http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Thu, 22 Aug 2002 23:44:14 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2002/08/22/234414.php Ryan OlsonSo I was in Borders looking for a book I was going to review for Blogcritics which should have been on a shelf near the music section. They're playing their standard light jazz, when my ear perks up. I know that song... It turns out that it was none other than Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" off of my all-time favorite album OK Computer. I immediately forget about the book and rush to the counter to find out what CD they're playing. Well, it turns out it's a new release by jazz pianist Brad Mehldau. I was a band geek in high school and played in the jazz band, so I've always liked jazz, but never listened much. I went on a little Miles Davis kick earlier this year, but that's about as far as I've gone. I figured I'd give this CD a shot. For some reason, that particular Borders didn't have the disc, but after hitting a couple other stores, I was able to track down a copy, and immediately stuck it in my CD player for the drive home, fast forwarding to Paranoid Android on track 5. If you've heard OK Computer, you know that this song starts out a bit quiet. Brad plays the melody quietly on the piano while a percussionist brushes a snare drum. I'm enjoying it, until this thought occurs to me: Good god, I've just willingly purchased Elevator Music. Obviously I had forgotten where that song goes... After the melodic opening, the percussion changes from the brushed snare drum to a cacophonous beating on what might be tin pans. Brad opens up on piano and wails through the second movement of the piece. That winds down and Brad is left alone on the piano again. This third movement is pastoral, an almost classical sounding piano piece. It winds down to the end of the song where it breaks open again for the wild final riffs. Excellent, excellent. That song was about as perfect an introduction to the rest of the album as there could be. I rewound to listen to the rest, and he's all over the place. The piano is central, but other tracks are driving piano augmented by some light horns ("Franklin Avenue" for example), almost metal sounding distorted piano on "Sabbath" (not my favorite, but interesting), and the very light and familiar sounding opening track "When It Rains". On the more experimental side of the album is the fast and chaotic "Free Willy". A speedy free-form drum beat plays while Brad on piano and Larry Grenadier on bass trade fast riffs. "Alvarado" is a bit free-form as well, featuring almost tribal sounding percussion and a rolling piano melody, sometimes dissonant piano melody. Like the opening track, Alvarado plays around a melody that I'm sure I've heard before, but just can't place. Both are originals, though. I've never really listened to much of The Beatles, so I don't really recognize the two Beatles interpretations "Dear Prudence" and "Mother Nature's Son", but they work well with the rest of the album. I've made impulse buys of albums because they were or included re-interpretations of music I otherwise liked, and I've almost always been disappointed. (The techno version of Dark Side of the Moon by Out of Phase springs immediately to mind. Ugh.) I am not in the least disappointed with this purchase. Music: Jazz201@blogcritics.org Thu, 22 Aug 2002 23:44:14 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2002/08/12/210115.php Ryan OlsonBig Smith is a self-described hillbilly band out of Springfield, Missouri. The band is all family, consisting of brothers Mark and Jody Bilyeu, their cousins Jay and Mike Williamson, and cousin Rik Thomas. These guys have been playing together their whole lives, and it shows in their musical ability. Though each band member has an instrument they specialize in, during a live show they'll trade instruments to re-work their instrumentation for a different sound. Instruments they use include mandolin (primarily Jody Bilyeu), acoustic guitar (primarily Mark Bilyeu), upright and electric bass (Mike Williamson), and washboard and drums (Jay Williamson). Various songs also make use of mouthbow, harmonica, sousaphone and trombone."Gig" is the band's third release, the eagerly anticipated live recording. Their two previous albums "Big Smith" and "Big Rock" were solid studio recordings, consisting of a mix of traditional tunes and the bands often quirky original compositions. Gig includes tunes from the studio albums, along with crowd-pleasing favorites that hadn't been recorded before.The traditional tunes range from gospel tunes such as "Rich Man's Poor" to murder ballads such as "Darlin' Corey" and "Willow Garden". Some of the best times I've had at Big Smith shows were dancing to their fast instrumental hoedown numbers, so I was very pleased with the inclusion of tunes like "Old Joe Clark" and "Tongue in Groove". Both of these start somewhat slow, and build in tempo until you're just about ready to collapse.The band displays their often twisted sense of humor on songs like "Die Dead Die", the story of a man taking a drive through the cemetery to "tilt back the stones so the dead can see them good." My favorite line from that song is the closing "In certain Asian countries the dead are more benign, but in the western hemisphere, they're a pain in the behind. Die dead die, too much living to be done..." I don't gather that Jody Bilyeu is a particularly religious man, and the second song on the second disk is a quick number called "His Eye Is On The Baptist." On it, he croons "I'm a Southern Baptist, and I'm much better than you." The second verse is done with an almost They Might Be Giants-esque echo effect, and is just hilarious.Some of the treats on this live collection are the different arrangements of tracks from their studio albums. When "Bareback Riding" is played live, Mark Bilyeu always plays an extended acoustic guitar solo in the middle, and he doesn't ever hold anything back. I've seen him break strings during this song more times than I can count. The energy of this tune is captured well on this disc.As a bonus, each disk includes video shot for a TV special the band did earlier this year. The first disk includes footage of their "12 Inch 3 Speed Oscillating Fan" and the second disc includes video of a live performance of "Trash". This is cool, but my only complaint is that since they are video, you can't listen to these two favorites in a normal CD player. However, it's a good thing that we finally have a recording of their cover of "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" as the closing track on the second disc."Gig" is an excellent sampling of what you can expect to hear at a live Big Smith show, and as good an introduction to the band as any of their studio albums. The album can be purchased at the May Apple Records website. Though they've been playing regionally around Missouri and Arkansas for years, they're starting to get more and more out of their area. Check their dates and go see them every chance you get.Big Smith Gig May Apple Records Music: Country and Americana13@blogcritics.org Mon, 12 Aug 2002 21:01:15 EDT