Two weeks ago I got the great news that Ben Folds has a new album due out next month.
This week’s great news comes from the world of DVDs.
Monthly Archives: August 2008
Song of the Day #25: ‘Seeing Other People’ – Belle & Sebastian
Any list of my favorite artists would find the Scottish septet Belle & Sebastian nestled right up top. I like these guys so much that I could scrap this format and go to a ‘Belle & Sebastian Song of the Day’ very easily (though I’d have to live without Alex’s readership).
My favorite description of the band was a back-handed compliment (or maybe an open-handed criticism?) along the lines of “They’re a seven-piece band that somehow sounds like a single guy in a room with an acoustic guitar.” Much of their music is gorgeously delicate, a blend of guitar, piano, strings and horns buttressing Stuart Murdoch’s fragile vocals. But they’ve showed a knack for rocking out as well, especially on recent albums, and a crunk vibe I wouldn’t have thought possible from a bunch of twee Scotsmen.
She & Him – Volume One
The track record of actors turned musicians is not a strong one. Eddie Murphy, Bruce Willis, Lindsay Lohan, Juliette Lewis — crap, all of it. It doesn’t seem to work the other way around, though. Plenty of musicians (especially rappers) make fine actors. I guess singing is already a form of acting, while the reverse isn’t true.
I mention this to point out why the success of She & Him is a very special achievement. Zooey Deschanel (Almost Famous, Elf, All the Real Girls) is the “she” in She & Him, while the “him” is alternative singer-songwriter M. Ward. But the band’s name is deceiving, because this is truly Deschanel’s work. She wrote all the original songs and sings every track, while Ward handles production and plays the guitar.
Song of the Day #24: ‘Just Another’ – Pete Yorn
Sometimes an artist puts out just one song that blows you away while everything else he/she does just kind of lies there. This isn’t the same as a one-hit wonder, because often these songs aren’t hits. It’s more of a one-wow wonder, a song that stands so far above its peers that it may as well be the only thing the person ever releases.
Pete Yorn’s ‘Just Another’ is among my favorite one-wow wonders.
Song of the Day #23: ‘Bottle It Up’ – Sara Bareilles
I remember a cartoon that ran in Rolling Stone in 1990. Called “Mr. Guthrie’s Homeroom,” it depicted a classroom with Woody Guthrie standing at the blackboard. In the front row taking notes sits Bob Dylan. Behind Dylan, and leaning over to copy off Dylan’s paper, is Bruce Springsteen. And copying from Bruce Springsteen’s paper is John Mellencamp. (I was hoping I’d find it through the magic of the Web, but all I found was a reference to it and details of the issue in which it ran.)
This cartoon came to mind recently when I picked up Little Voice, the debut CD by Sara Bareilles. Only in this version it would be Joni Mitchell teaching the class, Tori Amos in the first seat, Fiona Apple behind her and Sara Bareilles in the back row. Throw in Nellie McKay and Rachael Yamagata while you’re at it.
Meet Me In Montauk 