DudeAsInCool

Anyone heard this guy? Sounds like he has interesting influences in hismusic...

Thomas Denver Jonsson. Solid Eyes & Muddy Water A Talk with Thomas Denver Jonsson by dennis cook San Francisco Time there is time for them all the light was shining and the band was playing low Some music reaches us like a long distance call, coming in muffled but clear enough to get into us. Swedish singer-songwriter Thomas Denver Jonsson comes across the wires just like that, an acquaintance half remembered from your travels, someone you had one of those conversations with that stay with you for a lifetime. Even meeting him for the first time there’s enormous warmth, a good kind of familiarity, a handshake in song that makes you feel instantly less alone. Drawing from the deep wells of Will Oldham, Neil Young and ‘60s Bob Dylan, Jonsson crafts quiet dirt road hymns for victims & murderers, crushed ladybugs & pale angels. From the first time I heard Jonsson’s fractured, beautiful voice on late night radio on through his first EP, the wonderful folksy Topeka Twins mini-album (done with fellow Swede Bjorn Kleinhenz, himself a new voice to keep an ear out for) and onto to his first full length, Hope To Her, there’s something indefinable that draws me in again & again. Much of his catalog feels like an oblique variation on the mood struck by Bob Dylan’s “Every Grain of Sand”, places where hope and fear coexist without tension. Within the comfortable folds are shadows and that shading, that private mystery inspires our own investigation. Talking about his debut, Jonsson says, “I guess the reason whyHope To Her became the record it did was because I had some strange feelings that I had to deal with. Some years ago I was prescribed medication for depression, but I couldn't really handle them the way I should have. I had some complications and some of them are still following me.” He continues, “Dark and strange feelings can really make you afraid. I guess the worst part of it is that it's coming from inside you and you can't control it. I came to realize one day that some of those feelings wouldn't let me go so I had to accept them. I have to stop being afraid if I want to move on with my life. I'm working on that, I have faith in what I'm doing and I'm doing better and better.” Don’t know if the aftermath will ever count in the end Don't sure if the breathing is a consequence or the start Don't know if everybody feels this way But do whatever you want to do with me His band, the September Sunrise, consistently grab your ear with a style that’s anything but intrusive. They add a powerful presence to his songs but do so without drawing attention away from the tunes, a presence felt like the breeze or sunlight on your skin. “I wanted a warm sound with a lot of soul and dynamics,” comments Jonsson. “It’s hard to explain any better really than I wanted the September Sunrise to sound more or less the way they do. I think they're great and they have been an essential part of my success this last year.” “The forming of September Sunrise was one thing leading to another,” he explains. “First my signing to Kite Recordings was planned to result in an acoustic 4-track EP where Carl Edlom was going to back me up with some guitar playing. Then, Fredrik Wilde came along with some slide guitar upon that. And once we added those instruments we all got the feeling that the music was lacking something, it needed a full band. Fredrik plays with Henric Strömberg and Tomas Lindberg in another band, a lovely rock act called The Higher Elevations, and after some persuasion I had my bass player and my drummer and The September Sunrise was formed. The pieces were put together and the record that first was meant to be a low-key acoustic EP became my debut album featuring this band.” Thomas has seen the evolution of his music by working with these gifted musicians, the nuance that comes from collaboration. “Sometime when I write I have the band in mind but most of the time I'll write songs just for me acoustic and then I present it for the band and they can add their brilliance to the existing song,” states Jonsson. “I guess I want to write songs that are so good they can almost stand for themselves. If a song is working great with just guitar and a voice, it's often a good sign they will become really great with a carefully measured arrangement.” No pain, no fear, no hunger takes place in that peaceful valley where the angels above, are sending their love their snow white wings counts us in Another influence on his work was the Topeka Twins sessions, a project that might reform when either of the songsters have more time. “My thought about The Topeka record was to do a really nice low-key record with influences from old American folk music and religious country. Later I came to notice how important the work with the Topeka record was for the making of Hope To Her. I doubt that tracks like Black & Blue and Road Runner would have been written without the influence of Topeka. It's like it brought me the last touch of country charm that was needed,” states Jonsson. And the flowers built a shelter and the stick in my heart growin' bigger by the day And it's oh, so quiet in here 'cept some furious sounds from the haze For a young artist, it’s natural to wear one’s influences on their sleeve. Jonsson is no exception in this respect but manages to still come out with a sound that’s his own. “I guess Will Oldham is the artist that is most important to the music I do. He's such a great artist and songwriter. For the album, I guess Will Oldham together with Gram Parsons and Beach Boys are the leading and most important influences. Those are artists are completely devoted to their vision. Will, Gram and the Beach Boys also have a tremendous feeling for melodies and how to perform them. The melodies are so important. A great melody makes the song's whole spirit go straight into the listener's heart.” He also cites Townes Van Zandt and Rosie Thomas as influences. Jonsson toured around Sweden with Thomas and alt-folk icon Damien Jurado at the end of last year. As people are exposed to his music one can only imagine that the list of admirers and acoustic compatriots will grow especially once Jonsson makes his way onto U.S. stages. Work has already begun on his next album. He tells us, “I'm writing a lot of songs right now to my next album that has the working title ‘Dreams at the film club’. I think the next album will be a little rougher, ifHope To Her had a lot of country charm in it, I think Dreams at the film club will hold more of a city feeling. I hear more piano and female vocals. It'll be great.” http://www.crazewire.com/features/20040302386.php

BF, you should post the link in the BK recommends music forum..nice guitar work

Hmm...that combo sounds pretty hot to me

Which forum????

532.4 on first attempt...

I know this is Koop's congrat thread, but I want all the active members (our mods in the field, so to speak) to know we really appreciate your support in helping build this community Koop has been with us from the start and we really appreciate his efforts and focus to make this a fun and informative site.. So join us in giving him an official tip of the hat

Welcome aboard Seph...ooops I mean Koop :D

John Kerry's letter was funny - he actually sums up your sentiments, Kooper Joke : "We have a new Chaplain in the Senate and a tour came through the other day. They asked him a lot of questions about being Chaplain and one person turned to him and asked: "When you open the Senate with prayer each morning, do you look out at the Senators and pray for them?" The Chaplain didn’t lose a beat – he said "No, actually I look out at all those Senators and I pray for the country."

They always have interesting soundtracks, too

http://www.ruebe-zahl.de/Coldplay%20-%20Clocks.mp3

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/tequila.php :Here's to you:

Game Wars 2: Battle for the Living Room By JOHN MARKOFF Published: March 22, 2004 AN FRANCISCO, March 21 - The consumer electronics and personal computing industries are supposedly rushing toward a grand digital convergence. Maybe it is actually a divergence. Even as the Intel Corporation and the Microsoft Corporation, whose chairman is Bill Gates, are pushing a digital future in which they hope that the personal computer will be the hub for a variety of home entertainment devices, the computer game industry is pointing to a fundamental flaw in that vision: game software has largely driven PC growth among consumers. "This kind of thing drives me crazy,'' said Alex St. John, the founder of a game software publisher, WildTangent Inc. He challenged Intel at a recent industry forum on the digital home, arguing that personal computer makers are about to lose out to the video game industry, which is waiting on a new generation of game consoles that also aspire to be home digital media hubs. "If the game console makers want to own the living room,'' Mr. St. John said in a subsequent telephone interview, "they're in a better position to own it than Intel.'' Intel executives responded at the meeting and said they felt there was a market for interactive television in the home. Microsoft is in a different position, having hedged its bets by continuing its two-decade-old alliance with Intel in producing software and microprocessors for PC's while turning to I.B.M. to develop the chip for its next-generation Xbox game player. In its first Xbox, Microsoft chose an Intel processor, but it plans to use a version of I.B.M.'s Power microprocessor family in future versions. The decision was a coup for I.B.M., which already had commitments from the Sony Corporation and the Nintendo Company, the other makers of game players. Still, Microsoft is not necessarily in the driver's seat, either, since it is far behind Sony in the game player market. At Sony, Ken Kutaragi, the person widely credited with the creation of the PlayStation, has been made an executive deputy president to reassure investors that company intends to press its advantage. With so much in flux, the visions for the future of home computing may become more sharply defined this week in San Jose, Calif., where 10,000 software game developers are scheduled to attend the annual Game Developer's Forum. Sony and Microsoft, which The Wall Street Journal disclosed on Friday plans to cut prices by $30 on its Xbox to $149, are both expected to mount major efforts to woo the developers, who actually create the games to be played on their machines. It is a challenging time in the game business, though, because neither Sony nor Microsoft is ready to unveil their future machines, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 2. They are not expected to reach the market until late 2005 at the earliest. As a result, sales of consoles and software have been flat lately. NPD Group, a market research company, reported in January that console sales fell last year by 2.7 percent, to $10 billion. The prospect of digital convergence has prodded Sony and Microsoft to weigh how many interactive media and digital video recording features they can add to their next-generation players without making them too complex or pushing prices beyond the relatively low cost that most users expect. But should they fail to push their products in a multimedia direction, some analysts say, it will open the door for Intel, which is attempting to reshape the PC into a entertainment-oriented multimedia computer that will fit more comfortably into the family room. As Intel pushes ahead with those plans, I.B.M. is hoping to leverage its alliance with the game console makers into an advantage providing software and servers to connect game players in a vast network of online gaming. "Two years ago, we started explicitly focusing on a massively scaleable online gaming market,'' said Steve Canepa, vice president for I.B.M.'s global media and entertainment industry business. The company cites estimates from DFC Intelligence, a game industry research firm, that the online gaming business will grow from an $875 million today to $5 billion in five years. By 2006, the number of online gamers is expected to more than double to 114 million from 50 million. But will the computer game market really grow that fast? Sony executives are betting on a dramatic demographic and sociological shift from passive television watching to interactive game play. They cite a report by the Nielsen Media Research firm last September of an 8 percent decline in television viewing among males aged 18 to 34. The Sony executives assert that the young men may be playing video games instead. Read the rest of the story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/22/technology/22game.html

Jimmy's right - they lied!

...Or George W. Bush

Here's another thumbs up review from Zboneman.com which gives a little history of the band: Absolution Music Review: For those of you who know all about this band (you Europeans), the following is going to be a dull exercise in biography. Muse washed onto American soil in 1999 with their first album, Showbiz an album that was clearly inspired by Radiohead, and in terms of it’s quality and maturity would rank somewhere between Pablo Honey and The Bends. But considering that the average age of the English lads was a ripe old 19, members Matt Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme, Dominic Howard showed more than promise. And not unlike much like Radiohead’s earlier work there was inconsistency and filler but there were also rare gems. "Unintended" for example a tender-sounding, yet literately ironic, love ballad that smacked as much of Oasis’ better stuff as Thommy boy, was a masterpiece and a song that you could put up against the best of anyone’s work. I still find it hard to believe that a 19 year old wrote that song. I think if I were a condemned man on death row and along with my last meal I got to hear one last song, "Unintended" might just be that swan song. Next came Origin of Symmetry, an album that, quite inexplicably has yet to see a U.S. release, and the critics went nuts over it. Many proclaiming it the best album of 2001. An album much like The Bends for Radiohead, that found the band solidly planted on their feet dishing out swirling doses of big masterful Progressive (think Queen not Yes) melodic nectar. I don’t pretend to understand why some of the best stuff from the U.K. never makes it over here, where we’ve always appreciated as much or more than them. Look at James’ Millionaires never made it over here – what’s up with that? With Absolution, Muse has once again delivered a masterpiece, painted on an even grander scale, (think The Bends to O.K. Computer) Not as rocking and metallic, but even more rich, and breath-taking in it’s scope and execution. Bellamy’s piano and keyboard work on this record is all at once, aggressive, atmospheric, theatrical and technically out of this world and if you listen to it loud enough, swoon-producing. Chris Martin of Coldplay has been quoted many times as saying that just when he thinks he’s becoming something of a decent piano player he’ll go over to Bellamy’s and leave completely humbled. If you liked the hey-day of Queen "Bohemian Rhapsody," for example and pre-Kid A Radiohead you need to get on line and purchase this one immediately, it was released about 5 months ago and there’s no sign of a U.S. release on this baby either. Though all of the critics in our stable have heard the album and would have placed it in their Top 3 for 2003, we play by our own self-imposed U.S. release rules, so if you were wondering if we were just a bunch of narrow-minded dunces now you know. Write your congressman, do some damn thing, because these guys are as good as Radiohead and so far they haven’t felt the need to experiment with mediocrity. http://www.zboneman.com/music/620.html

What caught my eye about this review, was the opening quote: "Does Kristin Hersh have the most terrifying voice in rock?" Anyone heard of this band? How are they?

Throwing Muses Throwing Muses [4AD; 2003] Rating: 8.2 Does Kristin Hersh have the most terrifying voice in rock? Many singers embrace higher drama or shred their vocal cords with icier shrieks, but there's an eerie steadiness in Hersh's voice-- an enthrallment that goes deeper than the mere sound of her singing, part crow, part Wicked Witch of the West and part vengeful alternative rock icon. Of all the artists who've invoked the cliché of losing control to their inspiration, Hersh is one of the few to make it convincing; she delivers her most harrowing lyrics with a delicate serenity, and her simplest with a frightening, reeling delirium. Her voice and surreal images were the key to the success of Throwing Muses, before the group disbanded. Hersh didn't want to break up the Muses, the band she's led since high school: It ended in the mid-90s for financial, not creative reasons. And that's the only way to explain how, when some funding came through, they could reform and cut a new album that sounds like they'd never been apart. Often, critics give a veteran band extra credit when they reunite-- props that were perhaps due long ago and never offered, or just bonus points for not having dropped dead in their autumn years. I can't think of many albums that need fewer crutches than this one. Without rivaling University or The Real Ramona, it's different from, yet far rawer than, anything since their debut. Fans will suck up the nostalgia as Hersh brings back not just her last rhythm section (Bernard Georges on bass and mainstay David Narcizo on drums), but also founding Muse Tanya Donelly, who adds seraphic harmony vocals. After several years of sporadic collaborations they jumped into the project without even rehearsing: They cut the album in just three weekends with minimal overdubs, giving it a clean and "live" sound that sticks solidly to an unembellished power trio. There are no acoustic tracks, no slow or atmospheric ballads (like University's "Crabtown")-- nothing but torrential, skidding, hard rock, right from the almost anthemic first track, "Mercury", which cuts through different ways of opening the throttle before it wrenches into the chorus. With such a consistent sound the songs bleed into each other, but Hersh's writing is still intriguingly unpredictable. Some of the songs are catchy almost after the fact-- like the perfect riff and matter-of-fact weirdness of her delivery on "Portia", or the erupting chorus on "Pretty or Not". Others sound like they were Frankensteined together from the verse, chorus and bridge of completely different songs and smoothed out by the guitars: You've got the mood change from dark to ecstatic on "Half Blast"-- if Donelly had written any songs here, this would be the one-- or the way "Solar Dip" jerks between time signatures. And that's not to ignore the grinding dirges like "Speed and Sleep" that just pound themselves into a dark hole. Throwing Muses skip the production polish that brightened up albums like University, but they've found the perfect sweetener in Donelly's backing vocals. As limited as her contribution may be-- she sticks to backup and only sings on half the songs-- her lines are melodically gorgeous, high and pure against Hersh's lower, somewhat raspy vocals. But her presence alone isn't what makes this so joyous. Throwing Muses are the counterpart-- or maybe the antidote-- to the driven, enraptured solitude of her solo material; they deliver a release and an excitement that's been missing from her work for years. Their reunion is heavy, driven stuff-- as inherently inexplicable as the best, darkest Muses work-- but it's also ecstatic. This band has seized an opportunity that may never strike for them again, and they're celebrating it as though there were no tomorrow. -Chris Dahlen, March 7th, 2003 http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/t...ing-muses.shtml

>>Fri:03-19-04 Five New Bands to Watch in 2004 by Ryan Schreiber With the first quarter of 2004 drawing to a close, the year so far has been anything but compelling for new bands. While great releases from Sufjan Stevens, Kanye West, The Walkmen, and others have seen heavy rotation at the Pitchfork offices, and albums are still due from Trail of Dead, Animal Collective, Beck, Interpol, Bjork, Clinic, Sonic Youth, Les Savy Fav, Modest Mouse, Spoon, Wilco, etc. But it's led us to wonder: Who's coming up this year to attack us from behind with surprise debuts we never saw coming? Well, we've been digging, and finally, things are looking up. Today, in lieu of reviews, we give you five promising new bands to watch in the coming months. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .: The Hold Steady :. Ex-Lifter Puller frontman Craig Finn's new band situates his strained, throaty vocals and ridiculously awesome lyrics against a shredding indie-rock bar-band. Their debut, The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me is dropped Tuesday on Les Savy Fav's Frenchkiss label. .: Leisure :. They don't even have a website, and even the bandname is tentative, but this Boston-based band are already in talks with Rough Trade on the strength of their three-song demo, unbelievably recorded in one day. .: Ratatat :. Formerly known as Cherry, this Brooklyn duo blends searing Robert Fripp-style guitarwork with bass-heavy drum machines like a gritty, indie-minded Daft Punk. Their self-titled album is due on April 20th via XL Recordings. .: Tussle :. These scummy San Francisco-based dub-punks have a handful of incredible EPs to their name, most recently their Don't Stop single for Troubleman Unlimited. The full-length is scheduled for August. .: Patrick Wolf :. Discovered last year by lap-pop pioneer Capitol K, Patrick Wolf calls himself a folk musician, but if that's the case, his beautifully structured, organic indie pop songs, backed by intense beat-programming, aren't letting on. His debut album, Lycanthropy, is out early next month on Tomlab. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/

A cartoon on communications between the sexes :) http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/communicate.php

5000 years from now, people wont remember the politicians of this era--but it is very likely they will remember the arts. I'm ashamed of the US Government's mixing politics and the arts: frankly, the policy is un-American and we ought to throw the bums out who made the decision to not provide visa's to these very talented musicians..

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Songs of Cuba, Silenced in America By JACKSON BROWNE LOS ANGELES — Carlos Varela, the great Cuban singer-songwriter, applied for a visa to come to the United States to sing his powerful, amazing songs. He had concerts planned in Miami, New York and Los Angeles. Our government turned him down. Visas have been denied to other Cuban artists because their visits are "detrimental to the interests" of our country. In essence, the government says that if Carlos Varela plays concerts in the United States, the money he makes would go to Fidel Castro. This is untrue. In Cuba, renowned artists keep much of what they earn, because the government does not want them to leave the country and live somewhere else. Yet, the Bush administration used the same reasoning to keep Ibrahim Ferrer, of the Buena Vista Social Club, and Manuel Galbán from attending the Grammy award ceremony in Los Angeles last month. (Both men won awards.) It also forced the postponement of concerts by the Spanish flamenco master Paco de Lucía because he plays with Alain Pérez Rodríguez, a Cuban-born bassist. I congratulate the State Department on finally determining that Mr. Pérez is not "detrimental to the interests" of our country, although those of us who were able to reschedule and hear him play this month know that he is a truly dangerous man. In a profound way, our government takes on the role of oppressor when it tries to control which artists will be allowed access to our minds and our hearts. We may think we are isolating Cuba with our embargo and our travel restrictions, but it is we Americans who are becoming isolated. People travel to Cuba from Australia, Britain, Canada, Italy and Spain — countries we consider staunch allies. United States foreign policy toward Cuba is unpopular in America, and for good reason. It stops Americans from traveling to Cuba and Cubans from coming into the States. It stops us from sharing medicine with the ill and restricts our ability to sell food to the hungry. This policy is an outdated relic of the cold war and exists only as a political payoff to Republican-leaning Cuban-American voters in Miami. The policy of punishing Cuba works only when Americans see the angry face of Cuban repression. But in the face of Carlos Varela, and the language of his music, Americans would not find the mask of a demon, but hear the aspirations of people just like themselves. Perhaps the most prominent paradox here is that Carlos Varela is known not only for his talent, but also for his courage to speak out through his songs, many of which have been interpreted as critical of the Cuban government. While these young Cubans respect the accomplishments of their leaders, they are ready, indeed impatient, to run their own affairs. They want freedom for themselves and independence for their country. They want the new Cuba to be created by the Cuban people, not by the United States. I believe in justice and human rights in the United States and abroad. I am saddened by the treatment by the Cuban government of the political dissidents in their country. I long for the day when there is freedom for both Cubans and Americans to travel in both directions across the Straits of Florida without undue interference by their governments. I want this freedom not just for artists but for all people, American and Cuban, who live each day in the hope for a just and prosperous future. Giving Carlos Varela a visa to sing in America would be a good way to begin. Jackson Browne, a singer-songwriter, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 15. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/22/opinion/22BROW.html?hp

This is not good news. Frankly, I wonder if the hostilities there will ever end...

Just shows we think alike (Method reposted your NY urinal article today, Koop!)

Got it.. "I think the American people—I hope the American–I don't think, let me—I hope the American people trust me."—Washington, D.C., Dec. 18, 2002 At least 50% don't