So, what are you listening to these days?

Welcome to Wondercafe2!

A community where we discuss, share, and have some fun together. Join today and become a part of it!

Register Log in
I have heard Finnish soprano Tarja sing the Schubert "Ave Maria" before, but as soon as this one I started, I knew this was not it. But from looking at the album credits, it appears that this is her own setting of the "Ave Maria". And is it ever good. She's a great rock songwriter but never expected something like this from her.


And there's one song from the concert that still has not been released as a video: "Sleeping Sun" by Tuomas Holopainen, which dates back to her time as the original lead singer of Nightwish. I have listened to the album and the arrangement for the trio is excellent. Will post if it ever goes up.
 
In 1999, Nightwish released a single inspired by a solar eclipse. "Sleeping Sun" was a power ballad if there ever was one, carried to incredible heights by the powerful soprano voice of then-lead vocalist Tarja Turunen. It was retroactively added to their 1998 album Oceanborn in releases done after 1999. The song became a popular one for the band and has remained in their live setlists through all three lead singers, right down to the tour that ended this past June. Tarja, who left Nightwish in 2005, has also continued to sing it in her solo concerts. While I do love current lead singer Floor Jansen's handling of it, Tarja's remains my favourite.

This performance from the new live album rearranges the song for string trio and soprano. The arrangement works beautifully and Tarja nails the vocal line, as one might expect of a great song that she has now been singing for over 20 years.

 
Last edited:
For comparison, here she is singing it with Nightwish during her final tour with the band in 2005.

 
Since it has not come up here yet, American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett left us a few days ago at the age of 76. His energetic performing style and lively, entertaining music leaves a big legacy, even for those who are not "Parrotheads" (as his fans are known).


An appearance on The Tonight Show from 1981 including his best-known song, "Margaritaville".


And Jimmy's light, breezy sound and laidback attitude have inspired many other artists. Here Jimmy makes an appearance with country star Alan Jackson on a song that is very much in Jimmy's wheelhouse (and Alan's, he's pretty good at that sound, too).

 
Another sad loss is 56-year-old Steve Harwell, lead singer of the band Smash Mouth in their 90s heyday. He was receiving hospice care, apparently due to liver failure related to alcoholism. Not a huge fan of the band, but "All Star" is one of those lively, energetic tunes that I think is hard to not like. RIP.

 
Was reading some more about Buffett today. The Margaritavilla corporate group of restaurants, bars, resorts, and even cruises that he built based on his famous song apparently made him a billionaire (per Forbes, he was worth about a billion USD) by the time of his death. Not bad for a guy who mostly projected a laidback, pot and alcohol fuelled good time at the beach attitude. Music made him famous but his entertainment business made him rich.

Anyhow, I was reminded of this song, which was actually a favourite of mine back in the day.

 
At 24, Icelandic singer-songwriter Laufey is already writing and performing incredibly mature, melodic jazz-pop. Her second studio album dropped today and while I have not heard the full album yet, the singles have been wonderful, suggesting she has a hit on her hands. This audio is the latest single, coming alongside the album. It leans more to the pop end of her spectrum and the chorus is going to be a singalong hit at her concerts, I suspect. She is hitting Toronto and Montreal on her tour but both were sold out when I checked the other day. In fact, the entire first half of the tour was.

 
Old, but new to me. From a YouTube dive. I am a real fan of Rhiannon Giddens and here she is with her old band. Most have moved on to solo careers. Ms Giddens has been growing in popularity from her musical versatility.This particular piece is very authentic and traditional. Draws it's roots from Africa and the old European traditional jigs/reels etc The mood evoked is like no other. Imo

 
Laufey's been doing so terrific "From Home" performances of the songs from the new album. This one came out this morning.


Oh, and I found recently there's actually two of them. Violinist Junia Lin is Laufey's twin sister and joins her for a nice performance of the bossa nova-inflected "From the Start" (I posted the official video of the album version earlier).


Junia is also listed as a "Creative Director" on all Laufey's Live from Home videos so does seem to be getting involved in her sister's career to some degree.

Yesterday I read Variety's review of Laufey's concert with the LA Philharmonic, which is the kickoff for the Bewitched tour. It sounds like it was a night to remember and that's part of what I love about this young artist. She gives a solid, confident performance whether she's playing piano in her living room, playing in studio with a backup band, or has an entire orchestra behind her (the LA concert is not her first time with an orchestra). They are also touting this album for some nominations, possibly including Best New Artist, for the next Grammy Awards.
 
"The Islander" is a unique song in many ways. It was a rare Nightwish song not written by keyboardist-composer Tuomas Holopainen, but by bassist Marko Heitala. It was also sung solo by Marko with the traditional female vocalist on backing vocals (with, admittedly, a lovely descant), one of the rare songs where he did so. And it's a hauntingly beautiful folk ballad with almost no trace of Marko's and the band's metal roots.

With Marko leaving Nightwish, I was worried that "The Islander" might disappear. So I was smiling ear to ear when I found out that he and the terrific Dutch vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen were singing it on a joint tour of South America. I finally heard their performance and am very pleased.

It's a stripped down acoustic performance even by the standards of the original, with just the Marko, his band's guitarist, and Anneke on stage. Marko's ragged tenor is perfect and Anneke gives possibly the best performance of the female descant I have heard yet (and I have heard it done by two Nightwish vocalists, Anette Olzon and Floor Jansen).

I have decided that Marko's departure from Nightwish, while it certainly was not by any means a good thing for the band, has had the benefit of allowing him more freedom to pursue his solo efforts and that is starting to pay off in spades for us fans.

 
More from that performance. Ed Sheeran's "I See Fire" is probably one of his best songs and one of the few things I actually like about the overblown attempt to do The Hobbit as an epic trilogy. Marko and Anneke nail it.

 
And from the unexpected geezer rock of 2023 file: Holy Hell, the Stones are back and it is good. Reviews for Hackney Diamonds, their new album, are pouring in and most are positive, proclaiming it the band's best work since the seventies in many cases. "Angry" was the first single and it sure does sound like Mick and the boys in their heyday.

 
Last edited:
And why stop there? American blues and gospel were a big influence on the Stones and it really shows on this new song, where Mick is joined on vocals by Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder joins in on keys.


Other big name guest stars on the album include an appearance by Paul McCartney on bass on one track, Elton John on two tracks, and a one-off return by former Stones bassist Bill Wyman on one track.

Late Stones drummer Charlie Watts does appear on two tracks with Steve Jordan, who became the bands drummer just before Watt's death, doing the rest.
 
The sax solo, the vocal range and lyrical lyrics with a lovely hook.
 
Last edited:
Violinist Mia Asano continues to impress me. Just a year out of college, she has toured with a major European group, played at one of greatest rock festivals in Europe, and now has an album and tour with her friend Ally the Piper in the offing.

And she still found time to arrange and record this lovely acoustic violin setting of a Billie Eilish song from the Barbie movie.


Mia doesn't play acoustic much these days since her metal-focussed repertoire requires use of her electric, but when she does pull out her acoustic violin, she can really make it sing.
 
Mendalla said:
Violinist Mia Asano continues to impress me. Just a year out of college, she has toured with a major European group, played at one of greatest rock festivals in Europe, and now has an album and tour with her friend Ally the Piper in the offing.

And she still found time to arrange and record this lovely acoustic violin setting of a Billie Eilish song from the Barbie movie.


Mia doesn't play acoustic much these days since her metal-focussed repertoire requires use of her electric, but when she does pull out her acoustic violin, she can really make it sing.
Click to expand...
Just beautiful!!!
 
So that's Mia's latest. Her good friend and now bandmate Ally "Piper Ally" Crowley-Duncan also had a new recording out this week. The two women are touring North America under their "Mia x Ally" band name starting later this month, with dates in Montreal and Toronto now scheduled for late January. I am a bit tempted. Whatever you think of pop, metal, and rock being played on bagpipes and violin, they do seem to have a lot of fun on stage from the clips I have seen from their Spring tour.

The pirate captain in the video is Megan Ciafre, a cosplayer and TikTok/Youtube influencer. Ally is also into cosplay (and it shows in her TikToks and YT Shorts) so I assume they know each other from that community.

 
Sea shanties on violin for the win. One is, of course, my fave Mia Asano. The other, Taylor Davis, has actually been around longer than Mia IIRC. At least I heard her long before discovering Mia. It's an interesting mix, too, since Mia is packing her flying V electric while Taylor goes traditional. Notice the signature back bends and bow twirls. Mia is a very lively, expressive performer as well as a terrific violinist.

 
More Mia. Sort of. This summer, Mia toured Europe as a violin soloist with the ensemble Two Steps From Hell, which mashes up a number of musical genres and styles. The company originally started out doing music for movie trailers before moving on to composing for performance. This year's tour started at Wacken Open Air, a massive rock and metal festival in Germany that is one of the premier events on the European festival circuit. I know from her social media that Mia was thrilled to be taking that stage. She's easy to spot, moving about the front of the stage with her V eletric violin. The piece is composed by Thomas Bergersen, who co-founded the group and plays keyboards in the performance. It's a powerful, occasionally haunting, piece called "Impossible".

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top