HELLO COME IN

It goes without saying that the music of Leslie Feist is undeniably great. Mixing unbelievably catchy melodies and phenomenal playing and singing skills, Feist has that perfect mixture of lilting and bittersweet moods. Her latest record “The Reminder” is certainly near the top of my list this year, especially the song ‘1 2 3 4’ and its chorus of singers.

So when asked to perform said song on national television, Feist called on a little help from her friends. Dressed in near-matching white clothing and sequined arm warmers (recalling the music video for the same song), those friends just happened to be members of Broken Social Scene, The National, Grizzly Bear, The New Pornographers, Mates of State and more. Performance is not amazing, but certainly a fun get-together for fans of those bands.

For the full cast list (and general Stereogum talkback hateration) go here. Check out the video below.

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As the anticipation builds to the season two finale of the amazing Big Love viewers are wondering what is left to fill the void. Lately there has been much talk and speculation about an assumed demise of HBO, the pay television channel that all but revitalized the art form. With such excellent and long running favourites and cult favourites Mr. Show, Sex and the City, The Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Six Feet Under, Rome, Deadwood and Big Love, (not to mention great documentaries and mini-series) the channel made itself a place where writers, directors and actors could develop a show that did not have to stick to network and basic cable restrictions.

This is not to say that other shows weren’t trying new things… many in the Joss Whedon aficionado fan club would site Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, as would fans of killed-before-their-time cult favorites Arrested Development and the Judd Apatow\Paul Feig created Freaks and Geeks. But with networks pumping out more and more medical, law style police-style procedurals (the Law and Orders and CSIs, not to mention nearly EVERYthing else on CBS), television had for a long time become a pretty stale place.

It was HBO who pushed the boundaries of what audiences could expect from the medium, fully realizing the potential of serialized storytelling. What stood out with these shows was not only the scope of production, but more importantly the opportunity for audiences to see plotlines and character development as something more resonant than one episode (what I call “Monster of the Week”) story arcs. We could see story lines season by season develop and resolve with a sense of finality to the arcs, much different from the treading water status quo of network telly.

But now with most of the classic HBO lineup gone the way of Nate Fischer and Christopher, the network appears to be struggling a bit to find adequate replacements and revitalize with new blood. The excellent polygamist family epic Big Love looks to be the only drama hitting its stride. Which is a good thing, since the incomprehensible John from Cincinnati (dreamed up by Deadwood creator David Milch) failed to inspire much from critics and audiences (much less make any damn sense) and was canceled.

Beyond Big Love and the hilarious offbeat comedy Flight of the Conchords, the lineup is, for the first time, vulnerable… Entourage feels pretty played out and the return of Curb, while highly anticipated, feels about a year too late. Overall as great as Big Love is, it seems to still fall short of the highs felt by Six Feet Under and The Sopranos.

So what happened? As this New York Times piece suggests, HBO is not the only game in town anymore. Showtime, their biggest rivals have begun to put together a series of shows to compete (Weeds, Dexter, Californication for example), while other networks like FX and AMC have launched some pretty promising new shows (FX’s Damages and AMC’s Mad Men). Meanwhile Sci Fi is readying their final season of Battlestar Galactica, ABC preps the final seasons of Lost, and NBC continues on with Heroes, The Office and 30 Rock. Sufficed to say, with so much choice we are in something of a television renaissance. This can be a good thing.

It’s more accurate to say, as the article points out that HBO is not on its back swing, but perhaps not quite the behemoth it once was when it was the only big kid on the block. If anything, they are in a retooling phase, setting up their next phase of shows that will hopefully fill the gap (a vampire series by Six Feet Under‘s Alan Ball?!?!). Without HBO controlling all great television like they did in the late 90s and up until Tony Soprano went black, we are seeing a great upswing in the medium that is by far more exciting than tv has seemed in years…its has become fun again to gather around and discuss the previous night’s developments. One can only hope that entities such as HBO and the others continue to push those boundaries.

So… What do you think? What are your favorite shows right now? What shows are you looking forward to returning this fall?

One of the greatest jazz drummers ever, a pioneer and founder of modern jazz, Max Roach, passed away today at age 83. Roach was a master percussionist whose rhythmic innovations and improvisations provided the “dislocated beats” that helped to define the bebop and cool jazz movements.

A self-taught musical prodigy, Roach played with nearly everyone who is anyone: Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, Eric Dolphy, Stanely Turrentine, Cecil Taylor, Charles Mingus and Bud Powell. Though less known than Bird or Diz, Roach was just as influential and integral to the creation of bebop with his polyrhythmic deconstruction of the beat.

Much in the same way future saxophonists owed a debt to the harmonic changes Parker made to jazz, the same can be said about the legacy Roach inspired in later drummers from Art Blakey and Elvin Jones to Tony Williams and Jack DeJohnette. As a longtime player and student of jazz, I cannot begin to comprehend the legacy Roach left on the music.

It is indeed a sad day for jazz, but ultimately amazing that he outlived almost all of his peers from the era.

As always, NY Times has a great bio on the jazz legend here and here.
Also listen to the great obit from NPR.

Drummerworld presents a tribute.

Slate dubs Roach best jazz drummer ever.

If it weren’t for a concert review today in the New York Times, I probably never would have known of the tour collaboration of the sultry and oft-tortured singer-songwriter Fiona Apple and the neo-bluegrass outfit Nickel Creek. As the article says, match ups such as this one do not initially seem to be a natural fit.

As it turns out, the collaboration is not nearly as random as it might at first appear. Both Nickel Creek and Apple frequent and perform at the LA club Largo, helmed and made famous by singer-songwriter and producer extrordinaire, Jon Brion. Stylistically, at least on the surface, Apple and the trio comprised of Chris Thile on mandolin, Sara Watkins on violin and Sean Watkins couldn’t be further into the extremes. She’s dark, they’re bright. They’re unfairly lumped into jamband scene while she’s associated with the pop scene.

But the common ground they have found — with Nickel Creek serving as Apple’s musical accompaniment — reveals unrealized potential, and perhaps a new direction for both. Both artists have a shared love of old-fashioned approaches to songwriting and phenomenal instrumental prowess. Perhaps it shows that the boundaries of genres are increasingly obsolete.

So far it seems audience recordings are difficult to come by, but Nickel Creek has encouraged people to upload their amateur audience videos to YouTube and their MySpace page. One can hope that a live DVD or an album is in the works. I missed them in Baltimore a few weeks back, but perhaps a roadtrip this weekend to Philly is in order. If you cannot catch them on tour, check out their stripped down performances of ‘You Belong To Me’ and ‘Paper Bag’ below.

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