Sorry my pace has dropped off a bit... I've kind of gotten into the flow of the quarter now and OH MY GOD THE PACE. (for the eight or so of you who made it through Honors with me: remember Honors 4? It's like I've got that class. Every day. For four hours.) So... I've been a little bit busy.
Anyways: I can compensate! By posting YouTube videos, which take less time to embed than mp3s!
So, then: I've got a treat for all you lovers of violin-and-accordion duets! That's right... you guessed it... or, more probably, didn't...
A Hawk And A Hacksaw - I Am Not A Gambling Man
Kind of interesting, no? I'm still trying to figure out whether I like it or not, precisely, but it's at least something to consider.
In terms of things I do most definitely like, though, I give you Art Brut... or would have, except that they're apparently being kind of pathetic and have disabled embedding on their newest music video. So NO PROMOTION FOR YOU! (note: I'm not even going to tag them in the post! because that'll show them... or something)
I'd also like to mention that I went to see It Might Get Loud last night. That movie was completely, completely amazing - if you're interested at all in music, or more generally in the creative process, go. Watch it. Get a bucket of popcorn (light on the butter; one can never be too careful of one's arterial health), get a seat near the front, and let the sheer awesomeness of it make you dance like a spaz in your seat (with no offense meant to spazzes). Jimmy Page is amazing. That is all.
Have a great afternoon!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Sarah Jarosz: Because, On Occasion, I Creep
So the other night about three AM, I was sitting by myself, in a dark room, reading peoples' facebook pages when I came across (in one particular friend's 'favorite music' section) Sarah Jarosz. Being, by nature, a curious sort of fellow, I said to myself: 'Hey! That's an interesting name!' I then clicked on the link to the lovely Ms. Jarosz's website (note: I don't have any basis to say whether she's actually lovely or not, since I'd (1) categorize that as a personality trait and (2) have never met her).
Upon the website loading into my browser (yay Firefox!), I saw that the headline item in the 'latest news' section was that Ms. Jarosz was going to perform on Prairie Home Companion on September 26. Being generally a non-Garrison-Keillor-loving sort of fellow - no offense to the man or the show, it just doesn't light me up the way it does some folks - I didn't take that as an encouraging sign that I would love her music. I pressed on, however, as I usually do - because, after all, anything's worth listening to once, right? (please don't kill me, sir... please...)
Anyways, all fear of Mr. T aside (he has a tank, you know... and so can you!) when I listened to Ms. Jarosz's music, I was pretty much blown away. There's an unusual level of virtuosity in her banjo playing (don't hold the instrument against her - she uses it well), and her voice is smooth as a velvet hand. While some of her songs - her cover of The Decemberists' 'Shankill Butchers', for example - are relatively unadorned, they never feel overly simplistic; and when, in other tracks, she chooses to go for a more multi-layered and fuller feel, the arrangements never overwhelm the songs, instead adding depth and color.
Take a listen! I think you'll like. All songs are from Ms. Jarosz's debut (and, so far, only) album, 'Song Up In Her Head', which dropped in June of this year. The album's available on Amazon and on iTunes, and you can preview every song on the music page of Ms. Jarosz's website.
Sarah Jarosz - Shankill Butchers
Sarah Jarosz - Song Up In Her Head
Sarah Jarosz - Broussard's Lament
Have a great Sunday afternoon, everyone!
Upon the website loading into my browser (yay Firefox!), I saw that the headline item in the 'latest news' section was that Ms. Jarosz was going to perform on Prairie Home Companion on September 26. Being generally a non-Garrison-Keillor-loving sort of fellow - no offense to the man or the show, it just doesn't light me up the way it does some folks - I didn't take that as an encouraging sign that I would love her music. I pressed on, however, as I usually do - because, after all, anything's worth listening to once, right? (please don't kill me, sir... please...)
Anyways, all fear of Mr. T aside (he has a tank, you know... and so can you!) when I listened to Ms. Jarosz's music, I was pretty much blown away. There's an unusual level of virtuosity in her banjo playing (don't hold the instrument against her - she uses it well), and her voice is smooth as a velvet hand. While some of her songs - her cover of The Decemberists' 'Shankill Butchers', for example - are relatively unadorned, they never feel overly simplistic; and when, in other tracks, she chooses to go for a more multi-layered and fuller feel, the arrangements never overwhelm the songs, instead adding depth and color.
Take a listen! I think you'll like. All songs are from Ms. Jarosz's debut (and, so far, only) album, 'Song Up In Her Head', which dropped in June of this year. The album's available on Amazon and on iTunes, and you can preview every song on the music page of Ms. Jarosz's website.
Sarah Jarosz - Shankill Butchers
Sarah Jarosz - Song Up In Her Head
Sarah Jarosz - Broussard's Lament
Have a great Sunday afternoon, everyone!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Quick Post!
I've gotta run in a minute here, so I'll do this quick and nasty (just the way you like it, I know... yeah, baby, that's right).
Patrick Wolf is a pretty awesome, significantly flamboyant British singer who's been putting out music for the last decade or so... one friend of mine (thanks, H) described him as a talented version of Mika.
Take a listen! hope you have a great afternoon.
Patrick Wolf is a pretty awesome, significantly flamboyant British singer who's been putting out music for the last decade or so... one friend of mine (thanks, H) described him as a talented version of Mika.
Take a listen! hope you have a great afternoon.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Album Review
So due to this blog I've been recruited to write music reviews for my University publication, and luckily the editor is allowing me to get my hands on some pretty neat stuff. This week I listened to the new Monsters of Folk superband self titled record that drops tomorrow. Considering that I haven't really researched much new music lately, I'm going to post it with their single Say Please
The other day I learned a bit about folk music. As I understand it, folk music came to be a type of layman’s music that the normal person could play on their front deck and not have to become a legitimate recording artist to enjoy when records began to explode into general life. Folk music passed down different stories that were easily translated through song as well. Some people describe folk music as “old songs with no known author”; well, if that is our working definition then Monsters of Folk need to find a new genre. Monsters of Folk is a superband consisting of well known musicians including Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Mike Mogis, as well as the well noted Conor Oberst from Bright Eyes, and M. Ward.
Alright, now that all the logistics are in place, let’s get to talking about Monster of Folk’s self titled freshman album.
When I think about folk music I generally think about people sitting on a porch with a guitar and just singing about what has happened in their lives, and while this album definitely evokes that feeling, it evokes many more. While listening to Monsters of Folk I went through feeling like I was riding horses looking for bad guys with John Wayne, to riding in a rusty old Ford truck through crop fields, to flashing the peace sign at an anti-Vietnam war rally. This album covers a ton of area within the folk region. Some of it feels very Elvis-ish and poppy, and some of it feels very Blitzen Trapper indie folk. The majority of songs have a very grooving beat that makes one tap their feet without realizing. Losin’ Yo’ Head stands out on the album as one of the stronger songs. Losin’ Yo’ Head is one of the more up-beat songs on the album, it is very full sounding and is closer to the poppy Elvis sound I mentioned earlier. I like it.
One thing I really enjoy about this band is their wit. The song Baby Boomer strings together backhanded slights very craftily at (presumably) the American government for things such as the Vietnam War and September 11th with lines such as “we don’t agree about September, can we agree on Vietnam”. Songs like Baby Boomer keep the album moving very quickly. Next on the album is a song entitled Man Named Truth that exemplifies why the band is called Monsters of Folk. This song contains just about every sound from a cowboy movie. I keep expecting to hear a whip crack. The song is written as a traditional folk song keeping the lyrics very wordy to explain things such as “fell in love with identical twins/lived 34 summers between the two of them”. This keeps old tradition strong and makes one really think about the lyrics, which aren’t hard to decipher.
The first three songs on the album are a tiny bit different from the rest of the record. The first song – Dear God (Sincerely M.o.F.) – sounds like what Monsters of Folk would expect the next wave of folk music to sound like. It’s very minimalist feeling. And by that I mean there is a lot of picking guitar chords, a constant, somewhat boring drum beat (which reminds me of Sublime’s Summertime) and lots of low bass hits that just create an odd, yet still folky song. The next song – Say Please – sounds very 70s, but feels like a song written for movie credits. Next third song – Whole Lotta Losin’ employs a synthesizer with a classic driving folk beat and piano that mesh to make a great song. All three songs seem to be experimental before the album really jumps into full folk swing.
All in all I feel like Monsters of Folk have done a good job creating a much hyped folk album. I do feel as though some of the music falls a tiny bit short of being “traditional” folk, but they definitely hit on the “contemporary” scale. I’ve got to say, I did not enjoy this album on first listen through. I am not a huge folk listener generally, but I do have a taste for it when in the right mood. Monsters of Folk is just upbeat enough that it keeps you very into it. The songs go by very quickly, and the lyrics are great to actually listen to. This album is definitely for people with a taste for folk, but it is possible that some more mainstream listeners may warm up to it if they give the record a chance.
Monsters of Folk, in my opinion, has successfully brought back an old sound and cultivated it enough to sound appealable to many different people. This begs the question though, if this music has been created as such, is it really folk music? I say who cares, buy the album and enjoy it.
Monsters of Folk - Say Please
The other day I learned a bit about folk music. As I understand it, folk music came to be a type of layman’s music that the normal person could play on their front deck and not have to become a legitimate recording artist to enjoy when records began to explode into general life. Folk music passed down different stories that were easily translated through song as well. Some people describe folk music as “old songs with no known author”; well, if that is our working definition then Monsters of Folk need to find a new genre. Monsters of Folk is a superband consisting of well known musicians including Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Mike Mogis, as well as the well noted Conor Oberst from Bright Eyes, and M. Ward.
Alright, now that all the logistics are in place, let’s get to talking about Monster of Folk’s self titled freshman album.
When I think about folk music I generally think about people sitting on a porch with a guitar and just singing about what has happened in their lives, and while this album definitely evokes that feeling, it evokes many more. While listening to Monsters of Folk I went through feeling like I was riding horses looking for bad guys with John Wayne, to riding in a rusty old Ford truck through crop fields, to flashing the peace sign at an anti-Vietnam war rally. This album covers a ton of area within the folk region. Some of it feels very Elvis-ish and poppy, and some of it feels very Blitzen Trapper indie folk. The majority of songs have a very grooving beat that makes one tap their feet without realizing. Losin’ Yo’ Head stands out on the album as one of the stronger songs. Losin’ Yo’ Head is one of the more up-beat songs on the album, it is very full sounding and is closer to the poppy Elvis sound I mentioned earlier. I like it.
One thing I really enjoy about this band is their wit. The song Baby Boomer strings together backhanded slights very craftily at (presumably) the American government for things such as the Vietnam War and September 11th with lines such as “we don’t agree about September, can we agree on Vietnam”. Songs like Baby Boomer keep the album moving very quickly. Next on the album is a song entitled Man Named Truth that exemplifies why the band is called Monsters of Folk. This song contains just about every sound from a cowboy movie. I keep expecting to hear a whip crack. The song is written as a traditional folk song keeping the lyrics very wordy to explain things such as “fell in love with identical twins/lived 34 summers between the two of them”. This keeps old tradition strong and makes one really think about the lyrics, which aren’t hard to decipher.
The first three songs on the album are a tiny bit different from the rest of the record. The first song – Dear God (Sincerely M.o.F.) – sounds like what Monsters of Folk would expect the next wave of folk music to sound like. It’s very minimalist feeling. And by that I mean there is a lot of picking guitar chords, a constant, somewhat boring drum beat (which reminds me of Sublime’s Summertime) and lots of low bass hits that just create an odd, yet still folky song. The next song – Say Please – sounds very 70s, but feels like a song written for movie credits. Next third song – Whole Lotta Losin’ employs a synthesizer with a classic driving folk beat and piano that mesh to make a great song. All three songs seem to be experimental before the album really jumps into full folk swing.
All in all I feel like Monsters of Folk have done a good job creating a much hyped folk album. I do feel as though some of the music falls a tiny bit short of being “traditional” folk, but they definitely hit on the “contemporary” scale. I’ve got to say, I did not enjoy this album on first listen through. I am not a huge folk listener generally, but I do have a taste for it when in the right mood. Monsters of Folk is just upbeat enough that it keeps you very into it. The songs go by very quickly, and the lyrics are great to actually listen to. This album is definitely for people with a taste for folk, but it is possible that some more mainstream listeners may warm up to it if they give the record a chance.
Monsters of Folk, in my opinion, has successfully brought back an old sound and cultivated it enough to sound appealable to many different people. This begs the question though, if this music has been created as such, is it really folk music? I say who cares, buy the album and enjoy it.
Monsters of Folk - Say Please
Grynch: Not such a mean one...
As I wander (neither weak nor weary) through Seattle, I keep coming across hip-hop music with which I'm unfamiliar, but which strikes me as being, for lack of a better descriptor, very cool.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I don't know much about hip-hop, rap, or whatever other nomenclature you choose to append to the rapid-fire pronouncing of rhymes over (preferably) dope beats... but I know quality when I hear it.
One hip-hop artist whose name keeps coming up when I approach DJs with questions on the level of, 'pardon, sir, but might you enlighten me as to the name of this artist? I find his work to be fly' is (once I get past the glares and the occasional smackings upside of haids) is Grynch. Having run into his music on no less than three occasions - including one at a Korean barbecue restaurant - I decided to search him out on the internet.
After suffering fruitlessly through literally four Seuss-related pages due to my lack of knowledge as to the unconventional spelling of his artistic pseudonym, I chanced upon a page which broke down a number of local hip-hop artists, Grynch among them - and I from there found his MySpace. Cradled in the venerable arms of that most scorned of social networking sites, I found a link to his actual website... upon which was and is (and is to come?) available for free download a veritable plethora of his music - including the tracks which I'm sharing with y'all this beautiful evening.
On this first track, "My Volvo," which was the first of Grynch's songs that I heard, he waxes lyrical about the virtues, not of b*tches and bling, but of the sort of beater we've all driven at some point in the past: "I've laughed in that car / I've cried in that car / knock on wood, I'll probably die in that car," he says, between listing the eccentric charms of his whip's shortcomings - and I kind of believe him.
Grynch - My Volvo
This second track, "Time," is perhaps a little bit more conventional in terms of hip-hop tropes, focusing on the changes Grynch sees as he moves through Seattle; but if the trope is a bit famiiar, the self-assuredness of the MC's flow, complete with some truly slick multisyllabic rhymes and a laudable willingness to deviate fom a predictable lyrical rhythm when necessary, make the track a more than enjoyable listen.
Grynch - Time
If you like what you hear from these two tracks, I'd urge you to check out Grynch's other work - it's good, it's fun, and it's free, and, really, who could ask for more than that?
Have a great Monday night, everyone!
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I don't know much about hip-hop, rap, or whatever other nomenclature you choose to append to the rapid-fire pronouncing of rhymes over (preferably) dope beats... but I know quality when I hear it.
One hip-hop artist whose name keeps coming up when I approach DJs with questions on the level of, 'pardon, sir, but might you enlighten me as to the name of this artist? I find his work to be fly' is (once I get past the glares and the occasional smackings upside of haids) is Grynch. Having run into his music on no less than three occasions - including one at a Korean barbecue restaurant - I decided to search him out on the internet.
After suffering fruitlessly through literally four Seuss-related pages due to my lack of knowledge as to the unconventional spelling of his artistic pseudonym, I chanced upon a page which broke down a number of local hip-hop artists, Grynch among them - and I from there found his MySpace. Cradled in the venerable arms of that most scorned of social networking sites, I found a link to his actual website... upon which was and is (and is to come?) available for free download a veritable plethora of his music - including the tracks which I'm sharing with y'all this beautiful evening.
On this first track, "My Volvo," which was the first of Grynch's songs that I heard, he waxes lyrical about the virtues, not of b*tches and bling, but of the sort of beater we've all driven at some point in the past: "I've laughed in that car / I've cried in that car / knock on wood, I'll probably die in that car," he says, between listing the eccentric charms of his whip's shortcomings - and I kind of believe him.
Grynch - My Volvo
This second track, "Time," is perhaps a little bit more conventional in terms of hip-hop tropes, focusing on the changes Grynch sees as he moves through Seattle; but if the trope is a bit famiiar, the self-assuredness of the MC's flow, complete with some truly slick multisyllabic rhymes and a laudable willingness to deviate fom a predictable lyrical rhythm when necessary, make the track a more than enjoyable listen.
Grynch - Time
If you like what you hear from these two tracks, I'd urge you to check out Grynch's other work - it's good, it's fun, and it's free, and, really, who could ask for more than that?
Have a great Monday night, everyone!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Another Quick Post!
Free time comes rarely now in these parts. I apologize for the lack of updates. I was playing guitar a few minutes ago and stumbled upon one of my favorite bands whom I haven't listen to in far too long. Kings of Convenience are great. Here's one of my favorite videos ever of one of my favorite songs of one of my favorite bands. That's a pretty legitimate favorite!
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