Archive | May, 2010

A Breath of Fresh Air: Annie Eve

12 May

I first heard about Annie Eve from my friend Mike who met her by chance on vacation. He told me that on the last day of his vacation, while everyone was coming to the harsh reality that they would have to split, Annie started making up songs on the spot, shocking everyone with a music ability that no one knew she had. Yes, but behind a humble demeanor, is a wonderful voice just bursting with potential and excitement. While listening to one of Annie’s songs on her Myspace, I scrolled down and read some of the comments. One listener wrote, “a breath of fresh air in a genre that has started to sound the same.” This could not be a more spot on compliment. Annie does just that. In her Youtube videos, she strums away on her acoustic while sitting on her kitchen floor as a computer picks up a rough recording of her youthful folk. It is the fact that she is sitting in her house that makes the music so raw and refreshing. She is a tremendous, young talent that is starting to tour and her music proves that she is ready to make a name for herself and add her soulful voice and folky guitar riffs to a watered-down folk genre.

Annie Eve hails from North London. She started playing music when she was 13, inspired by her older brother who is also a musician. I had a chance to interview Annie Eve through e-mail (oh the wonders of the technological age). Her enthusiasm shined through her words. Before she even got to answering the interview questions she wrote, “As soon as I picked up the guitar I started to write songs, it really just came naturally. Playing guitar, singing and writing songs all come in a package with me I don’t like doing any of them separately. Music is all I do now, I spend my time writing, recording or playing anywhere and I love it.” In an industry that often gets bogged down by musicians unable to balance fun with the often overriding want to make money, this is just great to hear.

Before we get to the interview, I would like to include a song by Annie that I believe most directly highlights her potential.

“Fish Bowl Shark Tank” is raw, exceptionally catchy, and wonderfully structured. Annie’s youthful vigor and ardent voice seeps through the homemade recording and gives the song a hint of maturity, even though she is clearly a callow musician. Yet, age aside, her emotion is raw and fresh, and her voice is uncultivated, but I mean that as a compliment. This song particularly reminds me a lot of Jaymay, a folk singer-songwriter from New York, and I believe Annie is travelling a similar path in both lyric and music. Take a listen to Jaymay.

What do you all think?

Here is the interview with Annie Eve:

Music Court: Who inspired you to get into music? Are there any bands you can label as major influences?

Annie Eve: My brother Simon first got me wanting to get into music, he showed me a load of music id never heard of, it was like his mission to make sure I didn’t listen to generic pop, I remember him sitting me down and playing a bunch of punk, blues and rock tunes at me (Simon fighting the good fight). The songs of mine I like the most are usually the ones that have been inspired by another band or a song, so I have alot of inspirations. To name a few, I would go with; Joni Mitchell, Led Zeppelin, Rilo Kiley, Bon Iver, Bob Dylan, Radiohead, Kimya Dawson and John Martyn. You might not hear them in my music necessarily but trust me they are in there.

MC: Tell me about your music making process if you can. How long does it take for you to generally write and record a song?

AE: Writing songs comes naturally to me, however writing a song I like, or think is good enough is another issue. After I write a song, Ill show my producer David, and play it at an open mic night, then Ill work on it and change it whenever I play it until I’m happy with it.

MC: Any plans for some upcoming shows?

AE: I’m starting to gig alot more now my EP is almost done, the next one I know of is on the 23rd of May at The Abbey Tavern in Kentish Town.  I’ve also just booked a month in America to travel around and play, Ill post what im doing either on my facebook page or Myspace.

MC: Have a favorite band or song?

AE: My favourite band? Wow, I have many, to name a few; Radiohead, Rilo Kiley, Ramones, Led Zeppelin, Kings of Leon, Bon Iver and so so many more.

As one can see, she is starting to travel and play and this will hopefully help her get her name out in the music world. If you would like to learn more about Annie and see if she is coming to a town near you visit her Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/annieeve. Also, you can watch some of her videos over on her Youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/AnnieEveTracks.

SWOD (Song of the Day/Word of the Day) #19: Matriculate

11 May

Today’s Word:

YES! A degree...Now what?

Matriculate (Verb): To enroll in a college or university as a candidate for a degree.

Musical Example: A timely SWOD. Let me offer a big congratulations to the graduating class at Binghamton University and all other universities. I will be donning the gown and cap next year. Students matriculated some years ago and after changing both physically and mentally now will enter graduate school or…gasp…the real world. Give it a few years and we will all be pondering where college went. Well, as Leslie Hartley said, “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” I always thought this was a telling quotation. So, to all graduates, good luck on your continuing journey down that narrow river of passing time. Hopefully you will all be able to accomplish what you have set out to achieve.

There are many songs about college days. But, I thought I would go a little unconventional today. Instead of entertaining you all with song, let’s go to some musical comedy. “Whose Line is it Anyway,” one of the funniest, nonsensical shows on television, has a great skit satirizing Time life CD Infomercials.  This is the “Greatest Hits of College”


Note to Liam Gallagher: Leave the Beatles Alone

10 May

"Love, love me do" Photo: Forrest/Getty

Another day, another news article linking Liam Gallagher to the Beatles. After Oasis’ seventh and final studio album Dig Out Your Soul succeeded in consciously being a mock Beatles’ album, Gallagher is now embarking on a journey into Beatles film, buying the rights to The Longest Cocktail Party, which tells the behind-the-scenes story of the Beatles’ Apple empire.

When Ben Folds first played his keys on the music scene he was immediately compared to piano men like Elton John and Billy Joel. He responded by completely rejecting the comparison, and even going so far as poking fun at them. When the British fab four (five) part II came onto the music scene in 1991, they to were given the ultimate comparison to a budding Beatles. Yet, instead of rejecting this obviously false claim, they played right into it and eventually succumbed to the trap of constantly trying to be the Beatles. I am not claiming this is bad. Their music is catchy pop/rock and I enjoy some of it, but, come on Oasis (especially Liam Gallagher), leave the Beatles alone.

Gallagher’s recently formed “In 1 Productions” announced a few days ago that they plan to produce and develop a feature film based on Richard DeLello’s book.

It is unclear what role Gallagher will play, but, I doubt it will be anything minor. Gallagher probably cannot wait to get his hands on making this movie and, well, who could blame him? If you have it flaunt it right. At least we can be assured he will make the Beatles look good.

Link: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/;kw=[13193,147351]

On to some honorable news. Chicago, the incredibly successful veteran rock n’roll band, has recently teamed up with the American Cancer Society for a new promotion called “Sing with Chicago.” On Ebay, fans can bid on a special prize package that includes two tickets to a Chicago concert during their current U.S. tour and an opportunity to sing their hit 1976 song ‘If You Leave Me Now’ at the show on stage with them. Bids start at $500, or you can just bypass all of the bidding and buy the package for $1500. This is awesome. I always enjoy seeing worldly musicians giving back, and this charity is both creative and kind-hearted. A big tip of my hat (to quote Stephen Colbert) to the members of Chicago. 

Link: http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=americancancersociety

Thank You Mom

9 May

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.  ~Tenneva Jordan

I cannot tell you how many times I received the last piece of some sweet concoction this way, and, it goes far past pie. My mother is currently spending mother’s day doing around 14 loads of laundry that I have brought home from college (I came home for summer yesterday). I don’t thank her enough. My mother is an extraordinary woman. She is a selfless hard-worker and, like most mothers, is not appreciated enough. So, today I will do two things. First, let me send a big I Love You to my mother and a round of applause to all of the other mothers out there. Second, to celebrate mother’s day, I am including song lyrics from…Good Charlotte. *GASP* This is “Thank You Mom.”


And I thank you, I’ll always thank you
More than you could know, than I could ever show
And I love you, I’ll always love you
There’s nothing I won’t do, to say these words to you
That you will live forever
Always, always and forever

 

 

Josh Ritter’s Other New World

6 May

The Show Must Go On

Robert Caro, an American biographer, once said,”You come in off the street, through the doors of the theater. You sit down. The lights go down and the curtain goes up. And you’re in another world.”

So Runs the World Away

“Curtains,” the first song on Josh Ritter’s fifth LP So Runs the World Away, prepares listeners for their 13 track journey into Ritter’s world. As “Curtains” ends, and the symbolic curtain rises, a flash of white light envelopes the listener and entraps them in a state of sensory paralysis where listening is the only option. A hyperbole, yes, but, not by much. Ritter’s new conquest is pure music gold. The album has a wonderful diversity of songs that combine ethereal sounds, bare acoustic riffs, Ritter’s keen sense of the existential lyric and his Springsteen-like croon (and troubadour status). Each song is engaging and brilliant in its own way, never repeating the same musical concept twice. Ritter has proven his ability to create skilled music before, but, as Bob Boilen of NPR’s “All Song’s Considered” program said, “this one took my breath away.”

In the album’s expansive “Another New World,” Ritter tells the tale of a polar explorer who is forced to sacrifice his beloved ship in order to survive the cold. It is a maritime love story; a type of lyric that Ritter has mastered. The explorer’s ship is called the Annabel Lee. Now, quick English lesson. Who has a poem named “Annabel Lee.” The only difference is the poem is not about a ship. Edgar Allen Poe wrote the story of Annabel Lee who is frozen and killed by angels. Ritter’s story is similar. His guitar picking sounds like the trochaic rhythm in Poe’s poem. This is a wonderful touch that may often go unnoticed. It is important to realize how intelligent Ritter, the son of two neuroscientists actually is…in English? What? Anyway, the song is euphonious and the lyric is masterful. It almost sounds like an optimistic dirge which I understands makes no sense at all. I believe the Annabel Lee can be used as a working symbol for Ritter’s album. Ritter himself is the mariner, and his companion, the ship, is his work on this album. In order to fully understand the album’s intimate intricacies, we must take apart the boat and, in a sense, use its contents for their potential warmth. So, let’s explore the inner portions of Ritter’s Annabel Lee.

The album, or ship for our purposes, consists of several of Ritter’s creative ideas. We are sent on a journey through an elegiac opener, to the odd affair between a recently awoken mummy and a pretty archaeologist (that is most similar to Ritter’s “The Temptation of Adam,” an unexpected lyrical chef-d’oeuvre documenting a romance in a nuclear missile silo), to a mock “Folk Bloodbath” that pins classic murder ballad names against each other, into a Paul Simon like “Lark,” and then back out again into a scientific/angelic “Orbital.” And, in the frenzy of travel, Ritter never misses an emotional moment. Each song has an underlying message behind its tender melody and wonderfully scripted lyric. This is what propels this album to a new level.

Ritter ends “Another New World” with a repetition of the verse:

“Sometimes at night in my dreams
comes the singing of some unknown tropical bird
and I smile in my sleep thinking
Annabel Lee had made it to Another New World”

And, this is absolutely true. Ritter’s own Annabel Lee, So Runs the World Away, reaches the a high pedestal of a jewelled release that, in my opinion, goes down as Ritter’s magnum opus at this stage of his career, and, is an early favorite for best album of the decade (to be compiled in December of 2019). It propels him to a symbolic “New World,” and Ritter should be proud and certainly smile at this. His, “Annabel Lee…made it to Another New World.”

“The Curse”

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