I went to my first show of 2009 last night and first one since Aimee Mann’s Christmas concert in December. I’ll have more about that soon. Since going to shows involves an overnight stay in the big city, I’m actually writing this yesterday.
Contrast Podcast #150 should be up sometime today, with a theme [...]
02.10Notes on the Grammys
I can’t get too outraged about Robert Plant and Alison Krauss winning the Grammy’s Album of the Year (as well as several other categories) for Raising Sand (full list of winners here. It was a very good album, and Uncle T reported that they were even better live when he saw them at ACL [...]
02.10Miss Alaska
Miss Alaska impressively sings and plays all the instruments in her January-released EP 100 Names for Snow. Although influenced by as wide-ranging artists as Velvet Underground, Regina Spektor, the Notwist, and Sigur Rös, she has forged her own sound, employing electronica along with gorgeous violin to accompany her ethereal vocals.
This is a [...]
With a dozen people listed as band members, it’s not surprising that the tracks from North Hollywood ensemble the Marches‘ 2008 debut CD, 4 A.M. Is the New Midnight display a dizzying array of vocals, instruments, and musical styles.
The Marches playfully mix genres, sometimes within the same song, melding cold, robotic electronica (”4 [...]
Former Rhode Islander Gavin Castleton now lives and writes and engineers his own music in Portland, OR. “Coffeelocks” (with Lauren Coleman) is the happy beginning of an ill-fated love story told in the 14 songs on his brand-new album Home. The album apparently reflects the real-life arc of a six-year relationship that ended. [...]
02.07Golem
There is no better way to describe New York’s Golem! than with their own words: “Where Eastern Europe meets the Lower East Side.” Klezmer/punk?
Annette Ezekiel Kogan, who also plays accordion, and Aaron Diskin do the vocals while Alicia Jo Rabins saws the strings and Curt Hasselbring plies trombone. Taylor Bergren-Chrisman plays the [...]
Have you seen this video? I actually LIKE this mashup of Queen’s classic rock anthem and the salsa Songsmith beat. Heck, I’d buy it. I am less coninced by the Songsmith remake of A-Ha’s “Take On Me.” I still love that video though.
Hard To Find a Friend has some words about [...]
As I remarked in another post recently, I was hoping I would like Andrew Bird’s new album Noble Beast better than his last one, 2007’s Armchair Apochrypha. It’s a terrible shame that in spite of Bird’s unquestionable talents, I literally had to force myself to listen to that album. I found his violin-plucking [...]
I heard there was a big football game last Sunday. Oh, yeah, I know it was the Superbowl, but I am so lacking in sports interest that I don’t know which teams played or who won. Those of us who are not into Superbowl weekend take advantage of the fact that the malls, parks, [...]
I don’t usually write a blog post around a video, but this one for Oren Lavie’s “Her Morning Elegance” is just too cute. The girl’s gorgeous red hair reminds me of my sister’s. Oren Lavie conceived of the idea for this video and was one of the directors.
Oren Lavie: Her Morning Elegance from [...]