Blogcritics

The Friday Morning Listen: Ellis Paul & Vance Gilbert - Side of the Road

Mark Saleski — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:37:37 EDT

Ellis has an idea. It's an old one.
We all know that the musical world is in a state of flux. More specifically, it's the music business that's morphing into... something else. People aren't buying CDs nearly as much as they used to. iTunes and other services deliver digital content directly to the consumer. Avenues for the discovery of new music have changed as well. MTV...

The Friday Morning Listen: Björk - Medúlla

Mark Saleski — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:01:53 EDT

A life mashup? Yes, I like that.
Every morning I sit either in the kitchen or (weather permitting) the back porch. The view up into the back yard is slowly painted alive from the light of the sun that rises over the house, as it's done every day since this place was constructed in 1825. Lately, I've been waiting for the day lilies to open. There's a line of them...

The Friday Morning Listen: R.E.M. - Green

Mark Saleski — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:55:40 EDT

Small towns, envy, and jealousy.
Sometimes, it's hard to avoid jealousy. Yesterday, while driving to work, I happened upon a radio show with author Richard Russo. I only caught the last ten minutes or so, with Russo speaking a little about the future of small towns (I'm only familiar with Empire Falls and Bridge of Sighs, but they both center around the transformation of...

The Friday Morning Listen: Tim Collins - Fade

Mark Saleski — Fri, 4 Jul 2008 10:08:53 EDT

Overcoming the fear that I would hear nothing again.
This is how it used to work. A CD would show up at the house, I'd slip it from its envelope and give it an initial listen. Most of the time, the music would tell me what I should say. Many times, there would be multiple avenues to investigate. Some of this might take a few days (or even weeks) to come together.Recently...nothing. If I hear the...

The Friday Morning Listen: Spring Heel Jack - Songs & Themes

Mark Saleski — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:46:05 EDT

Good days and bad days.
Every day is different now. We know this. We're living with it. Things will get better, or so I'm told. One thing I've noticed is that my daily train of thought has become far less linear. It's like my mood swings have their own mood swings. After my mother received her diagnosis, each day was increasingly filled with a bizarre...

The Friday Morning Listen: Boston

Mark Saleski — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:22:05 EDT

Soulless corporate rock? I don't think so.
You would think that supposed 'corporate rock' would have no substance. That it can't possibly mean anything to anybody. It's just a group of misguided rockers being taken advantage of by a cabal of heartless music industry executives. It's a group of rockers taking advantage of us!You would be wrong. Let me explain.I used to know this woman. Oh...

The Friday Morning Listen: Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny - Beyond the Missouri Sky

Mark Saleski — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:36:58 EDT

Infinite musical resonance.
Your hear a song and think, without hesitation...that you've heard it before. You've heard it your entire life. The tune has been around forever. That melody has been floating around the universe for millions of years just waiting for humans to show up. This idea pops into my head occasionally when a song resonates very strongly with me....

The Friday Morning Listen: Little Feat - Waiting For Columbus

Mark Saleski — Fri, 6 Jun 2008 10:00:50 EDT

Celtics/Lakers nostalgia, Culture Club, and Bartles & Jaymes.
Ah, summer is right around the corner and sports fans in the New England area are cracking open a fresh bottle of nostalgia: the Boston Celtics are playing the Los Angles Lakers in the NBA finals. I don't really share in any of this because I was never a Celtics fan. Even though I did watch a lot of hoops back then, I never latched on to any...

The Friday Morning Listen: Bill Frisell - History, Mystery

Mark Saleski — Fri, 30 May 2008 09:16:28 EDT

A story of musical gluttony.
I'd like to say that my first Bill Frisell record was In Line, his ECM debut. That would fit in nicely with my completist/chronological streak of music acquisition. The thing is, I'm pretty sure that's not how it went at all. The first Frisell guitar to hit my ears, whether I knew it at the time or not (I'm thinkin'...

The Friday Morning Listen: The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour

Mark Saleski — Fri, 23 May 2008 08:53:38 EDT

Largo, here I come.
People who know me know a few things: that I'm insanely passionate about music, I don't like big cities, and that I hate to fly. It's true, I haven't flown since around 2001. It's really weird how my reactions to flight have changed over the years. The huge surge of acceleration, the beautiful views, the short-range time-travel...