The WonderMusic Thread

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I'm still deciding how I feel about Dresden Dolls. They are one of those groups (a duo, really) that, on paper, I should like but I'm not warming up to them very quickly.

I was introduced to the band through a rather circuitous route. Lead singer/keyboard player Amanda Palmer (who also has a solo career going) is married to Neil Gaiman, one of my favorite authors. I've known of her for a while through following Neil on Twitter but it was reading his account of his first Dresden Dolls concert (the Dolls broke up before Neil met Amanda but later reunited and Neil wrote about the first gig of the reunion tour for Spin) in his new collection of essays and speeches View from the Cheap Seats that convinced me I should give them a try. They are ... different. See what you think.

Two videos from their original run:



And the Dolls live post-reunion:


 
I must say, I'm not crazy about Amanda as a singer but she's a helluva keyboard player and Brian Viglione is an equally great drummer. Their very theatrical style plays well in videos and on stage but I'm not sure I could actually just listen to a record of them. The visuals seem to be too integral to the music to be left out.
 
You did connect anachronism with metaphor and thus it could appear as it really isn't ... unless your firmly attached to unchangeable attributes ... a comprehension beyond those determined to be emotionally pure ... which could have superficial meanings ... and thus variable!

Di verse .. or demi urgent as isolated from the demiurge ... a thing of the archaic past ...?

Such things can cause even the Baptists to go in circe's ... rounded Dan's?
 
I was not a huge fan of the Seattle grunge scene of the early nineties (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, et al.) at first but some of the groups and musicians that came out of it did make an impression. Temple of the Dog was one of them:



Temple of the Dog was a Seattle supergroup comprising members from Soundgarden (the other band from that scene that I like) and Pearl Jam as tribute to the late lead singer of another band, Mother Love Bone (two members of which went on to join Pearl Jam). TotD are apparently back together again and touring.

Speaking of Soundgarden, Chris Cornell fronted both Temple of the Dog and Soundgarden and is by far my favorite vocalist of the bunch:


 
This young lady followed me on Twitter, a common tactic artists use to promote themselves these days (I am not so full of myself as to think that attractive, talented women actually care what I say in 140 characters or less). Gave her a listen and she's not bad. A bit too country for my usual tastes but listenable.


 
Okay, here I go raving about the Hollens family again, this time husband Peter. His new recording of the ballad "Homeward Bound" by Marta Keen (ie. not the famous Simon & Garfunkel song) is magnificent and has a beautiful story behind it, which he tells if you continue watching after the end of the song. Short version is that he approached the choir's director, a friend of his, about having them record the song with him only to learn that a member of the choir who loved the song had just passed away, so they did the recording as a memorial to her. It starts off as typical Peter Hollens (his specialty is mixing his own voice as the backing track for his singing) but segues into him singing with a full choir.

 
While she has now been gone for nearly three months, the late Christina Grimmie's Youtube channel has come back to life. Her family (or whoever is controlling it now) has posted a series of four music videos from a short film that she shot before her death to promote a new EP. And they are devastatingly good. Devastating in that they once again remind us what the world lost when she was murdered. The songs (written by her) are good. The singing and piano-playing are great, classic Grimmie. And the storyline would have made a hell of a musical.




 
A much (much) happier note with this one. I first came across Sam Tsui through a duet he did with Kina Grannis. While I am not as big a fan of Sam's music as I am of Kina's, I still listen to him from time to time. I noticed yesterday that his latest was a "wedding song" but only clued in today that it was about HIS wedding to fellow Youtube artist Casey Breves. Nice song and some great video from their ceremony and reception.


The song (written by Sam) which first twigged me to his music. His style is a bit too generically "pop" for me a lot of the time but this one had me at the first piano riff and sealed the deal when Kina joined in.

 
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And to tie my last two posts together, a duet between Sam Tsui and Christina Grimmie with musician/producer Kurt Hugo Schneider (a frequent collaborator and touring partner of Sam's) at the keyboard.

 
I should point out that Schneider also recorded and produced the Sam-Kina duet above.
 
Sing IT Again Sam ... is a song about the devil repeating dark things ... like that German mind kissed of by the American in Ca Sa Blanca ... a white out or a wash of that thought ...

Mentally (the devil) has to run things by spirited people many times before they learn anything little more eternal things!
 
I just downloaded a couple of albums onto my phone and have rediscovered Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life Album. I am really enjoying it! A perfect addition to the "WonderMusic" thread. :)

 
Grande Prairie, AB had its first annual Bear Creek Folk Festival in August. Ruthie Foster was one of the performers and she brought down the "house" with Phenomenal Woman.

 
Heard this on the radio yesterday. Didn't really like it back in the seventies but now that I listen to it with different ears, it's actually pretty good though I prefer hearing it sung by the Bee Gees (they wrote the song and sing backing vocals and choruses).


Speaking of the Bee Gees, Barry Gibb, the last surviving member of that legendary brothers band, is about to release a solo album. Amazingly, it will be only his second official solo album. He's been in the music biz for over 60 years (he founded his first group, The Rattlesnakes, in 1955) but has always been either with his brothers in the Bee Gees or working with other artists, e.g. Guilty, which had him working with Barbara Streisand.
 
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