Video: Kate Martin - Apples

Came across this video in my in box. 

Kate Martin is a singer/songwriter from Queensland, Australia with a wonderfully rich voice and a distinctive early for melody.  Check out her latest video, "Apples", below.  As videos go its a bit generic, but the song is definitely worth tuning in for.



You can learn more about Kate Martin at www.facebook.com/katemartinmusic or katemartinmusic.bandcamp.com.  You can purchase a download of "Apples" from Martin's Bandcamp page.  You can also check out her album Synthetic Shoes, Leather Boots on iTunes.

Paper Thick Walls - A Thousand Novels

Paper Thick Walls - A Thousand Novels
2011, Paper Thick Walls

Paper Thick Walls had a busy year in 2010.  The quintet of Eric Michaels (vocals/guitar/motif); Kate Schell (vocals/piano/trumpet); Roger Sherman (upright bass); Andrew Sabo (drums) and Jacques René (fiddle/mandolin/guitar) graced the stage at SXSW, NXNE and CMJ Music Marathon.  In the process they came to the attention of sound engineer Mike Hagler (Wilco, Neko Case) with a sound that's been compared to Sufjan Stevens and Arcade Fire.  Hagler took the boards to help Paper Thick Walls create their debut album, "A Thousand Novels", out May 3, 2011.  Mixing intricate orchestral folk/pop arrangements with articulate tales born of fancy, Paper Thick Walls cut an intriguing musical path.

A Thousand Novels hits the ground with the lush folk/pop blend of "Old Weathered Dock".  The song is a collection of visual mementos set to a catchy and quirky orchestrated arrangement.  Between Kate Schell's exceedingly pleasant vocal lead, Eric Michaels' Peter Gabriel-esque secondary vocal and the airy, orchestrated arrangement, "Old Weathered Deck" is a breath of fresh air.  "Sighs Of Relief" is a painted poem set to music about meeting someone new and falling in love, diverting into the healing power of love as an aside.  It's a pretty, piano-based tune fleshed out into full, layered orchestration.  Schell and Michaels duet on "Orange Tree", an optimistic song sung on the run from the law.  This memorable tale matches an occasionally bitter circumstance against a sweet and dreamy arrangement that reflects the unreality of the situation.  Don't be surprised if you fall in love with the chorus on first listen.

"Nyquil" is quasi-psychedelic folk, extolling the beauty of one to a host of heavenly bodies.  The song has an odd-yet-charming quality wrapped up in its abstract exploration of consequence.  "A Thousand Novels" is a love story of two people torn apart by war.  This is not your typical song of love overcoming any circumstance unless you're into the metaphysical outcome.  The focus here is how love will be memorialized, and is touching if a bit out of the ordinary.  "Desolate Place" explores the transformation of a relationship's aftermath into rebuilding.   The musical arrangement parallels the story in loneliness and loss with an intriguing theatrical feel in spite of the almost ethereal melancholy that pervades the song. 

"Portrait" is a duet about love and beauty in the abstract, as it exists in our minds but oft times not in our realities.  The media here are paintings, words and memories, but the connection evades in a gorgeous arrangement born of guitar, percussion and bass.  "Overgrown" is a catchy acoustic rocker that finds Eric Michaels out in front.  It's a solid love song that's a bit wordy for its own good, but overcomes this with a pragmatic and catchy arrangement that grabs your attention.  Paper Thick Walls say goodnight with "Infinite", a number that vacillates between introspective, depressive verses and a jaunty chorus.  The mix is jarring, but works well as varying motifs on the theme of falling apart.

Like Belle And Sebastien before them, Paper Thick Walls have found a sound that is both articulate in composition and lyrically melodic.  The converse is so obvious it need not be stated.  A Thousand Walls sucks listeners in the way a great book envelopes your mind.  Musically, lyrically and dramatically, Paper Thick Walls challenge listeners to listen actively and participate on an intellectual and emotional level.  A Thousand Walls will keep you coming back for more.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Paper Thick Walls at www.paperthickwalls.com or www.myspace.com/paperthickwalls.  A Thousand Novels is due out May 3, 2011 and is available for digital pre-order from Amazon.com.  Expect wider availability to follow in both digital and traditional formats.

Owen Pye - The Truth About Man

Owen Pye - The Truth About Man
2011, Blackroom Records

Owen Pye's intellectual-emotional approach to songwriting calls to mind the likes of Connor Oberst and Sufjan Stevens.  Pye's experimentations are within his own mind; explorations of complicated questions, simple truths and the often willy-nilly paths that lead us from one to the other.  Pye's third album, The Truth Man, is something of a folk/rock opera about the journey to faith in Christian terms.  Often mired in introspective in melancholy, Pye tells his own tale of faith lost and found, written from the depths of experience and imperfection.  This is not the sort of music you're likely to hear on Contemporary Christian radio; Pye doesn't proselytize or try to convince anyone of anything.  He simply tells his own story in imagery both bright and obscure.

Pye opens with the vibrant rocker "Keep On Sinning".  The guitar-driven number ruminates on man's tendency to recognize their own inequities while continuing on down the slippery slope.  "Barriers" is a maudlin tune about standards and the sort of compromises we make with the world around us.  The bright melody line is nearly a contrast to the angst-filled arrangement.  Pye's tautological musings in "I Must Exist" are partly spiritual and partly the raging of his weaker side trying to survive.  "The Part" is an introspective and melancholy exhortation of a father whom he perceives as having failed to live up to expectations.  Whether this is an earthly or heavenly father isn't entirely clear, but on context either conversation could apply here.

"Freewill" takes on one of the more difficult concepts of Christian faith in very personal terms.  Pye rails against that which he doesn't understand, the dichotomy of using free will to give up your own.  It's interesting to watch Pye work his way through the argument before declaring an uncomfortable truce.  "Pharisee Of The State" is an intriguing number claiming a parallel between those who refused to recognize Jesus as the Son of God and himself as a non-believer as one and the same.  This song is a personal realization of the juxtaposition of heart and mind that occurs in the transformation of faith.  Pye explores the leap on "If I Give My Soul", a sort of negotiation with himself that leads to conviction.  Pye finds his truth in "Aches And Pains", marking his conviction with the recognition that faith does not solve all ills.

Introspective, melancholy and occasionally gritty are terms you might use to describe Owen Pye's songwriting.  The Truth About Man is stunning in its complexity and beauty; ascribing an almost Springsteen-esque worldview to the struggle for faith.   Even if Pye's beliefs aren't your cup of tea, The Truth About Man will surprise you with its honest portrayal of the struggle between one man's appetites and ego and his soul.  The Kafka-esque transition between struggling man looking downward and struggling man looking upward is resolute in its beauty and simple in its means.  This is a hard album to put down.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Owen Pye at www.owenpye.com or www.myspace.com/owenpye.  The Truth About Man is available digitally from Amazon.com and iTunes.  If you need the album on CD, you can get it directly from Pye via BigCartel.

Over The Rhine – The Long Surrender

Over The Rhine – The Long Surrender
2011, Great Speckled Dog/Over The Rhine

It’s been twenty years since Over The Rhine took their first steps toward becoming darling of the alt-folk scene.  What started out as a quarter has been whittled down to husband and wife team Linford Detweiler (piano/guitar/bass) and Karin Berqquist (vocals/guitar).  While the sense of ambience present on albums such as Till We Have Faces (1991), Good Dog, Bad Dog (2000) and Ohio (2003) may have faded some with the passage of time, Over The Rhine’s new album The Long Surrender  displays an intimate and integral sound that is compelling.  The Long Surrender will be available of February 8, 2011.

The Long Surrender opens with “The Sharpest Blade”, a slowly meandering folk/rock recitative with mid torch qualities.  Gorgeous, sorrowful and heartfelt, Berqquist makes the most of the vocal line.  It’s a stunning beginning.  “Rave On” has a quiet, impassioned urgency.  Berqquist is at her most emotive in a song with a timeless feel.  There’s a sense of a universal theme here that’s perhaps just beyond the listener’s reach; unchangeable in form but vibrant in force.  “Soon” is deeply melancholy, perhaps even morbidly blue.  The darkness of the arrangement and Berqquist’s voice is fascinating.  “Undamned” is a gorgeous oil painting in music pondering the saving grace of love.  Written from the perspective of a lost, broken soul suddenly wrapped in, and saved by love, the realization dawns on her that she is worth saving.  The unmistakable mark of humanity here is vibrant and tangible.

“Infamous Love Song” is pure torch; a love song of broken souls.  Detweiler and Berqquist have composed a mini masterpiece here; you nearly see the speakeasy coalesce around you as Over The Rhine begin to play, and sense the waves of sorrow and desperation wafting forth from the patrons therein.  The song is amazing: needful and powerful and full of a lonely grace that will refuse to let you go.  “Oh Yeah By The Way” explores the words left unsaid after heartbreak sets in.  This one’s a vocal duet, and captures the love, pain and regret in a stellar bit of songwriting that is likewise unforgettable.  “The King Knows How” is a stylish, bluesy number with a sultry feel that drops references to Elvis Presley and Hank Williams.  The song is a bit opaque perhaps, but is entertaining with a sense of surreal sensuality. 

“There’s A Bluebird In My Heart goes back to the bluesy torch sound, perhaps not quite as successfully as before.  Berqquist continues to excel on the vocal lines, but something about this one doesn’t quite click.  “Days Like This” is more ambient in nature, a dreamy folk/pop number that’s ethereally pretty.  “All My Favorite People” opens with what might be the best opening line to a pop song ever.  “All my favorite people are broken…” launches an exploration of the beauty of the shades of grey that envelope our lives over time.  The depth and maturity of the songwriting here is nothing less than stunning, and Berqquist shows a depth and presence the likes of which are generally the mark of a consummate performer.  Detweiler also shows off with a healthy dose of Ray Charles-style piano licks.  The Long Surrender closes with “Unspoken” is a brief piano-based instrumental epilogue with country accoutrements.    Saxophone takes the lead on the melody line in a pretty closer that sounds like the end credits to a film.

Over The Rhine just keeps getting better with time, and The Long Surrender is their most intimate and compelling work to date.  Karin Berqquist could sing the Cleveland phone book in the middle of Times Square and draw an audience, and Linford Detweiler shows an almost preternatural ability to build arrangements that fit her voice perfectly.  There are a couple of slow moments on The Long Surrender, but on balance it’s hard to imagine The Long Surrender not ending up on a number of year-end lists for 2011.

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Over The Rhine at www.overtherhine.com or www.myspace.com/overtherhine.  The Long Surrender drops on February 8, 2011.  The album can be pre-ordered from Amazon as a CD, on Vinyl or as a Download.

The Wildy's World Top 60 Albums/EPs of 2010

We're back!  I hope you all had a great Christmas, Hannukah, Winter Solstice of whatever else you may celebrate.  And of course, Happy Kwanzaa!  It's time for the Wildy's World Top-60 albums or EPs of 2010.  This list is compiled from albums reviewed on Wildy's World during 2010 and may occasionally include an album from late 2009 as well. This is a proprietary list, meaning it's generated entirely by me.  You may disagree with some of the choices or the placement, and I invite respectful discussions of opinions in response to the postings.  Anything rude or unintelligent will be zapped ASAP. 

Today we have numbers 60-41.  Click on the album name to link back to the original Wildy's World review.  Original reviews include artwork and links to artist sites and purchase points.  Without further adieu...

60. Anna Kaelin – Anna Kaelin

59. Hugh Morrison – Robert Burns Rocks

58. Colin Gilmore – Goodnight Lane

57. Sufjan Stevens – All Delighted People

56. Rooney – Eureka

55. Joy Ike – Rumors

54. Anna Coogan – The Nocturnal Among Us

53. Jon Troast – Living Room

52. Dropkick Murphys – Live On Lansdowne, Boston MA

51. Waking Ugly – Waking Ugly

50. Jason D. Williams – Killer Instinct

49. Billion Dollar Babies - Die For Diamonds

48. James Hurley – Tempest In A Teacup

47. Corinne Bailey Rae – The Sea

46. Original Cast Recording – Ordinary Days

45. Maidens IV – Celtic Fire

44. Rachael Sage – Delancey St.

43. Never Shout Never – Harmony

42. Gangsta Grass – Lightning On The Strings, Thunder On The Mic

41. Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez – The New Bye & Bye

We'll be back tomorrow with numbers 40-31.  See you then!

Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted People EP

Sufjan Stevens – All Delight People EP
2010, Asthmatic Kitty Records

Look up the world eclectic in the dictionary and you’re likely to find a picture of Sufjan Stevens.  Stevens is truly a jack-of-all-trades musically; a multi-instrumentalist who is fearless in the face of changes in genre, meter and style.   Stevens’ musical output is prodigious, accounting for ten albums in eleven years as well as appearances on numerous compilations.  While working toward the release of his newest album The Age Of Adz, Stevens was moved by his muse to release the All Delighted People EP in 2010, an intriguing and elaborate musical sidebar that makes the label “dreamy folk-pop” obsolete.

All Delighted People opens with the title track, and eleven minute-plus concoction of dreamy post-pop with electronic orchestration.  Stevens writes in an incredibly complex rock symphony style while infusing lyrical references drawn directly from Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound Of Silence”.  “Enchanting Ghost” is eclectic, shoe-gaze dream folk.  There’s an almost impressionistic, run-on style in the song construction, blending disparate melodic parts into a musical whole.  Stevens seems to have a talent for taking musical components that shouldn’t work together and turning them into something you would never have imagined.  “Heirloom” plays more to the ethereal folk side, done in a Simon & Garfunkel style with modern accoutrements. 

“From The Mouth Of Gabriel” ventures into Stevens’ electronic musical proclivities, but is centered around what sounds like a children’s tinkling piano and layered vocal harmonies.  The result is charming and pretty and obscure.  “The Owl And The Tanager” plays like a run-on fable told in a loose musical format.  The vocal harmonies here are something quite beautiful here, and highlight the haunting nature of the song.  “All Delighted People (Classic Rock Version) takes a divergent path to the opening track, substituting rolling guitars for the electronic dress-up applied to the opening track.  The classic rock version is a bit more coherent than the original, but also loses some of the magical complexity in the process.    “Arnika” sounds like a suicide note in song.  The subject here is weary and bereft of hope; delivering a last soliloquy over a stilted banjo with layered instrumentation and chanting vocals accompanying the creak of a rope.  All Delight People closes with “Djohariah”, an undulating electronic/organic experience that sounds simultaneously structured and random.  There’s an element of genius playing about between the lines here.

Sufjan Stevens has built a career out of musical exploration and experimentation.  The All Delighted People EP is no exception.  The musical and emotionally complexities that roil about beneath the surface of the songs presented here could be the EP’s downfall, but it is the singular genius of Sufjan Stevens to create magic out of chaos.  Stevens finds beauty in even the most disparate moments of human existence, blending history, faith and insight into arrangements that are as messy, and ultimately beautiful, as life itself.  All Delighted People is truly art mirroring life.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

 Learn more about Sufjan Stevens at http://www.sufjan.com/ or www.asthmatickitty.com/sufjan-stevens.  All Delighted People was released digitally in August, and drops on CD on December 7, 2010.  The album is available from Amazon.com as a CD, Double LP or Download.