The coming of age of Vyvienne Long

I’m not a big fan of covers. I always feel that the strength of a musician lies in their songwriting prowess. There is something very divine about crafting something out of thin air. Anything less than that and I’ll consider it blasphemy. Sometimes however, a select few musicians will perform a cover that completely incinerates my Berlin wall defense and blow me into oblivion.

Vyvienne Long is such a person. For the uninitiated, Vyvienne is the ever so talented cellist that accompanies Damien Rice. Her breath taking cello is the one of the reason why Damien’s music screams of perfection and holy trinity.

Of course there’s Lisa with her ethereal vocals. Under all those sky of brilliant musicians, who could tell Vyvienne also had a voice that is almost angel-like? I sure couldn’t till Damien took a back seat and let Vyvienne perform a cover in one his live sets.

And I was blown away. Into bits and pieces. Into shreds of delight. Vyvienne Long’s take on The Flaming Lip’s Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is so awesome it makes the original feel like a broken toy.

I await with bated breath for her debut LP. Lisa’s gone away and made a name of herself and judging from this, is not long before it’s Vyvienne’s turn. Damien must certainly be proud that his proteges are all in the process of creating history.

Download the studio version of the song HERE.

A Songsmith Duel You Must Listen Before You Die

When I was living in Penang, one of my favourite nasi kandar place was this dingy little place right smack in the middle of town. It’s a tiny shop and one glance at it, you’d think they serve cockroaches for dinner. But thats where the best nasi kandar is. I assure you i’ve tried all those from Pelita and Kayu and those mega mamaks but they just dont taste the same.

Somehow or other, I seem to apply this to record labels as well. Post-Parlo record, a tiny little label from Texas came up with this brilliant plan to do a cross feature of 2 frontmans from 2 amazing bands and package their work together in a compilation. So you get 8 songs with each musician performing 4 songs each. To add an additional twist, 1 song must be written for the other musician to perform.

Brilliant stuff isn’t it? No way in hell Atlantic or any of those mega record labels will ever greenlight such a project.

Enter Home: Volume 5 featuring Benjamin Gibbard of DCFC and Andrew Kenny of American Analog Set. The first time I heard of this precious little gem, I knew i needed to get my hands on it. Thank god for the wonders of Amazon.

I might be biased but I will tell you that the star of this songsmith duel is of course Ben Gibbard. His vocals loud and confident, his folk guitar crisp and tight. Songwriting wise, Ben doesn’t disappoint. When does he ever, to be honest?

In accordance to the theme of Home, Ben delivers heartwarming songs that upon listen transports you to those childhood days of wasting time trying to catch fish in clear, translucent river. His songs are bright and full of hope.

if Ben is the silver lining, then Andrew must certainly be the dark cloud to keep the universe in balance. Andrew Kenny is quite the melancholy frontman. His songs are bleaker, darker which perfectly complements his whispy and soft vocal style. Even his guitar playing has a soft and broken feel to it. I don’t quite know how to describe it but listening to Secrets of the Heart, you get a feeling of impending doom growing in your gut.

The combination of Ben and Andrew is just a short flight away from perfection. They both juxtapose each other so well you can’t help but throw in a corny comparison of Fries and Ketchup. The highlight of the CD for me has to be Line of Best Fit – a Death Cab track that Andrew covers flawlessly that clearly shows the might of Ben’s songwriting prowess.

This has to be the most interesting EP I have ever had the good fortune to listen to and my heart goes out to all small time record labels. From Barsuk to Danger Bird, I humbly bow to all of you.

Listen to You Remind Me of Home by Ben Gibbard.
Download the song HERE.

Stars: Live in Singapore 7th January 2009

I come back from Japan and already there’s something to be excited about. It’s a shame though because i’m just 1 or 2 weeks shy from being in Tokyo the same time Sigur Ros would be playing there. Talk about horrible  timing.

Ah but all is not lost. Thanks to Mojo for his fascinating tip, we know now that Stars is playing at The Esplanade 7th January 2009. Not surprisingly, there’s practically no news nor any official ticket announcement on it yet.

Here’s the only official online reference I can find.

I hate bands with names like Stars though. When you google them you get a whole shit of unnecessary results. I mean how hard is it to come up with a more creative name? Like Death Cab for Cutie? Like Hootie and the Blowfish? Like Goo Goo Dolls? Like Godspeed You Black Emperor?

Thank god for the grace of Amy Millan. She makes me put up with the lack of name ingenuity. I have a soft spot for girls who cover spectacular songs like I will follow you into the dark.

Keep a lookout for the ticket window. You don’t wanna miss it. You’re not gonna have any Juno awarded Canadian indie bands coming around anytime soon. (Unless of course you consider Avril an act)