Two 2021 Celtic album recommendations

Sometimes I come to albums in the next year after they were produced, and regret not putting them on my end-of-year lists (we really need to come up with a better system for this—maybe this year, best of 2022 and 2021 albums I finally heard?). This post features two albums from Fall 2021, both of them folk music. I'd say this was a St. Patrick's Day post, but neither of the albums I'm recommending are really connected to Ireland, though they might broadly be considered Celtic.

The first is Message in a Bottle by Ingrid Henderson, a Scottish harpist. No, it doesn't have anything to do with Sting's "Message in a Bottle"; instead, the album is inspired by an event in 2008, when "a nine year old boy from Armagh placed...a message in a bottle off Northern Ireland and ten years later it washed up on Canna [Scotland]" (there's your Irish connection). Henderson mixes her music with natural sounds, like the sea, and the rest of the album soothes like those natural sounds. Birds, sailors, and mermaids are featured topics. Besides instrumentals, there's singing in Scots-Gaelic and English, too. My two favorite tracks are dance music, though: "Jigs–Port na Culaidh & Port an Luig Mhòir" and "Reels–The Dance of the Storm Petrels & Swallows of the Sea." Also available on Bandcamp.

The second album is Reclaim by Mishra, a group from Sheffield, England. While their style is "traditional," their use of Indian tabla, banjo, low whistles, bass and clarinet (and sometimes bass clarinet) puts them solidly in the realm of "fusion." But it is not just the instrumentation; the melodies occasionally borrow from Indian music (and other traditional music). The songwriting might vary in quality, but the arrangements are always inventive and unexpected. Also available on Bandcamp.

Enjoy!

Favorite Tracks of 2021 Playlist: Things Aren't Quite Right

Last week, I featured my top albums of 2021, but there are a lot of other individual songs from 2021 not on those albums that I want to share. As I sifted through my favorites from the year, I again noticed a theme—this year, all these songs are about subjects and situations that aren’t quite right. I guess that is a pretty good general theme for 2021.

I’ve organized my 2021 playlist into six pairs of songs:

"Anthony Kiedis" by Remi Wolf and "Jealousy, Jealousy" by Olivia Rodrigo are both songs from young debut artists that are insightful commentaries about problems they are encountering—and the older generations can relate, too. The former is about dealing with the 2020 pandemic shutdown, and the latter is about the effects of social media. Both also feature fresh, fun, humorous music despite the heavy topics. FYI, Anthony Kiedis is the lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, in case that helps.

"Savage Good Boy" by Japanese Breakfast (a.k.a. Michelle Zauner) and "Fly as Me" by Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak in a 1970s throwback project) are both satires on toxic masculinity, throwing a light on how ridiculous it can be by inhabiting that space. Great lyric writing in both songs—as the songs go on, each character gets more ridiculous. Japanese Breakfast has some great production, and Silk Sonic somehow call back the 70s and update the sound at the same time.

"The Tradition" by Halsey and "Bloody Soil" by Northern Irish band The New Pagans are both about the exploitation of young women—no shortage of that still going on. Like Silk Sonic, both find inspiration in older musical genres to help tell their points—"The Tradition" uses English ballad melodies and form (though with some added production and off-key creepiness) and "Bloody Soil" calls back to early 80s U2 rock crossed with Sonic Youth noise rock.

"Harmony Road" by Sting and "The Princess and the Clock" by Kero Kero Bonito are both about escaping a bad circumstance not of the protagonists’ creation (or at least wishing to escape). I’m sure many of us can relate to feeling trapped and isolated. While "Harmony Road" isn't one of the best Sting lyrics, I’m always there for weird meter Sting and folk-inspired Sting (plus a Branford Marsalis sax solo). "The Princess and the Clock" is typical KKB quirky electropop, with a fantasy story. A fairly typical form is spiced up by three pregnant instrumental interludes.

"Make it right." by Tune-Yards and "Reach Out" by Sufjan Stevens and Angelo de Augustine are about fixing things that have gone wrong in the past. Tune-Yards are also into quirky production, and you can hear it here, along with some unexpected repetition. "Reach Out" is loosely based on the 1987 German fantasy-meets-romance film Wings of Desire (The German title is better: Der Himmel über Berlin, the Heaven/Sky over Berlin) where angels listen to the thoughts of Berliners. It features the light, airy Sufjan production you’ve probably heard before. While the song definitely feels like a whole, a melodic section does not repeat until almost 2.5 minutes into the song. For those counting at home, the sections look like: ABCDEDBA. So that’s cool.

"Indigo" by Katherine Priddy and "Homeward Bound (For Ana Grace)" by Johnathan Blake and Pentad are both about going home after a terrible experience. For "Indigo," the experience was a beloved tree breaking in the storm—though I think also a hard life. Those chord changes and the folk-inflected (and sometimes overdubbed) vocals get me every time. "Homeward Bound" is dedicated to the daughter of two other musician friends of Blake; the daughter died in the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012. It’s not that often that the drummer of a group is the bandleader, but if more weird 5/4 meter jazz are a result, I’m all for it. Also: I can’t get enough of the vibraphone in small ensembles like this.

My Favorite New Albums of 2021

2021 has been a strange year. A year in which there were new albums by Sting, Chris Thile, and Imagine Dragons, and none of those made my list of favorite albums. I picked 6 out of the 51 new albums that I listened to from 2021 to highlight, in no particular order:

Screen Violence by Chvrches – The Scottish electropop trio’s best album since The Bones of What You Believe (2013), its songs deal with the (mostly bad) effects of living your life through screens—which many of us have been doing. Try out “Asking for a Friend,” which is about how easy it is to say things online that you can’t take back, or “Good Girls” (explicit language warning) about living up to unequal gender expectations. Pretty much every song has a great melody and thoughtful organization.

La Grande Folie by San Salvador – This was my top discovery for the year. A six-person vocal-and-percussion group who sing folk-inspired music. They all grew up in the small French town Saint-Salvadour and perform in the Occitan language, the historically traditional dialect in their region (though they learned it as a second language). Try out “Fai Sautar” and you’ll probably be hooked and listen to the rest of the album.

Star-Crossed by Kacey Musgraves – While I agree with most critics that it is not as good as Golden Hour, my favorite album from 2018, I still thought Musgrave’s "divorce album" had a plethora of well-constructed, well-produced, great tracks. She has some insightful minute, emotional observations along with a few empowering sing-alongs. Musgraves continues in a country fusion style; you can have a good cry while having a dance party. Check out: “Good Wife,” “Breadwinner,” or the out-of-this-world flute solo in “There is a Light.”

I Know I’m Funny haha by Faye Webster – An Atlanta native signed to a hip-hop label, this indie album took me by surprise with its musicianship. I know this album isn't for everyone; it’s definitely a downer and Webster's vocals are often more breathy than necessary. The album's strengths are in the songwriting and the instrumental hooks, often in the chorus; these hooks take the album from good to great. Try: "Better Distractions," “Kind of,” or "A Dream with a Baseball Player."

Blue Heron Suite by Sarah Jarosz – Jarosz’s World on the Ground made my top album list last year, but I think Blue Heron Suite is a better album (well, technically EP, I think). It was written and recorded back in 2017–2018, and I’ve been waiting for a commercial release for a long time! The suite looks back at happy morning childhood walks with her mother on the beach in Port Aransas, Texas—written at a time when both her mother and the town were not doing great. The blue herons in the suite are a symbol of hope for Jarosz, hope that we all need. Also, herons are objectively cool. Jarosz has a talent for songwriting, mandolin and guitar-picking, and atmospheres. It should be listened to from start to finish (no shuffling!), with musical themes interwoven and re-orchestrated throughout, but if you must pick, try “Morning” or “Blue Heron.”

Pressure Machine by The Killers – I’ve never really been a Killers fan, but this album struck closer to home than anything they’ve ever done. And when I say closer to home, I mean it’s a homage to Brandon Flowers’ childhood growing up in Nephi, Utah, about an hour south of where I grew up (also, Flowers and I are the same age). Flowers’ characters are not blameless nor pristine, but pitiable, struggling to make ends meet, and under the shadow of the opioid crisis. The sound is more acoustic and Americana-inspired than previous albums. Almost every track starts with an interview from a Nephi local (though I wish these soundbites were separate tracks). “Quiet Town” or “Sleepwalker” are good introduction songs.

Favorite Tracks of 2020 Mix: Despair to Hope

Last week, I featured my top albums of 2020, but there are a lot of individual songs from 2020 not on those albums I want to share. As I sifted through my favorites from the year, I noticed a theme—the protagonists in the songs are all dealing with something bad, from annoying to unpleasant to horrible. But depending on the song, how they deal with the problems is different. I've arranged the songs in a general order of despair turning to hope, with lots of gradations between. I hope you enjoy the mix!

My Favorite Tracks of 2020 mix: Despair Turns to Hope

1. Halsey: "Graveyard" from Manic – A captivating exploration of an unhealthy love with unhealthy consequences. The production is stellar—pay attention to the clapping, particularly. Technically, this song came out in 2019–but the album came out in 2020, so I'm counting it.
2. Lido Pimienta: "Te Queria" from Miss Colombia – This album takes its name from an incident in 2015 when Miss Colombia was mistakenly announced as the winner of the Miss Universe pageant. Pimienta, who is also from Colombia but now lives in Canada, uses this metaphor to describe how she has been treated in the music industry. The singer in this song (that title translates as "I liked you") falls in love with someone, thinking that the love would be reciprocated—but instead, she realizes her love would never be returned. So she dumped them. Pimienta creates a unique sound with steel drum and low saxes.
3. Norah Jones: "Hurts to Be Alone" from Pick Me Up Off the Floor – The protagonist in this jazzy song deals with a breakup. I love how this song starts with the singer saying "never hurts to be alone" but in the end, she realizes that it "hurts to be alone" after all. Though this song was recorded before the pandemic, I'm guessing in this period of social distancing, now even more people can relate.
4. Lady Gaga with Ariana Grande: "Rain on Me" from Chromatica – In this catchy dance-pop tune, while the protagonists are feeling down, they are choosing to take their depression as an indication that they are alive—and dancing it out.
5. Watkins Family Hour: "Fake Badge, Real Gun" from Brother Sister – From two-thirds of the newgrass band Nickel Creek, Brother Sister marks the first time Sara and Sean wrote songs with only each other. This song is about a type of person we've seen a lot of in 2020—people who take it upon themselves to broadcast and enforce their own point of view, especially when that view differs from the facts or the law. You know, the type of people who stormed the capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 to take out their own judgements on the U.S. Congress. The message of the song, though, is that the truth will win out in the end. I hope that is that is the case.
6. Ohmme: "Mine" (single) – Speaking of distasteful people, this song is about people who think everything is theirs, even though they didn't really make any of it. I love how the music is catchy but also captures the absurdity of people who look at everything and say "mine." I think my favorite (and true) line is "Nothing trickles down that isn't bleeding." The unconventional harmonic progression is pretty awesome, too.
7. Phoebe Bridgers: "Chinese Satellite" from Punisher – This song, from many people's album of the year, is about the problems of belief in modern life—wanting to believe in an afterlife, but struggling because of what you have experienced. I love Bridgers's images of 1) wishing on a Chinese satellite because the stars aren't visible because of light pollution and 2) her SciFi vision of going home. I also love the little production touches like the background satellite beeping and the judicious use of strings.
8. Buscabulla: "Nydia" from Regresa – This song kicks off the more hopeful half of the mix. Buscabulla is a Puerto Rican married couple band. They wrote this song soon after they moved back to Puerto Rico from New York. This song is inspired by Nydia Caro, a Puerto Rican singer and actor, and is about depression and writer's block, with a hint of hope in some spoken lines at the end.
9. Dua Lipa: "Don't Start Now" from Future Nostalgia – In perhaps the catchiest dance song of the year, one that feels in conversation with Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive," while the protagonist has suffered a break-up, she's taken control and figured out how to move on, even when her ex wants to come back. I have to love that prominent bass line in the chorus—and the way it drops out in the pre-chorus.
10. Brian Ó hEadhra & Fiona Mackenzie: "Chan Eil mi gun Mhulad Orm" from Tuath: Songs of the Northlands – This Scots Gaelic song for waulking (the beating of woven wool to make it softer, usually done by groups of women) is about how even though the protagonist isn't getting married while everyone else is, they won't marry an old, ugly man—but instead hold out for a brainy lad. The accompaniment, which starts sounding a little like plucked strings, turns into a pretty awesome electronica background underneath a processed voice. The production also underlies the song's theme of not wanting to be stuck with the past.
11. Twice: "Say Something" from Eyes Wide Open – In this macaronic (a fancy way of saying it is in two languages) song from a K-Pop group, the protagonist is ready for something to happen between her and someone else and has a lot of hope that it will happen soon. I guess this is the year for disco nostalgia, though this has some 80s-facing touches, like the piano fills and the sax outro.
12. Angelica Garcia: "Guadalupe" from Cha Cha Palace – Here, our Latinx protagonist is seeing some inspiration for how she want to be—from the Virgin Guadalupe, a woman who holds power that doesn't come from her looks. This music hits you hard and features a lot of open fifths, which serves to highlight the religious theme.
13. S2_Cool: "Shun the Yuck" from Shun the Yuck – Yeah, I know, more updated disco. But it comes with an inspirational message. I know I'm done with all the "look at me." The intro grabs your attention and the flute is a cherry on top.
14. Jeff Williams and Casey Lee Williams: "Trust Love" from RWBY, Vol. 7 (Music from the Rooster Teeth Series) – I got into this (admittedly ridiculous) American anime this year. I especially got into the music, the songs of which are by a Berklee School of Music professor and sung by his daughter. This is the opening credit song for season 7, which besides shredding, has another inspirational message—trust yourself and your friends and get to work. If Guitar Hero comes back, this one might be featured.
15. Katy Perry – "Smile" from Smile – Katy Perry has always been hit or miss for me, but this song was a big hit. While not written about the pandemic, there are certainly parallels. The message: sometimes, our trials end up making us better. This song always gives me an extra push when I'm out running.
16. Childish Gambino: "47.48" from 3.15.20 – Atlanta native Donald Glover (a.k.a. Childish Gambino), fresh off winning the Record of the Grammy for "This is America," put out this album simply titled the date it came out, which was right when everything shut down. This final track (which started in 48th second of the 47th minute) is a letter (and conversation) to/with his son, the message being: the world has a lot of problems, especially for Black people, but can still be a great place.

My Favorite New Albums of 2020

Despite the massive changes in how 2020 was lived, working from home for most of the year, I surprisingly listened to about the same amount of new music this year as last—I listened to 77 albums new to me this year (one more than last year), 56 of them produced in 2020. Also like last year, I am choosing to highlight seven of those new albums.

Before I start, I should acknowledge that I realize that with one exception, all the music here is was made by white people. The albums to which I listened were more diverse than this top seven selection might lead you to believe, and next week's best of 2020 mix will highlight more of that diversity. Though looking back at my top albums for 2017, 2018, and 2019, all the artists were also white (mostly American, but usually with a European group or artist). I think the lack of diversity in my top albums reflects the lack of diversity among musicians in my favorite genres, though perhaps I am just not hearing those with more diverse voices. I purchase audio recordings as part of my regular job, and the majority of the music I purchased this year was from Black artists. Two recordings featuring Black artists that got a lot of buzz this year you might want to check out are Run the Jewels 4 and Untitled (Black is...) from the mysterious collective SAULT.

I should also mention that I believe all the music on these seven albums was recorded before COVID—I didn't plan my favorites this way, it just happened—so this music wasn't written to address the pandemic; again, next week's best of 2020 mix will cover more of that ground. Instead, these albums cover themes of relationships (mostly failed ones), depression, leaving a small hometown, cultural exchange, and hybridity. And I enjoyed them pretty much from start to finish. Here they are, in order that they were released:

Honeymoon by Beach Bunny – This first full album from this Chicago indie group is raw and angry and depressing, but in a good way. Its tightly-constructed musical vignettes depict the breakup of a relationship. "Promises" and "Colorblind" are good entry points, though there is a lot disagreement about what the best tracks are—they're all good!

Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn – The pairing of banjo's first lady and a Chinese guzheng virtuoso seems strange, but Washburn studied Mandarin language and culture in college, frequently living in China. I first saw Fei and Washburn perform in a concert in Chapel Hill, NC, back in 2013, and the second half of the concert they decided to something totally experimental they called The Wu Force, which they described as "kung fu-Appalachian avant-garde folk-rock," some of which worked. While this album is not that genre, I think a couple of earlier versions of these songs were performed at that concert. I am surprised, though, that it took so long for them to record an album together. I love the conversation between the two folk traditions—and you can tell they are just having fun. Perhaps the best entry point to what they are doing is the opening track, "Water is Wide / Wusuli Boat Song," a melody of an American and a Chinese folk song.

Petals for Armor by Hayley Williams – I'd heard about Paramore, the band that Williams leads, but hadn't gotten into their music. But I heard a couple of songs from this solo album and needed to hear more. While still produced and written mostly by Williams with Paramore bandmates, the music on Petals for Armor is more complex, varied, and subtle than their previous work. The lyrics and music of the stylistically wide-ranging album bring you into the intimate thoughts of the protagonist(s), and then the hooks keep you thinking about the content. The album originally came out as three EPs of five songs each. "Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris," a lyrically complex song that features background vocals from supergroup Boygenius, and the reggae-influenced and hummable "Dead Horse" are good entry points.

World on the Ground by Sarah Jarosz – I've been following this singer and multi-instrumentalist since 2015, when an algorithm pushed one of her albums to me, and this time the algorithm was totally spot on. This quiet, reflective album is not necessarily my favorite of hers, but it is still thoroughly enjoyable. It's somewhat autobiographical, about what happens when people leave the small Texas town where they grew up. "Johnny" is probably the best track, with some of the same feeling as "Green Light" from her previous album Undercurrent. The best lyrical turn comes on the chorus of "Maggie": "Drive across the desert in a blue Ford Escape; hopefully this car will live up to its name." I also love the waxwing oil color album art.

Women in Music, Pt. III by HAIM – Both of Haim's previous LP albums made my best-of-year lists, and while I'm not sure this album is quite as even as those previous albums, it is still a solid album with some great tracks—and perhaps more experimental in their musical and lyrical approach. While all the tracks are good, the 2nd half of the album really shines, such as "Man from the Magazine" about sexism in the music industry and the three "bonus" tracks which originally came out as singles in 2019. Warning: some swearing is involved.

Jump Rope Gazers by The Beths – This sophomore album by this New Zealand band grew on me with repeated listenings. It's impeccably produced, with just the right amount of harmony vocals. I love the audio irony of "I'm Not Getting Excited" and the chiming guitars in "Out of Sight," but the whole album shines.

Acid Croft, Vol. 9 by Shooglenifty – This is the psychedelic rock-fueled folk dance album that the world needs right now, from a veteran Scottish band. And with tune names like "Squat Lobster" and "Hunting for Angus," how can you go wrong?

Favorite tracks of 2019 mix

Last post, I presented my top six albums of 2019. But I wanted to share additional songs not on those albums that you should check out, so I made a mix. 2019 featured a bumper crop of socially-conscious songs, probably more than any other year since the late 60s, and I included some of my favorites in the playlist. I left off Billie Eilish and Lizzo, however, because they seemed omnipresent already. Here’s a Spotify playlist and some brief comments about each track (in no particular order):

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4iR0jQCfNY1OiVYGC4iiFJ

1. Ariana Grande: “NASA” from thank u, next – My favorite album from Grande’s quick Sweetener follow-up. Also, space exploration as metaphor is up my alley.
2. Molly Tuttle: “Take the Journey” from When You’re Ready – Tuttle is the reigning Bluegrass guitar virtuoso. Check out her flying fingers playing this song here.
3. Avril Lavigne: “Bigger Wow” from Head Above Water – Did you know that Avril Lavigne is still writing some decent music? Here’s an example.
4. Jamila Woods: “BETTY” from Legacy! Legacy! – Each song on Woods’ sophomore album is inspired by a historical figure, many of whom were black. This one is inspired by funk musician Betty Davis, who was “not your typical girl.”
5. Santana and Buika: “Bembele” from Africa Speaks – Yeah, Santana’s still making music, too. He worked on this album with Afro-Spanish singer Buika.
6. Tacocat: “Hologram” from This Mess Is a Place – My favorite palindrome-named pop-punk band put out a great album this year mostly addressing the politics of 2019 and this is probably the best song on it; the message is that power can be an illusion.
7. Sheryl Crow and St. Vincent: “Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You” from Threads – Yes, Sheryl Crow put out music this year, too (this time with a bunch of collaborators), and this great song sounds like classic Crow and reminds me of Veronica Mars.
8. MUNA: “Number One Fan” from Saves the World – Maybe the most catchy and danceable song of 2019, it also is self-affirming.
9. Common Holly: “Joshua Snakes” from When I Say to You Black Lightning – The first line of this all-over-the-place song about an abusive relationship got my attention. The flute solo is a plus.
10. Kathryn Tickell and the Darkening: “O-U-T Spells Out” from Hollowbone – A combination rock folk song and magic spell with a Northumbrian bagpipe solo/dance break.
11. Coldplay: “Orphans” from Everyday Life – I am usually not a Coldplay fan (they don’t really know how to write bridges), but this song is pretty good—and it is written from the perspective of war refugees, who are normal people, too. The song even has a bridge—sort of.
12. Twice: “Fancy” from Fancy You – You have probably heard of BTS, but Twice is another K-pop idol group you should know about. The form is fun—I’m not sure if the song has two pre-choruses or just a long two-part chorus. Also, definitely a bridge.
13. Karine Polwart and Seckou Keita: “Heartwood” from The Lost Words: Spell Songs – A group of folk musicians read Robert Macfarlane’s book The Lost Words about many nature-related words dropped from the 2007’s Oxford “Junior” Dictionary, and were inspired to create a companion album of songs; this song comes from the perspective of tree inviting the lumberjack to give up.
14. Taylor Swift: “The Man” from Lover – Swift’s first album tackling social issues includes this great song, probably my favorite from the album, addressing sexism in the music industry.
15. Amanda Palmer: “A Mother’s Confession” from There Will Be No Intermission – Looking at my top music from this year, I am apparently a fan of 10-minute story songs, and this is an expressive one from Amanda Palmer about being a new mother. I went to Palmer’s tour, which featured her performing this song (with a sing-a-long section), plus a version of Little Mermaid’s “Part of Your World” figuratively sung by an unborn fetus. The part-standup show was almost four hours long; luckily, there was an intermission.

My favorite new albums of 2019

As fringe music becomes ever more accessible, it also feels like I am listening to a smaller fraction of it every year, even as I spend more time listening. I listened to 76 albums new to me this year, 53 of them from 2019. Here are my seven favorite new albums from this year, in no particular order (all images link to the Amazon.com listing):

Lumos by Harry and the Potters – The first original music in 13 years from the pioneering Wizard Rock band composed of brothers Paul and Joe DeGeorge, all material from the album is drawn from the seventh book in the series (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), which I serendipitously listened to on audiobook this year. The content is unsurprisingly relevant to today’s political environment, such as the tracks “On the Importance of Media Literacy Under Authoritarian Rule” and “No Pureblood Supremacy.” But within the effective narrative arc of the album, there are also short humorous and deep character reflections such as “Gone Campin’” (which builds up to the phrase “swordfish of Gryffindor”) and “What Happened to the Cat?”. And don’t miss “Hermione’s Army,” the disco-inflected track about the awesomeness that is Hermione Grainger. Probably the album that has given me the most joy this year.

Amidst the Chaos by Sara Bareilles – Bareilles’ first studio album in six years, as she took some time off from recording to create (and star in) a broadway musical. The album deals with love, loss, and also ventures into politics. Highlights include “Armor,” which was inspired by the 2017 Women’s March, and the emotional “Fire.” I was able to see Bareilles on the last stop of her live tour in November, a quality show with excellent, versatile musicians and use of stage effects.

August by Trio Dhoore – A folk instrumental album from a trio of Flemish brothers who play accordion, hurdy-gurdy, and guitar. The album is based on the story of a Flemish fisherman who survived 33 trips to Iceland in the 18th century. Most of tracks feature accordion and hurdy-gurdy playing in octaves with sparse and sometimes complex guitar strumming, but there is plenty of variation to hook the listener throughout the album.

Dedicated by Carly Rae Jepsen – This album is chock full of catchy, synthy tunes, including “Now that I Found You,” “The Sound,” and “Feels Right.” If you are in doubt of its quality, consider this—the first time I listened to this album I was running a race, and I won 3rd place in my age category, having never placed in a running race before.

Front Porch by Joy Williams – A solid, rootsy, and spare album (with a touch of gospel) from this former member of the Civil Wars; an improvement her last solo project, 2015’s Venus. Highlights include “Canary,” “Front Porch,” and “When Creation Was Young.”

Stranger Songs by Ingrid Michaelson – This pop and synth-laden tribute to the 1980s and inspired by the TV show Stranger Things is a stylistic departure for Michaelson, who is normally known for acoustic pop, but her songs still shine. Standout tracks include “Jealous” and “Missing You.” I recommend to fans of Michaelson’s earlier work and the TV series.

The Woman and Her Words by Hannah James & the JigDoll Ensemble – Hannah James (voice, accordion, and foot percussion) fronts this quirky English folk group. The memorable, mostly original songs have imaginative, thoughtful, and eclectic lyrics and arrangements. Highlights include “Hush Now,” a lullaby sung to a dead victim of American gun violence and the 10-minute story song “The Woman and Her Words,” about a workaholic husband and father. As someone with a weakness for irregular meters, I also must recommend the instrumental “What the Hell Was That?”

Soon, I will post my best pop songs of 2018 mix, so get ready.

3 new Irish traditional music albums for your St. Patrick’s Day playlist

As I’ve written about before on this blog (here and here), I am not a big fan of the way most people celebrate St. Patrick’s day in the US. I think one of the best ways is to listen to Irish traditional music—and to help you celebrate, I’m presenting 3 new albums of Irish traditional music (all from the last year) that you can add your holiday playlist. In no particular order:

The Gap of Dreams by Altan – This group from Donegal has been around for over 30 years and is still coming out with great music. Tracks rotate between songs in Irish, English, and purely instrumental, both traditional newly composed. (If you follow the link to the Amazon page, notice that the artist is listed as “ATLAN”—a misspelling that hasn’t been corrected in the year the album has been out; funny if it wasn't so sad. Metadata fail.).

CAS by Lúnasa – This mainly instrumental band has been around for more than 20 years, but hasn’t released new music since 2010. Besides their typical awesome instrumental tracks, the band teams up with some guests vocalists such as Natalie Merchant and Mary Chapin Carpenter. All songs with vocals are sung in English.

Allt by Julie Fowlis, Éamon Doorley, Zoë Conway, and John McIntyre – Two power couples of Celtic traditional music, one couple from Scotland (Fowlis and Doorley) and one from Ireland (Conway and McIntyre) got together and recorded an album that includes songs from both places, in both Scots-Gaelic and Irish. So, maybe not purely Irish…but you probably can’t tell which are Irish and which are Scottish, right? I am not sure I can. Anyway, it is a great album.

Have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day, and remember to celebrate immigrant populations and our cultural inheritance from them, such as those, like the Irish, that used to be vilified in America.

It was 1 year ago today...Princess Leia's Stolen Death Star Plans

One year ago, a duo called Pallette-Swap Ninja did the unthinkable—they merged two of the most well-loved and influential pieces of media of the last 50 years into one seamless whole. They did this by completely rewriting the lyrics to all the songs from the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band with lyrics about Star Wars, Episode 4: A New Hope. And further, each song follows chronologically in order the plot of Star Wars. And then they made a *video* of the whole thing. Yes, I know I already blogged about Princess Leia's Stolen Death Star Plans as one of my Favorite New Pop Albums of 2017. But it deserves revisiting on its anniversary date. I hope you didn't miss out on this amazing album last year. If you did miss out, I'm here for you. If you have already experienced it once, now is a good time to revisit!

The more I listen to Princess Leia's Stolen Death Star Plans, the more impressive the feat is to me. Here are just a few examples of the amazing parody writing:

• "Luke is in the desert and whining," is followed by "Whaaahh!"
• "She's Leaving Home" is about Luke leaving Tatooine
• Several times, instrumental solos are replaced with Star Wars themes—probably most effectively by inserting the cantina band music into "Being From the Space Port of Mos Eisley" 
• "Within You Without You," a song originally about Eastern philosophy, is now about the mystic Force (with R2-D2 sounds used effectively to call-and-response with the sitar)
• Instead of barnyard animal sounds at the end of "Keep Moving" ("Good Morning"), we get various sound clips from the escape from the Death Star
• The reprise of Princess Leia's Stolen Death Star Plans comes back just as the plans are needed again in the plot (and the inspired "One, Two, Yavin IV" countdown at the beginning)
• In "A Day in the Life", "Then Obi-won spoke and I went into a dream" right before the high, dreamy vocalise music, and the Death Star exploding right at the iconic moment when the music reaches the top of the long orchestra crescendo

The audio is available as a free download. Props to Pallette-Swap Ninja for putting out something publicly that both Disney and Apple Music (fairly litigious organizations) might considering suing them for—even though the album clearly falls under fair use as parody.

May the 4th be with you (and check out their related Beatles-Star Wars single, Leia Organa).

Program Notes: Motets and Cantatas of Bach, Brahms, and Mendelssohn

Once again, I have written some short program notes for an Oahu Choral Society concert and I'm posting the notes here. Enjoy, and if happen to live on Oahu, please come to the concert this Saturday, April 22nd, 2017 at 7:30pm at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Honolulu.

 

Graphic design by Katherine Fisher; art by Felix Mendelssohn

 

The definition of “motet” varies widely according to time and place. While the term was originally used in medieval times to describe a piece in which one part sang different words and rhythms than the other three, the genre evolved over centuries, changing form and transitioning from sacred to secular and back to sacred. By the time of Johann Sebastian Bach, motets differed by country (France, Italy, and Germany had their own traditions) and even by Christian denomination within countries. For Bach, the motet was the smaller, less operatic, dying antecedent of the cantata, the genre that occupied a large portion of his output. Like his cantatas, Bach’s motets were self-contained musical sermons featuring both known chorales and biblical quotations, but they were usually written for special occasions outside of regular church services.* Written in this tradition, Jesu, meine Freunde (Jesus, My Joy) alternates between re-harmonized chorale verses and New Testament texts that comment on the preceding chorale texts. Bach sets up an overarching parallel musical structure for the eleven movements in the work, with the form AbCdEfEdCbA (the bold, uppercase letters represent the six chorale verses, which also have parallel harmonizations). F, the center section, is an expansive fugue with its own short chorale postlude.

 

For Johannes Brahms, calling a work a “motet” mainly set it apart as a Protestant religious

text and was meant to draw a line in listeners’ minds back to Bach’s motets. Zwei Motetten (Two Motets), Opus 29, represents a deliberate attempt to write using Baroque techniques. In the second motet of Opus 29, “Schaffe in mir, Gott, ein rein Herz” (“Create a pure heart within me, O God”), Brahms gave himself very strict compositional restrictions—for instance, in the first section, the top soprano part is exactly the same as the bottom bass part, only twice as fast, and the third section features two outside parts singing a strict canon but offset by one measure and a whole step—but each is so masterfully conceived that this is hard to hear even when the audience knows. The second and fourth sections are more traditional fugues, with Romantic twists.

 

Bach’s cantata Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen (I Will Gladly Carry the Cross) was also a sermon for Sunday service, written for solo baritone and a small ensemble. The text uses sailing imagery to talk about the trials of life and the joy of uniting with Christ in death, probably inspired by the final chorale verse, taken from Johann Franck’s “Du, o schönes Weltgebäude” (1653). Felix Mendelssohn was a key player in the Bach revival of the early nineteenth century, and perhaps Brahms would not have revered Bach so much without Mendelssohn’s promotional efforts. Like Brahms later, Mendelssohn copied aspects of Bach’s music in his compositions, as evidenced by his chorale cantatas, which take as their starting place known chorales: one voice sings the chorale tune, while the other three voices and the string quartet create quick, contrapuntal textures around (and before and after) the slow-moving chorale. Curiously, though called a cantata, this form resembles the original, medieval motet perhaps more than Bach’s motet. In “Jesu, meine Freude” (“Jesus, My Joy”), the chorale is sung in the soprano part; in Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten (Whoever Lets Only the Dear God Reign), Mendelssohn expands the formula with simple chorale presentations at the beginning and end of the work and a larger second movement featuring florid counterpoint set around the chorale tune, this time in the bass. Mendelssohn also adds a short soprano aria before the final chorale.

*Christoph Wolff, “Motet: III. Baroque: 3. Germany,” Grove Music Online, Oxford University

Press, accessed April 9, 2017.

Program notes: Tidings of Comfort and Joy

Once again, I have written some short program notes for an Oahu Choral Society concert, this time our Christmas concert, and I'm posting the notes here. Enjoy, and if happen to live on Oahu, please come to the concert this Saturday, December 10th at 7:30pm at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Honolulu.

Graphic designed by Katherine Fisher

 

What is the spirit of Christmas? At its center, it is a light in the darkness, finding hope where there seemed none, finding comfort and joy amid pain and sorrow. Is there a more natural reaction to finding a glimmer of joy and comfort than to shout and sing? Tonight we sing you good news, tidings of comfort and joy.

 

Tidings of Comfort

• “O Nata Lux,” by Morten Lauridsen, is a beautiful sonic landscape depicting Christ as the source of light.
• In “Lux Aurumque,” Eric Whitacre paints a peaceful, reflective nativity scene.
• Arvo Pärt’s “Magnificat” is a spare version of the ubiquitous Latin text. Listen to the choir’s harmonies as they oscillate among stacked sonorities like a huge bell—what Pärt scholars call “tintinnabuli.”
• Herbert Howells’s “Here Is the Little Door” is another nativity portrait, this time with the wise men, that paints the Christ-child against the bittersweet backdrop of war and death.
• “Ave Maria (Angelus Domini),” by one-hit wonder Franz Biebl, depicts the hope-filled annunciation of Christ’s birth to Mary, with the choir playing the part of angels comforting and praising Mary.

Tidings of Joy

• “African Noel” is an ebullient, joyous group sing inspired by African choral traditions.
• “Christmas Day” is Gustav Holst’s atypical medley of four carols, all telling men on earth to rejoice at the birth of their Savior: “Good Christian Men, Rejoice,” “God Rest You, Merry Gentlemen,” “Come Ye Lofty, Come Ye Lowly,” and “The First Nowell.” Listen as Holst stacks carols on top of each other.
• John Gardner’s setting of “Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day,” a traditional English text, boils over with joy; and what better signals human joy along with singing than dance? However, we’re not sure exactly how anyone could dance to the changing rhythm of this music—there is a lot of musical complexity crammed into just over two minutes, and by the time you feel you are getting a handle on the rhythm, the carol is over.
• “The Twelve Days of Christmas” tells a story of joyous gift-giving taken a little too far. Listen for how John Rutter’s arrangement keeps the numerous repetitions interesting.
• We end the concert with Handel’s Hallelujah chorus, one of the most recognized expressions of praise and joy in the world.

 

We hope our singing tonight will provide you with comfort and joy and healing and hope during this holiday season.

Program notes: Writings Etched in My Soul

I sing with the Oahu Choral Society, and we are performing a Veterans Day/Remembrance Day concert this Friday, November 11 at 7:30pm at the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Honolulu. I volunteered to write the program notes and am posting them here, too.

Graphic designed by Katherine Fisher

Often, feeling intense emotion leads humans to open their mouths and sing. This act of deep expression further solidifies those words and feelings in our hearts. Few human events produce a greater variety of intense emotions—pain, suffering, loss, hope, joy, and triumph—than war. This program presents some of these war stories and the emotions that come with them, not just tragedy and loss, but also hope, peace, and resolution. We hope that these selections allow for positive reflection on the human experience for this Veterans Day (or Remembrance Day, as November 11th is celebrated in many countries).

The Holocaust (also often called the Shoah, from the Hebrew word for catastrophe) is one of most brutal and hard-to-comprehend tragedies of war in modern times. The selection for the first half of the program, the Holocaust Cantata, presents stories from Nazi concentration camps. The inspiration, texts, and basis of the music for the cantata come from materials found in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum archives. Musical movements alternate with spoken stories drawn largely from the life of Irena Augustyñska Kafka, a Polish Holocaust survivor. For many European Jews, as well as individuals from other ethnic and cultural groups imprisoned in concentration camps during this time, song was an escape and refuge. In the words of the cantata’s narrator, “I can honestly say that singing saved my life.” While the cantata portrays the stories and suffering of those in concentration camps, it also highlights life-affirming choices made by those same people—to dance, to fight, and to make music.

The Chamber Choir’s selections deal with human struggle. “MLK,” originally from U2’s 1984 album The Unforgettable Fire and later arranged for a cappella voices by the King’s Singers, features a gentle yet strong lullaby melody with sparse accompaniment that shows the contrasts of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life and his struggle for peace. “Even When He is Silent,” by Kim Arnesen, is a statement of faith in the midst of struggle. The anonymous text was found written on a concentration camp wall after World War II, and Arnesen portrays in the music the glorious brightness of hope in defiance of a dismal present. Paul Aitken’s setting of “Flanders Fields,” from the famous 1915 poem written by Canadian soldier-poet John McCrae in the midst of World War I, may seem at first to be solely about the struggle of war, but the text is also a plea to survivors to move on—but not forget. The setting gives a profound voice to the dead, betraying an urgency for us, the living, to commit to honor the sacrifice of those who have passed on. Finally, Moses Hogan’s setting of the traditional spiritual “The Battle of Jericho” is about a struggle-turned-triumph through one man, Joshua of the Old Testament, obeying divine instructions. Hogan’s masterful arrangement creates a call-and-response battle between the groups of singers, culminating in a grand musical depiction of the tumbling walls.

The next four selections in the program look forward to a future without war. “The Mansions of the Lord” (from the movie We Were Soldiers) is a triumphant hymn that envisions a peaceful rest at the end of the struggle. Srul Irving Glick’s “The Hour Has Come” is a heartfelt invitation for mankind to come together amid pain, banish hate and suffering in favor of love, and see each other finally not as enemies but as family. The next two selections praise the leaders necessary to reach this post-war goal. “Benedictus,” from Karl Jenkins’s The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace, delivers a fragile melody with a fragile message: “Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.” “The Last Words of David,” one of the most popular works of Randall Thompson, depicts such a leader, but instead of being defined strength, the desired leader is compared to morning sunlight on growing grass—someone who builds rather than razes. After a bombastic introduction, the piece slowly becomes more calm, concluding with an almost-whispered “alleluia.”

The final selection of the evening is Peter Wilhousky’s iconic arrangement of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” a thrilling evocation of the coming of Christ crossed with the fight for the freedom of slaves during the American Civil War. Listen for the organ imitating battle trumpets and the quiet, contemplative men’s verse in the middle of triumphant, full choruses.

Birdsong and music

I hear these guys, called alternately a Brazilian, South American, or red-crested cardinal, outside my window every morning. Their song sounds like an ornamented descending mi-re-do. From Mike's Birds under a CC license.

As I've written about on this blog before, I personally love birdsong and often try and identify birds by the sounds they make (though I am not anywhere near as good as this guy). If you are also interested in birdsong and its connection with music, I recommend listening to this 30-minute radio program recently produced by the BBC and part of the series “The Listening Service”:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07gn6km

Although the title of the program (or should I write “programme”?) is “is birdsong music?”, BBC reporter Tom Service instead spends most of his time answering the question: “how has birdsong been used in Western classical music throughout the years?” Though it is not the stated question, it is also a good question, and of course Service does an excellent review on the music of Messiaen, a 20th-century French composer who spent much of his career translating birdsong in to concert music.

Personally, I’ve found Messiaen’s birdsong-inspired music difficult to listen to, somewhat because it was an attempt to take something we don’t understand and try to create some order on it without changing it too much, resulting in very static-sounding music. Birdsong, though, is something that humans often feel like we should understand, because it is all around us and has influenced the way we write music ourselves. But, as this program makes clear, we don’t know birdsong's purpose, and what’s more, we don’t actually hear it very well: “Birdsong is too fast, too high, for us to understand.” While I disagree slightly with the reasoning the program presents as to why this is the case (size or heartbeat really doesn’t make a difference; the speed of audio wave sampling is much more important), it is true that besides not understanding what birdsong means, we can’t even hear it or reproduce it very well.

Instead, birdsong “becomes translated by us” into music. I think this is why I, like Service, enjoy Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending,” even if it has very little to do with the actual sounds a lark makes—he uses bird-inspired sounds and creates a symbol of the peace and freedom of nature, but doesn’t try to re-create it.

When Service finally get the to the question (“is birdsong music?”) in minute 25, he hasn’t really analyzed the issue, or even defined the terms in the question, but just dismisses it as “false”, even when no proof has been made against at least some birdsong being music to birds (why wouldn’t attracting a mate be artistic?). Still, it is an interesting listen and I would recommend it, especially to anyone fascinated by birdsong.

One more caveat: While I don’t particularly like author Bernie Krause’s metaphor of the great animal orchestra, especially the comparison with taking the strings out of Beethoven 5th, I do understand what he’s saying about birds filling communication niches—animals using sounds to communicate have to differentiate from other animals, so that their message can get across. Which is kind of like orchestration, except formed by competition and instead of consonance. So, kind of the opposite, actually. (I don't think Service really likes the idea, either.)

Program Notes for the Masses

A monument to Rheinberger in Liechtenstein, photo by Anke Jana

This coming Friday, April 29, I'm singing with the Oahu Choral Society as we present a concert of two masses, Bruckner's Mass in E minor and Rheinberger’s Mass in E-flat (see the Oahu Choral Society's webpage for more details about the performance). I wrote the program notes for the concert and am posting them here, also, so that even if you can't come to the performance, you can enjoy the notes. Besides a brief listening roadmap, there's a short history lesson about the direction of Catholic church music in the 19th century, which I find fascinating.  

Masses are music set to fixed Latin lyrics, normally performed at weekly religious services. In Europe, the desire for new music for the frequent services led to an almost insatiable demand for more masses, especially in the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries. Many prominent composers registered their own submissions to the form, especially in predominantly Roman Catholic countries such as Italy, Spain, France, and Austria. Even Bach, though a Lutheran, wrote his own mass. In a compositional arms race, some of these masses became so complicated and required such large ensembles that only a very small number of church choirs were equipped with the means to perform them, relegating these compositions almost entirely to the concert hall.

Both Anton Bruckner (1824–96) and Josef Rheinberger (1839–1901) made their livings as Roman Catholic church musicians, Bruckner in Austria and Rheinberger in largely Catholic Bavaria. They are two of only a few great Romantic musicians of the second half of the nineteenth century who wrote music for church services, as many churches looked to the old masters for their weekly services while other contemporary composers sought fame in the concert hall or opera house. Bruckner and Rheinberger each composed at least a dozen masses of varying sizes and types; those on the program tonight are two of their most highly regarded. Both of these masses are written for double choir, meaning that two full choirs are singing antiphonally.

Behind the resurgence of older church music during Bruckner and Rheinberger’s time was Cecilianism, a popular musical reform movement in the Catholic Church that frowned on contemporary compositional practices such as word painting (having the music mimic the words), musical complexity that overshadowed the words, and heavy chromaticism. As you will hear tonight, Rheinberger and Bruckner were not fans of Cecilianism and sometimes went out of their way to raise the ire of its proponents.

Rheinberger’s Mass in E-flat, op. 109, subtitled “Cantus Missae” (1878), was written shortly after Rheinberger was appointed the director of the court chapel for Ludwig II of Bavaria (of Neuschwanstein fame). What to listen for: 

• The interplay of the choirs as they trade musical ideas
  The fugal section at the end of the Gloria
• The drama in the Credo as Rheinberger paints the crucifixion and resurrection with music
• The danceable Benedictus, perhaps inspired by the popular Viennese waltz 
• The Agnus Dei, which starts slow and plaintive but soon transitions to a florid, rejoicing finale

Bruckner’s Mass in E minor (1866, revised 1882) for double choir and winds is probably the grandest of his masses. Written while Bruckner was employed as the organist at Linz Cathedral, the music was inspired by renaissance polyphony, but has more in common with contemporaneous Romantic music. What to listen for:

• The layered a cappella opening section of the Kyrie, first from the women and then from the men, which returns later in the movement.
• The fugal “Amen” section at the end of the Gloria
• Again, drama in the Credo as Bruckner paints the crucifixion and resurrection with music, with a return of the movement’s uptempo opening theme at the end
• The tightly contrapuntal a cappella opening of the Sanctus
• The interplay between the men and women in the Benedictus, as they pass melodic ideas back and forth
• The quiet, restrained Agnus Dei which caps the mass

Chris Thile's "Alright"

I don’t have much to say post-Grammys. Awards-wise, it went about as expected (except for Ed Sheeran, which was weird…). I didn’t get to watch it live, but based on chatter afterward, the best performances were from the cast of Hamilton and Kendrick Lamar, who performed pretty much one after the other.

But I want to point out something that happened on Prairie Home Companion about a week before the Grammys. Chris Thile, who with his band the Punch Brothers had been nominated for several Grammys this year (none of which they won), was guest hosting the radio show. He started talking about what amounted to a lullaby for his baby boy and then dived into an amazing one-person cover of Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright,” a song that won two Grammys last Monday. You can listen to the cover on the Prairie Home Companion archives here (you’ll have to jump down to the “Alright; Song for a Young Queen” segment, which is just after intermission). Update 2019: Here is the new link: https://www.prairiehome.org/shows/51405.html

Some comments:

1) I think this performance shows a lot about Thile and the diversity of music that influences him. I’ve seen him cover the Beatles, the Cars, Radiohead, Of Montreal, and many others, all with his own take, all unironically and incredibly well. But this is even more far afield from bluegrass than those others (though considerably more PG-rated than the original).

2) You can tell from the performance that Thile isn’t just throwing this song off; he is genuinely in love with the music and spent hours learning the words and figuring out the best way to perform it (he did mention later on Twitter than he had flubbed a few of the words). He throws himself into the song. He later tweeted this after the Grammys, which got a lot of reactions:

3) This song is so not Prairie Home Companion. I don’t think the audience even knows how to take it, besides acknowledging the virtuosity that the performance took. Can you imagine them having the real Kendrick Lamar on this show? Yet Thile does it anyway. I think it shows guts, conviction, and firm cosmopolitan musical sensibility.

After you listen to “Alright,” take a listen to the opening number for that Prairie Home Companion show on February 6, 2016, Thile’s cheeky “Omahallelujah,” a great conflation of sports and religion, with Peyton Manning as the center of worship. Gold.