My good friend Kyle Norris (who I'm secretly in love with, don't tell) just had a song she created with her friend Rachel Karabenick picked up by NPR's All Songs Considered for their Open Mic feature. Its outstanding (like everything else she does) and is just one more step along the path to her inevitable world domination. So how cool will you be when you can say, "Yeah, I was listening to her back in 2006".
Check it out here: Postcard
Or, if you subscribe to NPR's Open Mic on iTunes then it should already be there for you. I got surprised by seeing it on
my iPod a couple hours before I got Kyle's email announcing it. Which was awesome. Anyway, check it out and enjoy.
Hey - It says that one of their influences is Frou Frou...One of the members of Frou Frou is Imogen Heap. Check out her new album in its entirety (sp?) for free at www.imogenheap.com
Track 5 is perhaps the most interesting. I guess has been featured on the O.C. (which I've never seen). Anyhow, worth a look.
This is completely off-topic. But how long have the Decemberists been around? Because I never heard of them until *this* semester. And they've been mentioned in both my Writer and Composer class and my Graduate Fiction Workshop. Obviously these people have good taste. But exactly how famous is this group? Because it does seem odd to me that they're suddenly everywhere in my world.
Picaresque is their 3rd full-length album, but they've also released several eps. According to their site (http://www.decemberists.com ), they started the group in 2001.
They're still pretty indie I guess, I didn't hear of them either until about 5 months ago. But picaresque is getting a lot of attention (and I happen to think its great). Especially from the sense of using song as storytelling. Check out "The Infanta" and "The Mariner's Revenge Song" to get a sense. Its got a bit of TMBG absurdity with a bit of Early 20th century novel mixed in.
Also, Colin Meloy is currently on a solo tour, some of which I've heard from the KEXP live podcast, which was good too. (Just google it).
Kyle Norris: Ish is secretely in love with you. I'm not supposed to tell.
(I wonder if the blog owner will approve this item.)
Damn that blog owner! If I get my hands on him...