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The player scrapbooks forum is literally a place for writers to warm-up, brainstorm, keep little scraps of notes, or just post things to encourage themselves and each other. Each player can feel free to create their own thread - one per account - and use them accordingly.
Okay so yet again I lied. Forget casual week. Let's do something fun for this installment. Let's feature all dem sassy ladies with black hair and ruby lipstick, rockin' style and even more rockin' vocals. Swing, Rockabilly, R&B, Experimental, Rock n Roll, you name it, we've got it all covered.
Today the spotlight shines on Imelda May, queen of modern Rockabilly. Born in Dublin and now 40 (can you believe how good she looks?) she is a true sensation on stage. Everything from her fashion to her music to her sheer performance power is having people up and out of their seats, clamoring for more. Her band members are mean musicians as well, and her husband Darrel Higham actually plays lead guitar for pretty much all of her songs.
Check out one of her more popular jams. You can't not want to move your body listening to this:
To sum up Imelda as a person: Lovely Irish accent, extremely down to earth, earnest, happily married, lights up every time she mentions her little baby girl, vegetarian, fashion image, really loves Elvis in his leathers (lol), and enjoys doing herself up just for the sake of, as she's put it, feeling "dapper," and not to copy anyone else's style.
To sum up Imelda as a musician: Wowza, this woman can sing. Like really, really sing. She can play a bunch of other instruments too, including the guitar, bodhrán, tambourine, and bass guitar, but her singing...her singing is an incredible mix of gritty and nectary, dark and sweet. She is, in short, a super duper solid vocalist. Her lyrics may not be the most compelling, as they are mostly fun love songs, but her sound is smooth and rich and perfect for this genre. Of course, Imelda can also sing jazz, blues, rock, and a whole lotta other things, but rockabilly is definitely the glove that fits her best. Amazing stage presence as well. A lot of musicians can be greatly skilled, but not as in control of their live performances, and Imelda really shows how well that balance between losing oneself in the moment of the music and remaining aware of one's environment can be pulled off.
Here's a mellow song from her new album to show some of her range. She can be really upbeat and rock it out on the stage, but also soft and soothing for her slower pieces as well:
I also really enjoy her sense of humor. She's got a kind of worldliness about her that makes her love songs sound less cheese factor and more witty/silly. Here's a good example of that:
And that's all for Imelda May today, folks! Hope you enjoyed this fantabulous lady. There's more coming, too, and tomorrow we'll be taking a little trip to Paris for more of that jet black hair and those rose red lips. Next time, on Music with Plume!
Last edited by Plume on May 21st, 2015, 12:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
Like French? Like swing? Well get ready to love Paris Combo.
There isn't a whole lot to say about these guys, other than how smooth their sound is and how solid they all are as musicians. They've been around for forever, doing what they do, but have remained known really only to the jazz and swing world. The whole bio page on their official website is in French so if you can read French fluently, then you're in luck, but alas the rest of us will have to make do with the suave and somewhat quirky soul of their music.
Have a listen:
Their style is a mix of French chanson, American jazz and swing, Roma music and North African music, so it's no surprise they label themselves as a World Music group. The members themselves are from all over the world, and each brings a new dynamic to the group:
Belle du Berry (French) - lead singer and accordion player Potzi (Gypsy of Algerian descent) - guitarist and banjo player François Jeannin (French) percussionist and singer Mano Razanajato (Madagascar) bass player and singer (until 2011) Emmanuel Chabbey - bass player (2011-present) David Lewis (Australia) - trumpet and piano
Here are two more songs for your listening pleasure, one slow and one upbeat. If you want more there are tons to be had. They've been prolific to say the least in their music making and there's no shortage of Paris Combo goodness floating around out there on the interwebs.
Well thanks for tuning in today! More lipstick and slick hairdos to come, and as always I like to keel y'all guessin'. Here's a clue: Electric Lady. Find out who's up next tomorrow on Music With Plume!
Last edited by Plume on October 22nd, 2015, 4:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
You might not think it from looking at her, but this amazing musician came from truly humble beginnings. She grew up in Kansas City, her mother and father worked as a janitor and truck driver, respectively, and for a while she was just a little girl with big dreams. Flashforward a decade or two and she's livin' it, rocking out on stage and gracing the world with her colorful presence. Everywhere she went, she turned heads with the way she moved, sang, and poured her heart out while never compromising who she was. Janelle is all about the freedom to be whoever you want to be, and in order to really convey this she created an entire concept revolving around androids, the dystopian city of Metropolis, and a protagonist called Cindi Mayweather. But we'll get to that later
To sum up Janelle as a person: Bold and classy, buttery rich voice, sophisticated yet fun, very humble, believes in the value of one's roots, champion of the oppressed (ALL of them), tastefully eccentric, imaginative, extremely well spoken, utterly devoted to her ideas, and sheer force of talent, skill, passion, belief, and personality.
To sum up Janelle as a musician: Dayum this girl can SING. It doesn't seem to matter what genre it is, Janelle can do them all. But her vocals are a completely different kind of powerful, versatile, and sultry than, say, Imelda May's. Though they share some of that 50's influence, you can definitely hear the R&B/soul background in Janelle's pieces, mixed with a whole bunch of her own uniqueness and eclecticism. The music she writes is a collection of upbeat, mellow, and sometimes downright funky. She's got the spunk, the funk, the sass and the brass. And you just can't not love her for it and want to get right up along with her and get your groove on.
Here's what I mean by that:
But it's not just her sound that makes Janelle so compelling and different from a lot of other artists who can claim to write under the same kinds of genres or styles. It's the content as well. The lyrics, concepts, and intents that are driving forces behind so much of her music.
Unsurprisingly, being from Kansas City, she claims Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz was a big musical influence in her life. And you can really see that in her equally fictional story of Cindi Mayweather, Janelle's alter-ego from 2719, and her fellow Androids of Metropolis. The idea is that Cindi is a sort of messianic figure to the android community, which is heavily ostracized from regular society. These androids feel and love and hurt the same as their human counterparts, but they are often seen as less than deserving, repulsive even and persecuted for their natures. Yet, even so, Cindi preaches only love in all of its forms--self love, love for one another, and love for the freedom to live as one chooses.
Pretty much both of Janelle's albums, ArchAndroid and The Electric Lady, are centered around this fictional dystopian world. But the songs themselves vary widely in style, and she even does some killer rap in Q.U.E.E.N., which features the ever magnificent Erykah Badu, and Electric Lady, ft. Beyonce's sister Solange. Janelle collabs with quite a few artists, including Prince, which I find interesting because he is supposedly pretty homophobic? But maybe that's just part of her mission. To bring us all together through music, regardless of our differences.
This is a good example of how quirky and absolutely committed Janelle can be to her android concept. Also, if you want to listen to her pack a real punch in her rap, it's near 5:00. Rap gets a lot of bad rep, but what people don't seem to understand is that they can choose the quality of rap they listen to. You don't have to limit yourself to that mainstream shyke they claim is music, and Janelle isn't even a rapper. She's just a strong woman with stronger beliefs. Just skim the spoiler and see for yourself.
Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, Q.U.E.E.N.:
Lyrics of her rap :
"Are we a lost generation of our people? Add us to equations but they'll never make us equal She who writes the movie owns the script and the sequel So why ain't the stealing of my rights made illegal? They keep us underground working hard for the greedy But when it's time pay they turn around and call us needy My crown too heavy like the Queen Nefertiti Gimme back my pyramid, I'm trying to free Kansas City Mixing masterminds like your name Bernie Grundman Well I'mma keep leading like a young Harriet Tubman You can take my wings but I'm still gonna fly And even when you edit me the booty don't lie Yeah, I'ma keep sangin', I'mma keep writin' songs I'm tired of Marvin asking me "What's Going On?" March to the streets 'cuz I'm willing and I'm able Categorize me, I defy every label And while you're selling dope, we're gonna keep selling hope We rising up now, you gotta deal you gotta cope Will you be electric sheep? Electric ladies, will you sleep? Or will you preach?"
And of course, we can't talk about her activism while ignoring her as a fashion image as well. Because as women, looks will never be eliminated as something we are judged by, so why not make good use of it? Janelle really believes in constantly trying to do something with what you have. Something worthwhile and progressive for our community as a whole. So it only makes sense that clothes and anything else you use to express yourself can become tools/statements as well.
Her signature look is the tux. "I bathe in it, I swim in it, and I could be buried in it," Janelle has said about her choice in wardrobe. "A tux is such a standard uniform, it's so classy and it's a lifestyle I enjoy. The tux keeps me balanced. I look at myself as a canvas. I don't want to cloud myself with too many colors or I'll go crazy."
Suits go well with her persona as well. She speaks very deliberately and formally, and the whole androgynous, body-covering, classy and dandy-ish look meshes seamlessly with her social agendas.
But when she isn't wearing a suit, her outfits are no less unique and oggle worthy. I am deeply in love with this beautiful cape she wore to the 2014 Met Gala, and also the glittery, amazing tutu outfit she paired with a tuxedo top at the Atlanta Ballet. Not to say that she hasn't or won't, but Janelle by and large chooses not to flash a lot of skin. And look how gorgeously she pulls that off. Her costumes, at least for me, are to die for. HNNNGG. I just can't get enough of her style.
And now that we come to the end of this segment, I'd like to leave you all with a personal favorite, Oh Maker. There's a lot of speculation, as always when it comes to Janelle's music, about what this song means, but me? I think she is singing through the perspective of her alter-ego Cindi Mayweather. It seems like she's reflecting on the person who created her and her own ability to feel love and pain in spite of her origins. I could go on forever, because if you haven't already been able to tell I am head over heels in love with this woman. But I'll spare you the rambling and show you straight to the good stuff.
Our final song of the day:
Phew, that was a rather long segment today. Thanks for sticking with me to the end, and I haven't decided on who to feature tomorrow so it'll be a surprise both ways! Hope you enjoyed yourselves and come back to join me in more musical sampling, here on the one and only Music with Plume
Alas, my fellow Mizaharians, the universe decided to take a giant, technological shyke on me yesterday. My computer died for seemingly no reason. Took it to BestBuy, waited in line, and then was told a piece of the adapter broke off inside of the power jack. They couldn't give me a price quote so I went home and decided to have a go at it myself. I figured it was just a little piece of metal that I had to extract, couldn't be that hard, right?
If only life could ever be so easy.
Turns out they had their cursory diagnosis backwards. It was the power jack itself that had broken off inside of the adapter, not the other way around, and since it's soldered right onto the motherboard I had no way of fixing it myself. I took my laptop completely apart only to land in this miserable heap of a dead end. Fortunately, it's easy enough for professional IT's to fix, given enough money of course, and I drove my little 'ol motherboard to some dude's house and handed it to his wife. I also left them with my intuos 5 tablet, which also stopped turning on out of the blue, because life cherishes me that way. We'll see if my luck decides to change at all come tomorrow evening.
Anyways, enough bad news. Tonight I present to you Superbus, a French band that has changed their sound quite a bit over the years. They formed in 1999 and their band name in Latin means 'proud.' But I've rambled for quite a bit already so let's just cut straight to the chase.
Here is what modern day Superbus sounds like:
And here is what old Superbus sounds like. Apparently this song came up in Guitar Hero 3 and, well...yeah, Radiosong:
Personally, I enjoy both. Sometimes I hate how a band changes its sound, usually for $$$ purposes, but in this case I don't really mind. If you'd like to hear more, check out a mix of the old and new below:
And don't forget the remixes lol:
Thanks for enduring all of that youtube spam I needed a bit of more music less writing after a rather frustrating day. Hope you enjoyed Superbus, and stay tuned for the next red lipped, raven haired sass machine to be featured here on Music with Plume!
Still no computer. Still wallowing in first world misery. But hey, that's what friends and significant others are for, right? The lending of electronics of course, in case you were wondering. Not meaningful activities like bonding or socializing or anything of that secondary nature.
So wiki says Supreme Beings of Leisure is an electronic/trip-hop group, but I think wiki is a little behind on the times. We have a different label for their kind of sound. We call it chill hop now I mean, it's kind of in their name.
This band got together a loooooooong time ago. Like, before the 90's. Story is that Geri Soriano-Lightwood, the lead singer, was originally from Chicago. The way she put it was back then, all the white girls wanted to sing like black girls. But she was a black girl who sang like a white girl, and people didn't know what to do with her. She didn't know what to do with her. So she moved to LA of ever-sunny SoCal, where she hoped the music scene would be more diverse and accepting. And it was! She teamed up with Ramin Sakurai, who is a multi-instrumental electronic musician/programmer and former member of an old band they'd started, and together they created Supreme Beings of Leisure.
Here's a sample of their style:
I don't know if they're still making music, since their discography seems to end around 2008. But being a 90's baby, I enjoy their kind of lingering 90's style, and they definitely don't sound like Massive Attack or any similar trip hop artists. Hence, the re-dubbing to chill hop.
Anyway, here's a personal favorite, So Much More. Leaving things short and sweet today cause I'm currently distracted by rapid gunfire and exploding helicopters (Resident Evil 6, Jake campaign anyone?).
And that's all for tonight, folks! Stay tuned for one or two more artists of this silly little theme, next time on Music with Plume
Limited time and limited computer usage, so let's get right to it. Little Dragon is based in Gothenburg, Sweden. The lead singer, Yukimi Nagano, is quirky and loads of fun. They are great in your earphones, and they are 124092384085x better live. And by that I mean I think this year's Little Dragon concert at the Greek Theatre in LA might've been my most favorite concert. Ever.
So if you don't know who they are, you might be familiar with this song below. Or you might not but it is one of their more well known ones:
Aside from having kickass sound and even more kickass concerts, the lead singer also has this incredible eccentric and appealing (at least to me) syle. Yukimi wears super awesome costumes to her shows, like this one, that are kind of Bjork-esque but at the same time not. Sometimes she'll even change midway through the concert and it makes me want to be her so bad. They're really livin' the dream up there and they're having loads of fun doing it. You just can't not dance at a Little Dragon concert because their energy and passion is darned infectious.
Alas, that will have to be all for today, as I am already on stolen time. I'll leave you guys with one more song:
Thanks for tuning in! I know this segment was a bit short but make no mistake Little Dragon deserves all the attention they can get. Hopefully I'll have my computer up and working soon, but until then, happy weekend to all of you and see you next time on Music with Plume!
Praise be to all the gods and goddesses, the pooter hath been fixed. New DC jack soldered onto the MB and everything essembled back into relatively working order (lol). Woot woot!
To celebrate, here is something totally fun and random:
It's 9am and way too early for me. My eyes burn. I need some Hiddly Doo to make my morning less bleak:
The award for most charming human being in the world would be such a tough choice between him and so many recently famous actors/resses. I know stardom and whatnot is superficial and such but man, are they fun to watch
I've been so out of it, and I'm pretty sure I'm losing my mind. I'll spare you the details as it's one complicated issue layered on top of another. But it's okay guys. Because all you gotta do is keep calm, hold onto what little shreds of sanity you still have, and everything will be alright in the end.
Things are settling down again. Wounds are healing (literally, and grossly) and problems are being resolved a little more each day. Time to just chill out and enjoy the calm after the storm.
I needed a bit of more music less writing after a rather frustrating day. Hope you enjoyed Superbus, and stay tuned for the next red lipped, raven haired sass machine to be featured here on Music with Plume!
