I waited a few extra weeks to post it this time around, as so much music got released late last year.  All the album covers are links to listen, and in some cases, purchase.  For those who like to listen along as they read, I’ve cobbled together a short iTunes playlist HERE.

Have at, and please do remember: This is just the honest opinion of one man who likes what he likes.

Enjoy.  :]

1. Kimbra – Vows
A young woman from New Zealand (by way of Australia) took a chunk of the world by storm last year, and only the hipsters in maybe two American cites are even aware of her existence.  This must change now.  Everyone wants to talk about Adele and Amy.  People, I’m ’bout to ‘splain something to you:  You need to get hip to Kimbra.

Most folks heard about her last year when she wore nothing but paint while she sang a guest vocal on another artist’s song, and that song went mega-viral on YouTube (if you actually DO live under a rock, that “other artist” is Gotye [see #2, below]).  She has a lot to thank Gotye for, as well as the YouTube search algorithm, because once I heard that, I knew I needed to give a fair shot to hearing her solo stuff.  I clicked on the first sidebar link that showed her name; a song called “Settle Down”… and then sat there for the next four minutes with that awestruck, mashed-up face I get when I hear something that grooves ridiculously.  Not only was the songwriting brilliant, but the production was as well, and the thing that hit me the hardest; the powerful, throaty voice I first heard in her guest vocal had been replaced by a playfully vibrant, agile, breathy singer more suited for an old school R&B number.  The transformation was more than intriguing, and from there, I watched all the other videos of hers I could find.  I learned that she was only days away from releasing her debut album, and was immediately ready to get it.

And then it wasn’t released in America.  Or Canada.  Or Europe.  In fact, it was ONLY released in Australia and New Zealand.  This was the worst idea EVER, and I’ll get to that in a moment, but for now, suffice to say that I DID get a copy of “Vows”, have listened to it scores of times these past months, and am not even the least bit tired of it.  

So creative, so bold.  Kimbra is above all the current “white girls with soul” because of a few major factors: First, she’s such a fresh and exciting singer because she doesn’t sing like a “singer”.  She sings like a horn player.  Nearly every song on the record features at least one main vocal hook, as well as another vocal hook with no words.  It’s not scat-singing in the purest sense, as that implies improvisation, and she never “takes a solo”, but she uses her voice as a lead instrument as much as she uses it to deliver her subtly profound lyrics, and not with the typical milquetoast pentatonic runs we hear from every white-girl-with-a-record-deal.  Kimbra can SING. Flawlessly. God DAMN.  

Second, she’s a ridiculous writer.  It’s not too technical for me to tell you that her chord changes and melodies are INSANELY cool.  It can be hard to tell what contributions to an album come from the producer as opposed to the artist, but all you have to do is check out some of the videos of her performing in pared down settings to realize that this girl honestly does have all this stuff in her head, and she can’t sing it out fast enough.  What’s also alarming is the balance of poetry and honesty in her lyrics… The theme of an album called “Vows” is, not surprisingly, commitment, and each song presents an appropriately different viewpoint and scenario.  It’s hard to believe someone this young has tapped into these feelings or had some of these experiences, or that she appreciates irony the way she does.  And just while you’re thinking, “What an old soul is she”, she busts out the album’s supreme cover tune: Nina Simone’s “Plain Gold Ring”… and you’re completely won over, ’cause she CRUSHES it.

“Vows” sculpts daring and varied arrangements that constantly blow me away; I just don’t hear pop artists taking this many chances any more.  The ‘Showtune-meets-Stomp’ groove of “Settle Down” is captivating enough, but when the B-section kicks in, it’s just sick, and when they ramp that same section up a notch again at the end of the song? Undeniable.  “Cameo Lover” throws the album’s biggest curveball: it starts out shockingly contrite, with cliche production that pales in comparison to the song before.  You don’t see the curveball coming until it hits you in the face, and every time I hear it I’m reminded of that first moment when it came out of nowhere… and I can’t stop grinning. “Old Flame” is a tale of nostalgic love set to an uber-lush arrangement reminiscent of the Purple One in his prime — the drum sounds and synth patches may as well be the same ones used on Prince’s ubiquitous “The Beautiful Ones”, but the song is all Kimbra, and the tune’s amazing bridge alone is worth the price of admission.  On “Call Me”, the band kicks out the most modern soul groove of the collection, and it’s startling; the groove stays so relentlessly on the back side of the beat you will forget to breathe, and Kimbra sings her ass off.  That’s really a given — there isn’t a song on here in which her voice doesn’t sound supreme. From seductive to playful to flirtatious to scorned to vindictive, she kills it every time.

Though they’re not the crowdpleasers of the album, the final two official cuts are probably her most visceral and vulnerable performances — “Withdraw” is a simmering, old school 12/8 number that puts the “tortured” in torch song, and in which Kimbra sounds like she’s actually been crying before she cut the vocal, while “The Build Up” is a resigned look back on why things go wrong; a tension-filled orchestration that it seems like Bjork might have included on “Post”, but let Kimbra re-write instead.  Every song goes somewhere new… sometimes BRAND new.  Nowhere on the album is this more evident than on the mind-bending “Wandering Limbs”, which can aptly be described as a jazz waltz doing battle with a thick layer of drum loops implying a syncopated four-count beat.  If that’s not a dense enough musical underpinning, what goes on over the top of it is crazy; Kimbra duets with one Sam Lawrence  …a white guy… who sings like Al Green (I am aware them’s fightin’ words — go listen).  They begin so delicately, with such restraint… but by the end, they’re riffing off each other madly, and the whole effect is sonically intoxicating.

Kimbra’s deal with Warner Music has now been extended to the US… but as I mentioned earlier, THEY WON’T RELEASE “VOWS”.  Instead, they released a short EP that includes “Settle Down”, a live version of “Plain Gold Ring”, a misguided remix of “Cameo Lover” that misses the entire point of the original, and “Limbo”, which, while a wicked cool deep album cut, isn’t one of the few songs anyone should get as their first taste of Kimbra.

So. I am on a mission to make sure everyone hears what she’s supposed to sound like before the suits have a chance to water her down.  For the first time, I’m endorsing the idea that you all go get my favorite record of the year by any means necessary.  I’m not saying you should steal it.  I’m just saying… get it.  However it is that you “get” music not released in the US and not available for legitimate, legal download here.  Buy the Warner EP on iTunes as well if it helps you sleep better at night, but whatever you do, don’t listen to a note of it before you hear “Vows”; the real album from a shining new artist in her prime, making fantastic noise.

(addendum: on the day I posted this, Kimbra announced that there WILL, in fact, be a US version of “Vows” released this year — apparently with bonus tracks.  Hallelujah! :)

2. Gotye -
Making Mirrors
Yet another amazing Australian export won me over this past year.  In truth, I discovered Gotye and Kimbra at the same time (as most Americans did) through Gotye’s smash hit song “Somebody That I Used To Know”.  The song didn’t just go viral on YouTube because of the profound video; it wasn’t just because he and Kimbra were naked and covered in paint; it wasn’t just that half the world suddenly gasped and said, “Holy crap; that guy sounds like old-school STING!” — it was also because the song is great.  I would not be the only person to suggest that if 2011 had “a song”, that was it.  

Gotye (apparently pronounced “GOR-te-ay”), is actually one guy named Wally De Backer.  Imagine having a name that Belgian and moving to Australia, listening to the populace mangle it mercilessly day in and day out for years…  you’d get your vengeance by picking a universally obscure and hard-to-say band name, too.

Undeniably, the first thing to bring up about Gotye is THAT VOICE.  When he sings in his lower register, as he is prone to do when opening a song, his voice is devilishly silky smooth, and at first it’s unclear; is this a baritone singing high or a tenor singing low?  It’s as if he knows when you’re contemplating this, and that’s when he attacks with the high notes — the impossibly high, crystal clear, brilliantly agitated notes he is capable of belting out at the top of his gorgeous tenor voice.  The Sting comparisons are by no means unwarranted — Gotye is the closest thing we’ve had to a younger Sting since…  younger Sting, and to be honest, this guy has more control and versatility.  Any who doubt need only listen to “I Feel Better”, this album’s homage to the Motown of yore.  It’s un-fricking believable the pipes this guy has.

“Making Mirrors” is a wonderful listen; a perfectly paced journey with all the songs in the right order.  The album opens with the short title track: soothing, ethereal synth pads and DeBacker’s breathy voice lulling you into the false impression that this will be some sort of Peter Gabriel-esque excursion. Sixty seconds later, that expectation is bombastically shattered by “Easy Way Out”, which is one of the greatest “get your attention” tracks ever put at the front of a record. Here we are presented all at once with De Backer’s prowess as a drummer, a singer, and a producer (a trend that will continue). The song is perfect both on its own, and as the perfect set-up for the next track…  which happens to be “Somebody That I Used To Know”; the aforementioned jaded-breakup-hit of last summer.  Much has been said about this tune, and I’ll add that I think it is a stellar example of how using samples integrated with real instrumentation can actually elevate a song rather than mire it in comparisons to the source track.  It seems that this is the method used in creating many of the songs on the remainder of the album, and Gotye pulls it off time and again with admirable creativity and inspiration.  

Of all the different song styles presented, I was most surprised by the slow, trippy, dub grooves… the sort of jams one listens to with some sort of mind-altering substance close at hand.  One of the album’s triumphant moments exemplifies this in “State Of The Art”, wherein a sample of a fifties lounge orchestra is married to a deep one-drop groove and accentuated at every turn by sounds from a vintage home-organ (called the Cotillion) to create the enormously clever and grandiose backdrop for… a song about a vintage home-organ called the Cotillion.  To boot, every single vocal part on the track (of which there are many) is radically pitch-shifted, making De Backer sound like some synthetic monster.  Sound weird?  It is, and it’s pure magic.

The album’s closer is a beautiful and somber song called “Bronte”, and before you get any ideas about it dealing with classic literature, I’ll say simply that “Bronte” appears to be a namesake, that the song deals frankly with mortality and love, and that it is devastating.  I cry endlessly when I listen to it.

(Once you’ve checked this album out a few times, I recommend searching for his short “the making of” video on his YouTube page; the mad-scientist aspect of how he tailored the unique sounds present all over this recording is explained, and after watching it, one listens again with even more awe; this guy is uber-talented.)

The defining characteristic of Gotye seems to owe to the fact that DeBacker is that rare triple threat: vocalist/drummer/producer.  Throughout the album, the songs’ identities are established by their unique rhythmic aspects, their melodies, their unique timbral qualities, and many times, the way the organic sounds have been meshed with samples of vintage recordings. It makes sense that DeBacker approaches songwriting from all three directions at once: from the drums up, from the vocals down, and then from the middle OUT with all his orchestrated sounds and samples.  Keeping all that in balance is no mean feat, and the resulting album is an awesome achievement.

He’s already been around the world once promoting this album, and of the three cities he’s played in North America, I was close enough to one of them (Toronto) to get tickets and hold my breath.  Then my car experienced some trauma, and I had to cancel the trip.  So, like most of the US, I have only experienced the Gotye live show via YouTube.  But next time, folks. Next time I’ll be front row, air-drumming and emphatically singing along to all those beautiful notes I can’t hit.

3. Megan Slankard -
A Token of the Wreckage
Ms. Slankard has been making high quality pop music in the Bay Area for over half a decade now, but only recently has she made serious strides towards breaking out.  It’s long overdue, as she’s a marvelous talent.  She’s a gifted songwriter with an undeniable ear for a hook, and I’ve been listening to her releases since 2005.

But “…Token” secures her arrival as a big gun.  This record is captivating from start to finish, and it doesn’t open with a bang… but a flourish.  It’s become boilerplate for an indie artist to try and place the catchy toe-tapper hit in the starting gate in the hopes of keeping a listener’s attention, but Slankard has opted for artistic purity here and opens with the title track; a simmering mid-tempo number filled with bittersweet melancholy, and one in which her voice just owns you.  It’s a tough thing to create a number that is equal parts torch song and break-up lament, but for future reference: this is how it’s done.  It’s to her credit and to the album’s benefit to begin this way. From there, Slankard and her crackerjack band journey through an inspiring set of pop gems, constantly changing up the groove and the intensity, and providing the female singer/songwriter genre with every song we’ve been hoping one of the mainstays would write for the past decade. Seriously: in attendance are a slew of brilliant hooks that would have saved the mainstream careers of Julianna Hatfield, Lisa Loeb, Tori Amos, Shawn Colvin, Tanya Donelly, Bic Runga, or any number of erstwhile chanteuses had they occurred to other writers.  But no: they are all the product of this one particular songwriting force with a mega voice.

So if she writes such great songs, why hasn’t she been snatched up by the star-makers?  A bit of insight as to why you may not have heard of Slankard before: the star-makers prefer that their pretty-blondes-with-guitars also be hopelessly trite and pedantic, and she couldn’t be further from that.  She’s a storyteller.  The lyric she sings now will provide needed context for the lyric she sings ten seconds from now, and she’s not going to dumb it down for you.  You’re either listening, in which case you will “get it” and realize the artistry behind the words, or you’re obliviously “la-la-la-ing” along… and unfortunately, so many people la-la their way through today’s music.

As a vocalist she is quite fascinating; she often takes poetic liberties with enunciation for the sake of phrasing her melodies, and this can catch a new listener off guard.  I remember being distracted listening to some of her earlier work due to some of her inflections, to the point that I actually wasn’t sure if English was her first language.  Time seems to have tamed her uniquely stylistic tongue, however: Slankard now uses this ability to cleverly shape words rather than to confuse, and only once was I shocked to discover that one of my favorite songs, “My Obsession With Bass”, is, in fact, actually called “My Obsession With BEES”, which makes far more sense in context.  

The whole record is hot, so I should point out that the “molten”-spots include “Fair Enough And Farewell”, “Our Little Secret”, “The Tragic Life of Caleb”, “The Last Thing You Say”, and the fantastic closer, “Show Up”.

Megan has, in the past year, joined The Novelists, a songwriter collective disguised as a band formed by some friends of mine in Reno.  Their first release is due this month (January 2012), and I have *very* high expectations for both the album and the group (see “Looking Forward To…” at the bottom).

4. Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile -
The Goat Rodeo Sessions
“Ahem” moment:  I gave Nickel Creek props for Number One years ago; I gave ex-Nickel Creek mandolin-badass Chris Thile a nod on last year’s list, and received feedback from a few people I’d previously considered discerning listeners saying that “everything Thile does sounds the same”.

That all depends on how narrow your focus is when you listen to music.  It also depends what you’re used to hearing. When I play my songs with nothing but my voice and bass guitar, I know damn well that each song possesses it’s own identity, and that the keys, tempos, meters, chord progressions, melodies, lyrics, and modulations are all unique to each song.  Nonetheless, it’s been said by some that everything I do “sounds the same because it’s all just on a bass”. This is no more true than it is of any music typified by a certain arrangement of instruments.  Remember: To old people, “All that new music sounds the same”, and they’re talking about everything since the seventies.  Keep your ears open.

So. Yes, Thile is prominently featured in this crew of superb musicians, and as he is usually the only instrument using a plectrum, his contributions are often prominent, but don’t make it such a crime to play the mandolin that you miss out on all the other amazing elements happening in this music.  Yo-Yo Ma is pretty much heralded as the greatest cellist alive.  Edgar Meyer takes the same title on the double bass.  Stuart Duncan is certainly one of the most intensely wicked and wonderful master fiddlers to walk the Earth.  As I understand it, Meyer has recorded before with Ma and also with Thile, and Duncan played with Thile at some point as well, but they’d never worked together before.

The way these four artistic beings come together is nothing short of gorgeous.  From the odd-meter-irish-jig-on-queludes of “Attaboy” to the slow, simmering, constantly modulating build of “Helping Hand”, to the shifting modal funk (yes, funk) of “Goat Rodeo” to the sudden guest vocal appearance of Aoife O’Donovan joining Thile for the more traditional bluegrass feel of “Here and Heaven”…. You get the idea.  It defines “eclectic”.

In listening to any one particular song, one keeps being tempted to consider it a feature for one of the members, but just when you believe the piece to be hitting the point, another member takes the ball and starts developing the theme, or joining in to expand it into something greater.  Or they seamlessly shift the meter so as to convince you they’re in a different time signature. Or Thile takes a breakbeat solo on his mandolin.  Or something.  Then they start experimenting with other instruments.  Thile joins Duncan on fiddle for “Where’s My Bow”, and it’ll make your head spin.  Duncan returns the favor and switches to banjo on “Less is Moi”, and it sounds like they’re doing material from Sting’s hip days as a bluegrass tribute… very cool indeed. My point is: the spirit of play on this recording is just awesome.  It could fly well over the heads of those with too many preconceived notions about certain genres of music, but that would have more to do with the listener than the album, because this is staggeringly wicked work.  Highly recommended, to some as a means of expanding horizons, and to others purely as the musical gift it is.

5. The Milk Carton Kids -
Prologue
MCK are, by far, the hardest-working act in show business for 2011.  They have been absolutely relentless in their quest to make a dent in the “New Music Industry”. I salute them, because of everyone who talks about the idea of “Give away the music for free and just tour, tour, tour ’till the cows come home”, this duo is the only act I see actually DOING IT.  

It doesn’t hurt that they are stellar in every respect, either.  Here it is: Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan are filling the long-standing void left by Simon and Garfunkel.  You’re not allowed to say that, I guess, or maybe you won’t be allowed to say it until both those guys are dead, but I’m all for bucking convention.  It’s true; while these two may owe those two for setting the benchmark, on their worst day they shine as bright as S&G ever did, and most of the time they display levels of versatility and virtuosity that far exceed that fabled duo of yore.

Don’t get me wrong: it’s all about the songs.  It has to be, and both Ryan and Pattengale are great songwriters.  But they’re each also great musicians.  They’re each also great performers.  Most importantly, they have the elusive synergy that makes a duo more than the sum of the parts.  They released two albums in the past year; the first was released under both their names and featured each artist’s pre-existing material as performed live by the duo at a series of gigs.  “Prologue”, while their second release, is the first one done under their “band” moniker, but that’s not the only difference.  These guys have established as deep a telepathic connection as ever I’ve heard among performers, and it’s mesmerizing to behold.  Then there are the sonic considerations; this record was done live in the studio, and the rich overtones that result from live vintage guitars and two sonorous voices all blending into high quality microphones are just majestic.  You can truly sit a few feet away, close your eyes, and believe that you’re sitting in the studio with them.

Whereas with most of this list I dig deep to be descriptive to convince you to take the plunge and buy the music, I don’t need to with these guys.  Just click the cover and go download it for free.  It’s all part of their plan, I know, but…  is their plan working?  Have they made so much money between the two of them from touring that giving their music away hasn’t been a liability?  Will they be able to take any time OFF the road and not starve?  The jury is out.  I know they haven’t taken more than a few weeks off from touring since they started, and I know they were robbed at one point, and it doesn’t seem to have slowed them down, so either they are also “The Trust Fund Kids”, or maybe this philosophy is worthwhile.  If anyone happens to know, I’m extremely curious.

6. Tom Waits -
Bad As Me
Man, this album is so damn infectious.  Waits has made a career out of making the strident, the dischordant, the strained, the tense; the uncomfortable; the cacophony… listenable.  Nay, not just listenable, but PREFERABLE. After listening to Waits, your usual piddly pop music just won’t have enough bite for you anymore.  He gleefully excludes the weak-stomached from the ranks of his listeners, and they cock their heads to the side, squint, wince, and go back to spinning the latest Nickelback or Taylor Swift, confused as to why the rest of us would ever hunger for artistry with a unique voice.

Good riddance to them.  Waits has crafted an awesome record here, and what’s more, he’s exploring a new bit of stuff I’ve never heard him try before.  That unique voice of Waits’ has always harbored a cast of different-sounding characters, but there are a couple new singers here we haven’t met yet.  His pipes give life to every variety of gravelly-voiced miscreant over the course of the album, and for a short time it’s cool to sympathize with the dregs of humanity; largely because through Waits’ words, it’s easy to identify with them.  Musically, nearly the entire album is a tip of his hat to the music of the 40′s and 50′s (not that Waits doesn’t favor “classic song forms” all the time, but this effort is definitely pointing to that era — even when he goes out on a limb, there’s an underlying swing to it all), but true to form, it’s overwrought with lo-fi production in that delightfully ugly way that shows him at his best.  Never do the most startling and disconcerting sounds and words come together so wonderfully as they do in the hands of this guy, and he’s in top form on this record.  I know he’s put out some discs in the recent past that may have veered too far into the self-indulgent, but this is Waits with his ass on fire, folks; the goods are in the box.  So get it…  in fact, for you iTunes-folk out there, spend the extra two bucks and get the extra three songs on the deluxe version; they’re some of the finest cuts in the whole deal.

7. Elbow -
Build A Rocket, Boys
This band took my breath away and made me gasp with their 2008 release “The Seldom Seen Kid”, which I hailed as the best album I’d heard in years.  They didn’t try to make that record again.  They COULDN’T, really, even if they tried, and you can’t hold that against them.  “Build A Rocket, Boys” is the much-anticipated follow-up, and when I first heard it, I fell into the trap set by any follow-up that is “much anticipated”; I compared every note to my memory of their last album.  So I had to take it out of the player for awhile and come back to it.

This was a good call.  “…Rocket” is indeed a great album, but it’s much mellower, and far more subtle than the last.  It’s that “putting out the feelers”-album most great bands will release after a blockbuster to test the waters and explore new directions.  You just need to listen to it when you’re not expecting Elbow — dare I say it makes for a spectacular listen when you’re in the mood for some later-years XTC.  I mean that in a musical sense; lyrically, Elbow goes for the overtly sentimental as opposed to tying the point up in excessive wordplay, but that honesty is what is so refreshing about songs like “Jesus is a Rochdale Girl”, “Lippy Kids”, and “Dear Friends”.  Sometimes you just say something true, and that’s all that’s needed.

No doubt this will be looked back upon as a “sleeper” album in the band’s discography.  It might not be the first one to play on a long car trip… but then when they pull out “The Birds” at a concert five years from now, there won’t be a fan for miles who isn’t singing along.  Whereas the band made an effort to create a ‘Wall of Sound’ on “…Kid”, here they seem to be embracing… space.  Every song is full of it.  Don’t get me wrong – they still groove when it’s time. They still layer complex arrangements at unexpected junctures.  They’re still Elbow.  They’re just breathing.  And it’s constantly cool to experience.

8. Bright Eyes -
The People’s Key
The opening two and a half minutes of this record probably prevented the rest of it from being heard by a lot of people.  Worse yet, it may have predisposed people to dislike everything they heard thereafter.  That’s a shame, because some of Conor Oberst’s most progressive work is on this disc.  Here’s what happens when you start up the album:  A man named Denny Brewer speaks at you about evil in the Universe in a way that is squirrelly and disarming… and with a delivery that suggests more than vaguely that he was somewhat high when it was recorded.  Just when you’re wrapping your head around that brick of an intro, Bright Eyes creeps into “Firewall”, which, while cool, dense, symphonic, and pretty neat, is not the sort of song you generally open an album with unless you’re already so successful you can afford to alienate a few people.  You know all those albums up higher on the list that got kudos for putting an engaging cut first?  This, unfortunately, is not one of them.

From there on out (though you’ve not heard the last from Mr. Brewer, be warned), the album presents the qualities that landed it on this list.  Lyrically, Conor spends most of the moments here coping with being an adult.  There are moments of resignation, such as on “Ladder Song”, that I don’t think would ever have happened on a previous release, and there are unjaded moments that are downright playful… equally rare in Oberst’s history.  Bright Eyes has visited many genres on previous albums, and with each visit they’ve stirred the pot admirably.  This time around, they concentrate their efforts back on indie pop-rock… but the startling thing is that in the years since they’ve delved into this, they have LEARNED TO PLAY REALLY WELL.  Musically, this is some of the best writing Oberst has exhibited.  The chord progressions, motifs, and arrangements of these tunes are fresh and engaging, and Oberst’s decade-plus of growing into his own voice pays off in spades… finally.  There are hints of devices used by the band years ago:  it’s intriguing to hear how a song like “Approximate Sunlight” evokes memories of the songs from “Fevers & Mirrors” or how “Haile Selassie” echoes of the songs on “Digital Ash In A Digital Urn” — but at the same time, the new material clearly stands superior.  The point being: If you’re going to evoke a memory of how you looked in high school, make sure you look better now.    Looking good, Oberst.

9. Alkaline Trio -
Damnesia
I felt like I needed to make this an “asterisk” entry, as this album is mostly a retrospective collection of the band’s landmark songs, newly recorded with very acoustic arrangements, but last year I included two albums of nothing but cover songs… so think of this as A.T. covering themselves.

Listening to the songs this way, so many things are instantly apparent:
-Alkaline Trio dwarfs just about every other power-pop-punk-rock-whatever-you-call-it band in existence.  
-I’ve never heard so many similarities between power-pop-punk-rock-whatever-you-call-it and traditional Celtic balladeering.  That’s way cool.  At times they sound like Great Big Sea on anabolic audio sterioids.
-I always knew the guys in A.T. were great musicians, but stripped down like this, without distorted guitars to hide behind, it’s fantastic to hear just HOW great they perform.  
-Being a power-pop-punk-rock-whatever-you-call-it band does in no way mean you have to restrict yourselves to use of two tempos, three variations of the same melody, four chords, and a sound derivative of every other band in the genre.  Listening to A.T. in this setting drives home just how consistently solid their songwriting has been.  

The collection is 15 tunes; 12 are fan favorites, 2 are new (of those, one is only about 90 seconds long and is pretty much just for fun), and I guess when you’re this sort of band using acoustic guitars, you have to include a Violent Femmes cover, and… they did.  Many of the standout cuts are at the beginning (“Calling All Skeletons”, “Nose Over Tail”, “This Could Be Love”) and end of the collection (the classic angst-anthem “Radio”)… but the whole thing is a damn fine trip.

10. Incubus -
If Not Now, When?
I gotta say, I did NOT expect to respond to this album like I did.  I really dig…   half of it.

Incubus has had a long and varied career, and when I was an irreverent longhair of 24, I was a fan of their exploration of heavy music on “S.C.I.E.N.C.E.”  After that, they were kind of touch and go for me, and it’s because of my love/hate relationship with Brandon Boyd’s vocals.

Hear me out: his voice has never sounded better on a recording than it does on this album — his tone, pitch, and usually, his timbre, are for the annals of rock history.  But for some reason, over a decade of riding the pop music gravy train has NOT gotten it through Boyd’s skull as to how one should marry a lyric to a melody.  At times it’s as though he seeks to weaken the inherently beautiful sounds his instrument makes by intentionally phrasing his words as unnaturally as possible.  To the point: it make-a the baby Jesus cry.

As the title track revs up to open the album, you may wonder how the pressing plant accidentally put a U2 disc in the wrong case…  but as it dawns on you that this is actually the latest in the evolution of a band that seems to try everything once, you will be pleased to note that they do the modern pop anthem really, really well.  I’ll go so far as to say that Boyd’s voice was made for this style (I’ve heard that a vocal contingency of the band’s very loyal fan base hate this direction for the group — I, on the other hand, think they’re just hitting their stride).  From there, “Promises, Promises” is refreshingly piano-driven rock about misguided groupies, “Friends and Lovers” is pretty self-explanatory, “Thieves” is overtly and enjoyably smart-ass and political, and “Isadore” recalls their sound on “Make Yourself” with a bit more of an acoustic bent.  All these songs have really great hooks.  It marks the growth of this ever-changing entity into as fine a pop-rock band as ever they’ve been in all the other genres they’ve tried.

The middle of the album is, frankly, pretty weak, but it comes back to life before it’s over.  The closing sequence starts with “Switchblade”, a strange hybrid of styles that recalls the band’s early days when Boyd rapped pretty much all his verses, though there’s definitely a very poppy element to the choruses, and still a strong showing of acoustic guitar.  It’s really cool; the stand-out track for me, and I should point out – Boyd’s phrasing is on point here; maybe because rapping doesn’t allow him to accent weak syllables as easily.  The last two cuts retread well-worn territory for the band, and probably pleased a lot of the people who keep them in business.  There’s nothing wrong with that… I’m surprised that they blazed as many new trails as they did, and it’s nice to see.  But had this collection been a six-song EP, I’d be raving about it from the rooftops.

Artists with new material to be released in 2012 that I’m looking forward to:

* means already released

The Novelists*
Meika Pauley
Seal
Justin McMahon
Steve Lawson*
Alex Wong
Petteri Sariola
D’Angelo
Ani Difranco
Van Halen
and…

Seth Horan

Yeah.  I said it.  Hey; it’s my blog.  :)

There is a definite process an artist goes through when honing a song; getting it ready for public consumption…  but I’ve decided to chuck caution to the wind with this one, as it was inspired by the current socio-politico-economic climate, and I figure it’s more important that this particular tune be “OUT THERE, HEARD” rather than “PRODUCED TO PERFECTION A YEAR AFTER THE FACT”.

So please do have a listen; it’s just me, singing and playing. 

It’s not a particularly fancy bass part; it’s not a soaring melody.  There’s no sophisticated looping.

But after all the conversations I’ve had with people who genuinely believe that they are secure in their current economic and social status just because “it couldn’t possibly change”, I felt it merited a look from the viewpoint of both the devil’s advocate and the sycophant.

Enjoy.

In fact, you’d also probably be annoyed if they sat, but started carrying on a conversation, or worse, if they started telling jokes in full voice.

You’d be justified in feeling this way.  Depending on your personality, I’m guessing you’d do one of three things:

-move to different seats
-complain to the theater
-confront the offending individuals directly

Any of these actions might remedy the situation in some way, but it’s still too late; you’ve already missed out on a portion of the performance you paid to see.  The experience has still been cheapened for you, and probably for many others as well.

I still don’t know why people accept the same rude behavior at concerts that would offend them to the point of action in a movie theater.  I’ve heard a few people attempt to defend people’s “right” to ignore a performance that they paid money for, but that’s a pant-load. Your ticket price doesn’t buy you the right to anything but access to the entertainment being offered.  The responsibility that goes along with that right is that you do not interrupt that access for anyone else.

None of this is up for debate.  It’s not about how you “feel” about it.  It’s not “relative to the situation”.  It’s commerce.  It’s a contract, and if you break it, you can be kicked out of the performance.  In some cases, such as at a performance by a comic, if you are perceived as being disruptive to the point where the comic notices, you not only risk expulsion; you have automatically opened yourself up to public ridicule by the person with the microphone who now has a bone to pick with you.

I took a page from the stand-up comic’s book on “Hecklers” a long time ago.  I don’t think defending one’s performance from the stage is a tactic solely reserved for comics, and I take exception to those who tell me I should ignore inconsiderate people in my audience.  If there is a room containing people who paid to experience me at my best, and now those people and I are being forced to distraction, the offending party is going to suffer in measure equal to the performance they are marring.

I was recently accused of being “unprofessional” for ejecting offensive audience members at one of my shows.  I maintain that it is more unprofessional to allow one of my performances to remain subpar for an entire evening because nobody else had the stones to remove the truly offensive people from the room.

However, this ideological altercation got me to thinking…  obviously there are a lot of people who buy into this double-standard about what is unacceptable at a songwriter concert vs what is unacceptable at a movie.  How to wise them up?

If people’s sensibilities are offended by my verbal handling of hecklers, maybe they’ll be more understanding if I simply treat them as though they’re disturbing a movie.

So from now until further notice, I’ll be on stage with a narrow beam, high-powered 250 lumen flashlight, ready to completely blind anyone who talks during the feature presentation.

I might even wear a bow tie and a red vest like the theatre ushers do, just to be a smartass. :)

I’ve been in Upstate New York all summer, teaching at the Redhouse Rockcamp in Syracuse.  The Redhouse Arts Theater has been here for a few years now, and has a reputation for being a great music venue as well as a dramatic stage (I was actually booked there to open for Peter Mulvey back in February of 2007, but never made the show due to my pesky appendix deciding to rupture unceremoniously). The Rockcamp is a summer music program for teens in the area who want to play that infernal devil-music that isn’t taught in their schools.  I was part of the team who showed the Kids how to be Alright, if you will.  Remember Jack Black in “School of Rock”?

…yeah. It was nothing like that.  :)

I’ve actually signed non-disclosure agreements to the end that I can’t gush about my experience, but suffice to say it has been amazingly rewarding.

But there’s more.

I’m staying.


WHAT??

Yep.  No joke; settling down here for the foreseeable future — from the Outlaw State  back to the Empire State.  Gina and I had been in Reno for six years, and as time wore on, we found ourselves forsaking our many contacts back East (hers in the art world, mine in music) for the sake of being out West…  but you can only beat your head against the wall so much.  It stopped making sense to turn down as many opportunities as we were, all the while living in an area that is feeling the effects of the Economy in a very bad way.

Wow.  Okay.  So…. again: WHERE is this?

Syracuse, NY – birthplace of scads of stars of Stage and Screen… Martin Sexton, Grace Jones, Rod Serling, Tom Cruise, Richard Gere… and the drummer from Phish.  Admit it; you’re really impressed.  ;)

It is home to a few small colleges, plus Syracuse University, so there’s a constant influx of youth and youthful energy.  It’s also got a large, proud Irish population – the city’s Tipperary Hill district is infamous for having the only traffic light in the country with the green light on top.

It may come as no surprise that a city with that many Irish and a Division I University is also a big drinking town.  Drinking means nightlife, which means that downtown is actually a bustling district that doesn’t empty out after the work day ends, and that sort of training brings about a populace that understands the idea of going out at night to be entertained.  Translation: there’s a small-but-bustling music scene here.

Before I moved away from Upstate NY, so many years ago, I was hitting Syracuse regularly on my gig circuit. Once Syracuse native Joel Ackerson and I met and started playing together periodically, I ended up clocking quite a bit of time here.  Joel eventually moved away, but then other friends moved here.  For a brief time, David Peters even relocated his studio to a refurbished church just south of the city, where I recorded much of what became *Clang & Chime*.   The point is: I’m no stranger to the place.

Syracuse has something else that I never found anywhere else in Upstate New York:  a strong folk music scene.  Venues and fads come and go in any city, but there has always been strong support for acoustic-based music in the area.  It was here ten years ago, and it’s still here now:  The idea that one artist can stand on stage with one instrument and perform a song that nobody in the room knows already… and that people will listen to it.

There’s more than just folk here though; much more.  I’ve met players in a wide variety of genres, and I’m already teaching bassists from working jazz, metal, pop, blues, and country bands. My new private teaching practice here is getting off the ground, and so of course, I’m going to pimp it like crazy.  :)

HOW’S THAT?

I’ve got a new website up specifically for my teaching, and I’ve got a few domain names pointing to it to advertise it to the nearby communities.  If you like, check out any of these….

http://www.syracusebasslessons.com
http://www.ithacabasslessons.com
http://www.rochesterbasslessons.com
http://www.uticabasslessons.com

All those addresses point to the same place: my teaching site

I’m trying to get it noticed, and to date, Google has me all the way down on page THREE when you search for “Syracuse Bass Lessons”.

But of course, Google recently started the “+1” system; it’s similar to the “Like” button on Facebook.  The idea is that the more people that click the “+1” for a website, the higher it rises in the Google search ranking.

So if anyone has some internet time to kill and feels like doing a good deed, please do a search on Google for “Syracuse Bass Lessons”, skip to page three, and about half way down the list where it shows “syracusebasslessons.com”, please click “+1”!

If enough people do this, we will essentially “teach” Google that this is the right site, and it will rise up in the rankings and in importance.  Heck, if it happens fast enough, you might find it sooner than Page Three! :)

(The other three domains are even lower in their respective rankings… I don’t know how far back they are, so I wouldn’t waste your time in looking just yet.)

SO… DOES THIS MEAN YOU WON’T PLAY OUT WEST ANY MORE?

Heck, no — I absolutely will! Honestly, the Western US probably won’t notice much of a difference; I still plan on touring out there whenever the famously-bad winters come back to haunt the Great Lakes.  But the rest of the country will probably notice the change in a big way…  I’ll actually be around; playing concerts…  in places where you can ATTEND them.

WHEN WILL THAT HAPPEN???

Starting this coming weekend! Rockcamp just ended, so I’m hitting the road.

THIS SATURDAY,
AUGUST 27

SECAUCUS, NJ
GUITAR CON
MEADOWLANDS EXPO CENTER

10 AM – 6 PM

Tickets:
http://guitarconventioninc.com/gcnj2011.html

I’ll be playing for PHIL JONES BASS AMPLIFICATION throughout the day, and I will be tweeting my showtimes as I get them, so if you don’t follow my Twitter account already you can do that here:  http://www.twitter.com/sethhoran

———————————————————————————————————————

THIS SUNDAY,
AUGUST 28

SOMERVILLE, MA
THE BURREN

SETH HORAN
with
TOM BIANCHI
and
CILLA BONNIE

in
CO-ED, FULLY CLOTHED BASSIST-SINGER/SONGWRITER NIGHT

8 PM

$10 admission
21 & over

Feel free to RSVP and invite friends of your own on the Facebook Event Page:
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=226998880676837

———————————————————————————————————————

There is much more in-the-works, of course.  Always is.

And I’ll spill the beans on it soon…

…er or later!  :)

Thanks for staying in the loop.

-Seth

Not that I’d know anything about that… I’m in New York.  :]

This summer I was offered the opportunity to teach at a brand new music facility in Syracuse, and I’ve augmented that by reaching out to small studios and academies in the surrounding cities so I can teach all over the place.

After being out west for so long, my idea of cities that are “close together” still involves at least two hours’ driving (Northern Nevadans can talk to me about how “Carson City is only a half hour from Reno, and I can counter with “Carson ‘City’ isn’t a real city”, but that’s an argument for another time).  So to be here and remember that Syracuse is only an hour away from Rochester, Watertown, Utica, Ithaca, and Binghamton; each an independent municipality, and with over a dozen universities and colleges between them…   well that’s sort of blowing my mind at the moment, and since everyone here is so conditioned to think of these other towns as “too far away”, no other educators seem to have expanded their reach.

So it’s time!  Game-change commencing!

And so, it is with a grand flourish that I offer to the People of Upstate New York:

MY BASS INSTRUCTOR LISTING on Thumbtack.com.

That page has a brief overview of what I’m doing, and contains a growing number of nice testimonials from my previous students. If you or the bass player in your life happens to live anywhere in Central or Northern New York State, take a look, and feel free to forward it on to friends who may fall into that category!

I promise I’ll have more to report in the way of East Coast performances soon, but right now it’s time to shape the musical minds of tomorrow…

(evil laugh)

-Seth :]

It shouldn’t be this way, I know.  I got out of the habit of taking my camera everywhere, only remembered to bust it out a few times at the NAMM show in January, with no real notable results.  I brought it with me to Florida as well, but the sound quality of the recording at that show was sorta “meh”, so it’s been a long, long video hiatus.

But that ends now.  I brought the cam to Frankfurt’s infamous MUSIKMESSE, and was constantly inspired by the great people around me.  So fans of 2010′s ‘Seth & Petteri’ videos, rejoice – there’s more jamming, more idiocy, and more good times.  But there are also some other people who made it to the camera lens this time around, and these are definitely folks you should know about.

Enjoy, and be warned, I’m going to be traveling a LOT more this year, and that camera will be with me, so if you still haven’t subscribed to my YouTube Channel (http://www.youtube.com/sethsbase), it really isn’t a bad idea!!

Part One – DARK MATTER

Part Two – RODNEY, RICO, & RED, RED WINE

Part Three – ROHRHEIM STEAMROLLER

Eagerly anticipated.

Or something.

Here we are at the end of another year, and as usual, I humbly offer my two cents as to what one might check out if one wanted to be pointed in the direction of some new and interesting music.  This year I’ve gone and put examples of each of my picks up on an iTunes playlist for easy reference, and the link to that is both HERE and again at the bottom of this post.  You may have heard that iTunes has finally increased the length of their track previews from 30 to a sweet, sweet NINETY SECONDS, so one can actually get an idea of what a song is like when previewing now.  It’s almost…  USEFUL!

At any rate, have at, and remember, this is just the honest opinion of one man who likes what he likes.  Enjoy.  :]

_____________________________________________________________________________

1. The Weepies – Be My Thrill - I LOVE THIS RECORD.  Effortlessly.  I don’t need to do any work to love it; I just press “play”, and whatever song I’m on, it doesn’t take more than a few seconds before I’m in a better place.  This is the sort of pop album that just sucks you in with song after song of sing-along goodness.  I could listen to pretty much anything on here on repeat and not tire for a good long time.

The Weepies are a husband/wife duo.  That in itself is cause for applause, as they are undoubtedly singing to or about each other at least half the time.  Then, as they almost always harmonize with each other, it would seem they are also sometimes singing to or about themSELVES with the other’s words… how comfortable with each other could they possibly BE??  Having co-written twice with my own wife, and knowing the way it brings insecurity to the forefront, I’m really floored by the idea that they do this constantly.

Steve Tannen and Deb Talan were both renown singer/songwriters on the northeast scene back at the turn of the century, and they were both REALLY GOOD.  And then they dated, married, and started a family, and instead of killing their drive or sapping their energy to create art, it seems to have make them BETTER.  Wow.  Now they’ve made what I think is, hands down, one of the most enjoyable records I’ve ever heard.  I read something when the album was released saying they wanted to make an album their kids could enjoy just as easily as adults could, and while I don’t know if their children are old enough to appreciate the sentiment of “How Do You Get High?” or “Hard To Please”,  it doesn’t matter; every song is so catchy (while retaining substance, mind you), there is no age limit in either direction.

Balancing simplicity with originality… while retaining honesty and/or relevance — that is the quintessential dilemma of every pop artist, and The Weepies have just nailed that equation dead-on here.  Wonderful.

(BASS NOTE: Not that it should have anything to do with it, but it bears mention that most of the bass on this gem was laid down by Tony Levin, who is one of the most versatile and creative musicians alive. If anyone is wondering how to play awesome bass on a mainstream songwriter album, this is a disc to learn from; Levin’s sound is huge and pulsating, yet playful and bouncy, yet melodic and daring.  The one exception is on “Not A Lullaby”, where the thick, undulating, fingerstyle arpeggios of Larry Klein are an obvious contrast; still rad though. :] )

2. Anais Mitchell – Hadestown - If there are any “taboo” words in modern music marketing, both “folk” and “opera” are among them. So if you’ve never heard of this record of self-proclaimed “folk-opera”, I’m not surprised.  If you’re cultured, however, you probably HAVE heard the ancient story of Orpheus and Eurydice.  This album re-tells that story, but the setting is not “B.C. Greece”… rather, it seems to be either Great Depression-era America, or the America we’re headed for in about three more years.

Collaborative projects in the music world are a crapshoot. Very often, instead of being the best of what each party has to offer, the result waters down all the parts, leaving a lackluster whole. Not so with Hadestown. Every vocalist in this star-studded cast is bringing their serious A-Game. Mitchell herself portrays Eurydice.  Ani Difranco is Persephone. As Orpheus is Bon Iver singer Justin Vernon, whose double-tracked, octave-split vocals haunt the listener throughout the entire score. However, the show stealer is, hands down, folk legend Greg Brown as Hades. He is so good I tremble when I hear his voice, and more than one Hollywood actor ought to take in his performance. It’s awesome.

Anais Mitchell herself deserves much wider acclaim, though her voice may be a bit too left-of-center for some; her thin, lilting vocals seem more suited to a role in “Guys and Dolls” than to modern folk, but I think comparisons to a young Kate Bush aren’t entirely out of line.  Nevertheless, this pretty much exiles her from the mainstream, but her skills as a composer and lyricist are frighteningly good; her songwriting is just stellar. On every level, this piece is genius:  the libretto, the treatment, the musical arrangements, the thematic elements, the pacing… just perfect (though Mitchell can’t take all the credit for that; she collaborated on the piece with arranger Michael Chorney).

I have listened to album versions of stage productions, and they are usually quite tedious. But this is riveting from start to finish, probably because it is a piece of music first and foremost.  Many projects like this sacrifice the music for the sake of the story, but the music here is integral to the whole, and it’s laden with hook after hook.  An absolute must-have listening experience for when you have an hour to sit in one place and take it all in, because you will be transported.

3. Ben Folds & Nick Hornby – Lonely Avenue - This album has been kicking my ass since the day I got it. What a fantastic collaboration of a pop songwriter and a pop author.  The story of how they came to work together is set out in a joint interview with both of them; it’s a video on the deluxe iTunes edition if you’re interested.  My concern is how awesome the end result is.

Basically the formula is this: Hornby sent Folds the words, then Folds wrote the music and arranged the songs.  The difference between this and every other lyricist/composer relationship in music history seems to be that Hornby is an author; he’s not always concerned with rhyme scheme or cadence or phrasing; he’s just getting his point across.  This presents Folds with the challenge of bringing the stories to life faithfully, but while making the words into lyrics, and that is way harder than it sounds.

The end result doesn’t just “sound like Ben” — Hornby’s words push him into territory, both rhythmically and thematically, that he’d be hard pressed to move into on his own.  When a singer/songwriter ‘writes an album’, certain thematic elements tend to come in to many of the songs, and can influence the tone of the music.  But it seems Hornby went through his vault of ideas and cherry-picked a variety of topics and sentiments, and Folds gave each song it’s own identity; almost like he pays homage to a different genre in every song. This could sound disjointed and inappropriate at every turn, but it’s quite the opposite. The whole thing is captivating, and more to the point, every song is a uniquely moving story by a master storyteller, told by another master storyteller.  One of the coolest things I’ve ever heard.

4. Steven Page – Page One - So, near as I can tell, the differences in Steven Page now that he’s gone solo are: 1. He’s now allowed to be completely, unabashedly cynical in the most tongue-in-cheek way possible on every single song. 2. He no longer has to space his songs out between inane ditties with bad rapping and pandering to the lowest IQ in the room.

For those who don’t know, Page was the de facto “lead” singer of Barenaked Ladies, and he’s finally his own man.  Years ago, he did another solo record called “The Vanity Project”, and I was pretty disappointed by it, thinking he just threw all his “back-burner” songs onto a record BNL wouldn’t release. “Page One”, by contrast, is a better record than either Page or BNL have put out in a decade.

This is smart-pop heaven. The songs are, in classic Page fashion, completely satirical, yet delivered with his trademark, irresistibly theatrical, self-deprecating bravado.  Much of the record seems to reflect on his failed relationships, both familial and musical, but amid the mostly upbeat arrangements, the topical listener would never know it. The album opens with the one-two punch of “A New Shore” and “Indecision”, both great examples Page’s poetic license-to-kill. In each, it feels safe because we’re in-on-the-joke, but later, during the scathing “Entourage”, “Marry Me”, and definitely by the time we hit “Over Joy”, the gloves are off. On the few occasions the record slows down into a more sombre valence, we are treated to the starkly unavoidable lyrics of “Clifton Springs” and (great song title alert:) “All The Young Monogamists”, which offer insight into his personal life in ways we’ve never heard before. Make no mistake: Steven Page is a genius, and he’s back with a serious vengeance. Against himself, maybe, but I’ll take it.

5. Joey Ryan – Kenter Canyon EP - I saw Joey play a show with Amber Rubarth back at the top of 2009, and enjoyed it.  When I saw this title among now-deceased Amie Street’s “New Releases” earlier this year, I remembered him and figured it wasn’t a huge risk to take a chance on a five-song EP (the copyright on this is 2009, but it doesn’t seem to have been distributed nationally until January of this year).  Here we are, nine months later, and every time I listen to it I wish it were longer. If it were, you’d probably have read about it four slots sooner, but it’s obvious that Ryan opted to spend his budget on world class production talent rather than weeks and weeks of studio time.

What a fantastic handful of songs. The EP features all major label-talent (musicians, take note: Tony Berg produced, and seems to have brought in David Rawlings, Patrick Warren and Matt Chamberlain.  WHAT?)  Based on my recollection, Ryan is a pretty average strummer on the guitar, and much of the beauty of these arrangements is due to Berg & Rawlings’ breathtaking six-string texture-work, so I’m not convinced that the impact of these studio versions is duplicated in a live setting.  But whatever — Ryan’s voice sounds amazing, and just as importantly, these songs offer an intimate snapshot into a young man’s life as he deals with mortality, fear, unrequited love, futility, and responsibility (“Walls Come Down” might just as well be titled “Temporary”, and the closing song is, aptly, titled “Permanent”).  For four bucks, there is no reason not to own this.

6. Andy McKee – Joyland - I first heard Andy in China in 2006.  We were both at the big music trade show, and he was playing at the booth just down the row from me.  We watched each other’s sets, chatted, and talked about doing a show together some day back in the States.  He was just as (un)known as I was back then.  Three months later, his YouTube videos had made him a worldwide sensation, and I feel lucky just to have hung out with him “back when”.

Considering how many people who follow my music are listeners of solo and fingerstyle guitar and bass, I always wonder who I’m offending when I mention how little of those genres I enjoy.  There’s just so much thoughtless, meanderingly bland drivel being released; it’s as though many instrumental players feel they are exempt from the responsibility of writing something with a melody or a form, and many don’t seem to be able to showcase their virtuosity without sacrificing the song.  So the acoustic music world was definitely ready for this man, who commits none of the aforementioned atrocities. They’ve embraced him, and he’s returned the favor on this record of beautiful, engaging instrumental music.

There is both melody and technical proficiency here in spades, but there is something else:  Heart.  These are lush songs — with character — that resonate far beyond the idea of “how McKee is making the sounds come out of the guitar”.  These songs are simply beautiful pieces of music… that few other people in the world can play.

“Joyland” is probably going to be mentioned in the same breath as “Aerial Boundaries” by the new generation of guitar aficionados, and why not?  McKee has a grassroots mandate that says he’s The Guy now.  He’s taken pages out of the books of Hedges, Reed, McLaughlin and Ross, but he’s writing music very much his own, and finally pushing the envelope of fingerstyle guitar in a direction it hasn’t gone in awhile: Forward.

7. The Rescues – Let Loose The Horses – This band did what so many musicians I know (myself included) could not do: compromise for the sake of furthering their careers in the industry.  Reading that back, I realize it could be taken in a derogatory sense, so let me clarify: I’m REALLY impressed with them, and they’ve put out a really fantastic record.

Gabriel Mann, Adrianne Gonzalez, Rob Giles, and Kyler England were all successful solo artists who collaborated together in various pairings over the years, and who eventually decided to consolidate their superpowers into sort of a Justice League of Awesomeness.  In a situation like this, everyone has to sublimate their ego to the greater good of the group; each member takes a definitive ‘lead’ vocal on only one track (and even then there are always tasteful cameos from other members), and on the other eight tunes, the members start sharing the spotlight, either via seamless switch-offs from verse-to-lift-to-chorus or through intense harmonies that build a number of the tracks to what I could only call “gloriously anthemic” heights.  Make no mistake; these are pros, shining.

Though the product of four highly individual writers, there seems to be a theme through most of the album, and I might call it “repair” — either wishing for it, confronting its possibility, or abandoning it altogether.  The whole of the experience is dramatic and powerful (with the exception of Mann’s “Can’t Stand the Rain” and Giles’ “Stay Over”, which offer some needed levity via themes of “over-the-top self-pity” and “lucky schoolboy”, respectively).  The biggest showstopper gets saved for last though, and is the only song present in which each of the four takes a turn singing lead, to build the amazing “You’re Not Listening” from a whisper to a roar.  It’s been a long time since a supergroup made waves, but if this crew can stay together, they are absolutely next at-bat.

8. Punch Brothers – Antifogmatic - It must be rough being as chiseled and statuesque as Chris Thile.  Apparently, the man has so many women throwing themselves at him on  a day-to-day basis that he will never be the well-adjusted gentleman he seems to yearn to be in his songs….

Punch Brothers established themselves a few years ago as the new purveyors of progressive new-grass, featuring five young lions who kick the crap out of their instruments while simultaneously nailing thick, wicked harmony vocals through endless changes of key and tempo.  Their debut album was breathtaking, and was mostly arranged as one suite separated into movements…  all to tell the epic tale of Thile’s divorce.  The stark (but awesome) poetry was amazing, but the whole thing was a bit self-indulgent, and it flew over the heads of most.

Fast forward, and what used to be “the guy from Nickel Creek’s new band” is now recognized on its own merit.  Not only that, but it is a band being produced by the legendary Jon Brion.  So look out, baby: “Antifogmatic” is the sound of five virtuosi who have been playing together long enough to become musically telepathic, and these songs sound organic and inspired.  Even cooler, they sound inspired not only by Thile… there are new elements to the band’s sound all over the place (one tune in particular slapped me in the face with a cool homage to Mike Marshall’s “Gator Strut”), and I’m guessing those have been contributed by the ensemble’s other worthy members. It’s not even fair to stamp their main genre as “bluegrass”, or even “newgrass” anymore…  this is a progressive pop album that just so happens to have been recorded with traditional bluegrass instruments, and they give as many nods to electronic music as they do to hyperspeed flatpicking.

…but yeah; the songs are still almost entirely about girls, and about Thile’s apparent inability to have a committed and stable relationship. That’s not a bad thing, as it’s not something you wouldn’t expect from a group of five strapping lads with a penchant for boot-stompin’.  Thile may be a ladies’ man, but he did warn us about it long ago.  So we can’t complain.

9. Martin Sexton – Sugarcoating – Joel Ackerson turned me on to this powerhouse many years ago, I was blown away, and have been an avid listener ever since.  I once got an amazing compliment comparing my on stage “intensity” to that of Mr. Sexton, and have proudly displayed that in my press clippings, because as a live performer, he is a living legend.  When I finally got to see him, my mouth hung open for two hours and there were tears covering my face.

As iconic a performer as he is though, Sexton has never been a knock-out in the writing department.  In fact, he’s quite hit-or-miss. But when I heard that the intimidatingly awesome Dan Mackenzie co-wrote this entire new record with him, I knew it was worth checking out.  Mackenzie’s own albums have graced this very list, and the idea of the two of them collaborating sounded like it would be sheer magic.

It was.  This is the finest offering Sexton has put out in a very long time.  Mackenzie seems to have steered him away from the “jam-bandy-ness” that, while appropriate for the fans that pack his shows, makes for a pretty boring listening experience on a studio album.  Instead, the songs are engaging, and Marty’s storytelling is tempered by Mackenzie’s penchant for hip chord changes.  Old school “jazzy Marty” still makes a few appearances on songs like “Boom Sh-Boom” and “Easy On The Eyes”, but the tracks that make this album resonate are the ones with the messages.  Check out “Found”, which is a slight return to his “Glory Bound” days; “Sugarcoating”, which is as blatant an accusation of the federal government for the events of 9-11 as I’ve ever heard wrapped in a tasty, bluegrass-y, candy shell; and the steady, heartfelt groove of “Friends Again”. Whatever you do though, listen good and hard to the shining gem “Shane”, written for his son.  Welcome back, Marty.  You’ve been missed.

10. Pomplamoose vs. Peter Gabriel - Tribute to Famous People vs. Scratch My Back- I’m breaking all KINDS of arbitrary rules here…  not only are there TWO albums sharing this slot, but every song on each of these albums is a COVER.  

Thing is, every arrangement of every cover contained on either of these albums is eye-poppingly brilliant, and they comprise some of the most interesting music to be released not only this year, but this decade.  It’s all about perspective and expectation, and either of these great tribute albums will give you new perspective while completely shattering any expectation you had.  And that’s rad, no matter who penned the songs originally.

Peter Gabriel.  Right.  You’ve probably heard of him.  But just when it seemed he couldn’t push his all-star band any harder into the esoteric and weird, he made “Scratch My Back”, on which he gives the band a break and employs the services of another group:  an orchestra.  And together, they cover everyone from Paul Simon to Elbow, Bruce Springsteen to Radiohead, Randy Newman to Arcade Fire… like only Gabriel with a philharmonic could.  It’s not something you’d put on as background music while cleaning the house — it requires a comfortable bed or chair, a dim or dark room, and a few glasses of something to keep you still, but as soon as you see where he’s taking the opening cover of David Bowies’ “Heroes”, you’ll understand why it’s an entirely worthwhile experience.

And on the absolute OTHER side of the musical spectrum is Pomplamoose.  The YouTube superstars; the pioneers of the “videosong”; that duo from the Christmas Hyundai commercial… or maybe you know them as those white kids who covered Beyonce’s “Single Ladies”.  Regardless, Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn are here to stay, and they are phenomenal musicians.  It’s not a new idea to cover someone else’s song to try and win over new fans — Pomplamoose did an entire album of them, and put most every one up on YouTube as a videosong.  That’s brilliant marketing, and has won them thousands of fans, but regardless of all that are the arrangements of these (mostly) well known pop songs:  Conte and Dawn take great delight in re-harmonizing these tunes, putting new grooves with oblong, weird bass lines underneath them, and then layering stacks upon stacks of avant-garde-multi-tracked vocals, glockenspiels, squeeze-toys, and hand-claps over the top of them.

Gabriel’s offering is stoic, sombre beauty.  Pomplamoose’s is delightful fun.  Each are worthy.  Check ‘em out.

Honorable Mention: Mumford and Sons are a really good band.  They all seem to be able to play their instruments well, and they mesh powerfully well as a whole. The lead guy has a really good voice… like a younger Dave Matthews with a British accent, and honestly, I dig that.  I like their arrangements.  I like their harmonies… I like the fact that they seem to have brought an arena-rock attitude to what sounds like traditional pub music.  But I need to be moved by more than two songs on an album for me to consider it “good”, let alone “great”, and aside from “White Blank Page” and “Little Lion Man”, I don’t think the writing is entirely there yet.  I can’t fault Mumford’s delivery or his honesty… I just wish he didn’t beat me over the head with only one musical idea for four and a half minutes at a time.  That said, with all the hype they’ve gotten and the touring they’ve done, I’m willing to bet their next release will be one to watch.

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Here’s that link to the iTunes playlist. Enjoy the music, and happy new year, everyone.  :)

-Seth Horan

But I AM doing a bunch more concerts.  A small series of them, in fact.

Though late to the party, I’m getting in on the wild world of VIDEO WEBCASTING, and I’ve set up a brand new, private website to do it through.

It’s not for everyone.  Only a select group of people can be in this audience. Those elusive folks I’ve mentioned in previous posts:  The People Who Care.  Otherwise known as “fans”. :)

In order to gain access to this website, you must first take a very short quiz.  The quiz is very simple, and it’s a cinch for anyone who’s stayed current with the music I’ve released.  Once you’re in, you have access to exclusive material; in addition to the live webcasts, there are unreleased songs, photos (and before long: videos), as well as a discussion forum.

CLICK HERE TO SEE IF YOU POSSESS THE SUPERIOR KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED TO GAIN ENTRY

Now.  I first announced this site about a week and a half ago, and since then, an impressive number of people have attempted to check it out.

Less than a third of them currently have access to the site.

I’ve received a growing number of…   well, I guess you’d call them “complaints” from people who couldn’t pass the quiz.  The common sentiments in these messages fall into two groups — there’s the first group of “hey, we’re friends; why don’t you just tell me the answer and let me in?”, and the second group of “I’ve been listening to you for years – just because I don’t know the answer to this, suddenly I’m not a ‘fan’?“

To explain: I’m going to use this site to debut my brand new material; some stuff that’s not even finished yet.  It’s going to be intimate, and I want to play for people who really know where I’m coming from artistically; folks who have perspective and who are excited about getting a first-look at what’s to come.  It’s a special thing, and I feel like I would have to explain too much if there were a lot of folks in on it who just “really like that song you do about the pretty people”.  And I wouldn’t say it’s not for friends; I would say it’s not JUST for friends.

Now for a little story:

I was a HUGE fan of Tori Amos for over a decade.  I mean, I was obsessive; I sought out imports and B-sides by her just to keep my collection complete.  I have a LOT of her releases, and when I was in college and didn’t know anyone else who liked her, I still drove three hours to go see her by myself.  I was a SUPER-fan.

But I was surprised to hear that she just put out a new album last month, because I don’t even have the one she put out before that, and it’s been out for over a year.  I’m not even sure I know the correct title.  I’ve heard the single that was promoted, but I just haven’t been a zealot for her like I used to be.  I now have to say that I only have “most” of her records, but I don’t listen to her like I used to, and I’m definitely much more familiar with the songs she recorded eight years ago than the ones she’s putting out now.

I have to admit that if Tori started a “fans only” site that required a correct answer to a question about her newer material, I probably wouldn’t be able to gain entry, either.

So if it was important enough to me to get in on that, I’d probably have to set aside a weekend afternoon and get myself caught up or reacquainted with what she’s been up to.

In fact, I think I’m going to.   ‘Nuff said.  :)

Most albums have, at this point, either slowly faded from “buzzworthy” status, or found legs and actually started to take off for the long haul.

I had some fantastic reviews from numerous sources at the top of the year, and was thrilled with the publicity that generated, but was pleasantly surprised today to see that there is a brand-spanking-new review up on BASS FRONTIERS MAGAZINE’s website.  Click the image to check it out!

Feel free to forward it to your favorite bass afficionado.  Especially if they like Rush.  I haven’t ever been recommended this strongly to Rush fans before, and they are a passionate people. :)

Thanks for listening, folks.  All the best to all of you!

Seth

I’ve just gotten home after slightly more than five weeks of cross-country travel.  It was an on-and-off-again tour that amounted to one week West-to-East, one week visiting my folks, one week visiting my in-laws, about a week to tour the upper east coast, and then a week back across; East-to-West.  In this economy, that’s how we do it now, I guess.

The thing that had excited me most about this jaunt before I left was that over half the shows were HOUSE CONCERTS.  I’ve been singing the praises of the house concert for a long time now, and with good reason:  I have a long history of successful house concerts behind me, and I believe with all my heart that when they’re done right, there is no better way to experience what I do as an artist-performer-yadda.

I’m not changing my tune.  I’ve got more house concerts coming up this year, and will continue to encourage you to host them if your situation permits for ever-and-ever-amen.

But I’m running into a recurring situation, and it occurred to me that I may need to be a little less subtle about some common misconceptions.  I’ve touched on this before, but the message isn’t getting all the way through.

Here’s the idea in a nutshell:

A House Concert is NOT a “House party”.

A simple statement, and one that people say they understand, but experience has shown that this requires a little more explanation.

So here’s what’s supposed to happen:

#1) You book me.  You send invitations to the people you know who love music.

MISUNDERSTANDING #1: This doesn’t mean “invite everyone you know”.  You invite everyone you know to a PARTY.  This is not a party.  This is a concert; specifically a SOLO SINGER/SONGWRITER concert.

You should not invite your family unless they are avid fans of live music.  You should not invite everyone in your email address book unless you are a professional concert promoter.

You should invite the people you know who enjoy music, and who would come to your house for the PURPOSE of coming to the concert.   Don’t invite neighbors or work acquaintances just for the sake of “having a packed room”.   Quantity is not what we’re going for; QUALITY is.

If the “room is packed”, and it’s full of people who have no interest in sitting still and listening, we are going to have a miserable time.  I promise.

On a related note, make it abundantly clear in your invitation that the show will be PG-13.  Because it is.  I’m not Barney the Dinosaur, and almost everything I say or sing about will be above the heads of most pre-teens.  It is entirely inappropriate to bring young children to a house concert unless the performer is specifically promoted as “family friendly”.

It is not “rude” to make it clear to your friends that the night has an age restriction.  It IS “rude” to expect a performer to compete with unsupervised children.  Horribly rude.  If your friends with kids are too cheap to hire a sitter, they are probably also too cheap to pay the $10 donation to the performer, so don’t fret about appeasing them.

If you feel stuck because you have maybe ten friends who fit the bill, but that’s it, consider co-hosting with one of those ten friends, who may have another ten music-loving friends to invite (even though those folks may be strangers to you).  Then host it at the house with the more ideal set-up.

#2)  You transform your living room into a comfortable listening environment.

MISUNDERSTANDING #2: While there is a little flexibility on the “living room” requirement, a house concert should really be hosted INSIDE A HOUSE.

I have never said no to outdoor arrangements before, but I am considering banning them forever.  The problems with hosting a “house concert” in your backyard are obvious, though everyone feigns shock and surprise when the same problems happen over-and-over again:

Being outside takes away almost every bit of control over the environment.  Most outdoor shows are scheduled during daylight, and so there is unlimited visual stimuli for the performer to compete with.  
There are cars and trucks driving through the neighborhood; some with loud stereos.  There are people outside; strolling, talking, mowing their lawns, walking their dogs, playing with their children.  It’s LOUD.  
Being outdoors, many hosts think to set up the grill and have a cook-out.  The next logical step is a cooler or two for drinks.  Then it’s a keg of beer.

People have a tendency to sit further away from the performance space if they’re outdoors.  They have less of an inclination to check to make sure their phones are turned off; they may actually feel okay about ANSWERING a call during the performance.
People feel less punctual about outdoor events; they may stroll in casually halfway through the show, loudly greeting friends and family in their “outside voices”.  Some people may abruptly get up and leave early.  Outdoor settings just make everything feel like a picnic, and are almost always abysmal house concert circumstances.

(This past tour, I was actually playing outdoors one afternoon and cut my set short because a group of guests actually set off FIREWORKS while I was playing.  Not firecrackers, mind you; they set up and lit a ROMAN CANDLE.)

There’s also the weather to consider.  If you’ve set up your entire backyard for an outdoor event, and suddenly it rains…  well, unless you’ve provided for that possibility in your agreement with the performer, you’re still on the hook to pay them, so you probably want to have your house ready for an indoor show regardless.

#3)  You host the evening.  I do my utmost to give you the best show ever.

MISUNDERSTANDING #3: This means that First Priority for each of us is the concert.  All night.  It means acknowledging your guests, but it also means informing your guests what they are getting (both when inviting them and when greeting them at your door), and what is expected of them.

It does NOT mean leaving repeatedly to watch the kids, man the grill, pour the drinks, go to the store, or play games in another room/area.  It does NOT mean talking (even to family) during the performance, or otherwise setting a bad example for everyone else.  Tell everyone they should simply move to another room of the house (or outside) if they need to converse.

It means reminding your guests why they are there and announcing the performer before the concert begins.  It does NOT mean sitting in a corner, or worse, disappearing just as the concert is about to start, or meekly gesturing for the performer to “just start playing”.  Take responsibility for your home and pride in your event, and show respect for the performer you have invited into your space.  This is a concert, and unless you have arranged for someone else to emcee, YOU ARE the emcee.

Be aware that if you do not take care of crowd control, I will.  From the stage.  Sometimes in the middle of a song.  And you probably won’t like my methods.
If you allow the atmosphere to decay into something that resembles a noisy bar, I will treat the patrons like hecklers, and it won’t bother me if they leave, upset about how I will single them out in front of the room…  that’s how you handle a heckler, actually;  you embarrass them so that they shut up or leave.  I probably won’t know the person affected, and it won’t bother me.  But you probably will, and you’ll have to deal with it after I’m gone.

#4)  You handle the finances and, at the end of the night, we square up accordingly.

MISUNDERSTANDING #4: This does NOT mean “whatever happens, happens, and I just don’t have any control over it”.  Some of my recent experiences have me re-evaluating the way I work my financial arrangements for house concerts.

The bottom line is that people behave better at a show they invested their money in. If you buy your $40 to $75 ticket for Ben Harper/Rob Thomas/Coldplay/Whatever, you are NOT going to just “not go” because of work, or because you feel tired that night.  In fact, you’re going to reserve tickets immediately, mark your calendar, and put in notice at your job that you ABSOLUTELY cannot work that night.  You’re probably not going to get there late, and unless the show really sucks, you are probably not going to leave early. You will have higher expectations and pay more attention.

Also, with the ticket price that high, you are not going to go to the show unless you REALLY want to be there.  At a house concert, charging at least $10 admission keeps away most people who are not interested in the music, and keeps the folks that RSVP relatively committed.

I have always agreed to be paid according to attendance, with a minimum guarantee in case of a surprisingly sparse turnout.  This is done in the good faith that the host will inform the guests of the admission fee, and then enforce it.  Increasingly, hosts seem to be too embarrassed to charge admission, and so they put out a jar in an inconspicuous place with no supervision and “hope for the best”.

What happens in this case is that at least a third of the guests pay nothing, about a third throw in a pittance (some people actually have the nerve to throw in CHANGE), and I end up making my bare minimum to play a show to a room of too many unappreciative people.

As goes that saying about bad apples spoiling the whole bunch, I am no longer doing things this way (excepting, of course, a handful of hosts I’ve worked with in the past who know the deal, and who are probably laughing heartily as they read this).

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Don’t get me wrong; I realize that we are conditioned creatures…  we have “settings” we default to in certain environments.  When in a movie theatre, most people settle down pretty quickly.  In someone’s house among a throng of people, most people’s closest association is: “Party”, and unless they are reminded, they may default to that setting.

If you volunteer to host a house concert, you need to be aware that the job involves teaching people about what house concerts are, and helping them to develop a “new setting”.

Some folks think they shouldn’t bother me by asking questions about how to do this stuff, but honestly: I’m happy to help.  It’s far more of a bother to book me for a house concert and let me walk into a situation that embarrasses both of us without warning.

There are already two house concerts booked in October, with a handful more getting ready to confirm.  If you’re up to the Host 2.0 Challenge, get in touch, and let’s make some history.

Grateful for the support; and so thankful for the love I’ve been shown

Seth  :]

P.S.   Because it probably bears mention:

MISUNDERSTANDING #5: At least fifty percent of the booking inquiries I have gotten in the past year have been asking me to perform as part of a birthday, graduation, or a wedding.

These three events are all PARTIES, even if they are not labeled as such.  The music is entirely secondary, and the dynamics of these events are such that the “guest of honor” is NOT the performer; it’s the birthday boy/girl, the graduate, or the happy couple.  This defeats the entire point of a house concert, and making the performer into the Guest of Honor would defeat the entire point of the birthday, graduation, or wedding.  It just. Doesn’t. Work.  If the only way you can conceive of inviting people into your home for music is by piggy-backing it onto another event, then hosting one of these very special evenings isn’t going to work out just yet.  Give it some time.  :)