I found out that NPR was streaming Joanna Newsom’s new album in its entirety. Before finding that out I knew that a track from the album, “Good Intentions Paving Company” (I think) was available for download on Drag City’s site, following a cryptic blog entry bearing the date 2/23/10. My initial reaction to the song, “wow her voice sounds sort of normal”, was probably shared by many. That reaction was probably followed with something like, “oh, I also hear it is going to be a triple LP; that is insane”. Pitchfork, tinymixtapes, and NPR say similar things about the album, things like, “It’s very long so the listener may opt to come back to different parts at different times”. Pitchfork notes that the 3xLP format facilitates this style of listening—you can pick up a disc, listen to a side, and move on. tinymixtapes’ reviewer calls it “almost comically lengthy”. NPR takes for granted that the listener may not be ready for a lengthy “musical adventure”.
Anyway, after lying on my bed for two and some hours while the album streamed I decided that I liked it very much. I also thought it would be funny to sort of review the album (but in reality “poop out words“) while listening to the album in its entirety.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“It’s listeners like you that make this possible”—Genius. I feel like this is the best way of saying “give us money”.
“Easy”—Easy, Easy. I think alot about this song because I’ve already streamed this a bunch of times and what have you. I’m already wondering if I’m going to be able to do it. Drums came in. What is the deal with the bass drums on this record? They are very deep. I’ve lost the grasp of what this song is doing but that may be because I don’t really know what I’m talking about. I need to have a cigarette soon. I may smoke an illicit cigarette out of my window. Wait is this a piano song or a harp song? “Tell me your worries, I want to be told”. I should probably be doing something more useful like figuring out my possible identity theft sitch. This song is beautifully arranged. I guess that’s not surprising. It’s pretty sweet when the drums kick in. Damn this song is long . Wonder if I’m going be able to keep this blogging thing up when I start working or whatever. This music sounds very ‘American’, like ‘American Classical Composer’. Newsom went to college for composition I think. On facebook again I need to make an event or something. Sweet piano decay.
“Have One On Me”—Holy Harp! Don’t get the ‘daddy long legs thing’. In the night, in the night. Back. There’s a big black spinder hangin’ over my door, can’t go anywhere. Not really surprised. I already have a feeling that this is not going to go really well. Why am I doing this. More recordings should have oboe and bassoon. I played bassoon in high school. I should have gone for that. I was going to go outside today but I’m tired. Hearing Newsom’s overdubbed harmonies unnerves me; her vibrato is very very controlled. What else could I be doing today? How many listens willit take to have a grasp of these songs? I have trouble figuring out where I am in general.
“”81″—I get confused because Newsom is “redefining pop”. This music comes from a different tradition, something more formal —it’s inflected by the blues or whatever but it’s not built on the blues, it has a different starting point (classical music, broadly writ?) but it’s being packaged as pop. Like, dig the Newsom’s press shot (below),
Seems like when Jewel got sexy or something like that.
“Good Intentions Paving Company”—Sweet song name! I think this is the song that was streaming from Drag City’s site in the week or so before Have On Me came out. Here come the multitracked vibrato’d out harmonies come in. She’s a little Diva Like here. When will Joanna Newsom appear on VH1. I think this is the song that made everyone think, “oh fuck what happened to her voice, it’s all normal now”. Read: concession to pop packaging maybe. Some people probably see this as selling out to an extent. When will Good Intentions Paving Company soundtrack a Chevy commercial? As I’ve gotten older I’ve lost my veneer of vague anarcho-leftist sympathies and now await the day when I can make an assload of money selling a song to British Petroleum or maybe Shell. It’s really too bad; what became of me. It’s hard to listen to a real artist. I wonder if Newsom has been approached for some kind of endorsement deal. Like, I bet she could get a sweet harp endorsement—but only if Yamaha can convince her to switch to their wood laminate composite harp product (with lasers!).
“No Provenance”—The bass drum sounds huge. It must be one of those really big ones that orchestras use. I just realized this. The turnaround in this song is great. Some winds interject and you find yourself in a totally different part. I would like to see what Newsom’s writing process is like. Oboe! Back to the head. And the turnaround turns you to a little new bit and back to the head. The horns are becoming more and more insistent; now there is less harp. I would really like to see this live. I wonder how they recorded this. I wonder of Newsom would assent to a click track. What would it have been like to be the shitty dude who Newsom dated in High School/College. No Provenance. I remember first hearing about her from a Chuck Klosterman article; he said something like, “Her voice is so awesome. I would be disappointed if she turned out to be attractive. I hope her face looks like melted cheese.” I guess he was hoping for a Susan Boyle.
“Baby Birch”—This song is big-upped on NPR:
I suggest trying the song “Baby Birch.” Texturally, it’s one of the most compelling tracks on a record with a lot of orchestral adventures. This song, however, has more textural counterpoint, with an edgy electric guitar appearing alongside Newsom’s harp. That electric guitar is performed by Ryan Francesconi, and he’s also playing acoustic guitar, Bulgarian tambura (long-necked lute) banjo, mandolin and soprano recorder — and that’s just on the one song. Francesconi did the arrangements and conducting on the record, though Newsom wrote her own harp and vocal arrangements.
My buddy was like, “she uses texture- like three times in the paragraph”
I suggest trying the song “Baby Birch.” Texturally, it’s one of the most compelling tracks on a record with a lot of orchestral adventures. This song, however, has more textural counterpoint, with an edgy electric guitar appearing alongside Newsom’s harp. That electric guitar is performed by Ryan Francesconi, and he’s also playing acoustic guitar, Bulgarian tambura (long-necked lute) banjo, mandolin and soprano recorder — and that’s just on the one song. Francesconi did the arrangements and conducting on the record, though Newsom wrote her own harp and vocal arrangements.
Notes: Ha! Edgy electric guitar! I’m not sure how the writer means ‘edgy’ but I agree in one sense. The guitar in the track is a lot of edge and no body; like it’s transparent. It cuts through the track but doesn’t overwhelm it. Not sure if it’s ‘edgy’ as in ‘hard core’.The paragraph moves on to impress reader with the overdubbing feats of Ryan
What the fuck the stream just stopped. Now listening track by track. Dammit.
Francesconi. I guess this is sort of like NPR explaining music to the masses. The tone of, “That electric guitar is performed by Ryan Francesconi, and he’s also playing acoustic guitar, Bulgarian tambura (long-necked lute) banjo, mandolin and soprano recorder — and that’s just on the one song”, just seems so terribly NPR and I don’t know why—what is it to be ‘so terribly NPR’? Condescension in the air. Let’s see when NPR said in their “First Listen” treatment of the Dirty Projectors’ most recent album, Bitte Orca.
The members of Dirty Projectors have a well-earned reputation for dismantling standard melodic forms and chord structures and rearranging the elements until they no longer resemble the kinds of songs most people are used to hearing. The result is idiosyncratic and complex, but it’s also the sort of musical thrill ride that some listeners won’t enjoy. Still, love it or hate it, it’s hard not to be impressed with what Dirty Projectors’ members have accomplished. Bitte Orca is awe-inspiringly executed and marked by sparkling imagination.
I’m using this quote because there was no paragraph in the Bitte Orca article serving the same function as the “Baby Birch” paragraph in the Have One On Me article—e.g. a song analysis with production notes. Both articles, however, do address the fact the albums are difficult/out there.
Actually, I’ll rephrase that: You must hear “Have One on Me” when you’re ready for a musical adventure. This isn’t casual listening, and while that’s usually code for “This record is hard to get through,” this isn’t a difficult record.
“On A Good Day”—Oh my that was a shorty.
“You and Me Bess”—Sometimes I think that part of the reward of listening to difficult music is that it makes you feel good about yourself for having listened to difficult music. I think it’s a status thing. It’s what separates us from the mouth breathers. The value of the music is not in the music. Well it sort of is. But I feel like we might be doing musicians a disservice, treating them like t-shirts or silly/non functional eyewear. Sometimes I wonder if I even like music. How do you like music? Is music cool because it’s good or good because it’s cool or both because ornaments your alternative or mainstream life?
“In California”—Sweet triplet bassline or whatever. Didn’t Vampire Weekend release a song about California? Vampire Weekend is a good example of the point sort of outlined above. But whatever. I hear it is douchey to defend Vampire Weekend but is it douchey to attack attacking Vampire Weekend because it’s 1) fashionable and 2) easy? Let the matter pass over in silence I guess. Every song on this album is very good to great.
“Jackrabbits”—Noticing that hi brow contemporary ‘pop’ (or ‘conceptual-core’?) tends to involve extended song forms and complex percussion. They tend to evince a sophisticated grasp of harmony/mastery of some stringed instrument as well as several other instruments. Some rely on electronics (Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective, Panda Bear) and animal names while grounding them in some alternate -folk universe. Seems like most conceptual projects tend to employ synths, electronic drums, samplers. I get this feeling to the extent that I feel like picking up a guitar without plugging into at least 2 Line6 delays is a waste of time. I would group Newsom into the genre of ‘hi brow contemporary pop’ (or hbcp; or hubcap) but she clearly isn’t a pedal player.
“Go Long”—Starting to lose it. Newsom’s hubcap is probably borne out of her mix of formal music training and ‘pop sensibility’. I don’t like this song.
“Occident”—This song is much better than “Go Long”. Reading Street Boners and TV Carnage.
“Soft As Chalk”—This article is pretty extreme. Also gchatting about band practice tonight. Fuck. The piano songs are good. Sucked into the Google Reader hole.
“Esme”—The end is near. Damn near exhausted. Ok, back on task. It’s a beautiful town / with the rain comin’ down. I feel very calm now writing this though before I felt very anxious/afraid about doing this. This album is a good album for lazing, it’s controlled, it’s placid. My impressions may change with a lyrics sheet. I feel similarly to this album as I do Vashti Bunyan’s Just Another Diamond Day. That’s an easy/fashionable comparison but I’d like to compare them for their calming effects. When I was writing papers in Philadelphia in my room and it was very cold, Just Another Diamond Day was like a cup of hot cocoa. I also used to find Testbild’s Imagine A House incredibly calming. My then girlfriend bought it for me, and when I panicked after her leaving for school, Imagine A House was just about the only thing that allowed me to sleep. I was still at home and I didn’t hang out with anybody and I secretly smoked but didn’t drink.
“Autumn”—Something about this song tells me, “you are near the end of the album”. “Autumn” reminds me of “Go Long” but with a better melody. Or something. No, fuck that – they are totally different songs. “Autumn” sounds ‘big’. I think it’s all the strings and maybe some more reverb overall. The word might be ‘epic’; ‘epic’ like seeing a full string section’s bowing arms playing all at the same time so the orchestra looks like unified organism.
“Ribbon Bows”—I think you ought to read a Great American Novel while listening to this album. Last time I listened to Have One On Me was lying down reading Sometimes A Great Notion. The minor turn in this song was very good. Would listen again. Also. I just checked my Bandcamp account, which offers a statistical break down of how many people listened to which songs and whether they listened to the whole song or not. I sort of like the feature but am afraid that I’m going to end up ‘focus grouping’ the songs.
“Kingfisher” “Does Not Suffice”—Second to last song. Wondering if I should embed the NPR stream here. Holy shit that sudden fade out of her voice before the fiddle solo rocks. Weird noise loop at the end? Sweet. Oh what the fuck. Clicking on “Kingfisher” and then “Does Not Suffice” on NPR’s player yield the same song. What the fuck is this? Really? “Kingfisher” seems to be missing.
What an ending! That’s all folks!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
