https://soundcloud.com/shelley-marie-488636136/tough-girl/s-7i8T39AQaJg
hooked up my studio mic in the lounge and opened up a few tracks to put down this brand new original. First take is the base, a light second guitar over that, and harmony vocals.
hope you like it, in all it’s rawness.
Back when I found Cat Power, it was her album full of sweet covers. Now I get to see her original songwriting. This has soul and honest whimsy, with a muscular handle on the applicable sadness that is inevitable when being a happy young girl.
Listen to the lyrics, and her gift to everyone - hey - we’re risky, we engage in fun behaviour and walk the line between excitement and fear. And we have a family that raises and praises to do so.
“We've lived in bars
And danced on the tables
Hotels, trains and ships that sail
We swim with sharks
And fly with aeroplanes in the air”
Perfection. Just the right ode to care free fun, an appreciation of adventure which leads to self discovery - what it means to fill time just building character by pushing the envelope for the sake of experiencing new things, sans strategy or over contemplation.
I used to exaggerate a lot. I wouldn’t call it lying… but hey I was a “Creative child.”
When i think of Cat Power, i never forget the time that I wanted to be an actress, so I went for these expensive head shots in a studio. The photographer wanted me to be comfortable so he let me choose the music. I chose Cat Power. Then i proceeded to tell him I’d be going on a backpacking trip through some of Europe at the end of the summer. That part was true, I saved up money working through the summer and went to London, Barcelona, Nice, Venice, Florence, Rome, etc... But in the open air of this neat old studio with all the glamour of camera equipment, sensing the potential of artistic success, I decided it would RAMP up my riskiness and “cool factor" ifI told him we’d be hitchhiking. lol. I think he asked if my parents knew about the plan, and I can’t remember what I said but it must have deflated me to be phony, because those head shots sucked. I imagined it was karma.
“There's nothing like living in a bottle
And nothing like ending it all for the world
We're so glad you have come back
Every living lion will lay in your lap”
Finding this song reminded me what the adventure of being that young was like. Like a pinball bouncing from thing to thing trying to get points, but ending up drifting down the middle back into the release chamber. This song captures her loving knowledge and acceptance that it’s ok to just try things on. Some stick, some don’t, but that’s all the same in the game of life, aint it. It just makes you stronger.
So I saw lots of great bands. Alongside many genres, some of the best shows are the indie bands, like Elliot Brood, and Born Ruffians. These bands give off a warmth and care for our relationship to each other and somehow also to nature. They play their blend of songs about love, and experiencing human emotion. Among some of the indie bands I have seen are the softly-gnarly and soothing tunes of the Cave Singers!!! Energetic shows, pop style song structure - and hearty and passionate lyrics. To stand among other fans, considerate listeners, and be woo’d by a romantic riff or two. I really liked the show, and this album.
FOUND SOMETHING!! There is THIS version of Curtis Mayfields PUSHERMAN - only (far as I can tell) available on the music streaming site called Hype Machine.
When it comes to tune discovery, my main streaming source is usually Google play, followed by my own library of iTunes, cds, records, mp3s etc., because it’s always good to rediscover. MIXes and DANCE music - when I want underground, or long mixes, or house/dance I use SoundCloud. But then, more underground lies therein the Hype Machine.
THIS RANDOM bootleg version has been a Mf staple.
I just fished out my vinyl copy of Superfly (Curtis Mayfield) which I bought in Victoria maybe over ten years ago. Back then I was just getting into building my collection. I pulled it out of a stack, i got goosebumps as a friend passed behind me and whispered - that is a good album. And so it was bought.
yea. The album is awesome.
HOWEVER, like a good remastered track, the mix/blend/volumed are mega important if you’re comparing to the sound quality of today’s music. Who is UCP Berlin? And could the person responsible for the above version PLEAZE do the same kind of subtle remix of other funk songs? There is definitely a lot of material that could benefit with this kind of careful improving touch. Like finding a gemstone on the beach and shinning it up.
I pull out zeps Robert Plant’s collaboration with Alison Krauss. Current mood? Calm and comforted.
The two perform (with beautiful harmony) this really PRETTY group of lyrical love letters. The song titled “please read the letter,” fits perfectly as the embodiment of the central plea for this entire album. You listen once through, then you want to go back and listen again. Each song is not independent in this collection, released in 2007. It’s not linear either. We are lucky to have them do it like this, a gift that keeps on giving, an album that maintains its common theme while giving more to the listener each time. Like holding a crystal in the sunlight, different shades glittering from every angle.
“somebody said they saw me, swinging the world by the tail, bouncing over a white cloud, killing the blues.”
And that’s what this album will do for You. Taking heartbreak, rejection, love lost, or whatever; making it palpable and for some reason, as musicians, artists, poets everywhere may confide, finding those emotions softly enjoyable. To feel, is to breathe in the air of love.
T bone Burnett hand picked these songs specifically for the duo, who need no glue to hold the bunch of them together as they are naturally blended and you can hear that. hopeful and longing, yet mature and understanding. Blue grass, red heart, honest hands.
worth flipping all four sides. Again and again. 🔆
I wouldn’t consider myself qualified to write about Bowie’s music. He is a true “star” and something about the massiveness of an artists popularity always makes me nervous to really talk about their work. There’s too much in depth writing around already.
what strikes me about Bowie songs is that they can range vastly in rhythmic and melodic patterns, even within the confines of a single song. Listening thru the album can gracefully guide you from space age contemplative lore, to pure unbridled rock and roll. How does he accomplish this? Confident imagery, careful selection and creation of visible characters who can embody stories that live between the lines of a whimsical but intentional music. Bowie is social, he’s busy, he is art, and he is pop - his swagger and poetry create a unique appeal. Strange, but uniquely cool.
One of the greatest songs of all time… Bowie owns the term - fame. Showing off with a cockiness that is so unique it is actually cute, is what makes him famous. Bowie is - and always was - Linguistically and aurally seductive. The imagery he uses is alive and he brings to life a real concoction of colour and personality.
“fame, what you get is no tomorrow”
My love for blue rodeo runs deep. I recall choice nights spent in our family music room with the hunter green walls and decorative canards, volume up on a good sound system. Also many rounds of 5 days in May, while watching my roommates play original Mario. I have seen them live in Hamilton, Jim Cuddy introduced the song 1,000 arms with the story behind the lyrics - about a woman living and functioning with a manic disorder, who rides a recognizable bicycle, and the community knows who she is, so when she goes off on those manic benders, she’s got 1,000 arms to guide her back home again. Safety. Compassion. #communitygoals.
blue rodeo’s is a country music that shines with neon lights thru the fog, (there is a wonderful write up inside this alb cover). Pure vocal work, commanding attention emotively and proudly, and clearly through soft twangy guitar strings. Canadiana thru to the core, love songs that don’t pull on the heart strings cheaply, but nestle in to the farthest soul reaches, emoting pain and ease at the same time. It is a soundtrack that can sit beside you like a friend in times of need.
“you were never the same way twice”
cool thing, find a copy of outskirts and read the blurb/story/scene painted by Phillip Martin 1986, as it creatively encapsulates this one of a kind band.
Sitting cross legged on the carpet in front of my record player, i get down and dirty with the sounds of my collection.
I didn’t know josh Ritter wrote so much for Bob Weir!
Listening party.
He’s listed on every song so I guess he wrote it with him? Have you listened to blue mountain yet? Ghost towns, questions of love long lost, rivers and storms; capturing the things in song that can slip so easily through your fingers in life. Perfect subjects for the lite and beautiful resonating folk-indie-Americana melodies. To choose to end the album on an ambiguous note too, gives the impression that their cowboy journey has not yet and maybe never will reach its end, with “one more river to cross.”
it’s Weir’s controlled country voice, reaching to deliver his soulful hurt in a way that is relatable but somehow still promising - that pulls me thru the songs. Resolution is found in the common yet new melodies on acoustic guitar, making this a great album for a Sunday morning when maybe you’re having breakfast alone and are warming up for an introspective day. Good set up for the next more heavy hitting album.
next on my listening journey…
It always amazes me how setting an intention to do something, can manifest direct results. Whether you speak it aloud to someone, or write it down - setting the intention to do something motivates the reciprocal action. New songs afoot — as intended, more content about life as a context, juicy nature, desire to change the world, spread love — these songs carry more weight than my writing before. Looking more outwards this time, rather than inwards, which can become a very enclosed space. Breaking down the walls of the cage, opening into the collective mind, helping to drive positive change. #change is definitely a recent theme, as well as progress and design.
“Don’t mistake fear, for weakness
You know that everybodies been through this
In terms that, they only understand
When they wake up and ask for a helping hand”
“We’re the team, heavenly divine, what’s yours is mine, we got lots of time”
“Friends
Whether coming or just passing
Sorry I was laughing and I know
That we
Can cover up so much pain
But forget your complex issues on your own
I Forget you’ve got your issues on your own”
some new lyrics.
On August 16th. Oakville, corner near Lakeshore and Kerr Street. It’s his 30th birthday - right of passage to break into the 3’s — good things happen in 3’s! Thrilled to be launching a few new songs at ya. Come by, i’m getting some new chord progressions, and mixing it up a bit. Love my Fender. Life is good.
I’ve been mixing house tracks a lot lately, which ends up lending a new rhythm to my acoustic work. I am only as good as my instrument, or better yet - my form is defined by the limitations of sound that the instrument provides! I love the bubble of acoustic guitar. Especially when i can counter act that laid back emotionalism with the Saturday night DJ sessions. Looking to get jammed up, visit me on sound cloud as Shelley Marie. https://soundcloud.com/shelley-marie-488636136
Began writing and it all just came to me. A simple song, a summer song. I’m excited and thrilled at the result. It’s about purity and truth, and it is purity and truth. This is one I hope will bring a smile to a special someone’s face when played. The melody begins dramatic, and then lifts into a major. The lyrics spin a gentle sparkle across the earth. I hope one day you will hear it.
Well it's been a mostly slumbering summer, but the music was alive tonight. Sang with Melissa and Blake. Their songs informed me, reminded me, and controlled my own song choice. When you listen to other writers, and the odd cross-hatch of a theme comes along, it's fun to pick up and riff of that and turn it into something new. I look at writing a bit like a snowball gathering speed down a hill. As it travels it picks up the sickest bits of snow, giving you a big ball of a song. Sometimes weak, sometimes strong.
A beast could not tear me away from this path,
my mind, like a number, an equation called math.
My strategy, is un-wravelling, travelling through time,
not a thought goes towards the next word set in rhyme,
Yet they come to me, summon me, bring forth a theme,
and I yearn for the listening ears that you bring.
So I thank you, my old and my now and my new,
for to understand me, is my poetry through and through.
Well... there comes a time in everyone's life when shit just gets unnecessary. Not in the sense that it should never have happened or shouldn’t be practised in moderation. But this kind of out of hand relates deeper into the core -- asking questions like "where should I be spending my time." My creative efforts. I feel this lately, this ticking clock, like the hands are moving around closer and closer to a deadline, yet I have no clear definitive end game.
It takes a story to craft a song. Stories can come in the form of a theme, a concept, a plotline, or even simply instrumental movement. What I love about music is it's ability to convey something unique yet relatable. It doesn't take me long before the lyrics just pour right out. I'd love to share these pieces with you at my live shows, and hopefully through this website you can also get to know me!!