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State Of Mind - Raul Midon
Back on June 16, Jen and I navigated our way down to the historic Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, where we had tickets to see the Joe Jackson Band. The opener was a guy named Raul Midon, who I didn't give much thought to. That is, until the blind man was led out on stage, handed a guitar, and given free reign to blow the house away. I feel like I should have seen it coming: this beautiful voice, incredible dexterity, and delightful rapport with the audience, from a blind musician. Ironic, eh?
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Jelly Belly - Medeski Martin & Wood
When I first joined Put Down The Muffin, I was given a CD of covers by guitarist Matt Patrick, which included this song. It's always so much fun to play, and for me, it captures the essence of what MMW are all about. Nothing terribly weird, just an overheated groove that is just the truth.
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The Day We Left Town - Magnet
Magnet is an artist whom I know very little about, yet his music is already incredibly autobiographical for me. On the night of the rehearsal dinner preceding Jen's and my wedding, my groomsman Scott Jones plugged his iPod into the aux jack in my Element during the long drive out to my parents' house. Cameraman Nate Bergengren was also in the car, and we listened to this track. As the song played, Nate described it as "the male version of Imogen Heap". The production contains so many little clicks and ticks, which serve as a sort of soft intensity...driving, yet very subdued. The day after (aka The Big Day), Scott and Justin watched "Lockdown", an episode from the second season of "Lost", which Scott also had on his iPod, and whenever I hear this song, it takes me back to when I heard those guys watching the show in my living room, just hours before my wedding. It was just cool, hearing a song about leaving town, when all these corners of my world collided in Minneapolis to stand with me on such a huge day of my life.
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Paul Harvey - Spymob
Before their fantastic Sitting Around Keeping Score album, Spymob released Townhouse Stereo, full of piano-fronted, chordally-complex tracks. This song, just over two minutes in length, features keyboardist and lead singer John Ostby, somehow finding a melody over some of the most obliquely joined chord changes I've ever heard. He makes it work, and tells a picturesque story while doing so.
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Heist - Ben Folds
I was intrigued, along with many others, to hear that Ben Folds was working on the soundtrack to the animated feature "Over The Hedge". However, four seconds later, it made perfect sense--he has all the necessary sensibilities to do a killer job. The real shock was to hear that he'd sanitized "Rockin' The Suburbs", his rip on Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst. But this track also came out of the mix, and is awesome. It's full of badass piano, fat horns, great vocals, witty lyrics, and some fun oscillating synth during the breakdown. As with many of Mr. Folds' songs, the last thing you hear is the decay of a very, very low piano note, slammed down with the force of a garbage truck.
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More Than This - Norah Jones w/ Charlie Hunter
June 16: Rewind about 40 minutes from when Raul Midon began rocking our faces off. Jen and I grabbed a bite to eat at Pazzaluna, a few walkable blocks from the Fitzgerald, and I popped into the men's room. As relief came over me, I heard this song playing over the house sound system, and remembered I'd downloaded it a year before. Bam! It went into the mix.
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Green Tea - John Scofield
On Sco's brilliant collaboration with MMW, this mellow little jam cuts the record down the middle, stablizing after the weirdness of "Kubrick" and the boiling pot of "Hottentot". It's pulled from the recipe of minor blues jams, a la "Note Bleu" from The Dropper. Great last chord, too.
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Sweet Spot - Sugarman Three
I went down to the Cabooze on Cedar-Riverside several months ago for a joint Terramara/Steeling Dan show--the first of many, I hope. Before Terramara took the stage, the soundman was playing this insane organ trio disc, with horns and a supertight groove. I kick myself for not finding out who the group was, but it prompted me to do a search for organ trios, and I found the Sugarman Three, a group whose physical merchandise is somewhat difficult to get hold of, but whose downloadability is only a click away.
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Hurricane Country - Dave Grusin
Dave is simply never far from my musical center. One of his more recent releases is a compilation of film music, performed on solo piano. I had always hoped for a Cinemagic, Part II or something which catalogued his later films, such as "The Firm" and "Random Hearts". This track, from the film "Havana", is a beautiful, rolling journey, soaked with rain, but warm in upper extensions. Also, there are times when the piano resolves to a major-7 chord, when it seems as though it should go to the minor chord from whence it began. It's a warm surprise, and it's a humble but effective notch in Dave's belt of genius.
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The Gift - Larry Carlton
In my opinion, Larry Carlton's "gift" is his ability to work in threes. This song, written in 3/4, is a beautiful follow-up to "Hurricane Country", and works slowly through a gorgeous chord progression. As I mentioned in the last mix--and in my blog after seeing Larry perform--every track is like a master class.
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Impossible Dreamer - Joni Mitchell
Shortly after our wedding, I was watching Joni's "Painting With Words And Music" DVD, which piqued my interest once again in her vast catalog. With my exposure being somewhat limited to Court And Spark and The Hissing Of Summer Lawns, I didn't really know where to go from there. Another compilation would have to serve until more specific direction could be ascertained. Enter Misses, her ironic companion to her Hits album, both released circa 1996. Several "deep cuts" were embedded on the Misses disc, including a handful from 1985's Dog Eat Dog, featuring guitarist Michael Landau. The production on these is so blatantly 80's, and I love it. The feel is spacious, and Joni tackles the impossible in subject matter. There's also some great soprano sax work fluttering in the background, courtesy of jazz legend Wayne Shorter.
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The Unspoken - Sarah Notley
In the middle of Sarah Notley's fantastic Broken Down Angel album is this very moody, atmospheric piece, which was always one of my favorites to perform live. It was my job to play the major-9 synth part in the background, and it was a perfect break in the action after the intensity of the title track, and leads stunningly into what I consider to be the high point of the album, "Eastern Shore".
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Gravity - Shawn McDonald
I really appreciate the sidesteps Shawn McDonald has taken with his music to make it just off-center from so much of Christian music. There's acoustic guitar, piloted by McDonald, but the accompanying rhythm feels like Peter Gabriel, which is so refreshing. And, like much of Gabriel's music, it has an otherworldly sound to it, yet still feels like home.
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This Is The Time - Billy Joel
During my junior year of college, I came down to Webster armed with a new synth module, a brand-new Macintosh G3, a sweet desk built by my dad, and several weeks-worth of learning how to play and sing at the same time. Enter my roommate Dominic Margaglione, who came armed with a handful of CDs from one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time, Billy Joel. He was playing The Bridge while cooking a pot of pasta one afternoon, and I was immediately taken in by the opening track, "Running On Ice". It segued into this beautiful song, featuring a sort of filtered guitar and a cool chord progression. It had the feel of fall, which also happened to be the season during which I first heard the song. The lyrics were also wistful and somewhat regretful, but I loved it.
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Idea # 21 (Not Too Late) - Over The Rhine
One of the coolest tracks on Over The Rhine's double-disc album Ohio is the extra bonus track at the end of the second disc. Simply called "Idea #21", it makes me wonder what this song would have sounded like in a completed form. It is a bit rough in some spots, but the progression is great, and there's some well-played B3 organ in the background.
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Cafe Coca - De-Phazz
The artist De-Phazz has popped up in several places for me over the years, starting with the Restoration Hardware Le Groove/Left Bank CD which featured "Jazz Music". This track has a fabulous Latin groove, and an interesting sample which repeatedly says "you blow my brains out".
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Bugs - Pearl Jam
Contrary to what most might think, "Bugs" is actually a very crucial song in the Pearl Jam canon. After achieving mind-blowing success with their debut album Ten, and a slightly more edgy follow-up with Vs., the band began their descent into the world of weird with 1994's Vitalogy. This track, almost a throwaway but for its head-scratching nature, consists of badly-played accordion, questionable percussion, and Eddie Vedder singing "tickle my nausea" and "waiting, waiting". A band doesn't put a track like this on n album unless they know they can get away with it and STILL sell millions of records. So, Eddie and Co., we salute you for arriving.
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Take It Like A Man - Joe Jackson
And coming full-circle from this mix's opening track, we finally get to the mighty Joe Jackson, with the opening cut off his return to the punk four-piece, Volume 4. Even with drums, bass and guitar adding to the noise, Joe still manages to break through with some very lovely piano lines. Don't be a woman--take it like a man.
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All That Noise - Dave Barnes
Dave's Chasing Mississippi album seems to touch on a generous handful of musical bases, not limited to adult contemporary, quasi-smooth jazz, and modern rock. He doesn't leave the New Orleans street beat alone, either, as evidenced by this track, which just digs into a great Southern groove. There's lots of piano, a hint of organ, and fun, sloppy lyrics...but only sloppy in the delivery. Great story. I really wish there was more of this kind of music still on the scene.
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It's Oh So Quiet - Björk
My lovely wife Jen made a very, very good mix for me for Valentine's Day in 2005. The last song was this one, which is apparently quite different for Bjork (who's different enough as it is). I love the big band orchestrations, and those insane screams she utters during the choruses. I suggested to Jen that we do it for our first dance, since it seemed like a fun, danceable number, until she explained to me that it's about breaking up with guys. Whoops.
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The Sultan Of Brunei - Kaviar
I mentioned several mixes ago that I would never quote from Kevin Gilbert's ultra-dark Kaviar album. Truly, in listening through the disc, there are tracks present which scared ME. However, I included the end of this song, a scathing description of the uber-indulgent Sultan, which features a voiceover by singer Susie Davis, over a sort of "Lifestyles Of The Rich and Famous" acoustic guitar, synth string patch, and vacation-inducing percussion. "Sunbathe all day and party all night with the privileged international jet set. Why work? Call 1-800-THE-SULTAN!"
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