So, what are you listening to these days?

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In our house we've been working/listening our way through the Alphabet - haha - reminds me of Sesame Street - today is brought to you by the letter ... ! Decided we'd pull a CD out each day, in alphabet sequence & have a listen. We rarely actually listen to CDs any more ... so this has been interesting. Tomorrow is letter I - so I wonder what I will find?
 
Somehow I got onto music reaction videos - not all the time but they're fun once in awhile. It's just something to fill time and feels like listening to a song with somebody. Fun to hear others' reactions to favourite songs.
 
Somehow I got onto music reaction videos - not all the time but they're fun once in awhile. It's just something to fill time and feels like listening to a song with somebody. Fun to hear others' reactions to favourite songs.

The ones that keep coming up in my recommendations are "Voice teacher reacts to..." and interestingly, they are always on said voice teacher's channel. So basically a sly form of advertising. :D

Sara Bareilles channel posted an old show of hers from 2013 yesterday. It was a "stripped down" performance (I think it was actually part of a tour) she did called "Brave Enough" with just her and her various instruments on stage. Even by herself, Sara is a strong, self-confident performer who knows how to work an audience. Over the course of the four or five songs I watched, she played acoustic and electric guitar as well as piano, which her main instrument besides her magnificent vocals. She really is one of the great singer-songwriters of her generation.

 
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I'm a bit ashamed to say that I am only just getting into Nightwish. The Finnish prog-metal band is pushing 25 now and they have crossed my radar multiple times over the years. They really are in my wheelhouse, producing big, dramatic songs that often incorporate traditional Nordic and Celtic musical elements. Like prog rock groups, they are top-of-the-line musicians with classical and folk influences as well as rock ones. And they come with a history of excellent female vocalists (3 to date) with powerful, operatic voices. The music is mostly written by founder and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, one of two members who have been with the band since the beginning.

With original lead singer Tarja Tarunen


And from their latest album, featuring current lead singer Floor Jensen

 
I found this band because somebody had mistaken Marc Maron’s podcast guest Sarah Snook, for Sarah Shook. They’re really cool...and disability activists (not that those are mutually exclusive).


From there I tripped over these guys (called All Them Witches) and gave them a listen. I heard a few songs - some get Metallica or Sound Garden heavy, almost too heavy for me, but I really like this one. They rock. This one is late 60s early 70s style. They’re real, and gritty. They’re not posers. They’ve only been around for 7-8 yrs it looks like. Haven’t heard anything this good in that genre since early White Stripes.

 
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Got half an hour to kill? Love hearing a great up and coming voice? Unable to tour due to the pandemic, Winnipeg singer-songwriter Faouzia decided to whet her fans' appetites with a set livestreamed from the Burton Cummings Theatre in her hometown. It's the "stripped" versions of her songs, meaning it is just her singing over a piano accompaniment. Which, for my money, is the best way to experience Faouzia's powerful voice and songwriting talent.

 
Love how she takes the time to talk about each song, it's genesis or what it means to her. Not something you would necessarily get in a regular concert.

Faouzia facts:

She was born in Casablanca, Morocco but her family immigrated to Canada when she was a year old.

She grew up in Carman, Manitoba.

She speaks 3 languages fluently: English, French and Darija, the Moroccan dialect of Arabic. I have heard her sing in all three.

She is studying Computer Engineering at the University of Manitoba so she has a backup career if the music thing doesn't pan out (but I think it will)
 
Did you ever wonder what happened to "Jesse's Girl"? Well here's part 2 with Coheed and Cambria.....Rick Springfield (who did the original Jesse's Girl, has a cameo appearance and I must say, he's looking pretty hot for a guy in his 70's.


And here's the original:

 
I remember him well. He was also an actor, appearing on General Hospital, which my mother was a fan of. He also appeared in the TV vampire movie Nick Knight that later spawned the series Forever Knight, where he was replaced by Stratford stalwart Geraint Wyn Davies.
 
I just spent most of the night listening to music coming from Daryl's House.....as in Daryl Hall (without Oats) Oh my gosh, I felt like I was in a live concert......he invites all sorts of musicians over and play each others songs. Here's a few samples......what a night and I didn't even have to buy a ticket! He pairs himself up with so many musicians on this show......what a sound system, musicians first class....wow

Remember the OJays from Philly?

And with Smoky Robinson

With Tom Rungren:
 
I just spent most of the night listening to music coming from Daryl's House.....as in Daryl Hall (without Oats) Oh my gosh, I felt like I was in a live concert......he invites all sorts of musicians over and play each others songs. Here's a few samples......what a night and I didn't even have to buy a ticket! He pairs himself up with so many musicians on this show......what a sound system, musicians first class....wow

Remember the OJays from Philly?

And with Smoky Robinson

With Tom Rungren:
Daryl Hall's your neighbour?! Or were you on a site or a livestream called Daryl's House listening to music?
 
There's some really cool musical stuff happening online musically during this pandemic. Robert Fripp (founder of King Crimson) and his wife, who had a musical career of her own, have a weekly "show". Dave Gilmour's (Pink Floyd) family have done some nice videos. And then there's all the "Zoom" events where musicians perform together virtually like West End Welsh (a group of Welsh singers who normally work in the West End theatre district in London, UK).
 
I have discovered a wonderful cover (mostly, they do have some original material coming out apparently) band from Georgia called Foxes and Fossils. The name is arguably a bit sexist (the "Foxes" are young women) and ageist (the "Fossils" are middle-aged male veterans of the Atlanta music scene), but they took the names on themselves and it all seems to be in good fun. Their videos are posted on the channel of band founder Tim Purcell, who started the group after doing some recording with his daughter Sammie. The group now numbers seven when at full strength; four "Fossils" who were mostly recruited from Tim's old group The Mustangs and 3 "Foxes", consisting of Sammie, Maggie, a singer they knew through their church or something like that, and Chase (the newest member), recruited through her music teacher who used to sing with The Mustangs. And they are pretty good for what started simply as a father wanting to make music with his teenaged (now mid-twenties) daughter.

Sammie takes lead on an Adele hit


The harmonies on Fleetwood Mac's Landslide are quite typical of the group and they are dang good at them. Maggie takes lead on this one.


And I think this was actually one of the songs that got the group started. The video is ten years old and there's only 5 members, but those harmonies are already in place. Keep in mind that Sammie and Maggie are like 15 or 16 here. Very talented young women.

 
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