silver bells by she and him

so, christmas! christmas! christmas!

i love me some christmas music, which is in direct contradiction to the husband, who finds it to be an assault on his music snob sensibilities. we have a deal in our family - no christmas tunes until thanksgiving dinner is eaten. i think he'd prefer december first, but i managed to weasel this date in.

anyway! yes! i am already listening to it. and i'll be the first to admit that these sort of season tunes are hit and miss. there are some amazing versions out there to listen to and enjoy. and then there are those that make your ear bleed while cringing.

ahem. you know who i mean. the warblers? the shriekers? the ones who think that they're singing some kind of monstrous masterpiece that will be played at every single christmas party, when in actuality, is played only in retail because they're being payed to play it?

yeah, those. i won't name names. this is the season to be charitable, after all.

there is a fun new album out for you all to ooh and ah over at your christmas parties. and i'm talking about she and him, the musical collaboration between zooey deschanel and m. ward.

sidenote - have you heard that zooey d. and ben gibbard of my beloved death cab over their overpriced handcrafted ales. as for me, there was no sobbing, but more of a weird sense of, "it had to be zooey's fault, right? because . . . as adorable as she is, and as much as i covet her wardrobe and love her television show, it couldn't really be ben's fault, right? because . . . he's the lead singer of death cab, and he writes beautiful songs, and . . . and . . ."

yeah, totally nonsensical. and ridiculous. and unfair. and despite all this, i still adore me some zooey d, because it'd take a brain dead fool to not find her irresistible. and that's what her music is like--irresistible.

which is exactly what her she and him christmas album is like--utterly irresistible.

simple in many regards, without all the wailing and choirs and whatnot that others use to create a sense of seasonal majesty, a very she and him christmas is like a happy christmas surprise. there are ukuleles (readers, you know how i love me some ukulele), retro-vibes a-plenty, and general adorableness. listening to this makes you want to dress up in sequins (don't ask--i'm obsessed with sequins lately, it's really frightening, truly) and go and drink cocktails at some swanky, fabulous location, surrounded by people you genuinely like while surrounded by christmas lights. seriously. that's the vibe.

today i'm going to share the she and him version of silver bells. it is simplicity taken to near perfection: zooey's earnest yet lovely vocals set to a ukulele. there's a sense of true christmas spirit here, one not manufactured by hallmark (no offense, hallmark).

thoughts?

(mp3) silver bells by she and him

here they are, on jay leno, performing the delectable christmas waltz:



go HERE to buy a very she and him christmas album. do it quickly, so it can join your rotation, and your friends will thank you for putting something classy and clever on, as opposed to the shrieking, warbling albums. just you wait!

hot day by caithlin de marrais

so, former bassist/singer of rainer maria caithlin de marrais has a new album out, red coats - and on that album is a song called hot day.

it's an interesting song, hot day - with an interesting origin: it's roots can be traced by to the soundtracks of 70's crime dramas such as the french connection, dirty harry, and taxi driver. there are also traces of patti smith's horses in it - as de marrais says, "Horses was destined to be in my record collection. I loved Mapplethorpe, Blondie, Talking Heads and hanging out in the Village as a teenager. Now I relate to Horses totally differently. It sounds old and wise to me, like a force of nature that won't be silenced."

check out this gritty song:

last night was a problem
but i got today
do what i want
see what i see
last night, made a promise
to old friends in dark bars
forgetting where i'm going

(mp3) hot days by caithlin de marrais

buy red coats, the album hot day is off of, HERE.

album review: dead letters by sealight

so, a couple weeks back, i did a french week - and today's band really ought to have been featured, too (even though they're more of a french/australian mix). in any case, i recently got a chance to listen to sealight's latest EP, dead letters, and liked it so much that i figured you all needed to hear about it.

there are a lot of different kinds of albums out there - some are meant to entertain as soundtracks to parties and fun. some are romantic and perfect fodder for instilling the right mood in happy relationships and then there are some that are riddled with angst, companions to carry you through difficult, messy emotions. there are those albums which are pure pop drivel and there are those that aspire to become art. and that's one of the great things about music, friends. whatever kind of mood or companion you seek, there is a band out there with the music you need.

sealight doesn't make the kind of music you play on fun road trips or during dinner parties. no - their hushed sounds are more of the sort of ambiance that comes with introspection. it's the kind of music you listen to when you've got problems and are trying to puzzle them out, the kind you turn to on gray, soft days. i

like this kind of music, with it's quiet strength.

their latest EP, dead letters, is actually a collection of letters and texts from the band's family members in france and australia, something i find intriguing. these snatches of real life give the songs a bit of a personalized edge that draws the listener in yet remains generalized enough for separate connections to be made through the concept of reliving and retracing the paths and ties of relationships. layered guitars serve as the perfect background for lead singer sandra rossini's lovely vocals - and lovely they are, with their mixture of sweetness and just the barest hint of melancholy. there are soft synths, horns, and drum machines that never threaten to overwhelm - instead, the combination of all of these elements serve to create a cohesive blend of gorgeousness that can't help but leave a listener feeling more than a smidge introspective.

some highlights . . .

when the rain starts, with it's echo-y horns painting the background, remind me, in the smallest way, of the blue nile in the sense that it creates a visual landscape of blurred windows awash with watercolor. everything here is fuzzy, as if you're on a train moving at speeds that don't allow specifics, only colors. it's haunting in it's beauty. in white walk, you're taken to chilly places (more so than simply the talk) and then there's the moon, with it's steady guitar lines that lead the listener through it's story with almost no respite, much like overwhelming emotions a person can't escape. and then there are the bookends, dead letters at the opening and la nieve at the end which nicely contradict each other with dueling sensations of resolution and then hope.

it's really a beautiful album. stream it below:



buy dead letters by sealight HERE.

editing! updates! announcement(s)! exclamation points galore!

so, my poor blog! so neglected this last week! i blame things like halloween, my kids' school, karate, hockey, and, OH YEAH, getting my book back from my editor.which is very exciting, friends! here i was, totally prepared to weep uncontrollably while rocking in a fetal position under a table over just how crappy the editor thought it to be only to find out that i had seriously gone way over to the dark side for nothing. because, hooray! she liked it, and the things recommended for alterations are all things i'd considered before myself.

so, even though i wrote a post last week about needing to get back to work on codename: mo, those characters are going to have to wait patiently while i get chloe and company in a matter of fate in good shape and ready for publication.

speaking of . . .

i've decided to try my hand at self-pubbing after much thoughtful consideration and discussion with a number of other authors and editors. i'd actually submitted AMOF to seven agents way back when the book was a bloated behemoth that needed much TLC, and though i was crushed to be turned down from representation with (gasp) form letters, i now actually see the wisdom in these people rejecting me. one, the book was WAY too big. the truth is, friends, i'm a wordy kind of person (any regular reader of this blog knows this). and i write like that, too. i put down a zillion words and then pare them down drastically through editing. and two, the rejections led me to overhaul AMOF and take it and the characters within in better directions. the book i have now is radically different from the one i queried with, and that's a good thing. and it's not that i'm terrified of being rejected repeatedly through querying again (which i know i would be, because--let's face facts--all authors except maybe a select few get rejected up the wazoo), it's just . . . it seems like a good thing to try self-pubbing.

would i like to see a matter of fate in a bookstore? heck yeah. of course i would. i think all writers would love to see their work in bookstores. and you have to give it to the big houses--for the most part, they do a pretty good job with packaging books. but i also have a nook, and it's changed my reading habits pretty drastically. i still buy physical books, especially ones that i want for my collection and wouldn't mind having in a bookcase, but i love the fact that i can store hundreds of books all on one device without cluttering my house. i love the fact that, any time of day or night, i can buy a book and have it ready to read in a matter of seconds. i like being able to take all of these books with me on errands, appointments, and trips and not worry about my bag being weighed down. it's convenient, if not a bit daunting to my pocketbook--in the two years i've had a nook, i've bought probably twice or triple the amount of books i normally would from a bookstore. i've been introduced to a number of new authors that i probably wouldn't have tried before, especially thanks to self-publication.

are they all good? um . . . no. some of the writing out there is atrocious, as are some of the stories. but then, that's the case with some authors and books from major publishing houses with contracts, as well. and the truth is, i've discovered some great self-pubbed authors who make me scratch my head and wonder just why in the heck they don't have a contract when other crappy authors do.

but then, as i've discovered over the last year, a lot of this is by choice. more and more writers are choosing to self-publish, because it allows them to take back control of their works. they aren't constricted by a contract that takes away ownership of the story or creates covers they don't like or approve or or changes within the book they may not like. when a writer self-publishes, they are in control of almost every aspect. but with this also comes a need to be careful and do things right.

a lot of those crappy books i mentioned above came without a decent editor. or proofreading. or hard work at making the book the very best it could be.

when i decided that i was going to try self-pubbing with AMOF, i knew that i was going to have to hire an editor and not merely depend upon friends to do the work for me. i know i'm going to need to get a cover done--a good one--and not just slap together some pictures and words at home in a matter of minutes. i know i'm going to have to get a trailer done and . . . argh . . . do publicity. this one is going to be hard, as i don't really like drawing attention to myself. but, for the characters of my book, i will do these things and more! and that's because i truly believe that i've got a story that may interest some of you.

so here i am, on my final final edit of a matter of fate. i'm going through, line by line, tweaking it and revising it due to my editor's recommendations. and then, in a couple of months, i'm going to put it out there in the world to share. like, to buy on amazon and barnes and noble and smashwords.

e e e e k . . .

fyi, if you're curious about AMOF, go ahead and check out the my books tab above. there's angst! magic! bad guys! good guys! faerieselvesdwarvesgnomesgoblins! and love!

whew.

find/buy this print, aptly named anywhere but here, at etsy HERE.

by the way . . . i like this picture. it's very chloe-like.

ANYWAY.

music readers, you're probably like, wth, girl? where are our tunes? why the blank days? GIVE US MUSIC!!! and friends, i am certainly going to do that. music is good. i'm obsessed with it. i can't go a day without listening to it or using it to write to. so hold on, things will steady out, and regular posts will resume. just know that i'm going to start talking a bit more about writing, too. and my book (er, books, 'cause i have several i'm planning on publishing over the course of the next few years). this is an exciting time, peeps. a strange one, for me at least. so bear with me and the blog. i hope you keep coming back for the tunes. i hope you give a matter of fate a chance.

now, today's song has nothing to do with the book, other than i think my lead character, chloe, would dig this band. because, HELLO, the bandana splits are adorbs. and here they're covering morrissey's everyday is like sunday. oh, goodness. can you resist a girl band doing morrissey in their super cute style?

NO, FRIENDS. YOU CANNOT.

download it and love it:

(mp3) everyday is like sunday (morrissey cover) by the bandana splits