I love nice surprises especially when I discover something that goes against all my preconceived ideas. A few weeks ago, my friend Solly invited me to spend a Friday evening listening to music at the House of Blues with our respective better-halves. I accepted right away; we don’t get a chance to go out together too often because he is a paramedic/firefighter/SWAT with a busy schedule. I didn’t even worry about the possibility of missing a Playoff game between the Angels and the Yankees.

What I did worry about was what kind of music we would be listening to. I though it would have to be good because we were going to the House of Blues, even if this particular one is on Disneyland Drive. I became worried when my friend asked if it was okay that we were going to see Aimee Mann. “…Aimee who? Chick music?..” I asked and dropped the subject thinking that the selection had been influenced by his lovely wife. A little research confirmed my suspicions; Aimee’s latest release is best described as a novella narrating a road-trip taken by a couple having issues with their relationship: He is a drug addict; she is the singer/writer documenting every excruciating detail! For some reason, an old skit from Saturday Night Live popped into my head: Jon Lovitz wins a contest, the prize consists of spending a year in a cabin in the Alaskan wilderness with Jewel. He is totally excited about the prospect of non-stop loving action with the sexy singer but it turns out that Jewel is only interested in singing her woes, over and over, in that whinny-angry tone which I think is the perfect description for bad “chick music.”

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There is also good chick music and that is what I was surprised with. A lanky singer took the stage at the House of Blues and won over my complete attention. She has a distinctive voice, hazy and bright, forlorn and flirtatious, all at the same time. Even though she was dressed in jeans and a tee, her understated sophistication came through her music. Aimee Mann and her band are accomplished musicians, obviously enjoying themselves while entertaining their audience which with my exception, seems to have been following her career for the last twenty years. You can listen to a few tracks from her new album, “The Forgotten Arm,” on this album's webpage . I really liked her music from the “Lost in Space” album which you can listen to in its entirety on this album's webpage (Pick the Flash format) Check out her "Pavlov's Bell" video from the same album. It turns out that if like me, you were listening to “new wave” music in the 80’s, you probably have already listened to Aimee. Remember a song by ‘Til Tuesday which is not titled “Hush, Hush, Was So Scary” as I thought but "Voices Carry?” That was Aimee Mann with all that big hair and angst to match it, so typical of the wonderful eighties.

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Is there good chick music? Definitely! For me it all starts with Billie Holliday . That is why Madeleine Peyroux is one of my current favorites. Her voice has been compared to Billie’s but her style is all her own: Jazzy, soothing and above all happy, like a woman who is truly in love but not being beaten by her man like Billie. Both of her last albums “Dreamland” and “Careless Love” are filled with great music from start to end and it is the perfect accompaniment if you are lucky enough to find yourself with your chick, stuck in a room full of fragrant flowers and lit candles. You can listen to samples of all the tracks of the “Careless Love” album on Madeleine’s website . Don’t miss the video “Don’t Wait Too Long" and a live performance [rp] in Memphis, Tennessee. (If you have problems with the video buffering, refresh the page after a few seconds)

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Remember Fiona Apple ? What a bad, bad girl! I think her hypnotizing voice let’s her get away with the things she sings about. She must sing her love conquests into a trance before trouncing them and leaving them by the roadside. Maybe that is how she gets material for her songs. I am not sure how she got all the material for her new album “Extraordinary Machine” but I am glad it is finally released because it is very good. It turns out that this album was ready to be released back in 2003 but her record company shelved the project. The album was “leaked” on the web and it became so popular that her record company had no other choice than to release it; An interesting case study in the debate of “leaked” music on the web and its effects on the artists, the music studios and ultimately the listening public. Only one sample is available from her new album on her website but are otherwise posted all over the place. Listen to “Oh Sailor” [rp] or watch the video on Yahoo Music (You need to use IE, a Yahoo ID and suffer through some video ads.)

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I am sure you remember Nelly Furtado of “I’m Like a Bird” fame. What impressed me about that album “Whoa Nelly’ was of course, all the tracks that became so popular but also a bonus track that appears only on some versions of the CD. It is “Onde Estás.” When I first heard this song I could not believe what I was listening to because of its incongruity with the rest of the album. It is a hauntingly beautiful Portuguese Fado song which only makes sense when one learns that Furtado, as her last name hints, is of Portuguese descent. Nelly’s second album “Folklore” was released after she became a Mom and I think that experience has made her more beautiful and a better and more soulful singer. The album starts with “One-Trick Pony” which I took as an affirmation that she was back and not just another one-time wonder from the 2002 Grammies. It is great music, partly because she gets the Khronos Quartet to back her up and mainly because her voice is so beautifully strong. In some of the other tracks, you can hear her sing in Portuguese intermingled with her hip-hop mélange which she combines into a sound all of her own. Her website does not have many samples of her music but interestingly enough her webpage at Universal Music Canada (she is Canadian) has a few song samples from this album and a few nice videos. Don’t miss "Força” [rp] (Not the remix! I had trouble playing the videos with WinPlayer but they seems to play well in Quicktime and RealPlayer) As with my discovery in the bonus track for the “Whoa Nelly” album, I had another great discovery with “Island of Wonder” which incorporates DJ samples from a song by Brazilian Caetano Veloso . I have not yet fully heard Veloso’s version but the original “Tonadas de Luna Llena” [rp] was created by Venezuelan Simon Diaz . His “Tonadas” are based on music sung by Venezuelan cowboys while going about their daily chores, like driving cattle. You cannot get any more folkloric than that!

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I am not sure how to describe my next pick for “good chick music” other than to say it is like nothing you have ever heard before. The sound is best described as “globalized hip-hop” but if you buy her “Arular” CD at Borders, you are going to find it in the “Dance” section. That is so appropriate because as she herself insists, M.I.A. does not want to be categorized into anything. Maya Arulpragasam (M.I.A.) was raised in Sri Lanka, the daughter of a Tamil Tiger leader whose family escaped the turmoil of the former Ceylon for a better life in England. Is that what caught my attention about M.I.A? Her personal story? Not really! What caught my attention was the sound of one of her songs “Bucky Done Gun” [rp] which I knew I had heard on some “Funky Do Morro” samples of “funk hip-hop dance” music from the favelas (slums) of Brazil. It turns out that what I had probably heard was produced by Diplo a Southern Boy  from Mississippi, DJ/Producer extraordinaire whose “Piracy Funds Terrorism” was produced in collaboration with M.I.A. Talk about globalization! You may find her music too foreign, too strange or too modern but don’t dismiss it outright. You can listen to a good selection of her songs on her website . Don't miss her "Sunflowers" [rp] video. It’s great music to get re-energized while doing some late-night computer programming and an excellent way to impress your teenage daughter!

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Sorry, you will not find many links to MP3's on my blogs. If there are any, they have been publicly released by the artists or their record companies on their websites, mostly they are audio and video streams. There are plenty of places on the web where you can find MP3's: Some legal, some illegal. I am not about to pontificate about copyrights but I do believe in the ownership rights that artists have to their creations. Still, I think that what has happened as a result of the "sharing" is remarkable and somewhat positive. My suggestion is this: If you download free music from the internet and you like what you have discovered, buy a CD or track from the artist. Or better yet try to catch them live when they perform at a venue near you.

Labels: music