Hey everyone, jazzbone85 here ready to share some musical awesomeness with all of you. Last week we explored a couple of my favorite bands from the (very) broad genre of "metal." Today I've got something very different, and some things new to me, as well. So, here we go!
Vienna Teng - Dreaming Through The Noise
Vienna Teng is the stage name of Cynthia Yih Shih - an american born singer/songwriter from sunny California. Considered by most to fit inside the "Folk/Pop" category, I hear a lot of both "classical" and jazz influences throughout this album. I was introduced to her music just recently by my girlfriend, and so far I've got mixed feelings about what I'm hearing.
Dreaming Through The Noise is Teng's third studio album, and was released in 2006. Checking out the album information we can see that there will definitely be a conglomeration of sounds and styles - we've got dedicated violin, cello, bass, fluegel horn, and viola players in the credits, and Teng herself is listed as laying down some piano, organ, and wurlitzer action.
Firstly, let's take a listen to the first track off of the album, titled Blue Caravan:
Right off the bat we hear a psuedo-classical cello/bass ostinato (a repeated musical phrase) with a distinct pulsing synchopated rhythm. The body of the piece is fleshed out using acoustic piano and strings, and in my opinion this particular track shows the widest variety of influences on Teng's songwriting. The synchopated bass line gives us a funk-jazz feel that fits perfectly with Teng's rich contralto voice. I like this track, it's relaxing without being boring, and doesn't stretch a small amount of musical information into 20 minutes of repetition and slight variation.
The third track on the album, Love Turns 40, definitely has strong smooth jazz roots:
I hear a lot of Norah Jones in this track, but the one thing I love the most about this piece is very subtle - the main motif's are based off of what's called a Hungarian Minor scale pattern. If you trip on over to a piano or your guitar, start on any note and play 1 2 b3 #4 5 b6 7 you can hear the scale pattern - see if you can hear it in the piece. Anytime a composer manages to toss a church mode into their work it gets an A+ in my book.
So, we've heard a couple tracks, heard the influences and the songwriting. How do I feel about the album as a whole? It's decent. Folk/Pop isn't my favorite style of music, but I must admit I found myself listening to this album more than a few times above and beyond what I needed to in order to write the review. If you're a fan of Norah Jones and the like, I deifnitely think you'll find a lot to like in Vienna Teng.
This Will Destroy You - Young Mountain EP
The name of the band can be misleading, but it actually is very appropriate to the music. These guys won't destroy your eardrums, but if you'll forgive me some melodramatic flair, they will definitely destroy your spirit (in a good way!). Founded in San Marcos, Texas back in 2005, This Will Destroy You is what is called "post-rock" music - essentially, they use traditional rock instrumentation such as guitars, bass, and drums in non-traditional ways. The focus is heavy on atypical rhythms, melodic and harmonic material, and chord progressions.
TWDY (yeah, I'm lazy) takes me places. Listening to their music is transportive - it's hard to put into words the feelings that are inspired by their music. Predominantly ambient in nature, the Young Mountain EP release was the bands first effort and recieved and continues to recieve positive reviews from listeners. Let's take a listen to one of their tracks, the second one off of the album. Just a note - let yourself get carried away in it and you'll definitely understand why the band is so aptly named.
The music is simple, slowly changing and evolving throughout the track but never getting too crowded or overbearing. The best way I can describe it is like a reflective journey through a vast musical soundscape. (No, I didn't steal that from anyone - my words only!) You never stop and stay at one place too long before the music carries you to the next part of the trip. Once it's all over you definitely feel like you've gone somewhere and have finally come back home. Where you go is up to you, but if you're ready then TWDY can take you there.
And with this I'll end this weeks' music review. Hopefully you guys got to hear some music you wouldn't normally have known about/listened to, and as always if you want a particular artist or genre touched on feel free to drop a comment. If you've got any questions or comments about either of these musicians, you can shoot an email to jazzbone85 at gmail dot com.
Like what you heard? Download the albums:
www.echdown.info/2008/12/2006-dreaming-through-noise-vienna-teng.html
download7mp3here8.sunnyblogs.com/2008/12/07/this-will-destroy-you-young-mountain-ep/
Peace.