Soundtrack to the Snowpacalypse: Wild Belle's "Isles"

This whole “snowpacalypse” thing has gotten a bit out of hand here in Austin. The first time, it was fun. I went on a foot trek to get some coffee on streets that were noticeably free of ice, snow, or danger. The second time, it was embarrassing. It seemed as if someone had merely looked at the thermometer and decided it was just too cold to go to school. It might have been understandable if there was a reasonable expectation of rain, but the chances were at around 15% - hardly enough to justify a delay.

This was starting to get frustrating. These repeated closings were starting to threaten our summer break. I have no desire to celebrate the 4th of July in the band hall. More immediately, UIL Concert and Sightreading Contest is happening at the beginning of March, and no amount of added days is going to make up for the rehearsal time that I am losing due to shutdowns and mock STARR testing. The culture of fear that we live in is going to have a direct effect on my student’s success, a fact that I find almost intolerable.

Make no mistake, however - it is nice to have unexpected family time. I have really enjoyed spending some time with the Little One and the wife. We’ve all been in close quarters, which means that my listening habits have veered towards the accessible. Fortunately, I received the absolutely stellar Isles from Wild Belle in a pretty robust stack of birthday CDs, and this album has emerged as the "Soundtrack to the Snowpacalypse."



Wild Belle obviously defers to reggae and other afro-Caribbean music. The sunny, beachside association that I often associate with reggae styles, however, is absent on Isles. Instead, the throaty, sultry voice of lead singer Natalie Bergman and the distorted bari sax of her brother Elliot perfectly complimented the lone cup of coffee I had in the house that I was using to beat back the bright, cold day outside.

There are a whole range of interesting issues that can be addressed anytime there is a cultural schism between a music’s point of origin and its current form. No, they are not from Jamaica. Yes, they are white. No, they have probably never lived in a shanty, but they can refer to them out of respect for the style. None of this is really weird in today’s musical landscape. There are no record bins anymore, so it doesn’t matter if you call them “reggae” or “alternative.” They cross over, and in the process, write excellent, catchy tunes with a distinctive, consistent vibe that permeates the entire album.



I was listening to Isles last night as I was driving home from the dojo on a completely clear road when I heard that the school districts were closing today for the third time in two weeks. I refused to believe they would do such a thing until I started fielding calls from my CrossFit crew, asking if 5 am session was still on. I dismissed their fears, and told them that if they slipped on the sidewalk on the way to their car, not to come. I did not expect anything to actually happen, and sure enough, nothing happened. It was cold, of course, but there was not even any water on the ground outside, much less ice. We knocked out that WOD and I went back to sleep, to be met by unsettling dreams of embarrassing scores at UIL.

Spock's Beard mk. III: Isn't This Where We Came In?

Spock’s Beard was one of a handful of exciting neo-prog discoveries that transformed my listening habits in the late 90s. When lead singer/keyboardist/guitarist/primary songwriter/all-around talented freakboy Neal Morse left in 2002, however, I felt that the band’s incredible chemistry was irreparably crippled. I believe that a band can survive, even improve, with such significant lineup changes, but 2003’s Feel Euphoria, their first album with drummer Nik D’Virgilio as lead singer, just didn’t do it for me. Despite some of their subsequent recordings receiving accolades from the prog community, I ceased following the group.

In 2011, D’Virgilio announced that he, too, was leaving the group. Spock’s Beard was without a vocalist or a drummer, and down another contributing songwriter. Yet in 2013, Spock’s Beard released Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep, an album of new material that, despite featuring a drummer that has never recorded with the band in the studio and an entirely new vocalist, I find quite easy to accept as part of their oeuvre. In fact, Spock’s Beard in 2013 feels much more like the band that I remember finding so inspiring a decade ago.

Admittedly, this is partly due to my own totally subjective distaste for drummers that “come out from behind the set” to sing lead. Phil Collins established this practice in the 70s when he took over the lead vocals for Genesis, playing drums for the band in the studio and relegating his drum throne to a freelance hire while on tour. I really hate that. I recognize that there are unique stage presence considerations for a drumming frontman, but Jellyfish proved my hypothesis that it can be done effectively with a little conviction and creativity. It seemed to me that D’Virgilio had both of these qualities in spades, and I, perhaps unfairly, always held it against him that he did not just push the drumset up to the front of the stage and go for it.

The good thing that comes from all this, however, is that Jimmy Keegan, the band’s touring drummer during the D’Virgilio years, was more than ready to step into the role. With almost a decade of live shows with Spock’s Beard already under his belt, Keegan had little problem establishing chemistry with the band. More importantly for me, however, is that what you hear on Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep is what you can expect to get in a live setting.



For most people, however, the real hot seat isn’t the drum throne, but that lead singer role. My interest was piqued when Ted Leonard, whom I knew as Enchant’s lead singer, was announced. Their album Juggling 9 or Dropping 10 was there for me during a time in which I could not emotionally bear to listen to much music. Since then, however, Leonard seemed to drift from one project to another, so I found myself anticipating the ways in which his Steve Walsh inflected vocal style might contribute Spock’s Beard if he were to find a home there.

Before either of these musicians were announced, however, my interest in the album shot through the roof when I heard that Neal Morse was collaborating on several tracks. His distinctive compositional style was, for all intents and purposes, the sound that defined early Spock’s Beard and it has since traveled with him through his various projects. I was very, very excited to potentially see it come home. When I began to seriously look at investing in the album, the track Afterthoughts was the big hook.



No matter who is singing lead or playing drums, any fan of the band will immediately identify this track as a Spock's Beard song, the giveaway being their signature vocal take on that "Gentle Giant thing.” Predictably, it is one of the Morse collaborations, in this case with Leonard and Neal's brother Alan.  It’s probably my favorite track on the album.

Although I have more readily accepted this version of Spock’s Beard than I did any of the albums with D’Virgilio, embedded in that last sentence is the one reservation that I have about the future of the band. The rest of the album is pretty convincing, but without even looking at the liner notes, my standout, favorite tracks were ones that Morse collaborates on, and they greatly contribute to the feeling that this album truly belongs to the Spock's Beard canon. Without them to scaffold on, I’m not sure it would have been as easy a sell.

I think it would be living a bit too much in the past to see Morse come on as the band’s primary songwriter in absentia. What I would really like to see, however, is Morse continuing to take on a collaborative role in Spock's Beard on future recordings, similar to the way that Brian Wilson did for the Beach Boys. This might not be an unreasonable wish, either, because Leonard seems to have a pretty good rapport with Morse. They shared the stage during a couple of transitional shows as Leonard took over lead, and he is standing in as Transatlantic’s 5th member for a leg of their upcoming tour. The potential for further collaborations between the two is pretty high. There is always the chance, however, that Morse is merely giving his former band his blessing to move on, and his loose participation on Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep is a one-off occurrence. All the more reason to enjoy it while it lasts.

The Superhero Theme Project Part 11: Robin

I generally tend to be a fan of stories in which Batman is a standalone character, but like it or not, anytime you have Batman, sooner or later you have to address Robin. The two go hand in hand. For example, the Batman figurine in the Little One's superfriends collection included a tiny Robin which, due to its minute stature, has gotten lost several times. Somehow, though, he always seems to turn up. This ongoing game of "Where's Robin?" has emphasized the character and, eventually, brought attention to the fact that he did not have a song.

Although I am not the most devoted fan of the character, I inadvertently began looking into Robin when I was investigating Batgirl.  Because they both exist in Batman's universe, they share some conceptual overlap.  There have been many incarnations of the character with attendant variations in their origin stories, but generally Robin is depicted as young and headstrong, with motivations that are usually more serious than Batgirl’s. He is not, however, nearly as grim as Batman.

I still felt a need to pay homage to the already existing music in the franchise. Despite the fact that the movies themselves are some of the worst Batman movies ever made, I delved again into Elliot Goldenthal’s scores for the Joel Shumacher films. I was ready to pull the trigger on the title sequence theme from Batman and Robin.



Aside from being marred by an incongruous percussion break, however, it was, like the majority of Shirley Walker's work, more Batman than Robin, so I discarded it.  Shortly after I adopted Batgirl's theme, however, I discovered Michael Giaccianco’s score to Star Trek: Into Darkness, which I really liked.  In fact, the only thing keeping me from using this piece as Batgirl's theme was the very distinctive Star Trek watermark at the end.



So far, my strict "no editing" rule had remained unbroken, but this one was giving me pause to reconsider when the Steamboy track showed up. Still, in retrospect, I felt a little regret that I did not use it, so I did a bit more scouting around in Giaccicano’s work. His soundtrack for the previous Star Trek reboot also received accolades from reviewers. Like the track from Into Darkness, the track Enterprising Young Men has a youthful exuberance that I thought represented Robin well, but also a slightly dark edge that acknowledges the deeper motivations of the character.

As all this was going on behind the scenes, the Little One's interest in the project was starting to wane. She was still enjoying listening to the music and enthusiastically identifying the heroes that the represented, but she was not initiating as much as she was a few weeks ago. When I introduced Enterprising Young Men as Robin's theme, however, it seemed to reignite the her interest. Not only does she regularly request Robin by name, she gets excited about playing the piece for her mother and other people that might be in the car.  She is also discovered that my phone, when equipped with headphones, can also play superhero music, and Robin is her go-to in this setting.

Success.

Additionally, I put the full soundtrack on my list, and it showed up in a robust stack of CDs that I received for my birthday. Although in my eyes it is not as innovative a as Hans Zimmer's recent work on Inception and Man of Steel, as an entire work, Star Trek is very good. Enterprising Young Men is probably the most succinct and cognizant expression of this "new" Star Trek theme, but Giacchino gets quite a bit of convincing mileage out of it over the course of the whole album. The ending credits music is particularly entertaining, as he quite ingeniously mashes this melody up with the distinctive theme from the original series.



By embedding essential characteristics from the old with a fundamentally new premise, Giacciano creates a very smart representation of J.J. Abrams' mission statement of the recent movie reboot.  It comes highly recommended for soundtrack fans.

To go to the final post in the Superhero Theme Project, click HERE.
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The Superhero Theme Project Part 10: Hawkgirl

Speaking of ancillary female superheroes, Hawkgirl is another DC character that owes her existence to a male character, except the one she is attached to is far less established than Batman. Hawkman has been retconned and rewritten so many times that only dedicated fans have an idea about what is canon, so it is no surprise that Hawkgirl is relatively obscure. This worked in her favor, however, when she was written as the second female lead in the Justice League animated series. Without an accepted canon to stick to, she was a relative tabula rasa and thereby free open to interpretation by the show's writers. She evolved into the most complex character on the show, grappling with some very grownup issues surrounding loyalty, love, betrayal, and regret.

These concepts were mostly over the Little One's head, I think, but doubtlessly, the show made her aware of Hawkgirl's existence. Once Hawkman entered the scene, I knew the request for Hawkgirl was soon to follow. Because these characters are often depicted as lovers, even spouses, I played with the idea of just collapsing the both of them into one song. She would have none of that. When I tried to play off the Shostakovich piece as Hawkgirl, she immediately called me out, stating that the song was "not Hawkgirl," but "Hawk-MAN."

It was clear that I was going to have to come up with something, but I knew nothing of her accepted background. Because the character has such an interesting arc on the show, however, I adopted her run on the animated series as canon and I used it as my conceptual reference for Hawkgirl's personality and motivation.

On the series, she is the team's loose cannon, but is also a fierce warrior with an equally fierceful sense of loyalty. Her dedication to her friends and sense of duty, however, becomes her downfall as she gets caught between her peers and her people. She turns traitor at one point, betraying the man she came to love, and grapples with the consequences of her decisions.

I thought that her personality asked for a martial quality in her theme, but I also wanted to acknowledge her inner conflicts. I did not push too hard on this one, but while doing research for another character, the Game of Thrones theme fell into my lap.



The drums lent the piece a menacing overtone while, simultaneously, its distinctive legato melody seemed to reflect Hawkgirl’s more melancholic aspects, and, more objectively, it contrasted my usual fanfarish brass-heavy selections. Consequently, it is also not most adrenaline-fueled song in the playlist. Although I can visualize Hawkgirl’s wings gently beating against a sky lit by the orange glow of the sunrise, the Little One rarely requests this theme. She has been known, however, to exclaim “I like Hawkgirl!” when it plays, so I think that it could still be counted as a success.

To go to the previous post in this series, click HERE.
To go to the next one, click HERE.

The Superhero Theme Project Part 9: Batgirl

The comic universe is male-dominated, but nowhere is it moreso than in the DC universe. Aside from Wonder Woman, many of DC's established female characters came about as lip-service to women's liberation in the 60s and 70s. In some cases, they have grown into their own, but ultimately they are ancillary to more prominent male counterparts. Batgirl is certainly one of these characters, but despite being a branch on Batman's family tree, she was, in a way, the Little One's very first superhero. When she was an infant, she showed an enthusiastic interest in a Funco Pop Batgirl figurine, which subsequently found its way into her toy chest. There was some confusion when Batman came into the picture, and it took a little bit of work for her to realize that they were two entirely different characters. In the end, however, Batgirl has always been around for her, and I felt an obligation to come up with a distinctive theme.

Distinctive or not, I thought she should still be embedded in the Batman universe. I revisited the various Batman movie soundtracks, but Elfman's work was too defining, and I simply didn't like the music from the terrible Joel Schumacher films. I have been wanting to use something by Shirley Walker, who essentially took over for Elfman as the soundtrack of the animated Gotham universe in the 90s, but a lot of her ideas just seemed too dark to come off as a Batgirl theme.

Traditionally, Batgirl's motivation for what she does doesn't stem from a personal trauma like Batman's or even Robin's. At least initially, she became Batgirl partially for the sense of thrill, and eventually I came across a Walker clip that nailed this aspect of the character.



This was perfect, but I couldn't use it. At a minute long, it was just too short. A snippet like this would become irritating really quickly under multiple repeats. Second, and more practically, I could not find it as a download. Additionally, a lot of Shirley Walker's CDs from this era are out of print and, in some cases, too expensive for a single one-minute clip.

I wanted to match the style more than the notes, so I tried not to revisit Walker's theme too much during my continued research.  It gave me the impression that Batgirl needed to be swashbucking, but not too pirate-y, with the feel of detective noir and the energy of a thrill ride.  Narrowing it down this far might seem to help, but it actually made things more complicated.  For quite awhile, nothing seemed to fit, until I remembered an anime I saw several years ago called Steamboy.  In my memory, the steampunk vibe of the movie seemed to fit, and its American score, by established video game and movie composer Steve Jablonski, was readily available. A track called Raid by the Airship seemed quite appropriate in terms of length and feel, so I, perhaps hastily, downloaded it and put it on my phone.

The Little One loves its energy of this piece, and its rhythmic ostinato is distinctive enough for her to easily identify out of context. I think it does a pretty good job of capturing the playful seriousness of Batgirl. After spending some time with it, however, I am afraid it is not the strongest piece on her Superhero playlist from a compositional standpoint. I think that it is safe to say that it functions more readily as an accompaniment than as a standalone piece of music. It doesn't stand up to the work of Shostakovich or Mussorgsky, but at any rate, the song is definitely a favorite for her now, and this project really is all about her.


To go to the next post in this series, click HERE.
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2013 Honorable Mentions: All is Quiet.....

I am sitting in my garage at 5 am on New Year’s Day, up early for a CrossFit class that didn’t make. I did not figure that it would. Judging by the energy level of the neighborhood, everybody was up late, but I did not cancel the WOD just in case anyone decided to make an early start on their resolutions. I know that I could go right back to sleep, but I kind of like these moments.  I can sit quietly and do nothing more than listen to the owl living in the tree across the street coo softly in the early morning. Quite predictably, this came into my head.



That was SO LONG ago, and the reality of how much U2 has changed, from outspoken political idealists to promoters of Apple products, makes me more sad then nostalgic. I think this feeling generated less by Bono, or the early 80s release date of WAR, or remembering the faces of very young people who loved the song but whose names I have forgotten. Instead, it comes from the realization that the same amount of time has passed for me. Certainly, I am no longer the embarrassingly naïve middle schooler that I was when this song was gaining momentum, and that’s mostly a good thing. It was, however, a long time ago.

Someone once said that change is a misnomer. We don’t ever really change - we grow.  I take this to mean that the seed of who we will become resides in our present selves and a nugget of who we are today can be found in the person we once were. Like it or not, I am still that kid, and although somewhere inside I am still making dumb, inappropriate decisions, these intentions are thankfully tempered by my increasing number of years on this planet.

So, if you really want to make a resolution for yourself this year, trying to make a change in who you are might not yield the results you want. Instead, grow – and grow in directions that provide better perspective about the things in your life that you would like to alter. It will not be comfortable, but the most important changes happen at the margins of what we are comfortable with.

A few honorable mentions for 2013 before 2014 starts in earnest.  This is a particularly strong list this year - each of these albums are really incredible in their own right and there is no discernible reason each one of them shouldn't find their way in to your listening in the upcoming year.


My Bloody Valentine – m b v: I’m not sure what happened here - I had every intention of including this gem on the top 20, but when I looked back, I noticed it was overlooked. I guess the fact that I forgot about it says something, but no one is more disappointed than myself that the album was excluded.


 
Sound of Contact – Dimensionaut: The only thing that kept Sound of Contact out of the top 20 was that it was too stylistically similar to the new Spock’s Beard. Dimensionaut held the #19 spot for quite awhile until Brief Noctournes and Dreamless Sleep found its way into rotation at year’s end.

Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks: Reznor has finally come to a place in which his angst doesn’t come off as petulance. Although this album is his most believable in a while, at times it feels a little forced, which knocked it out of the top 20.


Flying Colors: Like the output of a lot of supergroups, Flying Colors is circumscribed by extreme highs and, in this case, a few noticeable sags. Its outstanding moments buoyed it to the top albums of the year, but its filler, however minimal, kept it out of the top 20.

James Blake – Overgrown: Blake went into a bit more traditional songwriting territory on his sophomore album, and although it captures the same evocative mood, it just didn’t have the same staying power with me as his debut. Plus, I really don’t see what everyone’s fascination is with the RZA – I think his contribution to the album brings it down.

Plant seeds and grow this year. Best of fortune and take care.

Ten Favorites from 2013

We were all sitting around the TV on Christmas Eve, watching The Polar Express. We were looking for a good stopping point. The Little One’s bedtime had clearly come and gone, and although she knew something was special about this evening, she was still a little too young to be stricken by the insomnia of anticipation that keeps children awake pending Santa’s arrival. She knew he was coming, but we were not sure she knew exactly what that meant.

We were looking at each other for confirmation that it was, indeed, bedtime. Right as we were about to put out the cookies and head for bed, a song about Christmas trees arose on the movie. The Little One listened intently. Suddenly, she leapt out of her grandmother’s lap and ran up to our tree. Uncharacteristically speechless, she pointed at it, then at us, then at the song playing on the TV. After a few moments in this rotation, the song was over and she smiled. We turned off the movie and she cheerfully headed off to bed.

She seemed to make a connection, as if she figured out that the stuff that she has been seeing and the stuff that we keep talking about are all part of this same “Christmas” thing. In truth, I’m not sure exactly what happened there. I am just incredibly thankful to have been there to see it, because it was a beautiful moment.

10. The Besnard Lakes – Until in Excess, Imperceptible UFO: If The Beach Boys had joined Julee Cruise on Angelo Badalamenti’s iconic Twin Peaks soundtrack, it might end up sounding like the Besnard Lakes. Clearly, they belong in the dream pop genre, but I find them more believable than Beach House, if last year’s Bloom is any indication.

9. S U R V I V E – Imagine Depeche Mode reinventing themselves as an instrumental jam band and rewriting the Blade Runner soundtrack. Classic synth fans should look no further.

8. The Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan: This quirky and undeniably musical pop album framed several defining moments in the new house this year. The Dirty Projectors take fascinating risks and tame them in every way imaginable.

7. Fleetwood Mac – Rumors: When all my CDs were packed up for a move a couple of years ago, I got Rumors on a whim. It was the first album I played in our second Austin apartment, but this year I discovered how amazing it really is.

6. Syd Arthur – On and On: Seriously great prog-pop from Canturbury. On and On is totally infectious, but is also subtly cerebral if you choose to listen in that mode.

5. The Format – Interventions and Lullabies: Although the inclusion of fun. in the top 20 sort of challenges the “one-entry-per-artist-per-year” rule, The Format is, technically, a totally separate project. I also think that Interventions and Lullabies is more consistent than Some Nights, and I most assuredly would not have followed Nate Reuss into the latter if I did not love the former so much.

4. The Dark Knight Original Soundtrack – It took me nearly all year to crack it open, but Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard’s soundtrack to the second Dark Knight movie has had a profound effect on my listening. It has reframed the way that I listen to current movie scores.

3. Tame Impala – Lonersim: Another album that initially defined our move into the new house, but in this case its depth unfolded into wider horizons. The distinctive songwriting defines the album, but there are intentionally crafted layers of sonic depth that seem unending.

2. Steven Wilson – The Raven That Refused to Sing and Other Stories: A well-crafted and unique progressive rock album that allows its players distinctive voices to shine through its concept is a rarity. Its even more rare that this situation could arise on a solo album, but Wilson stepped aside just enough to allow The Raven to become one of the finest albums this year.

1. The Postal Service – Give Up: Sure, the album is over a decade old, but was totally new to me this year. No matter where I was or who I was with, Give Up was the soundtrack for nearly any occasion and it never, ever wore thin.