serene’s posterous

Been obsessively listening to this song by Animal Kingdom.  I think it was a free single of the week on ITunes a few weeks back.  Even though they are from London, I guess they don't sound typically British.  The rest of their songs based on what I heard on myspace seem pretty good too.

So tell me if it's love, 'cause baby I'm a tin man
Tell me if it's love, I wanna be a real one
Tell me if it's love, 'cause baby I'm a tin man
Since you took my heart, I've got a missing part

We were lucky enough to see James perform in SF back in October last year.  They didn't perform this unreleased song during their tour in the US, but the song was apparently back on their setlist for their performances in Europe this summer.  Their official website http://www.wearejames.com/ is offering the mp3 for free if you join the mailing list.

Tim says: “The song is about a boxing match. A genre of one unless you count Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘The Boxer’. I am interested in the paradoxical sense of peace that can arrive at the moment when you feel you have lost everything.”

It has a great, catchy tune so here's looking forward to their new record...

The TV show I enjoy the most now.  Yes, it is super cheesy, and probably takes place in an alternate universe where inappropriate songs are sung by high school kids.  But it is great fun, and there's lots of good singing.  Lea Michele has a lovely voice (Cory Monteith as Finn suffers in comparison).  My favorites so far are the covers of Journey's Don't Stop Believin' and Queen's Somebody to Love. 

I have been listening to this song by Orange Juice obsessively after impulsively buying the mp3 from Amazon.  Yes, it is quite cheesy and with the synthesizers, it also sounds dated.  But I have a soft spot for bands from Scotland (see fellow former Postcard Records bandmates Aztec Camera).  And Edwyn Collins has this distinctive voice!

Here is Edwyn Collins with his band Orange Juice playing along to a prerecorded track of their only hit single:

One of the most interesting talks I attended this week was by Tim Westergren of Pandora.  He didn't have slides and just sat on the table (sometimes sitting on his hands, which is a habit that I have too) and started talking.  He is certainly the chief evangelist for the company.

When you think about it, it is really hard to scale a business which requires musicians to listen to music and analyze them in over 400(?) attributes.  There is a huge body of music out there, and there's always new music coming out.  But the amazing thing is that Tim Westergren is still passionate about his business despite the terrible lows he faced in the business, inspiring people, and not compromising on his beliefs to make more money.  There are no top 10 lists and no accepting of money to play or analyze music.

I was inspired to go play with Pandora again.  And it is a really great tool, and it does pick the music that I like with uncanny accuracy and reminds me about artists that I haven't heard in a while and perhaps introduce me to more music that I like.  The minus is just that the sound quality isn't all that great.  I would describe it as somewhat tinny.

Nostalgia...  I did listen to a lot cheesy music when I was growing up.  And like most tweens, all I cared about were catchy tunes and bland good looks.  This is probably as cheesy as it gets with the synthesized drum machine, and without the retro coolness of 80s music.  Jason Donovan was one of those pop stars who became very popular based on his good looks and a few catchy singles (plus the marketing efforts of his record company).  His romance with label-mate and co-star Kylie Minogue helped fuel this popularity.

Admittedly, one of his biggest hits, Too Many Broken Hearts, is a catchy pop song.  Unfortunately, the music video is unintentionally hilarious, with Jason Donovan strumming along on his unplugged electric guitar while wandering around in the mountains.



By the time this song, Hang on to your Love, was released in 1990(?) off his second album, Jason Donovan's popularity was already on the wane in the UK.  But I remember liking this video a lot.

This song by Crowded House (off their Woodface album) popped up on my shuffle while I was jogging on Sunday.  I had forgotten I had added the song to the shuffle, and how devastatingly moving the song is.  I had to go back and start listening to my collection of Crowded House songs again.  I probably have all of their regular albums (other than Afterglow, their collection of b-sides and rarities).

In this live version at the Linda McCartney Tribute Concert from many years back, it seemed Neil Finn screwed up a little with the lyrics.  And there appeared to be something wrong with the microphone of guest, Sinead O'Conner, because I can't really hear her in the audio.

It is funny to see myself on youtube again.  This time I had stumbled on a video (with a very noisy audio) of Vienna Teng's performance of the song "Between" at the 2005 Big Dance.  I had remembered the crazy crowd (it was like a mosh pit!) on the dance floor while she performed Between, which had a great tempo for a cross-step waltz.  Spotted myself in the crowd in the dance floor, and waltzing by her piano while trying to avoid traffic. 

I also remembered feeling a little torn about choosing to dance over hanging out in the balcony to enjoy the performance.  It is probably not the ideal conditions for a singer-songwriter to perform...apparently the dance floor (a huge sprung floor in Roble Gym) was really bouncing in sync with the steps of all the dancers.

Her new album is out, so I may actually go out to purchase it since I had already missed all her shows in the Bay Area.

The often covered Bob Dylan's song. Bob Dylan has really good songs,
but I think his gravelly voice sometimes doesn't do his songs justice.
 I guess the most heard cover is by Garth Brooks. But I really like
the version by Adele:
 

 
There is also a newish version out by Ronan Keating that I like. It
is found in his Songs for my Mother album of covers, dedicated to his
mother who died in 1998.
 

Time waster alert: http://lab.andre-michelle.com/tonematrix

It is a:

Simple sinewave synthesizer triggered by an ordinary 16step sequencer. Each triggered step causes a force on the underlaying wave-map, which makes it more cute.