Good News Everybody!
Emm Gryner has a new disc coming out. "Stray Bullets" by name. And if you pre-order (that's about $15 US), you're entered in a contest to win a home show from the talented lass. I don't like my odds but it would pretty damn cool.
Also, read this post by the vivacious and perspicacious Kathy Shaidle. There is much truth therein young padawan. Then again, why are you not reading her every post every day? You got some splainin' to do!
UPDATE: In my continuing efforts to find strange and wonderful things that I can order from Amazon, I stumbled upon Madagascar pink rice. It's not cheap, I can get a really nice Basmati from Costco or my local Korean supermarket at about a buck a pound. But ... it's pink rice. I have to try it. The description includes this: "tropial spice taste with hints of cinnamon and clove" (which I assume should be tropical). To have that 'built in' to the rice is really intriguing.
Showing posts with label emm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label emm. Show all posts
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Friday, February 06, 2009
New Music
Emm Gryner's new disc "Goddess" arrived in the mail this week and I've been playing as obsessively as an slobbering fanboi would. I really want to say that "she goes from strength to strength" but her last CD "The Summer of High Hopes" was simply epically great, magnificent, a freaking marvel. This one is "only" damn good. How talented is this woman who has never put out a bad set of music and has three (out of ten) discs that are ... words fail me. I have to go back to epically great: "Public," "Asian Blue" and "Summer of High Hopes." Add in two discs of cover versions ("Girl Versions" of rock songs that have never been covered in such innovative ways and "Songs of Love and Death" of Irish music) which are superb and superbly interesting and half her entire body of work right there is ... amazing.
Aw hell, I could go on and on but I just wanted to get a quick post up on the fact that I have the new music and it's great. I'd put it on a par with her "The Great Lakes" and "Dead Relatives" which stand just behind the three epically great discs.
I strongly urge anyone who likes real music - melodic, well-played, well-sung to avail themselves of her work.
Emm Gryner's new disc "Goddess" arrived in the mail this week and I've been playing as obsessively as an slobbering fanboi would. I really want to say that "she goes from strength to strength" but her last CD "The Summer of High Hopes" was simply epically great, magnificent, a freaking marvel. This one is "only" damn good. How talented is this woman who has never put out a bad set of music and has three (out of ten) discs that are ... words fail me. I have to go back to epically great: "Public," "Asian Blue" and "Summer of High Hopes." Add in two discs of cover versions ("Girl Versions" of rock songs that have never been covered in such innovative ways and "Songs of Love and Death" of Irish music) which are superb and superbly interesting and half her entire body of work right there is ... amazing.
Aw hell, I could go on and on but I just wanted to get a quick post up on the fact that I have the new music and it's great. I'd put it on a par with her "The Great Lakes" and "Dead Relatives" which stand just behind the three epically great discs.
I strongly urge anyone who likes real music - melodic, well-played, well-sung to avail themselves of her work.
Friday, December 19, 2008
I Consider It Good News
Yet I am still trepidatious. Emm Gryner has a new disc coming out in February. That's the good news. It's called "Goddess" which is the worrisome part. I, of course, preordered it since I am such an abject fan of her music. But I've seen too much of the use of "goddess" amongst women who creep me out. The XMBD NMSE adopted the appellation "Queen of the Universe" which is less annoying than just "Goddess." At least in part less annoying because she recognized her mother as the superior with the title "Dhalia Queen." It may seem strange to you but it was a lot of fun actually.
The talented and lovely Amy Alkon (soon to have her new book "Revengerella" in stores - buy it!) understands the proper use of the term in that she is the "Advice Goddess." Choosing a limiting descriptive before the word is the right way to use the term even if some super-annoying women manage to use it properly that way (cough)kimkomando(cough).
Oh well. I hope the music is as good as the last four discs she's put out. I should be hopeful - four successive releases that are very nearly without a single flaw is one hell of a string. She has the talent to make it five. But "Goddess?" I'll accept it if it's as good as "The Summer of High Hopes."
Yet I am still trepidatious. Emm Gryner has a new disc coming out in February. That's the good news. It's called "Goddess" which is the worrisome part. I, of course, preordered it since I am such an abject fan of her music. But I've seen too much of the use of "goddess" amongst women who creep me out. The XMBD NMSE adopted the appellation "Queen of the Universe" which is less annoying than just "Goddess." At least in part less annoying because she recognized her mother as the superior with the title "Dhalia Queen." It may seem strange to you but it was a lot of fun actually.
The talented and lovely Amy Alkon (soon to have her new book "Revengerella" in stores - buy it!) understands the proper use of the term in that she is the "Advice Goddess." Choosing a limiting descriptive before the word is the right way to use the term even if some super-annoying women manage to use it properly that way (cough)kimkomando(cough).
Oh well. I hope the music is as good as the last four discs she's put out. I should be hopeful - four successive releases that are very nearly without a single flaw is one hell of a string. She has the talent to make it five. But "Goddess?" I'll accept it if it's as good as "The Summer of High Hopes."
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Friday, May 11, 2007
Listening To Emm
The weather has gone from cool and sunny to muggy and unpleasant after a hot day and then evening rain. I will be turning on the AC today and deeply, deeply resenting it. But to soften the blow, I'm running the Emm Gryner playlist in iTunes. I haven't listened to her for a while (Jake Armerding has been dominating the airtime out of my iPods of late). "The Summer of High Hopes" is, I am being forcefully reminded, a superb CD. Maybe I'm just longing for a breath of cool Canadian air to breeze down from the north.
The weather has gone from cool and sunny to muggy and unpleasant after a hot day and then evening rain. I will be turning on the AC today and deeply, deeply resenting it. But to soften the blow, I'm running the Emm Gryner playlist in iTunes. I haven't listened to her for a while (Jake Armerding has been dominating the airtime out of my iPods of late). "The Summer of High Hopes" is, I am being forcefully reminded, a superb CD. Maybe I'm just longing for a breath of cool Canadian air to breeze down from the north.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
The Music Post I Didn't Get Around To Writing
As any long time reader of PoW knows, I am a big fan of Emm Gryner. Fan to the point I pre-ordered her latest (which has been lingering in the soon-to-be-gone "longings" section of the sidebar) disc "The Summer of High Hopes" which I have been listening to regularly ever since. It's terrific. Another total winner.
I am always left to wonder what drives the writing process, including the writing of music of course, and usually believe that there's something imagined out of autobiography that is the genesis of great art. Or inane blog posts for that matter but we're not talking about me here. And I believe that the naming of names matters as well. So my first surprise in this disc is that the name comes from a line in a song that doesn't share the title. Specifically: "The summer of high hopes/Brought tears of red merlot/ And the fact our love will never grow...." The song is titled "Merlot." This seems a bit of misdirection, as it were, from an artist who tends to be, let's say "elliptical" in her lyrics. The song that first drew me to her work, "Julia" on the "Science Fair" disc certainly seems to come out of her life but I really have no idea of what is actually is going on. But it's a beautiful song and has a very haunting lyric ("Julia, leave the dark alone/ Everyday is better than the last/ Julia, leave the dark alone/ Speak your mind 'cause this life's going fast").
It is dangerous to speculate but I'll take a stab at it. Emm is fairly recently married and my guess is that she and her husband might have been wanting to have a child which didn't happen. I hasten to say, that's an awful stretch but with the title and the beautiful but sad or regret-tinged songs, I feel lead to that conclusion. And a cursory Google search of her lyrics doesn't lead me to a place that has lyrics for the new disc online. Emm's site has been promising lyrics for a while and I wish I could link to them to take the burden off my typing. Let me just note a few of the song titles to support my supposition: "Girls Are Murder" (the first song), "All-time Low" (third) and "Sweet Destroyer" (11th and last). There is also a song called "Almighty Love" that can reasonably said to not fit my idea. It's so good that Bono, in November, said it was one of the songs in the last 20 years he wishes he'd written. I may not appreciate Bono's fevered politics but musically, that's high praise.
I'll present just one more lyric as justification of my idea. The very first line of "Girls Are Murder:" "It started when the daylight hit her open wound/How a season in this hell can kick you down/ Satellites start capturing your happy home/ But you feel alone enough/ to quote the killing moon tonight." That sounds awfully depressed or depressing but let me say - it's a gorgeous song. The melody, the musicianship, Emm's achingly beautiful voice. It's not alone. "Sweet Destroyer" is superb. "Almighty Love" - fantastic. As is "Blackwinged Bird" and "Black-eyed Blue Sky." I am tempted to say that the latter is my favorite of the disc. But I'm so enamored of all those I've mentioned, it's hard to single one out.
Let it not be said that my devotion is without some critical eye. "Queen of the Boys" and "See the Sea" both use the traditional "f-word" which doesn't thrill me, as its use often demonstrates a lack of originality more than emphasis. Plus to have this sweet, very feminine voice sing "Hurts like fuck I don't know why" ("See the Sea") is to me a startling incongruity. Her song. Her right to write. I'm just not a fan of the word so it jars me.
Bottom line - this is an amazing, great disc from an artist who is far under-known and under-appreciated. Even though she indulges in those traditional Canadian lefty tropes (the last line in the liner notes is "PLEASE do something everyday to help stop global warming XO Emm"), I really hope she gets the recognition she deserves.
On the other hand, those of us who pre-ordered also got a limited edition disc called "PVT" (read "Private") which is a re-make of her one major label issue 1998's "Public." Perhaps I am too accustomed to the songs as I know them but I am not much taken by this disc. I figure she needed to exorcise some demons after being dropped by a major label after one disc when she is a popular artist in Canada (and should be everywhere). So even though I don't care for it as much as her other work, I'm very glad to own it and I hope she's happier for having made it.
If you don't own any Emm and would like to start with her, begin with 2002's "Asianblue." It's very accessible, very pop-y for her. I'd hope it might get you started on owning a lot her work because she's a remarkable talent.
Damnably cute too but you should have expected that from me. Really.
As any long time reader of PoW knows, I am a big fan of Emm Gryner. Fan to the point I pre-ordered her latest (which has been lingering in the soon-to-be-gone "longings" section of the sidebar) disc "The Summer of High Hopes" which I have been listening to regularly ever since. It's terrific. Another total winner.
I am always left to wonder what drives the writing process, including the writing of music of course, and usually believe that there's something imagined out of autobiography that is the genesis of great art. Or inane blog posts for that matter but we're not talking about me here. And I believe that the naming of names matters as well. So my first surprise in this disc is that the name comes from a line in a song that doesn't share the title. Specifically: "The summer of high hopes/Brought tears of red merlot/ And the fact our love will never grow...." The song is titled "Merlot." This seems a bit of misdirection, as it were, from an artist who tends to be, let's say "elliptical" in her lyrics. The song that first drew me to her work, "Julia" on the "Science Fair" disc certainly seems to come out of her life but I really have no idea of what is actually is going on. But it's a beautiful song and has a very haunting lyric ("Julia, leave the dark alone/ Everyday is better than the last/ Julia, leave the dark alone/ Speak your mind 'cause this life's going fast").
It is dangerous to speculate but I'll take a stab at it. Emm is fairly recently married and my guess is that she and her husband might have been wanting to have a child which didn't happen. I hasten to say, that's an awful stretch but with the title and the beautiful but sad or regret-tinged songs, I feel lead to that conclusion. And a cursory Google search of her lyrics doesn't lead me to a place that has lyrics for the new disc online. Emm's site has been promising lyrics for a while and I wish I could link to them to take the burden off my typing. Let me just note a few of the song titles to support my supposition: "Girls Are Murder" (the first song), "All-time Low" (third) and "Sweet Destroyer" (11th and last). There is also a song called "Almighty Love" that can reasonably said to not fit my idea. It's so good that Bono, in November, said it was one of the songs in the last 20 years he wishes he'd written. I may not appreciate Bono's fevered politics but musically, that's high praise.
I'll present just one more lyric as justification of my idea. The very first line of "Girls Are Murder:" "It started when the daylight hit her open wound/How a season in this hell can kick you down/ Satellites start capturing your happy home/ But you feel alone enough/ to quote the killing moon tonight." That sounds awfully depressed or depressing but let me say - it's a gorgeous song. The melody, the musicianship, Emm's achingly beautiful voice. It's not alone. "Sweet Destroyer" is superb. "Almighty Love" - fantastic. As is "Blackwinged Bird" and "Black-eyed Blue Sky." I am tempted to say that the latter is my favorite of the disc. But I'm so enamored of all those I've mentioned, it's hard to single one out.
Let it not be said that my devotion is without some critical eye. "Queen of the Boys" and "See the Sea" both use the traditional "f-word" which doesn't thrill me, as its use often demonstrates a lack of originality more than emphasis. Plus to have this sweet, very feminine voice sing "Hurts like fuck I don't know why" ("See the Sea") is to me a startling incongruity. Her song. Her right to write. I'm just not a fan of the word so it jars me.
Bottom line - this is an amazing, great disc from an artist who is far under-known and under-appreciated. Even though she indulges in those traditional Canadian lefty tropes (the last line in the liner notes is "PLEASE do something everyday to help stop global warming XO Emm"), I really hope she gets the recognition she deserves.
On the other hand, those of us who pre-ordered also got a limited edition disc called "PVT" (read "Private") which is a re-make of her one major label issue 1998's "Public." Perhaps I am too accustomed to the songs as I know them but I am not much taken by this disc. I figure she needed to exorcise some demons after being dropped by a major label after one disc when she is a popular artist in Canada (and should be everywhere). So even though I don't care for it as much as her other work, I'm very glad to own it and I hope she's happier for having made it.
If you don't own any Emm and would like to start with her, begin with 2002's "Asianblue." It's very accessible, very pop-y for her. I'd hope it might get you started on owning a lot her work because she's a remarkable talent.
Damnably cute too but you should have expected that from me. Really.
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