Celebrating Earth Day 2009

(Note: no, not still celebrating 4/20, the majority of the article was written and was meant for yesterday's publication. Just pretend today is Wednesday.)

Earth Day
It's April 22nd and everybody knows today is Earth Day, "merry Christmas, happy birthday to whoever’s being born". For some reason, I thought the concept was fairly new (in the 80s), but apparently the hippy-peace-inspired movement’s been around for forty years now.

Last Sunday, I attended the annual Wishes for the Sky on Harriet Island in Saint Paul. Despite the rain, people still turned out for some kite-flying action. All the kites were hand-made, with messages ("wishes") written on them - and you had to return them once you were done flying them. I thought there was supposed to be music, but they might have left due to the rain... the only music seems to be by the wind chimes on these bamboo structures.

To keep with the environmental and music theme, here are two digipaks releases:

Margo Reymundo
margoreymundo.com ♥ myspace.com/margoreymundomusic

The CD presentation is in a cardstock foldout, slipped in a pink tissue-like envelope, with bold letters in the back: "ORGANICA RECORDS". So yeah, it was an attractive package.

As her record label and her trademark brand, "organica" suggests, her music is the opposite of "electronica". With her Ella Fitzgerald-ish sounding vocals and pop-sounding music, she does just that on her album My Heart's Desire.

I think the first thing you'll notice about the record is that Reymundo made this record a very personal album for you. The record is best experienced as a whole, not as random songs. This is done mostly through really short snippets, from the brief 10-second "organica (laughs)" introduction, to the random "strap in", and "still rolling?", to the outro "thank you". These mini-clips will only make sense throughout the album and nowhere else.

Cover lovers, such as myself, will be drawn to her saucy jazzy version of Bill Withers's "Ain't No Sunshine", a flamenco version of Carly Simon's "You Belong to Me" (she managed to sneak in a few Spanish lyrics in the song too), and The Police's "Wrapped Around Your Finger". Of all the covers, I was impressed by the Police song, because although it still maintains an 80s-sounding feel to the song, it still sounds fresh and new with it's slow-winding guitars and Reymundo's woman vocals.

It would be unfair to suggest a cover song, so I would recommend her original "I Saw You". This pop song is all about making someone notice her, except he's too chicken to do anything about it. It's a fun song, perfect for radio.

You can pick up My Heart's Desire at her website. I should point out that her amazon lists this CD as "content/copy-protected CD" - which means one thing to me: you will not be able to play this on your computer or sophisticated car stereo.* So be warned.

[* UPDATE 5/2/09: I am told from an official source that the amazon listing is for a "PROMO CD" and that consumer CD are not copy-protected.  This cleared up my confusion with why amazon flagged this CD as content/copy-protected.]

Eulogies - Two Can Play Eulogies 1 comment Tour Dates 04/26/09 Echo Los Angeles, CA 05/01/09 Bell House Brooklyn, NY 05/02/09 Valentines Albany, NY 05/04/09 Bowery Ballroom NT 05/05/09 Johnny Brenda’s Phila, PA 05/07/09 Black Cat Washington, 05/08/09 Diesel Pittsburgh, PA 05/09/09 Grog Shop Cleveland, Ohio 05/10/09 Skully’s Columbus, Ohio 05/11/09 Magic Stick Detroit, MI 05/13/09 Lakeshore Theater Chicago 05/14/09 Mojo’s Columbia, Missouri 05/16/09 Hailey’s Denton, Texas 05/17/09 Warehouse Houston, Texas 05/18/09 Parish Austin, Texas 05/21/09 Rhythm Room Phoenix, AZ 05/22/09 Casbah San Diego, CA 05/23/09 Echoplex Los Angeles, CA 05/24/09 Independent SF, CA 05/26/09 Douglas Lounge Portland, OR 05/27/09 Crocodile Cafe Seattle, WA *with the Dears Discography [2007] Eulogies [2009] Here Anonymous

Eulogies
eulogiesmusic.com ♥ myspace.com/eulogiesmusic

The first thing I noticed about Eulogies's sophomore album, Here Anonymous, is that the digipak by Danger Bird Records is absolutely gorgeous. The artwork consists of black and white charcoal-like stencils, with splashes of dirty colors. The center that holds the actual CD is also worth checking out, it's entirely form-fitting with only two tabs to hold in the CD. I may have to scan it to show you how great this is.

So, Eulogies is an indie-rock band from Los Angeles, that seems to be mostly driven by guitarist and singer Peter Walker... who previously existed as a solo artist. I think Walker's vocals is pretty mellow, almost lazy and won't ever reach those high-energized vocals. The closest Walker comes on singing at the top of his voice is "Out of Character", which is easiest the rockiest song on the album. Ironically entitled "out of character", too.

The "tired" sound fits perfectly with the type of music that Eulogies writes, often self-introspective, personal, and a wee bit depressing, I'll have to admit. "How to Be Alone" finds itself teaching you how to do just that, while "Goodbye" is just a real tear-jerker with its depressing lyrics: "so I'll go home alone, everything's fine. I'll have you all in my thoughts tonight". "Goodbye" is the song you secretly listen in your room, while weeping....

Still, my favorite song on the album is actually quite cute and upbeat. It is the duet with Nikki Monninger from Silversun Pickups, called "Two Can Play". This is just a really cute song. You can actually get the song for free if you sign up on their website.

The trivia about "Two Can Play" was that it was previously available on their four-track EP Tempted To Do Nothing (all four songs appeared on Here Anonymous). What made that EP special is that there is a special "VinylDisc" edition. The release combines CD and vinyl together! I've never heard of such a thing, but apparently one side is CD, while the flipside has vinyl grooves. Cool, huh?

Anyway, Eulogies are about to embark on their North American tour with fellow label-mate The Dears, starting in May. You can pick up the album at the show, or if you can't make it, order it from Danger Bird Records.

PS, I just added Eulogies on twitter, which is getting a lot of exposure since Oprah Winfrey and Ashton Kutcher came on board. I have noticed a ton of bands on twitter, too.

Final Thoughts
Some may argue that the ultimate environmentally friendly music package should be all-digital, but don't you have to take into account the energy to keep the computer running to read and transfer the files?

Happy 40th Anniversary Earth Day!