"November"

Hi Seedy friends,

I finally mailed my November cd, sadly over a month late. It was intended to help combat the November blues -- a combination plate of the country, Latino, and blues music that makes up the Austin music scene, conceived as a sort of follow-up to the "Lone Star" soundtrack, except with more female musicians. Good thing midwinter is also an opportune moment for such music.

I've inserted here one of those homemade videos of one of the bands on the cd, the Weary Boys, whose manic, drunken live bluegrass breakdowns don't quite translate on their studio cds.

Enjoy --
Carolyn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEepfOwN3nM&feature=PlayList&p=C1DD618802371AD0&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1

Tara's cd

I'm really enjoying your feminine album: Duos and Collaborations. The Freddy Mercury D Bowie finale was great.

Linda Allegro

The Team-up

Hi Seedies,

This month's mix is all duos and collaborations. The idea began when I noticed I seem to have been acquiring a number of male-female duos, many of them also couples:

plus The Submarines, Dean & Britta (formerly 2/3 of Luna), and Matt & Kim. This seemed appropriate for Valentines Day.

This got me thinking about other kinds of collaborations as well. She & Him is the actress Zooey Deschanel & M. Ward. The Extra Glenns is Franklin Bruno of Nothing Painted Blue and John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats (I went to college with Franklin and seem to remember the Extra Glenns playing at an art opening at the Motley, the cafe at Scripps College). I may have included an Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan song on a previous mix, but I absolutely love the way their voices combine. "Anyone Else But You," from The Moldy Peaches, may have gotten overplayed when it appeared in Juno, but I still think it's such a sweet song I decided to include it as well.  I think Tom first introduced me to Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez and their excellent song "Don't Speak in English" on a Seedy playlist from the first year, Chicken Fried. Jack White collaborated with Loretta Lynn on Van Lear Rose, which he produced in 2004, and in this duet, "Portland Oregon":

And who wouldn't want to get drunk on pitchers of Sloe Gin Fizzes? And for one more alt-country kind of team-up, we have Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins' "It Wasn't Me."

And then there are the brilliantly clever songs: Franklin Bruno's "Unionbusting," sung here by the multitalented Jenny Toomey, and Flight of the Conchords' "If That's What You're Into." If you missed the song in it's original context on their HBO show, here it is:

Finally, there are a couple of legendary collaborations: David Byrne & Brian Eno, who have teamed up once again in 2008 for their album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, and David Bowie and Queen's "Under Pressure." Couldn't resist, sorry. Nor could I resist M.I.A. & AR Rahman's "O…Saya" from the Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack. (Did you see her at the Grammy's 9 month's pregnant?!)

There are so many more I didn't include, including several in the jazz department, Tony Bennett and k.d. lang, Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Evan Christopher & Tom McDermott. Do you have other favorites?

Album art

Clearly we all need to do more work on our cover art, Seedies. For inspiration, take a look at these bad album covers from our friends in Broward County, FL.

Harry Nilsson's The Point

I remember listening to this album over and over again in elementary school. I think this was part of the "I'm going to buy my kid some music that will make him not only hip but also politically responsible" genre of the early 70s, kind of the more hippy-ish version of Free to be you and me. I have vague memories of my father reading the comic book on the inside cover of the album to me and making sure that the key lessons of the text had sunken in--it's good to be different, the world demands conformity but you should resist, etc.

Anyone else spend their childhoods with this catchy tune running through their heads as they drifted off to sleep? Every time I hear a gently driving drum beat like this one it soothes me. I haven't thought about this album for years...gosh, now I feel like I need to go out and buy it for my six year old son so he can grow up to be just as pointy-headed as me.

PK-12

1. Big Rock Candy Mountain
Comes from my favorite childhood album. A blogger has uploaded the entire album so you can download it to share with your own kids. My other favorite song is "Cindy."

2. Thank God I'm a Country Boy
Loved John Denver. Also loved the Muppet Show. Then they came together...


3. Popcorn
Moogy. I had no idea that this song was so significant in the history of modern pop music.

4. We Will Rock You
After a few listens, this song gets old. But I still wonder, was Queen really trying to connect with the stadium crowd?


5. La Fleur aux Dents
I had no idea that Joe Dassin was the son of director Jules Dassin, who died this week. It is Joe Dassin's "Aux Champs-Elysees" that closes the recent film "The Darjeeling Limited" and that (for a while) was a staple of french classes in high schools around the USA. He was also a fan of the all white suit.