The Tiny Desk Concerts

Ok music geek and geekettes: I have some good news for you. Tired of listening to radio stations that play "Firefly" by Owl City (wink, wink Scotticus) 19 times a day on the hopes that you might be exposed to new music that's actually good? Tired of reading music magazines that tell you how great a new band is only to actually buy the album and be utterly disappointed? (I'm looking at you Rolling Stone). Well there is hope, and it comes via podcast from NPR. And yes, I know how stupid that last sentence sounds.

The 'Tiny Desk Concert' podcast from NPR (available by subscription for the low, low price of FREE) is awesome. Next time you are logged on to iTunes listening to 30 second snippets of songs you used to love in high school do yourself a favor and go to 'Podcasts' section of the iTunes store and subscribe to NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts. It's free... you have no excuse not to.

It's a simple premise: an artist or band comes to NPR's office in Washington, DC (I think that's where it is) and sets up shop behind Bob Boilen's desk to play a 10 to 20 minute set. These are obviously "unplugged" sessions, which is great in my opinion as it forbids an act from hiding behind distortion fueled microphones or complicated reverb-creating compu-machines (I'm looking at you, Peter Wolf Crier). Plus - the production value is good: multiple cameras/ angles and good compression mics produce crystal clear images and almost-as-clear sound.

The reason I love it (besides that it's free)? It is one of the best resources to expose yourself to new artists. I usually watch every new episode with an open mind, and I enjoy almost all of what I see. Occasionally there will be a classic cellist or some choir singing the works of some 17th century British composer that no one has ever heard of, but it is NPR after all. And a little culture won't kill you. Did I mention that it's free?

Do yourself a solid and check it out. What's great is that after you subscribe, you can look through the archives and download previous concerts that you'd like to see. Some of my favorites? Phoenix sounds very cool when they are stripped of their polished electronic sheen. Gogol Bordello is by far the coolest band you've never heard of. Edward Sharpe just might be Jesus (verdict is still out...but just look at the guy). Dr. Dog, Lost in the Trees, The Avett Brothers, the list goes on and on....

Oh, by the way... did I mention that it's free?

I'm a lyrical gangsta

I'm an amateur songwriter. Notice I did not include the words 'good' or 'talented' in that last statement. Most of what I write never gets heard by anyone, but that's not such a bad thing. Most of what I write is dreadful.

It's not the melodies or song structure that gives me trouble. I have a decent ear and understand the fundamentals of music theory (circle of fifths, anyone...?).

It's the lyrics. Those elusive bastards.

So I'm not a good lyricist... big deal. It does make me respect the hell out of some songwriters for what they are able to get out there, though. One of the most impressive feats a songwriter can accomplish is saying a lot through minimal lyrics. Some of my favorite songs have so few lyrics, yet convey so much. Let me give you an example:

Song: Is There a Ghost?
Artist: Band of Horses
Album: Cease to Begin
 *listen to it here
              
"I could sleep when I lived alone. Is there a ghost in my house?"

That's it. 14 words. And the song is really good. It's almost as if the repetition of lyrics is soothing. And it leaves a lot open to interpretation. Here's another great example:

Song: White Winter Hymnal

Artist: Fleet Foxes

Album: Fleet Foxes

*listen to it here

"I was following the pack all swallowed in their coats

with scarves of red tied 'round their throats

to keep their little heads from falling in the snow

and I turned 'round and there you go

and Michael, you would fall and turn the white snow red as strawberries in the summertime"

I once took a poetry class in college where I had to read and analyze all sorts of shit that I didn't like as much as that. That's imagery in lyrics at it's finest.

Well... I'll get back to trying lyrics now I suppose.

Must remember my mantra: "If my rhymes were a drug, I would sell them by the gram."

Word. to your mother.

What the folk?

The below is an excerpt from an interview between Paste Magazine and Jim James of My Morning Jacket.

What follows is the best answer ever to a simple question about working with the band America.

Paste: You contributed a track to America's 2007 album Here And Now. Have you always been an America fan, and what was it like working with those fellows?

James: We never met those guys, but yes, I was honored they covered our song. That session was hilarious: Patrick and I went in there and cut the track in one take and walked back out the door. It was awesome. I used to lay on my bedroom floor in high school coming down from acid with my fingers stuck in a Dairy Queen ice cream cake with Life cereal poured into it like a real bowl of cereal and just cry my eyes out while listening to "Tin Man" or "Lonely People." There was a phase in my life where I was exploring the more psychedelic side of life, and man, the nighttime would be filled with wild whipping metal music and pure-grain fruit punch and chaos and metal jaw-biting, spine-tingling mental confusion, and I remember so very clearly one morning laying in some shitty hotel room bed covered in applesauce, and the sun was starting to come up and I felt like I had just killed a baby seal...and I had lobsters crawling all over me and laying their eggs in my intestines...and somebody put on a mixtape that had "Tin Man" and "All the Lonely People" and then went into "Harvest" by Neil Young and I remember all the lobsters stopped laying their eggs and they sat up and looked at me and I looked at them and we all went "ahhhhhhh" and breathed a big sigh of relief...and crawled off the bed to lay on the floor next to the stereo to hear that pure, pure sound even purer in our ear holes...and that’s when I knew I dug the folk rock.

I'm memorizing this whole thing and then anytime someone asks 'what's so great about folk rock?'...

this is what they're getting.

Welcome to the MusiqSphere

Welcome all to the MusiqSphere. I am Mr. Phip, your host and musical confidant. The MusiqSphere is my chance to write endlessly about anything and everything pertaining to music. Expect some album and concert reviews, some random thoughts, and some extremely insightful opinons. But most of all: expect the unexpected. And cliches.

By the way, if you're wondering what the hell that guitar ball thing is in the picture - I have no idea. It's just what popped up in a Google Image search of 'MusiqSphere'. Seemed like as good a way to start this thing off as any.