Serena Ryder

SERENA RYDER 

One of my top five favorite vocalists, Serena Ryder can take the cake. She has a wonderfully gravely, deep, bluesy, passionate and strong voice. Her voice is truly a gift and she could sing acappella and that would be alright with me. It would seem that nobody's heard of her, I mention her to people and they always say, "Who?" When really, it should be whom but I digress. 

 She's a songwriter as well, in fact, all five of my top favorite vocalists write their own songs and/or have written them for other, sometimes famous people. Her songwriting is unique and heartfelt. 

Serena Ryder needs to be heard. She's phenomenal. I'm going to try to include a video but so far, my Blogger isn't letting me use HTML and I can't add a video. I'll keep trying. If I ever get it on here, enjoy, dang it! 

 p.s. You can always go to YouTube and check her out.
Another p.s. I got this video and I'm so happy because it's the song that made me notice her.



 

The Civil Wars

THE CIVIL WARS 

 I simply adore The Civil Wars, especially the vocals of Joy Williams, who sings harmony and occasionally plays piano. She's so funny, their lyrics are all dark and depressing, yet she sings with a huge smile on her face, as if she's just so freakin' happy to be singing. 

 The Civil Wars are a duo, with John Paul White on guitar and vocals and Joy Williams accompanying him. They both write their songs and they are just so very gifted. They broke up not long ago and it broke my heart. I know they still had a lot of good music up their sleeves. However, I'm happy that they gave us as much music as they did, I treasure it. 

Please watch the video for their song, Poison and Wine. It's excellent. 

Love and peace, 
Kelli

Third Eye Blind (How's It Going To Be)

HOW'S IT GOING TO BE

This review is about Third Eye Blind but only about this one song because I'm not crazy about the rest of their stuff. 

 How's It Gonna Be is a great song that reminds me of an ex boyfriend. It's soulful and real and shows off Third Eye Blind's unique style. Watch the video and think of me with my crazy, brilliant, old boyfriend who looked like a cross between a Stray Cat and Franenstein.

Making Room for the Positive

Making Room for the Positive

I have made a vow to myself to only allow positive things and people into my life. In order to do this, I've been cleaning out all the negative things in my life. To start with, I stopped listening to watered down, lousy pop radio and switched to Pandora and increased the quality of my daily life ten fold. Secondly, I stopped drinking nasty tap water and started buying good water (I drink a lot of water). Then, last but not least, I dumped a bad friend out of my life. He was rude, insensitive and weird, and not in a good way. I've been hanging out with him for two years and he was annoying at the very least. I haven't made many friends since I moved to Topeka and I guess I was just desperate for a friend. But I decided I'd rather be alone than hang out with a guy who got on my damned nerves. 

In order to allow only positive, I think I need to get rid of all the negative first. I'm making great progress and I'm rather proud of myself. I'm going a to have a major life change in the not-so-distant future. I'm going to win my disability and move to Portland, Oregon and start a simple life of my own. 

Just wanted to share. Have a great day!

Love and peace,
Kelli

Primus (2)

PRIMUS (2)

Since writing a short blog about Primus a while back, I've heard a lot more of them and would like to update that blog here.

I mean, wow! Primus is freakin' killer. Their drums and bass are incredible. They've quickly become one of my favorite bands and I just love them. They are a hard, rockin' band with delightful lyrics. They're very comical and creative. I'm proud to ever have known Tim Alexander. You just have to hear him to believe it. Go back to my original blog about them and watch the video. Go on, I dare ya.

Iron and Wine

IRON AND WINE

Now we're talking. My brother turned me onto Iron and Wine and I was pleasantly surprised when I realized they were the ones who did Flightless Bird, American Mouth, which I already knew from the Twighlight soundtrack and in fact, is my favorite song from that album.

 Singer, song writer , Samuel Beam is a true poet and his poetry is set to quiet and mellow music and I absolutely love him. He writes stream of consciousness poetry and his vocals make love to his words and I savor them like a fine wine. It's listening music. I put the lyrics up every time one of their songs come on my radio.

 So, watch the video and read the lyrics  and enjoy.

 Love and peace,
Kelli



 

Everlast

Everlast is actually the stage name of musician, Erik Francis Schrody and I adore him. What It's Like is a phenominal song as are most of his songs which are heavy on the lyrics. What It's Like is a brutally honest and poetic song about the forgotten misfits in this world. The lyrics are heavy but the music is strong too, he reminds me a little of Sublime, with his funky rock music and low, gravely voice. 

 So far, I've not heard an Everlast song that I didn't love and I highly recommend listening to his songs with the lyrics up. 

 Love and Peace, 
Kelli

Why I Hate My Old Radio Station (some of the Other Stuff)

It's bad enough that I was stuck listening to pop music on my radio, as there are no good stations in this hick-ass part of the country. My only other options were classic rock or country, which I cannot abide listening to all the time. So, I settled for a pop station (majic 107.7). I would have it on all the time and kept the volume real low, just waiting for a very small handful of songs I liked. I'd say I absolutely hated 95% of the music and waited for that 5% of music I actually liked. Artists like Ed Sheeran and Christina Perry. Artists who, although they are much better than all the other pop shit, have broken into pop radio. I mean, good for them I guess, at least they're making some money. 

What finally put me over the edge was a commercial endorsing a tax that our lovely governor, Sam Brownback, whom I completely dispise, on cigarettes. He's proposing $1.50 tax on cigarettes per pack and my old station obviously endorses him. It's not that I have anything against political ads but when they don't play ads telling the other sides to the story, that makes it propaganda and I will not abide by that. 

So, I turned my radio off for good. Then, my sister, Dusti, reminded me to listen to Pandora, which I had forgotten about. It literally changed my daily life. I am so much happier listening to really good music and I love her for that. Pandora is an internet station that you basically create yourself. You pick the artists you like and put them on your list and then Pandora plays them and plays suggested songs as well. You can skip songs you don't like (which doesn't happen often) and you can pause it to go pee or whatever. It's freakin' awesome. I love that they play obscure stuff too. I really had no idea there was such good new music out there.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Love and Peace, 
Kelli

Three Doors Down (Here Without You)

THREE DOORS DOWN

I'm actually not all that crazy about 3 Doors Down but their song, Here Without You, happens to be one of my favorite songs in the world and it was my husband's and my song. So, this blog will focus on that one song.

The singer's name is Brad Arnold and in the video for Here Without You, he is so soulful and sexy. However, I've heard some of their live stuff and he's one of those performers who encourages the crowd to get into the songs and does things like having the crowd sing a whole verse of the song and that gets on my nerves. 

However! Here Without You is my favorite rock ballad in the world. The lyrics  are lovely and they totally fit me and my late husband to a tee. When he was alive, it was his song to me and now that he's gone, the song is perfect for me to him. I am, indeed, here without him. 

I'm including the beautiful video. Please watch it and listen to the words and think of me and Jimmy. Enjoy.

Love and Peace,
Kelli

Rickie Lee Jones

RICKIE LEE JONES

I'll mainly be talking about Rickie Lee Jones' first and second albums as her later stuff I can't seem to find the lyrics for, which makes it hard to critique.

I know her first, self-titled album intimately. I used to sing every word and I simply absorbed it.
Her poetry on her first and second albums astounds me. The arrangement of the music is phenominal as well. She's multi-talented and just so ultimately cool. 

When I was fifteen, Rickie Lee Jones was my hero. I even went so far as to go to Phoenix when I was about nineteen to stay in an old hotel that reminded me of her songs. The carpet was old and flowery. There were grand stairs and the old style, wooden reception desk complete with window and slots for mail. Old guys on their last dime hung around in the lobby where there was a t.v. The flashing hotel sign right outside our window made it perfect.

My favorite songs from Rickie Lee Jones are Easy Money, The Last Chance Texaco, Danny's All-Star Joint and Company. Easy Money is a hip, street-smart song with lyrics that really spin a tale, as most of her songs do. The Last Chance Texaco is a clever song about a man and his big rig. Danny's All-Star Joint is a happy, upbeat song with great lyrics about the owner of a jukebox joint. She slows it way down on Company, a sweet song about friendship and lonliness. 

She's a one-of-a-kind artist and poet and her songs are well crafted as well as well written. If you haven't noticed by now, I adore Rickie Lee Jones. 

Love and Peace,
Kelli 

  

Mazzy Star

MAZZY STAR

Mazzy Star is not a woman's name, it is a band. The true 'star' of the band, however, is the vocalist, Hope Sandoval. Her voice and style are truly unique and quite wonderful, I think. She, as well as Amy Winehouse (review #3), has a perfect score with the Pandora 'likes'. I love everything they do. 

Her vocals are soft and quiet, though not as much so as Margo Timmins of Cowboy Junkies. Their lyrics are poetic, a little more literate than the poetry I'm used to but lovely just the same. 

I don't think it's possible to stick them in a genre because they really are that unique. I think they're in a league of their own and I highly recommend them.

Love and Peace,
Kelli

 

Cowboy Junkies (The Trinity Sessions)

COWBOY JUNKIES

This review is mostly about one album, The Trinity Sessions. I've listened to it a million times and I've only heard a little of their newer stuff.

The Trinity Sessions was recorded in a church and it's a beautiful album. Margo Timmins' vocals are soft and floating. It's a very quiet album. I used to love listening to it as I fell asleep. If I was to play that album now, I'd know every word. The lyrics are gorgeous. They, like Iron and Wine and Nirvana, are poetry set to good music. I'm not comparing them except for the fact that they're alike in that way and that puts them high on my list of favorites.

Their songs are haunting, bordering on creepy at times and I love that. I liked falling asleep to them because her vocals are soothing, almost hypnotic.

They take me back to my times in Tulsa, where I listened to that album endlessly. Those were good times. In the four years I lived on my own in Tulsa, I was opened up to a lot of good music, both locally and recorded. Some of my fondest memories are from that time and this album, The Trinity Sessions, is one of them and I highly recommend it. If you only like hard, upbeat music, this album is not for you.

Love and Peace,
Kelli

Amy Winehouse

AMY WINEHOUSE

I'm skipping to Amy Winehouse because I'm listening to her right now. 

On Pandora, there's a place to 'like' or 'dislike' a song. Amy Winehouse has a perfect record. I've never not 'liked' one of her songs. I think she was phenomenal in her short career. She is way at the top of my list of favorite vocalists. Her voice was like velvet with a rough edge, so gravely and soulful.   She was unique to the core.

I get wrapped up in Amy Winehouse songs. I hope you do too.

Julee Cruise

JULEE CRUISE

I love Julee Cruise. Her voice and her song choices are haunting and mellow and lovely.

I heard a story about her collaboration with David Lynch. She was actually a theater singer with a lot of female singers working for her and her job was to find the right singer for his song on the movie, Blue Velvet. It turned out that David Lynch was very particular about what he wanted and turned down singer after singer. So, exasperated and even though she was a belt-it-out theater singer, Julee Cruise said, "You mean like this?" and she sang how she thought he wanted it, kind of sweet and ethereal and he said, "That's it!"

The rest, as they say, is history.

My favorite Julee Cruise song.

 

Primus

PRIMUS

Unfortunately, I'm just recently finally getting familiar with Primus. So far, I've loved every song I've heard on Pandora. They're up tempo and unique and funky. A little campy maybe. Good camp, not the cheesy kind of camp. 

The most noteworthy thing I can say about them is that I used to know the on again, off again drummer, Tim Alexander, when he was in his very first band, Major Lingo. He's the most excellent drummer I've ever watched and many other people say the same thing. He's extremely talented. One of the times he left Primus, he played with Blue Group for a while. 

One of my friends dated him. I don't date drummers.

Well, there you have it. My first review and it's nice and short.


That's Tim Alexander on the drums in the video. 

Why I'm Here

Well, hello y'all. I'm here because I have been reading a lot of music reviews and every time I read one, I think I could do better, so I'm here to prove it. I hope you all enjoy.

I'm going to review the artists I have on my Pandora list to begin with and then I'm going to review individual songs. 

My Pandora list:
Primus  *Julee Cruise *Cowboy Junkies  *Mazzy Star  *Rickie Lee Jones  *Alison Krauss  *Red Hot Chili Peppers  *Everlast  *Iron & Wine  *Grace Potter & The Nocturnals  *Kate Bush  *Sublime  *Coldplay  *Adele  *Ed Sheeran  *The Civil Wars  *Christina Perri  *Serena Ryder  *ABBA  *Tori Amos  *Dixie Chicks  *Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova  *Alanis Morissette  *Fiona Apple  *Bonnie Raitt  *Amy Winehouse  *Sheryl Crow  *Snow Patrol  *Keane   *Muse  *Third Eye Blind  *Nirvana  *Radiohead  *Live  *3 Doors Down