The Crossed Pond

I Know What I Am – Band of Skulls

Normally I don’t pass on things like this, but in this case I want to make an exception.

A movement has started to get Pete Seeger nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. You can view it here (http://www.nobelprize4pete.org/), and sign the petition if you feel so inclined.

Pete Seeger is one of my heroes (I have very few), and has probably done more good with less actual power than just about any American in the last 100 years, and certainly more than any American musician, Woody Guthrie being his only real competition for the title. An unrepentant hippy who predates the hippy movement (and, it must be said, a pretty hardcore socialist), he has been a powerful force for labor, civil rights, peace, multiculturalism, and environmentalism, all while basically just playing the banjo. I think it’s easy to underestimate his impact—the guy who made “We Shall Overcome”, the guy who nearly single-handedly cleaned up the Hudson, the guy who popularized the protest song and the socially-conscious folk movement—because at the end of the day he never did anything but perform songs for people. But I think American culture, politics, and social consciousness would look very, very different today without Pete Seeger.

Pete Seeger is an ambassador for Peace and Social Justice and has been over the course of his 88-year lifetime. Using his prowess as a musician he worked to engage other people, from all walks of life and across generations, in causes to build a better and more civilized world: His work shows up wherever you look in the history of labor solidarity, growth of mass effort to end the Vietnam war, ban of nuclear weapons, work for international diplomacy, support of the Civil Rights Movement, for cleaning up the Hudson River and for environmental responsibility in general. Pete knit the world together with songs from China, the Soviet Union, Israel, Cuba, South Africa and Republican Spain. We learned that Crispus Attucks, born a slave, was the first man to die at the opening of the Revolutionary War, that the Farmer-Labor party in the mid-west had a socialist philosophy that lasted well into the 20th century, we learned that anti-slavery movements were often inspired by songs that indicated a map of escape, such as “Follow the Drinkin’ Gourd,” he popularized many of the IWW songs that helped in CIO organizing, and spread the Civil Rights Movement through promoting the SNCC Freedom Singers and making songs such as “We Shall Overcome,” known all over the world.

When subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee in August of 1955, at the height of the McCarthy period, Pete defended himself on the basis of the First Amendment, the right of an American citizen to free association, not the Fifth Amendment, protection against self incrimination. When he was boycotted from earning a living and practicing his craft on a national scale Pete appeared at union meetings, summer camps, Jr. High Schools, High Schools, and Colleges. His pay at times was as little as $5, but his value was priceless.

Pete Seeger is truly a Great American, a national treasure, and if any cultural figure ever deserved a Peace Prize, it’s him.

So, Joanna Newsom released her third album last week, which I got immediately. It’s a sprawling three-disk LP, over two hours solid of music. I’ve been listening to it on and off (although haven’t had a chance to really sit down with it). Frankly, I’m still not quite sure what I think of it all. Too much to process, and weirdly, the fact that she chilled her voice out a little, and found a middle ground between just the harp on Milk-Eyed Mender, and a total baroque orchestra for Ys. People who hated her before because of her vocals and relative inaccessibility might…well, hate her less on this one, as both aspects of her are taken down a notch. But frankly, I liked both those things. So I’m having a hard time adjusting, I think. Still, it that has been the case with each of her albums so far, and both wound up being, for me, damn near perfect records.

Anyway, two highlights from my first-pass listening:

Joanna Newsom – Does Not Suffice

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I like Ingrid Michaelson, and tooling around to post something else as the Music Video of the Week, came across this gem. She’s a surprisingly good rapper (and she does get into the real song eventually, which I adore). I’m not sure why the “soft and sultry” style of spittin’ hot fire hasn’t taken off yet.

Ingrid Michaelson – The Way I Am (rap remix)

Although I will second Cameron’s from yesterday I’ve been getting into Man Man again lately. There’s something about the vocals that get me.

Man Man – Engwish Bwudd

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Jonathan Coulton’s Code Monkey:

And the first television ad Google has ever aired.

As Obama prepares to try and break a Mexican stand-off he’s having with Congress and the American public…

Jose Feliciano – Malaguena

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Reason #5634 why George Mason University is the coolest higher education institution around.

A music video sponsored by their economics department in which John Maynard Keynes and F. A. Hayek have a rap battle.

That is exactly as awesome as it sounds.

“If you’re living high on that cheap rented hog,
don’t look for a cure from the hair of the dog.
Real savings come first if you want to invest;
The market coordinates time and inter-est.
Your focus on spending is pushing off red;
In the long run my friend it’s your theory that’s dead.

So sorry there buddy if that sounds like invective;
Prepare to get schooled in my Austrian perspective.”

So, Scarlett Johansson. She put out this album, what, last year?, and I’ve had it on my playlist since then, and it’s maybe the only time I can recall where I play something a lot with not a damn idea whether I like it. Like, I really have no idea what I think. She’s not got much of a voice (she sings ok, for the style she’s going for, but her voice is just…not very good), the production values fall somewhere between “Mostly Passable” and “1988 Casiotone Keyboard Demo Setting”, and the song choices are uninspired. But I keep listening to it. It’s got some sort of weird hypnoticness to it. I can’t tell if it’s hypnotic like a car crash or hypnotic like, say, some kind of animal you’ve never seen before and can’t for the life of you identify. And like I said, on the scale of 1 to 10, I think I have to give it an R.

Scarlett Johansson – Anywhere I Lay My Head

Allison Crowe – Let It Be

Ahhh.

Mariee Sioux – Wizard Flurry Home

You probably know that I adore Sam Cooke, who is the best singer of the modern era for my money. I also happen to quite like and even in large measure prefer his older gospel/spiritual stuff, particularly when he fronted the Soul Stirrers. Here’s one of my favorites (also, I think, his first record):

Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers – Jesus Gave Me Water

1. Kutiman – I’m New

I just can’t not pick that one.

Happy New Year!

(2008, 2007)

2. Decemberists – Bridges and Balloons

Easily my favorite cover of the year, and just a gorgeous outtake performance.

(2008, 2007 (sadly that great video is lost in the sands of YouTube))

3. Louis Prima and Keely Smith – Hey Boy! Hey Girl!

My best Music Video of the Week post of the year, or at least one of the few informative ones.

(In case you haven’t figured it out, the song title above hyperlinks to my original MVOTW post; the two dates on the bottom are hyperlinks to the winner of that slot in the last two years, so extra awesomeness per post!).

(2008, 2007)

4. William Elliott Whitmore – Hell or High Water

Or, cheating:

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5. Mos Def – Quiet Dog

Great performance of what might be the year’s best single.

(2008, 2007)

Finally got into Aesop Rock this year.

6. Evilnine ft. Aesop Rock – Crooked

Although really, that one and this one are pretty much tied.

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7. Keaton Simons and Terra Naomi – Bring it On Home

I love Terra Naomi, even if people (screw you tessellated!) make fun of me for it. Here she is very understated, doing a Sam Cooke cover duet. Laid back and wonderful. Bonus points: I’m picking a video that I posted in response to a video that Adam posted.

(2008, 2007)

8. Joanna Newsom – Ca’ the Yowes to the Knowes

Even if you don’t normally like Joanna Newsom (you philistine), you have to admit her voice and style go great with this traditional 19th century Scottish sheep-herding tune.

(2008, 2007)

There’s a big dropoff between this one and the last three. 12-10 are sort of throwaways; now we’re into the good stuff.

9 . Robin Thicke – When I Get You Alone

This was my Pandora song of the year—that one tune that you would never in a million years listen to otherwise but that pops up, you thumb up feeling a little dirty about it, but then each consecutive time it comes back up you get more and more into it. It’s an old song, but new to me, though sadly Robin cut his hair off and went in for the R&B balladeer thing.

Anyway, besides being a pop/disco track set to Beethoven’s 5th, I love the idea of a Justin Timberlake-esque tune done by a bike messenger.

(2008, 2007 (>:/))

I keep leaving my little cheat sheet in the office, so I keep not being able to post at night. Bah. Prepare to be spammed over the next two days.

10. Lykke Li – Dance Dance Dance

She can be a little hard to take at times, a little Euro-pretentious. Her single “I’m Good I’m Gone” is a better song (click through the link for a few versions of that), but this one—a great user video, by the way—strikes me as more accessible, and just hits the spot when you’re in a certain mood. A good find for me this year.

(2008, 2007)

11. Seldom Scene – After Midnight

Ahh Seldom Scene.

(2008, 2007)

It’s that time again, late as usual. I’m going to count down my favorite Music Video of the Week videos from the year. I’ll have to cram two or three a day down your throats to get it done in time.

Save for the mid-summer, I didn’t post very many music videos this year relative to other years; can’t say why for sure. So sort of slim pickings, but still enough musical awesomeness to go around. Without further ado:

12. Old Man Luedecke – Joy of Cooking

I like this song a lot, one of my favorite finds of the year. The video’s not so great or it’d rate higher, but still, just a nice old-timey tune that’s actually sort of sweet.

(2008, 2007)

I posted about William Elliott Whitmore some months ago. He’s awesome.

In compiling my 12 Days of Music Video of the Week for this year, I had to update a few of his old YouTube links, and found this new performance, which is excellent. It’s too late now, but this woulda been a strong contender.

William Elliott Whitmore – The Old Devils

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What the hell?

Seems like an Aesop Rock sort of day, don’t it?

Evilnine featuring Aesop Rock – Crooked

If you’ve never gotten into Joanna Newsom (who I’ve posted many times in the past, and who for my money was tied for best artist of the decade and best album), you might try this. A cover of her song “Bridges and Balloons” by the Decemberists’ Colin Meloy.