Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo So what are ya listening to tonight?

I'll go so far as to say it's amazing, if you don't mind unabashed girliness.

Charles, are you familiar with Julien Baker? http://www.npr.org/2016/03/04/469247254/julien-baker-tiny-desk-concert

I saw this the other day and thought that she was an artist that you might like.

I haven't heard of her, but I'll check her out. Thanks for the tip!

Nerf Herder's new album, Rockingham, is really very good. I'm glad they revived themselves, though it's not like Parry Gripp ever stopped producing stuff on YouTube.

Check out a song here.

There aren' t too many artists for whom I will dash to the record store on the day of their new release.

I called last Friday morning, to be sure it wouldn't be a wasted trip. I asked for the new LUCIUS, "Good Grief."

"Yes, we have two." Really? I'm thinking that this band is going to blow up and they've ordered two. "Please hold one for me, I'll be over in a half an hour!" A track from their first release is currently used in a Samsung Galaxy ad, "Wrong End of the Telescsope." ("Ah-ah-ah-ah Ha!")

I can't remember the last time someone's second album sounded like their third or fourth. The first one, "Wildewoman," is so fresh and from left field. There are, I think, only two words that made all of the difference, and they're Canadian words---Bob Ezrin. He has produced everyone; Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Alice Cooper (was IN the band at one time, like over 40 other guys and a few women over the years), Kiss' "Destroyer," and so many more, that the list of albums he produced is a couple of pages long. Wiki him, it'll blow your mind the pies his fingers have been in.

(The two women singers/writers went to one of my alma maters, Berklee College of Music, except they got there 35 years after I did. Ha! When I went there, the female to male ratio was about 1 to 12, Now it's more like 40% female. Back then, tuition was $2,000.00 a year, now it's almost $60,000.00! Yeowie! See what happens when you let women go to college! It's always the same, you give them their way and it ends up costing everyone tons more dough! I AM KIDDING!! Half of my doctors are women and I'm pretty sure they had to go to college, for starters.)

These women presented him two voices that are indistinguishable in timbre, vibrato, power, range, everything. When they sing in unison, it sounds double-tracked. When they do harmonies, it's impossible to follow who's taking which part. It helped that they (the two female vocalists) brought some great new material to the table; they write everything. I think he pushed them to new places, finding so many styles that they have no trouble moving in and out of.

There are torch songs with only one instrument or two, synth -pop, pop, dance, Motown grooves, Michael Jackson beats and even some twangy country moments. They had the minimalist thing down, their voices sound so incredible alone. He gave them Phil Spector and Giorgio Moroder styled lush, deep backgrounds with a few additional stops in between to add to their repertoire of sounds.

They have liked to include surprises around a few corners of a song (like a gruff guitar "fart" that happens in between ballad verses, or changing the lyric meter in the 3rd bar), and Bob didn't deter them from any of what I thought made them unique on their first record. (BTW, that's Wil-de-woman, as in wildebeast, not wild woman.) The cover art is expensive to print (spot-varnished) and quite arresting. However, like our dearly departed David Jones' final effort, someone thinks black-on-black title print looks slick. Well, ya, it does, but, I CAN'T READ IT!

Maybe they know I listen with my eyes closed?

(The first Chickenfoot cd cover used soy-based ink. I left it on my car seat for an afternoon, then it no longer had any text at all.)

Emily Wells - Light Is Drainin' / Antidote - 1/29/2016 - Paste Studios, New York, NY

I enjoyed this Emily Wells live set on YouTube courtesy of Paste Magazine. Sounds great on my system. I'll have to watch it again and crank it even more to get the full live feel.

I'm going to see Violent Femmes in May. I've liked the songs I've been exposed to, but it's been a while. It was only a glancing encounter with their catalog. What album should I start with?

Oh, and I'm listening to Psy's 7th Album. It's pretty awesome. It's the first album of his I've bought, so I'll have to go back in time and familiarize myself with his earlier work. He's not just fun music videos.

Andy Timmons, guitarist from Texas, one of the best players I have seen/heard.
"Cry for you" studio or live are great, might like the live version better.
Jeff

Bob Mould's new album, Patch the Sky. Will see him at the 9:30 Club in four weeks. Oh yeah!!!