Adam Salsman [dot] com

I won’t lie. This is a chance for me to write about two things I love: BSG and TV/Film scores.

Bear McCreary, for 3 seasons has been tasked with producing the scores to Battlestar Galactica. Building on what was created by Richard Gibbs in the Miniseries, McCreary’s work has touched on nearly all aspects of world music to create a lush, exciting musical background for TV’s best SciFi (and, arguably, best drama).

Season 2’s disc starts out with a rework of the old (70s) Battlestar Galactica’s theme to play the part of the Colonial Anthem, and suddenly, what was once hokey is now a beautifully orchestrated and arranged piece of music.

Many of the album’s tracks, including A Promise to Return, Allegro, Reuniting the Fleet, and Worthy of Survival, all build on themes which McCreary original composed in Season 1. They tend to feel a bit repetitive in the scheme of things, but are no less beautiful.

Some of the more original tracks are the reason this is one of my most listened to albums week after week. The musical theme for the not-allowed-to-happen relationship between Roslin and Adama is beautiful, crafted to convey love, and also containing a pinch of the pain that comes from knowing that love will never be.

Meanwhile, the main theme to episode 16 in Season 2 is Black Market, which meshes hard rock with beautiful middle eastern tones to create what I can only describe as “bad-ass.”

Of course, my hands-down-favourite track on the disc is Prelude to War. The track builds in a way which can, in fact, be described as preparing for battle (or, yes, a prelude to war). The use of drums and strings in the piece create a tense, high energy 8.5 minutes which, if you ever have watched the show, make you wish you were in the cockpit of a viper. I know I drive my car that way.

In the end: Obviously this is a niche piece. I get that. But, if you’ve never seen BSG but still enjoy TV/Movie scores, check it out. Of course, if you’re as hooked as I am, you’ll do anything you can do to get any and every piece of BSG action.

Technorati Tagged: Bear McCreary | Battlestar Galactica | TV Score | 2006

What an amazing juxtaposition Amy Winehouse’s music is:

Without the vocals, this music could be pulled straight from the 50s. But then, Winehouse starts singing, with a voice that, too, could be pulled from ths 50s, but blasting lyrics which are cleary modern. My favourite example is the beginning Me and Mr. Jones: “What kind of fuckery is this?”

Quite honestly, I think this is a beautiful album, that, as I mentioned, seems to play these sounds that people know from a “better day” and lyrics which, at points, are harsh, direct, and occasionally obscene.

The album also manages to show some pain, which seems clear based on some googling and the self-destructive path that Winehouse is on. Then again, every good artist has a lot of pain inside.

I’m currently enjoying Me and Mr. Jones (for the aforementioned lyric), Love is A Losing Game (a beautiful but sad song), and Rehab (A seemingly self-mocking tune).

In the end: You know, I won’t lie, if you don’t listen to closely to the lyrics, a lot of song scould definitely be playing in the background during more… intimate times. It’s a great package who’s only fault is that it finishes at 35 minutes.

Technorati tagged: Amy Winehouse | Female Vocalists | Jazz | 2006

Another Rock N Roll crush is my Scottish heartthrob, Ms. KT Tunstall.

On the heels of her wildly successful, awesome, amazing, and wonderful disc Eye to the Telescope, KT goes the more acoustic route, doing an “Unplugged”-style disc comprised of 10 tracks. It’s fairly standard fair for Ms. KT, but she handles it well.

Tunstall throws us a few ropes with the inclusion of some as-of-yet unreleased songs, including my personal favourite, Ashes. Change also manages to pick up some haunting atmosphere done on the acoustic guitar.

In the end: Sure, standard fair from Tunstall is still far above most of what we have these days, but it still feels fairly standard. It’s a great way to get some new material out to the fans without doing a full album, but it really doesn’t help to understand the direction she’s going. If you like KT, you’ll adore this.

Technorati Tagged: KT Tunstall | Rock | Acoustic | 2006

I’ve got a back log of things to report on, so let’s start with a pair of acoustic albums. First up, my darlin’ from Philly, Ms. Trisha O’Keefe.

After picking up her All the Honest Liars, listening to it, and then saying my peace. Well, sometimes people listen.

If you recall, I said:
“Not having seen her live yet, I don’t know if her look matches with the rock sound she strives for, but listening to it, I feel like she should be accompanied by just an acoustic guitar more often than she is.”

And, lo and behold, Live!, who’s greatest failure is it is only 6 tracks long. Over the course of the tracks (recorded at the Tin Angel), Trisha manages to turn an acoustic guitar into a sprawling rock conerct while still maintaining the intimacy of a coffee shop. In my mind, it takes a great talent to do that.

Take a listen to Never Enough, Nobody’s Love, and Drowning Me Slowly for a good sampling of this gal’s range.

In the end: Acoustic fans will love it. Rock fans will love it. Anyone who likes Trisha, of course, will love it.

On the web: The EP is only 6 bucks on iTunes. Or, if DRM frightens you, hit up ItsAboutMusic.com and get it in wide open and clear Em-Pee-Three. Also, only 6 bucks. You won’t be let down.

Technorati Tagged: Trisha O’Keefe | Small Artists | Rock | Acoustic

The year was 1994. I didn’t know a thing. Some would say I still don’t.

My grandmother (a brisk 15 years younger than my grandfather) had suggested we all go to some special presentation at Andover High featuring this band who “imitates” the Beatles. Who the hell are the Beatles, my 14 year old mind wondered.

That night, I saw an impressive show. These four guys up there playing fun, if soft, pop tunes. I went home with stars in my eyes. Over the next year, I began gobbling up Beatles CDs, making my mother take me to Lechmere to get the Anthologies as well as any of the other albums I could find. I had to have them all.

Since then, I’ve collected much of their solo works, projects, etc. Word of Love came down from the “blog-o-sphere” a few months ago, and I won’t deny I was a bit giddy. The thought of the Beatles Producer, George Martin, as well as his son, mixing and remixing tunes from the orginal source material seemed genius. But I was also hesitant.

That brings us to now. What the producers Martin have done is mesh 36 Beatles tunes into 25 tracks of musical bliss. The cross fades, the joiners, the edits, they are all perfect.

Love runs a full 78 minutes, with 2 “track breaks,” and takes the audio from all released material. I’ve yet to find any audio I don’t actually recognize, but with the layering of music and effects, I’ve not gotten through it all yet.

Saying “listen to these tracks” on a Beatles album is like picking apart a Monet. You just don’t. The album works as a whole, and that is how it should be taken.

In the end: Do I need to say anything? The Beatles Love is genius in it’s composition (even if it may feel a bit like a grab for cash) and respectful to the source material. Overly obsessive purists may be upset, but just about everyone else will be in Love.

And, yes, I made the joke.

On the web: The Hype Machine may be a bit hit-or-miss as everyone loves Beatles tunes, but some digging will get you some of the tracks.

Technorati Tagged: The Beatles | Remixed | Classic Rock | 2006

Oh, dearest “Bubble Pop Electric” Gwen, where did I go wrong with you?

I hearted No Doubt. Your first solo album, while a bit too pop-tastic, had some 80s charm to give someone like me a moment or three of giggles.

Now, though, my ska-pop princess, you give us The Sweet Escape. And, I think one listening put me into a diabetic coma. In the bad way.

Gwen’s Escape takes the sugar sweet bubble gum pop of her last album, and dunks it into frosting, leaving it to dry on a bed of powdered sugar. She even makes beats that would make a decent hip-hop/rap background become annoying sugar-rap.

The one “saving” grace of the album is the first track, Wind It Up, and only due to it’s sampling of the Lonely Goat Herder song from The Sound of Music.

Yeah. She sampled the Sound of Music, and not even the title track.

In the end: While Gwen’s first solo outing was charming, if simple bubble-pop, Escape just feels rushed, uninspired, and painfully targeted towards that ‘Tween to late Teen crowd. Little style, no substance. Certified Coaster Gold.

On the Web: Let’s remember Gwen in a good way, and listen to a mashup of her ‘Hollaback Girl’ and Beck’s ‘Tambourine Girl’. Also, if you really want pain, hit up the Hype Machine.

Technorati Tagged: Gwen Stefani | Bubblegum Pop | 2006

Coworker/Musical genius extraordinaire, Matt (who can be found at both hardcorbeau and Sound Effects) passed this off to me to give a listen (or 36) to.

Besides being a well-constructed, alt-rock album, Gang of Losers also feels like it borrows from a number of classic rock sources. I’ve been banging my head against the wall trying to catalogue them all, but the only one I definitely know for certain is the similarities between Sinthtro and the beginning of the Moody Blues tune “Your Wildest Dreams.” While some may not see this as a good thing, I think they manage to pay homage to classics while crafting their own tunes. Maybe it’s intentional. Maybe it’s not.

What to listen for? The whole disc. Barring that, Sinthtro into Ticket to Immortality, Death or Life We Want You, Whites Only Party (which you can check out the video to it here), and I Fell Deep.

As is also the habit of bands these days, the album has a pair of bonus tracks which are home demo of Whites Only Party and an acoustic version of There Goes My Outfit.

In the end: This ain’t Dylan’s Modern Times, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s a solid album, front to back, and makes me want to pick up the back catalogue of this Canadian group. And, hey, I don’t even *LIKE* hockey.

On the Web: Hype Machine offerings abound.

Technorati tagged: The Dears | Alt-Rock | 2006

What an absolutely oddball, yet wonderful surprise it has been to stumble upon Joanna Newsom.

The album, as simultaneously discovered in Uncut and from some interwebs blogs, has been a favourite at both work and on the iPod. With it’s folk undertones and ethereal, fluttering, almost mystical feel, Ys takes it’s time (and then some) to play out each of it’s 5 tracks.

That’s right. Ys (which, by the way, is pronounced ‘Ees’) is 5 tracks weighing in just under an hour.

The tracks don’t drag, though. Rather, they build upon themselves to create a vivid musical mosaic. With songs constructed mostly by harp, Newsom pulls us through such an amazing journey that even Tommy would be wowed.

In the end: This is different from much of what I listen to, but you can’t help but enjoy, appreciate, and get lost in the tales that Newsom composes on Ys.

On the web: Hellooooooooooo Hype Machine. Also, here’s a bootleg from a performance of hers last year:
2005-04-14 - Academy 2

Technorati tagged: Joanna Newsom | Folk | 2006

I suffer so you, my adoring audience, does not have to.

Justin “I tear at Janet’s wardrobe” Timberlake’s latest effort, Futuresex/Lovesounds is the kind of thing that ranks above Madonna’s last album — BARELY.

While I don’t like Justin Timberlake the musician, I can’t help but enjoy him as an entertainer. He does have a certain charm, I accept, but charm only goes so far, J.Tim. And it just wasn’t enough to make this a good album, or, hell, even a tolerable one.

Sexy Back, the radio single, actually has a great beat, but I am just not impressed with the vocals. At all; I feel like he’s too white too properly pull off [Another Song] All Over Again; And Pose has the same thing going on as Sexy Back - great tune, vocals don’t impress me. The addition of the Dogg-Father is the only saving grace on this tune.

In the end: No. Someone(s) will enjoy this one, but not me. This guy says two thumbs down. You don’t have to put it in the microwave, but don’t listen to it either.

Technorati Tagged: Justin Timberlake | Pop Music | 2006

You know, I’m starting to think I start off too many of these the same way, but…

Sean’s been speaking of Kasey Chambers for a few years, but I’ve had so many things I’ve wanted to listen to, I seem to keep forgetting about her. Enter Large Hearted Boy. Each week he digs out the highlights of CD and DVD releases, and I noticed Kasey in the list. So, of course, I jumped and downloaded it, and I have to say that I am glad I did. It’s no Top10 album, mind you, but it’s enjoyable and has solid replay value.

The album (I know nothing of the rest of Kasey’s catalog) straddles that pop-country line that I may have mentioned I don’t enjoy. I’d like to amend that statement to “I don’t enjoy unimaginative pop-country.”

As most albums seem to these days, Carnival comes in just over 45 minutes with a total of 12 tracks. Chambers, at least on this disc, seems to channels a country-ish, more soulful version of another beloved songstress, Lisa Loeb. And, believe it or not, that’s a pretty good thing.

The lead of track, Colour of a Carnival, I bounce between enjoying and being turned off by the chorus lyric that just goes “Around and Around and Around and Around;” I get the need for the lyric in the song, but it just takes me out of the song. The Rain is a pretty average tune, but whips out the slide guitar in the background. That alone gives it a thumbs up from me. Railroad has a certain sinister sound to it that drew me right in and has been put on repeat on the ol’ ipod. You Make Me Sing has a sultry undertone, with vocals just one or two steps away from Jazzy/Smokey vocals.

In the end: It’s a solid album, definitely one of the better ones of Ought Six. Being unfamiliar with the rest of her catalog, I can only say that Carnival has a little something from everyone and is worth at least one listen.

On the Web: These reviews, and this whole part, would be useless without The Hype Machine.

Technorati Tagged: Kasey Chambers | Country | 2006