Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Rapidfire Songs





I love these sorts of songs - there's so much in the lyrics that you have to really listen or find them written down to understand just what they're trying to convey. Here's a couple of good ongs.




Monday, June 22, 2009

Concert Review: Myra Flynn @ The Flynn Space


On Saturday night, local Vermont artist Myra Flynn released her debut album, Crooked Measures to a packed house at the Flynn Theater's Flynn Space in Burlington Vermont.

Julia Brown opened the program, followed by Justin Levinson, before Myra took the stage. Brown was a fantastic opener out of New York, while Levinson is another Vermont musican with a country-folk feel.

I
reviewed Crooked Measures in May and found it to be a fantastic first effort of a musican. Myra's journey to this point is hardly an easy one. Laid off from her newspaper job in Burlington, she began to turn her attention towards shifting her part-time music job to a full time career in music.

This made the concert here particularly special to her, I think. Rather than a mere concert haralding in the latest offerings in their career, this felt like more of a celebration of finally reaching the point that many artists fail to reach. As a result, the entire concert had a certain vibe and energy that you don't usually hear and see, and that made the entire night special for everyone there.

For those who missed the evening, Myra will be doing a second release party on June 27th in Montpelier's Black Door, and has a slew of upcoming concerts here in Vermont, which can be seen
here.

Set List:

Sunshine
Long Fall Down
Just Because
So It Goes
Bones
Hold It Up
What Am I
Freedom
Small Talk
Where Do You Go
Fragile
Encore: Miss Independence

Sunshine - Myra Flynn

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Carry Away the Summer



Here at Carry You Away, we like mixes. Now that I have a car with a CD player, I really like putting together a collection of songs to fit a particular driving style or mood that I find myself in, and go from there. Recently, I got to thinking about movie soundtracks and how a lot of the hipster, indie films often have this sort of attitude - a mix-tape is generally just as good when it comes to a film.

I guess that works, although I have to say that the only really good film soundtrack collection that I've come across recently seems to have been a model for a lot of the other films - Garden State. For me, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Juno (and an upcoming one called Adam) can't hold a candle to this album, which still holds up nicely for me. I'm not entirely sure why the other two have really not held up beyond a single listen for me - I think that the artists are too new, the collection is just too pretentious to really gain any sort of mainstream following that the GS soundtrack has. Garden State was a fun film, and I suspect that there will be those who will label it as a defining film of our generation, along with the sountrack.

With artists like Simon and Garfunkle to the Shins, I think what really made the soundtrack work well is its variety of songs that are on it. There are several genres represented, from indie to acoustic to oldie, with a couple of artists that were just well known enough to a couple that were just obscure enough, but with enough material out there (in most cases) to keep people interested. I'd argue that the movie was a big success for people like The Shins, Cary Brothers, Zero 7, Iron & Wine and helped to get Nick Drake back on the radar. The album doesn't come off as pretentious, but honest, and it worked extremely well with the movie. Not having seen Juno or Infinite Playlist, I'm not sure how well those tracks meshed with the film, but it's not something that I'm losing sleep over.



While thinking about this, I think I found the formula that really made Garden State shine, and to put it to the test, I've put together a summer-ish sort of mix based on the criteria:

European/UK Band, Alt-Rock, Male
Indie Band, fairly obscure, complex lyrics
Electronica, easy listening, female vocals
Indie Band, same as #2
Acoutic Folk, Male, Soft
Alt-Folk/Rock, Male
Alf-Folk/Rock, Male
Acoustic Folk
Indian Electronica, no vocals
Oldie, Folkish, Male, duet
Folk-Cover of Techno/Electronica song, Male
Electronica/Female Vocals, Soft
Female Acoustic, Folk/Rock
Bonus: Alt-Rock (Used for Commercial)

Let's compare this to Garden State's Soundtrack:

Don't Panic - Coldplay
Caring is Creepy - The Shins
In the Waiting Line - Zero 7
New Slang - The Shins
I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You - Colin Hay
Blue Eyes - Cary Brothers
Fair - Remy Zero
One Of These Things First - Nick Drake
Lebanese Blonde - Thievery Corporation
The Only Living Boy in New York - Simon & Garfunkel
Let Go - Frou Frou
Winding Road - Bonnie Sumerville
Writing to Reach You - Travis (Commercial/Trailer)

And now, applying the same sort of formula , and this is what I've come up with, Carry You Away's Summer mix. How does it line up?


Bad Skin Day - Bell X1
Hayling - FC/Kahuna
Re: Stacks - Bon Iver
At Your Door - Alexi Murdoch
The Khaleegi Stomp - Transglobal Underground
A Summer Song - Chad & Jeremy
Heartbeats (The Knife) - José González
Dreaming - Sara Wheeler
5:19 - Matt Wertz


Thursday, June 11, 2009

Funny The Way It Is

The Dave Matthews Band released a new video earlier today, to their first single off of the GrooGrux King, and it's not exactly what I'd expected.







Part of the reason is because it's almost identical to another video that they did, Eh Hee, the very strange single that Dave released almost a year ago. Here's the video - take a look at both for comparison, and it's pretty clear that this new one has been inspired heavily from Eh Hee.



I have to say, I like the new one better, although it's a little weird that Dave's singing, but his lips aren't matching up with Funny the Way It Is.

Thoughts?

Funny the Way It Is - Dave Matthew's Band

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

New Zero 7 - Yeah Ghost


Zero 7 is returning for their fourth studio album, Yeah Ghost, on September 8th, after a three year break between their last album, The Garden. Zero 7 has consistantly released good music and has collaborated with absolutely fantastic singers such as Sia, Tina Dico and Jose Gonzalez, among others. Their inclusion in the Garden State Soundtrack a couple years ago certainly helped spread their sound to new ears, and I'm very thankful for that. While my favorite album that they have released is Simple Things, their first, When It Falls and The Garden have been fantastic listens, with their downbeat and engaging sound.

With the announcement of their new album, the group has provided one of the tracks, Everything Up (Zizou), for free, and it features, for the first time, Henry Binns (one of the two members of Zero 7) on Vocals, and vocalist Eska Mtungwazi. The first single, Medicine Man, will be available later in the summer. It's a little different, faster than what they've put out before, but I really like it.



Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Cover and Original: Train Song





Vashti Bunyan is an artist that I came across a while ago that I've really enjoyed, and have been happy to hear that her songs have been getting a little more attention. First, there was the useage of Diamond Day in a mobile phone commercial over in the UK that was quite catchy, and now, Ben Gibbard and Feist have picked up on her song, Train Song, which has been one of my favorites.

Recently, Feist invited one of my absolute favorite artists, Bon Iver, on stage to sing the song with her, and I think that it's an almost perfect fit. Feist's voice is fairly similar, and while Bon Iver excells at the high falsetto, he doesn't go that route here. Together, they really make a good pair.

Train Song (Vashti Bunyan) - Feist and Bon Iver
Train Song - Vashti Bunyan