A Fine Frenzy

A Fine Frenzy has been getting pretty popular recently in the mainstream circle. If you haven't heard of her, Alison Sudol is a 22-year-old self-taught pianist/chanteuse. She's quite talented on the keys and her voice is capable and beautiful. I got the album after hearing "Almost Lover," and liked it upon first listen while playing Scrabble, especially the last track "Borrowed Time." But after I listened to it more closely, I have to say I started to cringe at how cheesy this album is. Allegedly her lyrics are based on a number of fantasy works she's read growing up, so it seems appropriate that this album sounds like a four-year-old's cup of tea. The album's backing orchestral arrangements add to its fantastic feel, and it's exceptionally produced, but this just results in a sound that is way too over the top, like a G-rated computer-animated Disney film. I would like to hear her stripped down, just her and her piano, with some more heartfelt lyrics, rather than these bedtime stories.

Patrick Park | 11/15/2007

Back in February of 2003 I saw David Gray play at a jam-packed Northrup Auditorium, on his pre-New Day at Midnight tour. In front of nearly 5,000 people, out walked his opener, this quiet guy who nobody'd ever seen before. Once he started singing a hush went over the place; he'd grabbed our attention.

I loved his stuff then, when it was in its beginnings, having just released his debut EP Under the Unminding Skies a couple days earlier. I was a ways back in the auditorium, but I remember being sucked in by the earnestness in his voice and how poignant his short set was.

Almost five years later, the Colorado native is back in Minneapolis headlining his own show at the 7th Street Entry, a small, run-down, but intimate joint. Since 2003 he's released two full-length albums, Loneliness Knows My Name and Everyone's in Everyone, and has had a couple singles featured on Fox's The O.C.. I'm guessing he gained considerable popularity when his song "Life Is a Song" was played during the show's final episode. His myspace page shows a little over a half-million plays, so I was really surprised with how few people showed up tonight. This makes me wonder how many good artists I miss out on simply because I haven't heard of them before. They need to be marketed better.

Because Patrick is fucking good. It's just him, his guitar, harmonica, and mic. He stands up there, picking and strumming strongly, singing without holding anything back. His voice is very distinctive: folky, substantial (not airy), and genuine. His lyrics are generally melancholy but all of his songs have either an optimistic or really impassioned feel to them. His music varies and thus doesn't lend itself to boredom: it's not all sad, slow stuff. In short, he's a supremely talented singer-songwriter who plays raw, passionate, beautiful music.

Although it may not be awesome for his paycheck, it's always really cool to be at small shows when you can talk to the performer afterward. I asked Patrick to play my favorite song of his, "Love Is a Bomb," (solely on his debut EP) on his myspace page the night before, and so I was happily surprised when he introduced his second song, saying "this one's for Bryon." Turns out he's a really, really nice guy; getting to know him better makes me want to do all I can to get him out there a little more, so please check out his official website or his myspace.

Favorite Song #5: "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space" ...from Vanilla Sky

"Books, records, films--these things matter! Call me shallow, it's the fucking truth."

Why, you may ask, am I quoting Rob from High Fidelity here? Well, because it's the fucking truth. And they matter, ultimately, ...well, for countless reasons... but perhaps primarily because of how they make you feel. And my favorite songs really make me feel something. Something deeper.

Vanilla Sky is one of my top five all-time favorite movies. A lot of people don't like this film, and frankly I can see why (but I won't go into that). But I love it, because it does what a movie should ideally do: it takes me away from reality, and does a pretty good job of forcing me to examine mine when it's over. But more than that, I feel something when I watch it: a set of thoughts and emotions that seem to arise as such only when I watch this particular film (a consistency that is pretty cool to have). I could try to reduce what goes into making me feel those things (the characters and their ties to people in my life, the images and the memories/fantasies they provoke, and the intuitively-placed music...), but that's not what I'm on here for.

One of my dream jobs (another connection to High Fidelity...) is to be the guy who picks out music for movies. Well, I have to say that the placement of this song on Vanilla Sky is absolutely perfect. At one of the most moving (and enlightening) scenes, this song builds until it perfectly coincides--both lyrically and musically--with the movie (seeing Sophia at David's memorial...).

"All I want in life's a little bit of love to take the pain away
Getting strong today, a giant step each day.

I will love you till I die
And I will love you all the time.
So please put your sweet hand in mine
And float in space and drift in time."

After a quiet voice declares "Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space," these lyrics slowly repeat, and gradually build on one another, layered among guitars, vocals, and a faint 'beep' which suggests that we are, in fact, floating in space.


I would love this song for the lyrics alone, but the way this song flows really does make you feel like you're floating. It's no wonder they marketed their album of the same title as a drug. The title from this song is allegedly derived from the book Sophie's World, and the music might sound a little familiar if you've ever heard Pachelbel's Canon in D. Philosophy, astronomy and classical music as inspiration = more evidence that the music that makes us feel something really is that important.

Stars with Magnet | 11-03-2007

So Stars really rocks out at their shows. Their albums (under myspace's "melodramatic popular song" genre) have always sounded like somewhat subdued indie rock/pop, so I was surprised by their energy tonight. They started it off with a bang on "Take Me to the Riot," and Campbell's voice sounded really strong. They played most of their new album, In Our Bedroom After the War, and I was a little unsure how I felt about them/the new album, but the show made me a believer. Their style is very cool: each band member (five men, one woman) wore something completely different from the next and they had really exciting stage presence considering their alleged inexperience--at one point, Campbell (co-founder/co-lead vocalist) said that they decided the title of their tour will be called "The 'I can't believe there are so many fucking people here' Tour," haha. Considering there were about 45 people at their last Minnesota show, ten times that is definitely an improvement for this Montreal band. The first few rows also loved how the band would periodically fling countless carnations all over the place (you can see them in Even's photo-->); interesting. Some sound issues still need to be worked out, in my opinion, since half of the time the guitars drowned out Amy Millan's soft vocals. But the encore was excellent, they finished with an amped version of "Calendar Girl," and at the end Campbell was screaming "I'm alive!" at the top of his lungs on and on...that was pretty awesome and the crowd loved it. What a fun show, these guys have a really unique sound. Try out tracks 2 and 5 on their myspace page.


I'm glad I liked Stars, because truthfully I attended the show just to see the opener Magnet. I don't remember exactly how I found this Norwegian singer-songwriter (it may have been off the O.C....) but I've loved his music since his first album, On Your Side, came out in '04, which remains one of my favorite mostly-autumn albums that is heard best while driving or lying somewhere with your headphones on. Most of his songs are completely depressing, so I half-expected him to be the same, but he actually had a fun personality, getting the crowd into his performance and cracking jokes about his ties to J-Lo. Magnet is Even Johansen, and he's so good because his lyrics are emotionally raw, and his music is deep and well-produced. The instrumentation on his albums runs the gamut (guitar-based but with electronic, strings, and percussive infusions), but his voice is what really keeps your attention. That he did tonight, even though it was just him. I'm always impressed with artists who are really good with layering and looping everything themselves, which he did to give his sound a much fuller feel. Seeing him live really made me realize how talented this guy is. He just released his third album, The Simple Life, and you can get it on iTunes.

Magnet's myspace.

David Gray Releases Covers Album

David Gray just released his new greatest hits album, which has two new tracks on it including his current single, "The World to Me," available only on iTunes.

But big fans who already have all his albums will be happy to know that he also just released a live album full of covers on his website. I've been listening to it a lot, and it's very good. All the tracks are pretty low-key, most of them just David and his guitar, some backed by Clune and his band. It seems that this is a collection of the covers that Gray plays for a little change-of-pace at his live shows. The sound of the crowds suggests smaller arenas (which is really all he plays anyway--relative to most musicians of his popularity), and contributes to the intimate feel of these songs.

I've always thought of David Gray as my generation's Bob Dylan, because I consider him the best lyricist since Dylan (if you don't believe me, listen to/read his earlier albums especially). It's fitting, then, that this album's title is named after Bob Dylan's song "One Too Many Mornings." It's also very interesting to see what Gray's influences are, at least to the extent that he covers these artists (three by Dylan and two by Springsteen, among various others).

Download the album here on his website's store.

We Are the Pipettes

Being attractive definitely helps in the music business, for better or worse. I checked out this new girl group because I saw their pictures in one of my latest issues of Spin, which had all these accolades littered around their polka-dot dresses and sexy poses. Good decision! (This wasn't the first time I've found a musician I've liked based on their looks, but hey, you've got to sort through all the music out there somehow, right?)

Anyway The Pipettes are Riot Becki, Gwenno, and Rosay. They are backed by a four-piece band called The Casettes, and hail from the UK. Unfortunately I won't be able to see them in Chicago in a couple weeks, but if you have the chance I hear they put on quite the show, complete with coordinated outfits and dance moves.

Okay, their music. Apparently these girls (who write, sing, and switch off on the keyboards) / the band (led and managed by the guitarist Monster Bobby) thought that the music scene in the UK the last few years sucked (I wonder if the local radios over there are any worse than most of the garbage on ours...), and when Bobby was DJing / promoting all over the place he realized that whenever he put on 60's girl band records people just started dancing, and reacted more enthusiastically than with all the other stuff that he'd play. So they came up with the idea of going back to that sound and putting a modern spin on it. They wanted to go back to a time before the Beatles changed everything.

"We Are the Pipettes is a modern indie pop album, and a classic one at that," raves Pitchfork. The U.S. version of the album (the yellow cover) has two additional songs and has been completely remixed so the tracks sound cleaner. It's a short album, with an average track length of about 2:30, but it's a really fun album to listen to, and the variety throughout is surprising. I suppose with music like this the only drawback would be getting sick of it, but the songs are so damn catchy that they'll be in your head for weeks. The songs' subjects suggest that these girls are very confident, and like Lily Allen show their independence and their disdain for clingy guys, as well as their somewhat insatiable sexuality..."Pull Shapes" is definitely my favorite track, because it just makes you want to dance and be happy (I just want to move / I don't care what the song's about)-and who the hell knows what it means to "pull shapes" anyway? Also check out "Judy," "Because It's Not Love" and the rest, streamed at their official website. This is very fresh, inventive stuff that fills a much-needed niche in one's listening repertoire.