Musical Musings

OK, now my clock reads 4:08 am. What is it with me? It's generally a weekend thing; I am up at the crack of dark...ready to take on the day, which is still a couple of hours away.

I've spent this last little while listening to "top 10" list music from NPR listeners. Some of what I heard:

I listened to some fascinating stuff from Joanna Newsom's CD entitled Ys. She is a harpist with a very odd voice that shifts from sounding like a little girl to an old woman to a crazy person of any age. As I was listening, I was zipping about the internet, reading about what I was hearing, and I recall seeing something that said her music is an example of "freak folk."

The Decemberists' The Crane Wife is also interesting, more folk-style music that is interesting but I think I would need to take it in small doses. It seems to me to be story-telling, but it doesn't quite grab me...like hearing someone making up stories about the distant past and telling the stories with a bad accent. Can't quite describe my feelings about it, but it's not bad...just not my favorite.

I really liked hearing Spirit on the Water by Bob Dylan from his Modern Times CD. Despite his strange voice, I have always liked Dylan. I'd like to hear the rest of the CD before I decide whether I really want it...and so I probably will.

Tom Waits' voice is like broken glass and gravel and fingernails scraping on a blackboard...but I find it appealing anyway. I listened to Bottom of the World from his Orphans CD. The music accompanying his raspy voice is moving; it sounds like a family band from the back-country...real feelings and real people making real music.

I've never heard of Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, that I recall, but one listen of one song gives me a good feeling about them. The Charging Sky from Rabbit Fur Coat is a quirky mix of folk and country and wierd. I like it. I'll have to hear more.

I wandered to another page and got intriguted by the music of Juana Molina, an Argentinian whose La Verdad from the Son CD got me interested in her. I subsequently went wandering off looking for more samples of her music and learned that she will be on tour in England in January...I'd like to see her perform, along with the others who will be touring with her, but not enough to go to England.

As I write these words, it's 5:41 am and I have come to the conclusion that I am up for the day. So, it's time to make some coffee.