My tweets of the last week:
continuum
I’d love to peer into some alternate reality and see what I’d be doing with my time (and money) in the new house if I hadn’t simultaneously taken up playing bass and buying (and reading) an entire lifetime’s worth of X-Men comic books in graphic novels in a single year.
Imagine it. More time. More money. More sanity.
I don’t know what it is about me that every time I find a new way to occupy my spare time (like, you know, being a rock star or homeownership) I need to find a preoccupation to distract me (like writing a novel), but that’s how it works.
At least I’m getting better at playing bass. The comic books I just have no excuse for.
As for being a rock star, I’ve been so focused on Filmstar and Arcati Crisis that my playing on my solo material has become decidedly flabby. I spent hours warming up a few dozen older songs. Bass and comics notwithstanding, I really want to record something for you to hear soon, because without new music I’m not much of a rock or a star. Until then, download Brown Bag Demos, Vol. 1, if you haven’t already.
On the homeowner front I did a slew of things you have absolutely no interest in, along with dining with Cecily and Charlie, who live down the literal street from us.
Charlie has this perfect resonant-but-aerobic voice that makes me want to write something for him to narrate, and there’s nothing like having Cecily as the person you’d borrow a cup of sugar from. I learned about some sort of disturbing play gak made up of tiny dippin’ dots, we traded stories and opinions on films, and I think I shocked Cecily a little with the vehemence of my hatred for the anti-feminist Anti-Christ that is Katy Perry.
Come to think of it, I had one actual occupation this weekend – house managing for Ocelot on a Leash‘s spectacular production of Stop Kiss. I only miss acting from the “anything you can do I can do better” perspective, which is maybe the only reason I got into theatre to begin with. Ocelot productions make me feel comfortable as an audience member, because there is nothing to question and little to improve upon. (Although, I sort of want to write a piece for their Twilight Zone Fringe play.)
(See? Preoccupation.)
This week I’m faced with seeing bro in his first paid production in Philly, and also with traveling with him, E, and sis J to a family funeral.
Nineteen year-olds gunning for stardom and 90-somethings who crossed oceans to start a family and become the best in their field in NYC at a time it was unheard of to do that, let alone be Chinese while doing it.
It’s all on the same continuum.
Sometimes I’m on it too. Even when I’m playing bass.
Maybe not while reading comic books, though.
What I Tweeted, 2011-02-20 Edition
My tweets of the last week:
2010 Recommended Albums Roundup
There’ll be no more hemming and hawing – here are my recommended albums of 2010. I just have to get it out 50 days sooner next year :)
Thanks to my friend Melissa W. for inspiring/encouraging this endeavor, and for all of my office-mates for enduring my many rounds of listening ;)
Top 10 Recommended Albums of 2010
1. Sara Bareilles – Kaleidoscope Heart. A gleeful, big-voiced, piano-pop record not unlike what I expected from Kelly Clarkson fresh off of Idol. (full review)
2. The Black Keys – Brothers. Turns basic two-man blues stomp into a sonic wet cement that will fill up your ears and harden to stone, never to exit. (full review)
3. Robyn – Body Talk. Prickly-tongued dance pop that picks up directly where Cyndi Lauper left off with She’s So Unusual, both in voice and coquettish feminism.
4. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs. Evokes the washed out echo of America’s abandoned suburbs – dingy lawns, faded vinyl siding, and a hopeless tranquility.
5. The Bird & The Bee – Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates. Transcends “carefully crafted tribute” to become a valuable reimagining of these classic songs. (full review)
6. Sia – We Are Born. Send a Britney Spears CD back in time along with an emotionally-unhinged, unintelligible cyborg lady from the future, both to the attention of the disco band at your local club; enjoy the results.
7. Corinne Bailey Rae – The Sea. A riveting, jazz-tinged journey to the bottom of the ocean, where an intent to drown transforms into a raison d’etre. (full review)
8. The Roots – How I Got Over. A pinnacle of hand-crafted hip hop, merging sure-handed classic soul with introspective and uplifting rhymes.
9. Vampire Weekend – Contra. Dizzingly smart, giddily smart-mouthed Paul Simon pop pretends it’s facile and heartless, but it’s anything but. (full review)
10a. Menomena – Mines. Found sound rockers take over for the waylaid Kings of Leon as the best back-to-basics rockers in America, sans basics.
10b. Blitzen Trapper – Destroyer of the Void. A fantasy land where Neil Young continued adding his “Y” to the acronyms of ever more classic rock acts after ditching Crosby and company.
10c. Hindi Zahra – Handmade. I spit “world music” like a curse because it never means this but it really ought to – international influences brought to bear on finely crafted pop songs.
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Keep reading for 32 More Recommended Albums of 2010 (in alphabetical order by artist). [Read more…] about 2010 Recommended Albums Roundup
Recommended: Sara Bareilles – Kaleidoscope Heart
Krisis’s 2010 Album of the Year:
Sara Bareilles – Kaleidoscope Heart
The maturation from Sara Bareilles’ major label debut to Kaleidoscope Heart is nothing short of astounding.
Her prior LP, Little Voice, was a pleasant album with a few killer singles and one too many samey songs with titular metaphors. It was memorable more for its parts than its whole. “Love Song” sounded understandably tacked-on, because it was – the label sent Bareilles back to the drawing board to pen a big single.
Kaleidoscope Heart dumps trite tunes and interminable balladeering in favor of an entire disc of “Love Song” caliber songwriting. The album runs at least five singles deep, a la Kelly Clarkson’s explosive Breakaway, and as a whole it lays waste to every other pop album dropped in 2010.
Take note, Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry, T-Swift, and other aspiring pop songstresses … Ms. Bareilles has got your number.
Songs stride from piano-girl pop (“Uncharted” and “Say You’re Sorry”) to wailing American Idol-worthy ballads (“Hold My Heart” and “Machine Gun”) with stops in between for rolling bluesy licks (“Gonna Get Over You”), folky 70s AM radio ballads (“Basket Case”), and an Imogen Heap style vocoder title track.
Almost of those songs stand up to the killer lead single “King of Anything,” which should be ruled an illegal stimulant due to its obscenely catchy handclap-drive chorus. Its opening call and response piano/vocal duet surely owes to Bareilles’ show choir club experience – it seems designed especially for a Glee club cover.
Throughout the album, mature lyrics avoid any hint of girlish triteness and still contain the snappish bite of angst that fueled the best tunes on her debut. More impressively, the sonic palette of the disc manages to differentiate each tune without becoming gimmicky. That allows for great tracking, dropping slower songs at all the right points on the album.
Sara Bareilles has created an incredibly confident LP rife with solid turns of songwriting and sometimes stunning vocal chops. Kaleidoscope Heart is a follow-up record that requires no caveats to enjoy – it’s simply great.
Kaleidoscope Heart is just $7.98 on Amazon, and worth every penny. It’s my most highly-endorsed LP of 2010. Check back tomorrow for my full list of 2010’s recommended releases.