Andrew Bird - Break It Yourself (2012)

Andrew Bird first picked up a violin at age four and proceeded to spend his formative years soaking up classical repertoire completely by ear. As a teen, Bird mastered the sounds of early jazz, country blues and gypsy music. All these influences still percolate within Bird’s brand of pop, but he has established a sound that is distinctly his own.

Since 1997 the Chicago-based composer and multi-instrumentalist has released 11 albums, garnering a devoted following with his early band Bowl of Fire before venturing out with his first solo record, 2003’s Weather Systems. It was with this release that Bird began using a looping pedal to combine densely-layered symphonies onstage and revealed his unearthly talent for whistling. He has since played such prestigious venues as New York’s Beacon Theater and Carnegie Hall, Coachella, the Austin City Limits Festival, the Hollywood Bowl and Bumbershoot; in 2008 Bird had 15,000 fans overflowing from Chicago’s Millennium Park for his largest-ever headlining performance.

*VIDEO: Andrew Bird - Orpheo Looks Back @ La Cigale 2012*

Chicago singer/songwriter/violinist Andrew Bird mixes and matches influences until the music is purely his own. Break It Yourself evokes memories of other classic singer/songwriters, but the album retains Bird's personal stamp of world music, jazz, folk, and pop balancing the art. "Danse Caribe" is redolent of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks (side two of Into the Music, to be exact), with a violin casting its spell around an elliptical chord progression and swaying rhythm. "Give It Away" lopes with a country influence in its harmonies and Eagles-"Tequila Sunrise" camaraderie. "Desperation Breeds . . ." quietly enters with a sense of Ryan Adams' quiet ballads until the lyrics reveal an interest in the ecosystem. "Lazy Projector" slows into the 3 a.m. of the soul, where Neil Young often parks, with a melody that sounds like a beautiful moment on a Freedy Johnston record. "Lusitania" has a gentle vocal that follows up on the loneliness of Harry Nilsson's performance of Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'." "Orpheo Looks Back" throws together an animated pizzicato that breaks into a modest jig. "Sifters" aches with the wanderlust of Tim Buckley. Andrew Bird in glorious 320Kbps, how does it get much better?

Spotifiers stream the full album below. Nolibretto's favorite track:
#3 Danse Caribe

Andrew Bird Website

Brandi Carlile - Live At Benaroya Hall With The Seattle Symphony (2011)

Culled from two incredible sold-out shows in November 2010 at the prestigious Seattle concert venue, Brandi Carlile - Live at Benaroya Hall with the Seattle Symphony features the acclaimed singer-songwriter-performer and her band -- Tim Hanseroth (guitar), Phil Hanseroth (bass), Josh Neumann (cello) and Allison Miller (drums) -- performing a finely drawn selection of original songs and well-chosen covers accompanied by a full thirty-piece orchestra. Brandi Carlile - Live at Benaroya Hall with the Seattle Symphony showcases arrangements created for Brandi by Sean O'Loughlin (who's worked with Chris Isaak, Feist, Belle & Sebastian, Blue Man Group, others) and the legendary Paul Buckmaster (Elton John, David Bowie-"Space Oddity," Miles Davis-"On The Corner"). Buckmaster, who won a Grammy in 2001 for his arrangements on Train's "Drops of Jupiter," first worked with Brandi in 2009 on Give Up The Ghost, her third studio album. Brandi Carlile, winner of Seattle's City of Music Breakthrough Award for 2010, sold-out her Benaroya debut in 2008. Returning to the Hall for the first time last November, after touring more than a year in support of Give Up The Ghost, Carlile treated her fans to an expanded road-polished repertoire, performing an exquisite set-list of original compositions and covers including Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" and Elton John's "Sixty Years On.

*VIDEO: Brandi Carlile - It's Over (Live in the Bing Lounge)*

Spotifiers stream the full album below. Nolibretto's favorite track:
#2 Sixty Years On (Elton John)

Brandi Carlile Website

Archangel Voices - Lamentations: Orthodox Chants Of Holy Week (2010)

On this CD the Archangel Voices vocal ensemble explores a rich variety of Orthodox liturgical repertoire in the English language, focusing on the hymns of Pascha.The best-loved hymns of Holy Week, drawing from Byzantine, (Greek, Antiochian, and Romanian traditions), Serbian, Russian, and Bulgarian repertories, are sung by a professional-level ensemble in the glorious acoustics of St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church in Orange. Connecticut. Some initial reviews include: "...[the singers] launched out into deep waters of choral beauty that I have really never heard. It was really stunning!" "This project took my breath away!" "...beautiful blend and unified ensemble on a high level of artistry."

Archangel Voices is a professional-level vocal ensemble whose goal is to create high-quality recordings of Orthodox liturgical music in the English language. Through its CDs, which include Through its CDs, which include "With the Voice of the Archangel," "Christ Is Born! Give Glory!," "Resurrection! Chants and Hymns of the Holy Pascha," "The Orthodox Divine Liturgy: Master, Bless!" and "Lamentations: Orthodox Chants of Holy Week," the ensemble aims to bring the beauty of Orthodox liturgical music before a wide audience of listeners, to serve as a vehicle for spreading the Orthodox faith through music, and to embrace various traditions and styles of Orthodox church music as they are manifest in the practice of parishes in North America. The founder and Artistic Director of Archangel Voices, Dr. Vladimir Morosan, is known throughout the Orthodox musical world as a conductor, scholar, and lecturer. He is also founder and president of Musica Russica, a firm specializing in the publication of Russian and Orthodox choral music.

*VIDEO: Lamentations: Orthodox Chants of Holy Week Preview*

Spotifiers stream the full album below. Nolibretto's favorite track:
#11 Aposticha of Holy Friday ~ Optino Monastery Chant (Automelon)

Archangel Voices Website
More Sacred-Choral posts

Roberto Alagna - Pasion (2011)

Roberto Alagna is a French-Italian tenor. He was born in Clichy-sous-Bois, Seine-Saint-Denis, France. Cuban boleros and Argentinean tangos constitute the core of this CD. Yvan Cassar's ingenious and felicitous arrangements preserve and emphasize every song's musical fingerprint. Roberto says about this release, “With these songs, everything is in the rhythm, and for each one of them you have to find a climate that speaks to the public while it transports emotion. You mustn’t use a voice which is too heavy and powerful; the voice has to remain an instrument. Otherwise you change the nature of the style and lose all its intimacy.” Roberto Alagna is a peerless communicator. No other tenor of our time radiates joy like his when he lifts his voice above an orchestra. His sensual tenor thrills whether deployed in opera or pop. Having some Spanish ancestry, he sings Pasión's music with total identification.

*VIDEO: Pasión Album - Roberto Alagna (Making Of)*

Spotifiers stream the full album below. Nolibretto's favorite track:
#3 Historia de un amor (duet with Lila Downs)

Roberto Alagna Website
Other Roberto Alagna posts

Edwina Hayes - Good Things Happen Over Coffee (2011)

Edwina Hayes is an English singer-songwriter. Although born in Dublin, she grew up in Preston, Lancashire before moving to the East Riding of Yorkshire where she gained her first musical experience playing cover versions. Since 1999 she has played regularly in London and Nashville establishing herself as an accomplished songwriter in the process. She released her debut album Out On My Own in 2005. The album was co-produced by singer-songwriter Clive Gregson and featured Dr. Hook singer Dennis Locorriere on two tracks. Her single Eyes Of A Stranger received regular plays on BBC Radio 2 courtesy of broadcaster Michael Parkinson. In 2005 she toured extensively as support act to such notable performers as Jools Holland, Nanci Griffith, Ricky Ross and Loudon Wainwright III. In 2006 and 2007 she again supported Nanci Griffith. Hayes released her second solo album, Pour Me a Drink in February 2008. Released on a small independent label it was a much simpler recording than her debut, most tracks just featuring her voice and guitar. The title track was later recorded by Nanci Griffith.

In 2009 her version of Randy Newman's "Feels Like Home" was featured in the movie My Sister's Keeper. During June 2009 Hayes supported ex-Byrd Roger McGuinn on his British tour. 'Good Things Happen Over Coffee' is her third solo recorded, and it's chock full of covers with fresh interpretations. Edwina's take on Famous Blue Raincoat (yes, that Raincoat...) is appealing for it's play on melody, and the slight change of lyrics. Not sure where the recording of Vincent, in the video, is from (perhaps the out-of-print 2005 recording Out On My Own, for which I can find zero information). It's another wonderful take given the Edwina Hayes treatment.

*VIDEO: Edwina Hayes covers Vincent (Don McLean)*

Spotifiers stream the full album below. Nolibretto's favorite track:
#2 Famous Blue Raincoat

Edwina Hayes Website
More Edwina Hayes posts

Various Performers - Younger Than That Now (2011)

It's around 50 years since Bob Dylan began his journey towards becoming one of the most influential and prolific song-writers of his generation. This year on May 24th he celebrated his 70th birthday and to mark this event Chris Euesden from Circuit Music put together a compilation of Bob Dylan songs performed by a variety of artists who have strong associations with the British folk and roots scene. Dylan's songs are still being performed regularly, not just by performers who were around at the time of his meteoric rise to fame but by a new generation of singers and musicians who are discovering these great songs. Younger Than That Now is a perfect illustration of this appeal. Included in the compilation are 30 new interpretations of classic Dylan material from established names and new, up and coming young performers.

With an introduction by poet Ian McMillan, the album includes performances from Martin Simpson, Steve Tilston, Chris Smither, Chris While, Julie Matthews, Kellie While, Clive Gregson, Christine Collister, Snake Davies, Helen Watson, Craig & Willoughby, Dave Burland, Jez Lowe, Steve Phillips and the Rough Diamonds, Hans Theessink, Stephen Fearing, Gurf Morlix, Ewan McLennan, The Burden of Paradise, The Shuffle Monsters, Edwina Hayes, Gary Hall, Ian Bailey, Rosalie Deighton, Patsy Matheson, John Leonard, Blonde on Bob, Dan Wilde, Costanza, Sarah Dean and Phil Cerny. The album also features a rare recording from a live concert by the late Tony Capstick recorded in Sheffield in 1972. Released through Circuit Music on Fat Cat Records.

Spotifiers stream the full album below. Nolibretto's favorite track:
#28 It Ain't Me Babe sung by Edwina Hayes

Edwina Hayes Website
Album Website

Nino Rota - The Sacred Heart Of Nino Rota (2007)

Nino Rota (December 3, 1911, Milan – April 10, 1979, Rome) was an Italian composer and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti. He also composed the music for two of Franco Zeffirelli's Shakespeare films, and for the first two films of Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather trilogy, receiving for the latter the Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1974. During his long career Rota was an extraordinarily prolific composer, especially of music for the cinema. He wrote more than 150 scores for Italian and international productions from the 1930s until his death in 1979—an average of three scores each year over a 46 year period, and in his most productive period from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s he wrote as many as ten scores every year, and sometimes more, with a remarkable thirteen film scores to his credit in 1954.

Composer Nino Rota

Alongside this great body of film work, he composed ten operas, five ballets and dozens of other orchestral, choral and chamber works, the best known being his string concerto. He also composed the music for many theatre productions by Visconti, Zeffirelli and Eduardo de Filippo[1] as well as maintaining a long teaching career at the Liceo Musicale in Bari, Italy, where he was the director for almost 30 years. The 14 remarkable tracks on this album are from his catalogue of sacred music which he began composing as a child and represent his lifelong fascination with spirituality. One Amazon review says of this album, "The album is so beautifuly compiled, each performer on this cd is amazing. From the breathtaking soprano voice of Rachel Santesso, to the exquisite harp playing of Hugh Webb, and the contralto of Sara Mingardo, this is a truly brilliant tribute to a great composer. While we know him from his work on the Godfather films, this shows an amazing new side of this wonderful man".

Spotifiers stream the full album below. Nolibretto's favorite track:
#3 Il Salve Regina sung by Sara Mingardo

Sara Mingardo Website
More Sara Mingardo posts

The Felice Brothers - Yonder Is The Clock (2009)

Ian and James Felice are the twoeldest boys from a family of seven, born carpenter’s sons in the wilds of New York’s Catskill Mountains. Along with friends Christmas and Farley, they moved their Sunday barbecue sing-alongs from their Dad’s house onto the streets and subways of New York City. After months of toil, living in a 1987 special education bus, with arrests, and genuine panhandler fun, a free-lance music writer named Gabe Soria (MOJO) stumbled upon them singing and barking their wares at a farmers market in Brooklyn. One thing led to another, now the boys travel the world performing homegrown and gritty music on city stages as if they were hosting a sing-along on their front porch or in the backroom of a dusty tavern. Yonder Is The Clock is The Felice Brothers' sixth album and their second major release. Released a year after the self-titled Felice Brothers, Yonder Is the Clock gives us more great Americana to chew on.

*Felice Brothers - Backstage at Mountain Stage*

Spotifiers stream the full album below. Nolibretto's favorite track:
#12 Cooperstown

The Felice Brothers Website

Mishaped Pearls - The Singer and the Poets (2009)

Mishaped Pearls take their name from misshapen pearl, a literal translation of the Portuguese word Barocco or French word Baroque. The band was formed in late 2009 as a result of a collaboration between songwriter and musician Ged Flood and mezzo soprano Manuela Schuette. As well as being the silky voice of the group, Manuela draws on her love of ancient poetry by researching and providing many of the lyrics to the songs, which cross many countries, visiting the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and even Ancient China. They are joined by several versatile musicians: Andrew on keys, Sean on guitar, mandolin and banjo, Naomi on cello and Calie on hand drums, percussion and bass. From time to time they are accompanied by a lovely string section namely Maria and Elspeth on violins and Patti on viola.

In 2010 they released their debut recording, 'The Singer and The Poets', and in 2011 released their mini album 'Le Puy en Velay', which takes it's title from the stunningly beautiful town of the same name in The Auvergne region of France. The album is slightly folkier and more upbeat but also features the dreamy cover version of the beautiful Neil Young song Sugar Mountain. 'Le Puy en Velay' is not on Spotify, too bad, as Sugar Mountain is an INO favorite.

*VIDEO: Mishaped Pearls - Simon Simon*

Spotifiers stream the full album below. Nolibretto's favorite track:
#9 Le rêveur

Mishaped Pearls Website

Oh Michael, Look What You've Done : Friends Play Michael Chapman

Michael Chapman  began his career on the Cornish folk circuit in 1967. Signed to the Harvest label, home to Pink Floyd and Deep Purple, he recorded four quasi-legendary albums. The influential 'Fully Qualified Survivor' was John Peel's favorite record of 1970, and featured future Bowie collaborator Mick Ronson. After decades of recording and touring, Chapman remained an obscure figure in the States until his profile was raised by a lengthy 2009 interview with big fan Thurston Moore in Fretboard Journal. He toured extensively with the late guitarist Jack Rose, and more recently, with Bill Callahan. Seattle-based indie label Light in the Attic began a reissue campaign of his Harvest work, and Tompkins Square released the internationally acclaimed double disc, 'Trainsong : Guitar Compositions, 1967-2010'. All this has brought newfound attention to a singular guitarist and songwriter. 'Oh Michael, Look What You've Done : Friends Play Michael Chapman', compiled by Michael's wife Andru and Tompkins Square's Josh Rosenthal, features artists who have shared a stage with Michael, or share a personal connection. These include some of his contemporaries like Bridget St. John, Maddy Prior, and longtime cohort Rick Kemp (Steeleye Span), as well as young guns inspired by Michael's legacy.

Spotifiers stream the full album below. Nolibretto's favorite track:
#6 The Prospector performed by Maddy Prior

Maddy Prior Website