-
utopia
For the past few years, Utopia (2019) by the Danish instrumental duo Bremer/McCoy has been my go-to album when I’m spending some alone time and I don’t know what I’m feeling. It’s calm, positive music, with slow, sparkling keyboard melodies dancing around bouncy acoustic bass lines. It’s not going to be a downer, and equally…
-
…by the sharp lapel of your checkered coat
Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat! This delightful tweet from Linda Holmes sent me down the rabbit hole this afternoon exploring “Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat” and learning a little more about its composer, Frank Loesser. “Sit Down” is a showstopper from the musical Guys & Dolls: the gambler Nicely-Nicely bullshits a temperance congregation…
-
sharon van etten
Last night I went to see Sharon Van Etten at the Crystal. Seeing music there is a little dicey because the proportions of the room make me uncomfortable, and as much as I want to enjoy myself, a full 1/3 of my brain is tied up tamping down my claustrophobia. I went with somebody with…
-
Goldberg Variations
The Open Goldberg Variations project is complete. You can download the recording in various formats free from this website. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c8Bn0T4RFo] Kimiko Ishizaka performing the first variation of the Goldberg Variations. This project was funded via Kickstarter, and I really like the way that it seems to be opening the door to other projects like this; democratically…
-
easter song
[youtube=www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3kc1jDahU4] happy easter, for those of you who believe as such. a note about the origin of the holiday name from Jim Burroway of Box Turtle Bulletin, you may find it as interesting as I did. Above, the christian songwriter Keith Green performs “Easter Song.” Below, “El Cordero Pascual” (The Passover Lamb) from Oswaldo Golijov’s cantata La…
-
highway rider
Changed my little album dealio on the left there after way too many months to Brad Mehldau’s 2010 album Highway Rider. Highway Rider is an album that has really grown on me. I liked it immediately—I really like Mehldau’s easygoing harmonic language and percussive style, and the album was produced my one of my favorite…
-
i think its going to rain today
I’ve been listening obsessively for the last 24 hours to Nina Simone & Piano! prompting some scattered thoughts: Nina Simone is my kind of diva. It’s obligatory for gays to pick one, and I think it becomes a kind of generational identifier: the generation of Judy Garland, the generation of Madonna, the new generation of Gaga.…
-
The Weeknd – Echoes of Silence
Hopping on the bandwagon here, but I have a few thoughts on the last Weeknd EP of 2011, Echoes of Silence. One of the real highlights of my 2011 was listening to the first Weeknd EP, House of Balloons. There’s an amazing feeling, one that music lovers chase all the time, of hearing something new,…
