Sonya Cotton: Red River

Sonya Cotton is a San-Francisco based singer-songwriter with a beautiful voice, and a singular vision, who describes her work in this way:

Sonya’s compositions are deeply personal, drawing upon her dreams, family, and love; they often come from a place of profound reverence for the natural world and the creatures of the earth.  In singing about wild spaces (rivers, woods, mountains,) and the animals that inhabit them, she hopes to bring herself and others in touch with the sacredness of these spaces, and to contemplate and critique our culture’s compulsion to exploit and destroy these creatures and spaces.

The music is right in my comfort zone – eliciting memories of Joanna Newsom, Laura Gibson, Fleet Foxes, and even Joan Baez.  On Red River, a showcase of San Franciscan talents – “…including Ezra Lipp (drums; Sean Hayes, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, Stitchcraft) Joey Chang (cello, Cello Joe) and Wayne Van Lieu (french horn, Monterey, Marin, and Napa Valley Symphonies)” – produces deep, languid arrangements of folk and Americana.  Sonya’s tenderness and reverence for the world around her really shine on “Red River,” which has a gentleness that I find mesmerizing.  But perhaps most intriguing of all is the way in which this music feels old.  Old in a sense that it plumbs the deeper corners of the soul, and finds sparkling gems of natural beauty and humanity amidst the dark.

So, if you’re in the mood for a little reflection, or if you need a bit of quiet, go ahead and follow me:

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Friday Night Videos: French Edition

This week’s Videos is on honor of my recent trip to Paris.  Not that York isn’t lovely, of course, but it would be hard to say that it’s just as good as sharing an apartment in Paris with my girlfriend.  As you can imagine, therefore, I’m feeling just a bit of nostalgia for all things French.  The bread, the frites, the crêpes… all those wonderful, edible things.  And let’s not forget the long, lazy walks through a city that drips with history and, yes, light…

Now, I have long mocked French Pop Music – that much is true.  As a student, in college, I was first introduced to MC Solaar, and it sort of went downhill from there.  (Honestly, is there anything easier than rapping in French?)  I’ve provided a taste, however, in my inclusion of Alizée.  For you geeks out there, you will find in her dancing the origin of the “night-elf female” dance in World of Warcraft.  You’re welcome.  For the rest of you, I hope the rest of the list will encourage you, as it did me, by suggesting the idea that “big in Europe” might one day become a genuine phrase of praise.

So, today’s list is a mix of francophone artists (Canadian and French), as well as a few tracks by others that have a direct, or implicit, connection to the French.  (I’m looking at you, “Killing an Arab.”)  I’ve substituted some official videos with some homemade ones, in those places where embedding rules have proven too tedious, and I hope you’ll find it entertaining.

So, grab some bread and cheese, perhaps a bit of the vin rouge, and enjoy!

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Now Playing: April 1st, 2010

Yeah, so, Milli Vanilli really happened.  What can I say?  I was young, and naive… sigh.  To help clean your brain from that last post, it’s time, once again, to share a little bit of what I’ve been listening to over the past couple of weeks.  It’s been another great period of exploration for me, and I’ve been working hard to share things with you each day.  I’ve decided that the site works best on a Monday to Friday schedule, and I hope that you’ve found it satisfying.  Also, I hope that you’ve had a chance to try the new music player.  If not, it’s over on top of the sidebar.   Let me know what you think, ok?  (Couldn’t hurt…)

So, yeah, lots of wonderful folk and indie rock to share with you, as well as a couple of classic gems.  So, why not follow me, and we’ll get started?

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Legends: Milli Vanilli

In 1989, three years before grunge, music was running out of steam.  Metal had already donned its leather jacket and water-skis, and was quickly accelerating towards its eventual, absurd end in 1992’s “November Rain.”  Madonna – now a shadow of her former self – was trotting out tired, almost-entirely-unnoticed-by-everyone fare like “Like a Prayer,” and, worst of all, society was left to the mercy of the Fine Young Cannibals.  In our darkest hour, we needed a hero.

We got two.

Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus, known to us mere mortals as Milli Vanilli, broke through the tedium of songs like Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” (judging from the opening sigh, it’s even bored with itself!),  Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative,” and Debbie Gibson’s awkward commercial for Sears Portraits/Yearbook Photos: “Lost in your Eyes.”  Milli Vanilli brought something we’d never heard before: Awesome.

You could easily forget Dylan.  Forget Springsteen.  Forget Falco.  But who can forget where they were when they first heard “Girl You Know it’s True?”  For my part, it was the bus on the way to my fifth grade classroom.  Those electronic drums!  The disembodied, fuzzy voice in the background!  The keyboards!  Nothing had sounded like this before… and let’s not forget that rapping.  You know, we often look at Vanilla Ice as being the Brian Wilson of white rappers…a distant genius figure that inspires numerous copycats, but none who can ever really scale those heights.  But I think it’s fair to say that even Vanilla could never hold a candle to Rob and Fab.  Of course, that kind of talent draws haters like a magnet, and Vanilla eventually decided – like Prince – to keep all the awesome locked safely in his vault.

And so it went for Milli Vanilli.  After winning Best New Artist at the 1990 Grammy Awards, they found themselves accused of lip-syncing their way through performances.  Evidently, people had never heard of “saving it for eternity” (in the form of records and cassingles).  If they had gone out there every night and just poured it on, we’d never have had any of their excellent follow-up albums.   (Oh, wait, we didn’t get those because people are jackals) But people want what they want, and, so, when “Girl” skipped one evening while they were performing… well, that was it.  Their detractors poured it on.  They were forced to give back their awards.  Unable to defend their work because of a language barrier, Milli Vanilli were victims of the greatest miscarriage of justice since the Warren Commission.

Much like Mozart, Rob was taken from us far too early.  And now, years after that tantalizing first album, Fab continues to carry the torch for all those geniuses who still labor in unsung obscurity.  And, of course, for you girl…

Take it all in here:

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First Listen: Jónsi – Go

Today, we’re continuing yesterday’s Icelandic theme with NPR’s first look at the new Jónsi album Go.  Jónsi is, of course, Jon Thor Birgisson, the singer from Sigur Rós.  I’ve long loved and admired Sigur Rós’ towering, immersive soundscapes.  Sonic architecture that can hit with the fury of a primal scream – or a gentle breeze – and leave you profoundly changed just the same.  And so, for obvious reasons, I’ve been eagerly awaiting Go‘s release.

And man, does it ever live up to expectations!  The first two tracks – “Go Do” and “Animal Arithmetic” are so joyful, and so playful, that I almost had to make sure I was playing the right album.  Of course, by the time the album’s gorgeous third track – “Tornado” – rolls around, everything becomes perfectly clear.  Jónsi’s voice continues to soar here, as it does throughout the album – occasionally diving and weaving through brass, woodwinds, chimes, and assorted other bits of orchestral ephemera.  The album has such an enthusiasm, and an intensity of purpose, that it’s almost impossible to imagine it stripped down to anything less than a philharmonic.

On a side note, and as a long time fan, it’s really exciting to hear so much English on Go.  (Granted, I have a degree in Old Norse, and have studied Icelandic, but still…)  I do love me some Hopelandic, but I find Jónsi’s choice here to be quite daring.

If you’ve been on the fence about Sigur Rós, or haven’t really connected with their music, I strongly encourage you to try Go.  It’s epic, exuberant, and beautiful (especially the album’s crisp, penultimate track: “Grow till Tall”).  If it doesn’t brighten your day, then I’d urge you to kindly stay away from Whoville.

Follow me to listen to the album…

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