Reviews by kuvien

Fun, rollicking, inventive big band numbers steeped in Japanese cultural allusions, so the extensive use of children's toys as music makers on this album should not come as a surprise to the listener. Jump up and enjoy this one!

One might think, upon listening to and enjoying the wild creativity of this album, that it is the musical equivalent of the storm battering the side of the mountain, but one would be mistaken, for it is nothing more than an evil horse sat before an elaborate table setting.

I've heard many folk artists cover Child ballads. Folk's my thing, both avant and traditional. It depends on my mood. This album is full of traditional English folk songs. The thing is, they're Child ballads, which means they're some of the 305 old folk songs "from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century" (wikipedia). There are lyrics but no music, so each folk artist who comes to these ballads has to interpret them in his/her own way, and of all the Child ballads I've heard, Anaïs Mitchell's interpretations are superlative, better than anything done by Dylan, Baez, Strawbs, Renaissance, etc etc...and those are really good, too!

Not as good as the Fraggle Rock theme song.

This is a really evocative album, painting pictures of America of a certain time. In this case, she follows the coming-of-age of her father. She also touches on a very Americana feel in songs like "Shepherd" and "Dyin Day". And the way the album ends, with the harbor bells tolling at the end of "Ships", brings about a perfect unresolved resolution to a storybook epic. We really are just children wandering in the wilderland.

I'm just going to assume, based on what Mitchell said about this collection of new songs and re-recorded songs from her catalogue, that XOA stands for "sending kisses and hugs to my audience". This limited release was intended as a personal thank-you gift to her fans. "Any Way the Wind Blows", "Now You Know", and "The Pursewarden Affair" are the three new tunes written for this album. As far as I'm concerned, this could be a live studio performance, and that's the way I'm going to think of it, since the recordings were all made for the same purpose. "Now You Know" is a perfect example of Mitchell's ability to associate disparate elements of life together and weave all of the vagaries and happenstances of life into a tapestry, from childbirth to death, from making love to making war, from loneliness to pillow-confessions. All in all these stripped-down, intimate, acoustic recordings of beloved songs are simply charming, an album made for the fans and nothing more.

So why did Rome fall? Well, the short answer is: because it didn't want to stand. Romans forgot the freedom of nakedness as they wrapped themselves in heavier and heavier robes of work and school, strangling them like a slave's chain. They fell because they had everything to lose.

She continues her understated magic on this album, simultaneously being intimate yet keeping us at arm's length. We get a few glimpses into her life, but she still seems to be the kind of artist who plays her cards close to her chest.

This is (for me) her delicate, intimate debut, despite its dark subject matter of war and Orwellian politics. The production is simple and elegant, and her songwriting is superb. She tells stories as the government tells lies: that is, boldly, easily, unflinchingly.

Sometimes you listen to an Anaïs Mitchell song and understand that this woman really understands what it means to love, wholly and without reserve, not afraid to say it, to own it. And like every great writer, she puts everything in the details, the coffee rings on the paper and the locks of children's hair, the mother washing dishes in the dark with children on her mind and wine on her breath. Musically this album is a thrumming, shimmering blanket that envelops and relaxes the listener, hints of this sound heard on. Lyrics meet music to create sonic snapshots of memories Mitchell isn't afraid to explore, to turn over in her hands and examine. I just cannot help but smile with her as I tag along, a silent observer of her journey back home as she ponders what it means to be growing older.

This is a lost gem by an obscure American prog rock band that made only one album. There a lot of other prog influences on display here, and this band doesn’t really break any new ground, but this is a fine addition to my collection. I actually find the sometimes corny, awkward vocals to be quite interesting.

I also don't wanna hear it.

I love the dynamism of this one, especially how different the tracks sound from one another. The first track is all over the place--in a good way--throwing everything into the pot. Some full-on avant-garde swells punctuated by brilliant use of sonic emptiness with only the upright bass playing around. Then we move on to something more conventional and standard in tempo, giving us a mental break. Great artists know how to follow the avant with convention. The almost doppler-effect of the horns on "Blue Cee" is fun...guess Mingus had to throw just a tiny bit of experimentation into this one, too. On to track 3: the flapping of a bird's wings is not some romantic motion--soaring, maybe, but not flapping. To get to the point of soaring, you have to flap your wings wildly (which is what I imagine in the piano). The horns soar. The spoken word finale is a perfect end to this album. Carnivalesque, discordant. Dubuque is the perfect place for this ill-fated clown.

In case it wasn’t clear, this is a Mingus album. OK. Some of this album is a reworking, re-imagining, and re-recording of older pieces because Mingus liked the new sound his new label was able to provide. I’ve read from people more skilled in jazz critique than I that there’s a lot of Duke Ellington tribute on this album. Maybe that’s why I feel it has this smooth, lazy (in a good way) quality to the music that can just pick up and go effortlessly into an upbeat mood.

When music eats too many prunes.

snaps fingers

"Fetch me my crossbow."

This is the female equivalent of that miserable asshole grifter who said he loved his wife, profited off her death by writing an album about how sad he was that she died, then immediately married someone else.

Nothing like incorporating the sound of cleaning glass into your music. A strange album to listen to in the middle of winter, but I just had solar panels installed, so I guess this can be an ode to them. Anyway, I feel like this album gets better as it goes on, getting away from the standard poppy songs at the beginning and being a bit braver in its exploration of psychedelic pop sounds, especially with “Karmic Dream Sequence #1” and the rather strange and experimental final track. This album is a good example of appearance vs. reality.

That feeling when you realize Celtic music isn't confined to islands in the North Atlantic. And neither are bagpipes. This wonderful Gailician folk music is not to be confused with the other (also folk) music from Galicia in eastern Europe. Weird that there are two geographical areas in Europe with the same name. Harps and bagpipes are a shortcut to my heart.

This is written on the inside cover of the album, and I cannot make any sense as to what it might mean:

"Saturnino Cuiñas was a very important figure in the Galician cultural movement who never turned his back on our language. It's thanks to his efforts in folklore that we have many of the pieces that are today considered traditional; he was a contributor in all such fields and was the inventor of this beautiful tradition.

In the Chapel of the Holy Cross in the parish of Cesullas, at the end of the Mass the men, heads bowed and leaning on their hands, when the people exited, their voices joined in a cry that grew until the sound ended in a cracked, sudden shriek, in the order of Saturnino. This cry symbolized the union of many men engaged in the same effort, which I baptize with the name of
THE DRY
SHRIEK"

So this album is a preservation and celebration of all that Saturnino Cuiñas did concerning the music and culture of Galicia.

Are they milk carton kids, or are they making music for milk carton kids? And whatever happened to milk carton kids? Is that still a thing?