Secret Santa 2005

I admit that ithad been a while since I gave this the initial blind listen. Normally it is tough to get my cooking far from the Mediterranean. To me "Southern cooking" means Sicillian or, on rare occasion, Tunisian. Somehow I must have remembered Kermit Ruffins and the Rebirth Brass Band because I made myself some rice and beans before I sat down to write this. I feel nice and warm in my tummy. I think I'm a pretty good cook.

KKFS - I'm Getting Sedimental Over You
Very nice. I had to tell myself to relax and let the music come to me. Listening on headphones (should I start calling them "earphones"?) helps more than it hurts. The whispering in one ear, then the other, the mix of the trumpet and then trombone, the sound effects, beautiful voice all appearing and reappearing from different directions. The drawback is the vocalist is often slid from one ear to the other so fast it sounds as if she's running from one room to another. Exceedingly tastefully (and delicately) put together. Once I chilled and listened to the whispers as percussion I felt a lot better. And once I got to the end and figured out that half of those whispers were mixed backwards I felt much better.
I do have a question: The ending might be the Sentimental Gentleman but the first seven minutes sounds like "Stardust" to me. I guess that wasn't a question.
Perhaps that should be "Sedimental Gedleman" but that just makes it sound like I have a code in my node.

David Feder - The Bo Bit Zah
The rhythm guitar at the beginning threw me a bit. I thought it sounded extremely DMB. Also a very nice (I'm going to say) Brazilian influenced guitar track. whoops! That pizzacato line sounded very flamenco. The percussion is good and assembled well but here headphones (I'll never change) highlight the cut in/cut out mix of the backing track.

Jocko MacNelly - Redemption Song
Here the guitar was too perfect. The fact that it was a Bob Marley song made me wish for rougher edges... or edges, period. This was very polished. And relaxed, no forward momentum. I may just be very tense. Bob Marley is one of those artists where, when you cover his songs, you have to get in and out fast. It's almost impossible to reinterpret him. Of course in concert you can play a song of his forever.
I think Arrested Development is still telling me to "Get up! Stand up!"

The Alexandria Kleztet - Friday Night at Elmo's
I couldn't understand this at all. For me it went nowhere. I'm fairly sure I could use a massage. Being under three minutes I can't tell whether I needed more time to get into it or it just didn't and wouldn't grab me.

Luko Adjaffi - Gray Cathedral
If this was longer I'm sure that I could figure out what African country Mr. Adjaffi is from. I'm seeing a guitar, delicate percussion mix theme. The lyrics and tempo/music give this forward propulsion and I was surprised when it was over in just over two minutes.
I'm going to guess "Senegal."
oops! I just noticed the name "Adjaffi" so I'm going to switch my guess to "Algeria" or "Morocco" or some other Islamic country once under French influence.

Ze Manel - Na kaminho di luta
Hey! saxophone. I'm going to guess "Senegal" again. But the piano makes me doubtful. Sounds like they imported (I'm going to say) Mulgrew Miller to play with the track. I enjoy this kind of approach to (treatment of?) African music... if this and "Gray Cathedral" are African. Very nice, I no longer think I have to relax more.

Gotan Project - Santa Maria
All right(!) 21st century gypsy? Tango? Every song has had a wonderful and mostly similar tint. I wish I knew what that woman was saying. Now I wish I knew what that man was saying. Were these three most recent songs recorded at Real World studios?
The tint sounds very... Michael Brook-ian.
"Tint," "Brook-ian"? Gack! My vocabulary, um... "sucks."

Sigur Ros - Heysatan
This also sounds Brook-ian infinite guitar-like. Double Gack! I'm really confused now. Either my ears are garbling the vocals or I have no idea what language the vocals are in. Beautiful song. Wonderful low brass, barely heard, beneath and rounding out the keyboards. My goodness! She's not done. That kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.

Calexico / Iron & Wine - Red Dust
English... must. listen. to. words. I'm shocked to hear a drum kit and harmonica. Still laid back with the acoustic guitars but... wait a minute! is the drummer pushing the tempo? After what has gone before this sounds like rockin' out. That's neato!
It's definitely only "rockin' out" by comparison.

Jimmy Witherspoon with Brother Jack McDuff - Past Forty Blues
I thought I knew what Jimmy Witherspoon sounded like and it wasn't like this. Did they put him out in the hallway when they recorded this? That (electric) guitar is so softly tasteful. I love the chicken immitation. This sounds like B.B. King through a slightly warped glass. I know it's not him because Mr. King can't play and sing simultaneously.

Kermit Ruffins & The Rebirth Brass Band - I Got a Woman
Fantastic! I love Rebirth! I love all brass bands. What wonderful second line broken roll drumming. That sounds like some mighty impressive sousaphone playing in the background. (It's a bit too muddy in the mix for me to be 100% sure.) Great timbre in Mr. Ruffins' voice. Great timbre all the way around. Isn't Mr. Ruffins in Rebirth? Oops, the sousaphone is now in the forefront and I now think he is slightly impressive.

Willie Nelson - Bring me Sunshine
There is no way that this is Willie Nelson. Okay, my cd player skipped a track. I once saw Mr. Nelson play in (near) where I was living (going to school.) It was a wonderful but disorienting experience. I didn't recognize a single person in the audience. Everybody was wearing jeans or a denim skirt. People kept coming down front to take pictures... in the middle of songs! It was such a different culture. Very Bransonnish. Did he write this? It took me forever to catch on to the swing in Willie Nelson's music. (Stupid "On the Road Again"!) I am really appreciating how the lowered volume on all of these songs is making it easy to hear subtle small aspects in everything.
For example, this song almost sounds like a Broadway show-stopper in the way that it builds. And there is a lot of room for these songs to breathe.
"Bransonnish"? How many things have I gacked up?

Brother Bones - Sweet Georgia Brown
I adore Nawlins music that begins with shouting/conversation. Is there a bad version of "Sweet Georgia Brown"? I don't think so. Excellent. How many spoon players is that? I also like songs that end with conversation.

Elvis Presley - Paralyzed
With all of the fried peanut butter sandwiches, bloated Hawaii specials and television shooting I forget how fantastic Elvis could be sometimes. It makes me almost forgive him for all the musical theft. The past couple songs (this and "Bring Me Sunshine" especially) remind me of the writing of Elijiah Wald. He's excellent on the weird intersection of early 20th century blues, country and jazz music that was rarely recorded and therefore has fallen out of memory. He's a pretty good writer.

Davell Crawford - Keep it Rollin'
Is it just me or should the bass be turned up in my 'phones? I wish I could hear the left hand striding better. This is moving away from the laid back swing vibe. Far from a couple of drinks to take the edge off it sounds like this guy has taken his coffee. I'd like this better if I listened to it in isolation.

The Shermans - Snowsong
Now I have to become less relaxed. I'm glad to hear female voices. I might use this song for my future Xmas mixes. But I can't listen to it all the way through. It's harshing my mellow.
I don't even know what that means.

Artisokka - Cold Winter
You must be the calmest person in the world. Or you start each day with a cold glass of cough syrup. I don't think I like this but I can appreciate the thematic arc.

(Some of) These songs were perfectly calibrated to (some of) my taste(s.) (Note to self: Stop using parentheses. Still more fit so nicely into the context of the whole. The couple left over I would have to listen to on their own to see if I'm simply unexcited. Very good.

Thank you.