Knowing my interest in dabbling in all things related to Euro-pop and cover songs, one of my Spanish readers far across the Atlantic let me know that musician Antonio Vega Tallés died early this morning in Madrid.
Tallés wrote the 1980 pop song “Chica De Ayer” (featured on this comp of Spanish pop that looks pretty fun), and was also covered by Gigolo Aunts a decade later. Listen to both below -
Chica de Ayer – Nacha Pop
In 1995, Ian Eagleson was studying abroad in Kenya and first heard the sounds of benga guitar while attending a marriage celebration. As he writes in this fascinating Fretboard Journal article about the style of guitar-playing that can be heard in countless small Kenyan bars and across backroads, he was “struck by the sound that cut through the din.”
Eagleson returned to Africa many times while pursuing his (pretty rad-sounding) doctorate in ethnomusicology, and along the way formed Extra Golden, a fusion of members and sounds from his Washington D.C. rock band Golden and the Nairobi benga band Orchestra Extra Solar Africa. The joyously vibrant result sounds like this:
Anyango – Extra Golden
Their third album Thank You Very Quickly is available March 10th on Thrill Jockey.
And really, how good would this stuff feel live?
EXTRA GOLDEN Spring 2009 TOUR
AFRICAN SOUL REBELS 2009 UK Tour
(all dates with Baaba Maal and Oliver Mtukudzi)
Mar 3 2009 Gateshead – The Sage Gateshead
Mar 4 2009 Liverpool Philharmonic – Liverpool
Mar 6 2009 Bridgewater Hall – Manchester
Mar 7 2009 Lighthouse – Poole
Mar 8 2009 Brighton Dome – Brighton
Mar 9 2009 Roundhouse – London
Mar 11 2009 Royal & Derngate- Northampton
Mar 12 2009 The Anvil – Basingstoke
Mar 13 2009 De Montfort Hal – Leicester
Mar 14 2009 Warwick Arts Centre -Coventry
U.S. DATES
Apr 9 2009 Johnny Brenda’s – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Apr 10 2009 Floristree – Baltimore, Maryland
Apr 11 2009 Le Poisson Rouge – Manhattan, New York
Apr 12 2009 Middle East Upstairs – Cambridge, Massachusetts
Apr 14 2009 Comet Pizza – Washington DC
Apr 15 2009 B-Sides at Messiah College – Grantham, PA
Apr 16 2009 Kenyon College -Gambier, Ohio
Apr 17 2009 Ladies Literary Club – Grand Rapids, Michigan
Apr 18 2009 WIUX Culture Shock – Bloomington, Indiana
Apr 19 2009 Cactus Club – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Apr 20 2009 Empty Bottle – Chicago, Illinois
Apr 22 2009 Waterfront Park – Louisville, Kentucky
Apr 23 2009 Northside Tavern -Cincinnati, Ohio
April 24 2009 Rumba Cafe Columbus, Ohio
BONUS: You may remember also hearing their thank-you song in their native Luo language to native-son Obama after he helped them secure the needed visas for a U.S. tour:
Obama – Extra Golden
[top photo credit Noel Kupersmith -- and where is that Elvis print? I wanna see.]
Last week, Colorado College (where I work) welcomed back to campus one of its own, Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet, featuring ten-time Grammy winner Bela Fleck on the banjo, Casey Driessen on the violin, and the marvelous Ben Sollee on cello.
Washburn has a lovely, lilting, strong voice, and her music is a fascinating blend of bluegrass Appalachian, woven with old threads of 1930s Americana and traditional songs, then globally spiced with Chinese melodies and Chinese language. Abigail and I are roughly the same age, so she was at the College long before I came to work there, but she studied abroad in Shanghai and majored in Asian Studies (both are part of my job now in International Programs).
I felt a certain kinship with the journey of discovery she talked about all throughout her concert, remembering the old woman who taught her a song in China, or what the sky looked like where she lived during her time abroad. It was amazing to see how far life has carried her since those days, but how the seeds of her diverse life experiences have germinated in brightly colored ways through her music.
She is a formidable presence live; each member of the Sparrow Quartet seems smiley-in-love with the music they are creating, appreciatively watching the others play, and holding the audience quite spellbound. Seeing as many rock shows as I do, I was amazed that I didn’t even miss the drums. The range of sounds that their instruments sang out captivated my attention completely.
I brought my little boy to the concert with me (he was my plus-1/2 instead of plus-one, we joked, since he’s only 5) and he sat transfixed. As we walked out through the snowy parking lot, he emphatically told me that he’d never ever heard music like that before, and said, “Mama… it made my brain tickle.”
Pretty excellent description right there.
A Fuller Wine – Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet
BUY: Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet (2008)
Side note: Ben Sollee also blew me away; I’m a fan of his thoughtful, cello-based solo album Learning To Bend, and after seeing him play with the Sparrow Quartet, I’m itching to go catch him solo with his own songs, and also hear what else he’s got cooking with Jim James (My Morning Jacket).
It’s currently International Education Week in the U.S., which translates into busy times for me in my dayjob life. I don’t mind this kind of busy, because I am tasked with bringing global culture to our campus for a week of free activities. In a welcome intersection of music and film, my event Tuesday was a screening of the exceptional film War/Dance.
I sat in a darkened theater in the late afternoon and watched a group of school children from Northern Uganda prepare their music and impassioned dance for their National Music Competition. The children are displaced refugees of the Acholi tribe, which has been subject to a horrific persecution at the hands of the Lord’s Resistance Army for twenty years — abducted, forced into child soldierhood, raped, orphaned. This tribal war has left 200,000 Ugandan children without parents, seen 30,000 abducted to fight for the LRA, and forced almost all of the Acholi people to leave the green hills of their ancestral homes and relocate to dusty camps, guarded by military 24 hours a day.
But — when these children are swimming in the waves of their music, they are free. You can see it in the spark in their smiles, the unbridled earthy joy shining in their faces when they sing, when they stomp the dry earth and arch their backs. As one girl says in her sonorous native tongue, “In our daily lives there must be music. In everything we do, if there’s music, life becomes so good. That’s why I want to be part of music.”
Suffering of great magnitude is extremely difficult to wrap our Western minds around, and the filmmakers incisively narrow the lens to track three young teenagers and the stories of the dark path that brought them to the camp, to this school in the remotest part of Northern Uganda. The kids take seriously the opportunity to compete with the other 20,000 schools throughout Uganda to represent their tribe as one of the best. When they perform the 500-year-old Bwola dance of their tribe, they radiate pride and spirit as they stomp and whirl in shades of a Feist video (I must not be the only one who thought that).
The film is a deeply human exploration, one that made me question what it is within the human spirit that flares up, that remains unbreakable and irrepressible. One of the main characters Nancy explains, “When I’m singing, I feel that everything is exactly how it used to be. Everything feels okay again, like I’m at home and not in the camp.” Rose muses, “Music is the most important part of Acholi culture. It is our tradition. Even war cannot take it from us.
War/Dance is shot with the stunning eye of a photographer, with shots that make you ache in their purity, their power, and their sadness. The dance scenes are swirls of color and shifting focus. As they tell their unflinching stories, the skin of the children shines with an illuminated vibrancy that seems out of place in their dusty, hard surroundings.
Out of the gritty horrors of a story that could be the bleakest of bleak, hope and pride rise up in the kids. In music, they survive. It’s a message that resonated deeply with me, and indeed should with all who have ever felt the power of music in any capacity. I give this movie (and the corresponding music) my highest recommendation of the screen this year.
And hey, the percussion that punctuated all the pounding-heart moments of this film made the tiny little djembe player in my own heart leap a little:
Khine Sine – Doudou N’diaye Rose [wiki]
You can watch War/Dance online now if you have Netflix, and the soundtrack is on Amazon. For more information about how to support these kids in Northern Uganda, visit shineglobal.org, a foundation set up by the filmmakers.
With the eyes of everyone in the world on Beijing right now (except me, much to my mother’s horror), what with all the synchronized diving and underage gymnasts, this video from VBS.tv is very timely. I had no idea that China had a burgeoning punk scene — very cool. They say:
“We hitched up with some cool kids who sounded like they knew what they were talking about and they dragged us all over the Beijing’s underground music scene, into dirty alleys and dirtier bars so we could get a taste. Even though we were thousands of miles away from NYC in a foreign land, some things really are just universal. Like partying in a basement at 3am and flinging beer all over the place and rocking your face off. We liked these three bands the most.”
THE BEIJING UNDERGROUND: DEMERIT (MySpace)
Other band profiles in the series:
Brain Failure – Has China started the fabled 4th Wave of Ska?
The cool little Strut Records imprint will be releasing the new Grandmaster Flash album later this year, and in addition to a fine roster that already boasts things like Disco Italia: Essential Italo Disco Classics (so all over that!) and Funky Nassau, they have a new collection that I am absolutely loving.
Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump is a compilation of “original heavyweight afrobeat highlife and afro-funk” music that I’m finding to be just the cure for ears tired of the same old same old. Quick wiki-history lesson: Following the freedom of independence from the UK in 1960, and the bloody wars and ethnic clashes that the late ’60s brought to Nigeria, the ’70s were a time of relative oil-fueled prosperity, and a time where musical expression and experimentation could grow.
During this decade Nigerian musicians melded the outside influences of European and American big band, jazz, and rock that they heard crackling over their radios with their own traditional beats, instrumentation, language, and spirit. On this compilation, leading Afro archivist Duncan Brooker worked with Strut Records founder Quinton Scott to introduce a wider audience to the eclectic, funky, bold sounds of this era.
The previous 3-CD collection of Nigerian music that Strut Records put out in 2001 (Nigeria 70) is now out of print, and sells for close to $100. So, yeah. You might think about gettin’ while the gettin’s good. The opening track:
Yabis – Sir Shina Peters & His International Stars
PREORDER — Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump is out on May 27.
Thanks to everyone who submitted a story about Africa, U2 –or even Bonalmost– for the contest to win the In The Name of Love CD of U2 covers by African musicians.
Boyhowdy’s story was an early favorite (make your wife read that, boyhowdy!) and so many of you shared great tales of the ways U2 has been present at different memorable moments in your life. However the winner is Russell, because of the way I loved this paragraph he wrote about seeing U2 in 1980:
“There was real glory in an Edge solo – a dazzling scattering of light and energy that detonated dreams. Exhilaration. Running from that concert in the rain to catch a late night train remains vivid and gleaming: music mattered, life mattered. Everything was potentially magical.”
Russell, thanks, and let me know where to send the winnings. Enjoy.
NEW CONTEST: Tristan Prettyman is a musician from the San Diego area with a lovely sunrise homespun voice, and an approachable acoustic sound that I dig.
She’s designed a cool music-oriented tank top for the ladies, picturing the chord breakdown of her song “Hello” (the title track of her album, out this week). Stream the tune on her MySpace, and please leave me a comment if you’d like to win the shirt (via Elwood Clothing). The folks running the contest would like entrants to leave an email address to opt-in for Tristan Prettyman news in the future, but it’s up to you.
LISTEN: Here’s a cover Tristan did of French-Israeli artist Yael Naim’s “New Soul” – that catchy ditty from the MacBook Air ad.
You’ll be “la la la“ing all day long.
New Soul (Yael Naim cover) – Tristan Prettyman
Also, you can stream the full album here, and her single “Madly” is the free iTunes download of the week.
I was fascinated with this concept album when I first read about it: Twelve artists and musical groups from all parts of Africa gather together to cover U2 songs with traditional African instrumentation, percussion, and even languages. In many cases, the songs are completely restructured into something you can feel rising from the ground up, the beats thumping into your deepest hollows.
In The Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2 features artists like Angelique Kidjo (previous post), Les Nubians, Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, and an oddly affecting cover of “Love Is Blindness” by Angola’s Waldemar Bastos. Mali bluesman Ali Farka Touré’s son Vieux contributes a rich cover of “Bullet The Blue Sky” with the spoken bridge segment done in his native language. The songs are really different than how you’re used to hearing them. If you love U2 as I do, sometimes it takes a minute to get past the shock. But there’s a beautiful spirit and soul shining through this amazing collection.
The album is released tomorrow through the good folks at Shout! Factory, and all proceeds will benefit the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Stream samples of all the songs here.
And you know — I think that this is how the type of love that Bono originally sings about is supposed to sound; like a well rising, voices joining together.
Pride (In The Name of Love) – Soweto Gospel Choir
NEW CONTEST! One winner will get a copy of In The Name Of Love: Africa Celebrates U2 just by leaving me a comment with either a good U2 story, a good Africa story, or both. I’ll pick a winner and send the booty on its merry way.
PS – I checked, and I ain’t got a Monday Music Roundup in me.
Not today.
Last weekend I posted something that my little brother out in San Diego had recommended to me, and I made a tiny dig at his past musical interests (who am I to talk, I liked NKOTB). Brian graciously called me on it, told me he actually still likes Japanese music, and suggested he write a little something about it to school all of us. An excellent idea, fitting in with the World Music Wednesday feature that I can’t seem to find enough time to maintain these days, but am still very interested in.
In addition to trying to teach me the fine points of guitar playing (pictured above, harder than it looks), he also loves to talk music just like his big sis. So it’s a pleasure: take it away, dude.
—————————————————————————
GUEST POST
I am Brian, and you are Heather’s friends. My whole family, it seems, has this deep love for music in one form or another, and I could probably fill Heather’s entire daily blog with music of my own tastes, because like her, music is my life. I love studying music, learning new types of music, spending hours listening to it, and constantly growing my library from which I can draw the beautiful sensations which music always delivers. Music is my fuel, which would, in some strange reorganization of words, making my sister my drive in life – but I guarantee you that is not the case. Since I breathe, eat, sleep, and drink music day in and day out, I thought I would share some of my tastes with you, Heather’s faithful readers.
I have learned something as I’ve aged [editor's note: he's all of 25, folks], and that is that if someone who claims to love music cannot listen to music they don’t understand, or music belonging to a culture with which they do not associate, they are lacking in something. I want to open the doors to what is in my opinion wonderful music, that like a fine wine may take time getting used to and learning, but will grow on you if you give it time. Sit back, relax, and take a second to try to enjoy music that you might not normally listen to.
A note about Japanese music before we start: One thing that you should remember is that English is very popular in Japan – having song titles in English, using English in the chorus line, or as the background vocals – is very popular, widely accepted, and almost standard across the Japanese music industry. I understand that (to the best of my knowledge,) there is no English-speaking country where another language is so prevalent in its music as it is in Japan, but try to keep that in mind as you listen. It is not out of the norm – rather, it is the norm.
Pizzicato Five
Busting onto the scene in 1985, and calling it quits later in 2001, Pizzicato Five have been one of the longer running bands to have fame in Japan. They are one of the most individualistic, non-conforming, “we’re going to play whatever the hell we want to play” bands I have ever heard. Their poppy, sometimes odd music is something that takes a little getting used to. The band’s two members, Yasuharu Konishi and K-Taro Takanami, take turns singing and playing the instruments in the songs, so each song is a good reflection of both of them. Their best CD in my opinion is Playboy & Playgirl (on Matador in the U.S., 1998).
La Depression – Pizzicato 5
I Hear a Symphony – Pizzicato 5
Such A Beautiful Girl Like You – Pizzicato 5
[Heather's addition:]
Twiggy Twiggy – Pizzicato 5 (I never get tired of this one)
Utada Hikaru
Well shoot. How do I even write about Utada Hikaru and NOT take up like fifteen pages? Ahhh, bullet points. So – tell me, how many of these things have you accomplished in your life:
That pretty much sums it up. I got into Utada Hikaru during my junior year in high school, 1999, when her first album, First Love, came out. She was 16, pretty much the same as all the girls putting out poppy little bubblegum CDs here in America, like Britney Spears, Mandy Moore, Christina Aguilera, and all the other crap that was popular at the time, but my high school, being around 65-70% Asian, had a slightly different tilt to it, and so naturally, I was sucked in.
I believe Hikaru is one of the only artists in the world who can claim the number 1 spot on the charts for seven straight albums. Hit after hit after hit – and they never stop coming. She has diversified herself from electronic-y late ’90s music to beautiful ballads, albums in full English, and almost every type of music you can think of. She is more than just an icon to Japanese listeners, she carries with her so much talent, with such a great voice, creative sounds and lyrics, and it will be so hard to give you just four songs of hers. You really need to check her out. Now.
Automatic – Utada Hikaru (off her first CD)
First Love- Utada Hikaru (title track to first CD, at age 16)
Simple and Clean – Utada Hikaru (all in English)
Colors – Utada Hikaru (off her latest CD)
Kiss Destination
To be honest – I don’t know a lot about this artist. To my knowledge, she only has one real album (and a host of singles) but her one disc, released in 1999, didn’t really go anywhere, and she’s not around anymore. If I were so lucky to have someone reading this that actually owns this CD, I will buy it off you. I can’t find it anywhere, but the five or six tracks I have from the CD are all amazing.
Kiss Destination was the project of a band we’re going to cover later, Globe –one of the biggest Japanese rock/electronica bands in the last 20 years– and singer Asami Yoshida (featured to the left). Asami’s voice is melodic, and she mixes her flavor of pop in with a little bit of rap and very memorable melodies.
Over and Over – Kiss Destination
Long and Winding Road – Kiss Destination
Ketsumeishi
Finally! I’ve been waiting to write about Ketsumeishi since I started this post last night, because they are absolutely amazing. Ketsumeishi is an awesome blend of pop music, amazingly talented rappers, great voices, and awesome beats. I don’t want to lay down some blanket statement about an entire genre of music, but when most people think of rap, it has the impression of American popular rap. “oh. that.” This is NOT what you’re thinking. Japanese rappers are incredible — the way that Ketsumeishi can flow is unlike anything I’ve ever hear out of American rap, so I highly encourage you to listen to these two tracks of theirs.
This is where I REALLY need you to put on your culture hat, and try to get past the fact that you do not understand this, and that the style of rap is totally not what you’re used to. Please, do it for yourself. You will be a better person for liking Ketsumeishi. They consist of four members, Ryo, Ryoji, 大蔵, and DJ Kohno, they have released 4 albums and are working on a new release for 2007. To date, they have sold more than 4,000,000 copies. Call me crazy, but try to watch the Sakura music video without crying… I’m just a sucker for love stories.
Yorukaze – Ketsumeishi
Sakura – Ketsumeishi
Watch:
m-flo
m-flo is a Japanese hip-hop group consisting of two guys that I would just love to go out and drink with, DJ Taku Takahashi and VERBAL. Apparently the original name for the group was meteorite flow, but their producer said that it was too long, so they shortened it to the now famous m-flo. Formed also in 1999, (seems like a popular year in Japan musical history!) with their third member, Lisa, they released 5 albums and had amazing success before she decided to leave the group in 2002, citing artistic differences.
For the first several years, m-flo put out several awesome CDs and singles, and were more the type of group to have a killer CD over a ton of number one hits, but for the last few years m-flo has made their largest impact on the music scene by working with other famous artists to produce “m-flo” remixes of popular songs. Produced under the name “m-flo loves [artist] – [title]” their work has become internationally known and recognized as some of the best hiphop and remixing work in the world. I love m-flo, so again, it’s going to be hard to just choose a few tracks for you to listen to, especially since both members speak perfect English and often-times interweave English and Japanese in the same sentence, or have English in the left channel and Japanese in the right – it’s pretty awesome to listen to. I wonder if it would give you a headache if you were fluent in both…
m-flo loves yoshika – Let Go
m-flo loves chemistry – Astrosexy
m-flo loves ketsumeishi & Lisa – Tegami
Every Little Thing
Last, but definitely not least, is the band that is probably most responsible for my love of Japanese music, other than Utada Hikaru. I learned about Every Little Thing around 2000 – 2001, and instantly fell in love with them. They sound a lot like an ’80s rock band full of power chords, distorted guitars, synthesizers, and killer guitar solos. Some of their music has a softer quality to it, like many of the late ’80s bands who would put crazy soft ballads in the middle of two hard songs.
There isn’t anything that I can say that would explain why I love ELT so much — they don’t do anything better than any other group in this list, they don’t have the best vocals, the most catchy sounds, or the most difficult guitar parts, but something about the sound just . . . captivates me. They have released so many CDs over the years that they were able to release 4 CDs of greatest hits, entitled Every Best Single, Every Best Single 2, Every Best Single 3, and Every Best Ballad.
So needless to say, they have a huge history of fame on the island to the west. They are semi-impervious to time, it seems, as they have not been caught up in much of Japanese pop culture (much like Pizzicato 5) and have really just done their own things, sticking to their deep rock roots regardless of what time period it is now.
Every Little Thing – Dear My Friend
Every Little Thing – Shapes of Love
Every Little Thing – Jump
Every Little Thing – Futari De Jidai Wo Kaetemitai
So . . . I hope this was a nice venture into the land of Japan for all of you who read Heather’s blog. I might just come back and do more international music sometime in the future. Feel free to email me about any of the bands listed here, if you just have any questions in general, or if you just want to be my friend and talk about music. I’m way cooler than Heather. You can reach me at powel033@csusm.edu
Spring is finally on the verge of … springing here in Colorado. There are new layers of green outside my front door everytime I look, and I think my tulips (which I didn’t plant myself, but remain an annual treat from the previous green-thumbed owner) are poised to bloom any day. There’s also a gorgeous bush covered in breathtaking yellow flowers right outside my kitchen window, so I don’t even mind doing the dishes lately. Hooray for Spring, I’ve been color-starved and sunshine-starved, even though I try to make the best of it.
Side note: there is a fantastic/rotten new entry over at ThingsMyBoyfriendSays.com that I ain’t gonna post here but just made laugh for a solid minute or so…
But let’s just move it along, people. Here’s the music, with an appropriate first track for the revelling in the Spring sunshine.
Laissez Briller Le Soleil (”Let the sun shine”?)
Les Boots
Every once in a while on the music blogs that I regularly read, someone throws out a curveball that just catches you offgaurd in the most marvelous way. Aquarium Drunkard has a “French Freakbeat” series up now (parts one and two) of fuzzy, garage harmonies from Gallic groups of the Sixties. Info is scant, but apparently this is “a rare bootleg collection that explores mid 1960s mod-influenced psychedelia of French bands that were paying strict attention to their British brethren, most notably The Small Faces.” I love the way this sounds — it’s as if your little transistor radio suddenly picks up a station across the Atlantic with sounds that are vaguely familiar but altogether fresh. Grab the whole set. Soooo good, right up my alley.
No Pussy Blues 
Grinderman
Following my post referencing the great Nick Cave tune (and the Pearl Jam cover of) “The Ship Song,” reader Joe recommended that I check out Cave’s new band with 3 of his Bad Seeds — Grinderman, saying it was “raw, dirty, superb!” Any song titled No Pussy Blues definitely tends towards the raw and fairly dirty; it’s also humorous as he details his efforts in vain to get the unnamed female to acquiesce in his growling, pointed storytelling. This is off their forthcoming 2007 self-titled release on Anti Records (US). Blistering.
Gospel
The National
Speaking of Nick Cave, the voice of Matt Berninger always reminds me a bit of Cave in its deep and dramatic resonation. The forthcoming 4th album from Brooklyn’s The National, Boxer (May 22, Beggars Banquet label) leaked its way onto the interwebby this weekend and I’ve been truly enjoying feeling my way through it. It’s a rich, melodic, gorgeous album with lyrics aching of romantic disillusionment and raw desire — I had a hard time picking just one track to share. This is an album that I really look forward to delving into and relishing on repeat; first impressions are very solid.
Never Learn Not To Love 
Beach Boys/Charles Manson
So you all know that I enjoy enriching my brain with backstories and random little snippets of musical history that fall through the cracks. The Spinner blog has a fascinating little story on how the Golden State’s finest exports ended up recording the music of a psychotic murderer. Although the original writing credits of this song, which was first released as a b-side to cheery “Bluebirds Over The Mountain,” list only Dennis Wilson as the author, the truth would include a credit for the wild-eyed Chuck Manson as well for his earlier version — creepily entitled “Cease To Resist.” Who knew that underneath all that sunshine and chiming harmonies there was a secret more sinister.
Strawberry Street
Jeff Buckley
Oooh, and finally how about a b-side from my beloved Jeff Buckley? This is one that I’d never heard before, unearthed by the superb Sweet Oblivion blog and ripped directly from the vinyl single of the great song “Forget Her.” It was also a hidden track on the Australian edition of Grace. This song was written by Jeff before he moved to NYC in 1993, and it is Jeff at his most waily, electric, Led-Zeppelin-loving best.
And holy goodness (!!), I’ve been waiting for this news for a long time: The critically-acclaimed film festival favorite Jeff Buckley documentary Amazing Grace will finally be released by Columbia/Legacy on May 22 for purchase. I’ve heard nothing but revelatory raves about it but missed all screenings ever near me; add your name here to be updated on purchase information. I cannot wait to settle in to watch that one.
Name: Heather Browne
Location: Colorado, originally by way of California
"I love the relationship that anyone has with music: because there's something in us that is beyond the reach of words, something that eludes and defies our best attempts to spit it out. It's the best part of us, probably, the richest and strangest part..."
—Nick Hornby, Songbook
"Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel."
—Hunter S. Thompson
“These chords are old but we shake hands / 'cause I believe that they're the good guys.”
—Josh Ritter, "Good Man"
"I am fuel, you are friends / we got the means to make amends."
—Pearl Jam, "Leash"
Mp3s are for sampling purposes, kinda like when they give you the cheese cube at Costco, knowing that you'll often go home with having bought the whole 7 lb. spiced Brie log. They are left up for a limited time. If you LIKE the music, go and support these artists, buy their schwag, go to their concerts, purchase their CDs/records and tell all your friends. If you represent an artist or a label and would prefer that I remove a link to an mp3, please email me at browneheather@gmail.com
Got something I should hear? Email me at browneheather@gmail.com. Digital's usually best, but music submissions can also be sent to: Fuel/Friends, PO Box 64011, Colorado Springs, CO 80962-4011.
I AM FUEL, YOU ARE FRIENDS is brought to you by Fuel/Friends LLC. Ownership of all audio and visual material displayed here remains with their creators and/or owners and is cited accordingly. Illustrations by Luke Flowers. Design & Layout by Dayjob.
