Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me (RIP blogs)

Yeah, don't get me wrong, the tracks she played from Ys were also amazing in that 6-piece format, sans orchestra -- she played "Monkey & Bear" and "Cosmia", which were standouts. On any given day, if truth be told, I'll probably have a different favourite JN album.

The other thing I wanted to say, though, was how much the piano-driven songs from HOOM also thrived in a live setting -- "Good Intentions Paving Company" and "Soft as Chalk" were captivating.

More random thoughts:

* It was also hot in Vancouver and she called this the "sweatiest tour ever". No idea why they don't set up fans on stage though. Maybe the harp would go out of tune easier, although the harp going out of tune seems to be a constant anyway!
*She did look at her drummer a lot and I lolled inwardly.
*She asked if Vancouver had a nickname, a few people muttered "Wankouver" and shit, so she suggested one: The Couve, then said "you're welcome". I'm no fanboi, but in tribute, Van is now "The Couve" to me.
*contenderizer OTM: this was generous-sounding music, comfortable in demeanour if expansive in sound.
*I know I'm posting a lot here, but it was actually one of the best shows I've seen in a long, long time.
*That's enough now.

She needs a carbon-fibre harp

I read somewhere she was coveting a $50,000 harp! Apparently, she rents them for both the studio and for touring, and she plays at home with some battered but beloved instrument she's played since the 8th Grade or something (I may have mangled that story), but Ówen, what is the advantage of a carbon-fibre harp?*

*Apologies if I've missed a really obvious joek.

*She asked if Vancouver had a nickname, a few people muttered "Wankouver" and shit, so she suggested one: The Couve, then said "you're welcome". I'm no fanboi, but in tribute, Van is now "The Couve" to me.

I was at a pharcyde show at the commodore a few years ago and they busted out the same nickname!

No, I don't think carbon fibre harps exist. But if they did, they'd be light and easy to tune, sound fantastic, and most harpers incl Joanna would probably hate them.

Ha, sym, that's funny. In my head, I always call Vancouver "Vansterdam" (drugs, liberalism, lots of water), but that's admittedly unwieldy. Kind of like a harp (tks for clarifying, Ówen).

i havent kept up with this thread for the past two days or so, but all i have to say is i am glad i play guitar and not harp because i cant imagine what a pain it is to lug that thing around or take care of it

"the couv" is pretty catchy! I tried to get friends saying it but it didn't really take : (

Hmm, donut bitch, once of these parts, said that Seattle people called Vancouver, BC just that, Vancouver, while Vancouver, WA, near Portland, was the one given 'the couv' appellation.

A carbon fibre harp, costs 5 grand.

http://www.heartlandharps.com/img/pinfinity1-full.jpg

They're not uncommon. I found a couple other manufacturers via GIS.

save 5k and use midi harp soundz imo

Those ain't pedal harps.

pt 2 in my bay pride posting for today...haven't much opinion on JN, but do want to shout out to Andy Strain (trombone) and Emily Packard (violin), who are part of her touring band. east bay all stars!!!

(about the Garden of Eden -- A.D. 1, geddit?)

This doesn't make sense

This one is the concert I was alluding to earlier.

"Hipster" as pejorative.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtrWJe4xgFI

Best thread ever. Ridiculously long, but still great. Also love this performance of soft as chalk

Mmm, not sure why i hyperlinked instead of just Youtubing. Lesson learnt.

http://pitchfork.com/news/40456-joanna-newsom-not-doing-the-simpsons/

"Regrettably, the awesome rumor of my upcoming cameo on 'The Simpsons' is unfounded. I remain, however, steadfast as always in my commitment to the character of Lisa, whom I have of course had the privilege of voicing for the last 21 years, in my dreams. Thanks for the memories, gang!"

<3

What do you think of the freak-folk scene, which is influenced by some of the artists you produced?
I like the idea of it. and I particularly like that they like the Incredible String Band. But I find Joanna Newsom’s voice annoying.

--Joe Boyd

Says it all to me, especially that Joe Boyd of all people said this. I've never understood what people see in her

She'll be happy about that. Him liking freak folk, and not her, since she's said she doesn't consider herself a part of that scene.

attaching some kinda authoritative well he must! know credit to him is kinda tenuous imo. he doesn't like her, he doesn't like her voice. joanna newsom's voice arguments are pretty passe, i don't think he's shining any new light on it.

I don't know. Boyd seems to have an incredible ability to see things in terms of how they'll seem thirty years from now, but that could be my own projection of him. I mean to have produced records by both Nick Drake and Toumani Diabate... those two are probably some of the only geniuses to have existed in popular music in the 20th century.

"Baby Birch, "In California" and "'81" still pop into my head a lot. I ought to give the whole thing another spin next time I've got two free hours.

It's not close to Ys and in hindsight three discs is just too much and a bad idea, but it makes for a pretty good DIY mix.

lol joe, isb's vocals were terrible

was gonna say. (and i love the ISB, but in terms of vocals that 9 out of 10 people will call "annoying" it's a tossup betw. isb and joanna)

Shouldn't they be called unihorns? 10:40 PM Nov 17th via web Retweeted by 100+ people

RiversCuomo
Rivers Cuomo

http://i56.tinypic.com/5evlv4.jpg

Record-toting tote bag from Drag City:

http://www.dragcity.com/system/products/images/1741/large.jpg?1292279215

Will this album be filled with pixie dust, unicorns, and magic?

― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, January 12, 2010 11:15 PM

http://i.imgur.com/WIBJw.png

Got a free ticket to the first show of her new tour in Marlay Park last night. Didn't know what to expect going in, but it ended up being one of the best gigs I've seen in a long time. The vastness of the new stuff works better live, and the old stuff is better than the album versions because she has a bit more control over her voice now. She ended with Baby Birch, which had these great shimmering Telecaster chords that were a lot more prominent than the album version. Strangely, the only song that didn't really work was Good Intentions Paving Company, because it seemed a bit out of place compared to everything else she played.

Bert Jansch was a good support act too, he's still quite the mean guitarist, even if his voice is completely shot. Think he was in crowdpleasing form, because he played quite a few Irish tunes, including Blackwater Side.

Good support act choices. I enjoyed seeing Roy Harper play with her last year.

still haven't seen her live -- it would be nice to at some point

can't wait for blood to spill when she and Aerosmith share the same bill.

blood in an elevator

joannie's got a gun

still haven't seen her live -- it would be nice to at some point

she's great, & captivating, but seemed sorta stuck between two approaches last time i saw her - like there's this huge emphasis on rendering & detail that comes w/her group, who play a bunch of weird small exotic looking string instruments. and i feel like that fit for ys in a way that it doesn't quite for the new one, which seemed like it might suit something alternatively a bit looser or more boisterous (re good intentions, just upthread)

yeah makes sense

Only saw her during her first European tour, first album. There wasn't any emphasis on rendering then tbh. It was just Joanna and her harp, really.

Which obv was great

:D :D

yeah for sure, & even w/o her harp!, singing yarn and glue. that was unruly.

http://bombsite.com/issues/116/articles/5106
this is interesting, btw

RH What do you think has been gained and lost through the increasingly ambitious scope of your albums? There would seem to be more orchestration, for instance. Do you miss the immediacy of your earlier work, such as The Milk-Eyed Mender?

JN This is a real hot topic for me, Roy. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately because I’m trying to write again. When people talk to me about my last three albums, they always seem to invoke a sort of trajectory, some traceable, stepwise evolution from sparseness to density or from simplicity to adornment. Yet, for me, the differences from record to record don’t follow a linear progression; the albums are three unrelated sets of ideas sprung up from the rubble of the spent ideas that preceded them. My basic creative assumptions tend to shift every few years in the wake of some levee-breaking accretion of new biases, longings, habits, preoccupations, mythologies, fears, superstitions, demystifications, heresies, tics, values, attachments, grudges, vices, diversions, avocations, sources of inspiration and of discouragement. I always end up in the same place after I finish recording and touring an album: devoid of ideas, and afraid I won’t be able to write anything worthwhile again. One of the first thoughts to flicker into that void tends to be, How can I make my next work relate to what preceded it? I usually make a plan, which later reveals itself to be moot, but to which I cling for a little while, in a talismanic sense.

http://i.imgur.com/ArKFl.gif

http://i.imgur.com/R1C2f.jpg

http://stokewithoutsound.tumblr.com/post/12851977627/littlerunawaybunny-framenoir-joanna-newsom