Tag: music
Awesomeness: Jason Mraz in Zürich
- 20/09/2008
- 4 comments
Alright, firstly I want to apologize for all the errors that will be in this text (I hope none of them grammar or spelling errors, though), since I (unfortunately) don’t remember everything exactly, and did not tape the show, which, looking back, I should have done.
So, me and a good friend of mine went to the Jason Mraz concert in the “Kaufleuten”, which is a renowned club and lounge in Zürich, we arrived just early enough to place ourselves somewhere in the middle of the first two thirds of the hall, with some hundred other exited people (some more than others).
Image courtesy by evamaria_n
Opening (on 19:30) for Jason Mraz was Ingrid Michaelson, a New York-based indie-pop singer-songwriter (according to Wikipedia), she talked and joked a little and played some of her songs, I heard her for the first time and was quite impressed, she has a beautiful voice and her music is the style I like. She played (Please feel free to comment, if I have missed a song or when the order is wrong):
Be OK
Keep Breathing
Giving Up
Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Image courtesy by evamaria_n
After that (and a short wile of waiting) Jason Mraz came on stage, together with Toca Rivera and Ian Sheridan. Here’s what I remember of the songs they played, the order is somewhat random, though I tried to order them correctly, that means, the songs are somewhat in the right place.
Make It Mine
Unfold
Conversation With Myself
Peg (A song by Steely Dan)
Remedy
Lucky (with Ingrid Michaelson)
Live High
Dynamo of Volition (A song by )
Mary Jane (A funk-song they had been experimenting on just before the show, so I guess it was the first time they played it.)
I’m Yours
Ain’t Got No Dope
You And I Both
Life Is Wonderful
If It Kills Me
Butterfly
And lastly some unordered impressions:
- During the whole show there was this guy somewhere in the back, and he was always shouting stupid stuff, he didn’t sound drunk but he acted as though he was, which was kinda funny at first but became annoying very fast. ;)
- There was a girl in the front who apparently had birthday just that day and her friends were shouting, that it’s her birthday, Jason finally noticed them and stated that it was a tradition for all the birthday girls on his shows to come on stage and get naked, which she then sadly didn’t do. ;)
- The last forth of the concert Jason played Ingrid’s Ukulele (Oh, did a mention that? Ingrid played all her songs, except one, with an Ukulele) instead of his acoustic guitar. (Here’s a video of that.) And I was always hoping he wold begin to play Smells Like Teen Spirit.
- Jason talked about our modern patchwork religions, using the analogy of a salad buffet, where anyone can choose a little of anything he likes and put it together and finally have his own kind of salad and be happy about it.
- There are some videos on YouTube, but the turnout has been way smaller than I expected.
- It was the first concert of Ingrid Michaelson outside the US.
So that’s all for now. I am still hoping that there are more videos out there, so I’ll keep searching and I’ll put them on here when I find them. I’m also hoping, that someone taped the show, because it was simply great, and I though I saw some one tapeing, so if it turns up, I’ll be posting it here as well.
I would also, very much, like your comments. If you have something to add or to correct, please feel free to write, thanks.
Review of “The Village Sessions” - John Mayer
- 15/09/2008
- No comments
Oh, just buy it, for god’s sake! ;)
John Mayer’s “The Village Sessions” is a beautiful, fitting, acoustic live album. I’m a little disappionted that it is so short (just 6 tracks) but hey, one track outshines the other, so what more is there to ask for.
If you want a post-Continuum live album, this certainly is the one to go on.
5/5
1. Waiting On The World To Change (feat. Ben Harper) (2:52)
One, Two, Three, Four…
This is the song with which John Mayer advertised for his 4th studio album “Continuum“, this live version is as beautiful and encouraging as ever, although not as rebellious, a little too smooth for my taste. (Probably Ben Harper’s involvement has something to do with that) But very clean, there are choruses in the background, I particularly like the acoustic guitar in this one. And the ending is great.
2. Belief (3:44)
Another song from “Continuum”, the acoustic guitars work very well again, this version draws even more power form the piece itself, the rhythm and the melody because the instrumentation is as sparely as possible.
3. Slow Dancing In A Burning Room (3:53)
This is probably one of my favorites form “Continuum”, though it is really hard to tell, since there are just exceptionally great songs in “Continuum”. For this song, acoustic is perfect. Since it is a kinda sad piece, the less instruments there are, the better it fits, and the solo in the middle is even more beautiful, it almost is as if he makes the guitar sing. Oh, yeah, this song definitely is my favorite form this album. You should buy it just to be able to listen to this song, seriously.
4. Good Love Is On The Way (3:24)
The first Non-Continuum song on “Village Sessions”, I first thought this was a cover, but it apparently is not. It’s from “Try!“, an album John Mayer made with Steve Jordan and Pino Palladion. It’s a little more bluesy than the previous ones. And again, nicely arranged, but it has lost power compared to the Try!-version.
5. I’m Gonna Find Another You (2:47)
What is there to say, I’ve said it all already. The tuned down, acoustciness works great with this song as well. Above all with this song it produces a certain vulnerability that really fits.
6. In Repair (5:47)
Once again: Acoustic! I love the solo, the tone of the guitar is so warm, and it really starts to rock in the end. Great!
Review of “Live at Lestats (April 15, 2004)” - Jason Mraz
- 03/09/2008
- No comments
This picture is not actually from the 15. April 2004, but hey, it’s at Lestats too, at least.
This is probably the best live bootleg I know of a Jason Mraz show. It’s a little short but the sound quality is flawless, Jason’s voice is perfect as always and the songs are mostly live debuts and very good as well. Additionally there are some funny intermezzi, which make this album even more enjoyable to listen to.
You can get it here.
5/5
1. Intro (0:36)
A little intro with Mraz saying “I’ve been in my apartement for a long time and I’ve been singing these new songs. You never know If a song is good until you leave your apartement.”
2. Flying My Guilt Over A Quilt (4:22)
Later known as “Plane” a song about his (at that time) current girlfriend and their long distance relationship. This definitely is one of my favorite versions of “Plane”, its wonderfully clean and raw and very exciting and powerful at the same time. It’s just Mraz playing his acoustic guitar and singing, no other distracting instrumentation. I also love the variation of the tempo and volume.
3. “Your clapping totally threw me off” (0:43)
Mraz begins playing for the next song, but has to stop, because the clapping of a viewer throws him off. And Mraz jokes around a little. Very funny to listen to.
4. Warming Up (4:38)
A very relaxed, more intro-like (though too long for that) song. This is the only recording I have seen this song on, so you could say it’s a rarity. It’s also the first time Jason played this song in front of a larger (in this case about one-hundred people) audience.
5. Fine Dining (4:28)
Another first recording, and again the only recording of this song I know of, which, in my opinion, is strange, since this song is one of my favorites of all songs I know of Jason Mraz. It’s overall very mraz-like, incredibly funny lyrics, a catchy melody, gorgeous acoustic instrumentation (just the guitar again).
6. “I brought some CD’s” (1:01)
Intro to “Song For A Friend”, but in the middle of it Jason remembers, that he brought some CD’s of covers he did, which he wasn’t allowed to sell, as turned out, so he’s giving them away to the audience.
7. Song For A Friend (4:25)
A song Jason wrote for one (I don’t know if any in particular) of his male friends. Again, very clean, overall a beautiful acoustic version without any ballast.
8. What It Takes (4:34)
A version of “Life is Wonderful”, probably also my favorite version of this song (so you see, this recording is, though short, quite excellent)
Live Bootlegs
- 03/09/2008
- No comments
I am going to review some excellent live bootlegs, therefore I have decided to explain some things about live bootlegs and I’ll also talk a little about lossless audio files (and converting them into more handy types).
Live bootlegs are recordings of live music shows/appearances, they are recorded by fans with equipment of varying quality. In most cases live bootlegs are not explicitly allowed or even forbidden, but in some cases (like Jason Mraz) the artist himself encourages bootlegging, and also allows the distribution of bootlegs through the web.
Where do I get live bootlegs?
You could try googling, or just go to archive.org.
Now what’s the deal with these odd audio formats (such as Flac or Shorten) you might ask:
Well, let me put it this way. If you record a piece of music, you will get a file of about 30-50 MB at size. This is the raw audio data, and it is called “lossless” because all the data recorded is in that file, nothing has been lost. Then there are lossless compressions, that means the file size of an audio file is shrunken without any actual data being lost. SHORTEN or FLAC for example are such audio formats, the file size with these should be around half of the uncompressed audio file.
You can also compress an audio file with a “lossy” audio format, that means in order to decrease the file size some of the data will be deleted (this will be sound you can’t actually hear with your ears, because the frequency is way to high (or low)), that way you can achieve an audio file with about one tenth of the size of the original lossless, uncompressed audio file.
Now, as I said, bootleggers distribute their recorded music as lossless audio files (they do that, so that the quality of the files won’t degrade through sharing) but for most people these files are way too big, so you will want to reduce their size by converting them into a lossy audio format. (Also most portable music players won’t be able to play lossless audio files)
There are several free and open source applications for various operation systems that can do that for you, here are some. If you run into troubles, need more help or other programs, don’t hesitate to write a comment and I’ll look into it. Because so far I’ve only worked with soundKonverter (I, almost exclusively, use Linux).
- http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/ (for Windows)
- Switch (for Mac)
- soundKonverter (for Linux)
Review of “Hello…x” - Tristan Prettyman
- 27/08/2008
- No comments
So let’s start with reviewing Tristan Prettymans new great album “Hello…x“. Just to get it out of the way: The new album is nowhere near her debut, which is probably the best album ever released. (or so says my music player) But let’s cut to the chase. This album is quite diversed, driven by Tristan Prettyman’s unique and beautiful voice. It has bluesy and jazzy elements, lots of pop, rock and folk. It’s almost never dull and quite enjoyable. There’s some clapping, a lot of acoustic guitar, some piano and string, occasionally.
I might need some getting used to, especially if you have already come to know and love her debut but it’s definitely worth every minute (of total 50) of listening.
4/5
1. Hello (3:25)
The first track on the album (obviously), there’s the evermore stylish clapping, some (a little) quirky guitar play and Prettyman’s smooth, sometimes somewhat edgy voice. And there’s also some off-beat singing, which I really dig. Overall a good start.
2. Echo (3:38)
It starts with a really nice guitar tune, and makes you tap your toes (at the very least), then there’s some nice e-piano underlying, a little e-guitar as well. This song really has power and groove. (although some people might argue about the power, as always. But it’s just not about the volume and speed, when I mean power)
3. California Girl (3:58)
I had my difficulties liking this tune at first, maybe it’s a little too slow and uneventful for me, but there’s at least a short e-guitar solo at the end (the bright yellow-white part in the picture above). Definitely not my favorite song on this album, but there are plenty…
4. Madly (3:19)
Damn, I just like that guitar. And oddly enough I really like the drums (I never seem to notice them enough in other songs to actually appreciate them). Then there’s that clapping again (who started that anyway? Paolo Nutini?) The chorus is a little dull, to be honest, but it’s never the less a good sond.
5. Blindfold (3:58)
A very stripped down song, no unnecessary instruments, the focus almost just on Prettymans’s voice. (Which is good, by the way) It let’s you concentrate on the beautiful lyrics. It’s a little slow at first, but then just a little over the half it starts to get a little mor spirited.
6. Handshake (3:47)
Some quirky, squeaking guitars again, I don’t really enjoy it as much as the other songs until the piano starts getting louder and Tristan prettyman starts to absolutely rock (honkey-tonk style), at which point I am absolutely enjoying myself (yes, definitely more than just toe-tapping - unless I’m in some very public place, of course).
7. War Out Of Peace (3:49)
Oho, this doesn’t sound too much like Prettyman a first, just not enough acoustic. I like the broadening of her musical horizon, actually I find that this song would make a great soundtrack (in fact I think it sounds a lot like the soundtrack of “The Holiday” with Kate Winselt and Jude Law, which I now absolutely can’t confirm, listening to it on youtube ;), well, whatever. Oh, wait allright there it is, I just wasn’t patient enough. (Here, listen for yourselves)). This song is so full of potential to be fullfilled, so much optimism and pathos. (Also a little like Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida”)
8. You Got Me (3:24)
Probably my favorite. Nice lyrics, cool guitarplay, slow enough, but never boring. What is there more to say? Ah yeah, off-beat singing. :D Ok, that’s it definitely my favority although I can’t really explain why…
9. Don’t Work Yourself Up (3:41)
Melancholic, raw and … damn, off-beat singing. ;) (Alright I’ll stop…) I like the flow between those raw, stripped periods, where you almost just hear her voice and the full and loud periods that sound exuberant and almost optimistic. It’s the contrast that make this song great.
10. A Little Bit (3:40)
A bluesy track, which definitely proves that Prettyman’s style has become more varied. Overall a pretty much average track and in the end there’s a cool chorus repeating the refrain.
11. Interviews (3:32)
I especially like the acoustic guitar in this track. “Interviews” has a quite catchy melody. I mean what’s not to like about this song…
12. In Bloom (3:47)
A piano-driven ballad with accompanying strings. The character of this track, however, is dictated (once more) by Tristan Prettyman’s beautiful voice. The comparison to Norah Jones can most definitely not be dismissed. I find that Norah Jones tend to be lighter (in a good sense), but they also tend to build much less tension and are therefore a little less interesting (in general, though you can argue with me here. But as a fact I also like Norah Jones music very much, it’s just not as “rocking” as Tristan Prettyman’s)
13. God Gave Me Patience (3:46)
Another ballad…
So light the day
And invite me to stay
‘Cause now I see
I was always on my way
Just a little late
14. Hummingbirds (2:50)
A lighthearted, up-beat kinda song, the ideal finish, in my opinion. And this song really does the album justice.
LastGraph - Pretty graphs for last.fm users
- 23/07/2008
- No comments
LastGraph is an ingenious, truly gorgeous web-application developed by Andrew Godwin that gives you, as last.fm user the uncanning ability to shove your entire listening history (or parts of it - you decide) up the lastGraph engine, chose a fitting design (from “Ocean” to “Green”, examples available) and receive a little later (waiting in the queue for your turn, and then rendering the graph takes it’s time) a beautiful graph, either as .pdf or in a scalable vector graphcis format (.svg). Here an example how it could look like:
But hey, wait, you thought that was all? Well, guess again. LastGraph also provides you with a neat timleline graphic, showing how much you listened to music over your whole last.fm career, then there’s the artist history, with timelines for each artist. You can also download your data, if you want to do something with it (possibly even prettyer graphs), and least but not least: The interface created to access all these functions, ist impressively usable and clean.
So: Check it out.
Review of “We sing, we dance, we steal things” - Jason Mraz
- 21/07/2008
- No comments
I would not say, that “We sing, we dance, we steal things” is Jason Mraz’s best album yet. It is just so hard to pick a favorite. I would say it most certainly is Jason’s cleanest album, maybe also his most varied (with many influences, from funk, jazz, R&B, folk, rap and electro), although “Mr A-Z” was quite varied already. The tracks on this album differ quite a bit from what you would hear live from Jason, much more than they did on the previous albums, perhaps it is just because his style is changing (or expanding), and I’m not quite sure how I like it. Don’t get me wrong, all the songs are great, I love this album. Like many great albums it needs some investment to really love, but the songs are steadily getting better, the more you listen to them, this is a quality that is very rare, especially concerning pop albums, so I’m glad Jason pulled it off.
5/5
1. Make It Mine (3:08)
A very clean, optimistic, upbeat song, nicely instrumented, an inspiring trumpet (?) solo (did I mention, that I love solos?). There certainly is no flaw in this song.
2. I’m Yours (4:04)
The already famous “I’m Yours” (from Jason’s live performances), the lyrics are just ingenious and so funny, the first time I heard the song live (in Lucerne) i had to laugh. This version is not as playful, as others I’ve heard, never the less a great song, extremely catchy melody, there’s very sunny, almost Jamaican feel to it. A live gem, that finally got the attention it deserved.
3. Lucky (3:10)
A smooth, harmonic duet (with Colbie Caillat) about nothing less than the perfect love. I especially like the flow of this song and it’s kind of “old” feel to it.
4. Butterfly (5:00)
An ode on sexual chemistry. Very funny lyrics again, this song just rocks, underlined with a fitting brass section, quite funky and extremely catchy. I just love those horns.
5. Live High (4:12)
I’ve heard this for the first time as a version that Jason sung walking through some French city, and absolute loved it. This version of course, is not as acoustic, not as raw, but it still is quite brilliant. An empowering refrain, cool background choruses. Overall: Strong, at times almost ecstatic and very optimistic.
6. Love for a Child (4:06)
A wonderfully melancholic track about having your parents divorce. “And they never to check to see my grades, what a fool I’d be to start complaining?”. With this song Jason once more proves how good a storyteller he is. With this song he proves once and for all, that it’s not just all about the wordplay.
7. Details in the Fabric (5:46)
It starts off a little like “Plane” (maybe it’s just because of the distorted (radio-like) voice) and becomes a guitar-heavy ballad. Sometimes it sounds like Damien Rice, or David Gray. It is somewhat too depressing a first, but I find it gets better as the song progresses.
8. Coyotes (3:38)
Just another new facet, Jason and electro-pop, certainly not my taste, but oddly enough it fits. In the end there are actually some kinds (or so it sounds to me) singing (or rather shouting) with him, which is just great, and gives this song just so much more power. (The multiple choruses in general do.) And there is also some opera singing (like in Mr. Curiosity)
9. Only Human (4:03)
“The planet’s talking about a revolution”, Jason’s hint in the direction of environmentalism, but without blaming anyone, it makes you think though. Primarily it’s just a good song, with a great chorus.
10. The Dynamo of Volition (3:37)
Definitely my favorite. Another tongue twisting wordplay.
I do not keep up with statistics
I do not sleep without a mistress
I do not eat unless it’s fixed with
Some kind of sweet like a licorice
My home is deep inside the mystics
I’m known to keep diggin’ on existence
I’m holdin’ in the heat like a fish stick
And my phone it beeps because I missed it
Just ingenious because of the mad and sometime unexpected rhyming, (this is modern poetry).
11. If It Kills Me (4:34)
I’m never quite sure whether this piano ballad (highlighted with strings) is optimistic (I find it is at most times) or melancholic - I suppose it’s a little of both. But I certainly like it.
12. Beautiful Mess (5:36)
A beautiful ballad, a little like “Please Don’t Tell Her”. Jason’s flawless voice turns this song into a masterpiece.
Visualizing Amarok Moodbar .mood files
- 16/07/2008
- 1 comment
For this blog (and the use of .mood files in my posts) I have searched for a little script to visualize .mood files of the Amarok Moodbar and actually found a tiny little python script.
It can be found here: .mood visualization script (And here ist the page I found it on).
What is it with these strange pictures by the songs of music reviews?
- 15/07/2008
- No comments
Long title, I know, sorry.
But I decided not to name it “Amarok Moodbar in my music reviews” because, most won’t know what that it means and to explain that is the aim of this post.
There is a great open source music player called Amarok (for Linux and Unix) and there is a plugin for Amarok called Moodbar, it gives Amarok the ability to produce a specific color-pattern for every song, which allows the user to better find specific points in the song. Or less scientiffically: If I want to easily find a guitar solo in a song, I just have to look at the Moodbar and will (after some getting used to) be able to find the start of the solo.
You can read about the concept behind the moodbar, and how it is generated in this paper.
Review of “Gavin DeGraw” - Gavin DeGraw
- 15/07/2008
- 1 comment
With his incredible debut album Gavin DeGraw set the stakes very high, and now, sadly, fails to deliver. There are some songs, that are almost as good as the ones on “Chariot” (the debut), but there are also the mediocre titles, such as “Let it Go” or “We Belong Together”. The album is a little over-produced, too mainstream and often lacks the ingenuity and soul of “Chariot”.
All this doesn’t make “Gavin DeGraw” ab bad album, not even a mediocre one. It undoubtedly is a good album. There are several very catchy, good songs, but there are also songs, that disappiont. But compared to “Chariot” it just isn’t as good.
4/5
1. In Love With A Girl (3:27)
This song is about the power of love and it rocks (no surprise, they made it a single). It’s loud, fast and there are a lot of drums and heavy guitars.
2. Next To Me (Wait A Minute Sister) (3:26)
One of my favorites, a very catchy song about a (possibly) unfulfilled love.
3. Cheated On Me (3:39)
A ballad about how jealousy can drive loved ones away, unfortunately, in my opinion a little uneventful and definitely more mediocre songs on this album.
4. I Have You To Thank (3:27)
Starts almost the exact same way as “I Don’t Want To Be” from Gavin’s first album and then turns in to a cool, funky, strong tune. I especially love the bridge and the ending.
5. Cop Stop (3:24)
This song starts terribly, but gets much better with an ingenious, powerful refrain.
6. Young Love (4:08)
A ballad again, very melodic, starts of quite slow, dramatic, but in the last third it thankfully gets a little more exciting.
7. Medicate The Kids (3:19)
Probably one of the best songs on this album, about parents drugging their children. This songs really stands out not just because of the lyrics (they’re funny in a very concerning way ;) ) but also because it is extremely catchy melody and great bridge.
8. Relative (4:12)
A great, rocking song with a little funky lyrics, an awesome (”Jason Mraz”-like) bridge.
9. She Holds A Key (3:50)
This is my favorite song, a wonderful, strong, emotional ballad with great lyrics, rhymes and a superb ending.
10. Untamed (4:00)
A poppy tune, with a great bridge (again), and a very catchy, feel-good ending (with a little guitar solo - Oh I love those…).
11. Let It Go (3:49)
Sleeping pills? At least that was my first impression. Definitely much to depressing and slow, then there is this annoying refrain. This is by far the worst song on the album, the only one, that actually made me wind forward.
12. We Belong Together (5:30)
It’s a littley too clichéd and over-produced for me.
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