album review: eight belles by amy seeley

so, amy seeley has recently begun offering her 2008 album eight belles up for free on her bandcamp site (free, friends. FREE!). and i totally think you ought to take advantage of this and download it asap. here are my eight reasons why:

1. amy's gratuitous use of piano. as i've said before, a big reason why i dig her music so much is that she utilizes this instrument. for as many piano lessons seem to be given nowadays, the piano is oft ignored in modern music. such a shame, because it's amazingly gorgeous to listen to.

2. amy's lyrics. there is a time and place for inane lyrics. in fact, i was just discussing with the husband how i found the lyrics to bush's red light to be so utterly ridiculous that they made me want to laugh out loud every time i listen to the song, but for some bizarre reason, i keep. coming. back. to listen to said song (don't judge, friends. just don't, i'm begging you). but amy seeley doesn't treat her listeners like they're mindless puppets who are only interested in songs for their trendy beats. she crafts music with meaning, intelligence. check out this snippet from how hard i try (my favorite song on the album):

over these ridges the bridges are burning
and i’ve nowhere to lay my head
where have all my comrades gone
to lay their bodies down
to rest

don’t you know
how hard i try

so much better than, "baby, relationships are hard work, oo-oo, yeah, baby," don't you think?

3. i love that the title, eight belles, is so representative of the songs found within. because the songs, while all easily tagged beautiful, each have a distinct personality that doesn't immediately sound like the one before or after. a lot of albums have similar sounds; in fact, some albums are filled with songs that pretty much all sound the same, and that's okay. sometimes that's exactly what we music fans are looking for. but eight belles isn't like that. each song, each belle, has a story to tell and a different personality to do it with. and i like that.

4. speaking of such concepts, there are a lot of different music influences within the belles, from country to folk, blues to singer-songwriter, sometimes all within a single song.

5. and then there's the allure of the sad song. i love sad songs. isn't it weird how sad, beautiful things can make a person so happy? check out this line:

i pulled my handkerchief our of the pocket you sewed last year
if i can say so myself i’d say this pocket’s had too much use in a year

goodness. so sad and so lovely all at the same time.

6. but there's also optimism, especially in look up, look out. buffered by a fabulous, swirling piano melody, this song, in a small way, reminds me of death cab for cutie's stay young, go dancing. it's about looking forward and letting go of the past, to simply accepting. i love that this is the belle to end the album.

you were breathing shallow
you were seeing with short - sighted eyes
and then i found you
i say i know you
i will pull you out

i found you
and i love you
and i see you for all you are
for all you are

7. simplicity. seeley's music isn't overloaded with unnecessary loudness or instruments that are meant to overwhelm. sometimes songs require a gentle touch. beloved is an excellent example of this - just amy and her piano. it gets the message across so much more powerfully than anything else.

8. and . . . well, it's free. i mean, it's worth your money if you did so pay for it, but as you have a chance to nab it for free, HELLO? what are you waiting for?



go HERE to listen to/buy music from amy seeley.

i'm goin' down by scott hutchison and neil pennycook

so, some days i wonder if i ought to just title this blog: fangirl posts re: frightened rabbit.

because, obvs, i post about them a lot. and today will be no different, other than today will also feature meursault (i love me some meursault) and the boss, who has a new album out (and you can read a fab track by track review over on the husband's blog).

scott hutchison of frightened rabbit and neil pennycook of meursault have come together to record a cover of bruce springsteen's i'm goin' down for location music tv and it is (cue will ferrell voice) glooorius. and can i just say what a fab thing it is, to have a collision between frightened rabbit and meursault? do we dare to hope for further collaborations?

not that the boss's version isn't already sublime - and i am the first to admit to being a bruce springsteen fangirl. i love his stuff. adore it. in fact, the first concert i went to was at the la coliseum for the born in the usa tour in '84 (don't you DARE judge me based on that year, friends! ha!). and that is, if you think about it, a pretty rad first concert to go to, if i do say so myself. but i will concede that this version is pretty damn awesome itself, and not just because i'm biased to pretty much like anything scott h spews forth but because it really just works for the material. now, the original is a much more rock flavored bit, with horns and drums and whoops and all sorts of great, bruce sounds that instantly let you know: this is a bruce springsteen song. hutchinson and pennycook don't try to replicate any of this, though. instead, they tune it down, make it acoustic. make it more plaintive and sad . . . rather than angry and frustrated. and if you read the lyrics, you can see that this song and can work both ways equally well. and i like how they've done this, how they chose not to just copycat.

they made it theirs.


we sit in the car outside your house
i can feel the heat coming 'round
i go to put my arm around you
and you give me a look like i'm way out of bounds
well you let out one of your bored sighs
well lately when i look into your eyes
i'm goin down

we get dressed up and we go out, baby, for the night
we come home early burning, burning in some fire fight
i'm sick and tired of you setting me up
setting me up just to knock-a knock-a knock-a me down

i pull you close but when we kiss I can feel a doubt
i remember back when we started
my kisses used to turn you inside out
i used to drive you to work in the morning
friday night i'd drive you all around
you used to love to drive me wild
but lately girl you get your kicks from just driving me down




for your comparison, the original:



on youtube, the caption for this video simply reads: "He's the man." ain't that the truth, friends.

go HERE to buy music from frightened rabbit. go HERE to buy music from meursault. then go HERE to buy music from the boss.

the peril(s) of being a writer, part 1

so, apologies, friends, for this empty, sad blog for the last couple weeks. see, i've been dealing with a family emergency, and simply have not had time to sit down and get something out for you.

anyway! i do have an embarrassing story to share, though. because, embarrassing stories are always best shared as to head off any inadvertant reveals that will cause even worse humiliation, right?

i had to fly up to oregon last week so i could be with my family while my father went into heart surgery. it was scheduled for early morning, which meant he had to go into prep even earlier. so there i was, in his hospital room, groggy from being up since 4am, when somebody comes in with one of those rolling beds to take him down to get prepped--and, i kid you not, friends, but i did a double take and then a triple as i took this guy in.

okay, yes. he was ridiculously good looking. dark hair, bright blue eyes. tan. shaggy hair. but the point here is that he was the exact doppelgänger of the twins from my upcoming book a matter of fate. i kid you not. it was like jonah whitecomb (or kellan whitecomb, depending on the situation, i suppose) had literally stepped out of my head right into my dad's hospital room.

writers are funny creatures. our characters are very real to us. we know their quirks, their histories, and exactly what they look like. they're our friends (or enemies, i suppose, depending on the situation) and as insane as it sounds, we know them. sometimes we look to celebrities to pick out facimilies of our characters. go to any author blog (at least in YA) and you'll most likely see a wish list of actors who represent characters. on youtube there are buckets of videos that show-off dream casts. there's even a great website that does a wishful casting call for books read. but sometimes it's difficult to find people who really look like the one that's roving around your imagination. jonah and kellan whitecomb have been notoriously difficult for me to find proper representation for. i've found bits and pieces of these identical twins in various actors, but none really seemed to match who i saw while writing.

until, of course, he was in my dad's hospital room.

it was pretty embarrassing, peeps. i stared. like hard. i kind of didn't know what to say. so i just managed to stare and wonder how it was possible that this guy who i thought only existed in my head and on paper was real. but then he wheeled my dad out, and i thought things were done, or that i'd possibly imagined it. until my mother said, "that guy was ridiculously good looking."

since it was my mom, i told her what i just told you.

"you should ask him for a picture for your character file," she said as we headed to the cafeteria.

"GOD, NO, MOM! why would i do that?" i mean, honestly. who does that, other than stalkers and insane folk?

then, as luck would have it, this guy was in the cafeteria, too. much to my horror, my mother instantly approached him. i, on the other hand, went to the other side of the cafeteria to look at food possibilities and to feel instantly like a teenager again. which was humiliating in itself, because i am at a distance from my teens--but isn't that an amazing trick by parents, especially mothers? how they manage to take all of your years of maturity and whittle them away within mere seconds?

sure enough, my mother called out, "heather, come over here! i told him about your book! you can take his picture! he's a model!"

GOOD GOD. now i was officially the humiliated teenager. i slunk over to where they were standing, her grinning like the cheshire cat, him looking pleasant but befuddled.

i should note i was wearing a bright red coat, and my cheeks matched it perfectly.

"you have a book and i'm in it?" he asked kindly. my mother took off at this point, coward.

"yes, a book. no--not you, i mean, there's this guy, i mean these twins..." i was rambling and fully aware of it. and i think it was less because he was pretty much my characters physically but more because my mother had just sold me down the river in spectacular fashion. or so i'd like to think. i ended with a pathetic, "you look like them."

i restrained myself from telling him he's pretty much the carbon copy i've been seeing for two years now.

"being a twin would be cool," he offered. again, kindly, i believe.

"yes, well," i said, because somehow i managed to start all of my sentences around him with yes, which made me sound like the worst hack of a writer possible. and then after the minimal uncomfortable chit-chat, a picture was taken (because how does one gracefully say, "just kidding about the picture" after some woman came up and demanded that her daughter want one, whether or not it was the case?), and then i met back up with my mother to say, once more, "GOD, MOM."

she cackled.

ah, embarrassment. but my mom was right. i at least do have a photo for my character profiles.

close my eyes to see by haroula rose

so, today i want to introduce you to haroula rose, a singer-songwriter highly reminiscent of suzanne vega (and honestly, people--only idiots don't love the vega). originally from chicago but now la based, rose has a very lovely voice that has the perfect combination of innocence, gentleness, and spunk to instantly draw you into her songs.

have a listen to/download a remix of close my eyes to see by luke top from the soundcloud below:



here's the video, which is basically a photo slideshow:



BUT WAIT! here's another song, one that is just honestly so beautiful. say hello to brand new start. i loooooove it. i mean, like lots. i think you will, too. listen to/download it from the bandcamp widget below:

In the evening when the storefronts close
I watch as everybody walks away
But I want to stay
I stare down the empty streets aglow
Wonder at the windows and homes
Alone
In the morning kids are off to school
Yellow buses, all the rules remain the same
Stay in line, be kind
Wait your turn but try to win
Be good, like you should
You gotta walk so far
Lose who you are
Fall apart
To get that brand new start
When you meet a stranger down the road
Say hello, but all the same
Don't get too close
That's a lesson we've all been taught
To protect what you've got
And so you stay away
These roads are open and wide
There's room for everyone to move side by side
So it's a shame, it's a pity
In every town or city
That we learn to walk in single file
You gotta walk so far
Lose who you are
Fall apart
To get that brand new start
No one tells you how to grow
They teach you everything but what you need to know



fellow la peeps, you can check out haroula rose at one of the following upcoming shows:

2/7 - Los Angeles, CA @ Lot 1 Cafe
3/1 - Los Angeles, CA @ Hotel Cafe
3/4 - Los Angeles, CA @ Liberation Yog
3/6 - Los Angeles, CA @ Echo Country Outpost

an EP will be released this spring, with an LP following later in the year. go HERE to buy these open roads, the album both close my eyes and brand new day are from. do yourself a favor and find her (free) cover of peaceful, easy feeling. GAH. LOVE IT.

confess child by jezzy and the belles

so, jessica eisenberg, the singer-songwriter behind the brooklyn based jezzy and the belles, has a really intriguing sound: her voice, so sweet, is oftentimes a contradiction mixing with minor key melodies--a audible representation of the whole sweet-and-sour taste sensation. confess child, a heavily jazz and spanish (or perhaps cuban) flavored bit of melancholy loveliness, is a perfect example of this. eisenberg's voice floats above the song, at times lo-fi, other times strong, but always just a bit removed and haunting, all the while sounding sugar sweet against the minor guitar chords, drum machines, and horns. it's a good kind of contradiction, one that makes a song art rather than simple notes.

tell me your thoughts
confess till your blue
free up your mind
enjoy the view

sing up a storm
don’t let them say
that life leaves you cold
and should be that way

year after year
you see more and more
the piles mask pain
fear of the front door

you deserve more
than you ever knew
it took a black eye
to make a breakthrough

cause it’s not too late
their darkness is theirs
confess child it’s time
to act on your prayers

(mp3) confess child by jezzy and the belles

here's the official video:



go HERE to check out compasses & maps, the EP confess child is off of. jezzy and the belles will be releasing an album in 2012.