(ALBUM REVIEW!) Some Nights :: FUN.

Long time no post!

Over the last 2 weeks, I have been listening to FUN's album Some Nights. If you haven't, I recommend you get on Spotify or Youtube and check them out!

The song that is most popular on the radio (I shit you not, I literally heard it 6 times in a 3 hour time span on 2 different radio stations, during my indoor softball games, and from random people passing by humming the tune) is their single We Are Young featuring Janelle Monáe.

However, I highly recommend taking 50 minutes out of your day and listening to the whole album from start to finish.

Many artists have a style that they stick to...a sound that is uniquely theirs and hard to break away from. This isn't that big of a deal because if you like their sound, you stick with them.

But what sets FUN. apart from other bands is the fact that their sound is still uniquely theirs and each song is so uniquely different. This is not something that many artists can do. It's hard. It's complicated. But it is also super freaking amazing. It's almost as if Queen's Freddie Mercury has been reincarnated and reinvented.

Anyway, enough reading. Get to listening!

London Town - Simon Lynge

I'm very proud to share a zip code with this guy. Simon Lynge lives in Port Townsend, WA with his wife and son, and he's a world touring musician who (among other things) toured with Emmylou Harris last year. He's originally from Greenland and went to school for music in Europe - got huge as a singer-songwriter somewhere in there and moved to PT after falling in love with the Pacific Northwest.

I've wondered for a while about spreading original music effectively in the modern world while at the same time cultivating a sane-making, soul nourishing home and community life. Simon Lynge has been a great example to me of how much of that is possible. Both he and his wife are working artists and between Simon having an LA-based agent, holding delicious intimate concerts at the beautiful backwoods homes of supportive fans around the Quimper Peninsula, and frequenting the Uptown Pub open mikes to keep his chops up, he seems to make it work. He's an incredibly grounded guy and really gracious and sweet to talk to and play with.

Besides his example as a working musician, he's also a BOSS songwriter with refreshingly solid mastery of his voice and guitar. That and he's gonna come up with the next "Imagine" one of these days for how simple and true his songs can be.
Like this one!

I love listening to him. I love seeing him and his lady and his son around town. I hope to play with him more. And I hope he keeps writing!

For more info check out his website: http://www.simonlyngemusic.com/

Rolling in the Deep :: Adele

I love this song. I cannot adequately express how much I love Adele's music in general. I was hooked on her first album, 19, when it came out a few years back and I am just as impressed by her most recent album, 21.

Adele's voice is just incredible. I know some people have compared her to Amy Winehouse and found her lacking, but I don't think this is the case at all.

I should get back to work so I'll keep this brief. Check it out, Rolling in the Deep.

Red Cave :: Yeasayer

So apparently there's this band Yeasayer and I thought I wasn't super into their music so I didn't really pay much attention to their stuff.

Then I go to an LVC event and one of the houses sings an acapella version of Red Cave and I am hooked. The song is in my head for days, and I can't figure out where the song came from. Is it an old folk tune? Is it from some communist song book? Then I finally hit on the right combination of search words and find out that it's by Yeasayer off their old album "All Hour Cymbals," how embarrassing for me!

Regardless, it's an excellent song. The song is structured in a round, and there's something almost primal about It reminds me of singing with your head thrown back at the top of your lungs under a starry night sky on a crisp fall night around a fire with your nearest and dearest. For you listening pleasure I've included links to both a live version of the song and the actual recording. I was tempted to provide you with multiple versions of the song live, but then I remembered that I am not the only one who can use youtube, and you might not be as hooked on the song as I am.





Lyrics

I went out past the willow and the well
caught my breath upon the hill
at the edge of the domain

and I went down
and further down
and when I got up,
I'm at the red cave

and with that sound
as if I had been put under a spell
she led me to her whirlpool
warm despite a winter's day

Mary's house in the hollow of the
white hazel rapid whirlpool
and the church of the red cave

I'm so blessed to
have spent that time
with my family and the friends
I love with my short life i have met
so many people I deeply care for

I'm so blessed to
have spent that time
with my family and the friends
I love with my short life I have met
so many people I deeply care for

The Ooks of Hazard :: Kids (MGMT Cover)

I really enjoy this group! One of my students sent me a link to see the video, and then it was passed on again to me by a fellow staff member. There's something pretty magical about a bunch of older folks covering MGMT's popular hit, "Kids" ON UKULELES!

Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy this song and hopefully this group will put out some more fabulous covers and originals :) Until then, I'll keep listening to this one.

Bitches Ain't Shit :: Dr. Dre (Adapted by Bacchantae)

It's not often that I can listen to rap music that is highly misogynist and get a laugh out of it, but the women over at Columbia University that form the A Capella group Bacchantae have gotten quite the chuckle out of me this morning.

I happened upon this post over at Sociological Images this morning and felt it appropriate to return to the blogosphere with this share.

This group managed to take a song so violent towards women and put a mirror up in the face of misogyny. They make a mockery of the objectification of women and perhaps the more people who listen to this genre of music can find a way to listen to something that doesn't support being a jerk - to put it nicely...

I hope they get just as many views on YouTube as Lady Gaga got for "Bad Romance"!

Enjoy :)

Shape Up :: Total Babe

Shape Up by Total Babe

Well hey there world. We've all been sadly remiss in our blogging. I figure life happens, people get busy, blogging drops by the wayside. However, the time is ripe for our grand return to the blogosphere. Who knows, maybe we'll even venture out into the twitterverse.

Today I bring you the tune "Shape Up" by local Minneapolis band Total Babe. These folks played at the Twin Cities Avengers Glamboree fundraiser back in the early spring and totally stole the show. Since then, they've been busy getting rave reviews in all sorts of places, from the City Pages to Bust magazine. If you happen to be in the Twin Cities, they'll be playing at First Ave with Jeremy Messersmith and Chastity Brown coming up on September 18th at 6pm.

"Shape Up" has an amazingly catchy hook, but as a deficient whistler I'm impressed by anyone that can whistle a tune. Listen for the perfectly complimentary violin arrangement, a common thread through all of Total Babe's music. For more metaphorically minded musical descriptions, scroll on down through the Total Babe myspace page and read all those rave reviews.