Living In Rhythm

Let's take a moment to talk about why I hate Drake's new record.

I've tried, okay? I really enjoy Drake. I do. I think he's awesome. It's not like Canada's overflowing with great rappers who've had a ton of international success. He's pretty much the only one, actually. (Okay, Kardi, but it's not even the same level.) It's part of that weird Canadian pride thing when someone makes it big elsewhere and we're all like, "HE'S CANADIAN!" any time someone mentions his name. Just in case they didn't know, or whatever.

(Except for Nickelback. With them we're all, "Well, yeah, but they're from Vancouver, which is practically Seattle. And everyone hates Nickelback here, too, so don't blame that shit on us.")

But honestly, Drake is good. So Far Gone was ridiculous (in a good way) and Thank Me Later was, as a true first record, excellent. I honestly thought it was a good and bad thing that his first album was as good as it was, because I figured it would be hard to follow, and I was right. I mean, if we're really going to say that Take Care is his sophomore album. Can it be considered as such if the guy has a bunch of mixtapes? I don't know.

What I do know is that it's disappointing. For a few reasons.

One? I don't buy rap albums for lullabies.

What the hell? It's like it takes seven songs on this album to even get a fucking beat. The tracks are laid back and smooth and not bad, really, but like, it's boring. If I wanted something to fall asleep to, or to have something playing that's unobtrusive, I'd go for some Joni Mitchell, you know?

Why isn't he even rapping? Know how other rappers have 'ft. Chris Brown or Trey Songz or John Legend or whateverothersingerwhocanactuallysing'? Drake should do that. (Rihanna doesn't count, so don't even try to tell me that.) He's not a bad singer, I guess? I just don't want to listen to him. I don't buy a Drake record so I can hear his vocal stylings, let's put it that way. While we're on the topic, why the hell isn't Drake spitting? We know he can. He's done it before.

So there's that. Disappointing.

My other problem is that when he does actually get around to rapping, he's talking about how awesome he is. Over and over again. On just about every song. Which, okay, is part of being a rapper, I guess? I get it. Having an ego helps you sell records and/or not go crazy. Cool.

But dude, this is your second album.

You are not Jay-Z. You are not Kanye. You are not Lil Wayne.

Step back and take a look at who you're saying you're better than. Because no.

I would go into great detail about how hypocritical his lyrics are, too, but it'd just annoy me to point them all out.

Basically, I wish this album was half the length. If he'd cut at least half the slower songs and made this an EP or a mixtape, I'd get it. But as it is a full length record, I just don't. I don't understand what he was going for. Usually when I don't like an album, I can at least say I understand the thing they were trying to create, and whether or not it missed the mark completely, or just missed the mark for me.

I honestly don't have a clue what Drake's trying to do here, but if this is who he's going to continue to be as an artist on all his future projects, we might have to have a little chat.

This post is archived under drake, music

I once read an article written by John Mayer in Rolling Stone where he was asked to write about Jimi Hendrix in 'The Immortals' issue (one of the best issues ever, FYI). And not surprisingly, he said something that is not only poignant in regards to Hendrix's influence on the music industry, but also in regards to just music and artists in general.

Mayer said; "Who I am as a guitarist is defined by my failure to become Jimi Hendrix."

And so as I go through some old albums, ones that I listened to as a 'kid', really, I realize that I have done the same thing. Who I am as a vocalist is defined by my failure to become Wanye Morris or Justin Timberlake. Who I am as a musician is largely defined by my almost obsessive need to learn the harmony lines in each and every *NSync song. It was a compulsion. I'd listen to the albums, certain songs, even, for hours on end, headphones over my ears, laying on my bedroom floor at 15 years old, trying to emulate Justin's phrasing and runs and musicality.

It's an interesting thing, too, because I listen to these songs now, headphones over my ears as I sit in my office, and I can still sing those runs. I can still pick Joey's voice out of the five part harmony and sing his line if I want to, then switch over to JC's part the next line. It's a little crazy, because at 25, I have both no business listening to *NSync (but I will not stop, because I maintain that they are brilliant), and I have no business remembering such musical intricacies from an album released in 1998. But my best friend and I loved them, and we were/are both singers. At 15 and 17 respectively, we decided that I sounded more like Justin and she sounded more like JC, so we'd sing those songs, each guys' parts claimed as our own, until we got them perfect.

And it was a perfect learning experience that I didn't even realize I was part of. As part of the audition process to get into the vocal jazz program I was eventually accepted to, I was required to prepare a 'lift'. What that means is that you listen to a song by another artist, and you emulate their intonation, phrasing, and style as best you can. Well, not to sound conceited, but I aced it. I'd been doing it for years, since I bought Boyz II Men's II album on cassette (the first album I ever bought) and decided that I wanted to be able to sing runs like they could. The first vocal competition I placed first in, I sang Open Arms. I essentially copied Mariah's version.

I can still transform my voice to copy whoever I'm listening to, which freaks out my brother (a semi-professional musician who has toured the globe with an award-winning artist). He laughs when he hears me singing like Justin, that bit of a smokey, sultry rasp. He thinks it's hilarious that the next second, I can sing with all the swing of Ella. I can bust out a Miranda Lambert song and have a Texan accent singing Famous in a Small Town. Granted, this is usually after a few drinks, when everything is a little funnier. And it's even weirder, because when I sing my own songs, that's when my true voice comes out. Sometimes I hear myself on recordings of my own songs and it startles me a little, because I spend so much time singing like other people, that it's strange to hear myself.

There is no doubt that I'm an auditory learner. I'm not sure if that's innate or learned, or maybe a little bit of both.

And in one of those evenings, after quite a bit of Mount Guay rum, my brother and I, both of us saxophone players, got to talking about *NSync and how good this song is, and we decided it'd be awesome to work out a 5-part saxophone arrangement (one baritone, one tenor, two alto, and one soprano).

We never did it. I still want to. I may just have to talk to him about that...

This post is archived under Boyz II Men, ella fitzgerald, jimi hendrix, john mayer, miranda lambert, music, nsync

Music is one of the only things that, if you really think about it, is so intensely complex, it'll hurt your head to comprehend it. (Architecture is probably the only other thing that I feel this way about, and maybe even more so, because I at least understand music to a degree. Architecture just amazes me.)

Music is just so multi-faceted, so many things on so many levels, and there is absolutely no one in the world who can possibly understand it all. No one. I am convinced of that. Lyrics, notes, percussion, chords, 3 or 4 or 10 or 20 or 60 or 100 piece bands. Think about that, the complexity of 100 people on so many different instruments, playing different lines, on different cues, sometimes in different time signatures. And one writer writing it. Think of a orchestral piece, strings, brass, woodwinds and percussion, instruments in different keys and pitches, and one mind puts them all together into something so incredible. Talk about a beautiful mind.

I just got goosebumps thinking about it.

I was listening to John Coltrane today, and Coltrane is one of those musicians I cannot ever, ever, ever listen to on shuffle, and here's why: Coltrane is an artist whose progression of talent you can hear, starting from his earliest recordings, moving on to his latest. You can quite literally hear him getting better. When I was younger and all my friends (every last one of them) was in the jazz program at the college we went to, we had an indepth discussion about this. The transformation of early Coltrane to late Coltrane is masterful, and apparently there are spades of unreleased material that we may or may not ever get to hear.

And sure, every artist progresses, but it doesn't seem to happen the same way anymore. Everything is so polished, and the artists worth listening to (there are so, so many who aren't) have, to a degree, started to master their craft before they even cut their first record. And a lot of those won't release more than two albums.

So it makes you wonder what it's like to be in someone else's mind, someone else who obviously has a better handle on it than you do. I don't mean, like, Bach or Beethoven. I mean someone like John Mayer (typical of me, I know). But when you hear a John Mayer song, you know you're hearing a John Mayer song. Not because he's got a formula or there's anything predictable about it, but because he's got a feel. Layering, and yes, a distinctive guitar tone. I can't even comprehend what it's like to be in his head when he's writing. I know what happens in my own, but I am not the musician or writer he is.

Or someone like Alicia Keys, who is such a brilliant artist. In my opinion (one that a lot of people might scoff at), she resurrected R&B in the early 2000's; bridged the gap between more adult contemporary artists and the 'whisper singers' like Ashanti who did absolutely nothing for the genre. Alicia writes her own songs, and does it brilliantly. I've seen clips of her in the studio, and when she's in the zone, it's almost like you're afraid to look at her, like you're witnessing something too personal, but you can't help it. She's intense and focused, like whatever idea is in her head is going to torture her until she gets it perfectly on paper and on record.

I realize I don't really know that feeling. Sure, I am a bit of a perfectionist, and I'm creative, and I'll wake up at three in the morning and write for hours, because if I don't write this, right now, it's going to disappear. It'll be gone forever and I'll never get it back, and what if that was the perfect thing and I let it slip away?

I wonder if that's a neurosis every artist has.

But if it is, I'm almost certain that it's that very neurosis that fuels the progression.

This post is archived under alicia keys, john coltrane, john mayer, music

It has always made me laugh when people (musicians I know) say things like the following:

"Yeah. If I don't make it as an entertainer, maybe I'll just be a session musician or something."

Okay. Sure. Here's the thing.... No, you won't. I have only known two people who were session musicians. One is a reigning fiddle champion, the other is an insanely gifted guitar player. (For instance, Alan Jackson's guitar tech heard this guy warming up and told him that he was the best guitar player he'd ever heard...yeah. He's pretty good.)

My point is, nine times out of 10, the session musicians are more talented than the talent. Of course, there are exceptions, but it's not like anyone can just walk into any given studio and say "Hey, I'm a drummer. Got any session work?" Doesn't work that way. You have to pay your dues just like everyone else. It's a focused endeavor, I'd gather.

This is what I'm talking about. Brent Mason has played with anyone who is anyone in country music, basically. And most people have never heard of him. I have heard very few guitar players as good as this guy, and even fewer who can pick like him. Think he's got a little bit of talent? I'd say so. Also, the bass player Michael Rhodes, is one of those guys every fan of country music has seen and heard, but most probably don't know his name.

If you haven't yet seen Standing in the Shadows of Motown, watch it. These are the quintessential session players. Their stories are actually pretty hilarious, more than anything, but it gives you an idea.

So all I'm saying is that if one can't make it as a 'performer', they probably won't be making it as a session musician either.

This post is archived under music

I put on one album today, listened to approximately 15 seconds of the first song, and had to turn it off. The guilt overwhelmed me for breaking the promise to listen to all my music. I just couldn't do it. I can't.

Bedouin Soundclash is the most unimaginative, self-indulgent (musically speaking) band. Hint to these guys: You're not Bob Marley. You're not cool and edgy. You fit a niche four years ago that was for some reason open and people took an interest. That doesn't mean you're good.

I couldn't listen to the album. It was the only CD my travel partner would listen to while we drove from Toronto to Vancouver. Yes, I had a milk crat full of CDs, and he had an iPod. But we listened to his iPod (his taste was questionable at best) and this album, and he gave it to me as a gift to commemorate the journey.

It just annoys the hell out of me.

So you'll have to forgive me for breaking the rules.

I will now go dance around my apartment to Beyoncé, who comes after BS (hahahaha. Bedouin Soundclash = BS. Fitting) in my collection.

This post is archived under music, the collection

It's all a cliché, really. That saying, "I want to figure out what I want to do with my life." The crazy thing is, I started thinking about it when I was like, 12 (I wanted to be a lawyer). At 15, I started looking at colleges (I no longer wanted to be a lawyer). At 17, I went to college (I graduated high school early). I graduated college at 20, moved across the country, then got my first proper job at 21.

I took PR in school because it seemed versatile. I turned down a spot in one of the most reputable and respected vocal jazz programs in North America (they accept 14 people a year out of approximately 400 applicants) to take PR. It seemed like a rational choice at the time. I never really regretted it. Until now.

Now I'm 25, and I still have no clue what I want to do. It seems every step of the journey has just been a placeholder. I worked in a shoe store just until I got a better job. I worked at the bottom of the totem pole until I got promoted. Then I did get promoted. Twice in one year actually. Now I am as high up as I can get in this company, and I feel like my work is done here. I'm not fulfilled by work anymore.

So I started thinking about what it is that does fulfill me.

Music. That's it. Well, music and writing.

I don't want to work in PR. Every position and job posting I look at looks absolutely like the last thing I want to do. I don't want to churn out press releases for some corporation. I don't want to plan decadent events. I certainly don't want to sell advertising space. People have suggested I go back to school, but I don't think I want to do that either.

My mom keeps saying I'm at a crossroads. Feels more like a dead end.

All the things I love are 'recreational'. I want to turn my love of words and music into a career.

I'm trying to figure out how to do that.

This post is archived under life, music, writing

So today, while enjoying some downtime after deadlines, a friend of mine asked me a question I wasn't prepared for.

The question was this: "What 5 musicians would you most want to sing with?"

Sounds simple, right? I'm sure most people would rattle off five names and that'd be that. Not me. I had follow up questions. Would it be studio recording or live performance? What kind of venue are we talking? Can the artists be dead or alive? Any specific genre?

You get the idea. So she set the parameters as such: The artist must be alive, it would be a live performance in a small-ish venue (1,000-5,000 people). And yes, we got that specific, or it would have taken me ages and ages to compile my list of five people. The links will take you to some awesome live videos.

1: John Mayer. This one wouldn't matter what the details were. Dead, alive, performance or studio. I'd just love to pretty much do anything with him. Write a song, lay down some vocals, sit and watch in awe as he took a solo. Whatever. That said, I've got a wicked harmony part worked out for Slow Dancing in a Burning Room. Just sayin'.

2: Vince Gill. One of my all time fave singers. Totally brilliant musician who, though he's been nominated for and won almost every award out there, is so underrated it's not even funny. His was the second concert I ever went to. He was brilliant. I was 12 years old, and I fell in love with his music even more. That love affair hasn't ended.

3: Marc Broussard. Marc and I could get it funky, and I don't mean that in any dirty way (the guy's married and has three kids!). His music just makes you smile. He could pick any song and tell me to sing the BGs and I'd be game. Hell, he could tell me to sing on every song and I'd be game. Just love this soul/R&B/funk vibe he's got himself into. It's his sound; no one else out there has it.

4: Patty Griffin. You know how I feel about her. I can hear myself singing Trapeze or Burgundy Shoes with her. Or Heavenly Day, the song that can turn my mood around no matter what.

5: This is a tie, because I simply cannot choose between these two men. Brian McKnight and D'Angelo. Love them both immensely. It's ridiculous, really. Brian is a master. D'Lo can sing like nobody's business. Don't know what else to say. These two are each geniuses in their own right. With Brian, I'd want to sing 6, 8, 12. With D'Lo, probably Send It On or Untitled (How Does it Feel) or maybe Brown Sugar.

So there you have it. My list of five. Sort of. I know it's a cop out to have a tie, but...well, it's my list, and I say it's allowed.

This post is archived under brian mcknight, d angelo, john mayer, marc broussard, music, patty griffin, vince gill

David Nail.

Honestly, I could just leave that here, a link to his site, and let you guys discover him on your own, but...I just can't.

That said, I don't know if I can explain this properly either. This is my attempt...bear with me.

I was listening to a random song from 2006 yesterday (Josh Turner's Your Man) on Youtube, and one of the 'related videos' was a song by David Nail. I'd heard the name thrown around from time to time, but our exposure to really good acts out of Nashville is limited up here in Canada. I listened to his song Red Light.

And then every other song I could find.

Then one of my fave artists (Josh Hoge) tweeted about David Nail.

And then I bought his album.

Every once in a while, you buy music that, before you're even done listening to the album in its entirety, you know that it's going to be a favourite of yours. I'm trying to remember the last time this happened (other than The BP3). I have a feeling this album, I'm About To Come Alive, is going to get me through to January. Sure, there are albums slated for release before then (notably, John Mayer's new one) that I'm looking forward to, but I have a feeling this one is going to be a standby.

It'll be one of those albums that you just put on any time. Driving, working, reading, writing, doing housework. Whatever. It's got a good vibe to it. At the risk of sounding like a total weirdo, it feels warm somehow. It feels like Nashville (a city I've been trying to get to for years and years). There are a few country artists who feel like Nashville to me. Miranda Lambert is one (she sings backgrounds on this album, by the way). Chuck Wicks is another, to a degree. Lee Ann Womack is another. And there's a difference between being country and sounding country, and being country and sounding like Nashville.

That sounds completely absurd.

I'm going to shut up now and just let the guy's music say what I can't.

David Nail - Red Light (official video)

This post is archived under david nail, josh hoge, music

So we all know I can cry big ugly tears over music/songs/lyrics.

Almost every musician I know can also do an odd high-pitched laugh that is born from complete awe and admiration of something they hear. It's something that is absurd, really, but the most common reaction to some kind of musical brilliance is to laugh. And it's a great sound. Sitting in a roomful of musicians and listening to Pino Palladino's basslines on The RH Factor's Hard Groove album was one of the coolest things I've ever experienced. Just laughter. It's almost like we don't know how else to express ourselves in those moments when we're amazed.

I also tend to get a big, wide, ridiculous smile on my face. Probably the biggest kind of smile you'll ever see from me. Teeth and all that.

Very, very rarely will one song elicit all these responses from me. Very rarely.

Slow Dancing in a Burning Room is one.

And this: Patty Griffin - Let Him Fly (Live)

Let Him Fly was the first Patty Griffin song I ever heard, and it was like something shifted in me. Literally, something changed. I wasn't the same after that. I think I've listened to this song a thousand times (no joke). Often imitated, never duplicated. This song is just so, so damn perfect. Literally, one of the most perfectly constructed songs I think I've ever heard.

Youtube just took me to this live version, and I had a little moment in my office. Smiling, but tears in my eyes, then I laughed a little. My best friend, who works in the same office as me, walked by and asked if I was okay.

More than okay.

This woman changed my life. I will never forget sitting in my basement apartment in Toronto, my computer set up in the little corner in my bedroom, listening to this song for the first time.

I know I talk about Patty a lot. Don't expect that to change.

This post is archived under music, patty griffin, pino palladino, the collection, the rh factor

Every so often, I'll be listening to music and I'll have a thought that blows my mind.

(For example: What if Julian Lennon and Stella McCartney got married? What if they had a baby? I know I sound like a total stoner, but that right there is freaking craziness.)

Anyway....

I have been listening to a lot of rap lately, specifically Common, Jay-Z, Kanye, Lupe (basically, the best rappers around, in my opinion...and my standards for rap are pretty high). I was listening to D.O.A. today because I am hopelessly addicted to The Blueprint III right now, and the line "Only rapper to re-write history without a pen" stuck out to me. (So does "The more space I get the better I write, Oh, Never I write. But if ever I write, I need the space to say whatever I like.")

Now, I've heard producers - I think it was Kanye, actually - talk about just being present when Jay-Z is in the booth. How during 99 Problems, they just started the track and Jay just started rhyming, and he was doing all the voices on the spot without writing anything down. That's effing ridiculous. That's genius.

So I was thinking today about Jay-Z just being this brilliant artist and amazing mind, and I got to wondering. I wonder if Jay-Z is ever listening to the radio and someone else's song comes on and he comes up with his own shit in his head, you know? Like, I wonder if he ever listens to Kanye's records and has a hundred different things in his mind that he would have put on the track instead.

When you think about all the things Jay-Z says, you have to wonder about all the things he doesn't say.

...Or maybe that's just me...

Doesn't matter if it's a writer, a rapper, a musician, a painter, whatever, there's always a million things going on in an artist's head - I think I can safely say that. So that's why I carry around a pen and pad of paper wherever I go. I'm always looking for that quote, or listening for that line in a song. Or I'm thinking of something that I need to write, and I have to pull my car over and scribble it down. I do this a lot. Before I invested in what I affectionately call my 'Hook Book', I used to write on receipts or pay-parking slips. Or my arm. Once I wrote on the back of my Blockbuster card because I had nothing else.

Basically, all this contemplation today lead to the idea/thought/confirmation that the most complex place on the planet is probably inside any artist's mind.

This post is archived under common, jay z, kanye west, lupe fiasco, music

Finally finished the A's in my collection. I think I underestimated how long this experiment is going to take. I might have to up my game a little bit. Especially considering there are over twice the amount of B's as there are A's.

So here are just a few notes on the first leg of the journey; things I thought and had the sense to write down in my little journal so I could share with you.

- Aaliyah's self-titled 2001 album could be released and every single track on there would/could be a hit. Absolutely brilliant. She was the one who worked with Timbaland before working with Timbaland was cool.

- Ryan Adams is the coolest weirdo ever. I say weirdo with love. Cold Roses is one of those albums in my collection that I can always put on. Always. If I don't know what I want to listen to and I put on that record, it becomes what I want to listen to. I don't know if I've explained that well, but it's true.

- Most people would probably say Cryin' is their favourite Aerosmith ballad, but mine is Angel. Love that song. Love the album it's on.

- Jann Arden With the VSO is an incredible live album that anyone with ears should listen to on headphones. Make yourself some tea, light a couple candles, put on headphones, enjoy.

- India.Arie. Pure love. Uplifting. Spiritual. Beautiful.

-Augustana is one of the few bands that I would rather not listen to on headphones. There's something about putting their music on real loud in the car, or real loud in the house and just letting it swallow you. Sweet and Low is one of my all-time favourite driving songs.

And now, on to the B's. There are easily 35 albums in this section. This could take a while!

This post is archived under aaliyah, aerosmith, augustana, india.arie, jann arden, music, ryan adams, the collection