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Your Chocolate / My Peanut Butter: Roth On Songsmith

Runnin' With The Songsmith | MeFi Music. For more background, check out this and this.

Is This Video Being Played "Straight" or not?

Microsoft Research Songsmith. imagine the parody possibilities. Was this part of the plan?

Fleet Foxes -LA BLOGOTHEQUE

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes - LA BLOGOTHEQUE.This is almost as good as the Bon Iver sessions (especially Part 1)

The DB's - Not Quite a Hit, But no Flop

Anatomy of a Flop - Measure for Measure Blog - NYTimes.com.When i was 16, right after i got my drivers license, i would drive to downtown Green Bay, to the really, really rundown part, with my buddy Peter and he and i would go to a little store that rented out records. Can you believe that? Rented. Records. Good old vinyl for rent. With a wink and a nod, Stan (i can't believe i remember his name) would let me walk out the door with a clutch of discs and a smile to speed home, tape the things onto cassette, and then return the rental. Sometimes i'd round trip it in the same day and grab another record to tape. This was, very obviously - and even to a dumb-ass 16 year old - illegal. But, for the four or five months that it lasted, i got a bunch of good music.

This album by the DB's (Like This) is one of them that i loved the most. I don't remember all the songs anymore, but i bet i could sing most of them now, word for word. So, i was really glad to stumble across the link above, from the New York Times, written by Peter Holsapple. He may be better known to most of you as the trusty sideman for REM, but i'll always know him as the DB's guy.

(If you want a beautifully written, well performed, and incredibly well produced album, please do check out "Mavericks", by Holsapple and Chris Stamey. "She was the One" is the best song on there, "Angels" the hit. )

If you like this story from Holsapple, you should probably also check out Suzanne Vega's story about Tom's Diner and how she helped create the MP3 file format. Excellent writing...

New Music Obsession: Blitzen Trapper

Love love love the new Blitzen Trapper album. The song "furr" will go into the "Songs for my Sons" project.

Lyrics:

Yeah, when I was only 17,
I could hear the angels whispering
So I droned into the words and
wondered aimlessly about till
I heard my mother shouting through the fog
It turned out to be the howling of a dog
or a wolf to be exact.
The sound sent shivers down my back
but I was drawn into the pack.
And before long, they allowed me
to join in and sing their song.
So from the cliffs and highest hill, yeah
we would gladly get our fill,
howling endlessly and shrilly at the dawn.
And I lost the taste for judging right from wrong.
For my flesh had turned to fur, yeah
And my thoughts, they surely were turned to
instinct and obedience to God.

You can wear your fur
like the river on fire.
But you better be sure
if your makin' God a liar.
I'm a rattlesnake, babe,
I'm like fuel on fire.
So if you're gonna' get made,
don't be afraid of what you've learned.

On the day that I turned 23,
I was curled up underneath a dogwood tree.
When suddenly a girl
with skin the color of a pearl,
wandered aimlessly,
but she didn't seem to see.
She was listenin' for the angels just like me.
So I stood and looked about.
I brushed the leaves off of my snout.
And then I heard my mother shouting through the trees.
You should have seen that girl go shaky at the knees.
So I took her by the arm
we settled down upon a farm.
And raised our children up as
gently as you pleased.

And now my fur has turned to skin.
And I've been quickly ushered in
to a world that I confess I do not know.
But I still dream of running careless through the snow.
An' through the howlin' winds that blow,
across the ancient distant flow,
it fill our bodies up like water till we know.

You can wear your fur
like the river on fire.
But you better be sure
if your makin' God a liar.
I'm a rattlesnake, babe,
I'm like fuel on fire.
So if you're gonna' get made,
don't be afraid of what you've learned.

Again with the FanBoy thing...MOKB

You really should check out My Old Kentucky Blog, which is probably one of the best music blogs out there. Very frequent updates, wide and eclectic music choices, lot's of live stuff and videos.

At the Risk of Becoming a Fan-boy: Bon Iver

I wanted to write a long, long post on digital project execution, the challenges of corporate web development teams in a tech world gone crazy, the difficulty of maintain creative excellence, and other sundry concerns. I wanted to find some music, too, to play in the background while i wrung my certain-to be-excellent treatise. I did a quick search for Bon Iver and came across this video of him/them doing a cover of "Lovin's for Fools", by Sara Siskind. They did it on stage at the Bowery Ballroom with the Bowerbirds and its just... so, so beautiful. Simple, like a lullaby, soothing almost. But, listen to the kiss off buried beneath the beautiful harmonies!

I've clearly turned some corner in my life, where songs like this come really, really close to making me tear up. The depth of the emotion, the wistfulness, the regret, the strength that's at the core of it all. There's something very centering (is that a word?) about six or seven voices singing in harmony. Anyway. give it a listen.

On a side note, if you're a fan of Richard Buckner, you might want to check out Siskind. Based on a limited listening, admittedly, she's on the same page.

I Haven't Stopped Believin'

I'm only slightly, very slightly, embarrassed that i got misty eyed listening to this. I love this stuff, kind of renews your faith in humanity. I'm serious, damnit.

Link: YouTube - Arnel Pineda and Journey - Don't stop believing live inChile.

Bon Iver - Tres Bon

I'm a huge music fan, and it's hard for me to find music that is truly special. Well, Bon Iver is it. Honestly, truly from the heart. Like Iron and Wine, but maybe even better. You know, the last thing the world needs is another guy with a guitar, telling you how sad he is and how his heart has been broken, and everything else. But i dare you not to be mesmerized and awestruck. Listen to "Wolves 1&2", and tell me that it doesn't chill you, scare you, make you want to go a little deeper into the music.

(And, no, i'm not biased because he's "my people", and made his record alone in a cabin in northern WI, but it doesn't hurt)

Tell me this song doesn't break your heart:

Have I Mentioned How Much I love the Internet?

For helping me learn about things like this video of the Radiohead song "Nude". I want to hang out with people like the guy who created this. Unbelievably cool, beautiful and insane at the same time. Imagine the time it must have taken to come up with this? But, it's worth every second. Please, go be inspired by this creativity and make something beautiful....

Link: Big Ideas (Don't get any) on Vimeo.