Langley Schools Music Project- Innocence and Despair (1976, 2001)

http://www.mediafire.com/?3qecz24bk6p63ya

Imagine a gymnasium full of elementary school kids singing and playing songs by The Eagles, Beach Boys, David Bowie, the Carpenters, Paul McCartney, Neil Diamond, etc in the 1970s. It'd be off-key and peppy. But you might not guess at the level of pathos that they'd also strike, by singing words and melodies written by adults who think they have experienced heartache.

That's what this album is: an inexperienced music teacher who taught his elementary school classes a bunch of contemporary pop songs and recorded them in a giant gymnasium. There has been much mythologizing around this double-LP-turned-cd compilation, but I can honestly say that there's a good reason for it. The Langley Schools Music Project still hovers in my top five albums of all time. One of the saltiest men i have ever known told me that when he listened to this version of "Desparado," it was so devastating that all he could do was lay on the floor. That's how the album is.

The best review I have read of this record comes from Frieze Magazine:

http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/the_kids_are_alright/

New Pornographers- Together (2010)

http://www.mediafire.com/?m9a8x1uz1cif5av

Wouldn't it be annoying to be part of a "supergroup" that was a bunch of bands that most people didn't know of? And to always have to explain to people why your band was so super and who you were?

Anyway... in a nutshell: New Pornographers make very, very good power pop/rock music with rock instruments. Nothing fancy. But they consist of (now) seven incredible musicians, including 2 songwriters/ guitarists, bass, drums, and four lead vocalists. That might sound overwhelming to have four singers, but they make you wish that every band did the same thing.

This disc won't surprise you or make you cry at midnight with a belly full of gin. What it makes you want to do is dance or drive really fast along Columbia Parkway with the windows down. Great, great, great summer record. Also, one of the coolest videos I have ever seen that is both badass and ridiculous. I'm not kidding. Please watch this.

All New Pornographers records are good, but this their latest and my favorite. I'm also posting it because my three year-old son has rediscovered it and wants to hear it every day.

Thao and Mirah (2011)

http://www.mediafire.com/?t3beltd62y1onp3

Estrogen overload? or TALENT MADNESS!!!

I was greatly looking forward to Thao & Mirah, a collaboration of two totally talented, quirky, innovative, experimental, and versatile singer/ songwriters who defy that categorization. Gone are the days--at least I hope so--of the Sarah McLaughlan/Sheryl Crow Lillith Fair aesthetic. *shudder* Welcome to the new generation of women who make great music. In fact, how about this slogan-- GIRLS DON'T JUST MAKE MUSIC FOR GIRLS ANYMORE.TM .

The album is pretty all over the place. Ended up being a bit dancier than I would have expected, which maybe came from their ridiculously wild producer Tuneyards. I'm not sure yet if it's an instant classic, but I'll say it's one of the coolest records I've heard in the last month or two. 
Besides the range of styles, my absolute favorite part is how Thao and Mirah trade off the lead in the middle of the song. I love LOVE LOVE groups that do this. It's not exactly a new trick (See the Beach Boys, circa 1960) but it's so effective when it's employed well. Also love how the songs really defy any easy categorization. Not only is it hard to tell what genre each song is, but it's hard to tell who is writing which song. Not a lot of ego involved.

My one critique: The only Tuneyards-written piece, Eleven, appears first and it KILLS. The rest of the cd doesn't quite reach that level of sheer adrenaline.

Listening to this album makes me feel that young indie women are finding a great niche in music--some kind of a dance/indie/quirky/songwriter space that was blazed by weirdo alt-divas like Bjork Sinead O'Connor decades ago. When I was younger, women were always either the singers, the keyboard players, or the bassists. And they were either sexy and quiet or sexy and brash. It's so nice now to see more women stepping forward who are much more complex, diverse, and physically "honest." It makes me so elated to watch someone perform with weird makeup and flowers in their hair, or cowboy boots. Why the hell not!

I wonder if this last generation's work didn't directly allow this new wave of subtle and interesting female artists, whose music i generally prefer to their male counterparts (Andrew Bird, Bon Iver). ? I also wonder if the ladies don't feel a little more freedom to be as bizarre, eccentric, and wild as they want to be?

Shut the f*ck up, men! I'm awesome!

Shields Down- Powdered Sugar Avalanche

http://www.mediafire.com/?5uc3gdwbpym5hwh

Powdered Sugar Avalanche combines the Everything But the Kitchen Sink Brian Eno brand of pop music with the whirled sonics of My Bloody Valentine and the instrumentation of Magnetic Fields. It's ultimately a group of pop songs, but sounds a bit like Alan Lomax engineered a group of pop musicians that Brian Eno arranged and Kevin Shields produced. It's all over the place, in a nice way, i think.

The 'band' consists of brothers Ben and Leif Fairfield, who both make their own cds, and Lisa Chuang. Ben Fairfield tends to make poppy songs in the vein of Jack Johnson or Elliot Smith while Leif prefers the overall sound and feeling of songs, more akin to Brian Eno or Andrew Bird.

The songs here are shrouded in imagery and feel a bit like reading a book on a remote ocean shoreline. It has a song in Thai, a Chinese boys choir, and lyrics about Japanese history. It's familiar-enough as a pop cd, but even at its most intimate, it still feels pretty far off and abstract.

"Any Kind of Day" feels a bit like Sarah McLachlan-meets-Cush and "SwanDive" nearly sounds like Jeremy Enigk with a looser backing band. I have always appreciated bands that rotate lead singers, and i especially like the three part harmonies.



* If you ever get a chance to pick up a physical copy, it's printed letterpress! Woo ha!