Maher Shalal Hash Baz primarily consists of Tori Kudo, a Japanese composer/musician who has been making somber dissonance for nearly two decades now. The name comes from the Book of Isaiah and roughly translates from Hebrew as “To speed to the spoil, he hasteneth the prey.†As lesser preached Bible passages go, it ranks up there for me with “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.†But I digress… Kudo doesn’t just make messy music—he appears to these ears to be a true inventor of improvisational balladry. “Different Daylight†sounds at first like an early rehearsal in which the instruments are all being played by Kudo at the same time. But at the center of that clash of horns, strings, guitar and other odd noises is the steady, knowing voice of Kudo himself, like a tour guide through a sandstorm. He has said of his own music, “Error in performance dominates MSHB cassette, which is like our imperfect life.” Yes, but if you listen to “What’s Your Business Here, Elijiah?†(sorry, Domino isn’t down with the free MP3 tip) you’ll find that imperfection can sound pretty close to perfect after all.
The Finches
I’ve been wanting to write up a celebratory post for my 3hive brother Shan, who’s a recently new daddy with a beautiful son. This one isn’t; more accurately, this post does not link to the songs of happy, carefree love that I’d really hoped to offer. The Finches are all about simplicity and sincerity, but often to a degree that is far more forlorn than ecstatic. Even so, “Daniel’s Song” — from the band’s EP Six Songs — is so haunting and powerful and rich that I can’t help but give it to Shan as a grounding device, a reminder that sad realities have their own beauty. I’m an only child, so I’ll never really know the kind of sibling love that Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs and Aaron Morgan sing about here, but I hope to God that my daughter and son get it, understand and feel it, one of these days. And I hope your boy does too, Shan. Peace.
Marla Hansen
Lately, my picks have all been male artists and it was feeling like high time to revisit my (your?) girlier side. Marla Hansen, who sings soft and quiet folk-inspired songs and is also part of team-Sufjan-My-Brightest-Diamond, is a perfect return. She sounds like tea and flowers and a good book in bed when you are tired. Oddly positioned on my iTunes next to Marlene Dietrich’s raspy, vaguely mannish “Sag Mir Wo Die Blumen Sind”, “Wedding Day” felt like something we women can celebrate our peculiar chromosomal dispositions to and her tone is something that the men can daydream about (note: no letching)–even more so from the comparison to Dietrich. Hansen has a honeyed voice and sings delicious little songs as though she were singing to herself, for herself. There’s no clever hook here, no steamrolling vocals, no unexpectedly jarring electronic sounds, just simple, strong singing, songwriting and her viola. And throughout, she is exquisitely feminine. It’s charming.
Lost in the Trees
Part of the reason I’m dropping a Saturday two-fer on your ears is the overwhelming guilt of having missed the last two Saturdays. I mean, I used to be good for two posts a week and then some…take a look at me now. The other part of the reason is Ari Picker, singer/songwriter/pianist extraordinaire. His latest release as Lost in the Trees is the cinematic (in the Danny Elfman sense of the word) Time Taunts Me. It’s big and orchestral and at the same time intimate and folksy. The big and orchestral part can be attributed to the cast of fellow Berklee School of Music classical music students he convinced to breathe life into his arrangements. The intimate and folksy part is all Ari whose his whispered delivery and careful sentimentality give the whole thing a nice, soft underbelly. Big and orchestral blend with intimate and folksy to create a compelling and vaguely menacing landscape — like dark thunder clouds rolling over meticulous fields of wheat. The concept album bug seems to be spreading across everything Ari touches, when you look at where his indie pop/rock group The Never went with their latest—which leads me to Part Two of the two-fer…
Sparrow House
It seems that with all this frantic social networking going on in the world (umm, the internet?), musicians are following suit. One search leads to the other in an endless maze of “who plays with who.” Sometimes you find yourself following the trail until you end up at a Lynard Skynard tribute band and you wonder where you went wrong. Not so with Sparrow House (which is actually just Jared Van Fleet, of keyboards and guitar for Voxtrot). When I finished following the trail of crumbs, I just listened, smiled and said “sweet!” Apparently, we were a little late on sharing some Voxtrot with you all, but this time I think we’re right on point. The track below reminds me of Elliot Smith, and since I pretty much wish that man was alive every day, I say, yes, Jared, lets please revisit. But the rest of the EP is varied, folky, dark and stormy. The kind of stuff you can close your eyes and be happy to listen to when you just need a moment. The cool kids totally love him and me too. Thanks Jared, I totally needed a moment.
Benni Hemm Hemm
With only 300,000 inhabitants, Iceland turns out more great music per capita than any other country. Another case in point: Benni Hemm Hemm. My favorite description of Benni Hemm Hemm is “a little big band with little big songs”. What began as a solo endeavor, the ReykjavÃk-based Benedikt H. Hermannsson eventually decided to go big…17 people big. Now, Benni Hemm Hemm bring together the sweet sounds of trombone, guitar, trumpet, cornet, glockenspiel, and much more with cheerful, hopeful, and sometimes silly crooning (occasionally sung in English—sellouts…). The songs are fleeting and leave you hungry for more, a convenient fact given Benni Hemm Hemm record quickly and frequently.
qr5
I was cleaning out my suggestion file from 2006 this morning, bringing the number down to a manageable 227 bands left to check out, when I came across qr5. The Canadian pop-reggae outfit suggested themselves in the sunny month of May, and I finally gave them a listen. (Sorry it took so long! Do you have snow yet? We got a little bit yesterday.) Since then, “Revisited Gone” has been the groove of the moment. Here’s what they had to say about themselves: “Introspective music you can dance to, qr5 is a singular combination of reggae groove, pop contagion, and folk sensibility. With their new album Pharmakon the Toronto 4 piece mixes a positive feel and engaging arrangements with tight rhythms and deep thoughts.” Right on. You know reggae sounds better in January anyway.
The National Lights
BloodShake Records’s (or is it Records’? Yeah, it’s Records’, right? You do ‘s when following a singular noun ending in s? This is what happens when I teach only history classes for a semester…) other artist , Sonya Cotton, was well received here at the ‘hive, so I though I’d pitch The National Lights. Slow and brooding, the Lights provide a further vehicle for Cotton’s lovely voice — here as backing vocals — while setting somber scenes of desolation and vague desire. Well, at least it’s pretty music, even if it’s not exactly fun.
Blitzen Trapper
File this one under my favorite band that I completely missed in 2006. This despite the fact that plenty of fine sites have been trying to hit me over the head with Blitzen Trapper’s simultaneously spacey and homey sound. “Texaco” is a straight up country joint, the whining of a slide guitar punctuating the wavering vocals while “Summer Twin” floats and hovers about like one of XTC’s psychedelic efforts. The two tendencies come together on “Pink Padded Slippers.” Pure listening satisfaction. Don’t miss “40 Stripes,” a throwback to solid AM-worthy, classic rock standards and the electro-funk of “Love I Exclaim!” The band’s two self-released albums are available on CD Baby where a fan beautifully sums up Blitzen Trapper: “[they] sound like they’re trying to paint the Sistine Chapel with a box of crayons.”
Angela Desveaux
So, the photo here might not do Angela Desveaux justice. Then again, if you see country girl instead of modern Lizzie Borden, maybe this does work. Montreal-based Desveaux’s layered country-pop calls to mind fellow countrywoman Kathleen Edwards, or fellow North American Lucinda Williams. (Yeah! Go continent!) (If you can’t tell, I need a holiday break right about NOW.) Angela’s debut album Wandering Eyes is likewise avaliable NOW. Peace for the season.