(no subject)
Hi, everyone. I've been having some troubles this week, as you might have guessed. First, I went away for a few days. I had the post and the podcast done, but when I got back, I realized that I had forgotten to hit Update Journal. Whoops! And then, I decided to listen to the podcast from the download link, and I realized that it skipped terribly. So, I have some options for you. You can download the podcast here, in a .wav format (which, according to my testing, should work with winamp, iTunes (and iPod), MusicMatch Jukebox, and Windows Media Player--it ought to work with other players, but I haven't tried anything else). You can just download the tracks and read a rough transcript
Clay Cook is a singer from Atlanta who bears a kind of striking resemblance to Jack Black (see PenniPod for pictorial comparison!). Clay is the front man of the four member band Clay Cook & The Torches. Clay has toured extensively with John Mayer--John's even covered this song--but don't hold that against Clay! I'm not quite sure how this worked out, but, when Clay sings this song, it sounds like soul, and when John sings it, it. Well. I'm not a big fan, and we can leave it at that. Anyway, this song really is a great kind of bitter waiting-by-the-phone anthem, and without further ado, I'll play it for you. Clay Cook - Man On The Side
Lior - This Old Love
That was Clay Cook - Man On The Side. In contrast to that, this song is whole heck of a lot cheerier. It's really optomistic, and it has a not overly-produced sound that works well for it. There's not a whole lot ground breaking about it, but it's a very solidly good song that always makes me smile. Lior - This Old Love
Fiona Apple - Never Is A Promise
Fiona Apple is the best known artist I'm featuring this week. Fiona is known for a variety of things, including but not limited to: a huge fan driven fight to release her album, Etraordinary Machine, which was supposedly completed but tabled by Sony, receiving 5 Grammy noms and 1 win, having her least well selling album hit gold, and general ass-kickery. Fiona sounds kind of like the love child of Jeff Buckley and Tori Amos. She usually sounds more Ani DiFranco-ish, but this track has really, really musical sounds, as opposed to the more staccato sound some of both Fiona and Ani's stuff sometimes has. I really like this song because it shows her range. She usually sticks to her lower register, but in this song she stretches herself to the top of her range (but not over). The resulting sounds are sweet but still powerful and emotion ridden. Here's Fiona Apple - Never Is A Promise
Girlyman - Speechless.
I was going to do this song last week, but didn't have an mp3. Thanks to the trusty intranets, I procured one, and the show can go on. On hearing the name Girlyman, I first thought it would be glitter glam/punk rock kind of stuff. It's not, at all. It's poppy folk with gorgeous three part harmonies. Girlyman is slowing growing--they haven't got a lot of name recognition yet, but they keep popping up. And, once you hear them, most people I know are hooked, and spreads their stuff. They won the folk/singer-songwriter category in the Third Annual Independent Music Awards, a contest judged by no less than Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls, Ray Davies of the Kinks and Joan Baez, and immediately after the contest, Amy Ray signed them to her label. Expect to be seeing a lot more of Girlyman! Here's Speechless
. Or, you can download the mp3 version and just deal with the skips.
As always, feel free to mention artists or songs I should consider, or any comments you have! I'm always open to suggestions.
Tracks for Saturday, June 3
Clay Cook is a singer from Atlanta who bears a kind of striking resemblance to Jack Black (see PenniPod for pictorial comparison!). Clay is the front man of the four member band Clay Cook & The Torches. Clay has toured extensively with John Mayer--John's even covered this song--but don't hold that against Clay! I'm not quite sure how this worked out, but, when Clay sings this song, it sounds like soul, and when John sings it, it. Well. I'm not a big fan, and we can leave it at that. Anyway, this song really is a great kind of bitter waiting-by-the-phone anthem, and without further ado, I'll play it for you. Clay Cook - Man On The Side
Lior - This Old Love
That was Clay Cook - Man On The Side. In contrast to that, this song is whole heck of a lot cheerier. It's really optomistic, and it has a not overly-produced sound that works well for it. There's not a whole lot ground breaking about it, but it's a very solidly good song that always makes me smile. Lior - This Old Love
Fiona Apple - Never Is A Promise
Fiona Apple is the best known artist I'm featuring this week. Fiona is known for a variety of things, including but not limited to: a huge fan driven fight to release her album, Etraordinary Machine, which was supposedly completed but tabled by Sony, receiving 5 Grammy noms and 1 win, having her least well selling album hit gold, and general ass-kickery. Fiona sounds kind of like the love child of Jeff Buckley and Tori Amos. She usually sounds more Ani DiFranco-ish, but this track has really, really musical sounds, as opposed to the more staccato sound some of both Fiona and Ani's stuff sometimes has. I really like this song because it shows her range. She usually sticks to her lower register, but in this song she stretches herself to the top of her range (but not over). The resulting sounds are sweet but still powerful and emotion ridden. Here's Fiona Apple - Never Is A Promise
Girlyman - Speechless.
I was going to do this song last week, but didn't have an mp3. Thanks to the trusty intranets, I procured one, and the show can go on. On hearing the name Girlyman, I first thought it would be glitter glam/punk rock kind of stuff. It's not, at all. It's poppy folk with gorgeous three part harmonies. Girlyman is slowing growing--they haven't got a lot of name recognition yet, but they keep popping up. And, once you hear them, most people I know are hooked, and spreads their stuff. They won the folk/singer-songwriter category in the Third Annual Independent Music Awards, a contest judged by no less than Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls, Ray Davies of the Kinks and Joan Baez, and immediately after the contest, Amy Ray signed them to her label. Expect to be seeing a lot more of Girlyman! Here's Speechless
. Or, you can download the mp3 version and just deal with the skips.
As always, feel free to mention artists or songs I should consider, or any comments you have! I'm always open to suggestions.
Tracks for Saturday, June 3
- Clay Cook - Man On The Side Lyrics here, Clay's website here.
- Lior - This Old Love Lyrics here, website here.
- Fiona Apple - Never Is A Promise Lyrics here, website here.
- Girlyman - Speechless Lyrics here, wesbite here.
Clay Cook's band, Clay Cook And The Torches, has a line up of
Clay Cook - Guitar, Keys, VOX
Matt Mangano - Electric Fretted Bass Guitar
Bret Hartley - Electric 6 String Guitar, Electric 12 String Guitar
Mark Cobb - Drum Kit, Percussion
Compare Clay to Jack Black! Here's a picture of Clay; here's one of Jack. Scary, huh?
You can buy Clay's stuff at his site.
Lior is an Australian singer/songwriter from Sydney. He's one of only a handful of Australian independent artists to have had their debut album go gold. He's been pretty successful in Australia, but isn't really well known elsewhere. He's touring (in Australia) with David Grey at the moment, and will be returning to the studio after that, I believe.
You can buy Lior's live album off Amazon, and both his live and his first album, Autumn Flow, off of MusicPlug.
Fiona is with Epic Records, a facet of Sony BMG. You can buy her albums from Sony itself, Amazon, or iTunes.
Girlyman has two albums out. Their first is Remember Who I Am, and the second is Little Star. They're both released on Daemon Records, Amy Ray's (Indigo Girls) imprint.
You can buy their albums at Amazon , from their record label, or from their site