It’s cold, and it’s been raining outside on and off since last night.  All the songs on this mix have something to do with oceans, or water, or rivers.  Or something.  *shrug*

1. Camera Obscura – French Navy
2. Martha Wainwright – Niger River
3. Blitzen Trapper – Lady on the Water
4. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Underwater (You and Me)

The beautiful lilting tones in Gary Lightbody’s voice and the hauntingly ominous lyrics on some of the tracks on Eyes Open made it an album I just couldn’t stop listening to. Crammed with some of the bands most commercially popular songs, it may not be as popular with some of their oldest fans but the genius behind the music on this album cannot be denied.

Chasing Cars, a beautiful ballad which took over the airwaves in 2006, spent a near record breaking 90 weeks in the UK top 75 clearly demonstrating how the song touched so many people. It’s powerful lyrics and gentle melody made it a smash hit being used on programmes such as Grey’s Anatomy and some of Hollywood’s biggest block-busters. It propelled the band towards fame in the USA, not an easy task, especially for a group of indie boys from Northern Ireland. Although it is far from my favourite track on the album it proved to a wider audience that Snow Patrol deserved a status of their own, they were not just mere impersonators of Coldplay.

The guest vocals of Martha Wainwright on Set the fire to the third bar still send shivers down my spine when I listen to it. Her voice and Lightbody’s mesh perfectly together resulting in a simply beautiful and emotive song.

My favourite song on the album has to be You could be happy. A song reflecting the pain Lightbody himself was feeling at the time can be felt by anyone listening to the track. The lyrics paint such a sad picture of what could have been but it pulls on your heart-strings and has to be the best song on the album.

I think I can actually pin point the moment I fell in love with the album. 1st September 2007, Snow Patrol played a gig in an unknown park in a town in Northern Ireland to a crowd of around 30,000 people. The Home-coming gig.

Lightbody and Quinn returned to their home-town of Bangor, also my home-town, with the rest of the band. The atmosphere of the day could never be recreated again. They were so happy to be home and playing in Ward Park. The location was random, it was where I played hockey, where my school sport’s day was held and where I fed the ducks as a kid.

Now people from across Northern Ireland were united to watch their boys play a spectacular show into which they put their heart and soul. I had seen them once before and once since that day and I can safely say nothing compares to how they performed, it was special.

The album became the best-selling album of 2006 beating stiff competition from Artic Monkeys Whatever people say I am, that’s what I’m not album. The lads from Bangor had done good. They were riding high on the charts after working hard for years in the unknown realms of indie bands trying to make it.

Snow Patrol make beautiful music to which anyone can relate. They are who they are and Eyes Open is the best example of some of their finest work. They craft their music and lyrics in such a manner that can really bring emotions out from even the coldest of hearts.

It also produced You’re all I have, one of their biggest hits yet.

It’s an album which I could listen to over and over again and with such a range of successful songs I think it’s the one to beat in album of the decade.

Now go and vote Snow Patrol Eyes Open

Martha Wainwright
San Fusils, Ni Souliers, A Paris: Martha Wainwright’s Piaf Record ••••
Cooperative / Drowned In Sound

There are some bright ideas, the cultural playbook tells us, north Americans should leave well alone lest they want to invoke the angry spirit guardians of someone else’s heritage. When the legacy in question is that of someone considered a French national icon, that good advice may be especially pertinent. Particularly in the case of an icon so revered as Edith Piaf, the tragic ‘Little Sparrow’, a romantic martyr to the grand passions of the mythical Gallic soul. We don’t do popular singers in quite the same way in the Anglo-Saxon world. With a voice drenched in absinthe and cracked by gitane smoke, a demeanour gracefully wrapped in the tricolore and a place in the heart of Francophiles well beyond the physical and psychological borders of La France Profonde, Piaf is to many what French popular culture is all about. What kind of non-French artist would dare dabble with such a fiercely protected mythos?

Step forward Martha Wainwright. Raised in bilingual Montreal, she has the advantage of herself being a Francophone and part of a culture that has always brought together what oppositionalists on both sides of the Anglo/Gallic divide say can never happily co-exist. Wainwright is a north American, but like other Québécois, she has a statut particulier when it comes to her heritage. San Fusils, Ni Souliers, A Paris finds her inhabiting and exploring that heritage in a manner that goes way beyond the kitsch pastiche of a million ill-judged cabaret singers launching into an overblown ‘Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien’. Piaf’s signature calling card doesn’t get a look in, likewise ‘La Vie En Rose’; instead it’s less familiar numbers from the Little Sparrow’s canon that are showcased here. Conceived with a ‘let’s see what happens’ attitude and joined by a band of musicians including her long-time collaborator Brad Albetta, pianist Thomas Bartlett and multi-instrumentalist Doug Wieselman, Martha and her “New York cats” ditch the hushed reverence for something altogether more Wainwright. And it works.

From the cascading, cinematic beginnings of ‘Le Foule’, as the lovers of the lyrics, drunk and happy in each others’ arms, skip a mad farandole, Wainwright discovers the joyful love of free expression at the heart of these songs, a fact sometimes lost on the most ardent of Piaf protectionists. Her version of the beautiful late-night ballad ‘Adieu Mon Cœur’ sounds less fragile than the Piaf original, the protagonist at its heart swapping vulnerability for a grittier, more determined farewell to a less than true heart, the lush piano sweep carrying the emotional force of the vocal to its fullest flow. Swaggering bombast gets a look in on the rafter raising, sing-a-long of ‘L’Accordeoniste’, the hesitation at the climax, followed by the claps and whoops of the audience reminding you that this is a live recording. The growling grenadiers of ‘Les Grognards’, with its discordant marching beats, military trumpets and tales of the Napoleonic Imperial Guard is drama of a different kind. There is threat at its heart, a splendour tied up with menace.

Coming as a welcome relief from the pomp of Imperial France, ‘C’est Toujours La Meme Histoire’ arrives with a swaying, singalong ‘la-la-la-la’ and a cosy, end of the evening feeling that you’ve heard it a thousand times before. Even if you understand not one line of the lyric, you can at least share in the warmth of the moment. ‘Marie Trottoir’ is another highlight. A tale of a Parisian streetwalker which retains a determination to find beauty in the most tragic of lives, it’s bittersweet throughout, the loveliness of the melody and the poignancy of its subject matter contrasting to create a controlled dignity in the face of the harshest of circumstances. Though her aim is generally true, Wainwright doesn’t nail everything. ‘Non, La Vie N’est Pas Triste’, a rejoinder to not only see the tragic in life ironically fails to come to life itself, despite the driving chug of the guitar and the best efforts of the vocalist, who falls somewhere between tenderness and exultation but never fully convinces of either. Likewise ‘Soudain Une Vallee’, which somehow comes up short despite a flawless performance by everyone involved.

Live albums are frequently disappointing, remaining the preserve of completist fans, and in this instance the songs and performance need the presence of an audience to be fully made sense of. Piaf dramatised a certain kind of soul-response to the trials of love, the beauty and the tragedy of a life most at home in the poetic imagination. It was never a solitary act, but an almost sacramental relationship between artist and an audience that felt the same things but couldn’t articulate those feelings to the degree that she could. Even if she did approach this project with a degree of irreverence, Martha Wainwright manages to take on that mantle, finding her own voice and her own vivid emotional journey in the sweeping tales and drama of another nation’s heroine. There is much here for lovers of Piaf and Wainwright alike, and a decent introduction to both for those still not enamoured with either.

Martyn Clayton
UK release date: 09/11/09; www.myspace.com/marthawainwright

Não, não é a Stewart, é a irmão do Rufus, a Wainwright. Não me lembro de ler tanto sobre ela num mesmo dia, como me aconteceu hoje. Por aqui continua a publicação de excertos de uma bela entrevista, do qual saliento esta passagem que vai de encontro a este (ou subverte?) “mas como habitualmente, tudo o que reside ao lado dos singles promocionais soa sempre melhor” :

“Chamou ao primeiro álbum, a que chamou simplesmente Martha Wainwright. Porque dá tanta gente o seu nome aos seus primeiros discos?
É uma tradição na música folk. É uma maneira muito simples e directa de fazer as coisas… E também uma forma de dizer que nenhuma canção em particular é o single…”

Ainda não saciei a minha curiosidade em Martha, da qual não tenho nenhum álbum, sendo que o mais recente está na minha listinha de compras. E eu que não gosto assim tanto de versões, acho a interpretação de “La Vie en Rose” magnífica:

I took my dog for a walk … all the way from New York to Florida … I said to him, “There. Now you’re done.”

- Steven Wright

Fetch, Finn! Now sit, Sunny! Stay. Good pups!

That’s right, in a deliberate attempt to boost our Arbitron ratings Great River Radio has turned the show over to our dogs. Well, not the entire show. Our “Confluence” segment this week has a canine theme. We’ll have dog-related songs from Big Mama Thornton, Page France, Josh Ritter, Uncle Tupelo and Louis Armstrong. And as always we’ll mix in a few listener requests, including selections from Patty Griffin and John Hiatt. But despite their best efforts, Finn and Sunny won’t run the entire show.

There’s a Great River Radio tradition of digging through mountains of MP3s to bring you some of the best new music around. We’ve been working extra hard this week to unearth new tracks from Richmond Faintaine, The Avett Brothers, Brandi Carlile, Dirty Projectors, Tom Waits, Sharon Jones, Har Mar Superstar, Martha Wainwright, Girls, Echo & The Bunnymen and the Raveonettes. Haven’t heard of some of these artists? That’s OK. Give us a listen, and you might discover a new musician to add to your own heavy rotation.

Great River Radio will be “live” today from 4-6 p.m. (CST).

Brian/Dan

P.S. Great River Radio will be off next week for Thanksgiving. Give thanks and have a great holiday with family and friends!

Playlist

Maybe-Ingrid Michaelson
Crown of Ages-The Ettes
Ten Thousand Words-The Avett Brothers
Green Grass-Tom Waits
Stranded In Your Love-Sharon Jones and Lee Fields
So Hard-Martha Wainwrights
Lust For Life-Girls
8th Wonder-The Gossip
Tall Boy-Har Mar Superstore
Take It In-Hot Chip
Hound Dog-Big Mama Thornton
My Dog & Me-John Hiatt
I Wanna Be Your Dog-Uncle Tupelo
Dogs-Page France
Feed The Dog-Honey Is Cool
To The Dogs Or Whoever-Josh Ritter
Yellow Dog Blues-Louis Armstrong
Heavenly Day-Patty Griffin
I Will-Brandi Carlile
The Underdog-Spoon
The Preacher-Brother Ali
The Chosen One-The Raveonettes
I Think I Need It Too-Echo & The Bunnymen
Wild Girl-Rickie Lee Jones
Island, IS-Volcano Choir
Stillness Is The Move-Dirty Projectors

Martha Wainwright is a Canadian-American folk-rock singer-songwriter. She is the daughter of American folk/blues musician Loudon Wainwright III and Canadian folk singer-songwriter Kate McGarrigle. Along with her older brother, Rufus Wainwright, Martha was raised in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in a musical family. - from wikipedia

turns out i like her singing in français way more than en anglais.

(link updated 11/23 20:09)

http://www.mediafire.com/?g1t1j10inhm

by Katie

How dare you accuse me of forgetting that Nellie McKay released an album in early October, or that it was a collection of Doris Day songs??? I never in all my life! Oh… fine. Here’s Nellie.

And because I called this a “tribute edition,” here’s Martha Wainwright singing Edith Piaf! Martha and Nellie are my favorite fellow bottle blondes. Or something.

I wanted to find video of Deer Tick playing as the Sex Pistols on Halloween, but there isn’t much on YouTube, plus then I would have had to post the Monsters of Folk dressed as Kiss, and that was just a slippery slope I didn’t want to venture down.

I mentioned a couple of months ago how much I was enjoying revisiting Aimee Mann’s music on the Magnolia soundtrack.

Since then, that album and two other albums have dominated my listening because they are soooooo good! (possibly also because they’re at a pitch that doesn’t bother my funny left ear but I’m not musically literate enough to explain these things)

Interestingly, all three albums were on high rotation when I first got them but had been put aside for new music a while ago. Why is there something extra good about rediscovering an album you love. Best thing ever.

Martha Wainwright – self titled

Regina Spektor – Begin to Hope

I recently received an e-mail from a nice person at Prospect (a British magazine).  The email asked if I’d like to review their magazine.  After being completely flattered, I said, “Of course!”  And then I waited nervously hoping that the magazine was good and that I wouldn’t have to say anything mean about it, because I would.  Oh yes, I would.

But I don’t have to. They grabbed me right off the bat because the c & the t in the title are connected by a little filigree doodad.   I love typography, so that little flourish was a selling point (okay a superficial one, but I liked it immediately).

The “subtitle” of the magazine is “Good Writing About Things That Matter” and it is a totally apt description.  Prospect is a monthly magazine that covers all aspects of society: British, European, American and the world.  And, indeed, the writing is quite good.

In many ways it reminded me of The Walrus, a favorite magazine of mine.  (It’s a weird comparison since The Walrus has only been around for a few years, while Prospect has been around for about 13 (the November issue is number 164, so I’m guessing here), but it’s an apt comparison for its coverage: politics, culture, arts and more.

Because this was a new (to me)  magazine (and because I knew I’d be reviewing it), I decided to read every article.  There were a few that I thought I wouldn’t care much about.  But the writing totally grabbed me.  For instance, the article about Princess Diana (about whom I am indifferent) was fantastic.  It was cynical and funny and totally engaging.  And the same was true for just about every article in the magazine.

Normally I like to have at least two issues to refer to when reviewing.  So there may very well be things about this issue that are different from the others.  So, forgive, please, if I generalize incorrectly.

The first thing I wanted to mention was advertising.  In the magazines I read, I pretty much completely ignore the ads.  I see a picture of a car and I flip the page.  But in a new magazine, especially a foreign magazine, I like to see what’s up for sale.  (I especially like to see ads for products that are unavailable here).  But Prospect is virtually ad-free.  I’m not sure how things work for British magazines and advertising–if like NPR, there is a “sponsor” or two, or if it’s a pay as you go thing.  Anyhow, flipping through, we get a few full page or two page ads in the beginning: BMW, IBM and Baillie Gifford (which I’ve never heard of).  But once you get into the heart of the issue, there’s really no more (well, one for ExxonMobil just before the Letters).  But after that the ads are small and are for web sites that I’ve never heard of (a lot of publishers & small businesses).

The last few pages also have Classifieds Section (like the ones in most of the progressive magazines I read).  And that’s it.  It’s rather refreshing.  (But I guess I’ll have to read Heat to get the fun trashy ads–and yes I only know about Heat from The IT Crowd).

But moving on…

The opening article, In Prospect discusses what’s in the magazine.  This issue has a special section on the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Conference.  I’m not sure if all of the issues have special sections like this (set off in a different color and everything) or if this is a one off.

The thing that I liked immediately about the magazine was the If I Ruled the World Column.  From what I can tell, this is a regular feature of the magazine in which various people tell how they would make things better.  What an interesting concept, especially if the authors are smart (not just celebrities). (Or maybe it’s a regular column by Sam Leith…I’m not quite sure).

Next, there’s the second thing that delighted me: Six Things to Do This Month.  Lots of magazine recommend entertainment to see and do, and it’s interesting to see what kind of taste a new magazine has (while it’s true that these are all things happening in England, you can still judge the taste of the magazine as it applies to your location).  So, they suggest (and gives reasons why you should see): Film (An Education); Art (David Hockney); Music (Martha Wainwright(!)); Painting, Dance and Theatre.  So, even though I won’t be able to do 5 of the 6, I enjoy the artistic taste of the magazine.

This is followed by Political Notes.  It’s a brief article British politics.  While this may not affect me directly, whoever wins the British election will shape the world.  It’s an interesting insight into the politics of the magazine to see what they talk about here.

Next comes Diary (and this reminds me a lot of the opening Walrus pages).  It contains short articles about various things around the world: Media (Giving the newspaper game away in London); Finance (Global finance keeps on drifting eastward) North America (Obama and the Nobel Peace Prize…which offers an insight I had not heard before and one I found quite useful).  And (my friend Rich would have loved this) evidently a monthly column by Brian Eno (!).  I also really enjoyed the “Word of the Month” paragraph. (This month’s was “Dingbat,” a font type that I always talk about in my computer classes).

The Data page presents a few factual tidbits: a chart (about internet use) and a series of facts and quotes from various sources (In Detroit the average sale price of a house is $7,100 (from The Wall Street Journal)).  And, my favorite: Didier Drogba studied accountancy (from Didier Drogba’s Facebook page).

Next comes Letters and Opinions.  The first piece discusses the option of diminishing the power of British arms producers (to save the budget for the military).  The second encourages Bill Gates (and the Gates Foundation) to go after HIV like they did Netscape and wipe it off the map (great parallel there).  And then two articles: one about the Soviets and one about suffragettes which show personal insights into these issues.

From Our Correspondents has stories from across the globe.  It’s always embarrassing when you have to go abroad to hear about your own country, but the article about Republican Eric Cantor was completely enlightening to me.  The other articles abroad this month were from Brussels and China.

Then some of the major articles come up.  The first is about President Obama and his failure to heal party divisions in the country (despite his political successes).  There’s a second one about Obama’s foreign policy.  In the States, we’re stuck hearing the same talking points over and over again (just watch the Daily Show to see how many media people use the same exact phrase over and over.)  So it’s refreshing to have a thoughtful new perspective on something so close to home.

The rest of the big articles are what I love about monthly newsmagazines and why they are so much better than weeklies.  First off, if you need news now, you go to the internet, there’s no question.  But the problem with a weekly is that they often get stuck reporting about what’s happening NOW, THIS WEEK! whether it is significant or not (balloon boy?).  A monthly magazine, on the other hand, may not be current, but it can always be significant.

So, an article about Angela Merkel and the state of German elections is timely without being up to the minute.  But it was wonderfully informative (and check out the awesome election campaign poster graphic they included–the German reads: “We have more  to offer” (with that delightful shot of Merkel’s cleavage).  Then came the article on Princess Diana (which was actually about her family’s attempt to cash in on her at her birth home).  It was a first person narrative and was quite fascinating (and which I’m sure the Spencer’s didn’t appreciate).

The third one was possibly the most interesting article I have read in a while, period.  “How to really hug a hoodie” discusses an attempt in Glasgow to use a controversial American technique to reduce gang violence.  First off, why hadn’t I ever heard of this technique being used in America?  And second, it is clearly effective, so why are people shying away from it elsewhere.  This article was simply fantastic.  It’s available here.  Check it out!

Then comes the Arts section.  Now, clearly I love the arts, so it was a treat to see nearly half the magazine devoted to them.  But what I liked about them was the (in context) serious nature of the articles.  Why Britain Can’t Do The Wire looks at the struggles of writers in dealing with the BBC.  This very issue was brought up in the recent Monty Python documentary.  They complained about how much the BBC hierarchy has changed in the last 40 years, and how hard it is to do anything creative there.  Now, I of course love BBC comedies and think that many of them are fresh and better than what we can do here.  But I don’t know a lot about their dramas (they compare The Wire to Life on Mars, but I thought the UK Life on Mars was brilliant while the US version was rather flat.  Nevertheless, the points they makes are really strong.

Another TV article looked at the gruesomeness of current TV medical dramas.  They compared the calm and mellow medical examinations of Quincy to shows like NCIS, and how we aren’t squeamish about intense medical investigations anymore (or maybe we are, but we can’t turn away).

Sporting life covers sports.  I don’t really care about sports, but (and this will tell you how out of touch with sports I am), I was interested to read it because it told me about Mark Buehrle’s perfect game (and DeWayne Wise’s amazing catch in said game.  I used to watch and play sports a lot when I was a kid so I am well versed in the language and can totally appreciate magnificence in sports, I just don’t care about it).  So, thanks for that, anyhow (I watched the catch online and it was pretty amazing).  Although I do like reading about English football, for some reason, even if I don’t know anything about the teams.

The Arts & Books section features a number of great reviews.  And the reviews are fascinating for many reasons.  But first, the section opens with a print of The Suicide of Lucretia by Lucas Cranach the Elder.  This very painting was featured prominently in a Warehouse 13 episode we watched a few weeks before (synchronicity!).

The first book review is a first person account by another author.  The reviewed book is a fictional account of the writer’s father’s suicide; the reviewer talks about her own father’s suicide.  Rather than reviewing the book in great detail (she says it was amazing and kind of leaves it at that) she talks about the effect the book had on her life and on her writing.  It was a unique attitude in the often dull world of reviews.  There was also a review of Superfreakonomics which is just making the rounds here, and I’ll be curious to see how this review compares.

The Music article was “Who’s Afraid of the Avant Garde” and it was absolutely correct: avant garde painting is accepted (even if not everyone likes it) but avant garde music is often derided as just noise.

There’s a lot of good articles in here about painting as well.  I don’ often read gallery articles because I don’t get to go very often, but this one about an unknown (to me) painter Frank Auerbach was really interesting.

The Way We Were shows extracts from diaries that are quite amusing (and I rather hope that’s a regular feature).  While the Widescreen page looks at filmmaking in Iraq (and I, too, hope that the boy he mentions can indeed become a filmmaker when he grows up).

Finally, there’s Fiction.  I reviewed the story yesterday, and it seems like many well-respected authors get published here.  But I don’t think any of the stories are online so I can’t go back and check.

Lastly, one of my favorites: Puzzles!  There’s a rather difficult puzzle (with a contest) and then a very difficult crossword (with a contest).  I love crosswords, and I have always had a hard time with British ones. Although I greatly appreciate that they include the number of letters/words in the answer.  So far I have managed to get only three out of some 60 clues.  Phew.

And, of course, the back page.  Prospect’s back page features an Agony Aunt.  I’ve always enjoyed the phrase “agony aunt,” and find it be more dynamic than our simple “advice” sections.  This Agony Aunt seems to deal with various problems (elder parents, job stresses) with a very stern hand.  I don’t read advice columns generally (unless, you know, I see them) but I liked the way the Agony Aunt didn’t pull punches.

The special section about Copenhagen was very informative.  I’m a little weirded out that it appears to have been sponsored by Shell Oil, which seems counterintuitive (although I do appreciate that corporate “greenwashing” was discussed).  The Copenhagen Conference is an important environmental meeting that, consensus suggests, will likely not do all that much for preventing global catastrophe.  But these articles showed both positives and negatives, optimists and pessimists and, most importantly tried to be realistic about the whole thing.  So I finished the section feeling kind of glum about the future, but with a ray of hope.

So, yeah, I pretty much loved this magazine.  I feel like I may have been a little too gushy (and verbose) in this review, but this magazine spoke to me like few others do.  It reminds me of Harper’s but there’s more original work (as opposed to Harper’s excerpts from elsewhere).  And, as far as I can tell its not aggressively political (there is obviously a political slant to it, but it’s not in your face (or at least not in my face).

So, yes, if you can find Prospect here (and I haven’t actually seen what its availability is in the States), it’s a really great magazine.  In depth, but not overlong articles about issues that impact the world.  What more can you ask from a magazine?

The FT’s* exploring mentoring and how artists learn w/ the sponsorship of Rolex and the two articles so far on participants in the program have been good.

Martin Scorsese talks about how he works, what movies inspire him and how he was treated when he was trying to learn the craft of movies.

Kate Valk describes the interesting and masked approach The Wooster Group takes to theatre as they develop performances.

Peter Aspden has been knocking out excellent columns. This week he talks to Martha Wainwright about interpreting Edith Piaf, Wainwright’s musical family and how she maintains her individual drift.

Several weeks ago (yes, I still have a pile of newspapers I’m working through), Peter Aspden wrote aboutPatti Smith now, and her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe then. I remember seeing “The Perfect Moment” Mapplethorpe exhibit – there was a clarity and an aggression that made them more vivid than any other photos I’d seen to that point. I think that’s when I realized photography could be art.

*Financial Times, my current newspaper of choice.

Live album out November 9th

Martha Wainwright is bringing her well received Edith Piaf performance to the Barbican in London on November 11th following an intimate two-night run at New York’s Dixon Palace Theater back in June, and tickets are selling out fast. The occasion? To mark the release of the Hal Willner-produced live recordings of those shows on November 9th through V2 Records. Dubbed Sans Fusils, Ni Souliers, A Paris: Martha Wainwright’s Piaf Record, Martha Wainwright’s Piaf record builds upon a lifetime of admiration for the tragic French chanteuse’s vast catalogue of passionately sung recordings, picking out several of her lesser known songs to breathe some new life into.

So alongside the familiar likes of ‘Adieu Mon Cœur’ and ‘Le Chant D’Amour’, Martha gives us little treasures like ‘Les Blouses Blanches’ and ‘Non, La Vie N’est Pas Triste’, all delivered with guts and emotion with some expert musical backing. A bonus DVD features four songs filmed at the New York shows by Faithless member Jamie Catto.

Sans Fusils, Ni Souliers, A Paris: Martha Wainwright’s Piaf Record
CD
01 La Foule
02 Adieu Mon Cœur
03 Une Enfant
04 L’Accordéoniste
05 Le Brun et le Blond
06 Les Grognards
07 C’est Toujours la Même Histoire
08 Hudsonia
09 C’est à Hambourg
10 Non, La Vie N’est Pas Triste
11 Soudain Une Vallée
12 Marie Trottoir
13 Le Metro de Paris
14 Le Chant D’Amour
15 Les Blouses Blanches

DVD
01 Le Chant D’Amour [live]
02 La Foule [live]
03 Non, La Vie N’est Pas Triste [live]
04 Adieu Mon Cœur [live]

Alan Pedder

Martha Wainwright, although not a post yet on her here on YATM, is an excellent solo female artist who we always love watching and listening to her music. She just performed an excellent new song “So Hard” as well as some of her other songs from past albums, including a bonus song off her self titled ablum. Sample the former then head on over to Daytrotter to listen and download every byte of Martha goodness!

Martha Wainwright stamps her je ne sais quoi on a beautiful selection of rare and acclaimed Edith Piaf songs, passionately sung and romantically interpreted by Martha on her stunning album ‘Sans Fusils, Ni Souliers, A Paris. Martha Wainwright’s Piaf Record’ out November 9th.

The album was recorded over three intimate performances in New York’s Dixon Place Theatre in June. Produced by Hal Willner, Martha Wainwright assembled a unique band of musicians including long-time collaborator Brad Albetta, who produced Martha’s first two albums, pianist Thomas Bartlett and electric guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Doug Wieselman to capture the French chanteuse’s venerable catalogue, beautifully coupled with Martha’s incredible, evocative and characterful voice.

Cautious of avoiding the cliché of looking sad, pretending to be drunk with a glass of absinthe on the table, Martha creates tension and urgency on this charming 12-track record – delivered with paralleled emotion conveying Edith Piaf’s mystical vulnerability. Highlights include ‘Adieu Mon Coeur’, ‘Vieux Piano’, ‘Une Enfant’ and a transfixing version of ‘Le Foule’.

Growing up in Montreal and speaking French at school, Martha was totally influenced and captivated by Piaf as a child, having listened to her music since the age of eight. “There are certain things about her that I have always been influenced by,” says Martha. “The emotive sensibility of her voice. She’s an incredibly emotional singer and I’ve always been an incredibly emotional singer and pained singer.

Sans Fusils, Ni Souliers, A Paris is released November 6th.

For more information on Martha visit her website here or her myspace here.

Carly Simon sues Starbucks

Not only will Canada be hosting the 2010 Winter Olympic Games to show off their pristine, snow covered hills and universal healthcare, but they’ll also be throwing some of Canada’s most famous indie acts on stage during the games, reports Stereogum. From February 12-28, expect to see Broken Social Scene, K’Naan, Stars, Joel Plaskett, Steve Earle, Laurie Anderson, Martha Wainwright, Blue Rodeo, Iron & Wine, Corb Lund, Ron Sexsmith, Joan As Policewoman, and Sun Kil Moon featured. Wilco has also been confirmed to play at an Olympic event at Vancouver’s David Lam Park. Apparently, the Olympics will also be taking place at some point between all of the performances.

Carly Simon will be teaming up with high-profile attorney David Boies in a suit that she will be filing against coffee empire Starbucks, reports RS. Simon claims that Starbucks is to blame for the disappointing sales of her new album, This Kind of Love. Sales of the record numbered about 124,000, which Simon claims is due in part to mismanagement and poor promotion of the record on Starbucks’ end. Simon was looking to have this record support an early retirement, but due to the monetary concerns presented by the album’s flop, it seems like retirement may be out of the question at the moment. Looks as though she may have to remain for the time being as a “working girl”.

Fear not, Weezer fans. The long-anticipated release of Weez’s Raditude, which is scheduled for October 27^th, is fast approaching. If you can’t wait that long, though, we’ve got good news. The album is now available for preview on iTunes in 30-second clips, which may not seem like much to some. Don’t worry. It gets the job done. RS reminds fans to check out “Can’t Stop Partying”, their collaboration with rap giant Lil Wayne. Weezy and Weezer? Sounds like a match made in promotional heaven.

Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor has been hard at work with his solo project, CANT. Not only did he appear on Monday’s episode of the Tonight Show, but also released his project’s first single, entitled Ghosts. The track is backed up by the unreleased “Come to Life” from minimalist Arthur Russell, as reported by Pitchfork. Check it out here.

Scandinavian pop icon Annie has been met with nothing but trouble regarding the release of her second album, entitled Don’t Stop. After braving a gauntlet of blown release dates and a deluge of leaks of the album, she’ll finally be releasing the album with Smalltown Supersound on November 17, says Pitchfork. Check out her latest single, “I Don’t Like Your Band”.

– John Luposello

Another Week…Another Music Monday…lets get down to business!!

13!!!…How is she only 13???!!!!…Dionne Bromfield (goddaughter of Amy Winehouse)…covering the Shirelles’ “Mama Said” in amazing fashion….love her soul and doo-wap style music….I enjoy it muchacholy!!! and a great tv debut on Strictly too!!!

I love Jewel (and Jewell!!! )…and this is one of my fave songs by her……hella awesome…despite questionable lyrics!!!LOL

And to stick with the girl theme of today (I need more male artists…recommendations??)….I think we’ll have some Martha Wainwright…cos she is Awesome…and her family is a sauce made of awesome….and You Cheated Me………is beyond sauce!!!

Shonen Knife, Deer Biscuits
Dot Allison, In Winter Still
Anjulie, Boom
The Aislers Set, Catherine Says
The Do, Tammie
A Girl Called Eddy, The Long Goodbye
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson, Relator
A Camp, The Weed Had Got There First
Sarah Fimm, How Does It Feel
Adele, Chasing Pavements
Saskia Crescentia, Free Me
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Date With the Night
Thee Headliners, Double Dutch
Yenn, Belle Gunness
The Dry Spells, The Crow
X-Ray Spex, Germfree Adolescents
Vandaveer, Turpentine
Jen Wood, Recharge
Lhasa, Love Came Here
Elizabeth Willis, Thoughts
Taken by Trees, Watch the Waves
Wire Daisies, Rocket Girl
The Beatings, Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained
Winterbrief, Chick Flick
Tiny Animals, Is This the Last Time?
Von Iva, Birds of Prey
Divisible, A Girl You Can’t Love
Martha Wainwright, Far Away
Park Avenue Music, Piet
Anna Waronker, Beautiful
The Watson Twins, Map to Where You Are
The Verbs, Fooled by Rock n Roll
Visqueen, Look Alive
Veruca Salt, Disinherit

i had the chance to participate in a rainbow bridge today to celebrate national coming out month. but i decided to just stand and observe with this other conservative girl and we had a nice chat about religion instead. the rainbow bridge was a failure anyway. since it was raining, they were all wearing jackets that covered up their colored shirts and instead of a rainbow, it just looked like a bunch of people standing in a line. i had to stick around and watch cuz my professor was in the bridge, so we couldn’t start class till afterwards. i don’t like thinking about gays. i would never persecute them or anything, but i just think it’s unnatural. but whenever i think about it too much, i just get weirded out and want to stop. i like my teacher, though. she’s nice and a really good discussion leader.

i’m so glad this week is over. i had three big academic things this week, a presentation, a paper and a test. in that order. my presentation went really well cuz i spent all weekend preparing it, my paper came out better than it should have being written the night before and all, and the test was just awful cuz i ran out of time to prepare for that one. i’m gonna really have to work hard on the next tests for that class. this should probably teach me something about my time management skills, but i hate budgeting things.

i have so much on my mind. after my four classes in a row, i was starving and grabbed lunch at this little pizza place. i had an hour to kill so i took my sweet time eating and drinking. when i had finished, i didn’t feel like getting up cuz it felt nice to just sit and not have to do anything or say anything, so i just sat there with my dirty dishes in front of me and contemplated things. there was an old man in the booth next to me doing the same thing. we were sitting on the same side of the table too, and it was just sort of amusing the two of us, just sitting at our own little booths by ourselves, not eating or drinking, just pondering life. but that made me wonder….am i mentally an old man? what kind of young girl just eats at a restaurant by herself and then sits and stares into space when she’s done?

i am reminded of a martha wainwright song. “poetry is no place for a heart that’s a whore, and i’m young and i’m strong, but i feel old and tired….”

i haven’t written poetry in a long time. maybe i should start that back up again. even with my whoreish heart.

by Michael

Apparently the entire Wainwright Family (Loudon Wainwright III, Rufus Wainwright, Lucy Wainwright Roche, and Martha Wainwright) will be playing at the Highline Ballroom tonight as the early show before The Roots’ weekly spot (Note:  Eventually I will go see that).  As each family member’s songs have taught us, the McGarrigle-born Wainwright children don’t really get along with Loudon (see:  “Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole,” “Dinner at Eight,” “Do I Disappoint You,” “Rufus Is a Tit Man,” (awkward!) “A Father and a Son” or “Hitting You”), and so my money is on this blowing up into a huge fight on stage.  Or maybe bridges have been rebuilt, apologies accepted, and four spectacular musicians will put on a fucking amazing show.

Sadly, I am poor, and just bought Decemberists tickets, so I will never know, but please let me know what happens.