SotW: Closer by Tegan and Sara Sunday, Feb 10 2013 

music thisgaudygildedstage 3:04 pm

Since it will be Valentine’s Day later this week, I thought I should return to my songs of the week and find something appropriate for the “holiday,” or whatever it is.

I first heard “Closer” on the radio, and I’ve been meaning to listen to the album ever since. Our wireless has been somewhat intermittent over the past couple of days, but I finally had a chance to download and start listening to Tegan and Sara‘s new album, Heartthrob.

Tegan and Sara are twins from Canada who also happen to be lesbians. They’re generally labelled indie-rock, but they seem more mainstream than that to me (in a good way). They may now be my second favorite lesbian band after Lovers! So far, I’m enjoying the album, the first one I’ve bought this year, and I love this lyric:

All you think of lately is getting underneath me
All I dream of lately is how to get you underneath me

Sexy and fun! You can see the song’s full lyrics after the break.

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Favorite Albums of 2012 Friday, Feb 8 2013 

music thisgaudygildedstage 3:37 pm

Continuing my week of favorite music from last year, today’s post is about my favorite albums of 2012. Making this list was particularly difficult, since there were several albums that I really liked almost equally. So, the rankings below feel almost completely arbitrary — there’s little to distinguish one album from another on my list. But here goes anyway!

My favorite album of 2012 was Put Your Back N 2 It by Perfume Genius. This is PG’s sophomore album. His first CD, Learning, was my favorite album of 2010, so it’s safe to say that I love his music. In particular, I like that his albums feel like artistic wholes rather than just a bunch of disconnected singles. Two of his tracks appeared on my favorites songs and videos lists, so I thought I would add a different sample here: “Take Me Home.”

His music feels raw and real — he’s writing about real life and the struggles people go through, the feelings we all feel sometimes but are afraid to acknowledge out loud. It’s very powerful music. But I also like that he’s clearly grown as an artist since his first album. As much as I loved that one, this one is broader in its musicality and feels like a big step forward in conveying PG’s messages. It’s a great album.

Second on my list is Iris Dement’s Sing the Delta. I was a little ambivalent when I first started listening to it, but after hearing her sing many of the songs from this album in person, I fell in love with it. Her music is so much slower and more thoughtful than anything we hear on the radio today that I think it takes getting in the right frame of mind to really appreciate it. One of my favorite tracks off the album is “Morning Glory,” which I think is emblematic of Dement’s brand of music:

I really hope that Dement is inspired to put out another album soon — the world needs her music.

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Favorite Music Videos of 2012 Tuesday, Feb 5 2013 

music thisgaudygildedstage 7:02 pm

On Sunday I posted my annual list of favorite songs/tracks of the previous year. Today I’ll list my favorite music videos of 2012. Be warned: my taste in videos tends towards the really, really gay!

1. At the top of my list is Father Tiger’s Christmas themed video, “On Christmas Day”:

I love the hipster, bearish Santa Claus, the good will message, and the modern take on Christmas. And the song is great — I would have listed it among my top ten songs of the year but I somewhat arbitrarily decided I didn’t want to include a Christmas song in that list. I’m really looking forward to this duo’s releases this year.

2. Number 2 on my list is Pink’s “Try,” a video that beautifully uses dance as a metaphor for the ups and downs of a relationship:

This video reportedly made Pink’s mother uncomfortable, but I think it’s a beautiful video as long as one takes it as metaphor rather than as a romanticizing of domestic violence. This is another song that could easily have been on my top 25 list but just didn’t quite make it. And Colt Prattes is hot!

3. Next up is Mika’s video for “Origin of Love,” one of my favorites songs of the year:

I love how ambitious this video is. It’s like a mini-movie rather than just a music video — as one reviewer put it, it’s cinematic. And Jorge Arecheta is hot — male hotness is a frequent theme in my favorite videos!

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Favorite Songs of 2012 Sunday, Feb 3 2013 

music thisgaudygildedstage 4:10 pm

Every year, I compile a list of my favorite songs/tracks of the previous year. I’ve been meaning to blog this year’s list for the past two months; today I’m going to finally do it. Unlike last year’s list, this year’s is arranged roughly in order of preference, starting at the top:

My favorite song of 2012 is M Ward’s “Crawl after You”:

Ward’s 2009 album Hold Time was my favorite album that year, but this is the first time that one of his songs is my favorite. I love everything about this song, especially the thought that one feels compelled to crawl after the one you love and tell them who you are. It seems like an apt metaphor for life (or maybe just relationships). I also love the violin solo.

2. Mika’s “Origin of Love” is a close second on my favorites list this year:

It’s catchy and, like M Ward’s “Crawl after You,” a great love song. I guess maybe 2012 was a year of love for me! I  love the sentiment of pushing aside the crap that comes from what religion tells us about love and its origins. And the video is great — reminds me of  Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

3. Number three on my list is Perfume Genius’s “Normal Song.” Here’s a live version from YouTube:

I love this song’s lullaby-like quality. It’s a tender and beautiful song.

4. Of Monsters and Men’s “Love Love Love” is number four on my list. This is also a live version YouTube:

I love this song’s treatment of forbidden love and desire. I haven’t really been in this situation, but I feel like this song would describe exactly what I felt if I were in this situation.

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My New Barbara Cook Obsession Sunday, Mar 11 2012 

music and theater thisgaudygildedstage 9:24 pm

When Barbara Cook was honored during the Kennedy Center Honors earlier this year, I didn’t know who she is — I was just watching to see the Meryl Streep tribute! I was a little bummed last night, and I thought to myself that I should reconnect with something that made me happy when I was younger. The first thing that came to mind was my youthful devotion to Broadway soundtrack albums (of course!). I started browsing on iTunes, and when I came across some Barbara Cook albums, it initiated my newest obsession.

Miss Cook is, without a doubt, a musical genius. I can’t believe I’ve gone nearly 42 years without knowing about and worshiping her! One of my favorite Broadway love songs as a kid was from The Music Man: “Til There Was You.” Imagine my joy when I learned that Cook originated the role of Marion the Librarian! Here’s her version of the song:

She won a Tony award for her performance in this show.

My newest favorite Broadway song is “Losing My Mind” from Follies. Cook has a great version of this too!

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Favorite Songs/Tracks of 2011 Sunday, Feb 19 2012 

music thisgaudygildedstage 7:48 pm

I’m finally ready to do my annual post about my favorite songs and tracks of the previous year. I’ve had the list for a while; I just haven’t had time to write the post.

This year, however, I’m going to do it a little differently. Instead of listing the songs in some sort of order of preference (which in the past has only been a step above being random), I’ve decided to choose my favorite and then list the rest alphabetically. This seems a more honest way of presenting the songs that I’ve loved during 2011.

My favorite song of last year was “What the Water Gave Me” by Florence and the Machine:

I hadn’t really listened to Florence and the Machine’s first record, but I loved Ceremonials. This is my favorite of several tracks on the album. I appreciate this song’s allusions to Virginia Woolf and Frida Kahlo. It’s a smart, beautiful song that’s perfect for singing along with at the top of your lungs while driving!

I’ll post the rest of my list after the break.

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SotW: “I Won’t Give Up” by Jason Mraz Monday, Jan 30 2012 

music and song of the week thisgaudygildedstage 7:12 pm

The first Song of the Week of 2012 is Jason Mraz’s new single, “I Won’t Give Up,” which I love!

I love Mraz’s music — his last album, We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things, was especially great — so I’m looking forward to his new album, which is set for release sometime this year. In the meantime, this song is a beautiful one!

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SotW: Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye Thursday, Dec 22 2011 

music and song of the week thisgaudygildedstage 10:51 am

I heard Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” in the car recently and immediately fell in love with it:

Gotye was born in Belgium but grew up in Australia. After listening to this song a few times, I tried out some of the other tracks on Gotye’s new album, Making Mirrors, which is great, and so I bought it. It’s now one of my favorite albums of 2011. Gotye has been compared to Sting, especially in his interest in drawing on various forms of world music, which seems an apt comparison.

Part of what makes this song great, of course, is that he inserts the woman’s point of view, underlining the male perspective, who ultimately comes across as kind of whiny. I think this is bloody brilliant! It’s also risky. I love it.

I also found a great live version of “Somebody I Used to Know”:

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Follies: A Review Sunday, Dec 18 2011 

music and New York and theater thisgaudygildedstage 4:32 pm

As is our annual tradition, PJ and I spent a week in New York this past week. The first show we saw this year was the revival of Sondheim’s Follies, which is great! We saw Bernadette Peters in A Little Night Music last year, and so we couldn’t wait to see her in this show too.

Follies takes place on the night before an old theater is being torn down to make room for a parking lot. To say goodbye to the old place, Mr. Weismann, the former producer of “Weismann’s Follies,” hosts a party in the theater for a group of his former performers.

Here’s a quick look at these ladies:

While the former “Weismann girls” remember days gone by, two couples become the focus of the show’s plot: Buddy and Sally Durant Plummer and Benjamin and Phyllis Rogers Stone. Sally and Phyllis were showgirls, and Buddy and Ben are the guys who courted and then married them. The “ghosts” of the past take the stage throughout the show, showing us this courtship and the couples’ interactions. It soon becomes clear that Sally, played by Peters, and Ben had an affair before their respective marriages and that Sally is still in love with Ben.

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SotW: Take a Bow by Matt Alber Tuesday, Dec 13 2011 

music and song of the week thisgaudygildedstage 10:42 pm

Last week I bought Matt Alber’s new album, Constant Crows. I haven’t had a chance to really listen to it carefully yet, but so far I really like its quiet, acoustic sound. Alber is most known, at least in gay circles, for his wonderful “End of the World,” a beautiful, romantic love song that had a great, Mad Men type video. I’ve been waiting for his follow-up all year.

One of the highlights that immediately stand out is his cover of Madonna’s “Take a Bow.” Here’s a live version I found on YouTube:

I’ve uploaded the album to my iPod so that I can listen to it more. “The River,” “Velvet Goldmine,” and “Tightrope” also stand out as potential favorites. I hope he puts out a video or two too — “End of the World” demonstrates that he has the video aesthetic to be a great video artist.

 

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