OMG

I just had one of those incredible music moments tonight. Where I hear a new song and immediately have to run home and get my hands on it. All I heard was the guitar intro in Taylor's car when he dropped John and I off from a night at the coffeeshop.

Luckily, Taylor has satellite radio. So it was clearly displayed on his little device: Julian Casablancas. Tourist.

!!!

I think I downloaded it for the intro. It's a five minute song. But I ended up loving the song (though I do keep listening to the beginning over and over again). I am happy because I haven't had this happen in a while. This total WHAT IS THIS SONG? sort of giddy excitement. It is nice.

♥

Cute lyrics:

I wish that clouds could hold me up
like I thought as a child, growing up
I wish I could sound
soothing as the rainfall
but i am only a drop from the storm

Feel like a tourist out in the country
Once this whole world was all countryside
Feel like a tourist in the big city
soon I will simply evaporate

the streams up north
the drums down south
they take across afghanistan
a long time ago
you're shuffling your feet into the next dimension
soon skyscrapers will be everywhere

I feel like a tourist lost in the suburbs
soon our whole world will be urban sprawl
feel like a lover out on the ocean
feel like a teardrop streaming off your chin

some will bet against you
try even to prevent you
but not many can stop you man
if you got a perfect plan

can they possibly try
demand to know why
they would bow to you
in this sad a thousand generations

feel like a tourist out in the desert
somehow it feels like the devil's breath
feel like a tourist out in this swampland
this world is just of water and land

everywhere I go I'm a tourist
but if you stay with me I'll always be at home

Piano Stairs!

I was wary of this website link initially-it was sponsored by a car company (Volkswagen). The entire website is about exploring whether making mundane activities fun can change human behavior. One example was adding Mario sound effects to a hand sanitizer dispenser in a college dining hall. Seven times as many people used the dispenser with the fun new noises!

The example that really caught my attention, however, was the piano stairs. In a train station, they took video of how many people chose the escalator over the regular stairs. Overnight, the team installed sensors in all the stairs and white and black coverings that looked like piano keys. 66% more people chose the stairs when they had the piano sounds!

...wouldn't you?

The only downside? The black keys weren't independent notes. You can see several people throughout the video trying to add a little chromatic spice to their stepping. Perhaps piano stairs 2.0 can include all the black keys! (no, not The Black Keys)

Unforgettable Etta James

For all of my love of vintage music (swing in particular), I can't believe I had never stumbled across this gem of a song by Etta James: Something's Got A Hold on Me. I found it on a Canadian wedding blog, of all places. I found the blog linked from a pretty picture on another blog and suddenly this song was blasting at me. I found it on iTunes under the Chess Blues box set.

The first time I heard it I had one reaction: DAMN. Her voice is absolutely perfect on this track. I love every note she sings. Really, the only other Etta James I was incredibly familiar with was At Last. Which is a good song but has never been one of my absolute favorites. I knew I loved her voice but I never had many examples.

I also found this clip from 1962 where she makes the intro even more amazing. Plus, she has the most perfect eyeliner ever. I think the up-tempo section loses a little something without the backup singers on this one, but the intro is so impressive it makes up for it.

Love Me Tender

To make it up to Mary, I have to post this as apology :D


Love me Tender is one of the prettiest love songs ever written. And nobody can match the original. However, notice the relative lack of his ultra-vibrato in this performance.

Plus, if Terry Moore is going to not only use the lyrics in an issue of Strangers in Paradise, but name an entire trade paperback "Love me Tender" then it automatically wins me over.

Love me tender,
Love me sweet,
Never let me go.
You have made my life complete,
And I love you so.

Love me tender,
Love me true,
All my dreams fulfilled.
For my darlin I love you,
And I always will.

Love me tender,
Love me long,
Take me to your heart.
For it's there that I belong,
And well never part.

Love me tender,
Love me dear,
Tell me you are mine.
Ill be yours through all the years,
Till the end of time.

(when at last my dreams come true
Darling this I know
Happiness will follow you
Everywhere you go).

Blue Christmas

I have been having a really tough time with a particular Christmas song. I've been working hard at compiling a bunch of new wintery music via iTunes for various mixes and holiday background cheer, but I have always had a hard time with Blue Christmas.

You know, the one that Elvis is famous for.

I have never enjoyed listening to Elvis. I think he's sort of ridiculous. I understand that he's a pop icon. I understand how he changed how white people performed rock and roll. I understand that when he first hit the scene, he was incredibly controversial and badass with his swinging hips.

My issue with Elvis? His vocal styling. I've just always had a hard time with his vibrato. The thing is? The songs he did were all awesome songs. Love me tender, Let me be your teddy bear...and Blue Christmas. The thing is, I can't find a cover of the original that I remotely like. I love the melody of Blue Christmas, the lyrics, the entire sentiment of the song.

But my options are unctuous lounge versions (Harry Connick Jr.), country (usually too close to Elvis in style), or versions so slowed down or straight-laced that they don't interest me.

ANGST. I just want to find a version of this song that I can love. Someday, somebody is going to make a version of this song that I like.

Strange Realization

Sometimes you play a piece and you're so in the notes you miss certain fundamental things until you take a listen to a recording.

Take for example the Bartok Rumanian dances. The third movement, when not stumbled through blindly (it's entirely in false harmonics), does not even sound like a violin. The recording I have (Marc Kaplan and Bruno Canino) really highlights this for me. The movement has such a ghostly, hollow sound. In stepping away from my instrument I am always struck by it.

Examples:
1:48 in this video
2:14 in this video (Hilary Hahn!)

Ice, Ice, Baby

I saw this post and couldn't believe my eyes-ice records! They whole process starts with taking a mold of a real record, then making these delicate, incredible, working, frozen copies!

The actual sound? I think they have quite a bit more clicks and pops than what John and I tend to have in our collection, but, they are made out of ice.

I love this concept. It's the closest thing a recorded medium can come to a live performance. It's memorable, fleeting, and you absolutely have to live in the moment to appreciate it. You can't walk about the other rooms of the house while this is on. It is a ludicrous commodity, to be sure, but a fascinating statement that takes music out of the shopping mall, car radios, Muzak'd elevators, and MP3 players and places it directly in front of us.

I have an iPod now, but I rarely use it in transit. I see so many people wandering like lithe ghosts throughout their day. Disconnected from the sights and sounds around them on their morning commute or on the street at lunchtime. Perhaps as a musician, I can't relegate music to the background. I'm either listening completely or not at all. I have a hard time having that sort of accompaniment without getting sucked into the experience completely.

The icy records came at the right time; after the longest, fairest autumn in years, winter has arrived with its shatteringly cold winds. Snow finally stuck to the ground yesterday, a light dusting of white. I am remembering what it is to be truly bundled up to go outside. It's the perfect time of year for baking, twinkle lights, and big band music on the record player. Cheers! I hope you're all having a fabulous holiday season thus far.

RJD2+Dancing on Crutches=Awesome

John showed me this video, for RJD2's Work it Out. It has some of the coolest dancing I've seen in a while. Plus, I love RJD2 (particularly Ghostwriter).

Work it out is not to be confused with Walk it out, which is apparently being used on top of ridiculous children's tv shows these days: Exhibit A. There were also ones with Teletubbies, but this was the most disturbing/hilarious.

At 5:00pm tomorrow, I am free! My paper is almost done (just a few more edits and proofreading and making sure everything is in Chicago format).

See you tomorrow!

Nature-y Titles

After my big papers are in (Tuesday) I can get back to blogging about new things! In the meantime, here's some rediscovered favorites that I recommend.


Above the Treetops (Pat Metheny)
This one will give you chills. I pretty much guarantee it. Metheny is an incredible genre-crossing jazz guitarist, and this Secret Story album is a great example.  He incorporates world music into his playing. This is the first track on the album, and it opens with Cambodian children singing a traditional song called "The Buong Song". Metheny arranges the chant simply, with a minimal string accompaniment. He only joins the singing children midway through on guitar. The song has such an ethereal, powerful effect.

This is such a treasure. I discovered it in my jazz history class with Paul Ferguson, and it really moved me. I hadn't listened to it in a while, but the other day my (sorority) little sis (who is now taking the same class) posted this video to Facebook. It's so striking.


By the Sea (Bobby McFerrin)
The second song I have to share is much less weighty. It will put an instant smile on your face. Again, I just about guarantee smiles. It's completely, infectiously happy.

I haven't really blogged about it, but I completely adore Bobby McFerrin. I can literally fall into youtube vortexes where I click on every video that pops up by him. I'll watch the same video again as soon as it ends. It's kind of sad. But seriously, McFerrin could sing friggin' Twinkle and I would be captivated. I just want to take a vacation in his brain and see what goes on in there.

And of course, I can't listen to one of his songs without immediately clicking on six more, so here's two more that make me practically giddy when I listen to them:

Drive
Air
My Favorite Things
I've Got a Feeling

Have a happy weekend (if those videos don't get your weekend off to an amazing start I don't know what will)!

My opera singer BFF Alana is coming and I am so excited for our shenanegans I can barely stand it! After next Tuesday, get ready for some CRAZY BLOG SESSIONS.

Another Great Song

Seriously. GO LISTEN TO THIS SONG RIGHT NOW. This makes me happy in a way that only epic Finnish speed metal can.