I saw a really bad almost infomercial-like commercial for the new Best of Chris Isaak CD coming out today (although it did have a lot of nice eye candy of Isaak rolling around with supermodels and looking generally very hot).
The CD features 14 hits from native San Francisco’s favorite son – well, Stockton actually (including some good songs that didn’t get a lot of radio play, so if you are a casual fan they might sound new). The disc also has four “new” tracks: a concert-favorite cover of Cheap Trick’s “I Want You To Want Me” (I do Chris), an acoustic version of the lovely melancholic gem “Forever Blue,” and two new original songs, “King Without A Castle” and “Let’s Have A Party.” I just downloaded “King Without A Castle” on iTunes, and to quote the imitable Randy Jackson, “It was just okay for me, dawg.”
I much prefer these two songs:
“Best I Ever Had” – Chris Isaak (this is a superb summer song, should have been on the new CD. This was a b-side to the Australian “Let Me Down Easy” single)
So, what am I working on this week? My first freelance music reviews! A local paper found this very blog and now wants me to review 5 albums, each in 50 words. Daunting for a rambler like me, but nonetheless a task I undertake with relish. Do you guys have any recommendations? What albums lately can you not help mentioning to everyone you meet? I have about eight or nine I am considering, but if you have suggestions, please leave em in the comments. I would really appreciate any help with this one, even if you are not a usual commenter.
Here is some music I will be enjoying this week:
Only A Fool Marit Larsen Shimmery plucky guitar pop from Norway’s Marit Larsen with wheezing harmonica and a wide-open happy vocal that reminded me of a few Sheryl Crow tunes that I enjoy. Ridiculously infectious with handclaps and banjo and all kinds of goodness. Highly recommended on these sunny days, even though the subject matter is actually quite non-happy (about a breakup and a cheating heart). Thanks to Matthew for recommending this one, from 2006′s Under The Surface, which you can buy on this Norwegian site.
Once Upon A Time There Was An Ocean Paul Simon Here is one from Paul Simon‘s new album Surprise, which comes out tomorrow. A collaboration between everyone’s favorite long-lost pal and Brian Eno (“father of ambient music“), mixed by Tchad Blake (who worked with Pearl Jam on Binaural), there are some interesting elements of electronica woven throughout the disc (have you heard the first single “Outrageous” on the radio?). The disc also contains a re-recorded version the song “Father and Daughter” (originally on the Wild Thornberrys soundtrack from 2002), which would be a perfect addition to the rad mixtape you are surely making for your pops for Father’s Day next month.
Lay Lady Lay (Dylan cover) Magnet with Gemma Hayes For some reason, the lyrics of this song have always kind of turned me off and I really can’t put my finger on why (I know! Heresy! She doesn’t like a Bob Dylan lyric!!). Maybe it’s the brass thing? I have an aversion to shiny brass furniture and being told to lay across anything brass would give me hives. But this is a really lovely cover with the achingly velvet-voiced Irishwoman Gemma Hayes blending perfectly as she swaps verses with Magnet (aka Even Johansen of Norway). Thanks to the Copy, Right? blog for unearthing this, it’s been on heavy rotation in these parts. Released in 2004 as a CD Single/EP.
Back Against The Wall Euphoria I was a big fan of the guitar-wailing/chill-electronica/soulful-harmonica blend on the 1999 eponymous debut from Euphoria. The track “Delirium” first caught my attention as something fresh and very very cool to slide across my aural palette. Euphoria is the project of Toronto-based guitarist Ken Ramm, and his new third album Precious Time sees collaboration with Steve Sidelynk (who worked with Massive Attack & David Gray), Tina Dico (who has sung with Zero 7) and the soulful Tracy Bonham. Take a listen to this unique sound on this bonus track from the new CD (from Zoe/Rounder Records), I think you’ll like it.
I’ll Try Anything Once (early version of “You Only Live Once”) The Strokes “You Only Live Once” was absolutely one of my favorite tracks of 2005, mostly because of the insane percussion work (Fabrizio Moretti is so loose, and yet so tight). This is an interesting early version of the song because it is completely lounge-lizard lazy. I frankly quite enjoy seeing the metamorphosis of a song, but if Julian’s vocals annoy you (someone commented a while back: “it’s like, get to the point…quit singing like you’re loungin on a couch with the mic cocked sideways”), this one will probably get under your skin.
BONUSES: Bob Pollard (GBV) has posted two more new demo songs on his website: “The Finest Joke Is Upon Us” and “White Skin and Bones.” Recommended only for the most rabid of fans. And, from the Merge website: “Robert Pollard (and The Ascended Masters, as Bob has taken to calling his new band) will be opening up for alt-rock super heroes Pearl Jam on two stops of Pearl Jam’s upcoming tour (Pittsburgh and Cincy). Rumor has it that the new Pearl Jam album was heavily influenced by GBV, and that Eddie is a big fan.”
To call Marathonpacks’ recent tome on the Beatles a “post” would be like calling War and Peace a novella. This thing is epic, extremely enjoyable to read and stunningly good. Why did my University not offer a Beatles Appreciation class? The closest I got was ‘Music in American Cultures’ freshman year, which I (foolishly) dropped after I saw the massive textbook list. Gah.
Also, in the continuing love affair between Ben Kweller and Evan Dando (see their duet I posted last week), the Work For It blog has a lovely little cover of Kweller doing “My Drug Buddy,” which is a great song (I love the lyric “We have to laugh to look at each other” because that is my favorite kinds of friendships summed up in 9 words).
“Popular music has been characterized by some as a rather disposable art form associated with youth culture, and yet the performers and their songs have the capacity to stay with us and embody deeper meaning as we grow older — and there is great power in this dichotomy. To quote Patti Smith, ‘Our music grants us a coat of invulnerability, a spring in which we bathe with abandon, methods of response, moments of respite, and a riot of self-expression.’ With these photographs, Annie Leibovitz illuminates and celebrates the full range of experience contained in American Music.”
. . . and so the sign greeted us at the beginning of the fabulous American Music photography exhibit, currently in residence at the FAC Modern in downtown Colorado Springs. It is a journey through the landscape of current American music, with most pictures shot in the past several years by famed Rolling Stone/independent photographer Annie Leibovitz. Organized by and premiered at the Experience Music Project in Seattle in 2003, the exhibit has travelled across the country and may be coming to your town soon. If it is, I highly recommend a trip.
I love rock ‘n’ roll photography. There was an excellent exhibit in San Jose last year (at the Tech Museum) with portraits and live concert shots spanning the entire gamut from Bono to the Beatles to Charlie Watts to Michael Hutchence to Michael Stipe. I love rock photography because of the way a good photograph can look into these artists’ souls and give you a voyeuristic chance just to stare at all their wrinkles and warts (or glowing luminous skin and teeth, depending on the subject of the photograph).
While the Tech Museum exhibit last year was a broad and far-reaching look at rock music across the last 50 years (and I loved it), Annie Leibovitz’s exhibit strives to capture American music at this precise moment, in all of its broad forms from jazz to soul to rock to country to rap to blues. I don’t think any picture in the exhibit was taken before 1999 or so. It was fascinating. It would have been perfect, perfect, unbelievably celestial for me if the exhibit came with headphones and a digital music player – so that as I looked into these faces that told so many stories I could also listen to their souls come out in the music they make. I knew many of the artists, but a lot of them I didn’t recognize, especially in some of the genres that I am still learning about.
I am having a hard time finding online where the American Music exhibit is travelling to after it leaves the shadow of Pikes Peak, so if you want to see some of the pictures, you can either order her excellent American Music book (containing all the photographs and some superb commentary from Ryan Adams, Patti Smith, Roseanne Cash, and more), and/or you can view many of the pictures in the exhibit here, although it lacks the same punch (I am admittedly a total museum whore and love just being in a museum).
Here are some of my snaps from the exhibit last night. I didn’t get a good one of the stunning Iggy Pop portrait pair, so check that link right above to see the leathery road map that his skin has become. I’ll say it again: fascinating.
That White Stripes photo is just fabulous. You can’t see it in this shot, but I love how Meg White is just so impassive. She’s like, “Okay, Jack, whatever you say.” Someone once told me that Meg White was a good woman because she does what she is told.
Mike Ness is seriously one of the baddest mofos ever. I am overdue for a post on him and his music. His skin is an art form in and of itself.
This is supposed to be Johnny Cash with Roseanne Cash on his front porch, but my haste to take covert pictures blurred it. A better shot is here. I love this because of the distance in Johnny Cash’s eyes as he plays. The music is taking him somewhere that is hard to place.
Country roots and wings with Bonnie Raitt and the Dixie Chicks. Raitt is photographed backstage in New York: I found the bottle of Dial soap sitting on the ratty old sink somehow poetic. I love little tiny details like that and I can’t say why.
Brian Wilson looking more than a bit like my dad, in that bathrobe and I think my dad has the same slippers. Sorry for the blur, see here for a good shot (my picture above looks all artsy blurry – it’s my attempt at, uh, social commentary about the speed with which we age). Wilson looks sad and lost and suburban.
Life imitating art. (We’ve already established that I am a geek, so, ya know . . .)
Mark McAdam is a charming, low-key singer-songwriter whose faint Americana vibe and gentle acoustic sound is custom made for lazy Saturdays — even better if it rains a bit, as it is right now onto my rooftop, pitter pat.
“Penny Candy” – Mark McAdam (short little instrumental piece, reminds me of a slightly off-kilter music box in an old dusty attic; the first track on the album)
“Drunken Waltz” – Mark McAdam (just as the title sounds, like a drunken waltz, and a nice female duet – with who, I don’t know, but her voice sounds familiar)
“The Natural Order” – Mark McAdam (another short little song, with a good helping of slide guitar and some clever lyrics to boot)
Those tracks are all from McAdam’s new album called Cavalcade, due out this month on March Records. If you are in NYC on May 13 (next Saturday), Mr. McAdam is having a sort of record release party at Parkside.
So enjoy – anything from him will favorably soundtrack your day today if it is anything like mine.
While we are on the topic of ’80s and ’90s bands from Minnesota, Soul Asylum also has a new album, Silver Lining, coming up. Due out July 11th, the new album was recorded exclusively in the Twin Cities, and is released as a tribute of sorts to late bass player Karl Mueller who died shortly after recording the album. Replacing Mueller is Tommy Stinson, of none other than Replacements fame. It’s a Minnesota thing.
I find it funny that someone just left this precise comment on my blog: “Kudos to MPLS. Thanks for the Mats, Husker Du, & Soul Asylum & that Purple Rain guy, too. It will be hard for any of these acts to reform and be vital I’m afraid. Nostalgia is a mixed bag & the sign of a dying culture.” The vitalogy (is that a word? or just a PJism?) of Soul Asylum’s new stuff remains to be seen, but I know that I loved Dave Pirner and his unique whine in high school. You can stream a few other tracks from their new album over on their website.
If you find yourself susceptible to the charms of Frente! or Lisa Loeb, you will probably find yourself singing this catchy, catchy song heartily (or at least humming it) in your next shower, as I just finished doing.
I was recently reminded of Melbourne-based musician Missy Higgins when I was held captive last week in a tiny airplane seat and the DirectTV on the seatback in front of me played her music videos over and over (and over) again on the single free channel, which is all I watch because I am too cheap to pay for TV.
Now my first (shallow) impressions of Missy Higgins revolved around her first name, which I find ingratiating, although I suppose that is not her fault — but doesn’t it sound like it should be prefaced with the word “little”? Snarky comments aside (sorry!), she was discovered in 2001 as a high school student whose song “All For Believing” won a radio station contest sponsored by national alternative adult station Triple J, and was also picked up early on by LA’s KCRW.
Last year I know I saw her open for someone, maybe Ray LaMontagne? I was so blinded by the fabulousness of Ray that I forget for sure. But I do remember that Higgins was plucky and earnest and played all her own instruments (piano and guitar). She definitely had that likability factor, and I find that I am absolutely unable to resist the charm of this pop song:
Oh, this is soooo good: classic ‘Mats flavor and a rocking sound on this, the first new Replacements song in 16 years. I am loving it. The song was premiered earlier today on the Jim Rome show, which seemed an odd choice to many (apparently he is a sports radio guy), but his passion about music came through as he talked about his time working on college radio and his love for the Replacements.
Two nights ago Radiohead‘s ethereal-voiced singer Thom Yorke and guitarist Jonny Greenwood played a benefit gig at London’s KOKO in support of Friends Of The Earth: The Big Ask. Three new songs were played and are now available on various fansites, blogs, and right here:
The sound quality is a little fuzzy in places, but you can get the general idea. There is also some video of these and other songs up on YouTube, and RS had a nice write-up of the evening. Radiohead usually makes me feel like I am floating somewhere in the atmosphere, and these are no exception. They are currently in the studio in Oxford working on material for a new album.
I have come to the sobering realization that I just don’t have the stick-to-it-ness to regularly post about World Music on Wednesdays, although I still like the idea and it will be an occasional feature when I have something to share.
Plus, there are others who do a much better job at this world music business than I do. Here are two for your consideration this Wednesday:
* Jesus has a great post on the continued relevancy of Bruce Springsteen with a bunch of live tracks to download of songs from the new album, and some interesting and intelligent commentary. As usual, he also has the fabulous Photoshopped picture.
* Speaking of the music biz, The Features, whose song “Blow It Out” (off 2004′s Exhibit A) is a singular feel-good masterpiece tune whose lyrics celebrate obsessive love with music, have been dropped from their record label for refusing to record a cover song for a commercial.
* There is an interesting article that several blogs I read have commented on entitled Up With Grups, by Adam Sternbergh from the New York Metro. It talks about a new generation of music fans becoming parents and how they transmit their tastes on to their children. Interesting positing about the disappearance of the generation gap. The article is incisively funny and perhaps a little bit depressing for some reason? Maybe we are just afraid to grow up.
* Marathon Packs has a very interesting post with the Talking Heads’ 1975 CBS demos. Early, early stuff “recorded right about the time the Village Voice referred to David Byrne as a ‘skinny, neurasthenic Roy Orbison with the voice of a psychotic fifteen-year-old and he isn’t even fifteen’.”
* Bring the girl rock: Sweet Oblivion has recently posted live sets from both Juliana Hatfield and Nina Gordon (Veruca Salt). I love it.
* Tonight in Reading, England there is a Legends Charity Football Match (and by football I mean soccer for all us Yanks) starring none other than Richard Ashcroft. I’d pay to see him all sweaty-like, and it’s for a good cause.
Name: Heather Browne Location: Colorado, originally by way of California Giving context to the torrent since 2005.
"I love the relationship that anyone has with music: because there's something in us that is beyond the reach of words, something that eludes and defies our best attempts to spit it out. It's the best part of us, probably, the richest and strangest part..."
—Nick Hornby, Songbook
"Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel." —Hunter S. Thompson
Mp3s are for sampling purposes, kinda like when they give you the cheese cube at Costco, knowing that you'll often go home with having bought the whole 7 lb. spiced Brie log. They are left up for a limited time. If you LIKE the music, go and support these artists, buy their schwag, go to their concerts, purchase their CDs/records and tell all your friends. Rock on.
I saw a really bad almost infomercial-like commercial for the new Best of Chris Isaak CD coming out today (although it did have a lot of nice eye candy of Isaak rolling around with supermodels and looking generally very hot).
You can stream the entire new album on Mp3.com and enjoy the manliest falsetto this side of Roy. 
That White Stripes photo is just fabulous. You can’t see it in this shot, but 
This is supposed to be Johnny Cash with Roseanne Cash on his front porch, but my haste to take covert pictures blurred it. 
Country roots and wings with Bonnie Raitt and the Dixie Chicks. Raitt is photographed backstage in New York: I found the bottle of Dial soap sitting on the ratty old sink somehow poetic. I love little tiny details like that and I can’t say why.
Brian Wilson looking more than a bit like my dad, in that bathrobe and I think my dad has the same slippers. Sorry for the blur, 
Life imitating 
Mark McAdam
Name: Heather Browne
