Way to go Slumdog Millionaire!

I just wanted to say real quick I'm very happy for all the awards Slumdog Millionaire received at Sunday's Oscars, particularly for the nature of this blog the awards to A.R. Rahman for Best Original Soundtrack and Best Song (for the song "Jai Ho"). I just downloaded the soundtrack on iTunes and am listening to it right now...

Facebook Album Cover

This isn't really a post about music per se, so I apologize.

There's all these chain mail type things going around Facebook right now. You've probably either created or at least read "25 Random Things." While the 25 things started it all, it hasn't ended there. Every few days I get tagged in random notes asking me to perpetuate them. Most of these are mildly amusing but don't intrigue me enough to take the time to do them. However, earlier this evening I was tagged in a photo. It was actually an album cover designed by a friend by following these instructions:

1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Quotations Page and select "random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.

5 - Post it to FB. Copy these rules text in the "caption" or "comment" and TAG the friends you want to join in.

My friend's album cover looked pretty awesome, and I was looking for reasons to not do homework, so I did it. Sadly, my album cover came out pretty lame...I blame flickr's poor choice of photo...

See? Who would buy this album (besides maybe sweet little old grandmas, though I doubt they would want to listen to a band called the Ebionites..)?

Despite being disappointed by my album design, it was pretty fun and made me think more about how album designs are created. I'd love to see anyone else's designs. If you make one, post it here.

Album Review: The Fray

A couple weeks ago I posted about my dilemma regarding The Fray's new CD. Later that day I did indeed to decide to purchase the standard version on iTunes for $9.99. I had also posted my dilemma as my status on Facebook, and one friend wrote in response that she went for the deluxe version as $16.99. Apparently she was convinced by the videos. Having seen The Fray live twice and being quite sure that if I wanted to watch videos of the guys, I could probably find them on YouTube, I decided the extras on the deluxe album just weren't worth $7.

Originally, I was waiting to post a review until I had really given the album several good listens. I'd read plenty of reviews on iTunes and Amazon of fans who had loved How to Save a Life and were disappointed by The Fray. However, I had a feeling that this self-titled albums would be one of those that couldn't be judged on one listen, and I didn't want to dismiss the album just because it wasn't How to Save a Life. After waiting a few days, I got tremendously swamped and completely forgot about blogging for a bit...so, here's my very delayed review (for anyone who cares).

Ultimately, The Fray's second album is about what I expected it to be. I am neither as disappointed as some fans seem to be, nor am I blown away by this sophomore album. When there is a three and a half year span between albums, it becomes difficult not to get your hopes up for an album. With such a gap between releases, I really wanted The Fray to be even better than the first album, and I don't know that it's better. But I do still think that it's a solid album worth purchasing.

Yes, I do feel like I've heard some of this before--"Never Say Never" sounds like it could have been on How to Save a Life, with it's slowly building piano melody and catchy and repetitive chorus. Though the band stays on familiar ground for much of the album, on a few tracks they get a bit more experimental. "Ungodly Hour," features a haunting falsetto by guitarist Joe King (who also did the lead vocals on Life's "Heaven Forbid") and an uncharacteristic and beautiful guitar almost-solo. "Happiness," a song about the elusiveness and contradictions of being happy, which starts out mellow and whispery builds to a climax with a full choir backing Isaac Slade's vocals.

Basically, my verdict is that I will always love the sound of Isaac Slade's voice and the beautiful sound of The Fray. So, while their self-titled album may not be groundbreaking, it is a respectable sophomore album. Every time I listen to it, it grows on me a little more, and I remain excited to see what this band will do in the future.

Fave tracks: "Absolute," "Syndicate," "Ungodly Hour," and "Fair Fight."

Whisper House review

To some, Duncan Sheik is the one-hit-wonder behind "Barely Breathing" (released over a decade ago in Duncan's debut, self-titled album). To others, he is the two-hit-wonder behind the aforementioned title and "On a High" from Daylight. And to yet others (myself included in this group), he is the underrated, underexposed and understated singer/songwriter behind "Genius", "Half-Life", Spring Awakening* and now Whisper House. Incidentally, Whisper House shares more in common with Spring Awakening than anything else I've heard of his - and that is a very good thing. Like the Tony-award winning musical, Whisper House is full of stories, surprising melodies and harmonies and thoughtful lyrics. One thing I've always liked about Duncan is his unimposing, restrained melodies - sometimes they're created by ethereal, haunting keyboards, other times pensive, acoustic guitar.

Unlike his singles, "Barely Breathing" and "On a High", much of Whisper House is reserved, slower tempo and more prosaic. Where those two songs embody a feeling, the songs from Whisper House tell a story; about a lighthouse keeper, a sheriff, a naive man named Soloman Snell... these are the characters of Duncan's songs. And at the same time, Duncan's songs have always been very introspective and lucid, and they still are. As a composer, Duncan has seemed to mature; between Spring Awakening and Whisper House, the two albums have some of the most interesting and beautiful vocal harmonies I've heard. That being said, I wouldn't recommend Whisper House to everyone - there are no clear "singles" ("We're Here to Tell You" is probably the closest semblance to a single) and it may take a few listens through the entire album before it grows on you (it took me three or four - thus my slightly delayed review).

Fave tracks: "Play Your Part", "The Ghost in You", "We're Here to Tell You", "Better to be Dead"
RIYL: Spring Awakening, Brooke Waggoner, Sufjan Stevens, Jason Robert Brown

*Spring Awakening is a Tony award-winning rock musical composed by Duncan Sheik, book and lyrics by Steven Sater. It won the Tony awards for Best Musical, Best Book and Best Score in 2007 as well as a Grammy award for Musical Show Album.

thoughts for the weekend...

I may be over-thinking this (I usually do), but is there anything wrong with pausing songs in the middle and then resuming them later - say, to take a bathroom break or pick up a phone call at work? Obviously, that's not how the artist intended for it to be listened to, but interruptions happen, right? That's life. Or should I start the song over each time I try to listen to it? For some reason I feel guilty when I pause some songs and not others. Some songs really lose the tension, build and movement when interrupted but others seem to fare okay, like "Come on Get Higher" by Matt Nathanson; not so much for Aqualung's "Outside".

Also, had to get this off my chest since my post on original scores. I found the score to Revolutionary Road by Thomas Newman to be distracting (not because it interfered with what was going on on screen, but because of how derivative it sounded to his previous works, most notably the score to Road to Perdition - same director and similar title). Every piano riff sent waves of deja vu over me like I'd heard it all before and it wasn't nearly as good the second, third and fourth time around. You know when a composer reuses the same melody line over and over into the ground (a la the Harry Potter series)? That's kind of what it felt like. Disappointing, but at least it didn't earn a Best Original Score nod. WALL-E's soundtrack (also by Thomas Newman) is far superior.

10 original scores...

To accompany my colleague's excellent Top 10 Songs from Movie Soundtracks post, here are 10 of my favorite original scores, plus they're all good films (original scores are defined by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as substantial bodies of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer. Every year, one composer wins the Academy Award for Best Original Score):

1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - Howard Shore
2. American Beauty - Thomas Newman
3. Braveheart - James Horner
4. Jurassic Park - John Williams
5. Il postino (The Postman) - Luis Enríquez Bacalov
6. The Illusionist - Philip Glass
7. Brokeback Mountain - Gustavo Santaolalla
8. Atonement - Dario Marianelli
9. The Nightmare Before Christmas - Danny Elfman
10. The Departed - Howard Shore

And regarding this year's nominees for Best Original Score:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Alexandre Desplat
Defiance – James Newton Howard
Milk – Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire – A.R. Rahman
WALL-E – Thomas Newman

I think A.R. Rahman should win and will win. And I predict Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman will win the Oscar for Best Original Song for "Down to Earth" from WALL-E.

I Just Need to Vent...

Because I am really torn at the moment and a bit frustrated too. I've said it before, but I love the Fray. And it is because I love them that I am frustrated at the moment. I was psyched for the release of their new, self-titled album today, so I got on iTunes this morning, all ready to download it. But I still haven't, because I can't decide if I should download the regular or deluxe version of the album. The regular has 11 tracks and goes for $9.99. The deluxe has 16 tracks (and three videos) and goes for $16.99. This in itself doesn't bother me too much. What really irks me though is that some of the extra tracks on the deluxe version are "album only," so you cannot choose to download just that song. Therefore, people like me, who love the Fray and would like to have the extra track "Uncertainty" and wouldn't mind but don't need the "piano version" of "Where the Story Ends" or even the acoustic versions of several others tracks (which are available as individual downloads) but who don't care about buying the music video to "You Found Me," or the making of "You Found Me," or the making of the album, are cruelly punished.

See my dilemma? I'm leaning toward the $9.99 version, because I don't think I want to pay $7 for one song I really want, several alternate versions of songs on the main album, and some video special features. But it's going to bother me that I can't just download "Uncertainty" for $.99, like I should be able to. Is anybody else having this problem? Or did anyone buy the deluxe album and think it's worth it?

If I ever make a decision on this, I'll probably post of little review of the album.

My New Favorite Genre: New Zealand Folk Parody

Maybe I've been living in a cave, but I hadn't heard of Flight of the Conchords until a couple days ago (thanks, Jenn!). Once I was enlightened, I spent a good couple hours watching clips of their tv show (which is in its second season on HBO) and live performances. The Grammy award-winning comedic duo is made up of New Zealand natives Bret McKenzie and Jermaine Clement. They drescribe themselves as "Formerly New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo."

They've released two studio albums and have a BBC radio series that began in 2004.

Also, they're just plain hilarious. The clip below is of them performing their song "Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros." If you want more, there's plenty on Youtube to keep you busy for a long, long time.