Monday's Almost Famous Pick: Reed KD

Give Reed KD's MySpace page or web site a visit to hear songs such as 'Empty Bottles' which features haunting harmonies reminiscent of the way Elliott Smith used to overdub his own distinctive and evocative harmonies over guitar picking patterns and a gentle folky mix of assorted instruments.

CD Baby Interview with David Harrington

Every time I listen to David Harrington of the Kronos Quartet, I feel totally musically, spiritually and philosophically inspired about the art of music. More than anything, his focus on collaboration and the deep inner relation to music that trancends categorical boundaries is so refreshing in this era of self-oriented musical marketing and reputation building. The whole really is greater than the sum of it's parts.

I've been fortunate enough to see Kronos a few times, most recently by chance in a small hall in Gothenburg, Sweden where we lived last Spring and prior to that when they did a weeklong residency at the Krannert Center for the Arts in Urbana, Illinois.

A few CDs are still worth buying

I'm sure I'm not alone in barely being able to remember the last time I bought a physical CD. The hours I used to spend with headphones on in Tower Records' listening posts have long since devolved into grazing and browsing via iTunes and Amazon. Once you change browsing paradigms and get used to song-based picking and choosing, it is indeed hard to go back to purchasing a full CD. But when I find the occasional CD that I feel I must have, I do feel a certain warm glow as I hold the shiny disc and ruminate on it's worthiness. This month, I feel that honor goes to Punch by the Punch Brothers, the brainchild of Mando Phenom and ex-Nickel-Creeker Chris Thile (rhymes with Feely). Definitely a case where the album (we Gen X's love to say this about CDs, I know) trumps having individual songs.

In no particular order, some of my other recent album worthy picks:

Radiohead's In Rainbows
Wilco's Sky Blue Sky
Grizzly Bear's Yellow House
Panda Bear's Person Pitch
Levon's Helm's Dirt Farmer
Ryan Adams' Easy Tiger
John Mayer's The Village Sessions EP
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' Raising Sand

Feel free to send in your own lists from the last 12 months or so!

Tuesday Podcast Pick

I am a sucker for podcasts, though occasionally overwhelmed by the sheer number I collect. Just one more thing to feel good about throwing away every now and then. That said, my tuesday podcast pick is Naxos classical spotlight, which includes 20 minute segments featuring interviews with modern composers and performing ensembles. Recently I've listened to interviews with composers James Hartway, Elliott Carter, Kenneth Fuchs, and Nigel Clarke.

Nearby Glacial Bouldering

Over the weekend, Andrea discovered the existence of Ledyard's Glacial Park via Brendan Henrahan's excellent geotrip blog. Amazingly close and impressive in the pre-foliage Spring, the girls had a lot of fun taking the path that leads up and over the boulders. Someone must have had a lot of fun with all that blue paint...

DIY Leslie Speaker

I'm definitely going to try and build a homemade leslie speaker - plug-ins will only get you so far!

Memories

For some reason, Andrea has been buying these cans of vienna sausages lately. Talk about the mnemonic power of smell - one whiff and I'm four years old, sitting in the kitchen of our old apartment in Stony Creek above Betts' Marine. I can see the color of the walls quite vividly.

Honoring Gary Gygax

I was sad to read this week of the passing away of D & D founder Gary Gygax. I received the basic D & D set when I was about 10 and, during my middle school years, was an avid gamer. I still have all my original copies of the Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, and DM Guide - all of which I bought as they were initially released. I stopped playing in high school but I still occasionally venture into gaming stores (we have one nearby) where the site of the dice, miniature figures, Dragon magazine, and Avalon Hill box games (of which I also had several) fills me with a warm nostalgic glow. I glance at the notes on the board of people looking for games and think briefly about how enjoyable the pre-online notion of RPG was. Once I picked up a copy of Tom Wham's Snit's Revenge, to replace the Dragon magazine copy I used to have.

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Lead Sheet Thursday

Thursday is the day I pick songs for my band (28 Strings) to play during our weekly rehearsal. If we can figure out how to put a gentle drum beat around it, I'd like to try the Jayhawks' song 'All the Right Reasons' from their Rainy Day Music album and maybe the song 'Blue' (from Tomorrow the Green Grass) but also well covered on the Thorns' eponymous CD. Speaking of the 'Hawks, frontman Gary Louris' new CD, Vagabonds is pretty nice — I definitely recommend checking it out if you're a fan. There's also a Terry Gross fresh air interview with Louris lurking around on iTunes.

I just remixed Suspended in Alarm for the gazillionth time, trying to give the opening some bunch - I added a very subtle harp flourish in the beginning. I'm quite happy with the drum sound on this track, I'll have to document that one and use it elsewhere.