The Milk-Eyed Mender

Have you ever heard a song that was so good that it was all you listened to? Where every note played enthralled you to no end?

I have a song right now that is like that for me. It goes by the name Sawdust and Diamonds, and was written and composed by a woman named Joanna Newsom.

If you already have heard of her you have probably already formed an opinion as to whether or not you like her music. Personally, the first time I heard her I laughed because I thought it sounded ridiculous. With further listening, though, it was like the hard outer shell of the coconut was shed away and I had access to the sweet milk within.

People have described her music as folk, yet while she admits that it is folk informed, her and other people who understand how folk music is classified realize she doesn't actually play folk. So then they started giving it names like "neo-folk" or "new folk movement". Also her voice is the same, when people first hear it they might be turned away as I was at first, but those who have managed to give it a second chance describe it as childlike, or even like an old woman.

I don't think she sounds like either. I think that people are so ready to try and classify what she does that they try to compare it with what they already know. To put a label on it so they can understand it. The only problem is that she isn't quite any of the classifications or descriptions they have put to her. And so they find themselves struggling to explain just what it is she does. When what they really should be doing, is realizing that she can't be classified. She has found a style and sound all her own and it is unlike anything people have heard before, and as such can't properly be compared to anything. The only way to understand her sound is to hear it.

So any of you that are still reading and interested, I am going to provide you with the song 'Sawdust and Diamonds'. It was recorded live in Paris and isn't on any of her albums, and so is completely legal to download. Before you listen to this song realize that her voice might come off to you as odd, or unpleasant, but like the coconut, if you give it a chance you will find some wonderful music here. Also, I forgot to mention, she plays the harp. Forget all you conceptions about what you think a harp should sound like because it doesn't sound like that in her hands.


Sawdust and Diamonds, by Joanna Newsom


If you haven't stopped to listen to the song, do so now. If you have continue reading.

This song that I have just shared with you is an amazing work of art. I mean just look at a sample of the lyrics you just heard.

"there's a light in the wings
hits this system of strings
from the side while they swing;
see the wires, the wires, the wires

and the articulation
in our elbows and knees
makes us buckle and we couple in endless increase
as the audience admires

and the little white dove
made with love, made with love
made with glue and a glove and some pliers

swings a low sickle arc
from its perch in the dark
settle down
settle down my desire

and the moment i slept
i was swept up in a terrible tremor
though no longer bereft, how i shook
and i couldn't remember
and then the furthermost shake
drove a murdering stake in
and cleft me right down through my center
and i shouldn't say so
but i know that it was then or never"

It's not only that, she manages to change timings in her playing that would be difficult for even the most skilled of musicians. On top of that she plays both the rhythm and the lead on that same instrument. One on one hand, one on the other.

This isn't the only song that manages this either. She has many other wonderful works.

If you liked Sawdust and Diamonds, then I suggest you go here.

Go to the downloads section and check out some of her other unrecorded live works. Also, find her album in a store somewhere, which is entitled "The Milk Eyed Mender".

I had the happy experience of seeing her live at the Wexner Center for the Arts here in Columbus. It was one of the best shows I have ever been to.

If you didn't like it, I would suggest you give it a second chance, because you might just find the sweet center of the coconut.

Music Lovers: To Arms!

A good friend of mine is compiling a list of great album closers.

Go here.

Share your favorites.


Good Headphones.

Head phones can do an odd thing.

Besides being able to hear all the little mundane details of a song that you wouldn't normally hear when played over speakers (unless it's a nice surround sound set up), they also generate an illusion the music is coming from inside your head.

Since your ears are made to hear which direction sound comes from, and headphones are right up on your ears, then when sound comes from both phones with equal volume, it seems the sound comes from within your skull; Right in the middle. Hence when the volume on one ear becomes louder, or if a sound comes from only one ear then it sound like its coming from the right side of your head and so forth. It is this phenomena that makes me believe certain artists take headphones (or nice surround sound speakers) into account when making their music.

Bjork for instance, has this way of putting many little layers and details into a song until it is one big sound. Each of these little melodies and beats when heard alone wouldn't be much more then ambiance, but when put together along with her undeniably powerful voice make for a loud dynamic song.

The thing is, though, that when listened to on headphones, these songs become three dimensional. The sounds might come from only one ear, or they might slide back and forth. But she also manages to find some way to make them go in circles and loops, slush around in the bottom of your head like water, or explode like fireworks above your ears.

Imagine hearing a song, but with each individual beat, melody, or rhythm finding its own little niche inside your head. Or maybe they travel, they search, find their own little homes, then go hunting again to bring back the goods. (yes that was a song reference) All of this happening within the confines between your two ears. So much happening that if you tried to hear it all you would miss the entirety of the song.

It's like having a band play inside your head, and being able to tell where each player sits. Unless of course they seem to be running around the stage.

There are few artists that pull this effect off with such grace and complexity as Bjork does. I know there are some but the names escape me at the moment. Just about any good song does this, to an extent, when listened to on headphones, but not with near as much detail.

It is all of this that leads me to believe that Bjork designs her music for headphones. (or really nice surround sound speakers)

Listening to this kind of artistic display last night while trying to sleep sent shivers down my spine, and caused my extremities to shake.

I love music.

Inventions.

I don't know if any of you have seen a show that's currently on TV.

It is basically American Idol, but with inventors. It's an exact copy, from the auditions where the contestants show their stuff and it ranges from "very now" to "god awful", to the rude British judge.

Well today I saw something that made my belly jiggle with glee.

A man walked into the audition room and with him he had a box. Something looked like a homemade speaker box that a speaker enthusiast might have in his trunk with a couple of ten inchers. This box also had a speaker, but it was small. The size of a fast food drive through speaker. It sounded like one too.

Above the speaker in the middle of the front panel of the wooden box, there was a hole with a hand sticking out. Not a human hand mind you, more something along the style of the old black and white lost in space TV show robot.

It should have warned of danger like it's 50s Counterpart.

The man goes through his presentation, and during the course of it finally reveals just what this deformed freak of technology actually does.

It pets your pet for you.....

This man couldn't possibly be that lazy could he? I mean after all he went to all the trouble of building the thing. It only got worse when he turned it on. The rubber mechanical hand moved back and forth with the most unnatural of movement. And then I thought Armageddon was upon us from the sound I then heard come from the speaker......

It was absolutely horrid, it was barely identifiable as a man's voice, and somehow I knew it was supposed to be saying words of comfort that you might say to your pet. It sounded so much like it was coming forth from some unholy creature, though, that I could not understand what it said. It could have been proclaiming the fury of its evil masters upon my family for all I know.

Needless to say the judge panel rejected the monstrosity almost instantly. Looking at it with the same disgust they might give a pulsing writhing mass of human parts that were put together by the hands of someone far from skilled. They surely wanted it out of its misery, and out of their site.

And that isn't even the worst part.

The man, dejected and defeated, left the audition room. This man, as many people who have faced an fierce opponent with their unholy weapons and lost, was not willing to admit defeat.

This man's ego was still so large even after having it hacked in two by the judges, that he said something I will probably never forget.

"They laughed at Thomas Edison too........"

Point #1

I have had many times where I wanted to post something humorous, or interesting that has happened to me and the only blog I have really is for a Fictional Story.

So I made this.

Here you will find stories that aren't fiction, but things that really happen to me.