Blog Post
Music: Polica -- Give You the Ghost
by Caser
The best-in-music 2012 lists are coming out every day on music blogs, which is a great chance to pick up on music that you might have missed throughout the year. Even better news is that the AADL has many of the albums on these lists.
Polica (pronounced POE - LISA) is a band from Minneapolis led by singer, Channy Leaneagh, with co-producers Ryan Olson (Gayngs) and Jim Eno (Spoon). Give You the Ghost is their solid debut release, and it makes me think of what the Blade Runner soundtrack would have sounded like if it were written by Florence + The Machine. For a 9 minute snapshot of Policia's story, music, and live show, check out this mini-documentary on youtube.
Polica's songs are about loneliness, separation, and desperate situations. Leaneagh has a powerful yet ethereal voice, carrying lyrics like "wind, you roll me like a viper / time, you lead me to the fire" without sounding melodramatic. Producer Eno contributes polyrhythmic drum patterns and a rich array drum sounds, like his rolling use of floor toms on the third track, "Violent Games". Olson's use of distorted guitar and a mix of keyboard sounds adds texture unlike anything else in music today.
Blog Post
Ravi Shankar, sitarist and Friend of The Beatles, has died
by sernabad
Ravi Shankar, India's most famous sitarist due to his embrace of and collaboration with many well-known Western artists, especially the Beatles, died yesterday in California.
In 1952, Shankar performed with Yehudi Menuhin and 15 years later they recorded West Meets East. In 1965, George Harrison began sitar lessons with Shankar. When Harrison then used the sitar on the Beatles' 1965 album, Norwegian Wood and its popularity took off.
Other notable Western musicians who worked with Shankar were: saxophonist John Coltrane (who named his son Ravi; Jean Pierre Rampal (flutist); and composer Philip Glass.
Two DVDs highlight Shankar's influence on the world of music: Ravi Shankar in Portrait was a live concert that took place in London on July 22, 2012 in Union Chapel. Exactly five months later, again in London,Concert for George was filmed. This event honoring George Harrison was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London on November 22, 2002.
Shankar, who had undergone heart surgery last Thursday, was 92.
Blog Post
Rhythms of Cuba With Tumbao Bravo
by hillary dorwart
Sunday December 9, 2012: 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm -- Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room
Experience the authentic rhythms of Cuba with the rich jazz harmonies of this award-winning band, Tumbao Bravo.
The title cut on their 2009 CD, Un Systema Para Todo, was used as a soundtrack to an episode of the USA Network TV show, Burn Notice. In June 2012, the band released their 4th critically acclaimed CD, Casa Versailles.
Tumbao Bravo is known for their authentic Cuban polyrthymns including mambos, cha chas, rhumba, boleros, and danzon all based on the Cuban montuno.
Blog Post
The Yellow Room Gang Concert
by hillary dorwart
Thursday December 6, 2012: 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm -- Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room
Join us for a special December concert featuring the celebrated The Yellow Room Gang - which includes acclaimed local musicians.
These accomplished Michigan songwriters have been meeting monthly since 2005. What began as a casual meeting in the brilliant yellow living room of David Tamulevich's Ann Arbor home has evolved into one of the most exciting musical super groups to ever join forces on one stage.
Blog Post
Dave Brubeck, jazz giant, has died
by sernabad
Dave Brubeck, known for as a mesmerizing improv jazz pianist and for merging many elements of the classical and jazz genres for a uniquely appealing sound, has died.
Brubeck, born in 1922 to a cattle rancher father and a mother who was a classically trained piano teacher, was born with a musical ear. As a child Brubeck was able to hide his inability to read music by his ability to play a piece after hearing it once or twice. In fact, the University of the Pacific only agreed to graduate him with a degree in music if he promised never to teach music.
After serving in the Army during WW II, he studied under the famous French composer, Darius Milhaud, who encouraged Brubeck to pursue his obvious gifts in jazz. In 1951, Brubeck formed the The Dave Brubeck Quartet which solidified his lifelong association Paul Desmond, who wrote the iconic Take Five, Brubeck's haunting piece that blends his knowledge of European harmonies with his irresistible attraction to African rhythm.
Brubeck disbanded the Quartet in the late 1960s and focused renewed interest in composing jazz symphonies and sacred music
Despite the best efforts of harsh jazz critics to take Brubeck down a notch or two over the decades ("...[Brubeck plays]...as if a man who knew 500 words of French were to attempt a novel in that language." - Joe Goldberg. Or this: "...the galloping pomposity of his piano solos." -- Dave Gelly), his fans apparently didn't get the word; Brubeck continued to pack any venue where he performed. His sons joined him in concert tours starting in the 1970s.
Brubeck, who would have been 92 tomorrow, died of heart failure while on his way to a regularly scheduled appointment with his cardiologist.
Blog Post
LISTEN!! Digital Music News: Sultry Soul, Japanese Koto, Scottish Lasses, Imagined Cinema Tunes
by darla
YOU can access almost 1,000 digital music albums directly through our AADL.org catalog. Stream or download as much as you like, DRM free, on any device you choose. No waiting for a copy. No due dates. Hooray!
ROCK
The Raindoggs: Beat-Heavy, Darkened Mix of R&B and Soul
"One Armed Bandits" is a multifaceted album, each song having a distinctly different influence and flavor. There are wide variations, from funky to ethereal to highly danceable to dirge-like. Even with this wide palette, the group never loses its cohesive, identifiable sound -- wah-wah guitars, saucy horns, liberal use of electronics and samples, and sultry vocals. Influences for The Raindoggs include Tom Waits, Snoop Dogg, The Heavy, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, The Lounge Lizards, and Amy Winehouse.
WORLD
Yumi Kurosawa: Melodic and Mixed World Tunes on Japanese Koto
Yumi Kurosawa was born and raised in Japan and began to study Koto when she was three. Her album, "Beginning of a Journey", offers an East-meets-West music experience. Not familiar with Koto? The traditional Japanese instrument is a kind of dulcimer, a board laced with plucked strings tuned with pyramidal blocks, set at intervals under each string, that give the curving surface the look of a mountainscape diorama. Other features on this recording include a violin ensemble, cello, trombone and computer sounds.
CLASSICAL / FOLK
Susan Rode Morris: Early Music Delivered with a Voluptuous Voice and Intensely Focused Delivery
"Among the Lasses, songs of Robert Burns (1759-1796)" is the second in the trio collection of the beloved songs of Scotland's national poet Robert Burns. Soprano Susan Rode Morris and harpsichordist Phebe Craig offer a look at one way Burns heard his songs played, creating their own bass lines and arrangements based on their knowledge of 18th century music. Burns was not a composer, but a great collector of his national music. He took existing songs that were only partly remembered and rewrote the verses to "mend them". He set his poetry to his favorite fiddle or bagpipe tunes.
AMBIENT / NEW AGE / ELECTRONIC
Ray Carl Daye: Atmospheric Ambient/Electronic Music
"Rapid Ear Movement", the second Magnatune release by Ray Carl Daye, is a diverse collection of electronic/ambient instrumentals full of emotion and creativity. The compositions range from the energetic, sequence-driven minimalism of "Endless Departure" and "Dervish Moon" to the radiant, melodic riff of "Aqua Lit". Other notable tracks are the sentimental, gentle meditation of "Quiet Remergence"; the glittering soundtrack-inspired "Elusian Spring" and cinematic atmosphere of "The Illuminated Earth". In all, "Rapid Ear Movement" presents fourteen short soundtracks for an imagined cinema.
Blog Post
Music And Pop Culture Writer Susan Whitall Visits
by hillary dorwart
Thursday November 15, 2012: 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm -- Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room
Susan Whitall became the first woman to become editor of the irreverent Creem magazine in the late ‘70s. This rock journal was immortalized in the film “Almost Famous”.
Since the 1980s Susan has been a feature writer for the Detroit News, writing about pop culture, music and radio, often returning to stories about the R&B and soul music that came out of the Motor City.
Come hear Whitall discuss her career and amazing interviews!
Blog Post
Miyabi: Japanese Traditional Music
by iralax
Everyone is welcome at the Downtown Library to hear traditional Japanese music played by Miyabi on Saturday, Nov. 10, 1-2 pm. Miyabi has been together since 1997 and is comprised of koto players (Etsuko Aikawa, Yuko Asano, Harumi Omitsu), piano (Nobuko Kato) and flute (Satoko Fujiwara). The songs they will play are: Rokudan no Shirabe, Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo, Aki no Kotonoha, Hanaikada, Red Dragonfly, El Condor Pasa and Sarashi fu Tegoto.
Blog Post
Oh, to live on Sugar Mountain
by amy
Forty-four years ago, on November 10, 1968, Neil Young (whose critically-acclaimed autobiography, Waging Heavy Peace: A Hippy Dream is currently a New York Times bestseller) recorded the song "Sugar Mountain" here in Ann Arbor at the now-legendary Canterbury House, then located at the end of this alley at 330 Maynard.
Recorded between the time of Young's membership with and , this ode to lost youth written four years earlier was acknowledged by fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell (who also played the Canterbury House) as the inspiration for her similarly-themed, The Circle Game. It's one of Young's earliest and more traditional folk songs, and the sincerity evident in this live recording is underscored by its remarkable intimacy.
Check out Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House in our CD collection and some of our Oldnews articles about Ann Arbor's Canterbury House, at the time a coffee house music venue and center for outreach programs associated with St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. Local writer Alan Glenn wrote a great article about the Canterbury House in a recent issue of Michigan Today.
Blog Post
The Musical Genius of Leonard Bernstein
by ballybeg
Consider the great man of music Leonard Bernstein. I had a vague sense of him: writing the score of West Side Story, conducting the New York Philharmonic, being the ambassador of music at concerts around the world. But after I watched this documentary, Leonard Bernstein, Reaching for the Note: The Definitive Look at the Man and His
Music I wished I had paid more attention to his presence when he was alive and found I could appreciate the astounding career and character of this talented, larger-than-life conductor and passionate musician.
Maybe you remember Leonard Bernstein conducting Young People’s Concerts in Carnegie Hall, which were broadcast on television in the late 50s and early 60s. If you do, you can walk down memory lane and experience these treats again. If you missed out, its never too late for you, or your kids, to hear this greatest of conductors explain and demonstrate the special musical features of symphonies, concertos, humor in music and great composers, such as his favorite, Gustav Mahler.
We also own concert collections of Bernstein’s around the world tours and historic tv broadcasts which include, besides performances, lectures and master classes presented by Bernstein, who always perceived part of his mission as a musician to inspire passion for music in the wide world and the next generation.
For a really ecstatic experience watch Leonard Bernstein conducting the Vienna Philharmonic playingBeethoven's Ninth Symphony, featuring a very young Placido Domingo and a resounding bass singer I had never seen before, Martti Talvela. Bernstein's conducting is a performance in itself, which some people find too distracting, but I find complements the grandeur of the Ninth and helps me to "see" it.