Archive for December, 2008
My Best of 2008
Posted on | December 30, 2008 | No Comments
Here are my best CDs of 2008, in no particular order:
Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson, Rattlin’ Bones
Hayes Carll, Trouble In Mind
Sugarland, Love On The Inside
TV On The Radio, Dear Science
Lambchop, OH (Ohio)
Calexico, Carried To Dust
Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, Lifeline
The Infamous Stringdusters, The Infamous Stringdusters
John Mellencamp, Life Death Love and Freedom
Justin Townes Earle, The Good Life
Patty Loveless, Sleepless Nights (The Traditional Country Soul of Patty Loveless)
Seal, Soul
Sons & Daughters, This Gift
Alejandro Escovedo, Real Animal
Justin Rutledge, Man Descending
Bob Mould, District Line
Reissues:
Counting Crows, August and Everything After (Deluxe Edition)
Daniel Lanois, Acadie (Goldtop Edition)
Dennis Wilson, Pacific Ocean Blue (Legacy Edition)
Kasey Chambers
Posted on | December 21, 2008 | No Comments
Here are two videos from the great Kasey Chambers, an Australian country singer/songwriter. I think hers is one of the most unique voices in music today – both her actual voice, and her songwriting.
[Sadly, this is another case where the label has removed most of her videos from YouTube, or disabled embedding. Will labels ever get it?]
Leonard Cohen a lucky man this Christmas
Posted on | December 19, 2008 | 1 Comment
Leonard Cohen in 2008 by Rama.
This Christmas, music took a strange turn towards the democratic, at least in the UK. And it did so in a fairly unexpected way: not in iTunes or because consumers voted with their credit cards at retail (music retail sales are down 20% year over year). Music took a democratic turn when fans of Jeff Buckley decided they had to put a stop to Alexandra Burke’s inevitable ascent to the top of the British charts and set about organizing the digital resistance.
Burke is the winner of ITV’s X Factor, a British talent search reality show. Her version of the Leonard Cohen penned song”Hallelujah” looked poised to be in the top spot in the UK singles chart, when a group of dedicated, self-appointed entertainment activists decided to take matters in their own hands and save us all from the inevitable triumph of Simon Cowell produced starlets. (If you’re interested, you can hear Burke’s competent but somewhat soulless and loud version on Youtube.)
The Facebook group “Jeff Buckley for Xmas No 1” currently has more than 124,000 members (and appears to be growing by 5,000-10,000 members a day). The idea is that everyone who joins the group buys a copy of Buckley’s acclaimed (and very beautiful) version of “Hallelujah” online, from UK digital music outlets such as HMV or iTunes UK. The group creators write:
We can make this work, and make a huge statement against the barrage of cynical manufactured pop dirtying up our charts. I am willing to download this version the week the X factor version comes out, and I know others will be too.
It seems that the whole thing has sort of taken on a life of its own: today (on the Friday before Sunday’s chart publication), another group has organized a flash mob in Trafalgar square in support of the Jeff Buckley for UK #1 initiative.
The Guardian, in its thoughtful report on this year’s odd Christmas chart, points out that both Cohen and the record company are the real winners here:
A spokesman for Sony BMG, which counts Cohen, Buckley and Burke among its artists, said the company hoped Burke would take the top spot, but conceded: “Obviously it would be brilliant if Jeff got to No 2.”
Cohen, who reportedly was swindled out of millions by his manager, can certainly use the additional royalty revenue.
I, for one, am rooting for Jeff Buckley. His version, without a doubt, is the definitive Christmas single. Or should be. Vive la résistance!
Sky News has a fun report about the whole affair, available on Youtube here.
Snowmageddon? C’mon!
Posted on | December 19, 2008 | No Comments
The media should really be regulated. Not only have they been painting the economic apocalypse for the last month or two, but today’s snow storm in Toronto has now been dubbed ‘Snowmageddon.’ Great. The predicted total accumulation will be something like 20 or 25 cm…
Today’s Desert Island Disc: Michelle Shocked, Short Sharp Shocked
Posted on | December 18, 2008 | No Comments
A review of Michelle Shocked’s Short Sharp Shocked (1988)
Some of the most memorable music from the 1980s, for me at least, stems from this album (and that’s perhaps because none of it sounds like the 80s at all). Michelle Shocked appeared, pretty much out of nowhere, in the mid-80s after she was “field recorded” at a folk festival on a Sony Walkman (the recording was eventually released as her first album, The Texas Campfire Tapes). Michelle had a beautiful, blues/country voice, big Dr. Martens boots, skinny jeans, a short haircut and all that mystique of having lived on a houseboat in Holland and as a squatter. She was generally both politically to the far left of the spectrum and very musical at the same time, something I remember finding quite irresistible back in the day.
Short Sharp Shocked, her second record, was a polished affair, as country as it was folk or rock. The opener, “When I Grow Up,” has served as my preferred track to test new stereos for years – the rumbling double bass has to be heard to be believed. What makes Michelle Shocked special, though, are her songwriting abilities – and her voice. Pitched slightly deeper than your average country singer from Texas, she had more of the blues (and, perhaps, less of the victim) in her voice. She also sounded much, much wiser and more experienced than her 26 years when Short Sharp Shocked appeared in 1988. The story goes that Michelle Shocked had seen both the inside of a mental institution and traveled the world – both things that come out in the lyrics here.
In a way, Michelle is the fore-runner from “my” generation (who came of age in the 1980s) to prioneer the so-called alt-country movement. Where Dwight Yoakam revolutionized country music by staying firmly in a country idiom, Michelle Shocked re-rooted folk and rock as Americana. Of course, this isn’t surprising: Short Sharp Shocked was produced by Pete Anderson, Yoakam’s long-time guitar cohort and producer. Listen to “(Making The Run To) Gladewater,” where she’s a perfect female ringer for Yoakam’s California honky tonk. Her country timing is impeccable, and listening to her you know that she’s spent countless hours making beer runs on the bumpy backs of pickup trucks across rugged Texas terrain.
Above all, though, Michelle Shocked is about her activism – even her introspection on tracks like the radio single “Anchorage” is essentially commentary on the state of the world. The “Leroy says…” sequence in its lyrics is both an indictment of certain life choices and a passionate feminist statement. “Fogtown,” the hidden track at the end, establishes her punk cred by virtue of having been recorded with punk band MDC. The original “Fogtown” appeared on Texas Campfire and is a lot gentler, but its re-make here shows Michelle as versatile in the way of a troubadour, a bard for whom the message is what’s important, not any false notion of stylistic integrity. (Plus, she always looked more punk than country, anyway.)
Shocked’s long journey out of record label ‘slavery’ is well-documented on Wikipedia and elsewhere. She now owns her complete catalogue and continues to evolve as a musician, regularly releasing the kinds of records she reportedly wanted to make when she was still with a major label – like a gospel CD.
For me, it’s a toss-up whether her magnum opus is Short Sharp Shocked or Arkansas Traveler, which features cameos from such luminaries as Uncle Tupelo, Taj Mahal and Clarence Gatemouth Brown. If Shocked is her early work of countrified political activism, Arkansas showcases a more fully-formed Americana renaissance woman who easily collaborates with the previous generation while simultaneously forging a new genre (it’s key to remember that Arkansas Traveler came out in 1992 – well before alt country became a genre people talked about).
Museum-quality me
Posted on | December 11, 2008 | No Comments
Make your own at PhotoFunia.
Wool socks!
Posted on | December 11, 2008 | No Comments
Wool socks are a remarkable discovery. My dad had grey wool socks when memory starts for me – a holdover from Germany in the 1960s, no doubt. Soon after, everyone started to wear cotton socks: they were supposed to be healthy, and – I think – they were cheap. Manmade materials never really took off in socks (at least for my family). Wool socks weren’t even available anywhere I lived – I assume this was due to certain macroeconomic conditions in the textiles market… I think wool can’t be farmed as easily and cheaply as cotton, nor in the same geographic locations (India, China).
Lately, wool socks have been making a comeback, initially as performance wear for hikers and other sportspeople. But for those of us who got curious, dug deep into our pockets ($20-$25/pair) and bought a pair, they’re a revelation. My feet are warm without being sweaty when it’s 10 or 20 below – and my socks never seem to get as much as damp (something you can’t say about cotton).
Brands I’ve tried include Smartwool and Icebreaker. Both make great striped socks that are easy on the eyes.
Never thought I’d say this… but: I want socks for Christmas!
keep looking »
Recent Posts on Changebowl, Carsten’s other blog- Playing around with Ontario electoral geography August 11, 2010
- HelTweetica for iPad July 20, 2010
- Facebook privacy & digital NIMBY July 19, 2010
- What we can learn from gear porn May 31, 2010
- Are creativity and intellectual property rights inversely proportional? May 27, 2010
- Comparing the tech giants May 2, 2010
- Corporate applications and content on smartphones March 21, 2010
About
Carsten Knoch
Attentive music listener, reader, vegetarian, affordable audio hobbyist, software and services professional, vision enabler, instigator, product manager, marketer, thinker, writer, blogger, tinkerer, Internet dweller since 1992
Teabowl is my blog about music, vegetarian food, books, art and life.
Teabowl's sister blog Changebowl discusses technology, community, design and business.
