CD’s I am Diggin’ Right Now is a occasionally occurring series where I casually highlight some discs (new and old) that I think you might like, without boring you with an overly-wordy, metaphor-filled “review” that I often like to bestow upon some other discs.
Quixotic – Matt Keating: The double LP from Brooklyn’s Matt Keating is a straight up singer/songwriter album with a rock edge to it. Pretty solid throughout, even though as with most double discs, there is some fat that could stand to be trimmed, but nothing that is outrageously self-imporatnt or indulgent by any means. The collection features a pretty good mix of up-tempo and slower paced numbers, with the songs posessing a steady rythym such as “Louisiana” (my personal favorite) and “They Came in May” easily being the strength of the album. I also dug “Do You Want (To Not Be Lonely With Me)” for the way that Keating channels his inner-Elvis Costello, as his vocals on this track sound eerily similar to the bespectacled Englishman. I am not as familiar with Keating’s back catalog, but this disc has made me want to dig much deeper.
One Response
Hello,
Great Writing! Would you consider doing a review for a New Age Album? Here is some info about it. You can also hear the title track ‘Ascension’ at our myspace http://www.myspace.com/bayareacontemporarymusic
If you are interested I can email you the tracks.
Thanks- Have a Great Holiday!
Monica Willliams
Phoenix Rising
ABOUT THIS CD …
We are living in a time of stress and struggle. There is still hunger, hatred, and sickness in a world that is also filled with such beauty, generosity, and harmony. ASCAP award-winning composer Wendy Loomis and Eastman School of Music alumna Monica Williams decided to create a CD that had the power to help people relax, de-stress, and energize with positive vibrations of gratitude for this life. While Wendy was in the middle of a yoga class, she had a vision of the CD being organized around the 7 chakras. For those of you unfamiliar, the 7 chakras are energy centers that run up the human body from the base of the spine, to the sexual center, the stomach, the heart, the throat, the 3rd eye between the eyebrows, and the crown of the head. Many people have developed systems that associate colors and tones with each chakra. Monica and Wendy decided not to be quite so literal in their interpretation, but rather incorporate the idea of energy rising from our most earthly, primal instincts up toward our higher, nobler, spiritual realm – the eternal quest to ascend toward the Higher Power. And ASCENSION was born.
7 is a lucky and inspiring number that is threaded through ASCENSION: there are 7 tones in a scale, the compositions are in 7 different key signatures, the music is played on 7 primary instruments, Monica was born in ’77, and this is the 7th CD of Wendy’s music.
With the exception of ‘Seed’ and ‘Nourishment’ which were improvisations, the themes for this CD were composed by Wendy Loomis. Monica and Wendy arranged the flute and piano sounds in a weave with instruments from around the world played by a group of very talented women: Jennifer Lim on guzheng (China); Debra Podjed on tabla (India) and goat hooves (Bolivia); Jessica Styler on hang drum (Switzerland); Suellen Primost on cello (Italy); Irina Mikhailova on voice (born in Russia); and Karen Segal on guitar (Spain/the Middle East).
Contact me at monicaw14@hotmail.com- if you are interested.