Category: Music

Yeah, I know we’re almost six weeks into 2004. It just took a while to put these thoughts together.

This year I was almost content to let KEXP speak for me on the best releases of the year. But I can’t find a concise link on their site for this year’s “best of” list (though it is on the online playlist), and besides Greg inspired me (and gave me a neato format to steal!). So I’ve written an unordered, quick top albums of 2003 list, plus some reflections on the year in music as a whole.

Looks like the Church’s album Starfish (with their only US hit “Under the Milky Way”) is available in the iTunes Music Store. As is—wait for it—Sigur Rós’s ( ).

Longtime readers of this blog may remember last year when I observed that Sigur Rós had disappeared from the store, just a few days after appearing in a banner ad. What brought them back? Well, it’s anybody’s guess, but I’m guessing that eight months’ positive experience in the store meant that when it was time to promote their new EP, their label had enough evidence of how it affected album sales to talk them into it.

The new EP, Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do, features the three works that Sigur Rós contributed to Merce Cunningham’s dance work “Split Sides.” The other contributor was Radiohead, whose contributions do not appear to be forthcoming on disc.

From late night infomercials to the New York Times: the pretty kids of opera, Amici Forever. It’s only because classical music is so badly marketed in general that these guys are getting any sort of props for “popularizing” opera. With a name like Amici Forever (destined to become a boat anchor as soon as the group breaks up), and with collars like those the guys are wearing in the photos, this group would be an also ran if it weren’t for the classical angle.

Or maybe I’m just grumpy this morning because none of the groups I was in ever got that kind of press. Sniff.

Oh well. At least they don’t have to go topless to get attention from the music press.

Radiohead
Hail to the Thief
Capitol, 2003

I sucked
The moon
I spoke
Too soon
And how much did

it cost?
I was dropped from
Moonbeams
And sailed
On shooting stars

Maybe you’ll
be president
But know
right from wrong
Or in the flood you’ll
build an Ark
And sail us to the moon

For all who are interested in the traditional folk music of America, BlueRidgeMusic.org provides a searchable database by state, county, location, keyword, and date of all traditional music happenings in the Blue Ridge Mountains between North Carolina and Virginia. The Marshall Depot is listed as a venue, as are a few other gigs in and around Asheville.

The database is courtesy the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum at Ferrum College in Virginia, which also has some pretty cool Appalachian music material in its current online exhibit, “Deathly Lyrics: Songs of Virginia Tragedies.”

Found online today, two interesting directions in music:

1. Goodbye, Babylon, a six-disc compilation of gospel and other sacred music and sermons from 1902 to 1960, is available from the company’s web site (Dust-to-Digital) for a cool $100. The compilation is getting raves: it could be the next Anthology of American Folk Music.
2. Vijay Iyer, a pianist and academic theorist whose music was available on MP3.com before its implosion (and is now available on his own site), just put together a song cycle with poet and hip-hop artist Mike Ladd called “In What Language?” that examines travel between countries in the post-9/11 world. Interesting stuff that is winning raves all over the place.

On a completely different, um, note, the generation line of melodramatic “singers” with large heads has been crossed: Henry Rollins will be guesting on William Shatner’s next album.

And, in sadder news, the LA coroner’s office ruled that Elliott Smith’s death is still an open case; the coroner said they couldn’t rule out that someone else might have stabbed him.

Remember how I said my family has weird taste in holiday music? English Village Carols is one of those recordings that proves the point: a field recording made in village pubs across England, with amateur choristers of varying age and ability (and, apparently, hearing), singing carols together as they’ve done for almost two centuries.

If you have low tolerance for enthusiastic but occasionally imprecise harmonies, eccentric vibratos, lots of dramatic rubratos, cheesy little pub organs, and carols that have been forgotten everywhere else but in these small village gatherings, you may want to steer away. But for me this recording is a breath of fresh air amidst the general seasonal miasma of “White Christmas” (as performed by Martina McBride, Rosemary Clooney, Elvis, Roomful of Blues, the Oak Ridge Boys, Clay Walker, Percy Faith, the Statler Brothers, Lee Ann Womack, the Chipmunks, and about 180 others, according to the iTunes Music Store). Recommended for the general rough beauty of the singing, and the clinking of pint glasses that accompanies most of the carols.

Upon hearing the phrase Irish (or worse, Celtic) Christmas music, most people have one of two reactions: either they grab their families and their Claddagh rings and their shamrocks and their green scarves and they settle in for a long listen, or they head for the hills. The reason is simple: there are a lot of really bad Irish recordings out there, and the misty headed sentimentalism that often parades under the name of “Celtic” makes a lot of it worse.

Fortunately, the Chieftains mostly avoid this trap on their holiday album The Bells of Dublin. They are, after all, revered for having brought a sense of traditionalism and musicianship back to Irish music. Unfortunately in recent years they have fallen prey to the unfortunate “guest star syndrome,” familiar to many classical music listeners, where normally serious musicians bring in pop artists on recordings, often with disastrous results.

What makes this album so special is that for the most part the guest stars don’t get in the way of some really amazing playing. “Past Three o’Clock” features a nice jig around the traditional carol, and “St. Stephen’s Day Murders” is unabashedly fun as guest vocalist and co-writer Elvis Costello(!) sings about doing away with family members who’ve overstayed their welcome:

For that is the time to eat, drink, and be merry,
Til the beer is all spilled and the whiskey has flowed.
And the whole family tree you neglected to bury,
Are feeding their faces until they explode.

There’ll be laughter and tears over Tia Marias,
Mixed up with that drink made from girders.
’Cause it’s all we’ve got left as they draw their last breath,
Ah, it’s nice for the kids, as you finally get rid of them,
In the St Stephen’s Day Murders.

But the highlights of the disc are the two medleys that pull together traditional songs and airs into flowing sequences. The Carol Medley features some fine singing over a sprightly arrangement of “O the Holly She Bears a Berry,” “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” and “The Boar’s Head.” And the absolute high point is the medley on “The Wren! The Wren!,” which pulls together a set of traditional Irish dances, reels, and hornpipes in a grand bit of craic. One can almost imagine the close walls of Matt Molloy’s pub getting just a little snugger as the incomparable Northumbrian pipes of guest Kathryn Tickell play over the bodhrain.

I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t mention the following nightmarish stretches of the disc: the French carols warbled by the McGarrigle sisters; Marianne Faithfull’s version of “I Saw Three Ships”; the weak “Rebel Jesus” with Jackson Browne; and the absolutely execrable version of “O Holy Night” by Rickie Lee Jones. But as Elvis Costello points out, “it’s nice for the kids as you finally get rid of them.”

On Tuesday I wrote about Dave Brubeck’s Christmas recording recalling holiday traditions of people gathered round the piano in the parlor, playing and singing. As I did so, I reflected that this probably isn’t a tradition for everyone. Our family is atypical in a bunch of ways, notably in having musical talent on both sides.

Then again, we’re also atypical in our taste in holiday music. For about twenty-five years, one of our favorite holiday recordings has been an odd record of carols by the Boston Camerata. The repertoire includes Middle English carols (yes, Chaucerian English, and Latin as well) that span the 12th through 15th centuries, and a rich selection of 18th and 19th century carols from England and America. The performances were recorded during a crossroads in early music, when popular performance practice was still introducing primitive instrumental accompaniment (typically viols and rudimentary wind instruments) to choral music that originally would have been performed unaccompanied. But, as on the pivotal Music of the Gothic Era recording, the voices take center stage. Even without understanding Middle English (and the diction here is impeccable), the listener is carried away by the sheer energy and enthusiasm of the singing. And the early American tunes have the same propulsiveness; the shape-note carol “Sherburne” can ring your room and rattle your rafters if you’re not careful.

There are only a handful of carols that will be familiar to most listeners on this disc, including “Sunny Bank” (“I saw three ships”) and “The Coventry Carol,” but the performances are so compelling that you may want to learn Middle English or the Sacred Harp singing style to pick up some new favorites. My friends in the Suspicious Cheese Lords and I did just that with “Nowel, Owt of Your Slepe,” “Nova, nova: Aue fitt ex Eva,” and “Sherburne,” all of which we performed several times during my tenure with the group. A holiday essential that reaches back to earlier times and brings them vibrantly to life. That ever was thralle, now ys he fre; That ever was smalle, now grete is she; Now shall God deme bothe the and me Unto his blysse yf we do wel. Nowell!

(Incidentally, the Camerata’s web site includes a discography page with lo-fi MP3 previews of some of the tracks from this album.)

Continuing my review of my personal favorite holiday recordings, today’s disc is A Dave Brubeck Christmas. This latter-day collection of solo piano numbers has a parlor ambience to it, as though Dave were sitting at your grandmother’s old upright piano. Dave covers a set of mostly standards with a few of his own compositions in fine Brubeck style.

Now, when I say “Brubeck style,” don’t expect the thundering blocked chords and odd time signatures of Time Out. The approach here is much less fiery. At his liveliest on this recording, on “‘Homecoming” Jingle Bells” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” Dave calls to mind great stride pianists like Fats Waller, with a little Count Basie thrown in for good measure. Most of the other numbers are approached with melodic inventiveness but contemplative tempos. The end result is a hushed anticipation that recalls Brubeck Plays Brubeck, his groundbreaking 1956 solo album recorded at home late at night as he tried to keep from waking his infant children. The comparison is apt: Brubeck says he was trying to recapture some of his favorite holiday memories of playing with his family. The end result is more “drowse by the fire” than “jingle bell rock,” but having a little help to get out of the holiday bustle and into a meditative mood during the season never hurts. Recommended.

One note about the sound: this is a Telarc recording, and like all Telarc discs is recorded with a much quieter playback volume than typical rock or jazz albums. As a result the disc doesn’t really play well in a changer, shuffled among other recordings, unless you have your hand on the volume knob at all times. Better to go ahead and turn up the sound and listen to the album straight through.

Today’s holiday recording is a new one, a serendipitous iTunes Music Store find. Who knew that James Brown had recorded not one, but two holiday albums of original Christmas songs? Fortunately, someone saw fit to reissue the stuff on one disc, the Christmas Collection.

So does the world really need another Christmas album full of holiday chestnuts, even from the Hardest Working Man in Show Business? Fortunately James Brown was too smart to waste an opportunity to write great soul music. Most of the tunes are originals, with such super funk material as “Go Power at Christmas Time,” a Motown-flavored soul number; “Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto,” in which James Brown simultaneously hits the holiday theme while pulling at the social conscience; and the slow jams “Merry Christmas Baby” and “Merry Christmas, I Love You.” Other standouts include “Santa Claus is Definitely Here to Stay,” the fabulous six and a half minute slow burn of “Let’s Make Christmas Mean Something This Year,” and the gorgeous cover of “The Christmas Song.” If the strings get a little strong at times, it just sounds like they got swept up by the excitement along with everyone else. A new favorite antidote to the six thousandth playing of “White Christmas.”

Incidentally, for an example of Christmas music by soul artists that just didn’t work out, check out this twofer collection of Christmas albums by Jackie Wilson and Al Green. Oh boy, what a stanker. Wilson badly wants to be singing opera but succeeds only in singing cheese. And the Reverend Green is in good voice, but is smothered by his early-80s backing band, or rather backing tracks. Yes, it sounds like someone went into Circuit City and grabbed every cheap keyboard and drum machine they could find. Skip it.

I almost forgot: my second annual EMP performance went great. I sang tons of backup, including backing up one of the group managers on “My Girl” (he did it with Motown style—actually having been a performing musician at one time; he and his group even opened for the Righteous Brothers once); also backup on a few newgrass/country songs and a classic rock set including “Tumbling Dice” and “The Weight.” “Little Wing” was solid, though there was a little confusion about the song structure at the beginning leading to a 96 bar intro instead of a 64 bar one. But my vocals were actually OK, and I think I finally exorcised some of the Sting influence, taking it a little bit more in my own style. It was a great evening but too short.

The best part was probably coming home to find, even after four hours, that our dogs had kept each other company and weren’t freaked out by our absence. The joys of puppy parenthood…

I’m a sentimental fool about Christmas music. Every year I drag out an assortment of discs for the holidays, and each year I rediscover that they span from the sublime to the ridiculous. This year I wanted to put my notes down about the best so that I don’t (and you don’t) make the same mistakes next year.

Today’s disc is Duluth, MN slowcore band Low’s unlikely Christmas EP. You may remember one of the songs, their version of “Little Drummer Boy,” from a Gap Christmas commercial a few years back. But don’t let the commercial association fool you. This is an absolute classic Christmas album of the finest order. From the direct-to-flexi-sounding lo-fi upbeat—nay, downright jangly—original song “Just Like Christmas” that opens the year, to the faithful if slow covers of “Blue Christmas” and “Silent Night,” the disc covers all the expected bases for a holiday album. But the covers subscribe to Low’s uniquely intense, spare vision, and the songs are transformed.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the cover of “Little Drummer Boy.” Here the “rum-pa-pum-pums” are slowed (each verse takes about a minute and a half) and laid over an organ drone, which in turn sounds like it’s laid over about 40db of tape hiss. At that speed, the words (conveyed by the sweet harmonies of Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk) stop being trite and start being deeply meaningful.

Add to this the unique originals “If You Were Born Today,” “One Special Gift,” “Long Way Around the Sea,” and “Taking Down the Tree,” which is the only paean to after-holiday-cleanup that I’m aware of, and you have a short but essential holiday classic.