Showing posts with label nick drake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nick drake. Show all posts

Saturday, May 26, 2007

The Not-So Midweek Shuffle

Shuffle's back, bitches. Time to open up the iTunes, spin the roulette wheel and see what we're listening to today. Here's hoping it finds my new Kelly Clarkson CD....

1. Radiohead - How to Disappear Completely: For some reason I've come to the realization that I've never posted about Radiohead. That would almost give you the indication that I don't care for them too much. Well, that couldn't be any further from the truth. If I was stranded on a non-Lost-esque island and could only have one bands CDs with me, it would be Radiohead's. This song ranks up there with Paranoid Android as one of my favorite songs of all-time. The string-arrangements are mesmerizing. Its easy to get lost in this song, so in that since, the song has the perfect title. And if you don't know what I mean, put your headphones on, turn the volume up, and just listen to this song. (buy the Kid A CD here).

2. Nick Drake - Which Will: Just did a thing on Nick in my last webcast. This is another song off the Pink Moon album (get it here). Its his plea for a girl to make up her mind. His voice is very soothing, and not nearly as melancholy as Kendall's impressions had led him to believe.

Editor's Note: So as not to tempt the iTunes shuffle god's, full disclosure is expected on my part. I am currently listening to Say Yes by Elliott Smith, but I believe I've already done a little ditty somewhere here on this glorious site, so I'll skip the write-up and we'll continue on. Thank you for your attention.

3. Jack Johnson - The News: This is off his first CD Brushfire Fairytales. (Want it? Yeah, I thought so. Try here.) Honestly not too much to say about this one. I ususally brush past this one. The only line I regularly hear is the one about "Why don't the newscasters cry when they read about people who die? At least they could be decent enough to put just a tear in their eye."

4. Wilco - Kicking Television (live): This is the live version off the 2CD live album (get it here) of the same name. It was recorded from a couple shows in Chicago. I love this freakin album. I had always loved Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but was sort of impartial to A Ghost is Born. This CD opened my eyes up to that album. I began to appreciate that album more. This song is off neither of those albums.....so, whatever.

5. Ben Harper - Please Bleed: Speaking of live albums, this song is off the 2CD Live from Mars. (You should give it a try.) I've always liked Ben Harper. He's got like a bajillion cds though. I'm not sure how many I have. This is my favorite though. Its composed of a heavy first CD, followed by a more acoustic based second cd. If you couldn't guess, this is off the second one. I really like the "Good lovers make great enemies" line. Sounds like something out of a Modest Mouse song. It also sounds like he could use a glass of water in this one, though.

I'm happier with where fate has taken us this fine Saturday morning. Time to do some work and think about drinking some beer. Gotta love some extended weekends. Have great Memorial Weekend everybody.

RR

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Ryan's Webcast 3 - Third time's a charm???

In this fantastic installment of my webcast series, I've decided to take a look at some singer-songwriter's I've been paying attention to recently. But while we're partaking of this musical adventure together, I'd like us to ponder our own personal definition of the phrase "singer-songwriter". I guess, technically, all one has to do is write the music they sing. But if this is the case, then why isn't everyone this side of Eddie Vedder considered a singer-songwriter. As is turns out, in the past, I had typically considered a singer-songwriter to have a particular sound about them (i.e. they wrote, sang, and played their own music on an acoustic guitar). And I don't think I'm the only one that's ever felt like this. However, the technology associated with today's recording industry has rendered this definition essentially useless. Now, if a person was so inclined, they could play a number of instruments for one song and have these recorded over each other to produce the finished product, becoming a virtual one-man band. So, now an artist can played a myriad of instruments over the course of an album, and thus still be considered a singer-songwriter.


Not the kind of one-man band I'm talking about

I'm always fascinated when reading an album booklet and I see a particular artist played all the instruments. So, here is my tribute to the ever-changing definition of singer-songwriter. I hope you enjoy......

Also, a big shout out to whichever of my comrades discovered this wonderful StreamPad. Now, you KGB listeners can listen to the webcasts and single mp3 posts while browsing and reading the articles, without opening a new window. Anyways, onto the webcast:

Ryan KGB Webcast 3 - The Art of the One Man Band

1. Nick Drake - Pink Moon
2. Nick Drake - Place to Be
3. Alexi Murdoch - Wait
4. Alexi Murdoch - Breathe
5. Vandaveer - Marianne, You've Done it Now....
6. Vandaveer - However Many Takes it Takes
7. Andrew Bird - Heretics
8. Andrew Bird - Cataracts
9. Ola Podrida - The New Science
10. Ola Podrida - Day at the Beach
11. Damien Rice - Cannonball
12. Damien Rice - The Blower's Daughter
13. Jack Johnson - Better Together

RR