Josh Rouse, today’s randomly selected artist, has a career that is perfectly tailored to the Internet age. He has a small but devoted following who he is able to reach through studio releases as well as independent and Web-only product.
Twenty years ago, artists like Rouse who weren’t big enough names to garner much media attention were pretty much out of luck. But today, through social media, fan sites and music sharing services, they can have a legitimate career doing something they love.
Josh Rouse has put out enough wonderful albums by now that he’s earned the right to get away with something experimental. His 2010 album El Turista was a distracting trifle that let him stretch his new Spanish-language skills and blend his laid back pop with some exotic European sounds.
While this could have been a stab at a Graceland-style major work, it was handled more like a side project, a diversion. Despite the ambitious musical melange, the songs themselves are quick pop ditties, high on sugar and low on meat.
It’s fascinating to watch artists follow their muse to unexpected places.
Earlier this year, Rufus Wainwright released a collection of mournful chamber pieces featuring just his piano and vocals. And now we have masterful pop songwriter Josh Rouse, born and raised in the Midwest, putting out a new album sung half in Spanish.
I mention these two albums together because both artists have proved themselves eminently capable of smart, crowd-friendly pop music but neither appears all that interested in selling CDs. They’d rather stretch their musical muscles into new and unexpected directions — an opera here, a bossa nova there — and trust their loyal fans to follow.
Here’s a wonderful song from Josh Rouse’s 1972 album, which is chock full of wonderful songs.
This album is an example of an artist firing on all creative cylinders, with songwriting, performance and production all top-notch. I imagine that when he recorded 1972 Rouse was in the sort of zone star athletes get into during a big game, when everything they try works out just right.
Or maybe that’s not how it works at all. Maybe this album was the result of weeks of trial and error, takes and retakes, and input from scores of people and it all somehow managed to come out brilliantly in the end.
In either case, I’m impressed.
Josh Rouse kept up his ‘one album per year’ pace and released Country Mouse City House in 2007. The album picked up where Subtitulo left off, both thematically and musically, and for my money it’s the first Rouse release that suggests he’s treading water.
That perception won’t last, however, as I’ve just read about Rouse’s next album, due out in March of this year. It’s called Turista and based on the clips I’ve heard, he has now had enough time to immerse himself in his Spanish surroundings that it’s showing up in big ways in his music.
Meet Me In Montauk 