Tuesday, June 12, 2007

A Bit O' Everything (photos, mp3s, blahblahblah)

The past weekend’s happy musical surprise – I stopped at the Tyson’s Corner Borders to browse the music racks (not quite Tower Records, but it’s got integrity) and to look for a copy of NME (the new issue has a free red vinyl White Stripes single!, but they’re still selling last week’s) while waiting for Grace to finish her Japanese lesson. Lo and behold, the store is preparing for an afternoon performance/signing by Judith Owen, a fine singer/songwriter (and wife of the brilliant Harry Shearer) who is in town for a show Sunday night at the IOTA. I’m bummed to realize that I can’t stay for the actual mini-set, but delighted to hear the sounds of an electric piano soundcheck. Lucky me, Owen arrived more than an hour early, so I got to say hello again, having met her briefly after a show last year at Jammin Java.

I didn’t expect her to remember me, but she recalled how much she enjoyed that performance and is warm and gracious and seemingly happy to have a genuine fan appear during the pre-show. We chat about her area appearances (she’s taping an NPR interview as well), her trading of musical favors with Richard Thompson (they appear on each other’s most recent CDs) and I am inspired anew to make an effort to revisit the IOTA. (I was there just a few days ago, which we’ll get to in a moment). I picked up the new CD and get it autographed, no jaded critic I. Which brings us to:

My Own Cash Money
1.JUDITH OWEN – Happy This Way (Courgette)
Besides Thompson, Owen’s guests include Julia Fordham, Ian Shaw and Cassandra Wilson, which should give the uninitiated a hint at the classy, jazzy, mature material she’s doing. Piano-based pop with a nod to the great American songbook of love and longing. My one reservation on this CD is that there are fewer up-tempo songs and there isn’t a clear indication of how wryly funny this woman can be.



2. SIGUR ROS and HILMAR ORN HILMARSSON ORCHESTRA - Angels of the Universe
Precisely why I still love browsing a real music outlet – I didn’t know anything about this release. It was in the 2 for $22 section, and I was sorely tempted to bundle it with an older Rilo Kiley selection, but I had the Owen purchase, too, so I used my handy emailed coupon that took 20% off list price. Listening in the car, I discover it’s grander and orchestral, less self-consciously bizarre than the usual Sigur Ros. Nice stuff.

Got home from meeting the lovely Ms. O and found the new
3. RICHARD THOMPSON – Sweet Warrior (Shout! Factory)
Owen is indeed, as she mentioned, “all over it,” providing harmony vocals on nine of the 14 tracks. She’s not on “Dad’s Gonna Kill Me,” the anti-war track that’s getting a lot of well-deserved attention, but she does get to sing “shame, shame on you, you Bad Monkey” from the song of the same naughty simian name.
Also from the promo peeps:
4. The WILDBIRDS – S/T (Universal Republic)
The press kit says the CD will be called “Golden Daze” when it comes out on August 14th, but the advance generic CD has the band name and title as one and the same. The lyricist/vocalist/rhythm guitarist frontman cites Cheap Trick, Humble Pie and Tom Petty (with the Heartbreakers) as influences, and the band will be touring with Jesse Malin this summer, so the claims of straight-ahead rock seem truthful.
5. SIPPY CUPS –Electric Storyland (Snacker Disc)
The packaging is so packed with colorful cartoons that it becomes its own trip-toy, but the music is aimed at the young and drug-free - I think. Titles like “Little House of Jello” and “Drinking from the Sky” could be hallucinogenic, and the group’s live repertoire includes cover tunes from the Beatles, Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd and the Ramones (not, we assume, “Beat on the Brat”). Coming to play at Jammin Java on July 13th.

Anyway, listening to the Owen CD reminds me how much I like her style, so I get my musical gal pal Sally to agree to a night out and we head for the IOTA on Sunday night. Alas, most of the region has stayed home to watch the “Sopranos” finale (sounds like they got screwed), a fact that Owen makes a running joke throughout her nonetheless impassioned set for the 30 or so patrons. She talks more than I remembered, but it’s funny, knowing and moving, as are the songs. (Funny applies to her covers of “Smoke on the Water” and “Eye of the Tiger.”)

At Borders, I mentioned that I’d like to bring my camera, to which she replies, “yes – and take all the pictures you want!” The (small) trouble is, her songs are so quiet and the mood so vulnerable that every “CLICK!” screams out, so I limit myself mostly to the patter moments.



Opening act is

6. EREN CANNATA – Blame It On the City (Brown Dog Records)
One of the first students enrolled in NYU's Clive Davis Department of recorded music, he’s also the son of Billy Joel’s saxophone player Richie Cannata and has a bit if a rep as a swoon-inducer of the young ladies. I think he’s got a cuddly, Jack Black look – and I’m charmed by the fact that he plays barefoot. Nothing in his set called out to me with a “gotta-hear-that-again” urgency, but when I chatted with him afterwards, and he gave me a free download card, his eager roadie-type asked urgently, “Would you like to buy an album? It would really help us out.” For $10, I did. Support your touring artists and all that.

It’s been a good week for welcome surprises in the mailbox. All sort of stuff that I was glad to get:
7. The POLYPHONICE SPREE – The Fragile Army (TVT)
I doubt if anything from this group will recapture the magic of that debut with its joyous, big ensemble optimism, and I’m a little sad to see the choir robes traded for military-style uniforms, but there’s still an upbeat bigness to the sound, and a touch of Devo-esque electronica, as if some helpful robots joined the gang.
Out June 19th
8. MIKE ERRICO – All In (Tallboy 7)
Brother to a Broadway star (Melissa), helper on Leslie Gore’s recent comeback CD, editor at Blender.com, Errico wears many hats, including being a singer/songwriter on his own material. You could play tracks from this one between the latest by Maroon 5 and John Mayer and not drop a beat.
Out June 11th
9. The ALIENS – Astronomy for Dogs (Astralwerks)
Former Beta Band-ians present more smiling, slightly twisted beats.
10. VARIOUS ARTISTS – CMJ Presents…Phase Five NZ Music (NZ On Air)
Not sure how I got on this mailing list (signed something at last year’s CMJ maybe?) but delighted to get a cute little puffy envelope covered in stickers, stamps and official stuff to show that it came from overseas. Inside, a cardboard sleeve with CD/video material from New Zealand, including Tin Finn, Die! Die! Die! and a “Flying Nun Box Set Bonus” (the label, silly, not the TV show).

Recent Post Previews:
Celebrate Fairfax festival, featuring Smash Mouth, Eddie from Ohio and a cast of dozens.
Great Lake Swimmers, Eleni Mandell at IOTA
Saw the show and greatly enjoyed both acts, though I’ll admit that GLS has even more power when you sit in a dark room and let the CD wash over you. In pushing the material forward, appropriately in a live situation, a bit of the gossamer magic is lost.
Here’s lead singer/songwriter Tony Dekker…


And Eleni Mandell…



Why I Prefer to Read about Metal Rather Than Listen to It.
From a PR mailing with the subject line: “Watain’s stench of death lingers in America” –
“...you might not smell the animal carcasses and foul bloodstench from the stage, but surely still a testament to the band's superior blackened war tactics…
Interviews via email are ongoing... the filth must be spread.

Sharing the Love – as in free MP3s!
Thanks for hanging in there. Here’s your cookies…

For fans of indie chamber pop, some selections from
LOST IN THE TREES , the name used by Ari Picker, of The b-Sides and The Never, for his solo project, with quiet melodicism, the occasional spurt of baroque goth, and elaborate orchestral arrangements.
The instrumental ”I’ve Always Loved the Fall”
comes from the EP “Time Taunts Me.”
From the same EP, here’s “Tall Trees” – with a touch of tango!
And finally, the previously unreleased
“Walk Around the Lake”
, which Picker gave to a compilation for Esopus Magazine, dedicated to art, poetry, essays, pop culture and music.

LOVE AS LAUGHTER have been on tour supporting Modest Mouse and posted a free download of their song “Coconut Flakes”, recorded live in Toronto.

Louis Schefano, leader of late-90s bedroom pop-makers, Regia, has returned with an EP, Freak Show Revenge under the simple moniker, LOUIS. As recently as last year, tracks from Regia’s 1999 release, The Art of Navigation (spinART), have been re-recorded by Saddle Creek recording artist, Maria Taylor. Superphonic Records will release the five-song EP, but here’s one track, ”My Own Good”.

In The (Trivial) News:
The US Air Guitar Championships kicked off their 14-city tour last weekend in DC. According to the press release, these musical mime kings have an actual tour bus that pulls an empty equipment trailer. I’m still not sure whether that’s funny or stupid.

Visit Close Personal Friend on MySpace! And if you see me listed as a bisexual swinger who doesn’t want kids (not that there’s anything wrong with that, I suppose), please refresh your page! I was totally mis-profiled for about three minutes on the day I attempted to update my profile (some AOL-Mac-MySpace glitch) and am now happily back to being a straight, married, proud mother of two.

O/CD YTD: 235

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