artistic conversations

Something’s coming…

I know it has been a VERY LONG time since I last wrote anything here.  I hear so much great new music every month that I want to write about…but priorities as they have been, I haven’t been able to devote the time necessary to really write anything of value to myself (or whoever might read this).

Well, I am currently working on a couple of different music reviews and one or both will be posted very soon.  I’m also trying to decide how to best move forward so that I can more easily share my thoughts on much of the music I am constantly playing as the soundrack for my life.

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‘Back to Black’ by Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse’s second album, Back in Black, is my favorite new album in a very long time. I currently have this one playing non-stop in my car CD player.

Amy Winehouse, a 23 year old chanteuse from London, has delivered a send-up to the Motown girl groups of the 50’s and 60’s with a modern hip-hop sensibility.  She pays homage to so many of her influences while exploring many different styles, such as gospel, jazz, and soul ballads.

Her lyrics are brilliant–honest and emotional, with the right amount of humor added in just the right points.  ‘Rehab’ is a gospel-flavored song, where she answers those who are critical of her wild antics when she’s not performing: “They tried to make me go to rehab, I said no, no, no”.  ‘Me and Mr. Jones’ is the best ‘F@#$ YOU’ to a past boyfriend since Alanis Morissette and ‘You Outta Know’.  In ‘You Know I’m No Good’ she is unapologetic about her unfaithfulness in a past relationship.

Overall, this is a mature soul album that is accessible to listeners of all ages.  While some of the songs are welcome on the dance floor at the club, this album is one you will want to sit and listen to carefully…you will want to make sure you catch all the depth and subtleties found in the music.

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Top 10 CD’s of 2006

1. Crane Wife - The Decemberists
The Decemberists’ major label debut.  The band is tighter and Colin’s vocals are more mature on this nod to some of the prog rock of the 70’s, with guitar rifs that would feel at home on a Led Zep album and keyboards that hearken back to Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.  And it wouldn’t be the Decemberists without lyrics steeped in folklore, including the title song-cycle that comes from a Japanese folk tale.

2. Permafrost - Bill Mallonee/The Victory Garden
Bill Mallonee at his most confessional.  See my full review here.

3. The Life Pursuit - Belle & Sebastian
Belle & Sebastian albums get better with each outing.  The Life Pursuit is their most fun yet, paying homage to some of the great 70’s pop music (I’m surprised to find a trend of 70’s influenced CD’s in my list this year).  Yes, I confess to having been drawn in to the ‘cult of Belle & Sebastian’ since Tigermilk, but I also confess that I was starting to get a little bored.  “Dear Catastrophe Waitress” was the wake up call they needed and also the springboard to “The Life Pursuit”.

4. Fox confessor Brings the Flood - Neko Case
Alt-country, jazz, blues…whatever label you want to give or whatever style she is singing, Neko’s voice draws you in to listen to the stories she tells.  It took her a couple years to make this album (while also splitting time with the New Pornographers), it was worth the wait.
 
5. Ta Dah! - Scissor Sisters
WOW!  Fun! On their second album, the Scissor Sisters have continued what they started…much of the same, but better, more mature.  They didn’t go ‘over the top’ as much on this album as on their debut and the energy behind that restraint makes for some excellent tracks.  And tell me, how can you not dance to “I Don’t Feel Like Dancing”?  Another 70’s influenced band on my list.

6. Snow Angels - Over The Rhine
Over the Rhine is one of my all-time favorites.  Karin and Linford continue to put out music that tells some of the best stories.  This is a ‘holiday’ album, but it refuses to show the sappiness of many artists’ ‘requisite’ Christmas album.  This is the kind of album you want  to listen to even after the holidays.

7. The Information - Beck
The best of “Sea Change” meets the best of “Guero” with a theme of technology…and how it messes with human interaction.  But Beck wants you to make this your own.  Make this what you want it to be…including the mostly blank CD cover and the sheet of stickers so you can make the cover look any way you want.

8. St. Elsewhere - Gnarles Barkley
I know, everyone is tired of hearing “Crazy”…but even so, I notice that still, after all the overplay it gets, the dance floor still fills up whenever that song is played.  Danger Mouse is the current ‘it man’ in the music scene and he joins here with Cee-Lo, re-defining the ‘rules’ for hip-hop with this unique psychedelic blend of pop, hip-hop, soul, and rock.

9. Talk to la Bomb - Brazilian Girls
On their first album, the Brazilian Girls got our attention with their playful seduction.  This album, after seducing you with their beats and hooks, they turn on you with a darker, sometimes angry message.  But in the current wartime world, it can be hard to find a playfulness all the time.

10. Love - Beatles
George Martin brought his son, Giles, into the studio to rework many of the Beatles’ greatest tracks to create a continuous mix for the backdrop to Cirque du Soleil’s latest Las Vegas production.  Very psychedelic, very cirque, very updated.  Bringing the ‘Summer of Love’ to a new generation.

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Tsotsi (Thug)

Is it possible for the most hard-core, violent criminal to
find redemption? “Tstotsi” explores this
idea through the main character, Tsotsi (meaning ‘Thug’ in South African
slang). As the story begins, you see
‘the gang’ in the township outside of Johannesburg
set off on their nightly adventure, finding someone to terrorize and rob. As the night goes on, Tsotsi seems to be
getting more and more evil. You can
sense the rage and anger building in him as he continues on his spree. As I was watching this, I had to make a
conscious decision to either turn it off or make an investment in the
story. It turned out to be a good
investment.

One event that night changes things for Tsotsi. You see through the rest of the story where
he is slowly remembering things of his childhood and perhaps seeing how things
could be different if only different choices were made. By the end of the story, Tsotsi seems to have
turned around and surrendered to his fate.

Based on a novel by Athol Fugard, “Tsotsi” is a story I think everyone should
see. Gavin Hood (director and screen
writer) filmed most of the movie in the township outside Johannesburg, where you see how everyone
seems to just survive. You see how the
people are affected by poverty and by AIDS.
This is a story we hear about all the time through people such as Bono
and Angelina Jolie.

“Tsotsi” won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. But even if you normally avoid foreign movies
because you don’t like reading subtitles, I still recommend you see this. There is actually minimal dialog. Gavin Hood is a master at telling stories
through images, with very little dialog.
The movie is accompanied by a soundtrack of a driving, intense Kwaito (South Africa’s
hip-hop).

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‘Permafrost’ by Bill Mallonee/Victory Garden

It has been a while since I’ve added a new review here and that is mostly due to the huge transitions I’ve made in my personal life in the last few months. Well, I’ve finally come to a resolution to nearly everything after three long years of turmoil and stress.

So, it seems fitting that I share my comments on the new Bill Mallonee/Victory Garden CD, _Permafrost_. Bill Mallonee has seen many disappointments in his music career, possibly even considering throwing in the hat in the last few years. He has experienced financial hardships that have caused him to sell some of his most treasured guitars. Also, reportedly, he has been through divorce and remarriage in the last couple of years. Those who have followed his career through the ten years of Vigilantes of Love and the recent five years as a solo artist have come to appreciate his ‘bare-your-soul, heart-on-the-sleeve’ approach to songwriting and performing. With _Permafrost_, Mallonee is at the top of his songwriting craft and, at many times, at his lowest in his confessionals.

He is back with a new band name Victory Garden. This is a reference to the fruit and vegetable gardens many people in the US, Canada, and the UK planted during World War II to to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort. _Permafrost_ is a Victory Garden, of sorts. These are the seeds of nine songs planted in a private garden, un-connected to any music industry machinations. The album was funded via pre-purchases from many, like me, who have followed Bill’s career for a number of years and want to help him continue to tell his stories and confessions. The distribution of _Permafrost_ is being built on word-of-mouth with no distribution company tasked with getting the CD on store shelves. [click here for details]

The band sounds tight. Bill has added keyboards and female background vocals, as well as the return of the pedal steel guitar. Overall, the sound is very similar to Neil Young.

The songs explore the state-of-the-soul of someone who “Lost his sweetheart as the band got hummin’” (Pour, Kid) “Threadbare” is probably the most confessional and personal song on the album, when it asks, “Is it OK if I cry in your arms?” and in the chorus states: “scrape off the blisters of the ragged landscape of despair leaves you all threadbare”.

Many of the other songs also talk of similar themes of lost love and recognition of past mistakes. “Bank” seems to be a song of regret but also serves as a reminder to not forget ‘to bring kindness…to spend love (it won’t break the bank)…to bring encouragement’ and a reminder that ‘it’s ok to say I love you–figure sometimes it’s gonna hurt’ (OUCH—how often do we forget that love continues through good AND bad).

“Flowers” is a classic Bill Mallonee song. It paints a lot of familiar images of loneliness and despair and being ‘down in the bottom of the ninth’ but then hints at signs of hope and redemption “Flowers comin’ right up through the cracks of our broke down little hearts”

The album closes with “Rationale”, where the singer shows acceptance for all that has happened and acknowledgement that he needs to ‘Tear it all down, what’s there left to save…turn around and walk away’.

With each listen, I feel a deeper and deeper connection with each and every song. Even though the turmoil I went through in the last few years is very different from what Bill Mallonee has been through, I relate to nearly everything on every song on a very personal level. Most who know me also know the changes I’ve been through and also likely know how much I’ve reflected on what has happened and what I can learn from everything and how I can ‘turn around and walk away’ from everything. The release of _Permafrost_ at the beginning of this month has coincided with the completion of my move to Olympia, finally accepting the simpler life that has been long overdue for me.

_Permafrost_ can be purchased here

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‘Taurero’ by Rory Stitt

I picked up this great novel/movie/grand tale called Taurero and I can’t put it down. I keep listening over and over and drawing new or more complex pictures in my mind each time. No recognizable traces of the Narcissist (with the exception of a reworked hidden track and Quicktime movie of ‘Magic Light’). The Harlequin has become older and wiser. Now the bull is much more matter-of-fact. Embracing the life he’s lived thus far, boasting of his conquests, but acknowleding his compromises. These are stories to which everyone can relate. Fighting the battles of ‘drugs or love or sex or faith’. Contemplating death. Using sex or drugs to mask our own insecurities and incompleteness. But also realizing that we can’t be alone and perhaps the person we’ve fought against is the beautiful person we should be with to love.

OK, so that’s probably a more pedestrian interpretation of the themes, but those themes weave continual threads through all the songs and tie everything together lyrically. The musical themes underlying the tales are no less intriguing and actually invite the listener to listen closer…but beware: This is not for the passive traveler. Sit down, strap on your seat belt, brace yourself….

The Bull is unleashed from the very beginning of the first song, ‘Taurero’. I hear themes from Rachmaninoff to Elton John (‘Cry Child’ is on par with most of Honky Chateau and Tumbleweed Connection) to Stevie Wonder (‘Gold, Silver’)…and then the haunting repeating melody from an Alfred Hitchcock movie underscoring the otherwise beautiful love song ‘Gold, Silver’, leaving the listener with the same uneasiness of a great psychological thriller. Echoes of Yann Tiersen can be heard in many of the songs throughout. Yet, with all the recognizable sounds, Rory possesses the same level of inventiveness and originality as Yann.

To know Rory is to experience his passionate energy. To see Rory perform is to see that energy erupt…well, much like the energy released when a rodeo bull is released from its cage. So, it is fitting that Taurero was recorded live (with a silent audience) in order to capture the live experience and spontaneity of ‘the Rory Experience’.

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