Prefuse 73, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Cool Kids Video
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The musical collaboration of the decade, Raising Sand is the sound of two iconic figures stepping out of their respective comfort zones and letting their instincts lead them across a brave new sonic landscape. Despite hailing from distinctly different backgrounds, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant share a maverick spirit and willingness to extend the boundaries of their respective genres. This spirit, expertly honed by producer T Bone Burnett, has resulted in an album pitched three steps beyond some cosmic collision of early urban blues, spacious West Texas country, and the untapped potential of the folk-rock revolution. Supported by the unparalleled musicianship of Marc Ribot, Dennis Crouch, Mike Seeger, Jay Bellerose, Norman Blake, Greg Leisz, Patrick Warren, and Riley Baugus, Plant and Krauss - as both solo and harmony vocalists - tackle an intriguing selection of songs from such tunesmiths as Tom Waits, Gene Clark, Sam Phillips, Townes Van Zandt, The Everly Brothers, and Mel Tillis. Raising Sand finds Robert Plant and Alison Krauss exploring popular music's elemental roots while still sounding effortlessly, breath-takingly contemporary.
Natalie Walker. Urban Angel. Biography. Born and raised in Indiana, vocalist Natalie Walker is an artist whose lilting, melodic voice and lyrical reveries reflect a life journey of determination and self-discovery. With musical influences ranging from Alison Krauss to Portishead, Jewel to Lauryn Hill, Beth Orton to Bjork, the former lead singer of downtempo electronic group Daughter Darling now delivers her own unique, haunting sonic landscape that is at once organic, ethereal, elegant and entrancing. ?Creating music is my outlet,? says Natalie. ?I was born to sing. When I don?t, I feel empty. When I do, I feel fulfilled. It?s that simple.? Urban Angel, her solo album debut, was co-written by Natalie and two-man production team Stuhr. ?I worked with two really great producers out of Brooklyn, Dan Chen and Nate Greenberg. They?d send me the rough copy of a song and the music would just evoke emotion,? she explains. ?Its like fitting pieces of a puzzle together. When you?re in the studio recording its all very raw and real. I try to make a song new each time I sing it. I want it to be unforgettable. My producers are amazing. They forced me to develop my real voice. I?ve improved my vibrato and my tone. Stuhr delivered exactly what I asked of them. It couldn?t have happened more perfectly.?
Prefuse 73: "The Class of 73 Bells"
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Cuts lets you make movie mashups
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The Butchies? fourth record is like alpenglow (a reddish glow seen near sunset or sunrise of the summits of mountains) absorbing into your pores ? it simply commands a high-energy, emotionally-stuffed response. Make Yr Life is a colossal, intimate connection between the unrivalled punk-rock trio and their audience. It?s like waking from a coma, or like having your dog lick away your tears, or like the first kiss with that sexy girl with moonlight splashed on her face. But it?s also true that Kaia, Melissa and Alison?s intent with this record is simple: World Domination. If after listening to this 10-track cream dream you don?t feel like you just had one of the biggest epiphanies of your life, you clearly voted for Bush, and are immune to evolution. Make Yr Life is undoubtedly the record that will facilely evolve the music world as we know it (Mothership not included.) Make Yr Life is technically produced more ?professionally? than the previous records, but nothing about it is polished in a plastic, stiff way. The Butchies? latest cd lives in the same world as 3 (2001), Population 1975 (1999) and Are We Not Femme? (1998), but it oozes with more maturity, focus and self-reflection/connection. The trio ritualistically stripped down to the buff and finished recording in 10 days ? it wouldn?t have even taken that long, but Melissa was appointed Thermostat Butchie, and therefore had to stop drumming in 20-minute intervals to stave off the cold. (It takes this kind of dedication to achieve world domination.) As in her Team Dresch days, Kaia squeezes and molds words into an atomic release of emotions that most of us keep darkly lacquered. Her vocals are somewhere between The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the suspended time right before your head spins off into orgasm. Her pipes, combined with nectar-sweet basslines, and thick, thumping drums immediately pull in the listener with the opening track, ?Send Me You?: ?She says I?m crazy, I said oh, really? I?m going to jump on you on the bed/Make me a monkey, make me fall over, make me a cradle, hold me instead/I?m not going to say it, OK, I?ll say it?? Soaring, mammoth guitars wash over you like a tidal wave in ?Lydia,? which repeatedly asks the question, ?Did you get what you?re asking for?? ?17,? which previously has only been recorded on a KRS comp, is included. And since it?s one of their all-time best songs, it?s sure to quench even the most insatiable Butchies fan. The closing track is a remake of the 80s band The Outfield?s ?Your Love.? Live, The Butchies perform this one at a faster tempo than the original. But for this record, producer Greg Griffith urged the band to slow the tempo down, transforming it into a sad, beautiful ballad. The result is divine, as Kaia practically whispers the first few lines: ?Josie?s on a vacation far away, come around and talk it over?There?s so many things I want to say?you know I like my girls a little bit older?I just want to use your love tonight?I don?t want to lose your love tonight?? The title track encompasses all of what this record is about: ?Make your life, souls and stars, swimming with dogs and fish and sharks, fake your fear, fake face, face your fear?? The song is a Stewart Smalley kind of affirmation. It urges the listener to create their own happiness, to grab it and hold on to it. This song is also the one that has a super-secret embedded message, but you have to find your way into the mood of the entire cd before hearing this message, which is simple: We are The Butchies. We will not forcefully overtake the world, but cleverly win it over with raw, honest songstressing ? making the kind of music that sticks, that matters, that truly reaches into the listener?s chest and makes them feel again. Amen. All hail The Butchies! The Make Yr Life tour kicks off SXSW in mid-march. The nationwide tour will begin in mid-April. And it?s no coincidence that this tour takes place in the election year 2004.
