My Girlfriend and I had a really good, intense discussion about the controversy surrounding the CRTC banning the unedited version of Dire Strait's 'Money for Nothing' from Canadian Radio. I argued that the song's message was clearly and effectively anti-ignorance, and that censorship robbed the song of power while patronizing the listening audience. She made the case that other artistic products are censored from radio for good reason (see: the n-word) and that the lyrics should be held to the same standard as other songs with potentially hurtful content. Mark Twain was invoked, lyrics were analyzed, and I was made aware of the alarming fact that Homosexuality was only dropped from the list of Mental Disorders in Alberta last year.
Unfortunately, I feel that discussions on the progress of gay rights and the nature of censorship (which could be really healthy for Canada and the world in 2011) are not what is going to come out of this whole incident. I think way too many people will, and have already taken away the message that gay people hate cool guitar riffs and have no sense of humor.
And to those people, I say this.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Musical Discoveries of 2010 pt. I
Ivory Tower – Gonzales (2010)
Via: Previously Followed
This was not the album I was expecting, but then again, I’m not sure what I was expecting. Gonzales’ career has gone from electro-rap to soft rock to last year’s Solo Piano – a quiet, haunting album that showed Gonzales as the first-rate composer and pianist he is in a very understated setting.
In some ways, Ivory Tower is a combination of all his sensibilities. About half of the album is very danceable, but the loops and melodies are created via (compressed) acoustic piano. Synths, pads and drum machines feature throughout, but the voice and sound of the record is Gonzales piano playing – sometimes soft and beautiful “Bittersuite”, sometimes driving and powerful “I Am Europe”.
Not all of it is to my liking. On the tracks in which he raps I alternate between liking it in a wry way and finding it flat-out annoying. I could actually write a whole bit on his strange pseudo-ironic joke-rap style and why it leaves me conflicted, but rapping is only a piece of a much larger work here.
I can honestly see some people quite disliking this record, and I really couldn't blame them too much. I can run to this album, I can study to this album, it was used in an iPad commercial and serves as a soundtrack to an accompanying 75 minute film about chess. By the time Feist comes in singing “Ivory Tower/the electro-ghetto universe”, you can be sure of it: There's nothing out there like this.
Timber Timbre – Timber Timbre (2009)
Via: Calgary Folkfest 2010
Timber Timbre is some seriously eerie shit. I have a soft spot for spooky music, but this is like no other spooky record I have ever heard. For starters, it's very, very minimal. I hear that term being slung a lot, but tracks like “Magic Arrow” are built around one single guitar riff for the entire six-minute song – and it's more the rule than the exception. In fact, many of the sounds used here are almost ambient noise. A single organ note, the hum of an electric guitar or the effected strum of an autoharp. The most consistent and present element is the lead-singer's voice – heavily echoed and alternately frightened and menacing. “Do your actions mention/your heart's intention?” He asks over muted snare hits. “We'll find out.”
The Budos Band III – The Budos Band (2010)
Via: Friends
The Budos Band is an all-instrumental group on Dap-Tone Records (Sharon Jones, Naomi Shelton) that makes music that could easily serve as the soundtrack to any great Blaxploitation film of the 70s. After watching 'Black Dynamite' at a party, I threw this disc on and the vibe could hardly have been more perfect.
What makes the Budos Band special however is that they go beyond the source material of Isaac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield and bring in some very unexpected influences. One can hear elements from Asia, Africa and the Middle-East blended seamlessly into deep grooves. There's even a hilarious minor-key cover of the Beatles 'Day Tripper' that works better than it has any right to.
Blazing horns, ghostly synths, an absolutely killer rhythm section – This is the kind of music that demands a 67 Impala. Sorry Budos Band. I'll keep rocking you in the RAV4.
Thistled Spring – The Horse Feathers (2010)
Via: iTunes Genius
Sometimes a band or artist creates a sound so beautiful and complete that they can do the same thing for an entire album (or two) without complaint. The Horse Feathers are such a band. Their unusual lineup has two of the four members playing string instruments full time, and the music swells and undulates in an almost cinematic fashion.
With a disc like this, I want to say as little as possible (challenging for me). It will likely be a bit too quiet and aching for some people's taste – but if it's for you, you'll know almost instantly.
Listen to the first 30 seconds of the album's opening track, and if you can feel the snow melting, and the first timid growth of the year braving from the ground, you're in for a treat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDLfb1xSAY4
God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise – Ray LaMontagne (2010)
Via: Friends
Boy, this is a classic-sounding record. My knowledge of music in the 60s and 70s is pretty spotty compared to some people, and I still strongly hear Marvin Gayne, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Cat Stevens all throughout this record.
On one hand, who today is not influenced by those artists (particularly making roots music), but Ray LaMontagne wears them on his sleeve. The intro to “For the Summer” sounds so much like Neil Young's “Old Man” that I checked to see if it was a cover the first time I heard it.
With that said, I don't think that this works to his detriment. LaMontagne is a first-rate songwriter, and tracks like “Old Before Your Time” and the painfully gorgeous “Like Rock & Roll and the Radio” are arguably as good as the work of any of the musicians he evokes. The album also does a great job of balancing between LaMontagne's amazing voice and the very talented band (called the 'Pariah Dogs') he plays with. On the opening track he waits a full minute and thirty seconds before singing a note – and then totally kills it. It's restraint like that which puts Ray LaMontagne at the top of his class. Playing around with the classics is just fine if you sound this good doing it.
Via: Previously Followed
This was not the album I was expecting, but then again, I’m not sure what I was expecting. Gonzales’ career has gone from electro-rap to soft rock to last year’s Solo Piano – a quiet, haunting album that showed Gonzales as the first-rate composer and pianist he is in a very understated setting.
In some ways, Ivory Tower is a combination of all his sensibilities. About half of the album is very danceable, but the loops and melodies are created via (compressed) acoustic piano. Synths, pads and drum machines feature throughout, but the voice and sound of the record is Gonzales piano playing – sometimes soft and beautiful “Bittersuite”, sometimes driving and powerful “I Am Europe”.
Not all of it is to my liking. On the tracks in which he raps I alternate between liking it in a wry way and finding it flat-out annoying. I could actually write a whole bit on his strange pseudo-ironic joke-rap style and why it leaves me conflicted, but rapping is only a piece of a much larger work here.
I can honestly see some people quite disliking this record, and I really couldn't blame them too much. I can run to this album, I can study to this album, it was used in an iPad commercial and serves as a soundtrack to an accompanying 75 minute film about chess. By the time Feist comes in singing “Ivory Tower/the electro-ghetto universe”, you can be sure of it: There's nothing out there like this.
Timber Timbre – Timber Timbre (2009)
Via: Calgary Folkfest 2010
Timber Timbre is some seriously eerie shit. I have a soft spot for spooky music, but this is like no other spooky record I have ever heard. For starters, it's very, very minimal. I hear that term being slung a lot, but tracks like “Magic Arrow” are built around one single guitar riff for the entire six-minute song – and it's more the rule than the exception. In fact, many of the sounds used here are almost ambient noise. A single organ note, the hum of an electric guitar or the effected strum of an autoharp. The most consistent and present element is the lead-singer's voice – heavily echoed and alternately frightened and menacing. “Do your actions mention/your heart's intention?” He asks over muted snare hits. “We'll find out.”
The Budos Band III – The Budos Band (2010)
Via: Friends
The Budos Band is an all-instrumental group on Dap-Tone Records (Sharon Jones, Naomi Shelton) that makes music that could easily serve as the soundtrack to any great Blaxploitation film of the 70s. After watching 'Black Dynamite' at a party, I threw this disc on and the vibe could hardly have been more perfect.
What makes the Budos Band special however is that they go beyond the source material of Isaac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield and bring in some very unexpected influences. One can hear elements from Asia, Africa and the Middle-East blended seamlessly into deep grooves. There's even a hilarious minor-key cover of the Beatles 'Day Tripper' that works better than it has any right to.
Blazing horns, ghostly synths, an absolutely killer rhythm section – This is the kind of music that demands a 67 Impala. Sorry Budos Band. I'll keep rocking you in the RAV4.
Thistled Spring – The Horse Feathers (2010)
Via: iTunes Genius
Sometimes a band or artist creates a sound so beautiful and complete that they can do the same thing for an entire album (or two) without complaint. The Horse Feathers are such a band. Their unusual lineup has two of the four members playing string instruments full time, and the music swells and undulates in an almost cinematic fashion.
With a disc like this, I want to say as little as possible (challenging for me). It will likely be a bit too quiet and aching for some people's taste – but if it's for you, you'll know almost instantly.
Listen to the first 30 seconds of the album's opening track, and if you can feel the snow melting, and the first timid growth of the year braving from the ground, you're in for a treat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDLfb1xSAY4
God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise – Ray LaMontagne (2010)
Via: Friends
Boy, this is a classic-sounding record. My knowledge of music in the 60s and 70s is pretty spotty compared to some people, and I still strongly hear Marvin Gayne, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Cat Stevens all throughout this record.
On one hand, who today is not influenced by those artists (particularly making roots music), but Ray LaMontagne wears them on his sleeve. The intro to “For the Summer” sounds so much like Neil Young's “Old Man” that I checked to see if it was a cover the first time I heard it.
With that said, I don't think that this works to his detriment. LaMontagne is a first-rate songwriter, and tracks like “Old Before Your Time” and the painfully gorgeous “Like Rock & Roll and the Radio” are arguably as good as the work of any of the musicians he evokes. The album also does a great job of balancing between LaMontagne's amazing voice and the very talented band (called the 'Pariah Dogs') he plays with. On the opening track he waits a full minute and thirty seconds before singing a note – and then totally kills it. It's restraint like that which puts Ray LaMontagne at the top of his class. Playing around with the classics is just fine if you sound this good doing it.
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