I’ve been listening a lot to the new record by Kathleen Edwards called Back to Me, and it’s really good. I was sort of vaguely aware of her from her previous record Failer, but hadn’t really paid close attention. When Back to Me came out I started hearing her frequently on the excellent WFUV, the Fordham University-based radio station that I often stream at work, and that led me to her website, and that led me to a listening party at CMT.com where you could stream the entire album, which is like, the best idea ever. Because how many times have you been burned after hearing one or two songs by an artist on the radio that you dig, and then you buy the record and those are the only good songs and the rest of it bites? For me the answer would be “many”.
I’m pleased to say that that is not the case with Kathleen Edwards. I listened to Back to Me every day last week while the listening party was going on, and then when it ended I had to buy the CD so I could keep listening. I’m not quite sure why she’s considered alt-country, though. Actually I’m not quite sure what the term “alt-country” is even supposed to mean, but no one else seems to be either. I can sort of see it with Neko Case, Kathleen’s fellow alt-country darling (it’s the media’s phrase, not mine), whom I talked about a while ago, because her vocal style and musical arrangements clearly draw on classic country. But Kathleen seems more rooted in rock and folk, though there are country elements as well, like the lovely slide and pedal steel guitar work that dominates the album’s instrumentation. Regardless, this is a record full of great songs, from the snarlingly cynical “In State” to the swaggeringly sexy title tune to the moody, slightly disquieting “Copied Keys” (my fave), and Kathleen has a languorous quality to her vocals that I really like; it actually reminds me not a little of Beth Orton, though she lacks some of the richness of Orton’s resonant contralto.
I’m going to see Kathleen play in Santa Fe on June 15th, and for those of you in the Bay Area and the Pacific Northwest, she’ll be swinging through your area before that, if you’re interested.
Also on the chick singer-songwriter tip, I’m almost annoyed at how much I like the song “Breathe (2 AM)” by Anna Nalick, but I totally do. I’m annoyed because the vibe I get from Anna (and admittedly I could be wrong; I know almost nothing about her except that she’s very young) is that she belongs to that class of marginally talented yet inexplicably successful women like Michelle Branch, Vanessa Carlton, et al., who write pedestrian songs with naïve and painfully earnest lyrics that appear to have come straight from the pages of their high school journals. (The degree to which I despise that sort of writing corresponds directly to my level of embarrassment over my own naïve and painfully earnest high school-era writings.) I mean, there’s even a point in “Breathe” where Anna tells us that “these words are [her] diary screaming out loud,” yet as cringeworthy as that moment is, the song as a whole is deeply affecting and never fails to move me when I hear it. I don’t think I’ll be buying the CD, though.
I did buy Alana Davis’s debut CD in 1998, on the strength of her cover of Ani DiFranco’s “32 Flavors”, which showcased her smoky, soulful voice. (She was quite young, too--only 16, I believe. If she’d been prettier, she could’ve been Joss Stone. [Please be assured of the cynicism behind that comment.]) Unfortunately the rest of the album didn’t hold up. She seems to do well with covers, though, because I just heard her doing an acoustic guitar-driven take on “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” that’s really good, and it reminded me of what a great song that is. You’ve gotta love a song that can be played a skillion times on classic rock radio, and made fun of on Saturday Night Live (the cowbell sketch was hilarious), but still grab you when you hear it sung with conviction. Oh, I also just heard the Decemberists and Petra Haden covering Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights”. Also a great song.
May 12, 2005
May 6, 2005
May the Force be with me
There’s a lot of hype about the new Star Wars movie. Despite that, I actually feel like I want to see it.
It’s strange, because I didn’t see either of the last two movies, mostly because of my complete lack of desire to do so. I was definitely a fan of the original trilogy, though, at least when I was younger. I was 12 when the first film came out, and I remember the lines wrapped around the theater and down the block, which was something I’d never seen before. Or since, at least to that extent. I went to see it 3 times, which was the only time I’d ever seen a movie more than once on the big screen (that record, such as it was, was eclipsed the following year by Grease, which I saw 4 times). I had a poster on my wall, a t-shirt that I wore with pride, and a bit of a crush on Princess Leia. Also, I wanted Chewbacca to be my best friend. Sure, that’s all pretty mild compared to some kids that I knew, and certainly compared to the fan culture that’s since emerged, but I’ve never been much for watching things 5000 times, or collecting lots of stuff, or (heaven help me) role-playing. I loved the movie, is all I’m saying.
I also loved The Empire Strikes Back, and I agree with the critical consensus that it’s the best one. (And the crowd's reaction to "I am your father!" was the strongest I've ever heard in a theater.) By the time of Return of the Jedi my ardor was waning, and as with many others, the cloying cuteness of the Ewoks and hokeyness of the ending put the final nail in the coffin for me.
When the original was re-released in theaters in 1997, I went to see it (I hadn’t seen it since 20 years earlier) and I was baffled by the fact that I actually found it sort of boring. Had I changed that much in 20 years? Had I simply gained insight, or had I lost the capacity--seemingly infinite in childhood--to become immersed in a fantasy world? A bit of both, I think, but sadly more the latter.
So now I’m equally baffled by my desire to see Revenge of the Sith, especially since I missed the first two parts of the story, which I still do not plan to watch. I think it’s partly because I was there at the beginning, and now I want to be there at the end. There’s always something satisfying in completion. There’s also the sense--because Star Wars has become so embedded in our culture and its characters so iconic--of participating in some great social ritual. (There was a post on Albuquerque Craig’s List from some guy who was trying to get people to come to the midnight showings on opening day, saying he wanted to make it “the best line party ever”, and for a moment or two I actually considered it. I think it was mostly the fact that his unabashed delight in his own Stars Wars nerdiness was so endearing.) Darth Vader in particular has become a cultural icon (wasn’t he voted the greatest movie villain of all time or something?), so it’s almost like there’s this need to understand his genesis that’s arising from the collective unconscious or something. In any event, I guess I’m going to see the movie.
Plus, Chewbacca’s in it! And I still sort of want him to be my best friend.
It’s strange, because I didn’t see either of the last two movies, mostly because of my complete lack of desire to do so. I was definitely a fan of the original trilogy, though, at least when I was younger. I was 12 when the first film came out, and I remember the lines wrapped around the theater and down the block, which was something I’d never seen before. Or since, at least to that extent. I went to see it 3 times, which was the only time I’d ever seen a movie more than once on the big screen (that record, such as it was, was eclipsed the following year by Grease, which I saw 4 times). I had a poster on my wall, a t-shirt that I wore with pride, and a bit of a crush on Princess Leia. Also, I wanted Chewbacca to be my best friend. Sure, that’s all pretty mild compared to some kids that I knew, and certainly compared to the fan culture that’s since emerged, but I’ve never been much for watching things 5000 times, or collecting lots of stuff, or (heaven help me) role-playing. I loved the movie, is all I’m saying.
I also loved The Empire Strikes Back, and I agree with the critical consensus that it’s the best one. (And the crowd's reaction to "I am your father!" was the strongest I've ever heard in a theater.) By the time of Return of the Jedi my ardor was waning, and as with many others, the cloying cuteness of the Ewoks and hokeyness of the ending put the final nail in the coffin for me.
When the original was re-released in theaters in 1997, I went to see it (I hadn’t seen it since 20 years earlier) and I was baffled by the fact that I actually found it sort of boring. Had I changed that much in 20 years? Had I simply gained insight, or had I lost the capacity--seemingly infinite in childhood--to become immersed in a fantasy world? A bit of both, I think, but sadly more the latter.
So now I’m equally baffled by my desire to see Revenge of the Sith, especially since I missed the first two parts of the story, which I still do not plan to watch. I think it’s partly because I was there at the beginning, and now I want to be there at the end. There’s always something satisfying in completion. There’s also the sense--because Star Wars has become so embedded in our culture and its characters so iconic--of participating in some great social ritual. (There was a post on Albuquerque Craig’s List from some guy who was trying to get people to come to the midnight showings on opening day, saying he wanted to make it “the best line party ever”, and for a moment or two I actually considered it. I think it was mostly the fact that his unabashed delight in his own Stars Wars nerdiness was so endearing.) Darth Vader in particular has become a cultural icon (wasn’t he voted the greatest movie villain of all time or something?), so it’s almost like there’s this need to understand his genesis that’s arising from the collective unconscious or something. In any event, I guess I’m going to see the movie.
Plus, Chewbacca’s in it! And I still sort of want him to be my best friend.
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