This is turning into one of my favorite weeks in the Song of the Day series. There are just so many talented and interesting people out there, all waiting to be discovered on the wonder that is YouTube.
Today’s performer, Julia Nunes, is definitely the quirkiest I’ve encountered so far. In addition to her great voice and ukulele work, she is an expert sound mixer. Most of her videos consist of her on multiple instruments as well as harmony vocals and beat-box style percussion.
Have to regain my manliness after Mr. Dreamy’s song yesterday, so I’m going back to the cute girl well.
Hayley Legg is an Australian with a ton of YouTube videos and her own Web site, which is a great testament to the possibilities afforded a musician in the new technological landscape. She’s unsigned and plays in bars and clubs like aspiring musicians have for eons, but she has a level of exposure unheard of a decade ago.
Awhile back I posted my finalists for the best films of the 00s. Now I turn my attention to the best albums.
This is a harder assignment because I find my musical taste fluctuates a lot more than my movie taste. A band I obsess over today might not get much play 6 months from now. I tend to go through phases where I’ll play all of an artist’s albums for weeks at a time and then shelve them for a couple of months before revisiting them.
As legendary a career as Bruce Springsteen has had over the 36 years he’s been recording, I believe his most successful run has been in the last four years. And when you’re talking about a rock-n-roller who turns 60 this year that’s an amazing accomplishment.
Like one of his heroes, Bob Dylan, Springsteen has somehow reinvented himself while remaining true to everything that has always made him great. There is a clear line from classics such as Born to Run and Nebraska to the provocative, inspiring albums he’s delivered since 2005 — Devils & Dust, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, Magic and now Working on a Dream.
It takes some guts to post your version of a bona fide classic. But if you do it as good as this guy has with Lucinda Williams’ ‘Lake Charles,’ why the hell not?
I love what he’s done with the vocals… his Nick Drake-like whispering, delicate delivery is a fascinating counterpoint to Williams’ rugged and bluesy performance. And he has sped up some lines, swallowed others, to take something familiar and make it just new enough.
Meet Me In Montauk 