Day 0969 - Ys

Joanna Newsom "Ys" (2006)

The book compares Newsom to Kate Bush, and I could certainly see/hear some similarities, both in the timbre of her voice, the almost operatic/theatrical quality of some of her music and the range of sounds.   Her more violent delivery in places like "Sawdust and Diamonds" almost brings Bjork to mind.

Harpist and vocalist Newsom had released her debut album and was part of a new-folk movement along with Devendra Branhart.   

 

This album is an interesting mix of parts.   Newsom recorded her harp and vocal parts with brass-tacks, punkish producer Steve Albini.  Orchestral arrangements were added after the fact by Van Dyke Parks, arranger for the Beach Boys' more adventurous albums.   

The arrangements nicely accentuate Newsom's songs, giving them room to breathe in places, but coming to the fore when it's appropriate.

The album has only 5 tracks, but most of them are around the 10-15 minute mark, not unlike some 1970s albums, like a lot of the prog, fusion and yeah even some of the folk stuff from that era.

Day 0808 - Dust

Screaming Trees "Dust" (1996)

Screaming Trees and their dust-throated vocliast Mark Lanegan have always drifted in and out of my orbit.   I first heard the Screaming Tress through their brilliant song "Nearly lost you" from the soundtrack Cameron Crowe's grunge-centric film "Singles".   Even though I loved that song I didn't really think to check out any more of their music.

A few years later a friend was well into the Mark Lanegan band and I listened to a couple of their albums but left it at that again.   Then a few years later, I saw Lanegan perform with the band the Soulsavers and a friend who is very much a Lanegan afficiando helped me discover a lot more of his work (solo, with Belle & Sebastian's Isobel Campbell, with Duke Garwood, Gutter Twins, Twilight Singers...).   Basically, sometimes I'm a slow learner.

Anyway, back to "Dust".   The basic foundation of this album seems to be the Beatles' Revolver and Rubber Soul albums, it has that mix of hard rock with middle-eastern sounds and a wash of psychedelia.   I guess those sounds, mixed with a little more distortion and with Lanegan's gravelly voice somehow manages to sound rock hard, the album is too good to fob off as "just another grunge record".

Great songs with occasional touches of gospel backing vocals that seem to signpost what was to come as far as Lanegan's work with the Soulsavers goes.

Day 0743 - Emergency on Planet Earth

 Jamiroquai “Emergency on Planet Earth” (1993) – got it

 

Kind of like a combination of Herbie Hancock’s fusion material, and Steve Wonder… in fact, if I were to be uncharitable, I’d say that that’s pretty much all their sound is.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Jamiroquai’s tight funk grooves, danceable beats and Wonder-esque vocals, and I have a few of their releases; but I have to admit that their sound doesn’t change hugely between albums.  They might chuck in a ballad here or more of a disco influence there but generally they stick with what they know.

That aside, I could definitely understand this record and band making a splash when they first appeared.  Their music is lively, their musicians skilled, and lead-singer Jay Kay (who people forever assume is a solo artist called Jamiroquai) was a ball of big-hat-wearing energetic stage presence.