and I wanna dive in an ocean of pink tourmaline...

Come tell me your story to unload your glorious grief
Where you are the valet of honour and I am the thief
And don't ever mention the stains that you left on my track
How from a beautiful girl I became someone ruined and wrecked
It was all in your back
All in your back

So I spin in the dance of your absence and put on a show
But why do I smile baby, you of all people should know
The one that you loved
Died a long time ago

You can't do me wrong with charity until
You'll exhaust your lies and remedies, you will
But with your voice and melodies you kill, you kill
Your version of glory is dark and it's covered with sin
And I wanna dive in an ocean of pink tourmaline
I've seen the pure souls they exist and they fly
I think I could live with it, I know I can now

You can't do me wrong with charity until
You'll exhaust your lies and remedies, you will
But with your voice and melodies you kill…you kill

It's funny how now that I'm not in the palm of your hand
You're still running blindly to save me again and again
But I don't need a friend
No, I don't need a friend

You can't do me wrong with charity until
You'll exhaust your lies and remedies, you will
But with your voice and melodies you kill…you kill
--In Your Back, Keren Ann

~~~~~~~~~~

Romance...now certainly the French culture didn’t invent the notion of romance, but their pop music tradition has perfected the art of infusing romantic music with just enough melancholy to stir an emotional response that lingers long after the song is over. Jane Birkin…Francoise Hardy…Serge Gainsbourg…Edith Piaf…France Gall…the legacy of these artists, and others, bear out this premise quite clearly while the work of Berry, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Benjamin Biolay, Emilie Simon, etc. all promise that this tradition will continue to flourish, and that’s a good thing. For me, this notion of romantic music nears perfection in the work and the voice of Keren Ann Zeidel.

Legions of indie-pop boys around the world have a Texas-size crush on Keren Ann. As for me, let me assure you, I’m merely appreciative of her music and have nothing but respectful admiration for Mlle. Zeidel, she of dual passports (French and Dutch), she of French-Russian- Javanese- Dutch- Israeli descent, she of softly cooed ballads on landmark albums like Not Going Anywhere, Nolita, or her 2007 eponymous masterpiece. However, there is a good reason for all this fan-boy fervor. She’s a refreshing presence in the pop music world - her musical persona is feminine in the perfect way: She’s smart, not frivolous…attractive, not arrogant…vulnerable, not insecure…creative, not boring or pretentious.

When I first heard her sing four or five years ago, I was immediately struck by the power and beauty of her voice. As I’ve pointed out before, her music works like a tonic for those times when the stresses of life are working hard to bring you down. Her dreamy songs, sometimes barely rising above a whispery voice and a delicate melody, will compel you to stop and listen and join her for a few moments.

Keren Ann has one of the most beautifully emotive voices I’ve ever heard. The world kind of melts away when she starts to sing, each song lulling you into a pleasantly dreamlike state…drifting into moments both beautiful and genuine, but vaguely unreal. Her music is infused with a gracefulness that is both soothing and seductive all at once - her words float through your body and hit you in the heart…she can break your heart or mend it with one shift of her voice.

Tribute

So many days have been away
that I once abandoned Keren Ann for her straight power which reached my heart.
But When I come back I find that I'm still in love with her.
She comforts me, yes she did. And her voice was my safe harbor.
I hided myself in the cold winter night on my bed with her music
that I was sure I was not afraid of any separation.
Will the days come back again? Let me kiss myself with those pains.
And dying in the music.

Keren Ann not only writes beautifully, she inspires beautiful writing…I stumbled across this poem several months ago - I’m pretty sure it was originally written in mandarin and then processed through google translate or something similar.

Resources

Here’s a video for In Your Back (live)…


Visit Keren Ann at myspace…

Click here for a short live set…Click here to shop for her music…

~~~~~~~~~~

...and this post completes the epic Valentine's Trilogy...and in record time!

life is ever changing, but I will always find a constant and comfort in your love...

Sometime over the past couple of years, The Avett Brothers became my favorite band, and I mean “favorite” on a level I haven’t felt towards a band since my angsty years in high school with the Clash and REM. Their songs will bring you laughter, heartache, love, or rage, sometimes all in one song.

The Avett Brothers (Seth and Scott Avett with childhood friend Bob Crawford) are a band from Concord, North Carolina and they play a combination of old-time Appalachian, bluegrass, punk, pop melodies, folk, rock and roll, hard country, and ragtime. No, really I’m serious – you can hear elements of all these genres on all of their albums…The Washington Post has described their sound as “post civil-war modern rock”- the Avetts themselves prefer to be unlabeled, feeling that “none would do the music the justice. It's simply left up to each person to extract his or her own account from the Avetts music.” Mainly, their music is simple and honest. They offer up both confession and advice. They lament over love, but emerge defiant against apathy. They rejoice and celebrate the small things in life, but they’re not afraid to address the big questions.

Resources

Over the years, the Avetts have developed several topics that they return to again and again in their songwriting – they like to sing about family…they explore the consequences that come with making choices…they stress the importance of personal responsibility…and often they combine some or all of these themes in a series of songs written to pretty girls. Click here to try out a few of my favorites - a compilation of the songs to pretty girls, and then go get Emotionalism or maybe Mignonette …aw, just go ahead and get them all!

Watch a live video for the song Pretty Girl from Chile…

Check out the Avetts on myspace…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This has been part two of a monumental three part Valentine’s special…I hope I can get the third one finished up!

For more information on the main image, visit the photographer’s website - Robert Doisneau

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Epilogue

My original intent for this post was for it to be a brief overview of the Avetts that would, hopefully, peak someone’s interest in what has become my favorite band…but I’m gonna head off down a rabbit trail for a bit, so bear with me – it’s a fairly short one, as rabbit trails go…

Getting up in the morning can be tough sometimes, most especially when I've spent the latter part of the night tossing and tumbling from one strange dream to another – not really bad dreams, just unsettling ones. Tucked away amongst these fleeting dreams, sometimes, is the song of the morning, a melody that’s persistently strumming away in the back of your mind from the moment I first awaken. Maddeningly, I don't always realize what song it is. Sometimes I don't even hear it clearly – and then suddenly the chorus comes crashing in while I'm shaving or the final few chords will be whispered softly as I take a final turn around the house before I leave for work, wondering what I've forgotten to do this morning. Sometimes it's hours later before I figure out what the song is, when I hear it playing on my computer at work while I’m sunk chin deep in paperwork and reports. This is just what happened this morning with the Avett’s beautiful ballad "Murder in the City". As the first chords came out of the tiny speakers, it was like having cold water dashed in my face, and as I listened to the song that I’d been humming all day I was struck by the truth captured in this quiet pop song. Sometimes it's not enough to simply get up in the morning and go through the day taking care of the duties and responsibilities that have fallen to me for resolution. Some days it’s good to wake up and engage a more personal set of obligations, ones we tend to take for granted all too often. I don't want to ever take the people in my life for granted...not ever.

Now watch the video for Murder in the City – this is why I love the Avetts so much…

…drifting…drifting…and floating around through chocolate bubbles

I may as well admit it - I'm a closet Anglofile with a sweet tooth for for sixties-inspired, super-cute go-go pop. if you have leanings in that direction, let me introduce you to a former chambermaid who is the holder of the musical grail - Angela Faye Tillett . As the bubbly British voice behind the groups Lollipop Train and Death By Chocolate, Angie leads the way through an enchanted world of childlike imagery, bubblegum singalongs, and giddy psychedelia - kinda like the Yellow Submarine on a detour through Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

Angie clearly has a fondness for sweets, which evoke powerful sensory memories for her -- as do colors, letters, breakfast cereal… She recites these reminiscences of pop culture, in the bored voice of a British schoolgirl delivering a report before class, while giddy pop keyboard lines bubble and eddy around her. In addition, she offers '60s spy movie instrumentals, quirky bubblegum psycedelia, and a few unusual covers, including a decidedly twee version of Cat Stevens's "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out."

Discography

Lollipop Train – Junior Electric Magazine
1. strawberry ?
2. i want it now
3. junior electric magazine
4. johnny shopping
5. banana milkshake
6. mr. bizarro
7. janet´s birthday party (hipster)
8. holiday in malta
9. theme from "daisies"
10. wowie zowie
11. presents prizes sweets & surprises
12. johnny johnny
13. let´s imagine
14. variation on a keyring

Death By Chocolate – S/T
1. mustard yellow
2. magpie
3. sky blue
4. the land of chocolate
5. orange
6. my friend jack
7. daddy's out of focus
8. olive
9. ice cold lemonade
10. the is bumble bee
11. a b & c
12. red
13. rainbow with a underneath & an elephant
14. who needs wings to fly? (from the flying nun)
15. the salvador dali murder mystery
16. if you want to sing out sing out
17. is bumble bee (the bee is coming)

Death By Chocolate – Zap the World
1. vox wah wah pedal
2. zap the world chorus
3. while i´m still young
4. bentley corniche
5. cutoutgirlscout
6. lime green fitted blouse
7. a b & c- part two
9. bridgit riley
10. artplay
11. cinammon grahams
12. bibi gin
13. the togetherness marriage bureau
14. zap the world
15. quite quite fantastic
16. swinging london
17. guru indian takeaway
18. john steed swordstick

Sadly, Angie must have lost her inspiration following the release of Zap the World (or else she just grew up and got a real job), and so it seems that there won’t be anymore daydreamy, poetic meanderings or pretty little pop songs full of charmingly inspired mania…

Resources

Try a little sample – download some extra chocolate love (a tracklist may be found in the comments)

a nice fansite - here

here's a video for the land of chocolate...images are from flickr

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is the first of a (hopefully) three part special that takes its inspiration from the three things that have always made Valentine’s Day fun for me: chocolate, pretty girls, and a little bit of romance…I hope you enjoy them all!