Music Worth Buying 02/09/09 - The Bird And The Bee

 

 

 

 

 

Artist: The Bird And The Bee

Album: Rayguns are not just the Future

Worth Buying? You betcha!

You might be interested in this album if you are a fan of: The Carpenters, Alt Pop, Jazz, Electronica, & Fun music.

 

Tell me more: When I first heard the Bird and the Bee’s last album I said: Imagine a more electronic and edgier version of Carpenters. With their latest release "Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future" I find that this still holds true but now the elements of Jazz are more predominant than in the last album. Also gone is the humorous use of the “F” word. But what also remains is more of the same sweet, lush, catchy pop that dominated the last album. Within the 3 listens I was already hooked. For too long the word "Pop" has been maligned by pre manufactured "fake" artists who are just figureheads for a record label production team. Albums like this one remind us that Pop music is sweet delicious music from talented individuals who want to make the music smile at you.

What about the packaging? Unfortunately I only got to experience this album as digital download. If you want to describe the CD the packaging for the rest of us, Drop me a line and I will update this entry.  

 

 



Listen to Samples and buy this album in the mp3 format here

LP format here

Music Worth Buying 12/16/08 Carol of the Bellss - The Bird And The Bee

 

Artist: The Bird And The Bee

Song: Carol of the Bells

Worth Buying: Yes! 

You will be interested in this song if you like: Carol Of The Bells and cool twists on holiday favorites

 

Tell Me More: 

Hark how the bells, sweet silver bells,

all seem to say,  throw cares away

Christmas is here, bringing good cheer

to young and old, meek and the bold

Ding dong ding dong that is their song

with joyful ring, all caroling

One seems to hear, words of good cheer

from everywhere, filling the air

Oh how they pound, raising the sound

o'er hill and dale, telling their tale

Gaily they ring, while people sing

songs of good cheer, Christmas is here

Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas,

Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas,

On on they send, on without end,

their joyful tone, to every home

Pretty isn't it? It's the original English lyrics to Carol of the Bells. Originally composed by Ukrainian composer Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych and was premiered in 1916. The English lyrics would come later in 1936 by Peter Wilhousky (A more recent version would come about in 1946 by Minna Louise Hohman).

It's amazing how different a piece of music can sound to you when it's taken out of it's context. When I first heard this song it must have been in another language or it must have been an instrumental version, because Christmas was the last thing it made me think of. I was just a small boy and it felt dark and scary to me. But I loved it. Because it was mysterious sounding and filled my childhood head with a sense of mystery and wonder.

The best way I can describe how this song made my young mind feel, would be to say that it felt like I was standing in the middle of dark wood. And the trees and skies where whispering secret messages to me that I couldn't understand. 

Later I would find out it was Christmas song and some of it's mystery was taken away by this fact. But it still sounded very powerful to me, and I still loved it.

As a teenager (and long before I was any kind of  serious musician) I would parody the song in numerous ways by making up my own lyrics to it (Don't laugh, Weird Al made a career doing this).

A year ago (to my delight) I found a fantastic version of this song by the group The Bird And The Bee (Whose self titled album was reviewed on this very site). For the first time this song feels like a Christmas song to me. It feels happy. It feels like a celebration of the holidy. So this week on I would like to recommend The Bird and the Bee's version of Carol of the Bells.

 listen to and purchase Carole of the Bells by The Bird And The Bee

Music Worth Buying 09/08/08 The Bird And The Bee

Artist: The Bird and the Bee

Album: The Bird and the Bee

Worth buying: Yes, the whole album.

You will be interested in this album if you are a fan of: The Carpenters, Electronic pop, ambient pop. quirky pop, & indie pop.

Tell me more: Imagine if the Carpenters where more ambient sounding, and weren't opposed to using the "F" word  from time to time.  This is an album with lush and beautiful musical landscapes which came off at first listen as being electronic. But on closer listening I found that the instrumentation was actually more acoustic than I realized. But most importanly are the beautiful silk like female vocals that give this band it's unique sound (thus the Carpenters comparison) . There is a fun and quirky subversive quality to this album that extends beyond just the occasional use of the aforementioned "F" word.  This is one of the most enjoyable pop albums I have heard in some time.

click here to listen to samples and buy in the mp3 format

click here to buy in CD format

What if I am not ready to buy the whole album?   Try the song: F-cking Boyfriend