guitar man in the world . . . except Django--and often I feel the same way about Django influenced groups.

But with that caveat, I have got to say that I have been really enjoying this album by Hot Club of Detroit (HCoD), both for it's straight up Hot Club sound (and all of Paris clubs and cafes that it evokes) but also their efforts to expand the repertoire to include other jazz idioms. And there is no denying that these guys can swing. If you aren't into Django and the 30's sound you won't like it. If you are but can't accept a modernized and cleaner sound of that music (which I understand), you also won't like HCoD. But if you are into Django and can deal with a bit more polished sound (and you also dig the move from the 30's swing sound to the Blue Note years), I am going to bet you enjoy this effort.

To give you a sample, here are three tracks. First is "J'attendrai" which was, of course, recorded by Django (and others), followed by "Speevy" which is written by Reinhardt and Grappelli--these should give you the sense of the great playing by the band and thier reverence for the traditional Hot Club sound--particularly by lead guitarist Evan Perri. Then to give you a sense of the expansionist sense of HCoD, we have "Blues Up and Down," a Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt tune that allows Carl Cafagna to show off a bit more muscular tenor sax (although he blends his alto well into many of the other tunes). All around, a swingin' affair.

So open up the red wine, order some pommes frites, and take a listen.

Hot Club of Detroit: Night Town (Buy Album)

J'attendrai

Speevy
Blues Up and Down

______________________________________________________

Bloggers and the Big Boys

2008-11-03T17:59:00.011-05:00

Lately I have been reading a bit about bloggers and others looking to share and promote music who have run into various dilemmas around copyright issues and threatened legal action by large recording companies (and the RIAA). I wanted to bring those to light here at the TR not only because I find the changing ways and media through which music is shared to be interesting, but also to spread around a few stories about folks out there doing some really fine work who have found themselves in a bit of David and Goliath situation.

First there was the whole dust-up between Muxtape (which allowed users to upload their music in “mix tapes” to share with other online listeners) and the RIAA. David reported on that earlier this year and you can read the whole saga from Muxtape-creator Justin Ouellette. Not to ruin the ending, but the outcome was a pretty unsatisfying compromise in my mind given where MT started. That is not Justin's fault. His efforts and commitments through the process are highly commendable and ultimately I bet there will still be a lot of great music coming from MT in its new band-oriented portal format--but the bottom line is that the platform is lost to everyday users.

The question that whole situation brings up is the question of sharing and “fair use” vs. the intellectual property rights of the musicians and record companies (although I haven't heard of musicians really being the issue here) and that is the question that Paul over at Setting the Woods on Fire has been struggling with as he receives “take-down” notices. If you haven’t visited STOF before, it won’t take you long to realize that this is a serious and informative music blog (with a very particular attitude about music) and that having it shut down would be a loss for musicians and listeners alike, but that appears to be where Paul is headed. And to that end, he asks an important (perhaps the fundamental) question as he attempts to submit his blogging to the “fair use” doctrine.

Less clear is “the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.” Will posting an mp3 cause readers to seek out and buy the full album of an artist they might never have heard otherwise (in which case there will be a positive effect on the market)? Or will it stop potential customers from paying to download the same song (in which case the effect would be negative)? That question has been the subject of some research, but no conventional wisdom exists. I think the fact that so many artists openly encourage music blogs to post mp3s of their songs strongly suggests that responsible mp3 blogs are helpful to the industry, at least on a case by case basis.

I can only answer this from my own experience although I suspect it is not entirely unique. I have always been a fan of music and a collector of music, but my pursuit of new music slowed for a couple of reasons.

First there is this thing called life including families, work, etc. and that just speeds up as we get older—so time was an issue. But connected to that was the sorting—sorting through all the myriad of musical offerings out there and trying to make sense of the and select well rather than just increasing consumption to keep up with supply. And that is where music blogs have become key for me.

Sure I still read the rags (just about all of which now come with a sampler CD, hmmmm) and talk with friends some about music, but it is the community of music blogs that I read that are the real source of a lot of what I listen to and experiment with.

Of course that doesn’t answer the question of why not just swipe mp3s, load them into the old iPod and save some dough. Well, that might have to do with age. While I am old enough to remember (and covet) my brother's 45 rack or those groovy plastic 45 record carriers, I grew up with albums. Even more so, I grew up in a time when bands that had single hits on an otherwise sucky LP were derided as lucky. The album is the unit of measure for me—it matters how it opens, how it holds together, whether it is too short or too long, or my worst case scenario is a great album with one horrible song right in the middle. Samples are just an introduction, not a replacement for the album.

So for me, the advent of music blogs has meant more purchases not less. I could list of a dozen albums I have bought this year because of a review I have read and a sample I have listened to on other sites—albums that would most likely have never been purchased by me otherwise. In part, that is how I try to share samples with those of you who are kind enough to stop by here at the Room. I could just play you my favorite song, but that would be just me saying I like this. Instead, I have been trying in my short time running this blog to give some representation of the album or band being discussed as means of encouraging readers to support that particular artist.

I suppose it is a bit reductionist to argue that it is just about sales, but I am pretty confident that is the issue. Of course even when you try to work within the legal framework as Justin did, you find out that even when you are willing to ensure the record companies get their fair share, they are going to keep asking for more, so I suspect we are in for a long and bumpy ride.

Those Haunting Walkmen

2008-10-31T19:07:00.002-04:00

Something odd, one might say spooky, happened to me a week or so ago. See, this summer good friend Wobs started dishing me discs byThe Walkmen starting with Bows and Arrows and A Hundred Miles Off. And truth be told I wasn't getting it . . . at all. I kept wanting lead singer Hamilton Leithauser to drop the vocals down an octave from the high-pitched wailing and was really wishing that the guitars would occasionally chill out with all the electric strumming going on--and yet I kept listening off and on.

Then this You & Me came out this year and I was hearing a track here and there and reading favorable reviews and thought that perhaps this was the album that would unlock these boys for me. Sure enough my source brought me that disc as well and I started listening to it and my first reaction was "better" but I was still unsure. But I kept listening, more, perhaps because as Jason Crock over at Pitchfork notes, “You & Me isn't as hard or immediate as the band's earlier records, but that's not a complaint; its sound is coy, and invites you to spend time with it.” I was. And then all of the sudden as I had this moment where literally my listening turned from curious to, hey I really like this. I went back to the previous albums and had the same reaction. It was really quite odd as it literally happened in a split second like a conversion and I can’t really remember that ever happening before.

Not to get into too much musical psychoanalysis here, but I think a key thing was letting go and not fighting the flow of the music. I kept seeking resolution—that the guitars were going to come off those chords, or Leithauser was going to end that next line on an appropriate third or fifth lower to resolve a phrase of sometimes down right monotone wails. And once that happened then the musical structure and sound all seemed to make sense with the lyrics seeming to float slowly by over somewhat faster happening events in the background—like listening to music while watching the world fly by outside a train window.

It also made me start paying more attention and appreciate the differences in albums and songs rather than being overly focused on the similarity of sound. You start to hear their penchant for shuffle, cha-cha, and flamenco beats (and woodblocks that keep popping up along with a few other surprising instruments). The albums are definitely different in their attitude with Bows and Arrows have the most rocking going on and You & Me being the most melodic and ballad oriented (leaving A Hundred Miles Off squarely and perhaps most interestingly in the middle). But still I find myself most attached to You & Me.

Here are a few samples. Not sure if The Walkmen will ever be thought of as “pop” but I imagine “The Rat” from Bows and Arrows has been heard by a considerable number of people (most likely mashed together in a club with really loud music). I like it becasue it has a certain Waterboys big music feel to me. “Louisiana” from A Hundred Miles Off is one of the more unique sounding tunes given the funky beat and horns (although I wouldn’t call this song “typical”). Lastly two tunes from You and Me which were the two tunes that were playing during my transformation and that I think are quite wonderful—particularly “Four Provinces.” And while these are each different in style I think they capture these guys quite well as they all have that very distinct guitar driven sound with Leithauser's lyrics quietly wailing over top.

If you aren’t by chance familiar with The Walkmen, may your journey with them be as mysterious and fund as mine has been.

The Rat (Buy Album)
Louisiana (Buy Album)
Canadian Girl

Four Provinces (Buy Album)

Music Video Extravaganza!

2008-10-30T17:05:00.009-04:00

As if the economy wasn’t bad enough, MTV has launched a video archive of all those great videos you remember from back in the day which will surely lead to decreased employee productivity as we all sit at our desk watching videos rather than doing whatever--not to mention a renewed round of Rickrolling that is sure to ensue! But really, we can’t be blamed for wanting to jump back a few (or many) years to check out videos that remind us of high school or college can we? For me, one of the early videos that I remember seeing a lot and that I loved was this one.

Now even if you love that song and that video as nostalgically as I do, you might be saying, what does this futuristic-Mad-Max world have to do with the lyrics of that song? Well, that is the kind of question that is now making Dustin Mclean famous. You see Dustin not only asked the question, "What if we actually wrote lyrics about what was actually happening in the video and sang those to the song’s real music?" he is making those videos. Here is the first effort which, if like me, you are behind the times and haven’t seen yet, get ready to chortle your behind off (and be singing “Take Me On” to yourself all day).

You can read more about Dustin at his site—where you can also see the second effort, a version of “Head Over Heels” by Tears for Fears.

Hat tip to IndieMuse, 50 Cent, and, of course, Wobs for keeping up on all the really important news like literal videos!

Here Comes These United States

2008-10-29T08:46:00.007-04:00

This post has been sitting in the mental waiting room for a while and for whatever reason I have just not gotten around to it until now. I am sure you are all relieved that I finally have!

Washington DC-based These United States appear to be a bit unknown at this point--they don't even appear to have a Wikipedia page at this point (c'mon TUS fans, get with it!). Metacritic which is so on the ball it already has reviews up of The Cardinals album that was released yesterday doesn't have an entry for the new TUS album, Crimes, even though it has been out for a couple months--although they do have reviews on the first TUS album (and to be fair that album also came out this year only months before Crimes). And yet I feel a bit behind the times since there are a host of bloggers I follow who took a gander at this album some time ago. I guess the important part here is that just about everyone who has heard this second effort is positive on it--including yours truly. So let's get to it.

First off, I think you generally have to be into lyrics to like TUS--either that or you have to be someone who is totally oblivious to lyrics--although that is hard on this album much as it would be, say on a Dylan album. I am not saying that TUS frontman Jesse Elliott is Dylan (why ever make that comparison), but rather that the writing is integral to the tunes here. The lyrics are full of rich imagery with cultural and literary references that on one level seem to make sense and on another seem to make you wonder what Elliott is really after. Just to give you a sense, a quick scan of the songs on this album gives us references to Cain and Abel, Dionysus, Don Quixote, Samuel Clemens, Atlantis, the Big Blue Ox and John Chapman, and the topics are equally diverse. Overall though the lyrics are interesting and engaging.

Of course it helps that they are set musically in a sound that I can only described as laid-back rock. It has a certain southern blues feel to it, although Elliott's voice and the voice treatment could make you think of Beck. Ultimately, you feel like they are rockin' but no they couldn't be bothered to get up off the couch while they were playing. I actually mean this in a really positive way--it has that feeling of front porch blues overlaid with some indie tendencies. They seem very comfortable with the sound and it has a certain effortless feel and the band sounds really responsive to each other. And all that said, I would really love to see them live as I suspect there isn't much lying about involved in their shows.

And so ultimately, I suspect that there is a lot more coming about These United States. It is hard to know just what to share from this album as I would say it would take at least five songs to give you a sense of it all. Two of my favorites are "Susie at the Seashore" and "Honor Amongst Thieves" which you can check out at those respective links, so I am going to sample three other tunes that I think capture the album.

First is the opening track "How the West Was Won" which sets a great tone for the album--first tracks are so important to me--and really shows off Elliott's lyrical ability. Next to give you a sense of their slower, blues sound is "We Go Down to the Corner" which slowly builds to great resolution as Elliott croons "cheer up, baby, cheer up" and finally "Six Fast Bullets" which has a great laid back sound and the wonderful lyrical warning "I have six fast bullets but only five complaints!" Watch out if you don't want to complete that equation.

How the West Was Won (Buy Album)

We Go Down to the Corner

Six Fast Bullets (Five Complaints)

Oh, and as a bonus, I switched players (hat tip to Nelson over at Fifty Cent Lighter) which means that if you just start the player on the first song it will play all the tracks as they appear. Good times!

Random Song Heard in Public (RSHIP)

2008-10-28T22:05:00.009-04:00

So, I was already to post on the most recent effort by These United States, but I can't get the ole Box.net to upload my files. So in the meantime, let me initiate a new feature designed totally as filler for when I don't have time to write anything of substance but I don't want to disappoint you for taking the time to stop by.

The first part of this idea came to me while I was getting morning coffee at the local coffee shop (not Starbucks!) earlier this week and found myself subjected to this song which I feared would be in my mind all day (I was right). The second part came to me today when Lisa B. linked to this site by a woman who draws something she bought each day and I thought that the idea of sharing just a simple daily experience was cool and perhaps the quintessential motivation behind the blogging experience. Et voila! Random Song Heard in Public (RSHIP). However, since I couldn't bring myself to subject you to Laura Branigan, I give you this tasty little tune from the Police heard while getting soup at Au Bon Pain--Pasta e Fagoli for those who care. Looking forward to your random comments on this first random song.

The NBC Jingle: Flaming Lips Style

2008-10-27T20:11:00.010-04:00

How to improve a night of The Office and 30 Rock? This 8 second NBC jingle promo will probably do the trick. And check out Wayne Coyne on Guitar Hero while showing off his techno-gizmo that makes cool sounds--one man's toy . . .

Hat tip to Indie Muse.

Now We're Cookin' / Squirrel Nut Zippers

2008-10-25T20:33:00.022-04:00

The Squirrel Nut Zippers are favorite cookin' music here at the home of the TR. We have a saying at our house (in the fall or winter at least) that if it is Saturday night, it must be risotto. And tonight was no exception. Tonight's risotto (given that the Artist has recently realized that he likes animals so much he isn't down with eating them so much) focused on some nice smoked mozzarella to make a creamy risotto topped with some garden fresh tomatoes and parsley accompanied by a nice salad with fresh apples and pine nuts and of course a nice Tuscan red for the grown ups--mmmm.

Of course, risotto takes a lot of stirrin and the Squirrel Nuts are just the band for stirrin and swingin. Here are some perenniel favorites from three of their best that we like to have on while we are coookin.

The Inevitable Squirrel Nut Zippers (Buy Album)
Danny Diamond
I've Found a New Baby
Plenty More

Hot! (Buy Album)

Put A Lid On It>
Bad Businessman

Perennial Favorites (Buy Album)
Ghost of Stephen Foster
Evening at Lafitte's

Star Maker Machine Match Game

2008-10-24T14:12:00.018-04:00

Just cause I think this is cool--that's why. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of perusing the great Star Maker Machine, you should . . . but wait! First, read the rest of this post since if you go there first the following game will be, well, neither challenging nor fun!

You see Start Maker Machine is a group music blog with a twist. Each week or so the group bloggers are charged with blogging on a theme. Now this could be kind of lame if it weren't for two things. First, SMM has a solid group of bloggers with eclectic tastes and a solid footing in the tunes (not to mention that they do a really nice job on the photo selections). And second, the themes are really fun.

My favorite theme so far was the "2:42" theme in which bloggers were challenged to blog on songs of that exact length. This week's theme "Adjective Noun" (in which each blogger must "post songs whose titles consist of an adjective and a noun, in that order") is generating some solid posts that I think show why SMM is so fun to track. So just for fun below I have listed the songs up at SMM for this theme and the artists--but mixed up. Take a gander, or if you are really ambitious, print it off and see how many you can match-up (yes, I know there is probably some widgetity-thig-a-ma-gig that would allow me to create an online match game--whatever!).

Think Tank	Peter Gabriel
Dire Wolf	The Rolling Stones
Malted Milk	Butthole Surfers
True Colors	Caitlin Cary and Thad Cockrell
Red Rain	Cake Like
Simple Girl	Whiskeytown
Dumb Fun	Pentangle
Yellow Taxi	John Hiatt (or) Roseanne Cash
Bourgeois Blues	Richard Hell and The Voidoids
Silver Bell	Johnny Zamot (or) Herbie Hancock
Blank Generation	David Allen Coe
Haitian Divorce	Jeru the Damaja
Big Nothing	Cyndi Lauper
Sunny Skies	Max Stalling
Second Option	Juliana Hatfield
Wandering Star	Bob Dylan
Bum Leg	Randy Newman
Human Cannonball	Robert Johnson
Pink Bedroom	Beck
Tennessee Whiskey	Matt Costa
Fat Mama	Randy Newman
Cruel Sister	Steely Dan
16 Days	Elliott Smith
Graycoat Soldiers	Prescott Curlywolf
Mental Stamina	James Taylor
Idiot Wind	Norman Blake
Hollow Log	Possessed by Paul James
Short People	Patty Griffin
Brown Sugar	Lucero

Okay, now you can head over to Star Maker Machine to check it out.

Update: There are already two new tunes added to the theme: "High Water" and "Cold Turkey"--extra bonus points if you can name who sings those songs.

A Different Kind of Fiddle

2008-10-23T20:15:00.012-04:00

So I know you all have been counting the ~~days until the new Ryan Adams disc comes out~~ hours until I finally put up that post on the viola d’amore before I got distracted by AC/DC. Well, wait no more.

All kidding aside, today we feature a really fine new album, D'Amore, by Garth Knox. The title refers not to "love" (although perhaps you may hear that here) but rather to the varied set of pieces on this disc that are played on the viola d’amore. So first things, first, what is a viola d’amore? The short answer is that it is a viola with an extra set of sympathetic strings that are not played, but rather resonate when the main strings are played. According to the Viola d’amore Society of America (yup, there is one):

The majority of violas d'amore have fourteen strings -- seven playing strings and seven additional resonating or sympathetic strings that go through the bridge and between the fingerboard and neck of the instrument, held by individual pegs in the elongated pegbox. The sympathetic strings are most often tuned to the same pitches as the playing strings. Instruments exist with different combinations of playing strings (four, five, six, and seven) and sympathetic strings (from four up to fourteen).

Knox plays the standard seven-six string v. d’amore on this outing and is ably accompanied by Agnes Vesterman on cello on the majority of the pieces which range from 17th century baroque to traditional Celtic songs to more modern compositions including one by Knox himself. There are certainly differences among these pieces as he moves from period to period and genre to genre, but the arrangements and pacing and the deepness of the playing both by Knox and Vesterman hold the whole set together.

The fullness of these pieces is amazing given that there are only two instruments and I hope that readers who are more oriented to other genres (especially you all who love to hear violins in other settings such as country and alt-country) will give these a listen. As the reviewer over at Gramophone notes, "this is quite simply one of the most outstandingly magical discs I have heard." True, true.

A Pavin

Prima Lezione (the Adante movement)

Celtic Dance

This Interruption in Our Regular Programming brought you by AC/DC

2008-10-21T20:05:00.013-04:00

I am far behind in writing about discs I am listening to and tonight I had every intention of writing about a new viola d'amore-oriented-disc (I am such a tease!). However, I got distracted by Alllison Stewart's Washington Post review of the new AC/DC album Black Ice. That is right AC/DC has a new album out!

This is not a promotion for the new effort--I haven't heard a single track--and in some ways I am a little hesitant to talk about any album that is only being sold at "Wal-we will close a store before we give employees any voice by allowing a union here-Mart." Still, this review just cracked me up and made me want to share.

For those who can't be bothered with hopping over to the WaPo site to read the whole review, here are some highlights (which like the previews to a bad movie are really all you need to see), but I really should start by pointing out that Stewart assesses this album as the "best record the band has made in decades, and not only because all the other ones were pretty terrible."

Frontman Brian Johnson and guitarist Angus Young carry "Black Ice" on their backs: Johnson, now 61 (!), sings more and hollers less; Young, who seems more engaged than usual throughout, occasionally plays slide guitar. These might not seem like noteworthy developments, but for a band as resistant to innovation as this one, baby steps matter. [snip]

Its lyrics aren't worth mentioning, except to note that there are some, and they're the usual mix of cheerful incomprehensibility and innuendo-laden buffoonery. [snip]But mostly, "Black Ice" contains songs about rocking. Specifically, about how much AC/DC rocks, how much it's rocked in the past and how, if given the opportunity, it plans to rock some more in the future. Even the song about a wartime something or other ("War Machine") seems to be about a really rocking war machine. [snip]
The band's now de rigueur sex songs (forget "You Shook Me All Night Long"; AC/DC long ago stopped writing about women unless it had to) sound increasingly like Mad Libs: haphazard assemblages of a noun, a verb, the word "she" and a euphemism for "penis." [snip]
These, um, love songs are increasingly self-parodic, detailing amorous encounters so improbably hazardous ("She wanna shake you/No way to save you/She's got me shot/I'm fallin' ") you'll be tempted to wonder if anyone in the band has actually ever met a woman. They contribute to the dragginess of the disc's last half, as does "Decibel," the most generic AC/DC song of all time. "Black Ice" has 15 songs, which is about five too many: After its pulverizingly pleasurable first half, it's all filler and very little killer.

Someday I hope to write this entertaining of a piece about an album.

Catching Up With Kasey Chambers

2008-10-18T22:08:00.005-04:00

It is probably safe to say that I don't own very many albums that would be clearly categorized as "country" with some exception and when you say Australian artist, I tend to think of INXS or AC/DC (yes, I am of that generation), so this post is a bit out of my usual focus. However, both Payton and Nelson have both been writing about Kasey Chambers lately, in part because of her new album Rattlin' Bones (with hubby Shane Nicholson). Given that I like both of their sensibilities (Payton's and Nelson's that is), I decided it would be good to check this Australian alt-country rocker out. Of course, as is my way, I went back to one of the earlier efforts that boys gave high praise.

So let's just cut to the chase, Barricades and Brickwalls is a great album (do I get to say that having started by saying I don't have a lot of country?). It is all country from tough blues driven rock-oriented blues to honky-tonk to bluegrass. KC's vocals are wonderful ranging from a twangy country girl fresh of the mountain to a gritty-you-ain't-gonna-mess with me guitar playing woman. If you haven't heard any KC as I hadn't, I would recommend starting where I (and probably many others have) with this album. And I will definitely be looking into her new album and others.

Here I am going to give you three tracks from B&B that show her stylistic range. First, the great bluesy opening and title track of the disc followed by a slow country song about the, um, country (that might be the only song I have that includes a reference to "dingoes") and finally a great bluegrass feeling country tune with all the classic instrumentation and harmonies.

Barricades and Brickwalls
Nullarbor Song
Still Feeling Blue

Those Pale Young Gents

2008-10-14T21:16:00.006-04:00

I first heard a track from the Pale Young Gentlemen's second disc Black Forest (tra la la) all of two weeks ago and since that time, the number of reviews has exploded. This is of course not exceptional for a new album, but as I am new to PYG, I have been reading a lot of them and trying to glean some common threads in the reviews. Here are a few.

Lots of comparisons to The Decemberists (although I find the D's to be much more rock-oriented) and also to Beirut--a band I need to learn more about. Not sure these hold, but the basic point here is that you have in PYG a group of classically influenced artists playing indie music--or a group of indie musicians striving for a classical sound. I am not sure which. Part of the result is a lot of descriptions of their music as having a gypsy, eastern-European sound. Yeah, I guess--sort of. I hear it more as a string quartet who met an acoustic punk/folk rock guitar player and they decided to form a band.

The general sense is that this second album is solid with the real highlights being the upbeat tunes which strike most as more similar to their first self-released album which I read described in more than one place as "rollicking." As a result, the most common complaint is that this album has a few too many mid-tempo pieces that blend together. I agree that the up-tempo pieces are the highlights, but in part because they pop out among the others. Perhaps a couple more would create a more balanced album, but I quite like how tra la la holds together as the slower tempo tunes have their own distinct nature that you get with listening to the album a number of time. (Have I said that I like albums that change/improve with listening and that too often I find reviews feeling like someone listened once and sat down to write? I do.)

And finally, while many seem a bit fraught about this album, they all want so badly to like it as part of PYG's growing and rich oeuvre--and they want readers to like this band and hope that this is a band that has a long future. Me too. But one way or the other I suspect that however these musicians go forward, whether together for a long while or spreading out and spawning other groups, they will be playing fine music for years to come.

I am going to give you two cuts here that appear next to each other on the album. The first, a slower introspective piece that characterizes much of the album followed by the cut that seems to be the agreed upon "hit" of the album which is hard to disagree with--in fact, I don't. Enjoy.

Goldenface, Morninglight
The Crook of My Good Arm

Parental Warnings

2008-10-09T19:49:00.012-04:00

This weekend will be spent with my parents who are visiting to help put some finishing touches on the will-it-ever-be-finished basement-refinish project, so blogging here in The Room will be on hiatus until next week. But speaking of parents, I will leave you parents, grandparents or anyone else who will have any children in their house this weekend with this challenge.

Get all the children you have in the house (the more the better) around the computer.
Turn the volume on your computer up as loud as it will go--trust me, this is a requirement.
Play the title track from Kimya Dawson's latest kid CD.
See if you make it all the way through the not-quite-a-minute-long song before the laughter is too loud to hear the end.
Please record how you did in the comments (but please don't blame me for any embarrassing singing about farts, butts or other silly words in public by those who chose to play this for--children or adults!).

Alphabutt

Autumn with the Nuttree

2008-10-08T20:45:00.015-04:00

The weather is turning. The track of the sun is getting southerly and creating those great slanted shadows. The air is starting to have that crisp feeling and the hint of leaves turning has begun. It is the time of year that turns my musical interests to listening to jazz and thinking about wandering through the streets of the city to a jazz club to hear some swinging music while sipping on something in a tall, cool glass--or these days at least trying to create that atmosphere even while the boys are running around like maniacs at home. And here is a nice new disc to help create that atmosphere.

The Nuttree Quartet is John Abercrombie (g) Jerry Bergonzi (ts) Adam Nussbaum (d) and Gary Versace (B3) and the new(ish) disc is Standards which is a solid disc of (mostly), well, standards with a few more jazz-fan oriented pieces (by standards writers) thrown in. The majority of tunes are played by the full quartet although there are a couple trio settings as well that mixes things up nicely. The musicians are all proven performers in their own right. In fact, in one sense, it is tempting to see the disc as too straightforward and too standard--what's new about four veterans playing standards afterall. But that is a mistake.

As Ken Micallef notesin the Downbeat review: "Playing standards may be as old as Job, but what better way for modern-day masters to weigh in on the state of the art?" And they weigh in nicely.

For the most part the arrangements are upbeat and free-flowing with Bergonzi’s tenor often taking the lead pass. His sound is big but not overbearing at all. The solos are fluid and a nice mix between lyrically driven riffs and a bit more free-ranging takes—although this is always pretty straight-forward jazz. Abercrombie’s smooth guitar, both as part of the rhythm section and in his solos, serves as a nice counterbalance to the bigger sax sound and Nussbaum is on the mark throughout whether on brushes or driving the more upbeat pieces where I think he really excels.

If I have one reservation it is the B3 parts—not because I don’t like the B3 (I. in fact, love it) or even because I don’t think Versace does some nice work here. When I saw the line-up for this album, I was imagining the album being a bit more driven by the B3 and since Versace is in more of a traditional rhythm section role here (with some notable solo exceptions) I almost wish they went all acousitic here, but that is a minor note in an otherwise perfectly enjoyable effort.

I am going to give you three real standards here to sample. Although keep in mind that there are a some more chilled out pieces mixed in with tunes like these.

Our Love Is Here To Stay
All Or Nothing At All
Naima

Who’s Left?

2008-10-08T13:25:00.003-04:00

Add the Foo Fighters to the list of bands who have told the McCain campaign to quit using their music—actually I think they said stop “perverting” and “tarnishing” their music.

“It’s frustrating and infuriating that someone who claims to speak for the American people would repeatedly show such little respect for creativity and intellectual property. The saddest thing about this is that ‘My Hero’ was written as a celebration of the common man and his extraordinary potential,” the Foo Fighters said in a statement. “To have it appropriated without our knowledge and used in a manner that perverts the original sentiment of the lyric just tarnishes the song. We hope that the McCain campaign will do the right thing and stop using our song — and start asking artists’ permission in general!”

Ouch.

What Say Ye? Ben Folds Open Thread

2008-10-05T21:43:00.005-04:00

Okay, so I got no pony in this race, but there seems to be a bit of a debate about the new Ben Folds album, Way to Normal. Lets start with the very positive Paste review which provides this heavy duty artistic comparison.

[T]hese 12 songs are more of an anthropological study of aberrant human behavior, idiosyncratic news stories and bizarre chapters of the musician’s own autobiography, all observed with the same unstinting absurdist eye as J.D. Salinger when he penned Nine Stories more than 50 years ago.

Piling on, PopMatters suggests that Folds “is writing and performing music as if he has something to prove again” and that he “has given us something to talk about again with an album that works, front to back, on both musical and lyrical levels.”

But the discussion out there isn’t all positive. Spin weighs in noting that “Folds is incapable of mediocrity, but Way to Normal comes way too close.” And David over at IndieMuse goes even further by suggesting that Folds’ new album is “not worth your time.” And while he hypothesizes that one reason might be that Folds is old (hey! says this 44-year old) he also notes that Folds can still write a great pop song. As evidence, he highlights “You Don’t Know Me” from the new album which features Regina Spektor—a tune Lisa B. has been displaying in her sidebar for a while, although I don’t know if that has to do with Folds, Spektor or both.

Still there is no doubting that Folds can write a great pop tune. Below I give you the 1999 hit “Army” which makes me smile (and pause) every time I hear it and a live version of “Smoke” which is based on a wonderful conceit. But hey, as I said at the start, no pony in this race: what say ye?

Army
Smoke

Now We're Cookin' / Michael Franti and Spearhead

2008-10-02T19:43:00.014-04:00

On my iPod there is a very important playlist called "Now We're Cookin'" which is a list of toe-tappin, feel-good (okay, my favorite) tunes to have playing in the kitchen while the weekend dinner prep is on. And can I say that this playlist just got a whole lot more fun for having picked up the latest Michael Franti and Spearhead disc All Rebel Rockers.

Sure this album isn't one that is going to be so critically acclaimed that I will be hearing my grandchildren play it and wondering where music went wrong, but dang, it is a bunch of fun. It has so much going on it is hard to know where to start. It opens with a slow-burning reggae tune but then jumps into a whole variety of funkilicious, rappy, skaful and soulful pop dance music that it is hard to resist. Even when the lyrics are a bit simple and corny (really, who say's frickin' on a rock album), it is impossible to resist the beat of these tunes.

As PopMatters notes, some of what you have here is just a bit too preachy, but mostly it just really makes you feel like music is a positive force in the world even when it is critical. And you feel like the celebration that is this music might just have the power to make people think differently about the world we face--probably not, but then I listen to "Hey World" and I think, well, maybe! In fact, the first time I heard that cut--I thought now there is a good theme song Obama (except for the whole angry black man thing).

Here is that opening slow burner, followed by my proposed BHO theme tune and finally the most delightful dance tune on the disc. So get ready to boogie and stir the stew with Spearhead.

Rude Boys Back In Town
Hey World (Remote Control Version)
Say Hey (I Love You)

Three to Consider: Women Folk

2008-10-01T19:19:00.013-04:00

Here are three for you to consider--all women singer/songwriters with a folk bent. One I have, one I have other albums by but not the one up for discussion here, and one I know nothing about (but am still willing to write about!).

First up is the newish album, She Ain't Me, from Carrie Rodriguez--her second, and by all accounts her attempt to shift out of her cowgirl-fiddler image. Now I am new to Rodriguez so I don't come to this album with any comparisons to her first album, but I have a sneaky suspicion from reading a variety of "polite reviews" about her efforts at transformation here that I might be a bigger fan of her first effort where the fiddle and her country orientation was more prominent. The strongest songs on this album for me involve that fiddle, although there are definitely some other nice pieces as well. Ultimately, the disc is a bit too generic for me and I can see passing over this disc on my way to Emmylou, Lucinda, or Union Station--probably unfair, but true. Still it has some nice moments and if this is your preferred genre, you will certainly enjoy it. Below I give you one of the fiddle-oriented pieces.

Next up is the new one from Dar Williams. I don't have this one, but I have a couple older DW efforts--although nothing more recent than the 1997 release End of Summer. Below is the opening cut from the new album, Promised Land. "It's Alright" is a solid tune both musically and lyrically if not all that adventuresome--but here is the thing. My previous DW purchases have been based on hearing a couple tracks that are wonderful ("February" on Mortal City can still make me cry) only to find out that they don't really represent the whole album. She has some absolutely beautiful tunes, but also some that, well, aren't and are ultimately just too quirky for me. Consequently, I am cautious. Any input on the Dar out there?

Finally, we have the unknown Kensington Prairie (or at least unknown here at the TR). Below we have "Bluebirds" from the new album Captured in Still Life. Kensington Prairie is the solo effort of Rebecca Rowan, the lead vocalist of Vancouver's indie band Maplewood Lane. This is a perfectly nice little tune and Rowan clearly has a wonderful voice, but truth be told, I got nothin' here and am just hoping that some BC reader will show up and tell me about Rowan and/or Maplewood--hell, even if you aren't from Canada (which we here in the states have of course all just recently learned is close to Alaska), what do ya know/think?

Absence Carrie Rodriguez
It's Alright Dar Williams
Bluebirds Kensington Prairie

Tuning Room Variations: Simone Dinnerstein

2008-09-28T19:48:00.010-04:00

Preface: One thing that I always intended for the TR was to have discussions about a wide variety of music—not just one particular genre. That said, I didn’t really get off on that foot and so am going to make a bit more concerted effort to do that. I know many of you listen to a wide spectrum of music and so I hope that talk of jazz and classical music won’t send those of you who prefer rock or pop or alt-country running for the hills and vice-versa. And so begin the TR Variations.

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Those clever editors at Gramophone recently published a discussion between Tift Merritt and Simone Dinnerstein about the challenges of second albums when your first effort was wildly well-received—clever since Merritt and Dinnerstein’s music have nothing to do with each other. Merritt made her name first with the alt-county work Bramble Rose which got all kinds of attention, while Dinnerstein crashed on to the classical scene with her debut recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations and has just released her second album, The Berlin Concert.

Now as you, dear readers know, when I see reviews of albums that refer to important previous efforts, I tend to go backwards rather than for the current release. And this seemed like a great opportunity to check out Dinnerstein’s work, particularly since I didn’t have any versions of the Goldbergs in my collection. Yes, yes, I know—Glenn Gould! Glenn Gould you say! I have had that disc in my hands multiple times before, but somehow it just felt too predictable (someone will surely correct me). Anyway, I picked up Dinnerstein’s interpretation and let me say that I think it is just beautiful.

What I really like about these pieces are the warmth of the playing. I always thought of the variations as very technical (probably more GG influence), but Dinnerstein’s technique is clean while still having a very round and full sound even on the most challenging fast-pasted pieces. The touch reminds me of how I felt when I heard Murray Perahia play Bach's Keyboard Concertos for the first time.

Multiple reviews I have read since starting to listen to this disc and thinking about this post have commented that what I might most be responding to is the somewhat slow pace of these interpretations (although the more common comment is that Dinnerstein's choice of tempos are unpredictable). In addition, everyone comments on the great sound of the which is a 1903 Steinway model "D" concert grand which according to the liner notes was rescued from the townhall in the Northeast England town of Hull which was bombed heavily during WWII. While all these variables surely matter, I get the sense that what makes these pieces so attractive is the quite confidence of the playing and the interpretation.

Finally, Dinnerstein is all the more interesting because this recording is due to her first borrowing enough money to record the variations on her own, which got Telarc to pick her up and promote her playing. Evan Eisenberg over at Slate has it all wrapped up in his review "The Goldberg Variations Made New: Move over Glenn Gould, here's Simone Dinnerstein."

For those interested, her is the opening Aria and three short movements that make up the Sixth Canon which I think show off Dinerstein's wonderful touch in any tempo.

Aria
Variation 18
Variation 19
Variation 20

Ryan-Adams-ology

2008-09-23T21:09:00.026-04:00

Not too long ago Little Sis visited and arrived with a whole bunch of tunes. At some point she asked if I had any Ryan Adams to which I responded: "Bryan Adams? I haven't listened to anything by him since I was in high school and Cuts Like a Knife was all the rage." Little Sis patiently points out: "Ryan. Not Bryan." Me: "Oh. . . . um, no."

So she drops Heartbreaker on me along with a double Cardinals' disc Live from Ludwigshafen, Germany pointing out that she really liked Whiskeytown, Ryan's earlier band. I pop in Heartbreaker and am immediately impressed with the songwriting and mix of song styles--country, folk, rock--and the folks who show up on the album--Emmylou Harris, David Rawlings, Gillian Welch (I often pay attention to who folks associate with as a test of their music, movies, books, etc.). And so the exploration begins (albeit ridiculously late).

Then I start this blog and I am listening to a lot of Ryan and thinking about a post on his music and I run into Payton's Place where there is more info about Adam's than I can ever imagine covering (and anyone who is a Ryan fan should check out). Consequently, I continued to put off this post since, well, what more is there to say? However, given my new commitment to the Tuning Room and the fact that (Ryan and) The Cardinals are about to release a new album in the next month, I thought it was time to put a marker down.

So here are a few thoughts on the few albums I have just in case you haven't started weaving your way through the huge Ryan Adams discography--I offer them in the order I experienced them rather than chronologically and try to focus on a few aspects of Adams' music that I find interesting.

As I noted, Heartbreaker was the first album of Ryan's I heard (by chance, it is also his first solo effort). It has a great mix of tunes and styles, but the strength of the album is that it is, in fact, an album that holds together really well. There are a number of great tracks here and perhaps my favorite is "Come Pick Me Up." But one aspect of Ryan's music I want to highlight is the fact that he has some real rockin--one might even say kickin'--tunes and one of my favorite is on this album. So here is that highlight from his first solo effort.

Shakedown on 9th Street

Given Little Sis' recommendation, I then decided to go back in time to Whiskeytown and picked up Strangers Almanac which is still perhaps my favorite of all the offerings here. It has a host of great tunes with all kinds of great lyrical hooks (Excuse Me, While I Break My Own Heart comes to mind). It is a true alt-country album. Here again, my favorite on the album might not be the track I offer up here (I love the bluesy "Everything I Do") but the opening track "Inn Country" is a great example of Adams' country writing that really shows up on this album (and I should note is superior to the "country" tunes on Faithless Street--see below--where Ryan wasn't doing as much of the writing as on this effort).

Inn Town

Given my overwhelmingly positive reaction to Strangers Almanac, I then went on to purchase Faithless Street which actually preceded Strangers and by the time I bought it had already been re-engineered and re-released with all kinds of bonus tracks. Have to say that I am glad I didn't start here. The opening track which I feature here really exemplifies their (and his) sound at this time and I think is a great track. However, I could do without much of the middle of this album which feels like someone trying to fit into a certain genre--just a bit too much whiskey, my kin-folk, and we're a country band orientation for me. Some of the extra tracks are better on the other albums that they appeared, but the "baseball park session" tracks are quite nice. If I were burning this one for you I would cut this album in half for you. Here is the opener though, which I think is really solid.

Midway Park

Still, I was quite enamored and ventured on. The next purchase was Demolition which really re-engergized my enthusiasm. This album, like Strangers has a great mix of tunes and styles that are really well ordered. It also has some great lyrical hooks such as "Cry on Demand" and "She Wants to Play Hearts." But here, I give you "Dear Chicago" which exemplifies another genre Ryan has down: the "twisted and torn and I'm the problem" love song in a wonderful accoustic setting. It has that feeling of someone just sitting down and telling his story with a guitar, and well, it makes ya weep.

Dear Chicago

And finally, I picked up Cold Roses, a double disc effort from Ryan and the Cardinals that is simply a wonderful set of tunes, although I imagine some might find it less adventursome and a bit more mainstream (for Ryan and the boys). Whatever. This is a stellar collection of absolutely great songs that are just a joy to listen to. Many have commented on the great production, which is hard to argue (and others are happy to note that the production of the upcoming album involve similar folks). There are so many great tracks to pick from these discs, but I am going with "Easy Plateau" which I think is pretty representative.

Easy Plateau

And so I must end by saying: "thanks Little Sis, I owe ya." And come October, we will be talking about Cardinology here at the TR for sure.