Tuesday, December 30, 2003
You can find a slew of 2003 Music Top Tens at some guy's blog. Mostly same-ish, but some stand out from the pack as being fairly original, like Greil Marcus' list. I was suprised how well R. Kelly did over at the New York Times, though he was hardly mentioned at all in most other publications' lists.
The Times has an interesting article about musicals on Broadway. I like the term "jukebox musicals"--never heard that before, but it's very useful, what with the likes of Mamma Mia taking over Times Square.
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
The Voice's Christgau (grumble, grumble) has a round of the year's best best-ofs. In it, he mentions an article by Gary Giddins in the Voice 18 months earlier in which he offers a "jazz map" that is a kind of best-of jazz 1945-2001. He also says he knows people who've tracked this stuff down online and burned a 6 CD comp. out of it. What a fun project! (Though I'd feel bound to buy at least some of what I discovered.)
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
Sunday, December 21, 2003
Also from the Times:
"What was once an audience's highest compliment has now become the standard response, even for the very least successful shows."
And I have to say I agree: too often I feel like I'm being thought stingy if I merely applaud enthusiastically. Can you imagine booing?
Thursday, December 18, 2003
Eric Alterman's Top Ten. No, he's not a music critic, but he's a strong thinker who has been proven right more often than most columnists for The Nation. I enjoy his blog a great deal, one of the few I read freequently. And his taste in music is lefty in a mainstream r'n'r/Americana sort of way--he's written a great deal about Bruce Springsteen, for example. It's been a pleasant surprise, reading his blog, how often he recommends music.
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
The Onion's Top Ten of 2003: I think they need some more variety on their staff. I love indierock, too, but jeez.
Monday, December 15, 2003
Saw this fun album cover yesterday in a used CD bin. KN lives nearby in Chicago, I've often been told.
Sunday, December 14, 2003
A recent (12/8/03) New Yorker Talk of the Town piece by Seth Mnookin has Al Green producer Willie Mitchell claiming that Green has to come back to him now and then to record "some real music" (not the church stuff) because of...No. 9. (I like the subtext here.) And what is No. 9? "No. 9 is an RCA 77DX ribbon microphone, one of those iconic capsule-shaped mikes similar to the ones that Larry King and David Letterman keep on their desks. Ribbon microphones are extremely delicate and can pick up the subtlest variations in volume, which is why Green's recorded murmurings and half whispers sound as emotional and intense as his shouts and whispers." This mythic mike stays in a box wrapped up for the Reverend only. It's his "secret recipe," his "eleven herbs and spices."
Saturday, December 13, 2003
Better late than never! Shopping today, I spied The Comics Journal's special issue from Summer 2002: Cartoonists on Music. Gorgeously produced, like most Fantagraphics work, it's the size of a vinyl album. Some junk, but also some beautiful work.
Thursday, December 11, 2003
Saw Tori Amos on Leno last week, singing "Winter." So many acts on the late night circuit can't sing live to save their souls, and I usually cringe and feel embarrassed for them. Amos, however, gave a powerful vocal performance, precise enough for recording. Amos was promoting her new greatest hits, which I recently picked up. I like Amos, but one of her problems is that her songs can sound too much alike--she's a bit of a noodler when it comes to melody. A spider's threads may be delicate and gossamer; nonetheless, spiderwebs look very much alike. When her recent covers album was released, some critics complained that she made them all sound the same--like Tori Amos songs!--but in that case, I thought she achieved some of her best results ever: with someone else writing the songs, there was some underlying variety, and her genius was in picking songs that really benefitted from an Amos spin (and in picking songs that sounded fresh, that aren't covered often). You can't accuse her of failing to reinvent those songs--different lyrics, different emphasis. (The Eminem and Velvet Underground songs are radically reinterpreted.) Still, in general she could certainly benefit from branching out in instrumentation and mood. I like Scarlet's Walk, but aside from a few crisp pop standouts, many of the 18 tracks sound way too much alike. Like your ear is sinking in molasses.
Art Forum's best music pix of 2003: seems like you can usually count on Dennis Cooper to make some interesting picks.
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
The December issue of Harpers has an article on Clear Channel that looks worth looking up (not available online).
Friday, December 05, 2003
I spotted an interesting article in--of all places--the Nov. 15th, 2003 issue of American Way, American Airlines' magazine (this was last week during Thanksgiving travels), about musicians finding success with small labels. The idea being that unless you're a star selling big big numbers (and, really, most of my faves don't fit that category), small labels may offer more financially and in terms of freedom.
One paragraph that I found esp. interesting:
Joe Pernice, the songwriter behind the critically acclaied, shimmering pop band The Pernice Brothers, left an independent label to start his own record company. Pernice made 300 calls to record stores asking them to stock the band's third album, Your, Mine & Ours, before it was released this summer. The disc sold more copies in just five weeks than any before it.
Pernice goes on to say that record labels are primarily useful as a source of startup venture capital for the struggling. Very interesting.
A new (final?) collection of music from Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been released. Entitled Radio Sunnydale, the CD finally makes available the absolutely first-rate song "Blue," by Angie Hart, which was previously unavailable for purchase anywhere. (Believe me, I checked.) The song comes from an incredible episode (great enough to stand alone) called "Conversations with Dead People," and it's an incredibly haunting, beautiful little gem I've been dying to have.
After an early report about Radio Sunnydale claimed "Blue" would not be included, I tracked down information on a message board at a site for the Aussie band Splendid, which includes vocalist Angie Hart, who sings the song. (If the message board was any indication, other people liked the song a lot, too.) I learned that "Blue" was co-written by Hart and Buffy ubermensch Joss Whedon. But what I didn't realize until just now, doing more searching, is that Hart was formerly the vocalist for Frente, that initially so-promising, ultimately so disappointing indie phenom of the 90s. Of course, then I realized that her voice did seem familiar originally. (duh!) How heartening to hear this great comeback from her--it deserves radio play.
I originally identified this song by using a great web site devoted to the subject of music used on Buffy, www.buffymusic.net (which doesn't seem to be active at the moment). I have found a couple other sites that are similar, if not as detailed.
Lastly, in Time magazine, I noticed a public service ad about getting help for stuttering, and guess who was the poster boy? Hint: a loveable actor who played the vital "heart" of the Scooby Gang, a character known for his fast-paced witty remarks.
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
In the Spin cover story this month, one of the guys from the Strokes (I
forget which) said he's currently into this book. Sounds interesting.
Speaking of the Strokes, the article also informed me that the cool synthy sound on the new album Room on Fire (I assume we're talking 12:51 & The End Has No End, for example) are created with guitar, not syth. Very cool! And just a random note here: is it just me, or does the song You Talk Way Too much have an inverted chorus-verse (instead of verse-chrous) structure to it? Maybe not. It's just so unusual to slow down for the chorus in a rock song, to ease up for it, rather than drive forward. Interesting effect.
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
The Missy Method:
STEP 1: GET HELP
STEP 2: GET INTO THE GROOVES
STEP 3: GET NASTY
STEP 4: GET RIPPED OFF
STEP 5: GET OVER YOURSELF
Cute article, but isn't Missy's formula getting a little tired and predictable?
The tremedously talented Tony Kushner has a new musical debuting (Caroline, or Change) at the same time that hype is building to a crescendo over the HBO production of Angels in America. Here's one glowing review. And another.
Poppins? Tarzan? Little Mermaid? All to join The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, and Aida on Broadway? "Oh, God, not another one" is right!
Monday, December 01, 2003
Warp Records will be making their entire catalog available for sale by download at bleep.com next month!! Wow. Every rarity, b-side, etc. And you don't have to have special software (like iTunes). Very exciting.
Speaking of iTunes, they've been adding content at a pretty impressive rate. In the last few weeks, for example, several albums by John Fahey, Queen, Sebadoh, The Jayhawks, and Ani Defranco (15 discs in 1 week). A nice mix of mainstream and indie, jazz, rock, r&b, hip-hop. It's coming along nicely. The wishlist I searched for the first night I got iTunes I'll have to remember to check back for in months to come!
