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Tag: Ingrid Michaelson

  • PAUL’S TOP 100 OF 2010 – PART 7: #40-31 “Put your palms to the ceiling like yes, yes…”

    Here comes the Top 40!

    #40
    #40: “THE HIGH ROAD” by BROKEN BELLS.
    “The dawn to end all nights. That’s all we hoped it was…” For whatever reason, that line always gives me a shiver. I’m not even sure I know what it means, but it sounds amazing, doesn’t it? The video’s pretty amazing too… a sort of dream-walking odyssey perfectly tuned to the song’s dark, mysterious atmosphere.

    #39
    #39: “WRITTEN IN REVERSE” by SPOON.
    I’ve had a love/indifference thing going with Spoon for about the last 10 years. It’s been about 90% indifference and 10% love. But when it’s love, it’s really really big love. For example: this song. I love singing along with this song. I love the primal disregard of pitch. I love yelling at drivers in my rear view mirror at clogged intersections: “I’m not standing here! No, I’m! Not standing here!”

    #38
    #38 (TIE): “PARACHUTE” by CHERYL COLE / “PARACHUTE” by INGRID MICHAELSON.
    Formerly of the British girl-group Girls Aloud, Cheryl Cole released her debut solo album late last year. This dramatic take on a track Ingrid Michaelson wrote (but didn’t record) became a hit in the UK earlier this year.

    #38
    And then Ingrid put out her own version of the song. Sorta like Michael Bolton did with that Laura Branigan song in the 80s. Only not disgusting. “How am I supposed to live without you…” Oh my gawd. We should have known Michael Bolton would be nothing but trouble when we saw his writing credit on that Laura Branigan 45. What were we thinking?

    #37
    #37. “WHITE NIGHT” by THE POSTELLES.
    Not that I wish the band ill, but this is one of those debut singles that comes so close to pop perfection that you (almost) know they will only disappoint you in the future. I (almost) want them to be a one-hit-wonder, because I know they’d be awesome at that. This song also features my favorite call-and-response moment of the year. Oh, and I think you can probably still download this for free directly from the Postelles.

    #36
    #36: “I’M A PILOT” by FANFARLO.
    I imagine Fanfarlo is what Arcade Fire would sound like if Arcade Fire were as obsessed with Tigermilk as they are with The River. They write songs that sound simultaneously huge and modest – sweeping and, at the same time, specific. Also, even though albums are sort of on the wane these days and so such things are becoming less relevant, “I’m a Pilot” is a great album opener in the tradition of great album openers.

    #35
    #35: “O.N.E.” by YEASAYER.
    What I like most about this video is that the dancing is exactly what I would like to believe I look like when I’m dancing to this in my basement and nobody can see. What I like second most is that the fictional musical instruments the band plays in the video look exactly like what I imagine the real musical instruments would look like based on the sounds they make. What I like least about this song is that it will be forever linked in my brain as the song I was listening to when someone rear-ended my brand new car two weeks after I’d bought it. Urgh.

    #34
    #34: “A MORE PERFECT UNION” by TITUS ANDRONICUS.
    I would like to believe that this is the stuff of Chris Christie’s nightmares. A little bit of Bruce Springsteen. A little Billy Bragg. A little Bright Eyes, a little Replacements, a little Thin Lizzy. A little Abraham Lincoln, a little William Lloyd Garrison. And a great big joyful noise. This video edits the song down significantly from its 7 minute album version. That version is well worth hearing, but you get the gist of it here.

    #33
    #33: “DANCE FLOOR” by THE APPLES IN STEREO.
    Probably the most adorably unpretty band in the world right now (and yes, I do have a small crush on Robert Schneider – I mean, come on, who wouldn’t?), The Apples in stereo take us on a journey through space, time, analog synth technology and aging hipster fashion. Elijah Wood isn’t just making a cameo here. He has his own record label, and The Apples in Stereo were the first band he signed to it.

    #32
    #32: “WE, MYSELF, AND I” by SHAD.
    Of Rwandan descent, born in Kenya, straight outta London, Ontario comes Mr. Shadrach Kabango (just call him Shad), who financed his first album with money he won the old fashioned way – at a radio station talent contest. On his first two albums, Shad delivers rhymes that go from goofy to poignant over old school R&B samples, but this song, from his latest record TSOL is a stormy, confrontational rocker. And the award for the Best Use of the Word “Yes” in Song goes to…

    #31
    #31: “MY BEST THEORY” by JIMMY EAT WORLD.
    This band generally releases new albums about three years apart, and those long intervals give us time to forget why they were ever a big deal. And then the new album comes, with a single like this – all sweat-drenched urgency – and you remember: Oh yeah, they’re just a great band. As far as the video goes, well who knows what’s going on there, and the lyrics are vague enough to be either profound or banal. It doesn’t matter though. Whatever it’s all supposed to be about, that part where you “feel the air rush out!” sounds exactly like what it’s saying.

    In the next installment: A dance diva on motherhood and a rapper on puberty.

  • Bitch Stole My Look – Song Edition: Cheryl Cole v. Ingrid Michaelson on “Parachute”

    When I was growing up, cover songs were usually by contemporary artists doing remakes of songs that were 15 or 20 years old: Phil Collins singing the Supremes, Club Nouveau singing Bill Withers, Joan Jett singing Tommy James and the Shondells. But back in the 50s and 60s, it wasn’t that unusual for multiple versions of the same song to compete for the same sales and airplay. This was especially true in the 50s when record labels would rush out “white” versions of R&B singles, like Pat Boone singing Fats Domino, or when any number of popular crooners would rush out singles of the latest Broadway hits. In 1955 alone, three different versions of “Unchained Melody” hit the top 10 and a fourth made it to #29.

    Ingrid Michaelson’s ”Parachute”
    But even in the 60s when singles were still the dominant force in pop music, you could hear multiple versions of the same song becoming hits right on top of each other. Less than a year after Gladys Knight and the Pips scored what was then their biggest pop hit “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” – it went all the way to #2 – Marvin Gaye took his own very different version of the same song all the way to #1.

    Cheryl Cole’s ”Parachute”
    But as albums and singer-songwriters became more popular in the late 60s and early 70s, it became a mark of artistic legitimacy to record original songs, to steer clear of covers. Now that singles are back, thanks to digital downloads; and now that anybody – regardless of talent level – can reach a huge internet audience via YouTube – “instant covers” are becoming more popular. So, with apologies to Joan Rivers and her Fashion Police, I’m introducing a new series here called “Bitch Stole My Look – Song Edition”, where two new versions of the same new song take each other on in a blogospheric cage match.

    First up is a song called “Parachute”. The song was written and demoed by quirky indie-pop songstress Ingrid Michaelson during sessions for her excellent 2009 album Everybody, but for whatever reason, it was determined that the song didn’t really fit on the album. Then late last year, the British pop starlet Cheryl Cole, formerly of the girl group Girls Aloud, got her hands on it and included a cover of it on her will.i.am-produced debut solo album 3 Words. In March of this year, it was released as a single and went Top 10 in the UK. Here’s Cheryl’s take on it:

    Cheryl Cole “Parachute”

    Last month, Ingrid Michaelson released a downloadable single of her own version of the song, and put out a pretty awesome video to go with it. Here’s Ingrid:

    Ingrid Michaelson “Parachute”

    Frankly, I love both versions of this song almost equally. Cheryl Cole’s is obviously the slicker version, but I love its sensuality and heightened sense of romance and drama. The vocal arrangements on Michaelson’s are a lot more interesting though and especially coming after her more mainstream sounding album Everybody, it’s a sweet and much more upbeat (to both Cole’s version of “Parachute” and the rest of Michaelson’s album) reminder of the quirky adorability of her first hit “The Way I Am”. I’m split on this one. Ingrid Michaelson v. Cheryl Cole goes into overtime.

  • Holiday Music That Won’t Kill You – Part 1: Christmas Present

    Holiday music sucks!  No, actually it’s only sappy overplayed Christmas music that gets annoying.  The listening environment counts too.  Anything played at Christmas Tree Shops while you are waiting for your mom to decide what size glass beads to buy will torture you.  Jimi Hendrix and John Coltrane could be jamming right in front of you but the stink of scented candles and the puddle of sweat inside your jacket will ruin everything.

    Relax.  The truth is there are some really great Christmas CDs available.  Here is a guide to some holiday music that won’t kill you.

    Part One:  Christmas Present

    Various Artists – We Wish You a Metal Christmas and a Headbanging New Year

    The obvious comparison is to Twisted Sister’s 2006 release Twisted Christmas. This is way better.
    The CD was produced by Ronnie James Dio’s wife/manager and one of the Kulick brothers.  (I can never remember which one is the producer and which was in Kiss, but it doesn’t matter for this review.)  It contains twelve very well-known Christmas songs performed by very well-known 70s and 80s metal and hard rock guys.  Here are just a few of the bands they were in:  Kiss, Motorhead, David Lee Roth (not him, thankfully), Alice Cooper (yes, him), ZZ Top, Foo Fighters, Black Sabbath, Dokken, Dio, Styx, Judas Priest, and Deep Purple.

    The lineup is what makes this CD so successful.  All the musicians are really good (much better than anybody in Twisted Sister), but it’s really the variety that makes this work.  The concept could get boring very quickly (Beatallica, anyone?).  A different lineup and singer on every track keeps things fresh.

    If you think you might like it, you probably will.  If not, read on…

    Enya – And Winter Came…

    Like the previous selection, this is exactly what you would expect.  Remember the song that goes “Sail away, sail away, sail away?”  No, not Randy Newman.  I mean the one that sounds like the music Jet Blue plays when it’s time to get off the plane.

    This CD sounds just like everything else Enya has done. If you like her ethereal vocals, orchestral synth playing and new agey Celticness, you will dig this.  Holiday CDs can frequently disappoint, but I think this one works because Enya put a lot into it.  She wrote ten of the twelve songs and came up with interesting arrangements for the other two.

    Many songs are not specifically about Christmas.  Some just refer to winter or the Star of Bethlehem.  Two songs are about time passing, which makes them really more appropriate for the Winter Solstice or New Years.

    James Taylor – At Christmas

    Smarm Sandwich.

    Various Artists – The Hotel Cafe Presents Winter Songs

    This new compilation showcases the new generation of female singer-songwriters. It’s mostly very good, but I find myself skipping some of the standards.  That’s to be expected from a holiday comp and I don’t think it’s a big problem, especially for people who really like this kind of music.  Many of these women are good songwriters and it’s the original songs that I find most compelling.  Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson, Brandi Carlisle, Lenka, Meiko, and Colbie Caillat all contributed very interesting songs.  Priscilla Ahn’s version of “Silent Night” is really cool and a couple lesser names handle their standards well.  KT Tunstall, Alice Smith, Katy Perry, and Nicole Atkins are among those who decided to turn their chestnuts into torch songs.

    Like the metal CD, if you think you’ll like this, you probably will.

    I’ll be back soon with Christmas Past and Future.  Shine on.

    Rock Dad is hoping whoever brings presents for the winter solstice brings him the Genesis 1970-75 box set and a good rock and mineral field guide.