:: anne in the attic ::

Create Your Own Countdown

:: Sunday, December 31, 2006 ::

Beautiful sounds to everyone in the new year!

:: Anne 2:31 PM [smartass remarks] ::
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This is so hilarious that I just had to reprint it in part here, without permission (but perhaps forgiveness?) from CDBaby.com, from whom I just received this confirmation email:

"Your CDs have been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with
sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CDs and polished them to make
sure they were in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over
the crowd as he put your CDs into the finest gold-lined box that
money can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party
marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of
Portland waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in
our private CD Baby jet on this day, Sunday, December 31st.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby.  We sure did.
Your picture is on our wall as "Customer of the Year".  We're all
exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

Thank you once again,

Derek Sivers, president, CD Baby
the little CD store with the best new independent music
phone: 1-800-448-6369  email: cdbaby@cdbaby.com
http://cdbaby.com"

:: Anne 2:18 PM [smartass remarks] ::
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Meet the kids....

:: Anne 1:56 PM [smartass remarks] ::
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:: TOP TEN ALBUMS OF 2006, according to “anne in the attic” ::

Let me just preface this by saying that I think it has been a phenomenal year for music, and limiting my choices to ten was as difficult as it gets. Close cutoffs include widely known bands like The Raconteurs and virtual unknowns like Aidan Hawken, Eric Lichter and William Fitzsimmons (all worth a listen or ten), but this is, after all, a top TEN list. So, without further adieu, here they are in kinda-sorta relative order, with apologies if your sensibilities don’t quite match mine. The song links are via a Hype Machine search, which will allow readers both to listen to tracks and to track them down to their mp3 download sources.


1. Ray LaMontagne :: Till The Sun Turns Black
[Track 3: "Barfly"]
Ray LaMontagne is magic. He lures, he paints, and once he draws you in with his intimate vocals and tasty mellow guitar licks and classic-rock-with-a-touch-of-gospel feel, you get the sense that this old-schooler really does care and nothing goes down easier than that. He’s new to me, and hands down the richest musical discovery for me this year. It was really hard to choose only one track to list above, because it’s truly amazing all the way through. This is one of those albums that I believe will be on everybody’s all-time lists some day, and deserves the title of album of the year, in my book.

2. Joshua Radin :: We Were Here
[Track 2: "Star Mile"]
Having already gotten a little air time via Zach Braff’s “Scrubs” television show and a film or two, Joshua Radin turns out a clever and beautiful debut album here. Lots of textures—acoustic bass, cello and some light harmonies by Shuyler Fisk—create a delicate and complex pop album with a real acoustic feel. Also check out “Winter.”

3. Old Crow Medicine Show :: Big Iron World
[Track 5: "James River Blues"]
The second album by OCMS (and a more developed & mature one at that) is a great deal of fun. Self categorized as “bluegrass” and “folk,” extremely vast descriptors, they have a more modern feel to them, from their lyrics and references to their youthful tone. Their skills, however, are as old as the hills and are deeply rooted in the Americana style. Other great tracks include “Down Home Girl” & “Don’t Ride That Horse.”

4. Magnus Tingsek :: World Of Its Own
[Track 4: "I Love You (Part 1)"]
I confess that, until about two weeks ago, I didn’t even know this guy existed. I stumbled across this album, his second, through another musician. Magnus Tingsek hails from Sweden, but you can’t tell from his contemporary style. This album kind of feels like Chicago-circa-1974 meets Ben Harper, sort of (apologies for referencing another artist in this review, but it’s true). From the percussion organ to the horns, here’s another album with a lot of layers, but the most captivating element right off the bat is Tingsek’s soulful, often counter-rhythmic vocals. Very tasty, indeed.

5. Ben Harper :: Both Sides of the Gun
[Disc 2, Track 1: "Better Way"]
This 2-CD album has a mellower disc and a more upbeat disc, and they’re both vintage Ben Harper. When he gets mellow, he evokes that feeling of summer in California like nobody else. He is sweetness and love poured over a classic tube amp cranked up to 11. He’s rock with a solidly pop element that doesn’t overly diffuse the no-nonsense classic electric style of singer and guitar. He’s one of those musicians who keeps the real rock fire burning.

6. Sufjan Stevens :: Avalanche
[Track 5: "Chicago (acoustic version)"]
Even though this album is comprised of outtakes, etc. from the “Illinoise” album, it feels like something completely other—in fact, it IS another whole album. Sufjan Stevens is such an incredible lyricist that to have two different incarnations of “Chicago,” in addition to the version on “Illinoise” just doesn’t seem to matter. That a song can be recorded any number of different ways is something every musician knows, and that the decision to choose can be very difficult is presented to us here with transparency that allows us in to his process. Sufjan Stevens doesn’t hide that; rather he offers it without fig leaf, the intimate questions and musings of our lives, naked and gorgeous as they are.

7. Indigo Girls :: Despite Our Differences
[Track 3: "I Believe in Love"]
Any band that’s been around for twenty years and can still pull out an album with this quality deserves recognition. These women are so consistently excellent that their best albums are already unequivocal classics, and their worst are still heads above everyone else. This album is right in the middle for them, but not without newness and growth, something they seem to transpire on every album they make. Emily’s turn to the keyboard and Amy’s love of the electric make this album less homogenous, more varied, in addition to the usual style for which we continue to seek them out.

8. Beck :: The Information
[Track 4: "Strange Apparition"]
This is a great album, with Beck doing what he does best—experimenting with different rhythms, sounds and styles. Sometimes that works out better for him, and this is one of those albums. It moves, it grooves, and it shows off Beck’s incredible skills as an all-around musician willing to take risks. That makes him more of an artsy (can I say that without mocking cliché?) musician, and a pioneer, if you will. His rhythmic ability, especially in the intuitive sense of the conversational-slash-communication, gives him a cutting-edge connection to his listeners on a par with the social and political commentators of our time.

9. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club :: Howl
[Track 6: "Fault Line"]
If people are tired of the reference to Peter Hayes being an ex-Brian Jonestown Massacre member, then let me just say this: I mention it for comparison’s sake. He has come into his own here. The post-psychedelic era ushered in by the BJM now gives way to a more alt-country (I think of Wilco) performance, all blues-ed up and recovering from a whiskey hangover, but also with some residual sixties-analog-production touches like a Jefferson Airplane-era reverb here, the twang and bend of a guitar string there, a lament or an observation dropped in at will. Everything fits, and it feels good, even when it feels bad.

10. Cat Power :: The Greatest
[Track 1: "The Greatest"]
It’s about time for a female balladeer with the close-up-and-personal feel of Cat Power. Most of the album is stark and beautiful, Charlyn "Chan" Marshall’s throaty alto vocals over a piano or a guitar, with some drums and bass at times. Though she’s not new to the scene, “The Greatest” is her strongest album to date, and the title track is rife with ethereal textures (violins akin to a lick in “Moon River”?) and back-up harmonies. The album is mesmerizing, kind of like (and please excuse the reference) a female Damien Rice, soothing but with a Southern rock flavor, complete with lightly rolling snare. It’s one of those albums that leaves you with its slow melodies haunting your head and is hard to follow with anything else.

Happy Christmas Eve, everybody.
Anne

:: Anne 3:00 PM [smartass remarks] ::
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I never intended to record a Christmas tune, especially since I have so much other shit to do, but yesterday it just kinda happened, so I rolled with it. As it turns out, I slipped in some acoustic bass to break in the new instrument and have some fun. Anyone who is so inclined can get a free copy of it in mp3 format through the holidays, HERE.

The best way, for the computerly-challenged, is to right-click on the word "download" below the song ("O Christmas Tree") in the music player, and when the dialog window pops up, select "Open in new window," then choose "Save to Disk."

:: Anne 11:08 AM [smartass remarks] ::
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In my dreams, and in my studio, I play with Joshua Radin. Specifically, "Winter." If only.

:: Anne 10:04 AM [smartass remarks] ::
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P.S. For anyone who wants them, I've made two of my songs available in mp3 format for free download on MySpace for the weekend, here. For the more technically-challenged, just right-click on the word "download" next to the song you want in the music player, and choose "Open in new window" from the menu, and when the download window pops up, choose "Save to Disk."

:: Anne 4:39 PM [smartass remarks] ::
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All, right, so Happy Holidays, everyone! At the tail-end of what has been a very productive vacation for me, I kicked off the season with a "cookie social" last night and had a few people over to make a mess and decorate some scrumptiously sweet (and occasionally naughty) sugar cookies. It was great, and though I had originally invited more people than actually attended, space was pretty tight-- I wish I had more space. I'd love to have a nice, big oval table that seated 12 or 14 comfortably, but I just don't have the room, so that limits my sit-down social gathering numbers.

So the rest of this weekend was planned around my brother's birthday (party tonight, mom in town for a bit tomorrow), and then I'm back to work Monday morning. This week has been a flurry of takin'-care-of-business and getting some things done that have been hanging over my head for many months. I also did M-A-J-O-R cleaning (i.e. dust removal) and overhauls in areas long overdue. And I must admit that the little studio looks pretty good now... I'm all set to have a long weekend next week (Fri-Sat-Sun) and play in it sans interruption.















Studio left & studio center-right, respectively.

:: Anne 11:59 AM [smartass remarks] ::
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There it is, the wah-pedal I bought yesterday. And last night was a rush of fun and new discovery. This morning, I've already spent an intoxicating hour with it. Sometimes it is good to roam unsupervised in the guitar superstore....

I actually went there looking for an Odyssey rack on wheels for the studio-- to mount some of these components together in a mobile unit. I ended up buying the store's actual demo model (usually listed for over $400), a beefy road model with much room for expansion, for about $80. Pretty stoked about that. So yesterday I began cleaning and reorganizing the studio, which spawned the trip to the guitar store in the first place. The pedal had been in the back of my mind as a possible adjunct to my little Digitech effects processor (pictured at right), and as it happens, I had an extra 9V adaptor that fit it perfectly. This is a highly affordable combo (about $130 for the both of them right now) and I recommend it for hours of entertainment and broadening recording horizons.

So, I'm into my last week of vacation for the year, and it's really nice to get all of this stuff done. I've been reorganzing different parts of the house and clearing space, getting rid of things I don't really use. The bedroom looks great, and the loft, and the small storage room off the loft have all been done. I will be making a trip to Goodwill later today.

And next week, I will be choosing my 4 vacation weeks for 2007. Although I miss not having choir this year (at least a little...), it will be nice to choose any vacation weeks I want, instead of booking 2 or 3 of them all in a clump in May & June for choir-related events, and then having to go many months without a break afterward. This next year, I am planning to go to a music camp in Mendocino in August, and the rest I'll have to think about. It's nice having one the first or second week in December, but the rest maybe earlier in the year-- like another one in January or February! YES!

:: Anne 11:44 AM [smartass remarks] ::
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