Music, music

[aprilstarchild]

I cannot believe I didn't check out Joanna Newsom before. She plays a pedal harp and sings along with it, and she's like nothing I've ever heard. (Certainly not traditional, not that it matters). I saw a video for her song called "Bean and Sprout" on YouTube and now I have to have her albums.

Someone commented something like, "It's like the first time I heard Bjork--I knew I liked it, but I couldn't figure out why." *LOL* Totally different vocal style IMHO of course, but definitely has that taste of other-worldly that I can't get enough of. Yeah.

In other News: Going to see the Portland Opera's performance of Norma, with the same woman who I saw Faust with. Oh Yes. The plot is about a Druid priestess in love with a Roman. I listened to some sound clip on the Portland Opera website and now I can't wait.

I hung out with Katrina a bit this morning, and we're going to NW 23rd tomorrow. She's never been to Lush, bwah ha ha. I have a gift certificate from Christmas burning a hole in my pocket.

I got some old clothes she no longer fits. Several items, I have no idea where I'm going to wear them, and I don't care, including a very 20's or 30's-style black dress with a handkerchief hem and white strips on the edges, and a prairie-style dress from I think the 70's made by a brand called Gunne Sax. Matter of fact, in the video for "Bean and Sprout", Joanna Newsom is wearing a dress very similar. Ha! Anyway, I was thinking it would make a great dress for Oregon Country Fair. I was thinking about making an old-school bonnet to wear this year, so it works. I have no idea sometimes why my mind goes where it does. I mean, bonnets? WTF?

I think I'll wear that black dress to the opera. With my heels. Yes.

*looks around online* Fuckin' A. I missed her show in Portland, in early December. And it was at the Aladdin, a short walk from here. *curses loudly*

What else? Need to go to US Bank and apply for work. Thinking about applying for the carpentry apprenticeship program, because something that keeps occuring to me, is that despite any urge I may have to be a nurse, I really like having my nights and weekends to myself.

The only computer that works on the internet is in jenhowell's room, so that's where I am. Oy. And that situation isn't likely to change until we move, which is something that's definitely going to happen in the next couple of months. No, our landlord has no desire to fix it. Ugh.

Comments

[tanjent.livejournal.com]

you might like Shannon Wright.

-tanjent

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

More info, please. :^)

[blakthorne.livejournal.com]

joanna newsom -- yum. she's definitely on my faves list.

emiliana torrini is good, too -- not the same thang, exactly, but the vocal quality and her narrative form... you might dig.

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

*nod* Duly noted, thank you.

I think I might be partial to Joanna simply because I play the harp as well...a much smaller harp, but a harp nonetheless. *lol*

[blakthorne.livejournal.com]

oh, neat! i could definitely see where the affinity would give rise to some preference. :)

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

*giggle* Yup! It's kinda like....people who play an instrument/do something specific, can truly appreciate when other people do that thing. As in, the hardest audience to bellydance for is other bellydancers. Or, I'll bet you know exactly what you're looking at when you see other people's photography. You think about the lighting, or why they chose to compose it that way, that sort of thing.

So when I hear someone playing a harp, my ear is sharper than someone else's would be. And Joanna is just....wow. People who play orchestral stuff are a dime a dozen, and folk harp amateurs like me are even more common, but people who play harp in unconventional ways always interest me. I think the fact that you can see her play on the video for "Sprout and Bean" is what grabbed me the most. Watching her technique is mesmerizing and beautiful. Plus the fact that she can play such complicated stuff and sing!

I have a DVD of a Bjork performance for the album Vespertine, which has a lot of harp, and watching her harpist (Zeena Perkins) just made my jaw drop. Holy moly!

Woo, I've had too much coffee.

[blakthorne.livejournal.com]

i hear ya on that -- it's one thing to be a layman and appreciate art for the sake of it with no knowledge, and another entirely to have some inkling of what the heck it is you're doing and to know the kind of .work. that goes into it.

i find myself getting snobbish about photography sometimes when i didn't have a clue in the past. it's kinda amusing, really, but then i also get .super. exited about people like heather corrina and katrina del mar. yum!

[axiom.livejournal.com]

Gah, that reminds me.

I have had one of Johanna's videos on my laptop, waiting to show it to you for...forever. A co-worker showed it to me originally after describing her as "Tori Amos, but on a Harp." I think he was referring to the "crazy genius magic girl" aspect of their personalities.

So, remind me next time you see me near my laptop.

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

Excellent!

Yeah, they both (and Bjork, IMHO) have that "crazy genius magic girl" thing goin' on.

That's an excellent way of describing it, too!

Hahaha I have her second album now, Ys. There's this part of one song that makes Jarrod and I laugh because she's like, "Oh ooh oh, oh ooh oh....desire!" So yeah, she basically makes this musical kinda-moaning noise and then says...desire. *LOL*