Jens Lekman

I recently discovered the music of Jens Lekman, a songwriter from Sweden. His voice has some similarities with Morrissey. There are various independent releases of Lekman, but I have not especially studied his discography. Many of his songs can be listened on jango.com. Here you can watch him perform A Postcard to Nina, a song that is in contrast to the varied melody harmonically quite simple, but with sense.

Mindblowing is I Remember Every Kiss, which I would recommend for further listening, with its orchestration, and melodramatic-agitated appearance of lyrics and singing.

The first song I listened to was Another Sweet Summer’s Night On Hammer Hill. I could write about things like the calmness and reduction of the arrangement, but most of the fascination comes from the haunting lyrics. These are the driving force, not the recitative guitar chords or the short interjections by the bass. I especially like the following sarcastic, rhymed lines:

I had a friend, a girl who looked sort of like a guy
I can’t forget her dark painful eyes
when they burned her with a cigarette lighter
when the cops came they had to untie her
another girl was free to grow up as cynical writer.

The subject of that song is not a rare thing, it deals with violence among young people. But in a way I have rarely ever heard before, if at all. Lekman contrasts the beauty of the summer night with two examples of violence against friends of him. He even sings that it’s hard to stay angry about these incidents if one sees the beauty of the night. It is not obvious why the first-person narrator wishes his own dead in the end. One key to that could be the passivity of the narrator in the situations from his past, and the present as passive viewer or receptor of feelings. A real reason for guilt is not there, as “they” had comitted these incidents. Maybe it’s just the melancholic conglomerate of summer, night, and memories that leads to this kind of conclusion. Reminiscences to his youth and childhood are omnipresent in his lyrics. The ability Lekman shares with traditional Singer Songwriters besides his personal storytelling is the ability to drive songs wherever he wants to with the typical descending scales, like It Was a Strange Time in My Life or I saw her in the anti war demonstration. It may sound like that, but the harmonies of these songs are not complicated at all.  The frequent usage of classical/acoustic instruments like flutes or strings is an important feature of Lekmans arrangements. I also like his sense of (popular) musical historicism:

In I saw her in the anti war demonstration the ringing guitar riff paraphrases the Byrd’s rendition of the Dylan Song Mr. Tambourine man. As kind of second riff serve the strings exposed in the beginning. Those reminiscences would be an interesting topic, especially if they are in a musical and lyrical way like here. Also, his lyrics mention musicians from Lekman’s childhood and youth in the 90s. He is by far not the only one with sense of historicism: For example, another contemporary singer-songwriter who has made a whole album in reminiscence of the music from 1972 is Josh Rouse. (Whose style is not too far away from Lekman’s.) Maybe I’ll write another entry that deals especially with such direct historical references.

Cover Girls Part III

Third and last section.

The Covers

mirella514: The Doors classic Light my Fire is quite solid, maybe she should have used a higher key. Also I’ve listened to a slow version of New Order’s Blue Monday. A Whiter Shade of Pale played without keyboards – no wonder it sounds more like a compound of Dylan and Morrissette. Better in the aspect of the feeling is Ode to my Family, but unfortunately with inconsistent speed, especially in the beginning. Probably for that reason I can hear a metronome in Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here. I especially like the guitar part here. The voice unfortunately has too low volume. Everybody Hurts by REM sounds good but unspectacular. There are loads of further covers by mirella514

Now something that is really the best thing I’ve heard for a long time: Thriller by Michael Jackson played by emilyelbertmusic. Now I am really speechless, this is unimaginable guitar playing. I need not mention that this is perfectly in rhythm. Joni Mitchell’s Help Me is delivered in nearly the same quality. Even more rhythm in than the original. The only little point of critic- ridiculous here- in the slides on the guitar is one (or two) note(s) a little odd. (Read about Schumann in the following conclusion then you understand why that critic.) OK, that level is almost unreachable for most of us. Of course this is far beyond amateur level, but you should see an excellent example of how far one can get.

Conclusion

A note:

Webcams are an interesting invention. But their microphones are crappy. Here is quite much room for improvement, like using ‘real” microphones, especially ones with an omnidirectional characteristic, or even constructing, selling and buying of webcams that offer proper sound quality.

More Florestan!

The comments on those covers are generally quite generous, not to say positive without calling out weak points. This reminds me of one article by Robert Schumann, published in the first year of his NZfM, where he as his lyrical ego Florestan demands that critics should be harder to the musicians as they like to hear what goes on. There is some truth in it. But on youtube, almost all the covers I viewed have been rated as five stars. Just look at the covers above: If mirella514′s covers are already judged with the possible maximum, there is no possibility to mark that Emily Elbert is a far better musician. Five stars does mean ‘Superb! I’ll never forget that in my live! I’m blown away!’ and not ‘OK, I can recognize the song.’ It is indeed no help für musicians and listeners if comments and ratings are ebay-styled, where anything less than five stars is considered hostility.

Music was made for you and me

… and even kills fascists, to speak with Woody Guthrie. But it is true nowadays. It is really possible to do something and to be heard. That is what comes into my mind at last. Amateur musicians are no more alone in their rooms, but can react, collaborate and learn via youtube. To make it even better, the ridiculous practice of sueing websites offering tabs and chords to remove their content must pass! Which musician would ever be against being played in living rooms, near campfires, for musical education and all the other occasions where music is performed without real commercial ambitions? OK, the industry wants to sell songbooks, but who needs songbooks when there is the web?

But back to the girls and boys and so on: The spell of a passive, consuming generation of listeners has passed. More than a few who encounter those covers are going to learn instruments, of that I am sure.

Cover Girls Part II

Next round, like Schumann could have written. I have reviewed more girls with guitars.

The Covers

marymac999 is the first singer to be discussed today. Here is an excellent version of Eric Clapton’s change the world. Sounds very authentic, especially the superb fingerpicking. Even if I try I do not find any weak points. Except maybe sound quality. This cover should really  be recorded with professional quality. Mystify by INXS is the song I would not have expected here. A nice and unconventional timed version of the Beatles classic In My Life is also worth listening. Her cover of Stopping the Love by KT Tunstall offers authentic guitar playing. Mind the tambourine played by foot. She also does Weather with You by Crowded House, which is not especially bad, but lacks the feeling of this song. The last song I mention is again very well done: Home by Michael Buble.

It is certainly brave by tuskaiae to cover the singer with the best female voice I know in modern music and beyond. But her cover of Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell is a highlight. Maybe except the chords at the beginning. Also there is a solid version of Luka by Suzanne Vega. Little phlegmatic, but nevertheless authentic and right into the spirit of this song is Kiss Me by Sixpence None The Richer. With one exception (the thin voice), also Dylan’s The Times They are a Changing is fun to listen. Note the high pitched guitar with capo on fret 9! There are a lot more songs by tuskaiae.

First I had overlooked kierstenmh‘s cover of the famous David Bowie song Space Oddity, but luckily discovered that it has a unique feeling. It is interesting that her voice and the solo guitar are enough to present this highly arranged piece in a vivid way. Unfortunately, the cover breaks short after two minutes. That is the strange thing I do not understand: She seems to break the recording too early or during the song she plays. Seems to me like having to stop as the harddisk, the camera etc. runs out of disk space. Otherwise I do not understand that, as the selection and the performances are (mostly, not always) well done. The “standard” in here is Between the Bars by Elliott Smith. The hard bass run in the refrains is out of rhythm and without the c minor 7 that had to be there in the key she uses. However, it is a really hard part of that song. The song stops after two minutes, and lacks the final refrain and the minor chord at the end. To be recommended without exclusion is Across the Universe. The Engine Driver by the Decemberists is played and sung without mistakes, but I consider this song not to be convenient for playing it alone as it gets very monotonous.

Short Notices

ReinaDelCid: Faith (George MIchael) is a very dynamic cover. Interesting that I had not seen this song on youtube until now.

Joull: A good version of George Harrison’s Got My Mind Set On You.  I do not like most of the other covers by Joull, but certainly this. Watch the damping of the strings. What can hardly be described exactly is the feeling of this song that she has adapted very well.

thebrooke: A classic that is very often covered is Landslide by Fleetwood Mac. Thebrooke sings it in an ethereal, sublime way. The guitar playing appears to be very authentic. The guitar is amplified, reminding me of the sound on Nico’s album Chelsea Girl, where amplified acoustic guitars are recorded, for example in the song These Days.

The conclusion is about to come.

Cover Girls

Introduction

Today I do not want to write about original music, but about an interesting tendency made possible by the web. If you search youtube for certain songs, there will be the original versions, but also very often – hardly less than the original ones – covers done by mostly young people. Among them females are predominant. Let’s say they are nice to look at, but some of them are really good musicians. They usually play guitar, and hardly piano. (which is done more frequent by male singers!) Unfortunately, many use webcams with built in microphones, which do not really sound well.

Their repertoire is almost comparable. For example, I would not expect young girls to cover Elliott Smith. His world of thoughts has been something very special, between irony, sadness and cynism. But they do frequently. They like especially Between The Bars, but almost any song by him can be found.

It is also common to cover KT Tunstall among them, which is not surprising. She herself is known to do very competent covers, like an acoustic version of I Want You Back by Jackson 5, and – with complete band – Ain’t Nobody by Chaka Khan. I had not known how good I Want You Back actually is before listening to that cover I must admit.

Folk in general, Beatles and Radiohead are also quite common. But that does not mean there could not be less known or forgotten songs.

Searching for singers – my way has been to search for covers of the artists Elliott Smith and KT Tunstall on youtube. Both are guitarists and still/actually commonly known. I also wanted to go another way,  searching for covers of a band instead of a songwriter. Searching for Radiohead-covers returned girls who are in the same range like the others, maybe a little less towards Folk.

As there are so many, it is not possible for me to find the ‘best’ version of a certain song, or at all the best musicians. Instead, this should sensibilize for what is good in these covers, and which problems occurr there. It is not a random decision, but a very spontaneous one about who appears in this entry and how.

The Covers

A hard decision with whom I should begin. My decision is mmcs122. I like her version of Elliott Smiths I Better Be Quiet Now. In Waltz #2 there is one chord that is not the one Smith uses. His Angeles is very well played on the guitar, but too low for her voice. Perhaps it would have helped to set the capo even higher. It is already on 5 which is authentic I think. Playing the song open, or like played open and using capo on 2 or 3 would not allow to play the important high notes Smith played. The above mentioned Between The Bars is also present and also quite good. Further, she does a good version of Blackbird by the Beatles, Unintended by Muse, and above all much Folk music, for example James Taylor’s Sweet Baby James. The last mentioned is played in a little too strict waltzing rhythm.

Now a look at RachelA77. I like the voice a little more than the previous. The sound quality in general should be improved. But I think I’ve heard the quality of the voice even though the microphone adds snare and cuts away frequency range. Boo Hoo by KT Tunstall is sung quite well, and played on the guitar in a correct, but unspectacular way. Her version of Ironic by Alanis Morissette is nice to listen. It is really brave to do an acoustic cover of Teardrop by Massive Attack. Her version has got the spirit of the song though. I prefer the older of the two versions, as the second one is sung in a little strange way. There is also a version of Radiohead’s Fake Plastic Trees.

Short Notices

raquellanna. In KT Tunstall’s Heal Over, she plays the guitar very well.  But the singing  is out of tune, and that is the weak point here. The speed is much higher than the original, and the rhythm brought in by that is a positive aspect.

QueenOfTheJungle22. Seal’s Kiss From A Rose, unfortunately with very bad sound quality. Nevertheless it is not badly sung and played, and a rare song nowadays I think.

To be continued soon.

Trip Fontaine

Imagine:

You scream as loud as you can – but nobody takes notice. It is so normal, it is not possible to scream any louder. That is really sad, you really want to be harder, louder, stronger, but all your attempts do not convince anybody.

You strum your guitar, as strong as you can. The audience is neither surprised nor interested. Increasing the volume would be hazardous, and would not change anything.

That seems to have happened at the gig of the german band Trip Fontaine in Rosenheim on 21. of september. This article is not really about the band but about something general: Bands and their appeal on the audience. And situations where one’s power seems to be insufficient, where nobody takes notice of your efforts.

Must be a terrible feeling, like or even harder than cycling up a steep grade, I WANT but my muscles just can not deliver any more power. Or while doing physical exercises, you want to repeat another time but ……. it is not possible! These are the moments I feel so powerless. I WANT but I CAN NOT! That is so reminiscent of childhood, where there have been things one simply could not do because he is still too small. But I want! I will start crying, because I feel so unworthy, I WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAnt AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Like in pornography, there are nearly no limits in music. (OK, the limit of human rights, that must be kept always and forever is still there.) You always expect something “forbidden” or “new” or at least pleasant, but… there is nothing unexpected, every part of the human body (and even the inside) has been displayed for years and years. Nothing really thrills anymore. I had the same feeling at this concert by Trip Fontaine.

Should musicians not stop their “residence” on the extremes, as this is no more thrilling to the audience? I do not hope this problem will cause the end of rock music, or at least end of interest by the listeners. Entertainment and the media is not just pornography. Pornography does not satisfy all human needs. Neither does screaming and strumming for hours satisfy all musical needs. Pornography did not mean the abolishment of more “innocent” forms of love as subject of movies. So there is no duty to scream and strum and hit for hours, it is still permitted to use other letters from the alphabet of music.

Trip Fontaine left especially in their loudest moments too much space for imaging other music in my mind.  I heard the band playing, without any doubt, they were loud, but there has been nothing to keep one occupied. Like watching pornography and still imaging love in my mind.

Melodies could occupy, but how to do them if all your energy is taken by the need to be “powerful”.

I would like to encourage bands to do more. If there is a possibility for a change or progression in music, it will not come from singing or playing louder, which is even impossible. Those times have passed I think.

WDR – wer kennt die Hits

Following a spontaneous decision I did something I usually do not do very often: Switching on the TV. As we all know, the history of modern music is closely associated with radio and television. But as long as I can remember – OK, that is not really far into the past – german TV did not offer any interesting shows about music.

But yesterday I encountered something: On the public TV channel WDR there is a show that deals with music, knowledge about the ages of modern music, spontaneous playing and singing. The broadcast is usually on saturday, 23.15-0.15.

Candidates are supposed to sing a song inspired by a single word and the prescription of a decade and style. These singing challenges can also have different instructions.  They are accompanied by a pianist and a band. This means, pianist, band and candidates have to know a huge amount of possible songs to play, even if they are not that familiar with the songs. This kind of spontanous performance is interesting, as the pianist really does a good job in the various musical styles.

It is neither a scientific nor a highly cultural programme, it is an entertainment show. But really in a musical way. It is a fun way to check and extend knowledge about modern music.

Addicted to Base: A Tribute to Robert Palmer

I discovered this on youtube, and could not help but start laughing.

This post is more about the music video than the music itself (which is not that interesting or recent). Unfortunably I did not find the names of the people doing the cover and acting in the video.

You can watch the original version by Robert Palmer (1985) here: Robert Palmer – Addicted to Love

Robert Palmer’s inapproachable girls, dressed in black, playing instruments (though it is clear that these models are there only for the show) are converted to girls in a chemical laboratory and made ridiculous. Here, women wearing exactly the same dress are a common sight, and the singer imitates Palmer’s 30′s style with tie and white shirt by wearing a white lab coat.

Palmer’s attractive girls suggest the fact that no man could ever reach them in their kind of aristocracy, if that is the right word. On the other side, the attractiveness of women in lab clothes is limited, I have to confess. Even the moves of the girls match the original and thereby add “authenticity” to the cover. Some elements of the lyrics are kept and transferred to the chemical context, especially:

“It’s closer to the truth to say you can’t get/add enough”

It is not common covering / parodizing music and video at the same time. The style of Palmer’s video has been cited by other artists as can be read on wikipedia. Also, the video hints at the works of Patrick Nagel, an artist who did drawings of women in a similar style and could be a possible influence to these music videos.

As I am no more much into chemistry,  I can only summarize what is described in the lyrics of the cover:

A substance is supposed to deprotonate (= lose its hydrogen). To achieve this, a base must be added, in solution there are OH- -ions (these are addicted to protones, pulling them like magnetic) so the reaction (in solution) should be:

H₃O+ + OH-  >> 2H₂O

That is a kind of neutralisation, and if it is finished, the pH should be around 7 as no more protones/charge should be there. As the song title implies, it’s resistant to base, this reaction does not happen and the desperate researcher adds huge amounts of base pushing the pH to the limit.

As you see, music can lead to various other topics at the same time like chemistry or history of art.

Björk in a Classical Way

Björk tends to arrange her songs around heavy electronic beats and sound effects. But her pieces do not lose their magic when stripped down to nearly classical arrangements.

 

Unravel, arranged for just cembalo and voice, it ressembles classical art songs like those of Franz Schubert. Yet, her voice sounds much more natural than those of classical singers.

 

Yoga, arranged for string quartett (actually eight instruments are playing, but it seems to me that they are just doubled) and voice, it ressembles classical chamber music.

Andrew Morgan: His Music and his Plea for Legal Purchase of it

I like to introduce you to the music of Andrew Morgan. One feature of his page on Myspace are the various influences he mentions. The times and styles vary: ranging from great Jazz musicians like John Coltrane, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis to the must-haves of musical influences: The Beatles, Motown, Simon & Garfunkle and The Smiths. Of course, he mentions the line of young songwriters of a certain style, who have the tendency to a premature death, like Nick Drake, Elliott Smith and Rufus Wainwright. Oh, he has forgotten to mention Tim Buckley.

By some means, especially Nico fits in, not because she has already died, but because of her quiet melancholic folk music with “classical” arrangements. To be fair, I have to add that Nico’s music and arrangements had not been her work, but the work of Andy Warhol, the members of Velvet Underground, Jackson Browne and in some portions Bob Dylan.

This style of nearly classically arranged folk is for me the essence of Morgan’s music. But it is arranged in a different manner. While the leading instrument in Nico’s music is the (folk-)guitar, accomplished by the string sections and occasionally flute, Andrew Morgan does not have that acoustic separation between guitar and arrangement. All instruments are integrated in the musical setting.

In 2003 he finished his first album Misadventures in Radiology.

This awful room is a very sad song, which reminds me of Elliott Smith (in whose studio the album had been recorded!), but with the mentioned technique of arrangement. Both have some similarity regarding their soft, mellow, not very loud voices. This song contains many melodic phrases that evoke the sense of lamentation.

The title track contains something like lightness, (which is not very often present in his melancholic music) some chord changes and accompaniment figures that remind me of British bands, above all Oasis.

His arrangements using acoustic, classical instruments like strings, but also harpsichords, vibraphones and harps, are more important and present than the acoustic guitar, which is the traditional framework of his style. This sound seems to me quite fresh and authentic. “Lofi in Hifi” comes to my mind regarding his genre. I am sure there are more listeners who like his music than those who already know him, and this musician surely deserves a chance. He has published a plea against copying music in an illegal way.

I am tempted to say that his style music is not music for everyone, and that there lies his problem with what he calls “theft”. Perhaps Morgan can unfortunately not earn enough money with performances and rewards from airplay and his sales, so that he begins to calculate, how much additional income he would have if all the “thieves” bought his music. He does not take in account that only few of these “thieves” would really have bought his music if there would not be the possibility to “steal” the music.

In one point he is right in my opinion: It is relatively easy to make music as rich idealists. I guess it is like the fact that people who claim not to be interested in money generally have money. Somebody who does not have will be more interested, as he has to be interested in money to survive in financial issues. So I believe, many noncommercial, idealistic things are done because there is no need to argue about money.

To be clear, copying music in an illegal way is not a good thing, but to call people thieves who infringe the copyright is way too hard in my opinion. That means to declare a high percentage of the population as criminals. And that does not help against this “theft”.

It would be nice if someone would leave comments about this text by Morgan, and his words about the financial situation of Radiohead, or about the discussions of the situation/future of the copyright, or even about my words.

A positive thing is, that he offers some songs as free downloads for promotional issues, so he is not someone who has been sleeping until being overrolled by the internet. If you click on the photo, you’ll get to Morgan’s homepage, where you can find some songs. Another suggestion is to browse Tonspion.de. There have been links to free, legal downloads by this artist.

I am planning to review one or some of his songs in sight of the music and the lyrics the following days.

Theremin: Barbara Buchholz – Little Liar

The first electronic music instrument ever invented is the Theremin. But I guess most people might consider it a game or an interesting means of educational entertainment. I will not write any technical details about the theremin, as you can read about it on wikipedia.

But in fact, it is an instrument that has been used frequently, from film scores to Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys (they employed a modified type of Theremin). It is very hard to play, as players have to focus their movements in space, for this instrument is played without touching it.

Buchholz, originally Jazz bassist, liked the sound of this instrument very much and wanted to perform with it. Thus, she studied playing the theremin in Moscow.

I encountered the song Little Liar from the CD Moonstruck on Tonspion.de

In this piece, the theremin is used as accompanying instrument in a calm, bluesy track, sung by Alejandro Govea Zappino. The fragile, scattered character of this instrument fits very well into the slow, ambient bluesy environment of this piece.

The music is derived from a relatively simple hook, or motif, played by an acoustic guitar and an electric bass:

the guitar plays plucked chords in the key or scale of E minor. The most important root notes played by the bass are succesively C#, D# and E. Sometimes, the D is added to this run, producing a chromatic line.

The power of this song does not evolve from this harmonic pattern, but from the contrast of guitar/voice and the sparse, minimalistic usage of the theremin. Nevertheless, it is more of a song for the relaxed moments, an not for being driven by the music.

Now some links to this artist:

www.barbarabuchholz.com

http://www.myspace.com/barbarabuchholz

On myspace, the track Moonstruck demonstrates the ability of the theremin, to sound even like Santana’s guitar in Samba Pa Ti

~T.