Way To Normal Review

I finally wanted to take the opportunity to go over my thoughts of Ben Folds' latest solo outing, Way to Normal.

Hiroshima (B B B Benny Hit His Head)- I really wish this wasn't a live recording…I'd like to hear how it would be treated as a studio track. The story is great, and the melody has some real killer moments, but nothing about the song grabs me.

Dr. Yang- Classic Ben piano in this song…it took me a few listens to get used to just how dirty the bass was in this song,…

Obligatory Villagers - Nellie McKay

With the nature of the internet, the concept of release dates seem to become more and more pointless each year. Albums seem to come out when they're ready to come out. And even though a friend was able to provide my eager little ears with Nellie McKay's latest offering, I still plan to purchase a nice, shiny hardcopy when it plops into stores on September 25th. Hell, I'll buy two if it means giving me good karma.

It's been a little under a year since Pretty Little Head was released, which is one of the…

I would just like to point out, that in day-to-day listening, I make no real distinction between the songs of Ben Folds and Ben Folds Five.

If one were to do the math, my Ben Folds/Five statistics would put him in second place on my charts (above Nellie McKay, by about 300-400 songs). I'm not sure how I feel about this. I'm conflicted.

When it comes down to it- I find it important to recognize the two as different and thus should be tracked on my charts as such- But it's not fair to have him sitting down there…

I like Fastball. However, I've yet to see them live, and I only follow their "news" a little bit.

I never really got into their first album, Make Your Mama Proud. In many ways, it's VERY different from what Fastball became. Like most people (I guess), I first heard of them in the summer of 1998 when their hit album All the Pain Money Can Buy came out. Great album. For many years, that was my only connection with them. Finally, in 2003 I downloaded The Harsh Light of Day, their 2000 album, from iTunes. While it's…

So, I suppose it's time to finally give a track-by-track review of Pretty Little Head

I've had the album in some form since last January…but finally got my hands on the REAL, final-release version last week. The new non-sony version has all 23 tracks and some re-arrangements from the original track listing.

So, on to Nellie McKay's latest…

Cupcake- A very nice, upbeat opener about gay marriage. There's some really great, classic McKay word play in this track. Not my favorite melody, but really sing-along-able.

Pink Chandelier- An abstract, calm, quick, whispy song. Nice to relax too…but…

31 Oct – Nellie McKay

I had the honor and pleasure of being able to go to the release party last night for Nellie McKay's new album (Pretty Little Head). (See this forum posting for how I got to go).

Under normal (Non-Nellie) circumstances, this would have been a really fun party …free drinks and food, lots of great people, random halloween costumes, music….good stuff. But I got to meet Nellie…so that made it even better.

Now, I've been to several (4?) performances of hers before (The best one, by the way…definitly Irving Plaza in 2004(5?) )…

If I were in Barenaked Ladies, I would be pissed at iTunes right now. In the past two weeks, iTunes has accidently switched their new album Barenaked Ladies Are Me from "Pre-Sale" to "Buy Now" twice. First, the standard 9.99 and bonus track editions. And now, this week the FULL Digital Deluxe version (Containing 29 songs, 16 of which aren't due to be "officially" released on CD until next year- on the album "Are Men").

As I type this, the Deluxe Edition is STILL available on the U.S. iTunes store:
iTunes link: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=185435126&s=143441
Normally, I would think BNL is…

I really haven't come across a whole lot of music in the last few months.

In reality, I've added about 260 songs to my library since I left school- But not many of them have become breakout albums or anything.

There are a few exceptions, of course.

Most recent is Kevin Hearn's latest outing with his band Thin Buckle, The Miracle Mile. KH&TB (As I will confusingly abbreviate them) have a really unique sound as they stray back and forth between genres on their albums. This latest one is MUCH smoother, in my option, than previous outings. While…

Scientific stuff is fun! Based on the instruction posted here:
http://www.last.fm/user/stilicho/journal/2006/05/10/133366/

I was able to determine that based on my top 10 artists, I am only 2.1% emo. That's good news considering that with the right combination of clothes, shoes and glasses, I think I can exude some sort of emo-ness by mistake.

I think the shocker is how many people tagged The Beatles as emo!

There are also instructions here:
http://www.last.fm/user/DeRusto/journal/2006/05/23/141067/
On how to check how "Mainstream" you are.

My result? 29.9% mainstream.

I've been listened to the same 7 songs all day. That can't be healthy, can it?

Last night I came across Girl Anachronism in the SXSW 2006 music sampler…and kept listening to it- partially for the hypnotic beat / piano patterns- but also because I was fascinated by the lyrics and performance. I will usually take me weeks to start to listen to lyrics in a song…But these hit me right away. Also, the video for it rocks.

I decided I needed to find out more on the Dresden Dolls. I really like what I read- I don't know if…