Song of the Day: “Hoppípolla”

I hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July. I really need to get back to regular posting…anyways, here’s a gorgeous Song of the Day…

“Hoppípolla” by Sigur Rós!

So about a year ago or so, thanks to a viewing of “How To Train Your Dragon” (an excellent film, by the way) with my family, I fell madly in love with the music of Jónsi, the lead singer of (you guessed it) Icelandic band Sigur Rós. He had contributed a song to the movie, which played during the end credits, called “Sticks and Stones,” and while the rest of my posse didn’t pay it much mind at the time, I was hooked. I checked out his recently released solo album (called “Go”), and from then on it was musical love.

Except I forgot one thing. As I said before, Jónsi is the lead singer of a band…and I had neglected to check out any of said band’s music. Sigur Rós had actually caught my eye in a somewhat unusual way a few years prior…their most recent album, “Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust,” features a rather revealing cover, and while seeing it on the iTunes front page, and recognizing the name of Sigur Rós, I decided to briefly check their music out, mainly due to curiosity. I must not have stayed long, because I didn’t end up downloading or searching out anything else of theirs.

That all changed, though, a few days ago. After seeing a random song of theirs in passing on my iTunes sidebar (iTunes seems to be the key to a lot of my music discovery lately…), and taking a brief listen to it, a few nights ago I decided to take another look at their music, spurred by my admiration of Jónsi’s work. I don’t know how it came to be the first song I listened to, but “Hoppípolla” was my official introduction to Sigur Rós (I think it might have had something to do with the fact that I looked up the band on a favorite sheet music website of mine, and the song was one of only two the site had for sale), and it grabbed me almost instantly. It starts off with a simple piano line, then grows with guitars and strings…and takes off into something truly special. About halfway through the song, it starts to build even more, and after a sweeping orchestra melody kicks in…it’s pretty much musical heaven. Full disclosure: I started crying while listening to this song for the first time. That’s certainly not something that happens often with me, and when it happens, it’s something to be excited about. Even though the lyrics are in Icelandic (and, for the latter, part, “Hopelandic,” the ethereal made-up language that Sigur Rós utilizes very often), this song touched me in a deeper, almost unexplainable way than just any normal tune does. It’s music of intense beauty, creativity, and happiness, and it’s something that most certainly should be shared.

As always, thanks for reading! Up next on my writing queue is a new Artist Spotlight, on indie songstress Alyse Black. See you soon with that (hopefully “soon” this time will actually be “soon”), and keep on the lookout for some new posts, new features, and new ways to help make this blog better.

Artist Spotlight: Jamie Cullum

Apparently now “tomorrow” means “many days later, while Brandon is slowly recovering from wisdom teeth removal surgery.” Anyways, here’s my long-promised new Artist Spotlight, on…

Jamie Cullum!

Jamie is a singer-pianist from the UK with a very unique angle. His music is very grounded in jazz (not just influenced by jazz, like straight-up jazz-driven music)…but it also takes elements from pop, rock, even a tiny bit of hip-hop at some points. But before we get into that…how did I come across Jamie in the first place? That would be thanks to the dear, departed Star 97.5, what used to be our local vocal jazz radio station. It only lasted about a year or so in about 2007 (it met an untimely end due to ridiculous reasons that I will refrain from ranting about here), but while it was around, it was BRILLIANT. They played a mix of jazz-centered music that seemed to be tailor-made for me and my musical sensibilities. One of the songs that was playing one day was this gem, “All At Sea,” from Jamie’s second album (and major-label debut, if I’m getting my facts right), “Twentysomething”:

This is one of Jamie’s more pop-influenced songs, as most of his original stuff tends to be. The piano is simply gorgeous, Jamie’s voice complements the music almost effortlessly, and the lyrics are fine too. Naturally, this got me hooked on Jamie, and although it was a painstakingly slow and steady process, I started checking out more and more of his music. The rest is history. Ish.

Notice how I mentioned the piano first. Jamie is, as briefly mentioned in my intro, an accomplished pianist. What boggles my mind is…he’s not formally trained. It’s all done by ear, pretty much. Seeing as I myself can’t play piano that well with music smack dab in front of me, Jamie being able to do that off the top of my head…it’s not something I ever take for granted as a listener. Here’s another nice example of his killer piano chops, on a jaunty version of the classic standard “I Get A Kick Out of You” (also off the “Twentysomething” album):

As with pretty much any artist I end up spotlighting, I could pretty much just have you listen to my entire Jamie Cullum collection and call it a day. Which I’ll kinda probably end up doing. But anyways, as you may have heard a bit from his version of “I Get A Kick Out of You,” Jamie has a real knack for taking extremely well-known songs and completely reinventing them in a very dynamic way…not to mention the songs he ends up choosing are often quite all over the place genre-wise. Case in point…here’s his cover of “Singin’ In The Rain” off “Twentysomething,” and then a take on Rihanna (yes, you heard that right) off his most recent record, “The Pursuit.”

And, as I talked about earlier, his original compositions are terrific as well. He really was firing on all cylinders with his latest album, “The Pursuit”…two choice cuts off that disc, the buoyant “I’m All Over It” (which interestingly enough, seems to be about a breakup) and the deliriously catchy “Mixtape” are two of my absolute favorites:

And just so I’m not leaving his excellent sophomore major-label effort “Catching Tales” out, here’s a song from that record called “Catch The Sun” (which is actually a cover, of an English alternative band called the Doves). The piano (as always with Jamie’s music) is absolutely terrific:

I could go on and on about him (for example, did you know he has his own BBC Radio show? or that he and his wife just had a baby? or that he was the singing voice of the main frog in “Meet The Robinsons”?), but I won’t. Jamie just has a knack for taking jazz music, a genre that people often see as old-fashioned or one-sided,  merging it with his own outside influences (as well as his own clear love for jazz), and creating something fresh and vibrant that both celebrates the old and embraces the new. I honestly couldn’t think of a better sign that the jazz genre will be thriving for years to come than Jamie’s endlessly inventive and incredibly accessible music. To close, here’s a rollicking performance of his song “You and Me Are Gone,” with the BBC Heritage Orchestra at a 2010 Proms performance (the fact that he’s a jazz/pop/rock artist and was invited in the first place to play the Proms is a major recognition of just how versatile he and his music can be):

See y’all soon (and “soon” hopefully won’t change into a similar meaning as “tomorrow” ) with some more new posting. I hope to get my cover-centered new feature off the ground, and we’ll see if that ends up happening. For now, thanks for reading!

Song of the Day: “To Build A Home”

So…16 days have passed by. Without a post. For shame, Brandon, for shame. This tonight, and an Artist Spotlight tomorrow. Plus I still have a lot of interesting things cooked up for later. For now…today’s/tonight’s Song of the Day? How about…

“To Build A Home” by the Cinematic Orchestra (feat. Patrick Watson)!

 

This is a gorgeous tune by a British group called The Cinematic Orchestra, which actually usually does instrumental music, from what I understand. According to Wikipedia (because Wikipedia knows all? ), they often have a more jazz/electronic vibe. I haven’t checked out their music much, but since Jamie Cullum name-checked them, and this song is so terrific, perhaps I should. Anyways, it’s a very sparse, yet driving piano-based ballad (with some tasteful, beautiful strings) with vocals by Canadian singer/songwriter Patrick Watson (who I’d actually already heard of, and I have 2 of his songs on my iPod to boot). Of all people to introduce me to it…my sister actually told me about this, which is kind of crazy, since she’s totally into more mainstream music than I am. (Apparently she’s in a ‘contemporary music’ mood right now, so she’s been getting into a LOT of artists/music I love much more than whatever we agree on in the field of music normally. It’s kind of amazing. ) It’s sweeping, heartbreaking, and uplifting all at once. It’s rather hard for me to get enough of it.

See you soon with fresh posts, and lots of great music! My next post (if things according to plan) will be an Artist Spotlight on the aforementioned Jamie Cullum. You’re gonna love him, I know it. Thanks for reading, as always!

Artist Spotlight: Hem

So I haven’t done an Artist Spotlight since last year. Which means you got a break from them…but I have TONS of artists I still want to share, so let’s bring sexy the artist spotlight back, and shine it today on a band (Harmony Avenue’s first spotlighted group since Local Natives)…

Hem!

So what exactly is Hem? A band with quite a simple name, and a simple…yet stunning aesthetic. Their music is a beautiful mixture of folk, Americana, rock, country, even tiny bits of jazz here and there…fronted by the golden-voiced Sally Ellyson, and gorgeously backed by strings and orchestral instruments. And guess what? You might have heard a bit of their music, provided you were watching TV a few years ago and a Liberty Mutual commercial came on (built around the heartwarming concept of strangers “paying it forward” and doing good deeds for each other in succession), backed by this song, called “Half Acre” (from the band’s debut album, “Rabbit Songs”):

Like quite a few of Hem’s current fans today probably can say, this is exactly how I found out about their music. I saw the commercial and heard a 30-second snippet of the song…and I really, really wanted to hear more. I had no way to find out what the song was and who sung it at the time, but probably close to a year after I first heard it, for some reason I decided to search around the Internet for the song, and found my answer…and from then on, I was absolutely, 100% hooked.

Here’s another tune from another Liberty Mutual commercial. It’s called “The Part Where You Let Go,” and is on an EP called “Home Again, Home Again.”

So I could basically just show you a bunch of their songs and call it a day…because like many great artists’ work, Hem’s music speaks for itself. IT’s gorgeous, heartfelt, lovely, simple, tender, warm…yet not “sleepy” or “boring” by any stretch of the imagination. It’s full of life and color, and the music practically dances into your ears. It’s comforting, but not bland…it’s heartwarming, but not treacly or overly sweet. It’s the perfect balance of heart and invention. Here’s three terrific tracks from their second LP, “Eveningland” (which is my favorite album of theirs so far, though all of them are terrific). Their names are “Pacific Street,” “My Father’s Waltz” (which might make you cry), and “The Fire Thief,” respectively. (Note: I believe the version of “Pacific Street” I found on YouTube is a bit truncated. Sorry if that’s the case.)

(The video for “The Fire Thief” also features a song off their covers/B-sides album “No Word From Tom,” called “Oh No!” So there’s a bonus for y’all there. )

One more song before we part. First, a passionate cut from their most recent full-length album (“Funnel Cloud”) called “Not California” (complete with official music video!), which apparently was partly inspired by lead songwriter Dan Messe’s wife being obsessed with shows like “The OC” and “Laguna Beach.” The song is called “Not California.”

Also, I couldn’t find anything to embed here, but Hem also branched out and provided the music for the summer 2009 Central Park production of “Twelfth Night,” featuring Anne Hathaway and Audra McDonald, among others. It’s lovely and sets the stage beautifully for…well, whatever the play was like. (Sadly, I was not able to see it in any form, but they did release the soundtrack.)

But wait! There’s more! As a special bonus (or punishment? ) to you faithful readers, here’s a little something from yours truly. Enjoy, be sure to subscribe, and many thanks for coming to my blog in the first place. Keep listening!

Artist Spotlight: Brooke Waggoner

In a backwards turn of events today, I’ll take care of all the me rambling stuff at the end. Let’s not pass go, not collect $200, and shine the final Artist Spotlight of the year on…

Brooke Waggoner!

Brooke’s music first came to my attention thanks to one of iTunes’ free Discovery Downloads of the Week a little more than two years ago. It was an utterly lovely song called “Young Friend,” off Brooke’s then-just-released first full-length album, called “Heal For The Honey.” I was particularly floored by the outstanding, somewhat innovative piano lines in the song, and how it was just so darn catchy…but totally full of substance and life. You can hear it for yourself here (courtesy of Brooke’s own SoundCloud page):

That very song is now the most-listened to track on my iTunes, with 57 plays. I often have a habit of listening to new tunes I love a sizable number of times, but then dumping them for a while once I get tired of them, then listening to them occasionally in the future. “Young Friend” is one of the songs that I just keep coming back to…again. And again. And yet again. Every so often, I just feel like listening to it a few times. I’m pretty sure I still haven’t gotten tired of it.

So anyways, I quickly fell in love with Brooke’s music…so much that I eventually bought all of her songs, plus got her debut EP (which was then available for free; sadly, I think that deal isn’t available any longer)…and listened to them tons of times too. In fact, to bring out my nerdy side for a second again, out of the 25 songs I currently have of hers, the play count average is 18 times. Her songs are just intoxicating to me. But why? Before I go into what I (think I) love about her music, here’s another something to enjoy, a heartbreakingly beautiful track from her EP (“Fresh Pair of Eyes”) called “I Am Mine”:

So, why do I love Brooke’s music so darn much, as evidenced by the high play counts? A key element of her music is the piano, which according to Wikipedia (which is not always entirely accurate, but is usually good enough to get by on), probably comes from 17 years of classical training. Her piano lines are always gorgeous and utterly sweeping, and she incorporates them brilliantly into everything she does. In fact, I think her classical training informs her musical style in general for the most part…but in an unique way. Her songs don’t necessarily sound “classical,” per se, but it shines through in her beautiful use of strings & piano. In fact, her songs almost sound like mini-symphonies in a way…but in a very accessible way. Her music is far from “heady” or hard to follow…it hits the ears like a soft, comforting blanket. (But conversely, it’s not lightweight. It’s just the right balance of deep and deliciously listenable.)

Anyways, enough of me typing, eh? The best way for you to discover her music and (hopefully) fall in love with it is to listen. A few more closing tracks of goodness (including a music video! since visuals & music are always a plus, at least in my book). The first one is the closing track from her EP, the second one is the title track of her debut long-play, and the third one is the title track of her most recent album, which came out last year:

Before I go…I promised I’d do a little end-of-the-year housekeeping in this post, since it’ll be the last one of the year (well, actually, I might post a Song of the Day tomorrow or New Year’s Eve, but this will be the last big, bad, shiny post of the year). Many thanks to all of you for making my first few months of this blog (and ironically, the last few months of 2010) very, very great ones. Thanks for all the page visits (even if a lot of them the past few weeks were from people looking for stuff about “The Sing-Off,” and it didn’t appear that they stayed very long ), the comments, the links, recommendations, and everything. Running this blog has been a blast so far, and it’s been the kind of rewarding experience I haven’t had with a blog yet. Special thanks go out to Lucy Schwartz for tweeting my Artist Spotlight link to her followers a month or two ago, and thanks to Julia Barry for graciously arranging an album review/giveaway/interview party. It’s been a great few months, and I can’t wait to show you what I have in store in 2011! Look out for one more Song of the Day before the year is over, and after that, see y’all right here in Harmony Avenue…next year!

Artist Spotlight: Sondre Lerche

It’s been a while since I’ve posted an Artist Spotlight, eh? I hope to correct that this week with one or two more aside from this one. After all, there’s lots of outstanding artists I’d love to share with you. Today, the spotlight shines on a singer/songwriter from Norway you may or may not have heard of, depending on whether you’ve seen two certain Steve Carell comedies recently. His name is…

Sondre Lerche!

So how did I get into Sondre’s music? Well, I’m not quite sure, to tell you the truth. My best theory is that I had seen his name a bit on iTunes or MSN Music or some music website or something a few years ago, and decided to check out his music on an impulse. After all, you don’t see a name like his every day. (In fact, you don’t see a name like his, period. I’m still not entirely sure I’m pronouncing it right. ) So however I discovered his stuff, here’s the excellent title track to his second album, “Two Way Monologue,” that was one of the first songs I heard of his, if I remember right. (I didn’t realize until posting it just now that it’s nearly 6 minutes long. Trust me, it’s worth the time…a great word to describe it would be “tour de force.” It’s a good example of how much of a stylistic chameleon Sondre can be.):

Like I said, Sondre is somewhat of a stylistic chameleon. He goes all over the place, and then some. The cool thing about his ever-changing music, though, is that it never seems disjointed or lost. Sondre delivers it all with flair, confidence, and his own individual spin…qualities that any singer/songwriter worth their salt have. Here’s a music video from his follow-up to “Two Way Monologue,” which was a jazz CD of all things. The album was called “Duper Sessions,” and this song is called “Minor Detail.” It’s very beautiful. (P.S.: Apologies if you hit an ad before watching the video.)

After “Duper Sessions,” Sondre went to the first place all musicians go after cutting a jazz album…rock. OK, so he’s probably one of the few musicians to do that. Here’s the title track for that album, called “Phantom Punch.” It well, packs a pretty mean punch… (Bonus! Another cool music video.)

So if you weren’t paying attention earlier…Sondre has, coincidentally, been part of the soundtrack for 2 Steve Carell films. The first one, “Dan In Real Life,” was scored entirely by Sondre. The songs are all his, and he composed the music for the scenes. The short, sweet waltz he composed for the very beginning of the movie:

The second recent Steve Carell movie he provided music for was “Dinner For Schmucks” (which I didn’t love as much as “Dan In Real Life,” but wasn’t too bad). The (paraphrased) story behind this song, taken from Sondre’s blog…the composer for the film, Theodore Shapiro, wanted to have “Fool On The Hill” by the Beatles accompanying the opening credits scene. However, he didn’t think he’d be able to get the rights, so he contacted Sondre and had him compose an original song to play during the opening credits…but then the Beatles ended up granting permission. So his song was played during the closing credits instead. A pretty good deal, I would say. It’s a beautiful song, a little reminiscent of “Fool On The Hill,” but also very unique.

To close it all off, the terrific opening track from Sondre’s latest album, “Heartbeat Radio.” Sorry I’m just mostly throwing songs at you, but although I could talk about Sondre’s style a bit more (jazz/bossa-nova/even 80s music influenced at most times), or why I love his music, it’s probably best just to have you listen for yourself. This song, called “Good Luck,” is another tone-shifting tour de force (like “Two Way Monologue”), and ends with one of the most intense string outros I have ever heard:

Check out Sondre’s website here. See y’all tonight with a recap of the fourth episode of “The Sing-Off,” and later this week with another Artist Spotlight, and Song Shuffle Game.

Song of the Day: “Harry Patch (In Memory Of)”

Happy Veterans/Remembrance Day, everyone. I’d like to share a haunting, beautiful tune today that fits this occasion rather well…

“Harry Patch (In Memory Of)” by Radiohead.

This song was released last August as a charity single (proceeds all go to the Royal British Legion) in tribute to Harry Patch, the last surviving trench fighter in World War I, who passed away last July. It’s a bit unlike Radiohead’s other music, with just Thom Yorke’s voice and a lush string arrangement by Jonny Greenwood. The lyrics are a slightly altered version of Patch’s own words. I’d like to take the time to post them here:

“i am the only one that got through
the others died where ever they fell
it was an ambush
they came up from all sides
give your leaders each a gun and then let them fight it out themselves
i’ve seen devils coming up from the ground
i’ve seen hell upon this earth
the next will be chemical but they will never learn”

The realities of war are still stark and in our faces almost a century after Harry Patch gave his service in World War I. I applaud Radiohead for taking the time to create this outstanding piece of music to help us all remember the intense suffering, loss, and sacrifice of war…but also, within the music, providing hope someday for peace  and unity. It’s a powerful message, and a powerful song.

Album Review: Scratch My Back

I promised to debut a new feature here today, and here it is…the album review. You can find reviews of music practically anywhere…and I can’t say for sure that mine will be radically different. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t try. First off, I’ll probably end up mostly reviewing albums & songs I love (after all, why would I want to give an album I hate a post of its own?), unless I have something special to say about a disappointing recording of some sort. Second, some new releases  might pop up now and then, but for the most part it’ll be stuff that I’ve come to know and love (or loathe). Third, there will be no star ratings or letter grades. I’ve never been that great at physically rating music (I usually just slap 5 stars on the stuff I put on my iPod), and I’ve noticed that sometimes reviews can be more effective without an “A-” or “3/4 stars” or something. (Example: The BBC’s absolutely outstanding music reviews, the link to which you can find in my blogroll.) And finally, I want to hear your opinion. Do you violently disagree with me? Did you like a sentence I wrote? Do you have another take? Do you have an entire review of the album you’d like to give? I’d love to hear your viewpoints on whatever albums I review, so by all means fill up the comments with your thoughts. And without any further ado, Harmony Avenue’s inaugural album review.

Album Name: Scratch My Back

Album Artist: Peter Gabriel

Released: February-March 2010

There are few things more prevalent in the music world than a cover. Who doesn’t love the chance to take on someone else’s song? There have certainly been covers albums that have been lazy (I won’t name names…), and those that have been incredibly ambitious, and there have been even more of them in between, but even among a great deal of varied company, Peter Gabriel’s “Scratch My Back” stands virtually alone. Rather than taking on treasured jazz standards, classic rock, or classical repertoire, Gabriel has chosen to cover songs largely from the past decade. With a full orchestra (minus drums). It seems crazy, cerebral, indulgent on paper to have the former lead singer of Genesis singing the likes of Arcade Fire, Elbow, and Regina Spektor with a bunch of strings and brass…and when you think about it, it kind of is. But it works. In fact, it does more than work…it breathes. It lives. In short…it’s incredible.

There are two clear elements that elevate “Scratch My Back” to be worthy of this kind of acclaim–the absolutely gorgeous arrangements, and Gabriel’s own emotional, vocal commitment to the songs. John Metcalfe’s orchestrations move and flow with the different songs, and at many instances throughout the album, they’re simply and utterly stunning. “Mirrorball” builds from a soft, subtle dissonance into an astounding, rousing climax. “My Body Is A Cage” lets all hell loose, then calms down into a beautiful fade-out with a heavenly chorus of voices. “Flume” quietly smolders and burns with beautifully restrained energy. And so it goes throughout the disc…the textures, the instrumentation, everything seems to come together to perfectly complement Peter Gabriel’s vocals. It isn’t just background on this album, it’s an equal partner in the musical journey.

As for the vocals…Peter Gabriel can still wail and shout and cry out. His voice is older, but it’s still remarkably expressive, and he finds just the right balance between gravitas and heart. They’re breathtaking, heartbreaking, full of release, and world-weary…usually all in the same song. His emotional commitment lifts “Scratch My Back” from the level of ‘nice idea’ to ‘brilliantly executed labor of love.’ He puts his heart and soul into these songs, and despite the fact that many of them are less than a decade old, his careful, elegant delivery makes them feel like old friends.

Only two songs fall a bit flat here…in a rare misstep, nothing new is really added to “I Think It’s Going To Rain Today” (it’s an absolutely beautiful song, but has been covered more originally and effectively by many other artists), and “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” gets a little bit too bogged down in trying to create its own atmosphere. Otherwise, this is an outstanding record…one that offers new and exciting aural pathways on each listen, one that both uplifts and acts as a sort of catharsis, and above all, is some dang great music. It takes a bit to get used to, and it doesn’t give away everything on the first listen…but over time, the listener will discover that it’s an amazing treasure of music, and arguably one of the most engaging, rich cover albums that’s ever been recorded.

(Want to take a listen to this album for free? You can, here:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/feb/04/peter-gabriel-scratch-back )