<![CDATA[[MusicRatty] tag: understandable]]> http://www.musicratty.com/tag/understandable Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:16:00 +0000 iRatty Engine http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss <![CDATA[DREAM THEATER - When Dream And Day Unite (1989)]]> http://www.musicratty.com/article/a47da9c80c364d5f8a1d97b0c41ec80d http://www.musicratty.com/article/a47da9c80c364d5f8a1d97b0c41ec80d

This is definitely Dream Theater's weakest album, but then, it's not really unfair to realize that most bands' debuts are pretty weak.

With When Dream and Day Unite, we are graced with a band that really wants to be a modern version of Rush. Certainly, other bands' styles are notable here, but it seems to me on listening to this album that the band is trying very hard to bring more music like 70s Rush back to the market. You hear many intense fans of Dream Theater disliking this album on account of the lead singer not being that or good or just not being James Labrie. Understandable. Dominici is a fine and talented singer, however, his voice does not fit the music nearly as well as James will come to by the next album. The music here is pretty weakly written, for the most part, with some goodies here and there. The band does its shred and noodle thing, as well. In terms of sound, the recording value is much lower than the band would soon have, leaving this album all feeling like a single color rather than the blend of flavors in the snowcone of Images and Words.

The album opens with the speedy A Fortune in Lies. This song, Status Seeker, Light Fuse and Get Away, and Afterlife are all a touch uninspired and unmemorable. In fact, even after dozens of listens, I can't keep any of them straight very well. They are neat tunes, but overshadowed pretty thoroughly by the remainder of Dream Theater's songs. The Ytse Jam is a stunning and exciting track, though, and it pulses with a great instrumental energy. This is, of course, overlooking the fact that this song was very clearly inspired by Rush's YYZ. Fans of Dream Theater should consider looking at this album simply for this song, which has come to be a classic Dream Theater instrumental concert tune. A live staple something like Metropolis, pt. 1. The Killing Hand is the best use of Dominici on the vocals here, providing a cheesy but fun story of a soldier at war. The songwriting is probably the strongest here, with some really nice acoustic bits and an intense unison solo that foreshadows the impressive noodlings of Dream-Theater-to-come. The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun features a unique (for this band) atmospheric and creepy opening that sounds pretty cool, though the song declines from there. The final closing track, the lyric fan favorite Only a Matter of Time, is also a pretty solid tune, though Dominici's vocals get to be a bit much. With some better production and a bit of smoothing out, this could have made a great addition to Images and Words.

There's really not anything wrong with this album, exactly. It's just an immature effort that Dream Theater easily surpassed with each successive release. The band sounds like a young band in search of a sound and trying to be cool when they probably should have just settled for the nerdiness they've been doomed for since inception. A rough start for the band, and that's why I say everyone interested in the band should go with every other studio album from the band before trying this one.

by LiquidEternity


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]]> Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:42:54 +0000 dream dream theater dream theater easily band sounds album pretty band studio album pretty weakly DREAM THEATER - When Dream And Day Unite (1989) <![CDATA[WISHBONE ASH - Live Dates (1973)]]> http://www.musicratty.com/article/bfaac26e36a12266632923ff414c80a2 http://www.musicratty.com/article/bfaac26e36a12266632923ff414c80a2

How many bands have produced live album with interpretations of songs better than those offered in the studio? Ie ... What are the 10 live album in the history of Rock? 'Made In Japan' (Deep purple), 'On Stage' (Rainbow), 'Live And Dangerous' (Thin Lizzy), 'YesSong' (Yes), 'Genesis Live' (Genesis), 'Live At Pompeii' (Pink Floyd), 'Strangers In The Night' (UFO), 'Live At Carnegie Hall' (Renaissance), 'Unleashed In The East' (Judas Priest), 'Live Dates' (Wishbone Ash)... (Well... all from 70's).

What struck me in this 'Live Dates' is the power of songs, hardly picked up in the studio version. I could understand that when Wishbone Ash are juxtaposed to Prog... it's all true! By this I am not saying that Wishbone Ash are Prog... However... 'Throw Down The Sword', for an example, is a sort of Folk Rock, like 'Warrior' is a pure Power Metal... 'Jailbait' is a sort of Blues Rock and 'Lady Whiskey' is a pure Heavy Prog song without organ and keyboards. In all this much of well of God what is striking is how that Wishbone Ash are the faithful mirror of the 70's. They do not care about playing style but are anxious to play songs by complicated arrangements but very understandable from an average listener. Immediately I think of 'Rock'n'Roll Widow' and alluded to the guitars. Brilliant, completely melodic... Yet very angry. And all in a very melodic song. Certainly it must be said that 'Live Dates' Wishbone Ash went on safely but the cover of 'Baby What You Want Me To Do', good Jimmy Reed's Blues song, was totally surprised me. But these are the 70's in music.

Well, 'Live Dates' is from 1973. But still today we have to talk about how extreme masterpiece of Rock. What does it mean? To me that the 70's were a magical decade. But in general, this means that 'Live Dates' is an album (no matter whether live, studio, compilation or more) that do not have in his discography means not knowing the music!

by Mandrakeroot


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]]> Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:37:05 +0000 live wishbone ash live album genesis live genesis rock folk rock blues rock album WISHBONE ASH - Live Dates (1973) <![CDATA[GIG REVIEW: Tellison + Kinkane]]> http://www.musicratty.com/article/b2b367c1f1944d8aea1df3af2ebf3291 http://www.musicratty.com/article/b2b367c1f1944d8aea1df3af2ebf3291 Tellison With Kinkane Koko October 3rd Review by Jimmy Kelly I’m talking to Tellison’s drummer Henry about their support act Kinkane: ‘No I haven’t seen them before. Yeah, they’re quite scary. You know—the necktie and the pointy shoes.’ ‘So you don’t go in for that then, the whole rock star look?’ Henry looks wrecked. He looks like an extra in an episode of Casualty. His hair is static. His check shirt has an interesting freeze-dried appearance. It seems it got crumpled and then went solid. ‘Er, no. We’re like the least trendy band ever. I better go. Sort of get ready. I’m like the last person you should interview.’ I head to the side stage to catch the second half off Kinkane’s set. The singer (in very tight jeans) is leaping about energetically. Kinkane are pumped. Before they went on I watched them warming up, yodelling a couple of choruses ‘Just Hear Me Out!’ & ‘My Heart is Broken!’ and flexing their chests, a couple prowling back and forth purposefully while the other two indulged in a frenetic and skilful last minute bout of Tekken on the Koko’s ‘Artist’s Only’ Playstation. Kinkane looked the part. With the exception of the lead singer they’re all several inches taller than my 5’10 and they’re all strikingly well groomed. Out on stage they’re giving it their best. I’m not quite sure where their music is pitched—probably between mainstream Indie and something a bit more Pop. They sound a bit like Razorlight at times. To be fair if Kinkane haven’t settled on an exact sound it’s understandable, they’ve only been recently formed, they’re still learning their trade. They haven’t even got a proper MySpace site where I can check for their names. Then something happens. An object with a glittery, silvery, streaming tail arcs out of the packed floor of the club and strikes the lead singer in the side of the head, just as he struts towards the stage front. It’s a full (plastic) pint of beer. He’s drenched, but takes it like a man, and rocks on, finishes the song and the set. Even so he seems a touch shaken. When he swears at the perpetrator there’s a little whimper mixed in with the snarl. (Do you remember that bit with Simba as an adolescent in the Lion King? He sounds a bit like that.) ‘Did you see the beer?’ their guitarist asks me, afterwards. ‘We didn’t deserve that.’ No they didn’t. They were pretty good so far as I could tell. Certainly I’ve heard a lot worse. And I met Kinkane briefly earlier, when they offered to buy me chips. Decent of them. They didn’t even appear to mind when I eavesdropped on them trying to smuggle a girl backstage only to be confounded by an eagle-eyed bouncer. ‘Yes, no, I understand, but, you know, just she’s... kind of related, sort of.’ A clue to the crowd's animosity becomes clear when Tellison shamble into the anteroom. They look and move like miners coming off an eight hour shift. Someone fiddles with a packet of painkillers. He offers them round. ‘Lots of people.’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘What are we doing first again?’ ‘These things make everything taste like shit, you don’t want them.’ ‘Guys—the guy wants to know if we want to walk on together or like be there when the curtain comes up.’ ‘I don’t know.’ ‘Walk on?’ ‘We could walk on.’ ‘Yeah’ ‘How far is it?’ ‘Did you see that guy got hit by beer.’ ‘No.’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Harsh.’ The band manager pushes them towards the stage. ‘On you go.’ He has a Yorkshire brogue and thick dark-rimmed glasses, sideburns and a heavy tweedy coat, he looks like a seventies football coach. The curtain rises and Tellison are on and suddenly galvanised. Midway through the first song ‘Hanover’, lead singer Stephen has given up his role—he’s hanging the mike out over the moshers who yell their way through the rest of the song. You can keep your pointy shoes—this is rock stripped back to the essentials. Frenetic and loud and Tellison batter through ‘Henry’, ‘Disaster’, new song ‘Horses’, ‘Ambulance’, ‘New York’ (by which point Stephen’s voice is fairly croaky and lead guitarist Andrew has skidded dangerously on a puddle of his own sweat) and then the real crowd-pleasers ‘Wasps Nest’ and ‘Gallery’ and an encore ‘Amory’. The songs toward the end of the set are markedly more imaginative. But overall it’s a lot punkier than you might guess from the recordings on MySpace. Possibly there’s too much bass chugging through the system. In the small side room the band collapse sideways. The weary trudge has given way to an almost trembling slow foot drag—Napoleon’s army staggering home from Moscow through the snow. Peter lies upside down on the couch. A couple of them seem to go to sleep on the spot. Kinkane trip back and forth with girls in bright dresses. Tellison watch vacantly. Henry, looking punch-drunk, fiddles gloomily with the Playstation. ‘How does this work? Does anyone want...? Is this on...? How do you?’ He presses the buttons. The demo screen runs on undisturbed. He lets the controller falls and slumps back onto the couch. The manager tramps in. ‘You’re going to have to get the stuff off stage.’ No-one moves. To avoid the heavy lifting Stephen volunteers for an interview. We move to another small room where there’s only one chair. He immediately settles himself on the floor cross-legged childlike, body weary, face cheery. There’s something of the comedian Robert Webb about him: the boyishness, the enthusiasm, the slightly gone-to-pieces hair. ‘Where does the band name come from?’ ‘Oh it’s like,’ he looks a bit deflated, it’s a question he’s obviously been asked many times. ‘It’s like this character’s name from Bleak House, sort what he stands for like the ethos of the band...’ He gives a detailed explanation. I don’t catch all of it. We talk about books for a while, American early modernists, ‘Theodore Dreiser, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Baldwin, Sinclair Lewis, those guys were really onto something. I’m kind of looking at them for songs, I think.’ And then he names some other leftfield writers. He knows his stuff. He doesn’t mention Faulkner or Hemmingway. It’s past 1am. I feel a bit rough. My notes are disintegrating. ‘What’s it like being a rock star?’ ‘Never. We never think like that. We’ve been going three years; we’re midway through a second album. But we don’t get much time. Everyone goes off to different places, like Henry was in the states doing jazz drumming. So we don’t think like that. It’s about connecting with the crowd, like the Clash.’ ‘Who do you admire at the moment?’ ‘Frightened Rabbit – just really, really good. Death Cab For Cutie.’ We talk about their lack of airplay. ‘We're just a bit heavier than mainstream Indie, you know for things like NME.’ ‘You’re not Snow Patrol?’ ‘No.’ ‘But you are quite imaginative.’ ‘Really?’ ‘You said you play the trombone. I think you should bring that in more.’ ‘A bit of trombone. Yeah, maybe. Trombone, I’m not quite sure how the crowd would react, if I just, like, whipped it out.’ ‘What about groupies?’ He laughs, ‘No! Groupies no! Groupies don’t exist. Never, no groupies, no. And like—would you want to? You’d be sort of like lowering yourself. You’d think—this is horrible. You wouldn’t want to.’ I sense this might be another area in which they differ from their support act. Stephens is then summoned away to help the others. What a nice boy he is! What a nice band! I can’t give you a massively informed view of Tellison’s music. I’d never heard them play before, and I couldn't make out a single line of any of their lyrics. But they had the crowd jumping. No one threw beer at them, they seem pretty tight, they know the cues, they’re musicians. Good luck to them. Related Links Buy Tellison tickets Official Tellison Website Tellison MySpace Kinkane MySpace ]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:00:38 +0000 kinkane tellison kinkane briefly band band manager pushes bit kinkane trip bit heavier trendy band GIG REVIEW: Tellison + Kinkane <![CDATA[Necessary Disrespecting Of Elders.]]> http://www.musicratty.com/article/dcfa57e0b4b81d455140e04b007da681 http://www.musicratty.com/article/dcfa57e0b4b81d455140e04b007da681

Remember a week or so back we mentioned one John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten, was to appear in an ad for Country Life butter. You don't. Understandable, wasn't much of a story. But if you fancy a gander, read it here. Anyhow, find the resulting disaster below. Don't let it be said I didn't warn you. It's not an ironic play on the latter day Johnny Rotten character. It's not funny. And it sure as hell, isn't punk.

]]> Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:00:00 +0000 country life butter ironic play day johnny funny understandable punk story character week Necessary Disrespecting Of Elders. <![CDATA[Religious Music Unwelcome in China]]> http://www.musicratty.com/article/4cf04eca022e5c645c2d875a4d51bfd8 http://www.musicratty.com/article/4cf04eca022e5c645c2d875a4d51bfd8 Classical music is booming in China, but some works, namely the religious ones difficult to get performance rights. This is odd as they have a number of world class classical musicians on the world stage and thousands (perhaps millions) of players from amateur to professional studying classical music. Richard Spencer, of the Telegraph, wrote from Beijing on 30 September about the difficulties some organisation were having when attempting to perform religious music, such as Handel's Messiah or Mozart's Requiem. WorldNetDaily seems to confirm this with their own report, which also links to another report about the expulsion of Christian Missionaries prior to the Olympics.

This is not necessarily news, as China has long had a struggle with religious idiologies since Mao Zedung came to power in 1949. Before this point, there was tension between the east and west with the opium wars of back in 1839-1942, and earlier dating back to the cultural clashes brought about by the trade along the Silk Road.

While it's perhaps understandable why the two cultures clash (as differing cultures tend to do), there is a sense of frustration when great music is prevented because of a political agenda. Shostakovich certainly felt this during the Stalin years. While Stalin tried to repress the music, ultimately he and his regime failed. The 20th Century was rife with political regimes banning or restricting music for political aims, and every attempt failed in the end. Because musicians still push boundaries like the Icelandic singer Bjork did recently by singing her song Independence to Tibet at a concert in Shanghai.

As China continues to grow and become more widely connected with the west, through the internet, commerce and world political events, there will be more and more attempts at bringing music of all types to her people, as well as music from China to the rest of the world. It is this blending of cultures that ultimately creates cultures new. So, while it is disheartening to think there has been some limiting at the present, I do not believe the Chinese government has the ability to stop the cultural wave of Classical Music.

]]> Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:00:00 +0000 music perform religious music religious classical music china world world political events cultures clash china continues Religious Music Unwelcome in China <![CDATA[GIG REVIEW: Concrete and Glass]]> http://www.musicratty.com/article/7c9005d231a2ada33fab8260e7f7c5c5 http://www.musicratty.com/article/7c9005d231a2ada33fab8260e7f7c5c5 Concrete and Glass Friday 3rd October 2008 Review by Max Hogg I want to write about SND causing waves of amusing confusion amongst innocent East Londoners. I want to write unavoidably pretentious passages about Vladislav Delay’s mesmerising soundscapes. But seeing as this is a festival review I’ve got a big fat elephant in the room with me and I’ve got to introduce you to her before we go on. Calling Concrete and Glass a festival suggests that you can move about from venue to venue freely, even if you have to squeeze in at the back in order to see the popular acts. But this becomes a bit more complicated when you’re dealing with the super strict capacity limits on today’s indoor venues, meaning that you can’t just squeeze a few more in. So when the organisers failed to secure a licence for the Hearn Street car park and moved the much hyped TV on the Radio into Cargo, it was clear that this description of the event as a festival would be a little ‘stretched’. “Get there early” rang in our ears as we picked up our wristbands. This was something of an understatement. The queue outside Cargo at midnight, an hour before TV on the Radio came on, was several hundred people long and, it being one-in-one-out, had no hope of shrinking. This is understandable, if remarkably frustrating for those who paid their £26 in order to stand in the freezing October night. But a stationary queue outside the most popular venue is one thing. Stationary queues outside every single one of the venues we forlornly visited at midnight in order to try to get in first to see Fairmont and James Holden, and finally to get in somewhere, ANYWHERE, to get out of the biting wind? That’s not acceptable. I can think of only one explanation – Concrete and Glass, or the individual venues, sold tickets to more people than the venues could hold. In other words, the festival was set up so that it was absolutely certain that many of the punters who had paid their cash would not be able to attend. Maggi, one of our group who had paid her 26 quid, was understandably raging. And what a shame, because up until then the night had been fairly promising. Although the programme was little help (patronising and overly pretentious, it was clear that whoever had written the descriptions had never actually listened to most of the artists), we were excited to see that Vladislav Delay would be playing in Cargo. So we headed that way early to hear SND kick off proceedings. Listening to SND can only be described as like watching someone pleasure themselves: although it’s clear that they’re enjoying it, it all just seems a little unpleasant and unnecessary to subject the rest of us to peripheral involvement. Yes the sounds they produce through their particular brand of audio engineering are great, but the structure of the tracks that they create live is actually very formulaic. Autechre they aren’t. Whenever I started to actually enjoy myself in their set I felt like I was the butt of someone else’s joke. So, onto what turned out to be the main feature of the evening. If NASA ever gets an answer from its SETI programme, the return communication will sound like Vladislav Delay’s set. There is something magical about listening to people talking in a foreign language, and I felt a very similar feeling listening to the noises that Delay was producing. The music was remarkably inaccessible, having little semblance of melody, repetition, or anything really to latch onto. That it was still hugely enjoyable is impressive to say the least. Throughout his 45 minute long set (squashed to make way for TV on the radio…grrr) he produced the sort of ambient glitchy soundscapes for which he is loved by his admittedly niche group of fans. His music morphed from stuff that sounds like you’re trying to dance in thick, deep mud to an alien declaration of war on the earth, and it was flawless. It’s just a shame that 45 minutes of Vladislav Delay is all we got for the pricey entrance fee. Related Links Buy concert tickets ]]> Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:41:35 +0000 concrete set vladislav delays set individual venues festival festival review venues review vladislav delay GIG REVIEW: Concrete and Glass <![CDATA[The dobro mastery of Jerry Douglas in all its glory on 'Glide,' at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass]]> http://www.musicratty.com/article/be00a587fa3c252dddfd5cece7d48591 http://www.musicratty.com/article/be00a587fa3c252dddfd5cece7d48591 jerrydouglasglidecd.jpg

JERRY DOUGLAS
Glide
(Koch)

By Todd Lavoie

Universally regarded as the finest dobro player in contemporary music, Jerry Douglas has long been the go-to source for the most evocative of resonator-guitar textures.

Starting off as a session musician back in the '70s and '80s - and having worked along the way with everyone from bluegrass pioneers David Grisman and Ricky Skaggs to country artists as varied as Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Trisha Yearwood - Douglas eventually launched a solo career which established him as one of the forerunners of the burgeoning "newgrass" movement. Proponents of the newgrass sound wanted to expand the boundaries of bluegrass by drawing from other traditional acoustic-based styles - particularly jazz - and the drive to rescue the dobro from pigeonholing was certainly understandable, given the perceived limitations many folks had up until that point.

The instrument has been frequently, almost predictably, used in film and television scores to introduce a Southern setting - often rural and run-down in nature - thanks to its ability to fashion moods from its lazy slides between notes. Sure, its "we'll-get-there-when-we-do" slides and slow finger-pickings easily summon up images of sweltering afternoons under a merciless sun. But the dobro can do so much more - and Douglas has made it his mission to prove exactly that.

Borrowing freely from jazz, country, and occasionally even pop music, his dozen solo recordings have celebrated the instrument's versatility, thus thrusting him to the top tier of the progressive acoustic vanguard. He has won twelve Grammys, been named Musician of the Year by the Country Music Association three times, received the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and contributed to a head-scratching 2,000-plus recordings, landing him in a mighty small circle of musicians who can claim team-ups with Elvis Costello, the Chieftains, and Bill Frisell on their resume.

With Glide, Douglas' latest offering, the journeyman furthers his already sturdy reputation by adding elements of Celtic romanticism and Dixieland sweet-release to his ever-expanding artillery of folk/jazz/country/bluegrass song-form-splicings. Boasting a veritable who's who of bluegrass luminaries as collaborators - Tony Rice, Earl Scruggs, Edgar Meyer, and Sam Bush are just a few of the contributors found here - the disc arrives wildly unconcerned with any sort of genre-beholden purism, instead moving between styles with the fluidity suggested by the title. It's a refreshingly adventurous record, brimming with ideas and bubbling over with playful exuberance. Those who have followed Douglas over the years will find new reasons to cherish his work, while newcomers will receive an intriguing introduction to the musician's dexterity with Glide.

The appropriately monikered album opener "Bounce" - one of the disc's more straight-up bluegrass numbers - is a hopping, skipping leapfrog of a song. Douglas plays pass-the-melody with mandolin player Sam Bush as Edgar Meyer bobs and weaves alluring rhythms into the mix. It's a joyful first hello, with dobro and mandolin furiously trading licks over a twitching, shuffling tempo.

The title track, a considerably slower, more sentimental number, is a delicate flutter of nostalgia-inducing lyricism, with Douglas offering aching interplay to Guthrie Trapp's wonderful acoustic guitar textures and a soaring violin violin solo from Luke Bulla. A sunny, smiling read-through of traditional bluegrass nugget "Home Sweet Home" - perhaps made most famous back in 1964 by Earl Scruggs - is a joy to behold, thanks to dazzling trade-offs between Douglas and Tony Rice (guitar), as well as Scruggs himself on banjo.

Seeking the sort of anything-goes musical freewheeling for which Douglas has become legendary? "Trouble on Alum (Hector The Hero/Woo'ed And Marret)" is a tearful medley of a pair of traditional Scottish folk tunes, here given a dusty makeover with yearning dobro textures - the number, interestingly enough, was orchestrated by Douglas as a commissioned accompaniment to a series of watercolor paintings by noted artist William Matthews. On its own, it is heart-stopping enough - I'd be curious to see how it interacts with the canvases (Google, here I come).

"Unfolding" - an Edgar Meyer composition - is a tempo-juggling pinwheel of jazz improv, due largely to Bulla's Stephane Grappelli-evoking violin flights and deliciously unbridled electric guitar solos by Trapp. The song is a true showcase for Douglas, spotlighting the ease with which he can switch from the dominating voice in a piece to a carefully understated, but irreplaceable, foundation to his lead-taking collaborators.

The two country-flavored vocal numbers on Glide - "A Marriage Made In Hollywood," with Travis Tritt, and "A Long Hard Road (The Sharecropper's Dream)" with Rodney Crowell - are the least successful to these ears, but surely will connect with plenty of other listeners. I've never been a big fan of either singer's voice, so I'm a bit biased from the start - the tracks themselves, however, are thoughtfully composed and offer plenty of nice instrumental flourishes, particularly in Douglas' lilting solo on "A Long Hard Road."

The recording's highlight, however, is the resplendent six-minute epic "Sway Sur La Rue Royale," recorded in New Orleans in homage to the Big Easy. Stumbling in as a weary-footed, tear-stained funeral march with a lovely broken-gospel dobro melody, the song's slow-blues plod gradually gives way to rapturous Dixieland jubilation, kicking and clapping away to Doug Belote's drunken rhythms while a parade of clarinets and horns shout joy to the heavens. Sublime.

I couldn't find any video clips of Douglas performing material from Glide, so here's a fine performance clip spotlighting his dobro mastery:

JERRY DOUGLAS
Fri/3, 3:35-4:35 p.m., free
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival 8
Banjo Stage, Golden Gate Park, SF
www.strictlybluegrass.com

]]> Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:36:21 +0000 douglas jerry douglas bluegrass douglas plays pass-the-melody dobro straight-up bluegrass glide dobro mastery traditional bluegrass nugget The dobro mastery of Jerry Douglas in all its glory on 'Glide,' at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass <![CDATA[Sunday Spotlight - KaiserCartel]]> http://www.musicratty.com/article/cc828ed9370a8211de16822239fd442e http://www.musicratty.com/article/cc828ed9370a8211de16822239fd442e Today's spotlight shines on a duo that came to my attention back in May when I came across their brilliant song Okay from their equally brilliantly titled debut EP Okay (and other things we feel). That duo, pictured above, is comprised of Courtney Kaiser and Benjamin Cartel and is collectively known as KaiserCartel. The EP was just a teaser for their debut full length release, March Forth, which came out in June. I loved the EP and had eagerly anticipated the album, but as these things sometimes go, it fell through the cracks and it wasn't until earlier this month that I got around to finally getting the album.

Courtney and Ben were kind enough to share a little bit about the tenth track from the album, Dog Stars, a song about their pooch, Ivan. As always, text in red is their words and my questions are in black.

KaiserCartel - Dog Stars : March Forth

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

This is a very special song because it is about our dog Ivan. We were at home in Brooklyn, NY. Ivan was being very cute on the couch (which is all the time really), and I started singing to him with my guitar. Ben heard me from the kitchen and walked over with a little portable tape recorder. Ben said "Do that again, I want to write down what you are singing."

Ivan

Ben took the recording and started writing down the words I was saying. A couple days later, we decided to work on the song together. I looked at what he wrote down and added some lyrics, and Ben also added some lyrics. At first we thought it was funny singing about 'Dog Stars' and Ivan in space, but the song is really an attempt at trying to get inside the mind of our dog and imagine his thoughts. We decided to record it on March Forth.

Matt Hales (our producer) also liked the song, and was really into the idea of adding spacey sounds using his memory man, keyboard, bullet mic, and a speaker. In our minds, his sounds make it such a visual song. We can imagine little Ivan traveling in a space ship from planet to planet meeting different creatures.

Dog Stars is an example of we like to write some of our songs in a spontaneous style. Sometimes we schedule rehearsal time in our week, and other times the songs come out of the present moment. We are constantly writing, whether its at soundcheck, in a hotel room, or in our house.

And now for three more Q's for the pair:

1.) On the album the two of you share vocal duties. In fact, some of my favorite songs are the ones where your voices intermesh and complement each other. When a new song is being born, how do you decide who will sing it? Do you ever fight over parts?

BC: A lot of the time, the songs that each of us sing are already decided because that particular person started the first writing process. But, lately, we have begun writing differently so that has been changing.

CK: I can't imagine us fighting over who would sing the song...if we both like it, we both sing it.

2.) Matt Hales (aka Aqualung) produced your album, which surprised me when I first realized that. His music seems rather different from yours to me (a little louder, more dramatic). Both of you have been making music for quite a while before finding each other. How did you feel his [Matt's] presence affected the music you made together?

BC: Matt had a different approach to making music. In the past, we were doing more of an indie rock, American perspective. I think Matt brought the English pop perspective.

CK: We got along right away when we first met. And even though his music is different from ours, he also has an experimental side which really complimented the arrangement ideas we came with.

3.) I know that the two of you work as teachers in younger grades. Can you picture yourselves doing a kid's album anytime in the future?

BC: We would like to do that at some point in the future, but we would like to establish ourselves as artists who play "big" people's music before being artists who play "little" people's music.

CK: I think our record can be listened to by anyone. All children love Yellow Submarine by the Beatles, and they didn't make that song for children. I think our music is pretty understandable and can be enjoyed by a person of any age in a similar way.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

To be completely honest with you, taken as a whole this album is one of my favorites of 2008. As I mentioned above, the two members' voices working together really work for me. Their music (with one notable exception) is about muted and tempered emotion. An apparent subdued starkness on a perfunctory listen that contains weighty emotions within only a few shades that beg you to listen carefully to experience them. The exception which I mention is Season Song, the second track from the album. Perhaps because it's such a sharp contrast to the rest of the album's tracks, this one really stands out. I DARE you to listen to it (I've included it below) and not start whistling along by the end.

I'm really hoping that this album gets the attention that is deserves. The pair are playing near me at the end of October with the Winterpills and I'm definitely planning on checking them out in person. Keep your eyes posted soon after for a review of the show, although I'm already predicting that it will be excellent as I can clearly picture the two onstage with their guitars playing songs from the album which don't require elaborate instrumentation to convey their message.

In the meantime, here are a few choice tracks (of the many on the album - it was difficult to choose) to download and enjoy.


KaiserCartel - Season Song : March Forth

KaiserCartel - Dog Stars : March Forth

and one from their EP:

KaiserCartel - White Dove : Okay (and other things we feel)


Visit their website, their label bluhammock music, and become their friend on MySpace.
]]> Sun, 28 Sep 2008 04:27:00 +0000 ivan dog ivan season song song album dog album anytime special song label bluhammock music Sunday Spotlight - KaiserCartel <![CDATA[MARILLION - Happiness Is The Road (2008)]]> http://www.musicratty.com/article/17afdb8a979f0b75d0bf4896fd4ca0b2 http://www.musicratty.com/article/17afdb8a979f0b75d0bf4896fd4ca0b2

How can this album presently have a rating lower than Somewhere Else? Happiness is the Road is at worst the third best Hogarth era album (only trailing Brave and Marbles), and with each subsequent spin, I think it might even surpass Marbles in my estimation (no small feet since I love Marbles).

I long ago accepted that some Fish-era Marillion fans will never embrace Hogarth as a replacement, which is understandable -- those early albums were great. But H is not nearly as bad as many people believe; in fact, I think he is actually a really excellent singer and I think the new Marillion sound, albeit not as progressive as it once was, is nevertheless enthralling in its own way. There have been missteps along the way (even today I am not sure about Radiation, or even the last album for that matter), but there have also been many highs as well (Brave, AOS, Anorak, Marbles, and now Happiness). And if H just ain't doin' it for you, check out Fish's solo stuff -- his most recent two albums have both been top notch.

The bottom line is this -- if (like me) you think Marbles is a brilliant album, you'll definitely want to check out Happiness. The two albums are cut from the same cloth. If not, then Happiness is not for you.

by gss90125


MARILLION Music Online:
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More about MARILLION at Progarchives.com


]]> Sat, 27 Sep 2008 08:50:28 +0000 marillion marillion sound happiness fish-era marillion fans fish album brilliant album marbles love marbles MARILLION - Happiness Is The Road (2008) <![CDATA[I Do This Blog Because I Love It]]> http://www.musicratty.com/article/9b43db8795de045fb0587cf5fd52f486 http://www.musicratty.com/article/9b43db8795de045fb0587cf5fd52f486 Video: Aubrey O'Day Shoots Complex Magazine
I guess its safe to say Aubrey O'Day is the lead singer of Danity Kane or at least the more popular member of the group. Check out this brief exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of the star!

Like I said before when you see things like this the rumors of Aubrey leaving DK appear more and more true. Then again I realize the girls probably don't make much money from DK and Aubrey feels the need to create a brand outside of DK so she will still be paid. Can't be mad about that.

Audio: Omarion feat Missy Elliott - Boogie Police
Check out this newly leaked track. Omarion's now rolling with Timbo so another Missy Elliott collabo was in the cards. The pair previously teamed up on a song called "Wiggle" which is what I mistaked this song for.


Music News:
Ciara on her Vibe magazine cover!
"I walked into the Vibe photo shoot very excited about making an artistic expression," she said. "And when I saw the photos, I was a little bothered because the photos appear as if I was nude, and I wasn't nude. I reached out to [Smith] — I sent her a letter — and I was a little upset, too, in the fact that she didn't respond to me, and that happened prior to me reading her quote on the Internet. That definitely bothered me, just because of the fact that I wasn't nude. I walked into the photo shoot to do an artistic photo shoot, so I was excited about that. I just didn't like the fact that I saw the picture and now, stuff is gone."

Amerie Gets A Release!
"Because I Love It" will get its physical release in the US. All the major retailers (Best Buy, Circuit City,Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc) are listing pre-orders for a September 30th, 2008 release date, in addition to still offering the (higher priced) import editions (European, Japanese) which were released in 2007.
If you didn't know "Because I Love It" was originally scheduled to be released in the US last year. After "Take Control" stalled the label shelved the album only releasing it overseas. Now that Amerie is officially off of Columbia Records, there are plans to release the album. Well that sucks doesn't it? You have to leave a label to finally get a release here.

T.I. Teams Up With Rihanna!
T.I. will shoot the video for “Live Your Life” with Rihanna during the first week of October in Los Angeles. The Just Blaze-produced track is the follow-up to T.I.’s No. 1 single “Whatever You Like.”
T.I. is releasing these songs and videos way too fast for my taste. Then again he is going to jail soon so he is working overtime which is understandable.

Can't wait for the new Jennifer Hudson album? Click here to get an exclusive preview of the album before it hits stores(June 30)and the internet!

What singer has allegedly came out of the closet? Click here to find out! *hint* It's not a big surprise!]]> Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:16:00 +0000 physical release release album jennifer hudson album photo aubrey feels aubrey vibe photo love I Do This Blog Because I Love It