[fingertipsmusic] This Week's Finds: Jan. 6-12

From: "Jeremy Schlosberg" <fingertipsmusic@xxxxxxxxx>
To: fingertipsmusic@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2008 21:01:40 -0500
 THIS WEEK'S FINDS <http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/this_weeks_finds.htm>
Jan. 6-12

* What follows are the first three of some 150 high-quality free and legal
MP3s that will be brought to your attention, via email, from the Fingertips
web site throughout 2008. If you find the service valuable, perhaps this is
the year you're ready to offer a modest ($5 or $10--that's all, folks!)
contribution.  Or, if you've contributed in a past year, maybe it's time to
do so again. *The good news is you can now donate via PayPal.* And you don't
need to be registered with PayPal to do it! You can contribute using a
credit card via the secure PayPal site. Click
here<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=fingertipsmusic%40gmail%2ecom&item_name=Fingertips&no_shipping=0&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>for
details. Fingertips thanks you, your integrity thanks you, and all the
artists featured throughout the year here thank you too.

"On the Chin" - Grey Race
<http://www.worlds-fair.net/media/grey_race/On_The_Chin.mp3>
     I'll start the new year with a couple of songs that are not really new
at all--a reminder that a song is always new if you haven't heard it yet.
"On the Chin" begins with a straightforward eighth-note riff linked by an
amplified acoustic guitar-neck sound, which emerges after the riff is heard
the second time. If it's gratuitous, movement-wise (the guitarist doesn't
really need to run his fingers up and down the neck like that),
percussively, it's at the center of the riff, quietly threading through the
song and tacitly foreshadowing the later emergence of actual stringed
instruments in the mix. And, what the heck, because I'm a foreshadowing fan,
I hear in that slidy sound, additionally, a hint of the vocal intervals that
singer Jon Darling will soon be leaping with his pliable tenor--intervals
topped by notes he has no business hitting with such glee.
     The string players who enter during the bridge (at around 2:07) and
step briefly but incisively to center stage for the subsequent return of the
chorus (2:39) probably have no business in the song either but the thing is
so judiciously assembled it makes perfect sonic sense at that precise
moment.
     "On the Chin" has been floating around the blogosphere--just
barely--since June, when the Brooklyn-based trio's first EP was released;
the subsequent Grey Race album containing the song, entitled *Give It Love*,
was released in September on Unfiltered
Records<http://www.unfilteredrecords.com/>
.

"Une Américaine à Paris" - Rupa and the April Fishes
<http://theaprilfishes.com/tunes/download.php?song=er_05_uneamericaine>
     Born in the Bay Area to Indian immigrant parents, Rupa Marya spent a
good amount of her childhood in both Northern India and France, which at
least partially accounts for the zesty, gypsy-inflected sound she coaxes out
of the April Fishes, an ensemble featuring a guitar, a cello, a trumpet,
drums, upright bass, and accordion. Singing in fetching French, Marya mixes
musical cultures in a way that may sound pastiche-like to purists but sounds
vibrant and beguiling to me, thanks in large part to the song's
simultaneously energetic and intimate vibe. (That's a more unusual
combination than it may initially appear.) Marya herself strikes me as a
preternaturally charming vocalist; listen to how musical she sounds when
she's trying *not* to sing so prettily (that speak-singing section beginning
at 1:38) and see if you are charmed as well.
     Note that if you are at all insecure about your accomplishments to date
on the planet Earth, you may not want to know that Marya, singer/songwriter,
guitarist, and driving force behind Rupa and the April Fishes, is a musician
at night and an honest-to-goodness M.D. doctor during the day, currently on
the medical faculty part-time at the University of California at San
Francisco. She has also worked as an independent radio producer, in between
medical school and going to work as a physician. But remember that this is
not a competition; admiration is the proper response to someone this
talented and driven. "Une Américaine à Paris" is from the debut Rupa and the
April Fishes CD, *Extraordinary Rendition*, originally self-released on
Bateau Rouge Records last January and scheduled for an international release
in April on world music label Cumbancha Records <http://www.cumbancha.com/>.

"The Silence Between Us" - Bob
Mould<http://www.aolcdn.com/_media/ch_music/bob_mould_the_silence_between_us.mp3>
     A bracing shot of earnest, subtly melodic rock'n'roll, "The Silence
Between Us" ranks up there with the best of Mould's solo output. Lionized
for his role as Hüsker Dü lead man, Mould has been an inveterate blogger
<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/musicianblogs.htm#Mould> but spotty solo
artist, recording infrequently and often steering clear of the guitar-based
blitz of his first group and its more commercially-capable successor, Sugar.
     There is no reason to expect again from Mould anything resembling the
gut-deep fury of Hüsker Dü; so while I'm not hearing the volume or speed
associated with that seminal band, what I am connecting to across the years
is Mould's willingness after a good long while to put some meaningful
electric guitar back into his songs, while at the same time maintaining a
precision in songwriting characteristic of his best work (and often, I
think, missing when the volume gets cranked too high, particularly in his
post-HD material). This one does nothing fancy, but some well-timed melodic
intervals and chord detours lend "The Silence Between Us" an almost noble
sort of stature. The guitar solo that begins at 2:20 is worth the download
alone, offering a succinct balance of brain and brawn, complete with a nifty
electronic coda.
     "The Silence Between Us" will be found on Mould's forthcoming CD,
*District
Line*, slated for release early next month on Anti
Records<http://www.anti.com/>.
MP3 courtesy of Spinner<http://www.fingertipsmusic.com/siteindex.htm#Spinner>
.

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[fingertipsmusic] This Week's Finds: Jan. 6-12

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