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Wed, 14 Feb 2007 |
| Live! / Nina | |
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A while back I
mentioned hearing a Singaporean C&W band that
sounded anything but Singaporean. I guess it still surprises me to
learn yet again that local pop stars don't always sound particularly
local. That's the case with Nina, who covers mostly R&B in a
straightforward way and who is, I was surprised to discover, not
American, despite her lack of an accent. (Americans, you see, are the
only people on Earth who are totally without an accent. Except
Southerners, of course. And New Englanders. And New Yawkers, with
the exception of yours truly. But I
digress.)
Turns out Nina's from the Philippines, which would explain why she's on the Warner Brothers Philippines label. But unless I'm missing something (and what are the odds of that?), there's nothing in her performance that would give her origins away. Which makes me wonder what her local fans think of that, if they prefer her exotic non-Filipina style. Guess it's all in your point of view. |
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| [ Category: Pop | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Mon, 12 Feb 2007 |
| Daughtry / Daughtry | |
|
I have never seen an episode of
American
Idol, which will
either give me tremendous credibility as a music reviewer or
demonstrate that I in fact deserve none at all. My own opinion of the
show, which derives largely from what I read on blogs and see in the
carefully selected clips that appear on
The
Soup, which I do
watch regularly, is therefore as uninformed as it is heartfelt. I'm
not into reality TV, whether because it reflects reality too well or
not at all I'll lead you to decide. Suffice it to say that I don't
enjoy embarrassment, whether mine own or somebody else's. It's like
fingernails on the blackboard of my soul.
I mention all this to explain why I've never before reviewed anything by an Idol contestant, at least not knowingly. I'm coming at this second release by Chris Daughtry (actually by a band called Daughtry fronted by Daughtry) knowing nothing more than what I learned from the review on the iTunes Store: that he's humorless, takes himself way too seriously and approaches every song in pretty much the same all-out style. Come to think of it, that's a pretty good description of me. |
| [ Category: Pop | 1 comment | Link ] | |
Fri, 09 Feb 2007 |
| If It Makes You Happy / Sheryl Crow featuring Jack Ingram | |
| Good song for a good cause: the proceeds all go to breast cancer research. And as songs for charity go, this one's a major improvement over Live Aid. Which I guess would be a problem if you're one of those "give only if it hurts" kind of people. You're not, are you? |
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| [ Category: Rock | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Wed, 07 Feb 2007 |
| The Ballad of Lawless Soirez / Gill Landry | |
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I was so hoping this album wouldn't suck. I mean, I clicked on the little thumbnail in iTunes entirely on the strength of the cover. I have this weakness for pulp novels and noir and all that depressy stuff from before they invented color. And then I started listening. And wow, this is one book that you almost can judge by its cover. Gill Landry has written a soundtrack for those noir mean streets, wherever we may find them. |
| [ Category: Folk | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Mon, 05 Feb 2007 |
| Alright, Still / Lily Allen | |
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Here's a question: Is Lily Allen mean and vindictive |
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| [ Category: Pop | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Fri, 02 Feb 2007 |
| Songs from the Deep Sleep / Brandon Wilde | |
|
On rare occasion, I have a reminder of joy that was the early web.
Remember? When every day was an adventure, a chance to be amused, or
impressed, or horrified or, if you were really lucky, all three at
once. Okay, this isn't nearly as good as that build up. But it's
still kind of funny. Y'see, I found this album on the iTunes store by
this guy named Brandon Wilde. And I wanted to learn something about
him, so I could share with you and look all knowledgeable and stuff.
Amazon was no help; I mean, I knew he wasn't Brandon De
Wilde, an
actor who died thirty odd
years ago and, as far as I know, wasn't
musical even before he became worm food. So I tried Google. And,
well, the first link to Brandon Wilde was
something else entirely.
The musical Brandon Wilde does have a website, called, appropriately enough, Brandon Wilde Music. Which doesn't have anything to say about his music. But why in the world did I expect it would? |
| [ Category: Rock | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Wed, 31 Jan 2007 |
| Radiodread / Easy Star All-Stars | |
|
I first encountered the Easy Star All-Stars on Brian Ibbott's
Coverville
podcast. One episode, Brian recreated
Pink
Floyd's classic
Dark
Side of the Moon, entirely from cover versions. The
All-Stars were among the cover artists he used, taking one
track from
Dub
Side of the Moon,
their cover version of Floyd's Moon. I enjoyed it,
but didn't think much more about it.
Then recently I got an email from Sara O'Donnell, proprietress of the Average Betty podcast. Among Sara's comments was a recommedation for Dub Side, to which I listened, then going on to the (I believe) even more interesting Radiodread, in which the All-Stars apply their reggae cover magic to Radiohead's Ok Computer. Maybe I like it better because I'm less familiar with this original than with Moon. Or maybe it's just better. I'll let you decide this one. But as long as I'm here, let me put in a plug for Sara's podcast. Average Betty manages to demystify and deterrify cooking with a combination of wit, humor, clever editing and its undeniably attractive host. Think of it as a tasty accompaniment to Tiki Bar TV, another much-loved video podcast. And, I might add, one of a very few videocasts on my iTunes subscription list. Mostly I listen to podcasts in the car, so something has to be awfully special to get me to actually watch, what with the Highway Patrol frowning on looking at videos when you're supposed to be looking out for other cars and pedestrians and the occasional tree. Other videocasts that manage to hold my attention include Geek Brief.TV and French Maid TV. Funny; I'm starting to notice a pattern emerging... |
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| [ Category: Reggae | 1 comment | Link ] | |
Mon, 29 Jan 2007 |
| Jill Scott Collaborations / Jill Scott | |
|
I like variety; nothing frustrates me more than sampling an album and not being able to tell one track from the next. That's not a problem here. On the contrary, it's remarkable to go from jazz to hip hop to a sixties kind of urban contemporary to a bunch of stuff I don't know how to categorize, and to realize that it's one performer morphing her style to match that of her collaborator of the moment. It's a high wire act, made even more impressive by the realization that I wasn't thinking of the degree of difficulty while I was listening. My analysis, such as it is, came later; at the time I was just enjoying being in Ms. Scott's spell. |
| [ Category: R&B/Soul | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Fri, 26 Jan 2007 |
| How to Save a Life / The Fray | |
|
Way back in the mists of time, when I was first developing a lack of
taste in music, there was a band called
The
Union Gap. This band had a string of Top 40 hits, until
somebody (and then everybody) realized that every damn song sounded
pretty much the same. At the time they defended this practice by
pointing out that you don't want to mess with what works, although
maybe you ought to reconsider before it stops working completely.
I mention this because The Fray have a distinctive sound, one which follows you (or at least it does me) from track to track. It isn't as blatant as Gary Puckett & co., thank the FSM. And they can come up with compelling variations on their signature style, as their cover of John Lennon's Happy Xmas (War Is Over) demonstrates. I just hope they break out of their comfort zone more often. It keeps things interesting. |
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| [ Category: Rock | 1 comment | Link ] | |
Wed, 24 Jan 2007 |
| Meet The Smithereens / The Smithereens | |
|
We're still waiting for the rumoured day when real Beatles tracks will finally make their way to the iTunes Store. (Unless of course that happens between my writing the previous sentence and the moment it gets posted, in which case, never mind.) While we're waiting, The Smithereens' tribute version of the first US Beatles release is both eminently listenable and a reminder of a moment when rock was about to change in a big way. I was too young to appreciate the shift at the time, or too clueless, or more likely both. But even I should have felt how big a change was coming. And The Smithereens have both recreated that breakthrough album and given it their own spin. Which makes me wonder: do younger audiences need to rediscover The Beatles, or did they never disappear from popular consciousness? I suspect I know the answer to that one. |
| [ Category: Rock | 3 comments | Link ] | |
Mon, 22 Jan 2007 |
| Appassionato / Yo-Yo Ma | |
| It is no coincidence, I suspect, that this collection arrived just a month before Valentine's Day. This is Yo-Yo Ma at his most romantic, and just the thing for a celebration of couplehood or an effort to achieve that state, whether for the long or short term. I like a little more variety. Then again there's a time and a place for variety, and a time and place for focus. Which this is depends on the kind of time you're planning. And the place you'll have it, I suppose. |
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| [ Category: Classical | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Fri, 19 Jan 2007 |
| Dying to Say This to You / The Sounds | |
|
The
clean version? Or the
dirty
version? And how do you know unless you listen to both?
Oh, who am I kidding? Gotta be door number two. |
| [ Category: Rock | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Wed, 17 Jan 2007 |
| Songs to Remember / Smoma | |
| I'm confused. Not an unusual feeling, I grant. But still. You see, a search for this album on Amazon came up empty. But not completely; a second search on Smoma found two CDs, both called Casual Lounge. The first is a two year old European import. The second is a six month old domestic release. Both have the same track list, as does this album. Which I assumed means they're all the same, or at least mostly the same, aside from their packaging and their price. And then I discovered that Smoma have a second album on the iTunes Store. Called -- wait for it -- Casual Lounge - Songs to Remember. With those same 14 tracks, albeit in a slightly different order. Confusing, that's what it is. |
|
| [ Category: Jazz | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Mon, 15 Jan 2007 |
| Comfort of Strangers / Beth Orton | |
|
I discovered Beth Orton through her covers: an absolutely haunting version of The Five Stairsteps' Ooh Child and a faintly chilling, almost stalkerish sounding rendition of Bobby Vinton's I Love How You Love Me, sadly missing from the iTunes Store. But much of her other work has left me cold; it's too overproduced to let me focus on Orton's voice and her delivery. Which is why I appreciate Comfort of Strangers. Overproduced is a word that need not apply here. |
| [ Category: Alternative | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Fri, 12 Jan 2007 |
| Light Green Leaves / Little Wings | |
| Mark Twain once wrote, "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead." Listening to Light Green Leaves brought that quote to mind, and its implication that brevity, and, I would amend, clarity and simplicity, take a lot of time and effort to achieve. Because the music of Little Wings's Kyle Field (the rest of the band consists of hired hands) is so simple and pure that I can only imagine the work it took. Or at least that's what I prefer to believe; the idea that such simplicity was easy is just too depressing. |
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| [ Category: Rock | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Wed, 10 Jan 2007 |
| Destination / Once Just | |
|
Catchy. And borderline incomprehensible. Which leads me to wonder if
the incomprehensibility of their lyrics adds to or detracts from
the catchiness of their songs.
I didn't discover Once Just; they discovered me. And I'll deduct a point or two for the way my emailer didn't acknowledge being the drummer for the band, going so far as to refer to them in the third person. Naughty, naughty! But I'm not one to hold a grudge. (I can hear my friends snickering over that last remark.) Besides, I really enjoyed listening to Little Boy on their website; it sounds like a ska-influenced version of The Proclaimers. Which is a good thing. |
| [ Category: Alternative | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Mon, 08 Jan 2007 |
| I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love / My Chemical Romance | |||
|
Schizophrenic, that's what these guys are. Their songs are exciting
and high energy, at least most of the time*. But the
lyrics, well, they tell quite another story. And one that's unlikely
to end well, if they're to be taken seriously. Me, I prefer to listen
without listening, if you know what I mean.
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| [ Category: Rock | Add a comment | Link ] | |||
Fri, 05 Jan 2007 |
| MIDIval PunditZ / Midival Punditz | |
|
Electronic Indian music. Or should that be Indian Electronic? Whichever, it's one heck of an intriguing hybrid. And unlike a lot of the covers I like, where the appeal is as much the novelty of the combination as its execution, this one is as natural as it is appealing. Or is it just that my almost perfect ignorance of Indian music makes it feel so fresh and new? |
| [ Category: Electronic | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Wed, 03 Jan 2007 |
| Let's Take a Chance / Ambelique | |
| Here's irony for you: Let's Take a Chance takes no chances at all. It's reggae with all its rough edges sanded away. Me, I like the rough edges. |
|
| [ Category: Reggae | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Mon, 01 Jan 2007 |
| You Can't Make Everybody Like You / Sara Radle | |
|
Not to disagree with the title, but likable is exactly the way I'd
describe Sara Radle's singing, and her songwriting for that matter.
Besides, how can you not want to like somebody whose band was called
Lucy
Loves Schroeder? Not so sure about Fred Savage Fan
Club, though; for me he hit his peak in
The Princess
Bride. But I digress.
And speaking of digressions, my first Google search added an H to her name and came up with a nun in Salt Lake City. Who may have her own album; it's happened before. But my advice is to accept no substitutes. |
| [ Category: Pop | Add a comment | Link ] | |
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