My music life, before and after kids

Born in the late 70s, I started listening to music in the 80s and really came into my tastes in the early to mid-90s.  You know, high school.  I listened to everything really.  My tagger friends were into Hip Hop, I had punk rock friends who were, you know, punk rock.  My fancier friends listened to Shoegazer bands.  Quite the variety.  And then there was the Rock En Español crowd. 
Fast forward to the Oughts (aughts? 00s?) and I'm pregnant with my first child.  Pregnant and married to a man a couple of short years younger than me who grew up in Chicago and was super Emo in his more musically inclined days.  My pregnancy was filled with lots of Latin music (good drums, baby kicks and moves) and my husband and I waxing poetic about how AWESOME our baby was going to be.  I mean, how could she not with a music collection like ours?!  Everything from the Cure to Shakira to Los Lobos to Beethoven to Bright Eyes (not part of my collection, I want to be clear, far too emo for me).  So we played music to her inside me and she was born and we played music to her and we sang to her and bought her tiny instruments.  Then she was able to talk and form complete thoughts and sentences, somewhere around age 2.  We were impressed.  And she told us she hated our music.  And she told us she only liked ballerina music.  WHAT?!  I spent much of my formative years avoiding "ballerina music!"

Pop Perfection with Imogen Heap

I like to imagine artist Imogen Heap as a magical, musical pop fairy. This is not difficult: she wears flowing, ethereal gowns and braids feathers through her hair. Her voice is as mercurial as the wind - a whispering breeze one moment and the fury of a storm the next. And when I listen to the perfection of her music, I feel like one of J.M. Barrie's characters sprinkled with pixie dust - able to fly.

My favorite Imogen works: the collaborative "Frou Frou" album Details and the self-produced album Speak for Yourself, are (in my opinion) two of the greatest pop albums of all time. Details begins with the mesmerizing opening track "Let Go," which invites listeners to, "Let go, just jump in, oh well, what are you waiting for?" And it would be a huge mistake not to experience the magic of these eleven tracks. "Must Be Dreaming" paints the landscape of love in wild euphoria; "Hear Me Out" explores the swirling emotions of a jilted lover. Her voice glides and soars like a bird in flight across a digital sky of strings and synth, a flawless combination that has led to many triple-digit "play counts" on my media player!

Time to Crawl

This weekend, head to 4th Avenue and downtown to enjoy live music on over 25 stages. The Tucson Weekly's Spring Club Crawl on Saturday, April 21st once again features a wide variety of Tucson musicians, as well as some out-of-towners. A few years ago, I saw Elmo Kirkwood from Phoenix with his band Kirkwood Dellinger. I was impressed with the multi-talented band members, switching instruments every few songs. I look forward to hearing Kirkwood, son of Meat Puppets' Curt Kirkwood, playing solo at 11:00.

Realmente lo mejor/Simply the best

A strong mainstay in the Latin alternative music scene, Julieta Venegas has been making music since the release of her debut album, Aquí, in 1997. A wonderful vocalist and songwriter, she is originally from Long Beach, CA but raised in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Her music is a mixture of Latin alternative, pop, rock en Español, with generous additions of traditional regional Mexican music found throughout. She's also an accomplished instrumentalist and well-known for her amazing accordion playing, an instrument not traditionally played by women within the Latin music scene. She is a breaker of barriers in her music on all levels. Julieta has won five Latin Grammys and one Grammy award for her album, Limón y Sal. She has collaborated widely with other Latino artists through her career. A great example of this is her 2008 album MTV Unplugged, where she recorded with Mexican pop singer Natalia Lafourcade, Spanish rap artist La Mala Rodriguez, and Brazilian pop star Marisa Monte.

If you're looking for a great intro to Julieta's music check out her album, Sí, full of pop love ballads, available for check out at your local branch and on Freegal. For a more comprehensive view of all her best hits, download songs from her album, Realmente Lo Mejor, also available on Freegal.

-Marissa

La Grande

If you are into the folksy rock sound staight out from the Portland scene, check out this new addition to PCLP's music catalog: La Grande by Laura Gibson. La Grande is a small town in the Pacific Northwest where native Oregonian Gibson found inspiration for her third album. Gibson is now with Barsuk Records, the independent Seattle label that includes such bands as Nada Surf and Death Cab for Cutie but don't be misled; she is far from alternative rock. Her sound is closer to folk and blues. Gibson cites singer/guitarist Mississippi John Hurt and Elizabeth Cotten as her influences. Closer to our time, she sometimes reminds me of Eleni Mandell.

Soul Stirrers for the '10s

Music of Soul and R 'n B's golden age is big business these days.  Echoes of Motown, Stax/Atlantic and other labels can be heard everywhere, through the influence of their artists - people like Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Otis Redding and Al Green to name a few.  With the arrival and tragic early passing of Amy Winehouse, the retro-soul sound is in full swing as a dominant pop music trend.  Veteran artists like Sharon Jones (whose band The Dap-Kings were pivotal in Winehouse's smash Back to Black) and newcomers like Duffy are enjoying great popularity.

Heartfelt homage or cynically derivative?  Only your ears can decide.  If you dig that classic soul sound and want to hear something new, check out these artists in the library's free music database Freegal: 

Ryan Shaw.  Sounds a bit like Otis Redding and his "Do The 45" sounds just like Junior Wells' "Shotgun" - in other words, an old-school dance floor hit.
Raphael Saadiq.  Stevie Wonder guests on a track with this smooth crooner.
Aloe Blacc.  Blacc's music features his sweet voice front-and-center, with  influences from hip-hop, rap and 70s funk.
Cee Lo Green.  Much of his work has a serious, urban hip-hop influence, but his monster hit "Forget You" is a great example of freshening up a great old sound.
Adele.  Ah, Adele.  How could we ignore you?  A phenomenon in her own right, Adele's voice has reached out across the globe to touch the heartbroken.  If you've been living with tribesmen in Borneo for a year, it's time to discover what 750 gazillion people have been talking about.
John Legend.  RnB sound that is less retro, more modern, with hip-hop and reggae influences.
Bonus recommendation: check out a legend you may have missed 50 years ago, the original Soul Stirrer Sam Cooke!

Links are to library catalog.  To download songs for free, go to http://www.library.pima.gov/ and click "Music from Freegal." Artists currently not part of Freegal include:

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.  A rock 'n soul party!
Eli "Paperboy' Reed.  Love this guy.  His bluesy "Roll With You" is a great sounding party record.
Jamie Lidell.  Looove this guy's voice.  The white-and-nerdy Terence Trent D'arby!
Nikka Costa.  The much-overlooked queen of hard-core funk changes her musical style with every album. Her updated 70s funk sound can be heard on her classics Everybody Got Their Something and Can't Never Did Nothing.
Joss Stone.  Where has Joss disappeared to?
Mayer Hawthorne.  *(I don't really get this guy, but he is one of the more popular retro soul artists!)

Bonus classic: Donny Hathaway.  Winehouse referenced him in her infamous  "Rehab" along with Ray Charles. And like Winehouse, "Mr. Hathaway" also tragically passed too soon.  He grew up singing gospel and went on to be considered one of the very best singers from the golden age of soul music.  Remembered best for "A Song For You," "Someday We'll All Be Free" and his biggest hit "Where is the Love?" with Roberta Flack.  Next time you hear his "Theme from Maude" on TVLand, listen up!

-- John

Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk at Hotel Congress 3/14/2012

Dumpstaphunk brought their New Orleans brand of Funk music to the Hotel Congress on Wednesday March 14, 2012.  The band did not disappoint the many fans who came out for the show.  The Hotel Congress stage is adorned with the Latin words "musica delenit bestiam feram," which means, "music soothes the savage beast."  As for this night, the way the crowd danced up a frenzy with Dumpstaphunk, this proved not to be the case!

You can find some great New Orleans music, including songs by both The Neville Brothers and The Meters on Pima County Public Library's CD Mardi Gras Essentials.  Both bands also have works in Freegal, available under the Downloadable Media heading on our home page.  To find out more about Dumpstaphunk, their show at Hotel Congress, and their connection to these classic New Orleans bands, please read on.