Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Homer: Happy 20th Anniversary Simpsons!

So the the list of my major childhood development goes as follows. At about age one I ate my first real food when I broke down at the dinner table demanding I had the same pizza the rest of my family was eating. Five years later, I had my first piano lesson. And finally in fourth grade, I first watched and fell in love with the Simpsons. From then on out I can safely say, any place I've been to anything I have done, if not being directly related to one of the three has probably been vaguely (sometimes not so vaguely) influenced by my perspective on them. 
This realization is not new to me or those who know me well (another important developmental landmark worth mentioning perhaps was my journey into manhood at age thirteen with my Simpsons themed "Bart-Mitzvah"), but tonight I was reminded how special the Simpsons truly are in my heart. While watching the Simpsons 20th anniversary special this evening, I could hardly keep the grin off of my face hearing all the producers, actors, and writers talk about the show. Though my dedication has waned (I have gone from watching it three times a day, to about once if that) nothing makes me happier than hearing Mr. Burn beckoning for his hounds to be released, or seeing America's favorite family plop down on that same old couch at the beginning of every episode. 
One of my favorite things about the Simpsons though, is its music. Along with its theme essentially now firmly placed among the American popular musical canon, all episodes are completely scored by Alf Clausen, and scored well to boot! Before my CD case was stolen/lost in 8th grade I would listen religiously to Songs in the Key of Springfield, enjoying both the tunes and the memories of their respective episodes. 
Though the Simpsons mean a lot to me one thing I easily recognized watching the special tonight was that I am by no means the only one. So today, to represent this point I am going to share with you some of the best Simpsons songs sung by random everyday fanatics like myself, plus a real version of Flaming Moes (cause that one's, I think, my fave). Some are pretty good, some are others just goofing around, though each to me represents the same curious power the Simpsons had on me at the young age of ten years old, that has brought it into history and to the far reaches of the globe. 

Bulgarian Choral Singing

So I apologize about not posting much this semester. Ever since I lost my big desk, started guitar lessons, and cancelled my Facebook (I highly recommend it, but if you don't care to thats cool too) I haven't been spending much of my free time on the computer.  Needless to say I still have been accumulating sonic and culinary goodies to share with you, my digital friends.  Now procrastinating on a Celtic music paper, I feel inspired to make a quick post.
This friday I met with my thesis advisor to talk about my project on the Old Town School and my plan for next semester.  When I got there I heard some really intriguing and entrancing music coming out of his office.  Being a scholar of post Soviet Russian and Eastern European music, Martin was just showing a fellow music major some Bulgarian choral music, and invited me in to listen.   He explained that the classically composed music I was hearing is based off of their traditional musical language but has been gaining larger recognition in the folk and art music world of late.   So I thought it would be nice to share some with you.
The singers that you hear are all trained to sing in the traditional Bulgarian style in a conservatory setting,  as opposed to the classical conservatory one would find in "the west" .  You can tell that their tone is brighter, sharper, and pure.  I am no expert on Bulgarian singing but this sound is most likely achieved maintaining their tongue much more forward in their mouths when they sing and using more of their "head voice" (though I would imagine, sufficient support from the diaphragm is needed to not ruin ones voice, head singing as its called can be quite tough on the vocal chords).  The music is marked  Also what is strange about the music, as mentioned before is the meter, this first song is  in 7/16.  This means that there are 1 + 3/4 quarter notes per measure,  which means in short pretty weird.  See if you can tap it out on your foot, its difficult. I think it should go "One, two, three; one, two, three, four" with the emphasis on both ones.  The second one sounds much more classically western, I don't really like it as much but its still good.

Summer of Soul Update: Mayer Hawthorne's "Maybe So Maybe No"

This artist was brought to my attention by Soul-Sides the other day with the track

"Your Easy Lovin' Ain't Pleasin' Nothin'"

Soul-Sides' originator Oscar Wang called his most recent album too derivative, as if that was bad thing. Though most people think that being derivative is a mark against ones creativity, I think it is beneficial to the creative process as a whole. Commercial music has been obsessed with standing out and sounding impeccable, often times to great result. But the way music is made today is not how it will always be made, this process creates, in my opinion what is an unrealistic expectation placed on artists, to be completely original. Let me remind you we only have 12 different notes in western music. And especially when we recognize that what most of us consider to be a "good" pop song, follows a I-IV-V-I pattern (maybe with a deceptive cadence here, and a quick key change there). Really with most pop songs the key difference is a guitar riff or two and how angry the lead singer tends to be, speaking plainly of course.

I happen to be of the opinion the music is music, and soul is soul, and that I like soul a lot. With most music regardless of genre as long as the song doesn't bore me to death or hurt my ears, I will listen to it. Soul as a musical form, has an uplifting sound that is both easy to identify with and easy to dance to. In addition it also has a pretty well defined sound which makes it easy to copy for the reason that any listener need not know the theory (beyond basic instrumental or vocal competency) because chances are they already are more than familiar with the feeling. And therefore, if one wished, or if millions of people wished, they could all have soul cover bands and have a good time doing it. This is not the case with a form like American Idol style pop because it is largely based on vocal virtuosity and complicated studio polished arrangements for its effectiveness. Rock and Roll on the other hand seems to be too fragmented these days (between emo, indie-pop, indie-rock, pop rock, garage rock, punk rock, pop punk, etc...) to have a sound to be so recognizable. In my nebulous unprovable opinion I think that this drive for originality drove rock and roll away from its initial instinct in terms of feel, and has not found its way back on course since the late seventies, except for maybe a brief period relegated to the the first two Strokes albums (Room on Fire of course originally being chastised for its sameness with respect to Is This It, while six years later both remain among the top rock albums of the last decade). So my advice, find a sound or a band you love, copy the hell out of it/them with a few friends, and see what you get from there. No one thinks you are going to be the next pop superstar, so why even bull shit yourself into thinking to get the best result by "doing your own thing". Imitation is the purest form of flattery, so just give what you love the respect it deserves.

Here is Mayer Hawthorne's cover of Maybe So Maybe No - By the New Holidays which you of course remember from the Summer of Soul: Electric Boogaloo '09 playlist I posted a while back. Its still warm out I guess, and we haven't had the autumnal equinox, so keep that soul kickin'.

Old Town School at the Dakhla Festival 2009: Folk Diplomacy in Morroco

So these are some very cool videos by my friend Nashma Carrera formerly of the Old Town School of Folk Music

featuring Chris Walz (also from the Old Town) on the banjo. This is from a trip to the Dakhla Festival in Morroco

funded by the MacArthur Foundation to build a relationship between the Old Town and the Casablanca Music

Conservatory along with finding new groups to bring to the school for their ongoing world music series. This is a

French/Morrocan band, I cant really tell you the name, but they are really cool. If you like these Nashma has a lot more really awsome

that I didn't post here but you should definitely check out.

Chicago Folk and Roots Fest

So not last weekend but the weekend before it was the Chicago Folk and Roots Festival, put on every year in Lincoln Circle by the Old Town School of Folk Music. This year was my first time going and only caught a bit of it, but it was a very good time. To start off with the food there was not bad by any means, yes you could get corn dogs and funnel cake but you could also get vegan tacos, African sausage, and some other interesting stuff that caught my eye that currently I cannot remember. The festival was composed of a main stage for larger acts, a stage for the school staff to play at, a gazebo for jam sessions, a dance tent, and a "nuestra musica" tent which was made to display some aspects of the research that the Smithsonian Institute had done on the Latin American community in Chicago with the help of the Old Town School, and its very own instrument petting zoo (no f'n joke).

The music was pretty interesting, I spent a bit of time at the staff tent trying to meet some faculty to interview for my research on the school, but I also witnessed a surprisingly virtuosic Grateful Dead jam at the gazebo, as well as a few shows at the main stage most notably Curley Taylor and the Zydeco Trouble and the Watcha Clan. The Zydeco trouble is, you guessed it a zydeco band from Louisiana. They were quite funky, and definitely down with The Summer of Soul, cause they pulled out some nasty James Brown and Sam Cooke covers.

Also there was this very interesting French-Algerian band fronted by a sephardic Jewish woman. Their music combined North African roots with drum and bass, that painted a pretty cool atmosphere among the setting sun of the festival. I managed to capture a video of part of a song I found interesting, it was a rendition of the famous poem by Israeli poet Hannah Senesh, Aylee Aylee.

Overall the most refreshing aspect of the festival was that, as opposed to the Wells St. Art Fair earlier this summer, I was able to enjoy myself without being elbow to elbow with wasted young professionals. The music was an eclectic mix of folk, rock, roots, soul (they had a jam at the gazebo); Comparable to in talent, but with less choices, which I can deal with, and if I wanted to be dancing or picnic-ing I had my choice without having to sacrifice being able to hear. Which is always a good thing.

אלי, אלי, שלא יגמר לעולם

החול והים

רישרוש של המים

ברק השמים

תפילת האדם

Dylan Mashed Up

Here is a sampling of Bob Dylan mashups by French DJ ToToM. The tracks are pretty eclectic ranging from upbeat power-pop mixes to Kanye West samples. The style he takes on this one isn't the Girltalk or Jason Forest style of mashing many different songs together, or even the dangermouse style of heavy beats constructed from one song that are applied to another. ToToM takes a simpler route by combining two songs in near stock form to build a song that is greater or at least stranger than their predecessor (probably greater on the non-Dylan side while stranger on the Dylan side, which isn't necessarily a bad thing at all). The whole album is really interesting though I must admit I find some tracks to fall flat in my view (The Man in Me mixed with Eagles of Death Metal to count one) but others just reach this weird level of apocolyptic sentimental gushing emotive power that only Dylan on steroids could reach (Lay Bittersweet Lady... just guess what that one is a mash up of). You can find the whole album here.

Tambourines are From Barcelona

Lay Bittersweet Lady
Fire Coming Out of Oxford Town

Chicago Folk Revival Legend: John Prine

Often there are times - the rainy afternoons, the frustrated evenings, the end of long stagnant weeks or months- when there is just that honest consoling sound we are drawn to. For people this can be anything from Black Flag to Britney Spears, but I think you could guess neither of those examples do much for me in any situation. For me this musical voice is that of John Prine. Coming from the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago during the urban folk revival of the 1960's historically speaking he sits alongside such historic figures as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Tom Rush, Phil Ochs and many others.

I remember the first time I heard John Prine. It was on a two disc anthology that is still in my mothers car. The first time I heard it I thought it was a type of cliche Americana. An overly simple old-timey sound that would never really garner too much respect in my ears. It was about sometime last year when I gave him a second chance. By this time I was a more seasoned appreciator of folk and bluegrass, and in my second listening instead of finding pedestrian melodies and typical progressions I found something else.

Though the melodic material is not much that warrants accolades; between the deft guitar picking (see Souvenirs), softhearted lyrics, and honest performances John Prine has become one of my favorite folk voices. I find his sound is both tender yet coarse enough to make the music feel approachable and not lofted in production, pop sentiment, or lyrical abstraction. I love his sound and the songs he writes. I find it funny that I didn't appreciate it at first, but that is one of the mysteries of taste and critical intuition, that as I have gotten older I would say the standards for what I listen to have not been lowered but I find myself asking different things from my music. I think when I was younger I was probably (as often happens in youth) I had preconceived notions of what music I listened to was supposed to sound like or do to me (think of how you as a child thought of vegetables, and if you don't like vegetables these days you better chickity check yo-self before you wreck your self, for real), asking for melodies to take me somewhere exciting and new Now, with Prine at least, I ask for his music to take me to something consoling and familiar. Perhaps its the accumulation of memory, or a newfound appreciation of the past. Either way John Prine is one of those many artists that I have grown to love, and as usual I am glad I looked past my youthful dispersions and gave him another chance.

Donald and Lydia - John Prine

Souvenirs - John Prine

America The Playlist

So I started this blog in part kind of intending it to be an off shoot of a project on Folk music I have been working on for my honors thesis. Semantics and discourse aside, I have been listening to a lot of different types of music native to this here great land and would like to share with you a sweet playlist that I think is representative of the general quality and diversity of music connected to (and some part of) that old American sound that to many sounds just archaic and weird. Those people are clearly wrong. Well, not really, but I do feel that considering the deep impact a lot of those recordings (like the Anthology of American Folk Music) have had on the modern musical landscape, that point is a little moot or so they say. Plus I think it is time to fully admit, these days a lot of new music is just sounds tired to me, too many synthesizers and too impersonal. Like, I get it, your in a band, am I supposed be impressed or something or just accept you playing your instrument like a cold fish? JK JK... As per-usual this playlist is a little of the familiar and a little of the unfamiliar, anyway I hope you enjoy it.

The Playlist

Beams of Heaven 2:43 Rosetta Tharpe

Come Back to Us Barbara Lewis Hare Krishna Beauregard John Prine Prime Prine

The Fugitive 2:58 Merle Haggard The Definitive Collection

this land is your land 4:31 Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings Naturally

Cold Rain & Snow 6:44 Grateful Dead Dick's Picks Volume 5 (Disc 1)

Lonesome and a Long Way From Home 3:56 Delaney & Bonnie & Friends Motel Shot

Sugar Man 3:48 Sixto Rodriguez Cold Fact

You Ain't Goin' Nowhere 2:43 Bob Dylan The Basement Tapes (CD 2) 1

Spike Driver Blues 3:17 Mississippi John Hurt Anthology Of American Folk Music, Vol. 3B:

When You Got A Good Friend 2:40 Robert Johnson King of the Delta Blues Singers Blues

Little Martha 2:07 The Allman Brothers Band Eat A Peach

Drifting Too Far From The Shore 4:54 Jerry Garcia, David Grisman & Tony Rice The Pizza Tapes

The Unwelcome Guest 5:06 Billy Bragg & Wilco Mermaid Avenue

House of the rising sun 5:45 Dave Van Ronk Just Dave Van Ronk

It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry 4:09 Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited

Is This Enough 4:48 Roadbirds Live in the Wilde

Georgia Stomp 2:48 Andrew & Jim Baxter Anthology Of American Folk Music, Vol. 2A:

Taj Mahal: A "Monumental" Musician

I have been a fan of Taj Mahal ever since hearing him in my dads record collection sometime in highschool.  He is a great guitarist which I always appreciate, but generally a great musician all around.  Over spring break I saw him perform at The Belly Up in Aspen Colorado where he played the banjo, piano and guitar all very proficiently, as well as put on one hell of a show.  He has some great tunes and this first two are tunes I heard for the  at The Belly Up and just rediscovered it today, also I included another tune just to show how much of a bad ass he is... enjoy.

Snapshot of an American Folk Artist: Dan Bern

The catalog of Dan Bern is not very widely received.  His name, as far as my circle of experience goes, is largely preserved through sparse publicity (most recently, this is actually bigger news, he was contracted to write the soundtrack to dewy cox) and the remanence of a single song. "The Jerusalem Song" is curiously well known among Jewish summer camp attendees for just any song by an obscure jewish folk artist.  In fact this is how I myself know Dan Bern, from a counselor named Ben Dreyfus when I was in the fourth grade.  I suppose the song is played because it is fun, and is kept because of its name as opposed to its subject matter.  The song is supposed to be about Dan Bern's (formerly Dan Bernstein) trip to Jerusalem to visit his sister.  But little is said about Jerusalem,  and still for the aforementioned reasons the song is played throughout jewish establishments.  Bern's status among fans  is something between obscure jewish folk musician and respected industry type (he does have a professional/artistic associations with Ani DiFranco)  but I am not sure he is either. This fact or confusion is compounded by Bern's curious personality.  He is also a painter and a writer.  He is the type of artist where you begin to realize that he doesn't attempt to focus on writing impressive songs, and rather focuses on the process of writing songs themselves.  In short he is a songwriter by trade.  Not surprisingly his sound is often compared to that of Bob Dylan, though usually in a derisive manner, but who can honestly pass judgement.  I remember a scene from No Direction Home where Joan Baez tells a story about Bob Dylan just sitting down at a type writer typing out words then being at a loss as to how to explain them or just saying something along the lines of  "you decide".  Bob Dylan gains his strength (along with his catchy tunes) from his musicality, the time from which he came (which was culturally very attentive) and the eloquence with which he portrayed the feeling of a time (both musically and lyrically).  Dan Bern, I feel, gains his strength from a much less tangible source that I mentioned  earlier but only briefly, his honesty and consistency.  His sound can be described as derivative but I feel that would be missing the point.  The fact is that Bern has a style that has comes about from pursuing a craft and being prolific.  An intangible quality that has something mystical to do with the Edisonian ratio of ten percent inspiration ninety percent perspiration.  Bob Dylan was surely a brilliant musician and I love his music but I feel the ethos of his work to be a little scattered, this may be a vague criticism or not even a criticism at all.  The recent movie on Bob Dylan, Im Not There , seemed to find fascination in this fact, and I guess so do I.  But personally speaking its less erratic nature lends  Bern's music to be something more easily relatable, and isn't that one of the many reasons we listen to "folk" music? The fact is that, while Bob Dylan can span generations and genres, Bern is one of the rare artists who finds his niche in a highly stylized form  with an honesty and fluency that just sounds refreshing.  Im not saying one is better than the other, in fact I want to take this opportunity to make explicitly clear that in not what I mean.  I am merely trying to distinguish my appreciation of Bern's approach to his craft that I hold in high regard.  Either way its good stuff, enjoy.

Jerusalem Song - Dan Bern

Trudy - Dan Bern

Visit My Dreams - Dan Bern