Sending good wishes and lucky charms to my brother and his wife, who moved to Turkey a year ago in pursuit of the artist's life after a long stint in Frankfurt, and haven't really been back to the States in years. They assure us their Istanbul neighborhood is "in a very different part of town from the main center of the protests," but watching what little news I've been able to track down, it's hard not to be worried. And yet even as I hope for more reassurance, there is also awe and [...]
Wait- Ben Kweller Pleasant Street- Geneva Whole Again (Acoustic)- Jennifer Knapp Open Wide- Kim Taylor She Devil- Natalie Merchant Buzzin' Fly- Shelleyan Orphan I Dreamed Of A Hillbilly Heaven- Tex Ritter Ruby, My Dear (Take 3)- Thelonious Monk Supposed To Make You Happy- Tift Merritt Blue Melody- Tim Buckley I Can't Help But Wonder (Where [...]
Natalie Merchant: Ophelia [ purchase ] Struggling to avoid the all too tempting lure of Romeo, and mindful also of a paucity of appropriate references to Bottom or Puck, I had to cast my mind back to GCSE English literature and school plays for inspiration. Given I only ever played the likes of Friar Francis and Falstaff, I was unlikely [...]
Egyptian demonstrators sing protest songs in Cairo's Tahrir Square in February 2011 History knows: the performance of political song is a shockingly potent vehicle for change. Lyrics which call out the flawed policies and actions of the powerful raise consciousness even as their catchy choruses help them stick in the mind, the better to turn communities towards mindful action and peaceful protest. The act of singing together creates solidarity and strength, nurturing deep feelings of belonging among the converted and bringing new voices to the fold. Combine [...]
Originally Published: October 20, 2009 Natalie Merchant first came on the scene in 1981 as the leader singer of 10,000 Manics. In 1993 she left to start her solo career & released her debut album 2 years later titled Tigerlily. The album was a success both critically & commercially selling over 5 million copies. The success ...
Fourteen years ago, in 1998, I spent Thanksgiving Day in Queens, N.Y., at the home of my then-boyfriend's big sister and her family. As we sat around the turkey feast, we each listed everything we had to be thankful for that year. I was pleasantly surprised that no one in attendance mentioned anything having to do with material possessions, a lucrative job or random physical attributes. We were all about love, peace and harmony that day, that year, and that, I suppose, was one more reason to be thankful. I can't recall everything that was on my [...]
For the past year, award winning children's book illustrator Barbara McClintock has been lovingly creating a picture book based upon Leave Your Sleep , Natalie Merchant's double-album of classic children's poetry adapted to music. Frances Foster Books, an imprint of Farrar Straus Giroux and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group will publish this beautiful hard cover, 48-page, full-color book including a CD with 19 songs. Available in stores nationwide November 13, 2012. From the Introduction: [...]
Karima Francis is one of the up-and-coming artists to watch out for in 2012. Her new album The Remedy is a collection of lyrically-poignant tracks with a great guitar sensibility. On the album, the singer shines the most on this cut. "Tonight" starts off sounding like a mid-90s' college modern rock track reminiscent of the Gin Blossoms or Better Than Ezra. However, it slowly builds up into a beautifully constructed song with a catchy chorus of deep yearning and amazing vocals that will make you want to sing this sound out loud. It feels like a great marriage between Ani DiFranco's [...]
Filed under: News , Exclusive , Holy Hell , Politics as Usual Jo Hale, Getty Former Smiths lead singer Morrissey is a curmudgeon of near-legendary proportions. The caustic British 53 year old isn't shy about voicing his opinions on things, and those opinions usually involve outlandish, withering insults directed at his enemies. For example, a couple weeks ago he teed off against the "blustering jingoism" of the [...]
The Seattle Times (MCT) -- SEATTLE - This can't be happening. Natalie Merchant is singing to me over the phone. "Come all thee fair and tender ladies ..." My arms tingle, I look out my office window to make sure that it is day and I am awake, and then I remember how we got here. Merchant, talking from her porch in New York's Hudson River Valley, was telling me about volunteering at her daughter's school by teaching an introduction...
As a self professed music nerd, it's almost embarrassing that I don't go see the San Francisco Symphony more often. We are really lucky to have a world class orchestra in are backyard, playing nearly every night. Davies Symphony Hall is also one of the most perfect rooms to experience live music in, where [...]
There is absolutely no reason for you to ever stay in on any night of the week. Well, except for the night that Nickelback are playing. You can stay in that night. Thursday, June 14th Japandroids, Cadence Weapon at The Independent This Vancouver, BC duo has been bubbling under the mainstream consciousness for a numb [...]
Music is a passionate occupation to pursue, and it makes sense that some of our favorite musicians have, well, hooked up with some of our other favorite musicians in fiery ways throughout the years. This is something we've been chewing on ever since we first got former Fleetwood Mac co-figurehead Lindsey Buckingham's last solo record, Seeds We Sow . While on tour for the record he's been nothing but immaculate, and the album's full of the sort of mind-boggling guitar work that Buckingham's known for (yet still ridiculously underrated in), but we're going to say what's still on everyone's [...]
As we reported last week, apparently Ke$ha is collaborating with her "idol" Iggy Pop for a song on her upcoming album. Our initial response to this was pretty much like everyone else's, involving a combination of the letters "W," "T," and "F," but the more we think about it, the more we're coming around to the idea that the track could actually be pretty great. After all, it's hardly the first pop/rock collaboration, and some of the results of pairing up pop singers and rock stars over the years have been thoroughly excellent. We've pulled together a few [...]
Aldırma 128! intiharın parasız yatılı küçük zabit okullarında her çocuğun kalbinde kendinden daha büyük bir çocuk vardır bütün sınıf sana çocuk bayramlarında zarfsız kuşlar gönderecek... "Ece Ayhan" Kötü kitap okumak, kötü yaşamaya benzer derdi bir dostum. Kötü müzik dinlemek ise yaşamamak olsa gerek Jonathan... Ballboy - Born In The USA (Bruce Springsteen Cover) Cinerama - London (The Smiths Cover) Natalie Merchant - Space Oddity (David Bowie [...]
With Easter approaching, here's a third mix of songs that relate in some way or another to the Christian faith, following the Saved! 1 and Saved! 2 mixes. The first drew from verious ages and genres of music, the second comprised soul musicians doing God music. This lot comes from rock, folk, country and indie backgrounds. Some artists featured here are devout believers, some are sceptics, some are people one wouldn't necessarily have down as being even remotely religious (Cave, Waits). Most are original songs, a few are covers (for example, Wilco covers Woody [...]
Beth Jeans Houghton has a promising sound. It feels like a marriage between folk-country and a little recent Natalie Merchant thrown into it. All quirk aside, she is a singer-songwriter from Newcastle upon Tyne who plays "sweet and gentle folk music." Beth Jeans Houghton has been described by The Guardian as looking like "Gwen Stefani with a touch of Brody Dalle", with a sound that "is Vashti Bunyan crossed with Nico and Laura Marling" In early 2011 Beth Jeans Houghton signed to Mute Records who announced that they will be releasing her debut long player in early 2012. The [...]
Listen to Me: A Tribute to Buddy Holly was released so shortly after the Rave On Buddy Holly that it got lost in the shuffle of my review folder last year. Even months later, Listen to Me still suffers by comparison to the other Buddy Holly tribute. This is at least in part due to [...]
The trouble with acoustic covers of popular songs is that some earnest singer armed with a guitar will slow down Jingle Bells and whisper the lyrics as if they have a deep meaning. I have no principles that compel me to disallow the notion of whispering songstresses, but on this Christmas mix I’ve tried to keep them to a respectful minimum. Still, we have the doses of yuletide angst which the acoustic genre prescribes to go with the upbeat welcome of the merry season. Don’t be alarmed by the inclusion of three tracks called Christmas Song: they are [...]
We review the second Buddy Holly tribute of the summer...see how it stacks up against the first!
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