is throwing me off on unexpected trajectories lately.  I diligently put it back on track, whatever that is.  How do I even know that my resistance to chaos is sending me in any particular direction? I just take a guess, based on what I want or what I believe I want. Decisions are made, and I have yet to seriously regret any choice I have made - even if the result of the decision was not what I wanted or expected.  I'm being cryptic.  In the past month I have made at least 3 major decisions that will shape my life significantly... or rather NOT shape it.  I am keeping it close to what has now become my status quo.  Is that a good thing?  Only time will tell.  At this point I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing.  But does anyone, ever, really?

In other news, I finally got all the bits I needed to set up my projector and Big Screen.  Last night Aunt Rosie and I watched the Holy Grail and tonight I plan to watch Inland Empire.  Rosie and I also went to Sitka and Spruce, a fancy little bistro I have been hearing good things about from my foody friends.  It is tiny and located in a strip mall between Subway and a Pho place.  The location is either ironically hip or just odd.  They can only fit about 10 people in at a time and every dish is individually and sequentially prepared.  We had the Salmon, Guinea Fowl, and a Scallop.  Twas indeed good.

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 07/06/2008 16:42:30  ♥ written by vu ()

Costanza - Silence Costanza Tour Dates 07/13/08 Eboli (Salerno/Naples), Italy 07/18/08 Arezzo Wave - Livorno, Italy 08/09/08 Carpi/Modena, Italy 08/29/08 Burning Man - Black Rock City, Nevada Discography [2003] Tricky: Vulnernable [2006] zerOKilled [2008] Sonic Diary See Also Portishead http://weheartmus... Portishead, the band that helped pioneer trip-hop, is back with their new studio album, Third, d...

Costanza Francavilla, or simply known as Costanza is an Italian singer, has a full length album out on July 8^th called Sonic Diary. After putting the album in to listen, I instantly think of electronica and trip hop, but with a dreampop quality, as her singing style is often breathy, sexy, and deamlike.

Looking at the very impressive/see-through press material, it looks like her music's been licensed out to a variety of television shows (CSI, L Word) and movies (.45, starring everyone's favorite Milla Jovovich). It doesn't surprise me, as this type of electronica music (think Moby) works well as background music.

However, I think the one thing people might know her from is her collaboration with British electronic artist, Tricky (and, sure, you might know him from another Jovovich film, The Fifth Element).

Apparently, Costanza who was a fan at one of his show gave Tricky's drummer a three-track demo CD and that was passed onto Tricky, who absolutely loved it. So all the songs on his Vulnerable album in 2003 featured Costanza's vocals with two songs co-written by her ("Stay" and "What is Wrong").

Tricky - Dear God

VS

XTC - Dear God

One of the most bizarre and interesting song from their collaboration is their cover of XTC's "Dear God". I wouldn't go so far as to pronounce their version equal or better than the original grand epic song in three and a half minutes, but I will have to admit that it's "different". I think if I didn't know about XTC, I would really love Tricky and Costanza's version. (Side note: their cover of The Cure's "Love Cats" is better).

Now, if you thought "Dear God" was weird, the very original electronica take on Fugazi's "Promises" and Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down" must be heard to be believed. The way she sings "promises are shit", with her Italian accent, it doesn't sound bad or naughty at all.

Other songs I thought were interesting is the opening song, "Just Another Alien". Not so much a song, but a series of questions that she was probably asked when she was applying to live and work in the USA. The Italian song, "I Tuoi Occhi Sono Pieni Di Sale" (featuring Riccardo Sinigallia) was also interesting, it made me want to learn Italian. I did use babelfish and it tells me that the title translate to something like "Your Eyes Are Full Of [knowledge?]", so I'm assuming it's a personal/love song?

The one song that I think everyone will really enjoy is "Silence". This is such a dreamtronica song, full of child-like and innocent singing on a very lush music background. I feel like the song belongs to a soundtrack to a movie.

Fans of electronica lounge music, made famous by such compilations such as OM: Chilled and Lounge Experience series, should really enjoy this. These songs are perfect for either laying around the house or at a small party, really good for any occasion.

It looks like she'll be playing a few dates in Italy with Marco Messina. If you aren't lucky enough to live in Italy, her album Sonic Diary is out this Tuesday. For convience, you can actually get high quality MP3 from Amazon right now.

PS, Usually we just have one or two releases on Tuesday that I need to do coverage on. So I normally check on Sunday and work on the review that very day or, at the latest, on that Tuesday. I thought I was sitting pretty as I've already taken care of two releases already that was meant for July 7^th (Connected) and 8^th (Matt Keating), but we still have these that's being release this week: Wire's Object 47, The Coke Dares' Feelin' Up, Son Ambulance's Someone Else's Deja Vu, Patti Smith/Kevin Shield's The Coral Sea, and Costanza's Sonic Diary. If I have missed anything, please accept my apologies and contact me right away.

Links: costanza.tv myspace.com/costanzafrancavilla

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 07/06/2008 06:23:26  ♥ written by vu ()

Harry Chapin - The Mayor of Candor Lied Harry Chapin Harry Chapin - Dreams Go By Harry Chapin

Get ready for another collection of Americana/Folk music. Where we last left off, I was talking about "The Boss".

With this entry, I thought I'd talk about one of my favorite American folk/protest singer: Harry Chapin. I discovered him in the 7^th grade, while driving in the passenger seat with Mr Schemling to Yosemite National Park.

We were listening to Mister Mister and Harry Chapin. I loved the songs I heard so much that he made cassette tapes of some of his more famous songs like "Taxi" and "Cats in the Cradle".

There were other songs that I loved, of course. The epic "The Mayor of Candor Lied", original appeared on On the Road to Kingdom Come (1976). I have never seen that CD, but I eventually got the song from a 3-disc box set called Story of a Life.

It may have impacted me different when I was younger, but I have always imagined it to make a great movie: two love-torn lovers, a blackmail, and "a deal made in hell". There is a twist in the song, so you must listen to this all the way to the end when you find out why Coleen never returned from holiday.

Martyn Joseph later covered this song on his 1999 album, Far From Silent, which I didn't like it too much. He made a clumsy attempt at changing the lyrics at the end...

Incidentally, I was listening to some of his songs, you know, for old time's sake. In my modest collection of 70 Chapin songs, I have noticed that I often liked his live versions much better than the studio version. They are usually full of interaction and often the lyrics were changed. Check out the opening track "Dreams Goes By" from his Greatest Stories Live, it would've been amazing to see him live.

MATT KEATING mattkeating.com ♥ myspace.com Matt Keating - Louisiana When I first saw that this was a two-disc release (23 tracks) for Quixotic, I must confess, I was a little overwelm. After I gave the first disc a listen, it went down really easy. Many of the songs are standard length (3 or 4 minutes), and they seem to be to be heartland rock. Although his biography would also lists him as "urban, indie rock". However, this quote from producer Gary Maurer really sums it up: The thing that really reaches me about Matt is that he is a true believer in the power of folk and popular music much like Bruce Springsteen or [Bob] Dylan. The music I'm most attracted to has an immediate emotional impact on me. Not that Matt isn't a crafty songwriter -- because he is -- but he writes from a very personal perspective which is very appealing to me. - Gary Maurer Reading on why Quixotic was split into two discs, Keating wanted to bring back the album concept. Think of "Disc 1" as "Side A" and you get the idea. Each side/CD is about fifty minutes of music (the album in its entirety is about an hour) and each side is design to play like a musical journey - with its mix of songs to keep you interested, to the slow and quiet song to end one side and ease you to the flipside. Many of the songs on his Quixotic seems to be about travelling and locations ("St. Cloud", "Louisiana", "Runaway Clown", "Now We're Home", "Road to Ruin", "Romeoville", "Valhalla Waltz", etc), you get the impression that Keating's been around. I believe he's refering to St Cloud, Minnesota, you can grab the free MP3 song from his website. I thought "Louisiana" was the best song on Side A, I especially love hearing this rocking music with its heartbreaking lyrics and its catchy chorus: "here in looooo-wee-zee-anna". Maybe it's just me, but it seems like Side B is about relationship ("Do You Want (To Not Be Lonely with Me)", "Before My Wife Gets Home", "Love Ain't"). Great songs, check out "As Much as You Can Bear" and "Love Ain't", these two songs really stood out for me. Before you know, the short violin/piano piece of "Valhalla Waltz" indicates the journey is about to end and the slow-paced, acoustic "Book of Changes" closes the album. Quixotic will be officially released July 7th, you can buy it directly from indiekazoo.com or the usual places (amazon, iTunes). It looks like he'll be doing a tour to support the album, so see him if you can: 07/10/08 The Living Room New York 07/12/08 Coffee East Easton, Maryland 07/13/08 The Tin Angel Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 07/14/08 The Galaxy Hut Arlington, Virginia 07/17/08 The Pour House Raleigh, North Carolina 07/19/08 The Bluebird Cafe Nashville, Tennessee 07/25/08 Horseshoe Chicago 07/26/08 Magdlaenas Tea House East Lansing, Michigan 08/12/08 The Cinema Bar Los Angeles, California 08/21/08 Comet Tavern Seattle, Washington 09/05/08 Village Tavern Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin 09/13/08 Common Grounds Lexington, Kentucky 09/14/08 The Milestone Charlotte, North Carolina 09/15/08 The Cave Chapel Hill, North Carolina 09/19/08 Housing Works New York 09/24/08 Frequency Madison, Wisconsin 09/28/08 Club Cafe Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

ABIGAIL WASHBURN abigailwashburn.com ♥ myspace.com Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet - Sugar & Pie Abigail Washburn wants you to know that she's a "banjo pickin' girl" on "Banjo Pickin' Girl", what sounds like a different take on a traditional song. There's plenty of banjo picking on this album, but this time she has an orchestra, The Sparrow Quartet (Bela Fleck, Ben Sollee, Casey Driessen), to back her up. To be honest, I first heard of her writing about her celloist, Ben Sollee, but looking at her discography, she was already well-established as a bluegrass/folk banjo musician. I've been bicycling to work and I put on her latest album, Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet (just released in May) to listen to, and this Chinese song came up that made me stop on the trail. I had to open up my iPod to look at the song title: "Sugar & Pie". At first I was confused, then I thought maybe it's gaelic or something, it possibly couldn't be Chinese? I later found out that she actually began her music career playing throughout China, doing a ten plus dates with a group of friends. She recalls: The audience was mostly Chinese at the Universities and mainly ex-pats at the bars. We played American folk songs, and original material in both Chinese and English, and it seemed to go over well. At this point, I’m caught between two cultures, but I like being a bridge. I want to keep going to China and living a creative existence. I want to learn more about Chinese folk traditions, so I can integrate them into my music and continue to be a part of the development of a more universal language. In addition to "Sugar & Pie", I was pleasantly surprise that she has other Chinese songs on the album, "Taiyang Chulai" and "Journey Home". If you're wondering, she does sing in English, be sure to check out "It Ain't Easy", "Strange Things", and "Kangding Qingge/Old-Timey Dance Party" (it looks like the song is based on a traditional Chinese song, but the lyrics are old-fashion English). It looks like she is doing a ton of dates, be sure to check out her live to see the marriage of Traditional American music and Chinese folk songs. If she's also playing with The Sparrow Quartet, you should keep an eye out for Ben Sollee, his music have had very positive reponses from W♥M readers. 07/10/08 Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua Bayfield 07/11/08 Winnipeg Folk Festival Winnipeg, Manitoba 07/13/08 Vancouver Island Musicfest Vancouver, British Columbia 07/14/08 Benaroya Hall Seattle, Washington 07/15/08 Aladdin Theatre Portland, Oregon 07/17/08 Boarding House Park Lowell, Massachusetts 07/18/08 Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival with the Sparrow Quartet Ancramdale, New York 07/19/08 Vancouver Folk Festival Vancouver, British Columbia 07/20/08 Vancouver Folk Festival Vancouver, British Columbia 07/26/08 RockyGrass Festival with the Sparrow Quartet Lyons, Colorado 07/27/08 Calgary Folk Music Festival with the Sparrow Quartet Calgary, Alberta 07/28/08 The Myrna Loy Center Helena, Montana 07/29/08 Wilma Theatre Missoula, Montana 07/30/08 Sacajawea Center Salmon, Idaho 08/01/08 Kaslo Bay Park Music Festival Kaslo, British Columbia 08/03/08 Dunegrass and Blues Festival Empire, Michigan 08/08/08 Grand Targhee Bluegrass Fest w/Sparrow Quartet Alta, Wyoming 08/09/08 Edmonton Folk Music Festival with the Sparrow Quartet Edmonton, Alberta 08/10/08 Regina Folk Festival with the Sparrow Quartet Regina, Saskatchewan 08/23/08 San Francisco Music and Arts Festival San Francisco, California 08/29/08 Moe Down Turin, New York 08/31/08 Hookaville Thornville, Ohio 09/11/08 Memorial Hall Chapel Hill, North Carolina 09/13/08 Dominican University PAC River Forest, Illinois 09/14/08 Turner Hall Milwaukee, Wisconsin 09/15/08 Guthrie Theater Proscenium Minneapolis, Minnesota 09/16/08 Barrymore Theatre Madison, Wisconsin 09/17/08 The Music Mill Indianapolis, Indiana 09/19/08 The Ark Ann Arbor, Michigan 09/20/08 Parrish Auditorium Hamilton, Ohio 09/27/08 Dosey Doe The Woodlands, Texas 09/28/08 Austin City Limits Music Festival Austin, Texas 10/01/08 Fisher Center w/Sparrow Quartet Woodstock, New York 10/02/08 Town Crier Cafe Pawling, New York 10/03/08 First Parish Church Cambridge, Massachusetts 10/04/08 Flynn Theatre Burlington, Vermont 10/05/08 The Community Theater Morristown, New Jersey 10/10/08 Portland Art Museum Portland, Oregon 10/17/08 Ferst Center for the Arts Atlanta, Georgia 10/19/08 Lake Eden Arts Festival Black Mountain, North Carolina

STEVEN ALVARADO stevenalvarado.com ♥ myspace.com Steven Alvarado - Get This Far One look at Steven Alvarado's cover artwork for Let It Go, an album that was released in April 2008 from Mott Street Records, I thought it was a tribute to Bob Dylan's The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, but completely opposite: without a girl, presumably sadder, a little more modern, and his back to you. One listen to the album, it definitely feels like good-time American folk rock. I love the interaction of electric blues guitar fighting against the acoustic guitar on the brilliant opening track, "Get This Far". Even the lyrics seems to be duking it out and full of contradictions: "I'm outta gas, I got no car, I never thought I'd get this far" Many of these songs are short, but catchy, pop-rock-oriented songs, perfect for the radio. The few exception does stick out, for instance "Nobody Knows", a slow burning depressing song. What Alvarado does best here is give such a descriptive setting: It's Saturday night, and I'm drinking and thinking about you. It's cold and it's raining, I'll stop complaining soon. I cannot help myself, my heart is aching again. Somebody throw him a lifeline, it sounds to me as if he's committing suicide here! Fortunately, there's more happier songs makes up for that depressing one. Check out "New York", a song dedicated to Alvarado's friend and poet Aaron Smith. The song lyrics also lends itself to the title, "Let it Go". Let It Go is out now, you can pick it up directly from CD Baby. He's planning on doing a European tour in and around September 2008, I'll be sure to mention it if I hear anything.

JJ APPLETON jjappleton.com ♥ myspace.com JJ Appleton - Today Today Today I'll tell you right off the bat: I love green packaging. JJ Appleton's Black & White Matinee comes in a recycled cardboard, down to the soy ink that was used to print the cover. This short six-track EP was recorded in Finsbury Park, London last year, 2007. Now, I'm under the impression that Finsbury Park is festival (live music), but listening to all the songs, the sound quality is too good to be live. Maybe he's just that good? I especially enjoyed the pianos on "Coming Back Alone". The lyrics on "You're Sweet On Him" does get a little repetitive... yeah we get it, "you're sweet on him." I think the song that you guys will really enjoy is "Today Today Today", it's very easy to get into and it reminds me of The Beatles. Kudos to the songwriters: JJ Appleton & Stephen Lironi You can catch those two, as well as Ged Lynch on a few selected dates for the month of July: 07/07/08 Live @ FYI, New York 07/10/08 Puck Doylestown, Pennsylvania 07/30/08 McCarren Park Summerstarz Event - Greenpoint/Williamsburg New York I believe you can download all the songs on his website, but I recommend the Earth-friendly packaging for Black & White Matinee. So pick up a physical copy from your favorite CD Baby and, of course, if you wanted higher quality downloads, there's always iTunes.

These articles takes me very long to produce because they are essentially five articles in one, so expect a final Americana article one this week.

Links: www.weheartmusic.com

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So those of you who have erin*carly in your neighborhoods probably saw her post yesterday about possibly making her new WordPress blog her main blog.

That post is finally the catalyst that motivated me to do what I've been wanting to do for a while -- namely, move to a different blogging format.

It's not that I don't like Vox. Of course I like Vox. It's just that in addition to some irritating technical issues I've been having with what seems to be only Vox, I have felt rather pigeon-holed. Basically I've done it to myself by setting out to have just one type of blog when I probably should've just structured it a bit more freely in the beginning.

Plus, with WordPress, anyone can comment, and you don't have to have a WP account (or sign up for one) in order to do so.

So yeah. If you are so inclined, feel free to check out the new blog: as told by jen. It's still a work in progress, obviously, but I have gotten about 60 posts moved over so far and hope to finish in the next couple of days. I really like the categorization options -- that really appeals to my OCD, I tell you what, and it really makes finding a certain post or type of post a lot easier -- and I also like the fact that I can set up as many different pages as I'd like to.

I resurrected my Flickr and Facebook accounts because I decided I needed some personal blogrolling-type stuff, so again, if you're so inclined, click on the links and add me.

(Oh. And as far as Vox goes, I'm going to keep my user name/profile so I can still keep up with all of you, and nothing changes where my other Vox blog is concerned. I will still be maintaining/updating that as usual.)

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Scarabeo_back

I got my bike today and it's beautiful!  The color of my bike is EXACTLY the same as our car.

I'm having to guess a  bit at speed, as it reads in Kilometers  (with a tiny inside ring reading mph). And the seat is not what I expected. The photos all showed a tan seat, so I ordered a tan jacket. The dealer and I were both surprised to see that the bike has a  brown seat. Odd for a red bike. Odd for ANY bike. Black would have made more sense. Oh well - They are ordering me a tan seat so it will look as expected eventually. And when my butt's on the seat I don't see it!

I got the bike with 2 miles on it. I rode it home 24 miles. Ben and I rode into the hills tonight and I am now at 61 miles. I LOVE this bike. I feel so relaxed on it. Its perfect for me. And finally I feel happy to ride fast! Once I get 100 miles on my tires, I'm trying it on the freeway!

It's also WONDERFUL that Ben and I both have new bikes from same dealer. Both our bikes have approx 60 miles on them. We will be taking them in together for service. The dealer and all the folks working at this shop are wonderful. Aprilia for the win!

Scarabeo

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 07/05/2008 19:24:36  ♥ written by derek ( / www.pegritz.com)

The Forms - Knowledge in Hand

The Forms

Seriously, is everyone in New York City in a band? The sheer number of musical acts to come that one city is staggering. However, given the filthy, overcrowded, damnear horrific condition of the Rotten Apple, it only makes sense that so many would turn to music to liberate them from the putrid reality of their surroundings.

The Forms' music is a perfect example of that escape-from-reality sound. The Brooklyn-based quartet of Alex Tween, Matt Walsh, and Brendan and Jackson Kenny have garnered a great deal of positive press for their debut album Icarus and self-titled follow-up--both produced by the legendary Steve Albini himself. For a band that's been together since 2000, their output has been scarce, but always high-quality. In many ways, The Forms sound rather like a cross between Coldplay and prog-rock, producing melodic indie rock in all manner of odd, nonstandard time signatures--which may be somewhat offputting to some listeners, but stick with them: the sound will grow on you. Even if the time-signatures are rather alien to pop music, the melodies are strong and easy to follow.

Unlike many The Forms focus first and foremost on songwriting, not on musical virtuosity, and this is apparent througout their self-tilted second album. "Knowledge in Hand" opens the album with a defining statement of the band's somewhat psychedelic, largely distortion-free sound, with a groovy layering of piano and guitars to back up a powerful lead vocal. "Bones" and "Blue Whale" are both stirling examples of shimmery pop-rock that recalls the glory days of 4AD while featuring a distinctly modern sound (mainly created by Albini's clean and no-nonsense production, which hasn't changed much since the 1980s, though it now clearly partakes of modern studio technology). At 3:50 long, "Blue Whale" is the longest song on the record, with most of the other tracks measuring only three minutes in length. This musical economy actually serves the band's melody-driven quality well, as there is no sonic "filler"--like extended guitar solos or bridges--in any of their songs.

However, this brevity also works against the music, in some cases. Many songs do not end, but simply fade out after the three-minute-mark as if the band just doesn't know how to bring them to a conclusion, so they just keep playing while Albini pulls the master mix fader down to zero. I wonder just how well this stuff translates live: if you can't figure out how to end a song, what do you do after the final verse is sung--just quit playing? And though none of the developed tracks themselves have any musical filler, there are two tracks, "Borges" and "Blue Whale (outro)" that, at less than a minute long each (the latter is only seventeen seconds long), seem to serve no purpose whatsoever on the record. They're not even sketches of songs. Quite frankly, I think they're simply studio outtakes the band decided to throw on the album just for the hell of it.

Nonetheless, The Forms is a very good listening experience whose etherial chords and atmospheric vocals will certainly open up a gateway in your mind to a prettier place. If your reality is bleak and crummy as any Brooklyn street, The Forms will gladly take you along to a much better realm.

Sadly, they have no live dates listed.

Links: theforms.org myspace.com/forms

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The Circle

http://abject.vox.com/library/photo/6...

Ben said "draw a circle!"

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The Star

http://abject.vox.com/library/photo/6...

Ben said "draw a star!"

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How are you celebrating the 4th of July?

hmmmm... we are in the midst of that. Ben made a video of his new bike and put it on youtube. We cleaned the car. We made yummy drinks with ice, limeade and RUM. mmm I am still feeling it. We are cooking brats and made a batch of gazpacho. Dinner was yummy. We played with sparklers - more later once it's dark. Home....

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