I know, I know its been awhile…

Yeah, the joys of job hunting took me away from my blog and internet fetish… What can I say. I am a dedicated slacker in the blog department. Well, I have listened to a bunch of music… not much new though. I have to say that I have been diving into my classic rock collection. I really find that genre of music to be soothing.

So on that note, my review is on Steve Winwood’s “Arc of  a Diver” album.

Arc of a Diver album

This is one of my all time favorite albums. The music is interesting and I just like Steve Winwood’s voice. I really like the first track “While You See a Chance”. This is probably the song that first got me into listening to any incarnation of Steve Winwood.  (Traffic, Spencer Davis Group, Blind Faith) That churchy sounding organ and upbeat tempo sucked me right in and I like the general lyric content. My favorite song off the album is the title track “Arc of a Diver”. I think it may be the imagery generated from the lyrics that do it for me… The mellow guitar is also really attractive… hmmm, I just like it . I have no really great reasons, but there you are. My other top track off of this album is “Night Train”. The beat is great and I remember many a speedskating practice (outdoor) with this playing on a “Walkman” to motivate me. Another fave is “Second Hand Woman” again the beat is great and perfect for skating or running.

So if you enjoy a combo of mellow and upbeat… this album will do the trick. I really like the whole album and have owned it on record, cassette tape, cd and now it is downloaded… I find that I own pretty much anything that Steve Winwood has ever done, but I come back to this album most often. As I sit here listening to “Spanish Dancer” I am reminded just how compelling I find his sound.

Well that is my 2 cents for now…

have fun, I know I will,

mathea

Putting off the painting…

It has been fairly hot and humid here in the mid coast. It is not a great time to paint the walls in the ugly bathroom or my son’s bedroom. Nor is it particularly a good time to paint the new shelving we put in, the paint will not dry efficiently and with a kid and 2 cats stands a chance of getting trashed. I was going to go down and work on one of my art quilts. The problem again is the heat… I cannot stand the thought of painting the face of guy 4 in and having 3/4s of the work sitting on my lap… hot, ick. So here I am writing about music again.

Song of the day

8/23/2009 “Respect” Aretha Franklin

8/24/2009 was “Too Much Time on My Hands” Styx

Today 8/25/2009 is “Remember” by BT.

The album I am currently listening to is Thievery Corporation “Radio Retaliation”. I really enjoy the mesmerizing effect this album has. I really like to listen to this type of music when I am doing detail type quilting or painting that requires steady movement. It is kind of a reggae, electronica type of sound. I find it really relaxing and a pleasant listen. It definitely has its place in my pantheon of music…

There are some political overtones in this that I have not taken a ton of time to analyze… they are fairly obvious and very current affairs. One of my favorite tunes on the album is “Vampires” featuring Femi Kuti. This tune is uptempo and  has politically charged vocals. Another tune that I like is “El Pueblo Unido” featuring Verny Varela. Again, slightly uptempo, reggae and Latin flavored, great sound. Again with a political overtone “(the forgotten people)” is a slower grooving tempo and has varied ambient sounds flowing through as background… interesting. “33°” is I think part of “the forgotten people” and I really like this music and thought about using it for a synchronized skating routine… It is repetitive and the beat is really tangible for all levels of skaters. Plus, I like the middle eastern flair. Another of my favorites is “the Numbers Game” featuring Chuck Brown. I really enjoy the uptempo groove and horns. Again, the lyrics are politically charged, but delivered in a manner that you are into the groove before you realize the impact of the lyrics. I really like Chuck Brown’s voice mellow with just a hint of grit. The album is really enjoyable and very comparable to some of their prior work.

Again, one of the areas that Thievery Corporation really excels is in the ambient instrumentals, admittedly this is what attracted me to the group in the first place. It was either “focus on sight” from the Mirror Conspiracy album or “Holographic Universe” from the Cosmic game that led me into their music…  So I have downloaded the remix of “Mandala” (Pathaan remix)and that I may use for a stroking class… seriously uptempo with an eastern flair, good bpm so I would use it for exercise of some form…

If you are into the sort of trippy, reggae, electronic with political overtones type of music this is an album just made for you… If you enjoy the occasional relaxing type tune… I would recommend downloading some of the instrumental pieces on this album (the remixes are not relaxing!)… Overall, I think this is a well crafted album. I do not think that they are covering new ground necessarily, but I think they have expanded on their strengths.

Again, I am not a professional music critic… just giving an opinion…

have fun, I usually do,

mathea

OK, a new blog for me to fiddle with…

I was gabbing with a friend yesterday and we were talking about the fact that I post a song of the day on Twitter and she was wondering how I come up with the songs… Well, I will be really honest, I hit the random selection button on iTunes or my iPod and that is how it all happens. I will say that about only 1/3 of my music collection actually resides on my computer, so it doesn’t do a totally unbiased selection. I will probably get a little more ambitious and choose songs from cds that are stacked around the house at some point.

So this blog is going to be about my general opinions and thoughts on music… It is a good stress relief for me… and maybe somewhat entertaining for the rest of you. The caveat being, I have no formal education in music and I am most assuredly not a true music critic (I am not cool enough or bitter enough, yet) so you are largely going to be reading ramblings based on my general preferences. If there is something you think I should be listening to and want me to comment, send me a link.

Another point to consider is that my general taste runs very eclectic… I tend to pick music to listen to based on the “skatability” (skating coach) or general listening for painting or quilting (fiber artist) so maybe not to everyone’s taste. Usually, there is a little something for everyone in the mix though, or as my brother put it to me in the days when you bought albums, tapes or cds, ” I would love to be a fly on the wall after you made your purchases…it must be a ‘what the hell’ moment for the clerk.”

So today’s song of the day is ” Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zepplin…  at some point I will add links to the music… I would like to do this without incurring the wrath of the riaa or the musicians in question so I will figure it out just not tonight.

I also wrote a really short album review based on a random iPod selection… on my myspace… so I just copied this over…

It landed on Shaw/Blades “Influence”.

I really like this album. At first, I thought I would not particularly like it. I am not a huge fan of either Jack Blades or Tommy Shaw solo and I had not really listened to their other efforts before this. I think the guys harmonize really well and the tunes that they chose to cover are some of my favorites. I probably own all of the original versions of what was covered and some I still prefer the original, but this album really grew on me. The tunes are fairly true to the originals, but do have a nice individual flair. One of my favorite songs on the album is “Lucky Man” originally done by ELP. Another favorite is “For What its Worth” originally done by Buffalo Springfield. It is on those tunes that they seem the most seamless. That also applies to “Sounds of Silence”. I love that they covered “Dirty Work” by Steely Dan as well. That was one of the few tunes that Donald Fagen did not sing…

Shaw/Blades are successful in their own right and have been involved in various bands as well as having done solo work. Both have really nice voices… kind of a medium tone and overall really pleasant. The combo of acoustic and electric sound is also great… So if you are looking for a relaxing and overall really pleasant album, this is one to acquire. Rumor has it that there may be another of these in the works… if that is the case, I am looking forward to hearing it.

Just remember, I am your average, uncool, overweight housewife who loves listening to music, all kinds of it…

have fun, I usually do,

mathea