You DO think I'm beautiful, don't you, Charlie Brown?
... You didn't answer me. You had to think about it first. Didn't you? If you really didn't have to think about it you would've answered me right away. I know when I've been insulted. I KNOW WHEN I'VE BEEN INSULTED.
I was going through my posts to see what I'd already featured on Music Monday and was horrified to realize that I have not share Pomplamouse with all my bloggerific friends. You all deserve to her Pomplamouse! Because I care.
Pomplamoose is made up of Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn. I love Nataly's voice, but it's the rhythms that get me with this duo. NPR did a story on them, because they don't have any record deals or promoters. They've really just become a YouTube sensation. I was able to buy a few songs on iTunes, but the selection was severely limited. To really enjoy them, I recommend their YouTube Channel. It's really fun.
They do a lot of covers and I was introduced to them by Annzy when she found their Single Ladies cover. It's the best rendition of that song that I've heard. Good stuff.
I also like this video for "If You Think You Need Some Lovin" that showcases Nataly's voice very nicely.
I know it's been a while. March has just been a crazy month. Things are going to calm down though, I'm quite sure of it. Or, at least I'm hopeful. During this crazy month, the DH at some point introduced me to the band Broken Bells. It's the name of the band and of the album. I don't even think the DH likes them that much, but they played at South by Southwest this year and they seem to be making quite a splash.
I really like this song, Sailing to Nowhere. Enjoy!
I have one album from the group OK GO. The music is good, but the music videos are simply brilliant. You have to see it to believe it. On one level, I think it must be a ton of work to put together the videos that they do, but they look like they're having so much fun that it's simply infectious. This video is from their latest album, Of the Blue Color of the Sky that isn't even in stores until tomorrow. I just may have to purchase it.
I was looking for some music a few weeks ago and listening to the songs recommended in the "if you like this artist" section. I can't remember who the original band was that I was listening to, but it brought me to Hotel Lights. I purchased the album Firecracker People and I've been enjoying it ever since. I think the band would be classified as Indie-Pop. It's not too mainstream, but also not too far left of center.
I've enjoyed all the tracks for the most part, but there are a couple of standouts. Firecracker People and Norina are a couple of my favorites, but I couldn't find them to share from YouTube. Blue Always Finds Me is the only song I could grab from this album. It's not my very favorite song from the album, but I like it a lot. I hope you do too.
I really enjoy acoustic music with a bit of a folk feeling and I'm very partial to great harmonies. The two artists in this vocal duo sound like their voices were made for each other. As far as I know, they only have one album titled Eastmountainsouth. My friend Sarah introduced them to me and gave me the album and I've hoped for more ever since.
Yes, I realize that it's Tuesday and that I'm a day late. It's OK though, because today I'm talking about a great classic album. Peter Gabriel has been around for a long time and produced some really good tunes, but the best is SO. Before going solo, he was part of Genesis, a great band of the 70's. I'm glad he left Genesis so I could have the album, SO. It's fantastic and one of my all-time favs. Take a listen to this great track (though any of them could fit that bill).
I really like the style and videos from Paramore more than I like the music. That being said, if you're in the mood for some good alternative rock, this band fits the bill. Apparently, I'm a little late to the party with this band, just like Bon Iver, but I'm OK with that. The musicians are very talented and I enjoy Hayley Williams' strong vocals. She's a real rock star.
I think I missed the Bon Iver boat when it left the port. I have heard about the band for quite some time and never really sat down to take a listen. After continued mentions of them, I finally gave in and it made me very happy. The album For Emma, Forever Ago is just real, great, indie folk music with a lovely voice. It's not music to keep you up, but definitely great to keep you entertained.
When it comes to the more traditional Christmas music, I definitely have some favorites there. It's still not the Mormon Tabernacle Choir or Andy Williams.
My current favorite is Kathy Mattea's Christmas album, Good News. My favorite song is called Brightest and Best, but it's not on YouTube. The only song from the album is Mary Did You Know, but I love that song and if you haven't heard it, you need to. It's beautiful! Of course, embedding is disabled, so you'll just have to follow the link. I promise that it's worth the effort.
You can watch this too, though. It's beautiful, but it's not Kathy Mattea.
Being sick for the last week really put a damper on my Christmas spirits and general holiday prep. This week, it's time to get on with the Christmas spirit, start listening to holiday music, and decorate the house. The DH has been holding out, but I'm sure we'll finally get a tree on Saturday.
When it comes to Christmas music, I hate the "classics" and don't want to hear it. I enjoy the three or four songs the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings for the Christmas devotional, but I would never put on a MoTab Christmas CD to listen to for pleasure. For me, it needs to have some kind of interesting spin or not sound too traditional.
One of my favorite albums is called Navidad Cubana by a group called Cuba L.A. Of course, they're no where to be found on YouTube. The music is fun and jazzy, but with a definite Latin beat.
I also enjoy the Brian Setzer Orchestra album, Boogie Woogie Christmas for some of the same reasons. The music has a decidedly non-traditional beat and makes Christmas time sound fun. I mean, who couldn't get hyped listening to something like this?
I really enjoy some acoustic loveliness. Mindy Smith delivers in spades. I have the album One Moment More and have enjoyed listening to it for the five years since it came out. She's technically in the Alt-Country genre, but I find that it sounds like a mix of pop-country and acoustic folk. Though, come to think of it, that's a lot of what alt-country is. I highly recommend listening to the nicely produced tracks that you can hear on iTunes or Amazon, but the video below gives you an idea of Mindy's style.
Last week, when I installed Windows 7, it did a number on iTunes. I had to do quite a bit of maintenance and totally rebuild my iPod playlist. It was actually pretty cool to rediscover some music I've purchased, but not played much. One of those discoveries was the Wailin' Jennys. I have the album Firecracker and it's got amazing melodies, great playing, and tight harmonies. They fall under the roots moniker, but I thought they were folk, so what do I know? As I've been listening to the album, it makes me think I want more. Take a listen for yourself. This song is Begin. Good stuff.
Over the weekend, the DH and I went to the symphony and enjoyed Carmina Burana. It's some amazing music by Carl Orff. This includes both vocal and symphonic music. The text for the vocal music is taken from medieval texts found at a monastery. When Orff had this performed for the first time in 1937, it was like a revelation. No one had ever heard anything like it before. It's pretty powerful stuff. What we heard on Saturday did not disappoint. We had seen it before (and I have performed it before), but this was the best we've heard so far.
When I was looking at Sesame Street videos and ran across Feist singing 1234 with the muppets, it reminded me how much I like her style. I have the album The Reminder. It's got intesity, but with a spark of whimsy. I can listen to a whole album from her without getting bored. The music can really stick with you too.
This clip of My Moon My Man is a great example of her style.
This part has nothing to do with music, but it's background and critical for your understanding of the story. I got my brand spanking new copy of Windows 7 last week. It's very shiny and pretty. I'd like to install in on my super fast computer, so I can abandon Windows Vista forever. Background complete.
This weekend, I spent quite a bit of time doing computer maintenance and organizing the files on the computer, because I have to move absolutely everything to a backup location. One of the things I noticed is that we have music in several locations on the computer, so I wanted to consolidate everything into one folder. Everything we have purchased from iTunes since obtaining the current computer was in one folder. There were over a thousand songs in there. (You can do the math, and you don't need to tell me that it's OBSCENE! I can't believe we've bought that much iTunes music either.)
I went to grab all the new iTunes music and copy it over to the other major music location on the computer and dragged it over and let it copy. Then it was gone. Completely and utterly not-to-be-found on the computer. It knocked the wind out of me and I was beside myself. The songs weren't in the trash, but no amount of using the search feature would uncover the whereabouts of said music. I spent a good part of the day yesterday fretting, searching, and swearing at the computer (but mom, it was just the tame kind of swearing -- gosh darn it and all that -- don't worry!). I walked away from the computer at intervals thinking the music would magically appear if I took some time away and then came back. It wasn't there. It was so gone.
At some point, I realized that files don't just disappear. It just doesn't happen that way. I took a deep breath and realized that I must have dropped the files in one of the folders within the huge music folder. This is where I need to explain that every artist has its own folder and every album has its own folder in the artist folder. Then all the songs from said album are in the album folder. We have HUNDREDS of albums from HUNDREDS of artists, each with their own folder. The list of folders was so long it made me tear up. I started at the top and opened every folder in there.
I finally found my lost music somewhere in the P's. It may not have taken a full hour, but it felt longer than that. The good news is that I found my obscene amount of lost music and then finished organizing all of it. The bad news is that between our photos and music, it wouldn't all fit on the external drive we have, so I have to buy more storage tonight to copy everything onto before I can install Windows 7.
Now, for your patient reading, this is your reward. I know you'll like it. It's the best song to get stuck in your head EVER! I'm sure you'll thank me later.
I heard Adele for the first time on the radio singing her single Right as Rain. It's a great song and it really turned me on to her music. She has a great voice that is reminiscent of the old jazz singers. Plus she has a bit of soul. I have a real soft spot for the song Make You Feel My Love and she does a great rendition of this song. I also like her song Chasing Pavements. Her album is called 19 and is pretty good stuff. Take a listen!
I just discovered Sarah Jarosz and how I found out about her is a little embarrassing. She was featured in Oprah Magazine. I know. How lame am I? The thing is, she's great! She plays mandolin and has a mellow, bluesy, not really blue grass kind of sound. I bought the album Song Up In Her Head and have thoroughly enjoyed it so far.
The only problem is that I couldn't find anything quite as good as the music from the album on YouTube. I think you may have to take my word for it, but the music is beautiful. This gives you a taste, but it's even so much better.
I'm back from a very hectic week last week and hope to resume blogging more often now.
Early last week, I was on Amazon.com and looked at some of my recommendations. Usually, I already have most of the things they recommend, but this time I happened upon a band called Iron & Wine that I hadn't heard of before. I listened to a few of the tracks and really liked what I heard. As a result, I ordered the CD Our Endless Numbered Days. It arrived on Saturday and I've been enjoying it even more than I thought I would.
The music is fairly mellow with a slight Southern Rock feel to it. It's definitely not music you "rock out" to, but that you listen to on a rainy afternoon or have playing in the background as you work on a project.
Naked As We Came is the second track on the album and I really enjoy the music. I hope you do too.
With apologies to my family members who hate Country music, I have a soft spot in my heart for it. When I lived in Boise and Hip-Hop was starting to make it big, I just couldn't tolerate the pop music stations that played so much music I didn't like. I turned to the Country stations for solace. Mind you, I didn't have a CD player in my car at the time either. These were extenuating circumstances. I still can't stand the super-twang, which any real Country fan will tell you is the only true Country music, but there are several bands and artists that I still enjoy listening to quite often. I love Trisha Yearwood and Wynona Judd. They really know how to tell a story with music that sticks with you. More recently, I've enjoyed getting to know Brandi Carlile. Her voice is beautiful and she has great arrangements. Take a listen. It's pretty good stuff.
Note: the official vidoes are better, but won't let you embed. You can find this song with higher sound quality here.
This weekend, I spent some time listening to the new Whip It! Soundtrack. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I heard the soundtrack was good, took a listen, and bought it. I've really been enjoying the music. It's not hard core punk rock, but definitely has a punk rock feel that reminds me of high school and college. I'm thinking it will be great music for the gym too. The song below is "Dead Sound" by The Raveonettes.
