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[ Comments Off ]Posted on January 31, 2011 by admin in Music
Monday, January 31st, 2011
And the flower and the tree. And the Hall. And the Oates. LA pop duo The Bird And The Bee cleverly make you think they’re just hipsters when in fact they are totally awesome pop geniuses.
One of the drawbacks of being an aging punk is that a lot of the cool stuff that aging hipsters are listening to manages to pass you by. I say “aging” hipsters, because I’d have a hard time believing actual hipster hipsters would fully grasp the inter-generational pop culture genius of LA songwriting duo The Bird and the Bee
. I actually heard one of their Hall & Oates covers a while back, and gave it a resounding “meh”, because there have already been so many bands like Pizzicato Five or Nouvelle Vague that did the “listen to the funny naive way we play this song from two decades ago” thing so well. But now I know that the fact that I initially blew them off was simply that I wasn’t exposed to their Hall & Oates cover in the context of their greater oeuvre. Today a friend sent me a link to the video for their tune Polite Dance Song (also below). Not only did I kind of like the pondering Scandinavian Europopiness of the tune, the dancers in the video are AWESOME. The only thing I had any complaint about was the affected hipster indifference of singer/bassist Inara George and keyboardist Greg Kurstin. But I thought to myself “no band can do a video this awesome and not actually BE pretty awesome”, so I Iistened to more, and within in hour had succumbed and picked up their 2007 debut album The Bird & The Bee
, 2009′s Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future
, and last year’s Interpreting the Masters, Vol. 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall & John Oates. Although you may want to write them off as hipsters themselves, you simply can’t. They’re far too talented, and Inara George’s voice has the same kind of charm that Astrud Gilberto’s did; even when auto-tuned, it has a fragile confidence that suits the melodic wit of their songwriting perfectly. You also can’t really call someone a hipster if they really are hip, and I think The Bird and the Bee have proven they are. Partly with their own solid songwriting and performance skills, and partly with their brilliant joke that isn’t really a joke. Because in spite of Daryl Hall and John Oates’ respective “eternal mullet” and “porn-star mustache & perm” images, Hall & Oates WERE masters, and DO deserve a tribute. They’re probably amongst the most talented and definitely amongst the most overlooked songwriters of the last couple of decades. And The Bird and the Bee’s “Interpreting the Masters” mostly does them some justice, with the exception of a karaoke-like moment or two. And I think this article about John Oates’ guest appearance at one of their shows makes it clear that they have an appropriate level of respect for the hallowed pop ground they were exploring with their tribute. I look forward to seeing where they go with future releases; it would be nice to hear them stretch their wings a bit with something more “genuine”. Given the love for jazz standards that all their press material suggests brought them together in the first place, I’m sure they’ve been holding back on something in the interest of pop accessibility. In the meantime I’ll be enjoying their last few releases’ hooky, well-crafted, metahipster pop. Read the rest of this entry »
[ Comments Off ]Posted on January 25, 2011 by admin in Music
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011
Joan Wasser’s band Joan As Police Woman keeps the soulful genius soaring with their new release “The Deep Field”. I just wish I could buy a copy.
 
Released yesterday. Unless you live in the US. |
The fact that I don’t have a copy of my favorite new album – which I listened to twice today – says a lot about the current state of music marketing. More on that further on. First, I just have to say that I’m not sure I have the words to describe the soulful genius of Joan Wasser, and the music she’s been creating with her band Joan As Police Woman, a soulful genius that I’m glad to say she has maintained on her latest release The Deep Field. I tend to agree with whomever it was that said that “writing about music is like dancing about architecture”, and this often misattributed adage is especially fitting in the case of Joan Wasser, because the exacting structure and soaring contours of her work will indeed cause dancing. In your heart, your head, and your feet. The range of expression in her voice – from the plaintively longing, to the wryly knowing, to the joyous and capricious – is a rare treasure in contemporary pop. When you read reviews that use expressions like “full of meditative beauty…ravishing and lovelorn” (Mojo) and “achingly beautiful” (The Word), they really mean it. Wasser’s rich and sophisticated song constructions are the perfect roiling atmosphere for her voice to soar on and dive through, swooping through pain, joy, resurrection, reclamation, ecstasy, anger, and maybe even the occasional coy pout. “The Deep Field” maintains the momentum of her previous two releases Real Life
and To Survive
, perhaps kicking the overall dynamics up a notch with some perfectly restrained guitar wailing, slightly gritty electric piano, and more dynamic use of horns. The bass work is impeccable too; I was actually relieved to learn that there were five bassists used throughout. I think I would be frightened by a single bass player that could pull off that range of sounds and dynamics. I realize I probably sound like some kind of emissary from The Church Of Joan, so yes, I’ll admit that on top of the tremendous musical admiration, I’m a little crushy on her. How could I not be? The same seasoned but vulnerable beauty that permeates her music is reflected in her eyes and face. She’s like a bluesy neo-classical muse of emotion that can make you smile, cry, wallow in detached melancholy, or nod in knowing agreement at life’s complexly textured revelations. Keep the music coming Joan, I think I may eventually discover bliss via meticulously crafted songwriting if your creation stays on the upward arc it’s following. And the marketing reference I made at the outset? My only disappointment with Joan As Police Woman so far has been that I couldn’t procure the actual album (which I’d been eagerly waiting to do since January 3) yesterday, on what was broadly promoted as the release date. It turns out suddenly that the US release date is February 1 on Amazon, or April 12 if you buy directly from the Joan As Police Woman site. We sent a message to the “Management” e-mail address on the JAPW site yesterday to ask about the yawning chasm between the US and non-US release dates, but haven’t received a reply. I personally listened to the release on a friend’s iPod today, and it was only out of grudging fanboy respect that I said “no thanks” when he offered to let me copy his VBR mp3′s. I’ll be following up with the label to see what gives; this is not a particularly brilliant way to release music in today’s digital marketplace of torrent-happy fans. I myself might even justify paying for the album now, and securing a copy through other means prior to the official US release date. And as I said a few weeks ago, I’m all about buying indy music and not torrenting it these days. But let’s be real – it’s simply common sense that there will be a ton of sales lost in the US because of this, isn’t it?
[ Comments Off ]Posted on January 18, 2011 by admin in Music
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011
Music is magical if only for the fact that it makes humans dance around with nothing more than subtle vibrations of air, but things get even more interesting when it makes their eyes leak salt water. Are there songs that make YOU cry?
This is Anna Karina, after
listening to my compilation. |
I’ve often said that one of the reasons I love music so much is that it’s virtually indistinguishable from magic. How else do you explain the fact that by sending subtle vibrations into the air, you can make humans gyrate uncontrollably, tap their toes and fingers, or even march to war. While these audio-induced rhythmic nervous system reactions seem easily explainable as a simple stimulus/response process, you can also use these subtle vibrations to cause less predictable responses, like the release of salt water from their eyes. To me, the latter is perhaps the most intriguing result of these subtle vibrations of air, because although humans usually reserve this release of fluid from the eyes for moments of sadness or physical pain, when a person cries in reaction to a piece of music (unless of course they’re just crying because it’s a really horrible Justin Bieber song) it can be nearly impossible to determine if they’re crying because they’re happy or sad, inspired, proud of their country, or some mixture of all of these feelings and more. I got the idea to compile this list more out of curiosity regarding what makes *other people cry, but once I got going, I got a little obsessed, and perhaps a little embarrassed. I had forgotten, for instance, that I had a playlist called “Music To Hang Yourself By”, or that a song by a band with a name like “Goo Goo Dolls” could make me cry. A lot of more obviously sad songs have little effect on me; frankly, the best way to ensure that I don’t cry when I hear a piece of music is if the tune starts off by saying something descriptively sad in the lyrics. I find it more effective when the singer first claims they’re doing just fine, and then rips it up, implying with plaintive wailing – but never admitting – that suicide will be their only salvation. Below are just a few tunes that are likely to jerk a tear from my eye. I included a few obvious ones like “Hallelujah” and “Crying”, and a few cheesy ones for sentimental reasons, but omitted many, many more, mostly because I’d like to know what makes YOU cry. So give it up. What makes you weepy? Read the rest of this entry »
[ Comments Off ]Posted on January 11, 2011 by admin in Music
Tuesday, January 11th, 2011
The multi-talented Gunhild Carling and the Carling Family seem to be keeping big band and vaudeville alive. I don’t speak Swedish, but thanks to Google Translate I can assure you that they provide “hours of musical binge”.
Ages ago, we answered the question we knew had been gnawing at your mind for ages, i.e.: What Has 14 Legs, 30 Strings, Bad Teeth, and No Soul? Now we’re here to answer another of life’s burning questions: What has three trumpets, a megaphone, a set of bagpipes, a clarinet, a trombone, a blues harp, tap dances, sings jazz standards, tells jokes, speaks Swedish, and can balance a trumpet on its nose while it plays upright bass? Well, actually “it” is a “she”, and her name is Gunhild Carling. I must admit I was left with a strange mixture of admiration and sympathy when I saw this video compilation of just a few of Carling’s talents. My first reaction was “wow, that’s what they mean by multi-talented instrumentalist”, then I was like “wow, but does the world really need a person who can play three trumpets at once?” and then I was like “Aw jeez, I bet the poor thing had one of those miserable showbiz childhoods like Michael Jackson” and then I was like “Ugh. What a tragicomic display of a bizarre desperation to please or impress”. But in the end, I got a grip, stopped psychoanalyzing and prefacing my personal observations with the word “like”, and realized that Gunhild Carling and her family are just fun-loving and talented in the old-school style of vaudeville, jazz, and other ages-old forms of traveling theater. Watching the video clips of Carling is probably a lot less fun than the live show must be; I think this would be a fantastically fun evening of live entertainment. If you don’t enjoy the clips, and you don’t speak Swedish, be sure to at least Google Translate her website for a magical poetry treat that still probably conveys the vibe of a Carling Family show. An example: “Hours of musical binge! Love-game makes people happy. Car-spawn, as an artist family Carling offering, pulling together. The difference is that the Carlingford-game all the time is packed with humor. And it is not always what love succeed.” Hours of musical binge indeed. Check out some vids below. Much more fun – and much less opportunistic – than slowing down to look at car crashes. Read the rest of this entry »
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on January 3, 2011 by admin in Music
Monday, January 3rd, 2011
I think I’ve picked my favorite album of the year. Now I just have to wait for it to be released so I can hear what it sounds like.
With the incredible wealth of quality indy music available the last few years, I rarely find myself panting with anticipation over a new release. In fact, I often lament the lack of hours in the day to enjoy the music I already have. I’m making an exception in the case of Joan As Policewoman’s new release The Deep Field though, scheduled for a January 24 release date. I was a little late myself to the Joan Wasser party; as I mentioned last month, I only just discovered her solo albums Real Life and To Survive, and I have yet to listen to her previous work with the Dambuilders, Black Beetle, or Antony and the Johnsons. But I’m not too worried about playing catch-up. Given the soulful wandering of her voice, richness of composition, amazing musicianship, and subtle production of her previous two releases, her music will be in heavy rotation on my personal playlists for a while. If you haven’t heard Joan Wasser’s band Joan As Policewoman, don’t look to me for categorization. Beyond saying that she’s one of the most skilled singer-songwriters I’ve had the pleasure of listening to in a long time, I can only say that I find myself repeatedly mesmerized by her intricate songcraft and soulful vocal explorations, which convey an emotional insight and vulnerable toughness that runs deep. If you really need some kind of reference point, you might resort to the jazzier of Joni Mitchell’s work, but only because of the maturity of arrangements and the musicianship, not because of any similarity in mood or style. But there’s no need to take my word for what Joan Wasser’s music is about; she’s offering three free tunes on her site in exchange for your e-mail prior to the new release. Included are Magpies
(from To Survive), The Ride
(from Real Life) and “The Magic” from her upcoming release. The video for the new tune “The Magic” is on YouTube (also below) as are a few other tunes, which we’ve also included below, along with a clip of Wasser talking about how grateful she is to be working with such great musicians. I imagine they’re as grateful in return; it’s clear her soul knows a little something about the actual Deep Field the new release is named after. I think the videos highlight the fact that it’s difficult to find the right packaging for Wasser’s complex combination of drive, smarts, beauty, and vulnerable toughness. But her music does the job just fine. Read the rest of this entry »
