Inspiration post: Imogen Heap

Today's vid: Just for Now by Imogen Heap.



Why this band? I have to admit that at the moment I don't actually own any of this talented lady's albums, but I've been interested in her stuff sort of peripherally ever since I fell in love with the song Hide and Seek from her 2005 release, Speak for Yourself. (Yes, the one that Jason Derulo stole sampled from for his symphony in autotune song Whatcha Say.) Quite simply, it's a beautiful song and I like how, especially performed live, it's a cross between acoustic and electronic. On the one hand you have her natural voice at the center, and then you have the choir of computer-generated voices surrounding it. This kind of synthesis seems to be her main approach to creating and performing music. She is primarily an electronica artist, so naturally much of her music relies heavily on synthesized, programmed effects, but she doesn't take any cheats or shortcuts when playing live. That's something I really admire.

Why this performance? See what I just said up there about how she doesn't take any shortcuts live? Take a look at this for an astounding example. No instruments, no other singers, just herself and a looper. She's creating samples of her own voice and arranging them on the fly, interspersing it with layers of clapping and snapping. The first time I saw this video, my jaw dropped. Every time you think, okay, that's all, she throws in another trick, adds another layer. I love the shot near the end where the camera pulls back a little and then it really hits you—wow, all that sound is coming out of one person. Brilliant.

Inspiration post: Emilie Autumn

Today's vid: Rose Red by Emilie Autumn.



Why this band? Well, I've mentioned Lady Emilie on this blog before. (In a post full of fangirlish squealing. Shhh, pretend you didn't hear that.) Many of my favorite musical acts are ones that mix up genres, and Emilie's no exception. She's coined the term "violindustrial" to describe hers. She's a classically trained violinist and has a naturally pretty singing voice. So you might think she would produce lovely soft string-laden tunes, and sometimes she does... but more often than not she shreds on her customized e-violin and uses that pretty voice of hers to scream like a beast. She's a little bit crazy, and for that I love her all the more.

Why this performance? These days, she doesn't play her violin live quite so much anymore, which seems like such a waste of talent. She produced a whole album full of interesting e-violin pieces right after Opheliac, called Laced/Unlaced, but she rarely uses those songs in her set lists. So I like this performance because it's all instrumental. The song, Rose Red, is off her first album, Enchant. The album version had vocals and I like that one too, but this just flat-out rocks. It makes me want to jump up and down just like she does!

Inspiration post: Within Temptation

All right, so lately things have been getting a bit stale for me music-wise, so every day this week I'm going to post a video of a musical performance that inspires me. Today's video is Mother Earth by Within Temptation, from the Black Symphony DVD.



Why this band? Within Temptation is one of the few bands that I picked up in high school and continued to stick with over time, simply because they do what they do really well. They consistently produce great symphonic metal and they also sound good live. The Heart of Everything, their most recent studio album, is (at least in my view) a return to form for them. On The Silent Force they didn't sound quite like themselves--I think maybe because they were trying to reach a wider audience. But The Heart of Everything sounds to me like Mother Earth would have if they'd had the kind of production capabilities then that they do now. Also, Sharon den Adel is one of my favorite frontwomen ever. Period. She's beautiful, sweet, funny and has an incredible voice.

Why this performance? Really, pretty much everything from this show is great, but I have a soft spot for this song. It's the first I ever heard from them, and finally being able to hear it with a live orchestra and choir is spectacular. Definitely beats the old keyboard effects and one-guy-layered-to-sound-choral on the album version. Sharon's voice is in fine form as usual, and I love the way she punches into those high notes on the chorus. (Also, fire. Oooh.)

The Paper Raincoat's full-length debut

If you've been following this blog, then you'll know I've been eagerly awaiting this album. Long story short--I'm not disappointed.

Alex and Amber have obviously put a lot of care and thought into the whole package. The artwork is soft watercolor that fits their colorful, melodic sound to a tee, and the songs form a cohesive whole that tell a story. You can read that story in full on their Myspace, but you don't need it to appreciate the album. Really, it's the story of anyone who's ever arrived in a new place and struggled to make it a home.

If you take a look at the album on iTunes you'll see that it's categorized as a soundtrack, and that makes a lot of sense. From the sweeping strings that open the album on Right Angles to the triumphant closer It All Depends, the whole thing feels like the soundtrack to an imaginary film, and in a way it is. Alex and Amber set out to create a world with this album, and they've succeeded.

I would mention some standout tracks, but honestly it's a small album and everything is so good I'm finding it hard to pick favorites. Pretty much every song features beautiful harmonies (though they trade off on lead vocals from song to song), thoughtful lyrics, and creative, quirky instrumentation. The only one that falls slightly below the mark for me is Rewind, and that's not so much because it's bad as because the live version is just better. Without the coordinated clap-and-stomp percussion they pull off live, it falls a little flat. But overall, this album is a gem and it makes me smile. Don't miss it.

Brandi Carlile's Give Up the Ghost

I only ever listen to Brandi Carlile when I'm miserable. I'm sure that doesn't sound like much of a compliment, but it is. I've always gotten the sense that songwriting for her is very much about connecting with the emotions of her audience. Her lyrics aren't the best ever written, but they ring true because she delivers them with complete conviction--and boy, does Brandi deliver. The title of this album is no joke: she really pours her heart and soul into these songs, covering everything from crises of faith to bad breakups to lost friendships. Great party music it ain't, but when you're feeling low, you could do worse than giving a Brandi album a spin. The compassion that characterizes much of her music shines through on the album opener, Looking Out, where she sings, "When you feel like giving in, on the coming of the end, like your heart could break in two, someone loves you."

Brandi has never made a secret of her preference for vinyl recordings, so it comes as no surprise that the album is divided into two sides. Side One is populated mainly by what I like to think of as the "show pony" songs--the big, powerhouse rockers and anthems. Dreams, the first single, is one of these, a tale of hopeless love set to a thumping beat and shouted chorus. The biggest "show pony" of them all is Caroline, a jolly road trip of a tune featuring piano and vocals from Elton John. The one really quiet moment on this side is That Year, a fragile acoustic number written in memory of a high school friend who committed suicide. Initially I found Side Two disappointing in comparison to the strong showing on the first, but now I find myself appreciating these softer songs just as much, if not more. Her voice reaches spine-chilling heights on the chorus of Before It Breaks, and the harmonies in Touching the Ground are particularly lovely and delicate.

In the end, whether you love this album or hate it very much depends on how you feel about the vocals. Brandi has a wide range and a keen sense of dynamics, but the little catch in her voice that has become part of her style can be something of an acquired taste. As always, her vocals are supported by the work of her longtime musical collaborators, Tim and Phil Hanseroth, who provide bass, guitar, and some excellent harmonies... not to mention the occasional whistle.

To sum up: great vocals, strong backing band, and a nice crop of songs that sound even better live. If her style turns out to be your taste, then this album's well worth checking out. Keep doing what you're doing, Brandi. It's working.

In which there is a rat on my head

Okay, time to take off my objective-and-sensible hat and squeal with glee like the mad girl I am. On Wednesday night after her show at Bourbon Street in Baltimore, I was finally able to meet the wonderful and talented Emilie Autumn, along with about twenty other fans who had bought VIP passes.

At the meet and greet, she showed us some illustrations from her upcoming book, The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, and we had a group singalong of My Fairweather Friend. But most of the time was taken up with signings and photos and hugs (lots of those). I was struck by how well she connects with her fans--she really takes the time to talk to each person, and she seems genuinely happy to see everyone. They say you should never meet your heroes, but Miss Emilie is truly a lovely person.

But, to take my fangirl hat off and put my objective-and-sensible hat back on, I was a tiny bit disappointed with the show. It wasn't so much a musical performance as a theatrical spectacle set to music. I find the Bloody Crumpets entertaining, but at times it seemed like their act took away from the music, which I think should be the heart of a performance and not the background. True, Emilie did sing everything, but I would have loved more violin and harpsichord. The constant use of prerecorded tracks killed it a little for me. However, to give her credit, she did tear through Unlaced and Face the Wall on her signature striped violin. And I did actually enjoy most of the show, particularly the antics of Captain Maggot, who manages to be cute and creepy at the same time. She has the facial expressions of a mime and moves like a demented marionette. Also, how can you not like a show where they throw cupcakes at you?

The audience was pretty good as well. EA shows always draw a colorful crowd, attired in a combination of corsets, bustles, artfully ripped and torn garments, and stripey stockings. I met lots of interesting and friendly people in the queue, two of whom were kind enough to walk me back to my hotel after the show was over. I never got your names, guys, but I owe you. I wouldn't have wanted to encounter that one creepy dude on my own.

Lastly, the sillier photo to which the title refers can be found on my Flickr. Now, off to have some tea.

And the battle continues

I'm making progress on What If.

Kind of.

Well, okay, slow progress.

I've been plucking away for about two hours and have succeeded in nailing down a few more chords. The reason those chords are taking so long is that I have to flip a lever right at the transition between the chorus and the next verse. Yay key changes. Trying to work them in is kind of playing Simon on the highest difficulty level but harder.

My musical nemesis

Repetition. When I'm learning a new song, it's unavoidable. As I mentioned some time ago, I pretty much fail at reading sheet music, so the only way I can really learn is by ear. And the only way to really learn something by ear is to listen to it. Many, many times. And then when I can figure out the fingering, to divvy it up into little sections and play each phrase. Many, many times. When I'm learning a new song, my life becomes the musical equivalent of Groundhog Day.

At the moment I am about halfway through What If by Emilie Autumn, a pretty, flowy kind of tune. I'm veering between the version by this harpist on YouTube (although she's playing pedal, which somewhat screws things up), and the recorded version, twisting my face into bizarre expressions as I struggle to hear the exact notes the piano is playing underneath the layers of strings and vocals. I tell myself that it will be worth it when I can play the full song smoothly. This is what I tell myself as my (bleeding, broken) fingers clamber up that stupid broken A chord for the umpteenth time.

I have already stated that repetition is the best way for me to learn. Unfortunately, the idea of anything repeating endlessly drives me crazy. Stairs. Wallpaper patterns. Carousels. Songs...

So, even though it's in the name of learning a song well, the sound of my own fingers playing the same chords over and over gives me the feeling of being in a recurring nightmare. I must be a masochist, though, because if I'm impatient to learn the song I keep at it, and at it, convinced that just one more repetition will make it perfect.

This must be how people go crazy...

Cars and guitars

A weeks ago, I went to dinner with a good friend of mine at a great local Irish restaurant called the Shanachie. We chatted for a while of this and that. Our food had just arrived when she drew my attention to something unusual.

"Is that Bohemian Rhapsody?" she said suddenly, staring up at the speaker above her head. My spoon, lifted halfway from my bowl of soup, paused in midair as I stopped and listened. Since the Shanachie is basically a pub, the stuff that gets played there tends to be usual jigs'n'reels'n'hornpipes. But this. This was...

"It is," I said, awed. We sat in reverent silence, listening to Queen's classic rock epic being played by fiddles and accordions and tinwhistles. It was demented. And wrong. And possibly one of the coolest things I've ever heard.

After it ended, my friend observed that Bohemian Rhapsody is one of those songs that you just automatically know the words to, regardless of whether or not you're actually into Queen, and you always have to sing along when you hear it.

This got me to thinking about car songs. You have favorite songs, and you have favorite car songs, but they aren't necessarily the same songs. It might be a song by one of your favorite bands, but it might not be the one you would say was your favorite from them. In some cases it's even a band you don't really care for at all.

For instance, I may be flamed for saying this, but I don't really get the hype over Kings of Leon. I don't dislike them, exactly. They seem like a decent band, and I like the singles I've heard, but that's about as far as my interest goes. However, I freely admit that their song Use Somebody is a terrific, cheesy, fist-pumping lighter-waving arena rock anthem. Something about it is so infectious (the conveniently all-inclusive vocal range? the whoa-oa-oa bit? who the hell knows?) that you just have to sing along. And apparently, I'm not the only one who feels that way--everyone from Nickelback to Paramore has been covering the blasted thing lately. (I like the one from Bat for Lashes.)

But what else makes something a good car song? Sometimes it's something you can't sing at all, and therein lies the appeal. Regina Spektor's song Fidelity is like that. Deep down inside you know that nobody can really replicate Regina's vocal acrobatics, but it doesn't stop you from trying. Or with some songs, forget the lead, it's all about the harmonies. Most anything from the Beatles is like that for me.

Sometimes it's just the weirdness factor. I like Amanda Palmer's song Leeds United simply because it allows me to drive around with the windows down, roaring about how the sandwiches are wicked and they know me at the Mac store. I also cheerfully mangle all of the words to Nightwish's song Wishmaster--I've never been able to hear it the same way since I saw this video.

I never did find out who that band was covering Bohemian Rhapsody...

Shiny new music

A quick natter to announce my excitement over the upcoming release from the Codeine Velvet Club. Strangely enough, it's another male-female vocal team, but it's a very different feel from the Paper Raincoat. It's a collaboration between Jon Fratelli (who happens to be the lead singer of a certain band I love) and Lou Hickey, who I hadn't heard of previously but she's got some great pipes. In Jon's e-mail that got sent 'round to people on the Fratellis' mailing list, he described it as "kitchen-sink music," and that's as good a description as any. Part of me likes musicians who favor a stripped-down acoustic sound, but another part of me really loves bands that go completely over the top and throw in everything but the kitchen sink (small wonder that I also love Within Temptation). Judging from the preview songs, these guys definitely belong in the second category. I'm such a sucker for a great horn section...

Check 'em out.

Tori at Tower

Last night I went to see Tori Amos perform at the Tower Theatre. My dislike of the latest album notwithstanding, she still puts on one hell of a show. My impressions, somewhat jumbled:

-Choirgirl got a lot of love this time around with three songs ("Black-Dove," "Hotel," and "Northern Lad"), which made me happy as it's still my favorite album of hers.
-Neat idea to follow up "Northern Lad" with "Cars and Guitars." Admittedly I was never over the moon about the latter, but it's a cute lyrical tie-in to go from "guess you go too far when pianos try to be guitars" to "but it never was the cars and guitars that came between us."
-I discovered hearing "Starling" live that I actually like it. Who ever would have guessed?
-The biggest surprise of the night was easily "Strong Black Vine." How she managed to turn an unimpressive three-minute song into a blazing eight-minute epic is beyond me.

Finally, a small note to the opening act, One Eskimo:

I liked you guys. You've got a nice mellow sound and the trumpet is pretty cool. However, you may want to rethink your set list. When you're the opening band and your song prominently features the lyric "can I have your attention pleeeeeease," especially when that line is voiced in falsetto, it just makes me giggle.

Sunny sounds from a paper raincoat

Now that that's out of my system, back to the subject I had intended to write about: The Paper Raincoat. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I first heard of them when they opened for Vienna Teng a few months ago, and now that I've seen them as headliners (upstairs at the World Cafe), I decided they needed a post of their own. Now, I quite understand if quirky indie "folktronic" (as CDBaby dubs it) isn't your cup of tea, but if it does sound appealing to you, then this duo deserves your attention. Why?

1. Alex and Amber are both already seasoned performers, and it shows. They're comfortable with each other on stage and their voices blend like they were always supposed to sing together (think Deb Talan and Steve Tannen of the Weepies, or Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova of the Swell Season).

2. They're both experienced songwriters (Alex has a couple of albums as part of the Animators, among other things, and Amber's recorded two albums and an EP), and this shows in the quality of the lyrics. According to Alex, the idea for the song "Motion Sickness" originated with an inner ear infection that caused him to keep losing his balance (resulting in much hilarity on the part of his friends). And apparently he thought the experience was a good metaphor for any kind of transition. The hook is a simple phrase: "it just takes some getting used to." Simple, but it could apply to a whole range of experiences, so almost anyone can relate - that, to me, is smart songwriting.

3. Creative instrumentation, both recorded and onstage. On recordings, their sound veers a little more toward the electronic and is aided by string arrangements, but live shows are an interesting meld of acoustic and electronic elements. Keyboards, guitar and a drum kit form the base, but odd sound samples, xylophones, tambourine and a vast assortment of unidentifiable percussive things keep it from ever being boring. Audience participation is a big part of their shows as well. Expect to do a lot of clapping, singing, and (if they decide to grab you out of your seat during "It All Depends") playing tambourine.

Sound interesting? Check out their EP Safe in the Sound (at iTunes and Myspace) and be on the lookout for their first full release in October.

A caveat: If you want depression and rage, you'll have to look elsewhere. Their music is unavoidably and pretty much constantly cheery.

Sometimes there just aren't any words.

I just snagged a VIP ticket to an Emilie Autumn show in October.

Which means I get to meet her before the show.

I have no idea how I did this. Normally I'm always too late for these things.

Holy crap.

You knew this was coming...

Ah yes, the last resort of the blogger with nothing to blog about... a meme. The good old turn-on-music-player-of-choice-and-list-the-first-30-songs etc... It's been done, but hey, there are probably some interesting things buried in my library.

1. You Can Bring Your Dog (live in Philly) - Tori Amos
2. I Don't Love You - My Chemical Romance (The video for this is one big WTF moment. It probably wasn't their intent, but it cracks me up every time I see it, especially the girl with the freaky anime-huge eyes. And Gerard's emoting.)
3. We Never Change - Coldplay
4. Nina - The Fratellis
5. Love Turns 40 - Vienna Teng (See, this is good. I forgot how much I love this song...)
6. Flowers and Football Tops - Glasvegas (Depressing as hell. Oh wait, that's the whole album...)
7. Mary Blaize - Kate Rusby
8. Godspeed - Jenny Lewis
9. Instead of My Saints - Thea Gilmore
10. She Has No Time - Keane (Saw these guys live recently. Good show.)
11. What If - Emilie Autumn (The only thing that bothered me about Opheliac was the lack of songs like this. Just lovely.)
12. What's the Use of Wond'rin? - Amanda Palmer (Quietly pretty and utterly creepy at the same time. Kudos Amanda.)
13. How We Fight - The Animators
14. The Islander - Nightwish (Nightwish attempts to do Irish and halfway succeeds. Also serves as a reminder that oh yeah, Marco can actually sing.)
15. Famous Last Words (live) - My Chemical Romance (Talking of people who can actually sing, check the awesome backing vocals from Ray here. Way to hit the high notes, dude.)
16. Not Dying Today - Tori Amos ("Neil is thrilled he can claim he's mammalian/But the bad news he said girl you're a dandelion/Well I need to think about that/Well I thought about that and I said, what the hell?" My sentiments exactly, Tori. I think I might actually hate this song more than "Ireland," and that's saying something.)
17. Neverending Story - Within Temptation (Not one of my favs by them. It's cute and happy... therefore I usually skip it.)
18. Cemeteries of London - Coldplay
19. Precious Things (live from To Venus and Back) - Tori Amos (Tori is taking over this playlist. Luckily this is one of the best live renditions of this song maybe ever, though I also like the one from Sessions at West 54th.)
20. Neighborhood #4 (Kettles) - The Arcade Fire
21. Black Sand - Jenny Lewis
22. Bone Chaos in the Castle - Kaki King
23. Babydoll - The Fratellis (One of their more Beatles-esque moments. Which is a good thing.)
24. The Promise - Within Temptation (Why no more eight-minute epics on recent albums, WT? Although the incredibly fake horn samples at the beginning are somewhat cringe-inducing.)
25. Game Shows Touch Our Lives - The Mountain Goats (Thanks to Sam for pointing these guys out to me. Great lyrics.)
26. Ways & Means - Snow Patrol
27. Sunday's Waltz/Solo Double Oh - Solas
28. Amelia - Bell X1
29. Another Year - Amanda Palmer
30. On the Radio - Regina Spektor (One of the most cheerful songs about death I've ever heard.)

Abnormally attracted to... mediocrity?

Let me say this first: I'm a fan of Tori Amos. True, I don't happen to think she's a goddess and I don't take her half as seriously as most of her fanbase does, but I do appreciate her music and I enjoy listening to or reading her interviews because she sometimes has interesting things to say about music (and often befuddles the interviewer, which is always fun to watch).

Sadly, Tori albums tend to be hit-or-miss affairs these days. She hasn't produced really great albums for a long time. To be fair, there were some great tracks on those albums, but they were ultimately overpowered by the mediocrity. Her latest, Abnormally Attracted to Sin, continues this unfortunate trend. If she wants to reverse it and start making good albums again, there are two things she's got to work on.

Number one: as another pianist and singer-songwriter says, "You can write, but you can't edit." Tori can't edit. At 17 tracks, AATS is shorter than the 23-track behemoth that is American Doll Posse, but it's still needlessly bloated. Tori has to figure out that sometimes less really is more. In my opinion, her best album was From the Choirgirl Hotel. It only had 12 tracks, but not one of them was a throwaway. In contrast, half the stuff on AATS could easily be labeled "filler." Just like her previous two albums, there are some great songs here. The shimmering, spare "Flavor," the powerful piano outro of "Lady in Blue," the quirky "That Guy" and a few others are all proof of that. But because she either can't or won't edit herself, the good ones get buried beneath tracks like the trite "500 Miles" or the chaotic mess that is "Police Me." Please, Tori, either get better at editing yourself or get somebody who isn't afraid to say no to you.

Number two: be more genuine. This album is a tired rehashing of every theme she's ever covered. I cringe every time I hear "Strong Black Vine" because it's exactly the kind of song that Tori has done to death. It's a paint-by-numbers "the patriarchy is evil" song, a pale imitation of something like "God" from Under the Pink. Where "God" was intriguing and powerful, "Strong Black Vine" falls flat because of its utter predictability. Sorry, but singing about saving soldiers from their "evil faith" is no longer shocking. Try again.

I get the sense listening to this album that Tori's gotten stuck in the mold of her image: I am Tori Amos therefore I must write about feminism and religion and spirituality. I'm not saying she should suppress or change her beliefs, but writing about them isn't convincing if there's no emotion behind it, and these songs, to me, often feel emotionally lifeless. The "visualettes" she released with each track on the album, in which she parades about in wigs and couture looking bored, add to the impression that her heart's not really in it. Choirgirl wasn't a great album just because it was short. She was going through a difficult and painful time in her life when she recorded it, and you could feel that emotion clearly in the music. On AATS, it sounds like she's phoning it in. Let's be clear here: I have no desire to see Tori suffer for her art, but I'd like to see some honesty.

So please, Tori... take the wigs off.

It must be summer

Ping!

It's three forty-five in the morning, and with that sound I'm instantly awake, if not precisely alert, and already well on my way to being really cranky.

I know that sound came from my harp, but I don't immediately understand how. For a moment I think stupidly of bugs careening into the soundboard, then of a scene in The Haunting in which a harp begins to play by itself. Then I realize a) I'm being an idiot, b) the air conditioning isn't on yet, and c) I left the window open.

Grumbling, I heave myself out of bed and shuffle over to the harp, knowing already what I'll find. Yep, here it is... the remains of a broken string, up near the top. I've been lucky with this harp - I've had it for about five years and this is only the second broken string I've had. Strings always break sooner or later, sometimes because of the wear and tear of playing and sometimes because of fluctuations in temperature. (Apparently it was the latter that did in this one.) So it's a perfectly natural thing for a string to do. It's merely unfortunate that it reached the breaking point so early in the morning.

Makes a hell of an alarm clock, though.

When fandoms collide

Okay, so most people who know me know that I'm kind of a huge fan of My Chemical Romance. No, I am not a teenager. Yes, I know many people hate them. If the first word that comes to mind when you think of them is "emo," you needn't bother reading this.

However, I am an even bigger fan of Final Fantasy VII. Yes, the original but no, not necessarily the endless stream of sequels Square-Enix keeps spawning. Yes, I saw Advent Children, which in terms of graphics was extremely pretty, but in terms of story did not make a whole lot of sense to me.

So maybe you can imagine my extreme fangirlishness (is that a word?) when I discovered that Gerard Way was collaborating with Kyosuke Himuro for the ending theme of the upcoming Blu-ray rerelease of Advent Children. Then this morning I woke up to find that the music video had surfaced...



Truth is, I'm a bit "meh" when it comes to the actual video. Not the old "rock star in a desert" cliche again... although G actually does attempt to wear leather jackets while performing in 90-something-degree heat. I know because I saw him do this at Projekt Revolution last year. (He then promptly threw up. I can only hope it taught him a lesson.) However, the thrill of seeing the lead singer of one of my favorite bands performing a song for a game I have loved since I was thirteen pretty much makes up for the generic video. I want this song on my iPod... now.

Edit: NHK pulled the video. That was fast.

Why you should listen to the openers

So I went to see Vienna Teng last night, and she was great as usual. I'm really liking some of the rearrangements she's doing with her old stuff. Gravity sure sounded different the first time I heard her play it in 2003-ish... she's come pretty far since then. Now she's got openers instead of being the opener. Which leads me to my main point...

One of the openers last night was Ben Sollee, who I'd never heard of but turned out to be the kind of performer that makes you want to roll over and give up whatever you're playing because you will never in a million years be that good. Okay, so maybe that's just me. But seriously, the guy has scary skills on cello and a great voice to boot. Check it out:



People who do unconventional things with traditional instruments make me happy. :)

Check out Vienna's scrapbook for a look at how she and her crew met up with Ben.

Also go and check out The Paper Raincoat, Alex Wong's current project with Amber Rubarth, especially a charming tune called "Sympathetic Vibrations," which sounds like the quirky little cousin of Regina Spektor's "Fidelity." It's downright impossible to listen to without bopping your head. (This is what I'm currently doing, with a very silly face indeed.) I'm quite looking forward to their full-length album now... especially to this song, which they have said will be on it.

Review of Vienna Teng's Inland Territory

Since her 2002 debut, Waking Hour, pianist, singer and songwriter Vienna Teng has been quietly releasing intelligent, introspective albums of chamber pop to critical acclaim and an ever-growing base of loyal fans. Is her latest release, Inland Territory, more of the same? Yes and no.

The wide range of themes covered here is nothing unusual for Teng. She continues to examine such issues as politics, immigration, the environment, war… and relationships, of course… with her usual lyrical flair. Her writing is as sharp and insightful as ever, with occasional flashes of wry humor. As with all good songwriters, Teng has a unique way of looking at the world, and in Inland Territory she continues this tradition.

In terms of sound, however, she’s grown considerably more adventurous—and this is a good thing. The most common criticism of her 2006 release, Dreaming Through the Noise, was that songs tended to meld together because the instrumentation and arrangements were too similar. No such problem here. This is due in part to her new producer, Alex Wong, formerly of The Animators, and in part to the group of gifted musicians she’s brought on board—some members of her touring band, some not.

The opening track, “The Last Snowfall,” is a perfect example of the musical collaboration that characterizes this album. Producer Wong uses the sound of crackling record static as a percussion loop, which serves as a backdrop for the simple lyrics: “If this were the last snowfall/No more haloes on evergreens/If this were my last glimpse of winter/What would these eyes see?” For the wordless, soaring refrain, Teng’s soft soprano is joined by fellow singer-songwriters Odessa Chen, Noe Venable and Ari Hest, and the effect created by their combined voices is nothing short of magical. Guitar virtuoso Kaki King lends her talents to the Latin-influenced “No Gringo” as well as the ethereal soundscape of the closer, “St. Stephen’s Cross,” in which Teng multi-tracks her vocals to create the effect of a choir. Some songs, like “Stray Italian Greyhound” and “Antebellum,” with their slow builds and lush string arrangements, wouldn’t sound out of place in a film soundtrack. At the other end of the musical spectrum are songs like the edgy, guitar-driven “White Light” and the rollicking “Grandmother Song,” in which Teng sings about the family conflicts created by her musical career over handclaps and fiddle: “Oh girl your story’s all wrong/Your dream’ll be a nightmare before too long/Turning thirty and still trying to sing your songs/Come on who do you think you are?”

Unless she chooses to share it in song, we’ll probably never know exactly who Vienna Teng thinks she is. However, it’s clear that many critics and many fans think she is an immensely talented musician and songwriter, and Inland Territory is proof not only of her technical skill but also of her willingness to experiment with her sound and challenge herself.

Visit her web site or Myspace for song samples and upcoming US tour dates. Also check out the Inland Territory EPK for a behind-the-scenes look at the new album.

You know you're a musician when...?

Hello, internet. Long time no post. I've been busy with school and so not playing much lately. However, I figured that as long as I wasn't playing I might as well listen to other people play, so I've been catching quite a bit of live music at XPN's Free at Noon shows over the last few weeks. If you're in the Philly area, these shows are every Friday and also, as you may have noted from the name... free. So if you're like me and, well, everybody else in the country right now, trying to save money, scoot on over to one of these. It's a great way to find out about new music. (Case in point: Bell X1. Saw them a couple of weeks ago and wound up snagging a copy of their new album, Blue Lights on the Runway, which they very nicely signed for me.) And if you don't like what you hear, then at least you haven't wasted money on a ticket, right?

I've noticed recently that in certain hands anything can become a musical instrument. (If you're a drummer or you know one, you probably already know that a steering wheel is one of these things.) A couple of weeks ago I went to the mall with one of my friends and her younger sister. We stopped in Sephora to help said sister pick out makeup for the prom, and I figured I'd pick up a couple of things I was running out of while I was there. They were playing the sort of nondescript, booming gym music they always seem to play in mall stores, and while we were standing in line I absentmindedly started tapping the box I was holding against my palm in a kind of syncopated beat. You can take the instrument away from the musician, but you can't... never mind, that doesn't quite work, but you get the idea.