7/24/11

"Do you ever stop to think 
Who built those walls around you?
Do you ever wonder 
Who all those people were?
Because the hands that give you shelter 
Are the very ones that you refuse 
And the proof of what they're worth 
Will live long after you're gone 

Ne'er do wells and woebegones
Show your face, for we were wrong 
Ne'er do wells and woebegones
Feel no shame, it won't be long" 
~Ne'er Do Wells
Audra Mae and the Almighty Sound, Audra Mae and the Almighty Sound

I could probably write for awhile about Audra Mae, about the complete richness of her voice, incredible range, and that the dead-on dark and soulful blues sound suitable for day and night. About her so not "the look" look that looks so perfect for what she's all about.

Homegirl can write a hell of a blues rock tune. You can hear these songs in a dirty bar stage somewhere, somewhere with dirty dancing in the front row and foot-stomping in the crowd and beers spilled on tables going unnoticed in the fray. You can hear her belt the long high notes with pride and passion and fury, imaging a hollering crowd cheering her on and raising their hands in soulful solidarity.

Her band, dubbed Audra Mae and the Almighty Sound, is pretty kick-ass, too. I've had a lot of fun listening to this record, as a sassy pick-me-up, or a way to liven up a dull morning or afternoon. From what I've learned of Audra Mae (since stumbling upon her on AltPress of all places) she is indeed the real thing, as a track on "Almighty Sound" proclaims --



-- music is in her lineage, and she laces in references to her clearly beloved home state of Oklahoma and her probably pretty rad Dodge Dart classic. No shame or shyness, which is so refreshing from a female singer in the age of arguably untalented scenesters who look good in front of a microphone, where laying down sexy whispers crooned over laptops counts as being a singer and all that god-awful pitch correction.

This whole album is a fun, in-your-face, modern Dust Bowl spectacular; but moreso it is the mainstream LP arrival that gets the blog mentions and magazine reviews marking and proving that yes, true talent will still find a way to surface. It's fun to sit around and complain that real talent gets buried in the masses, but those who are willing to pick up their life, pack it in a car and drive to the destination, play for free and fall on their face til they get it right...they tend to get their moment. They tend to make an impression, and that, to an artist,  is the utmost validation.

7/24/12

Someone I love told me something really freakishly beautiful once. Something about how souls are like glasses of water, and once you combine them, you'll never be able to separate them again, because if you pour them back into glasses, it's not the same glass of water you had before.

It is a different temperature. Maybe a different color. Different elements than before, added or diluted or filtered. 

"The Atlantic was born today and I'll tell you how...The clouds above opened up and let it out.

I was standing on the surface of a perforated sphere
When the water filled every hole.
And thousands upon thousands made an ocean,
Making islands where no island should go, oh no.

Those people were overjoyed, they took to their boats.
I thought it less like a lake and more like a moat.
The rhythm of my footsteps 

Crossing flatlands to your door have been silenced forever more.
The distance is quite simply much too far for me to row
It seems farther than ever before

I need you so much closer."

~Transatlanticism 

Death Cab for Cutie, Transatlanticism

For awhile I trusted in love, in fate, to tell me the difference between what is real, what is in my sad, scared head and what is worth my time....more I see, it is about choices than anything else. What you choose to love. What you choose as your fate. What you choose is right, or wrong. Even still, it's not all up to you. Something's got to choose you back.