When he isn’t singing duets with Zooey Deschanel or contributing to Monsters of Folk, Matthew Ward puts out some solid solo albums. For his seventh outing, his first since 2009’s Hold Time, Ward is back with some dark songs about life and a cast of friends to help him out along the way. Matter of fact, Deschanel adds some backing vocals here and there, Toby Leaman of Dr. Dog provides some bass, Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth adds percussion and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes and Monsters of Folk provides organ from time to time.
If there is one thing
Posts Tagged ‘music’
Recognizing Hugh Tracey
When we talk about music, the bulk of the attention goes to a particular artist or a particular album. Sometimes, we even give a bit of attention to the composer of the song or the origin of a song. We tend to think less about who is actually responsible for bringing the music to our ears; when's the last time you read a review on the producer of an album or the guy who discovered that talented kid you heard about on the news? We figure that the famous artists would have made their way somehow, which might be
Delta Spirit, S/T, 2012
The open road is calling you and this could be your soundtrack with Matt Vasquez as your tour guide. This album marks the third from these California boys and my first foray into their catalog. With a penchant for light melodic distortion, the album feels like it was born on the road, but I’ve been listening to it at my desk for a few weeks. The band has roots in the emo movement of the early 2000’s, Noise Ratchet, and you can feel a little bit of that holding on in some of these songs.
While giving this album some
While giving this album some
Every Mother Counts, 2012
When it comes to helping a good cause, you can count me in, and when some of my favorite artists get together to help, well then I have to participate. I should tell you, Avid Reader, that you won’t find this compilation in your local record store, nope; you’ll have to venture to Starbucks. For the second year in a row, Starbucks has teamed up with Christy Turlington Burns, the face of Calvin Klein for two decades, to bring awareness about maternal mortality rates in countries that grow coffee beans. With every purchase, $8 will go toward this
Anoushka Shankar
Last week I wrote an article on Norah Jones' latest album Little Broken Hearts, noting my surprise about having recently learned that Jones is the daughter of the legendary Ravi Shankar. I figured it would be appropriate to shift my attention this week to Ravi's other daughter, Anoushka Shankar, Jones' half-sister, whose relationship to Shankar obviously did not slip my attention.
In India, sitar players are usually men; the women almost always play the role of singer and dancer. However, because of her father's status and her own aptitude (in addition to being able to learn from the best of
In India, sitar players are usually men; the women almost always play the role of singer and dancer. However, because of her father's status and her own aptitude (in addition to being able to learn from the best of
