Monday, August 31, 2009

Cover and Original: Make You Feel My Love



We haven't done one of these in a while.

I just came across Adele recently with some radio airplay of her song, Right as Rain. It's a decent album with a handful of good songs, but there's one that caught my ears as a Bob Dylan cover, Make You Feel My Love. I think that this version is a geninue improvement over the original. Dylan is one of those artists that is hit or miss for me. He's certainly backed by a formittable array of songs and styles, but honestly, some of his stuff just grates.

Adele here takes the song and really turns it into her own. I think her voice just fits the song better than Dylan's nasalish sound. What do you think?

Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan) - Adele
Make You Feel My Love - Bob Dylan

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Happy Birthday Mini!




Today is the 50th Anniversary of the Mini! It's a fantastic little car, one that has been revolutionary in terms of engineering and marketing, with broad popular appeal. As usual with things like this, I've done a writeup here.

I absolutely love my car, as I’ve written about before. The entire experience of driving it differs from anything that I’ve driven before, and I often will break out into a grin when I’m driving along. I love throwing Maxine into corners at speed, accelerating along straits and simply enjoying owning a car. I don’t believe that a car should be boring, or simply just to go from point A to B during commutes. That just seems dull, and that just seems like a waste.

Happy Birthday Mini. Here’s to another 50 years.

Here's a playlist of some good driving songs that I've collected for the occasion. I've always seen the Mini as fast and quirky, and I think that these songs fit the Mini's character quite well.

The Shock of Lightning - Oasis
Mercy - Duffy
She Sells Sanctuary - The Cult
Shuffle Your Feet - Back Rebel Motorcycle Club
Queen Bitch - David Bowie
Young Folks - Peter Bjorn and John
Venus - Shocking Blue
You Get What You Give - New Radicals
This Time Tomorrow - The Kinks
Hazey Jane II - Nick Drake
On Days Like These - Matt Monroe

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Humans Only!



This past Friday, a new SciFi movie called District 9 opened to theaters. I have to say, it's one of the better SciFi films that I've seen this summer, right up there with Duncan Jone's Moon.

The plot, for those unaware, is about an MNU employee who is infected with an alien substance and is forced to go on the run. 20 years earlier, an alien ship arrived over South Africa, where a couple million aliens were found, dying and ill. They were then relocated to District 9, where they came under control of Multinational United, a security firm.

In short, the film is modern, interesting and thoughtful. My full review can be found here.

The soundtrack is also quite good, and I'd recommend checking it out.


District 9 - Clinton Shorter

Monday, August 10, 2009

History


This week, I'll be in the town of Gettysburg, working on a program for my college, developing what we call a Staff Ride, a sort of glorified field trip that examines battlefields in great depth. It's a fascinating way to explore history, and if you get the chance, I highly recommend attending one somewhere, should you be presented with the opportunity.

Ashokan Farewell - Jay Unger
Yankee Bayonet - The Decemberists

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Album Review: Battlestar Galactica, Season 3 (Original Television Soundtrack)



Battlestar Galactica has since come and gone from the airwaves, with the occasional exception of the TV movies that they're planning - the upcoming one is entitled The Plan, due out sometime this year - but the ending season's soundtrack has just been released, ending what is a fine tradition of outstanding scoring for the series.

Battlestar Galactica has always had a soundtrack that's stood out, and each of the five soundtracks released for the Miniseries and resulting four seasons have been outstanding, different and beautiful. Composer Bear McCreary has utilized a number of different instruments and influences, from classical to Indian throughout the series, and this season is no exception, and is possibly the best score of the entire series.

Gatea's song from early on in the season is the opening track, and is a beautiful and haunting song, and helps to set the tone for the rest of the score. The sound for the entire season is one that is largely based off of the previous themes, matured and evolved from their starting points. This doesn't mean that the entire soundtrack is a rehash of what we've already heard. There's a greater urgency with some of these songs as the action in the series ramps up, especially evident with the track The Signal, and Roslin Escapes, while new themes, such as from the excellent Resurrection Hub, which is easily one of the best tracks on the score.

Season 4 was one of the seasons where the show began to end the story, wrapping up storylines and building to the conclusion. As a result, much of these two discs feel far less like a television soundtrack and far more like a movie soundtrack. The themes are greater, more sweeping and make their presence felt, which is highly appropriate for the last moments. Case in point would be Farewell Apollo early on in the list, but this really kicks in for the finale moments of the show.

This starts with Diaspora Oratorio, the track that came over when the fleet came across the First Earth for the mid-season finale, which would have worked easily as an end for the show. By far, this is my absolute favorite track for the entire series. It is epic, beautiful and sweeping, and far out of character for the show, which helps to set it apart. From there, the last eigh tracks cover the final moments of the show, and put together a somber, epic and wonderful sendoff to the show. Earth, Goodbye Sam, Heart of the Sun, Starbuck Disappears, So Much Life, An Easterly View and The Passage of Time all allow for a proper sendoff to all the characters, with hints of some of the original themes throughout, but often with a far more etherial sound to them that transends much of what we've heard before.

This soundtrack stands far apart from most other ones that I've heard. It's beautiful, simply elegant, and a proper sendoff to the series. I'll be very sad that this is the last soundtrack, and undoubtably, it will be known as McCreary's finest works. There was a lot of original, creative energy here over the course of the series, and I have no idea when we'll see something like this again.

Resurrection Hub - Bear McCreary
Diaspora Oratorio - Bear McCreary
Starbuck Disappears - Bear McCreary
So Much Life - Bear McCreary




Tuesday, August 4, 2009

New Artist: Wooden Birds





One of my absolute favorite albums that has come across my desk lately is Magnolia, by The Wooden Birds. This debut disc is an excellent listen, one that blends a rich mix of folk, alternative and Indie music.The Wooden Birds is a side project of Andrew Kenny, also of the American Analog Set. They're not a group that I'm familiar with, but I like the way that they approached this album.


The thing that really stands out, for me, is the heavy emphasis on the rhythm and beat for a majority of the songs. At points, it feels a little repetative, but far too facinating for that. This is a sound that I really haven't heard, especially from the bearded-indie-acoustic folks out there, which makes this record stand out a bit more from the rest of the pack. The songs are very deliberate, well paced and laced with a laidback sound that makes the entire album very accessible.

The strongest songs of the album come at the front, with False Alarm, Sugar, Hailey and Hometown Fantasy, all of which have a similar feel and sound to them, while the second half of the album feels a bit slower, more reflective, and just as interesting. Through and through, the album is a very strong one throughout.

False Alarm - The Wooden Birds
Sugar - The Wooden Birds