Saturday, September 30, 2006

The Year of the Wolf


I don't get it, why all of the sudden is everyone and their grandpa naming their bands things involving wolves? Are they the new hip power animal or something? I can't say I am a huge fan of any of the bands that are so wolf-centric these days, but it's just kinda weird to me how within the past year I've come across so many new bands with wolf monikers.

Come on, kids, can't you be more original than that?

Some fine examples:

Wolfmother - "Woman" (link mercilessly stolen from here)
We Are Wolves - "Little Birds"
Fox 'n' Wolf - "Youth Alcoholic"
Sea Wolf - "Black Dirt"
Peter & the Wolf - "Safe Travels"
Wolf Parade - "You Are a Runner"

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Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Emm Gryner - "PVT"


This weekend I received my copy of Emm Gryner's new album "Summer of High Hopes" in the mail. Those of us who pre-ordered got an autographed copy as well as a "bonus CD". This bonus CD happens to be a re-recorded, re-mixed version of Emm's major label record "Public" entitled "PVT" which I can only assume stands for "Public: Version Two". This album had been held in legal custody by her record label for a long 8 years and to commemorate this legal binding ending and her songs returning to her custody she re-recorded them. When I started to listen to it I was so surprised by how different it sounded. It sounded like Emm doing a cover of one of her own songs...is that even possible? Apparently it is. In Emm's journal she wrote:
i decided not to re-record the songs to mirror the arrangements on 'Public', but 'cover' them, 8 years later. pull them apart and re-acquaint myself with them. so what you get is a moody, intimate record of songs you might not even recognize but for their lyrics. i recorded it, hoping you might listen on headphones late at night, just as i did when i recorded it. there is nothing more chilling than being alone at a church at midnight. i also learned that i had an awful lot to say at 23 years of age, and that things can resonate by taking out a few lines here and there, leaving in only those that really matter. in short, recording PVT was summer's intense trial for me - i put my current frustrations and confusions into these songs, just as i did when i wrote them some years ago.

And there I am, listening to it late at night (though, not in a church) on my headphones. It was perfect, thank you Emm. I hadn't even tried that, I read that entry after the fact, I am so glad it worked out that way, it's lovely. Emm, whose covers records are breathtaking has taken on her own music to re-do. Her mostly peppy pop music of one of her first albums now mellowed into a breathy and more mature sounding take on the same emotions.

Here is the "Public" version versus the "PVT" version of one of her songs:

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Sleeping at Last


My file sharing site is hating me...I've been trying to post for the last 2 days and it is just not having it. Oh well. So instead I am doing something else entirely...

On my weekly blog stroll this afternoon I discovered something my ears are liking quite a lot. The fact that one of their songs was featured on this past week's season premiere of Grey's Anatomy is only more appealing. The band is called Sleeping At Last, which, right there, I love. Sleep is glorious and does not come as easily to most as we wish it did. They're a young band out of Chicago, with a fairly new record out (I believe it came out this past summer) entitled "Keep No Score" and supposedly have Christian influences, but you can't tell by listening to them. I've loved everything I've heard from it so far. It's like a less pretentious Radiohead sound, that's the best I can do to explain it, forgive me.

As my file sharing is not letting me post files I will share links to where I found said songs at these wonderful blogs. So give credit where credit is due.

From Come Pick Me Up:
From Music For Kids Who Don't Read Good: