Though their music isn’t for everyone, this makes me happy:
Category Archives: Music
A Bunny and a Bear on a Beach with Ukulele
Handing It Over
A new mission for this blog: I will make an attempt to share something, daily, that brings me joy or makes me smile. Considering all the crap going on in the world and the despair I often feel at our insane domestic policies in this country, I realized that I need to reflect, and more importantly, share something positive with others. I won’t stop writing other kinds of entries, nor will I shy away from political rants and diatribes when warranted, but I want to contribute, if only slightly, to the smile quotient in the world.
These daily entries may be essays, quotations, songs, images, links, anecdotes, videos, or anything else that I come across that makes me smile or offers me a moment of joy. Some days you may not find the entry makes you smile, and that’s ok. There will be a new one the following day.
For today, I want to share this video by Bjork which made me smile.
Be well.
My Favorite Albums of 2009
Dark Side of the Moon by The Flaming Lips & Stardeath and the White Dwarfs
I am a big Pink Floyd fan and a big Flaming Lips fan and so within minutes of finding out about this project, I had downloaded the album and, for the first time in a long time, simply sat and closed my eyes and listened to the album in its entirety.
If you like either band, you will want to buy this (unless you are so hide-bound and pedestrian in your love of Pink Floyd that you will get all bitchy when the music isn’t note for note the same as the original). The production values are stunning: everything is crisp and even the distortion has a clarity and precision that few bands can match. Every time I listen I find something new, a lick or a riff or a sound that I hadn’t noticed before, which, of course, means that this cover version has found the spirit of the original even as it carves out its own sonic space within the work.
Really, get this album.
The Little Death by The Little Death
Yes, Moby plays bass in this band, but this is no vanity/side project and if you aren’t a fan of Moby’s regular music, you should take the time to give The Little Death a listen. In fact, you can listen to the entire album right here. The music here is boozy, soulful, hard-rocking, and has tons of attitude; music that would beat up most alt-pop bands, down a bottle of whiskey, smoke a pack of cigarettes, and then head off into the night with a stranger. The lead singer, Laura Dawn, is the star of this project, though the rest of the band supports her with tight but aggressive music arrangements.
This is music for grown-ups who like their love bittersweet and their joy laced with pain.
Sometimes we all need a reminder
Music You May Have Missed – Gogol Bordello
Take one part Punk, one part Gypsy music, and three parts lunatic lead singer, garnish with an insane amount of energy and a love of sex, drugs, and rock & roll and you will have something close to the Gogol Bordello experience.
I’ve been sitting on this post for a number of days, hoping to come up with something interesting to say about this band, but the truth of the matter is, I don’t have a strong emotional connection to them, or any pithy thoughts about their music. Simply, this is a kick-ass band with a kick-ass attitude and you should check them out.
Wanderlust King
Not a Crime
Supertheory of Supereverything
60 Revolutions
God-Like
A Handful of Very, Very Cool Videos
I love sharing music. I hope you enjoy.
Music You May Have Missed – The Velvet Teen
For some reason, I’m finding it difficult to start writing about The Velvet Teen. Usually when I pick a band to write about for this series, I have an idea of how to approach them, but this band does something to me on an emotional level that I can’t quite grasp. Intellectually, I recognize that their music is accomplished, rich, layered and willing to stray from the traditional pop structures (especially on the more experimental album Elysium). There is a whiff of twee/emo pop to their music but their complexity, both musically and lyrically keep them from falling into the same category, for me at least, as bands like the The Shins, Keane, or The Wrens (bands that I occasionally enjoy listening to, but feel no need to proselytize for). Yes, some of The Velvet Teen’s music could unobtrusively fit on a Scrubs soundtrack, but something else, something deeper is going on with the band that I can’t quite put my finger on.
Perhaps it is Judah Nagler’s voice: floating, richly emotional, perhaps even a bit other-worldly. In fact, I sometimes have a tough time paying attention to the lyrics because I find my attention shearing off and away from words and into the sheer musicality of his voice. You’ve heard about how some people could listen to Morrisey sing the phonebook? Judah Nagler’s voice has the same enchantment for me, plugging into my emotions on a pre-verbal level.
So I have no clever analysis or discussion, nothing much to say except that if you haven’t heard The Velvet Teen, you should. So I’m going to just stop writing, and let you listen to some of their songs.
“The Prize Fighter”
“Tokyoto”
“Radiapathy”
“Your Cell”
The Velvet Teen on Myspace
The Velvet Teen on Last.fm
The Velvet Teen on Wikipedia
Sexy Video
Music You May Have Missed – mewithoutYou
In the Greenpoint area of Brooklyn, NY there is a live music venue called the Warsaw where you can see any number of really great indie bands and performers while you buy freshly made pirogues and other Polish foods. The sound acoustics are not very good at all, but there is an undeniable charm to the venue that makes up for its shortcomings. Plus, the pirogues are really, really good.
This was where I first heard mewithoutYou as they opened up for Minus the Bear and promptly bought their cd Catch Us for the Foxes. This was loud music, rock with a fiercely driving force behind it that assaulted the senses. Yet within moments, an equally fierce intelligence and poetry became apparent.