One Cello x 16: Natoma - Zoë Keating

I have to admit, I've been holding out on writing because I've fallen in love with a few albums lately and haven't been able to do anything but listen to them and enjoy.  This is one of them.  I found her on Stereomood, but apparently a lot of listeners have found her on iTunes - she's been at the top of the classical music charts.  It's easy to hear why.  Her music is innovative and enigmatic.  Her list of awards is extensive and she's highly praised in her field.

The album title reflects her method of composition.  She is one cellist, using electronic sampling to create a full sound of multiple cellists.  Her music is highly repetitive, as one might expect with sampling, but at the same time full of variation and most surprisingly melody.  I've got "Sun Will Set" on repeat like a pop song.  Each track is a fully formed idea, each fragment is completely worked out, but never overhashed.  Zoë is brilliant cellist, but also a great orchestrator.

I've always found the cello to be a haunting instrument - my favorite classical works of all time are Bach's Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, so it figures that I wouldn't be able to resist what sound like a chorus of cellos.  It has the ambience of Arvo Pärt's Für Alina or Brian Eno's Music for Airports, but with a little more sound and as stated above, more melody to hold onto and remember after - see? haunting.

If you're not necessarily sure if modern classical music is for you - this album will change your mind.

Lungs (Special Box Set Edition) - Florence + the Machine

It's no secret that I've been obsessed with this Lungs since I first heard it almost a year ago now.  There are few albums where I love every song and will listen to the whole thing in its entirety after the third or fourth go through, but this happens to be one of them.  It appears that Florence and her marketing team, and in fact the entire listening public agree - this album had seven singles!  I'm itching pretty bad for her sophomore album and in the meantime I scour the internet for clues as to when I will finally hear it, or more often, I search for b-sides and covers to tie me over.  (On a sidenote - her cover of "Addicted to Love" has kept me satisfied for some months now.)  What especially interests me about this box set (in its many forms I've found on various websites) is what is (typically) the third album called Remixes, Covers, and Rarities.

It opens with a cover of Beyonce's "Halo" and Florence's powerful voice gives it new depth.  She also manages to hit those high ornamentations with grace.  Second, is "Hurricane Drunk," my favorite from the original album, this time acoustic.  It trades the pulsing beat of the chorus for an harp emphasis, which actually gives the song a much more fluid feel.  This would represent a washing flood after the actual storm, but still in keeping with the metaphor.  I'm reading into this one though, it was meant to be a simple acoustic version.

Then, there are three remixes, "You've Got the Love," "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)," and "Drumming Song."  Each are pretty good and given a solid dance beat.  "Drumming Song" becomes the most abstract and therefore the most interesting.  It is highly repetitive and her vocals are traded for multiple reworkings of the main drumming theme.

"Flakes" is another cover, this time by Mystery Jets, who also hail from London.  Florence floats on syllables, holding each one until the next one can no longer wait.  Underneath is a picked guitar riff, played almost in banjo style.  Intermittently a chorus enters singing like a wind.

I always love a good demo, especially if its a song I can't get out of my head.  "An Offering" is ok, but a little unnecessary here.  It's only an early version of "Rabbit Heart," already appearing in one version on this album, and its not much different from the version released on Lungs.  Likewise, "You've Got the Love" gets another spin.  At least this second showing is different enough that I need to hear it through.

"Cosmic Love" is quiet like "Hurricane Drunk" with a harp emphasis.  I've never been a huge fan of the harp sound, let alone in favor of its use in pop music, but hear I'm forced to the other extreme.  It's incredibly catchy and seems necessary to the song, which I love.

The last two songs are gems - originals by Florence, although I can see why they would be here instead of on the main album.  "Are You Hurting the One You Love" is another example of her ability to pick new and interesting percussion tracks and still not let it drown out her amazing voice.  "Swimming" shows her melodic abilities while not falling into the standard verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus form.

Always stunning, always captivating, everything she delivers is gold.  It is both a curse and a blessing to put out such a great album - it leaves me craving more, but I still can't stop listening.

Irish Session at Lillie's in NYC

Exactly a week ago now, I was in New York City.  After lunch at a Cuban restaurant, we headed across the street to Lillie's, an Irish-Victorian bar and recommended for its Saturday afternoon Irish seisiún.  The bar itself is impressive - the detailing, the decorations, the sheer size of the insides, which you wouldn't guess from looking at the outsides from across the street.  The seisiún was equally good.  Initially there was a harp, maybe a fiddle or two, and a small accordion.  It began small although still larger than some of the gatherings that I've happened to see here in Louisville or even Buffalo, NY.  I know I've become a little weary of checking out a new session since so many have been disappointing in size or the atmosphere of the bar.  Luckily, we weren't the only ones there specifically to scope out the vent.  The number of instrumentalists nearly tripled in size by the time it was 4pm "Irish time" (closer to 5 or 5:30) and now included banjos, multiple flutes, and a bodhrán.  A good variety of tunes, but maybe a little lacking in harmony or counter-melodies, or perhaps the acoustics aren't quite good enough to really hear what the flutes were doing.  A definite must to visit if this sort of music interests you and you happen to be in the area. 

Check out these pictures as more musicians showed up and a video for a little aural taste.