Stream Alicia Keys Performing an Update to the Now Ubiquitous Jay Z Blueprint 3 Jam “Empire State of Mind,” Which, If Not Already Cliched Enough, Actually Includes the Line “If You Can Make It Here, You Can Make It Anywhere;” Still Lacks Proper Vaudevillian Accent [Idolator]
Beck, Never One to Turn Away From a Fight (I’m Not Sure This is Accurate, But Let’s Run With It) Posts a Song About Harry Partch After Fiery Furnaces Matt Friedberger Made a Crack About Him – Learn More “In the News” Later Tonight at JM.com [NME]
Interpol Announce Fourth Album, and Claim it Will Be Better Than 2007’s Our Love to Admire, Which In Itself, Really Needed to Be Better Than Antics…But I Have Faith Guys!…Maybe; Released Early 2010 [Paste]
Stream New Animal Collective, “Graze,” The Opener to the Upcoming Fall Be Kind EP; The Track Undoes a Lot of the “Brian-Wilson” Pop Steps Merriweather Pushed Forward, Moving Back To Sprawling Psychedelia ; Let’s Call It Animal Collective “Classic,” or Better Yet “Animal Classective” [Stereogum]
Watch Ray Davies, Former Kink, Perform “You Really Got Me” on Letterman; The Most Surprising Part: Features an Enormous Choir of Middle Aged Men and Women. Least Suprising: Is a Bastardized Version of the Original, Sounding More Like Van Halen’s Awful Update [Prefix]
Myspace Buys Popular Social Network/Music Streaming Service Imeem, Meaning That Rupert Murdoch Probably Owns Songs You Haven’t Yet Recorded; Beware, Young Songwriters, Beware (But Please, Still Write Songs…I’d Be Out of Work Without You) [Brooklyn Vegan]
Stream L.A.’s Garage (Lolli)Pop Band the Dum Dum Girls Covering The Misfits’ “Last Caress,” Which is Just Alright, In My Opinion (But Don’t Trust My Opinion) [Myspace]
The Decemberists’ Turn 2009 Flop The Hazards of Love Into a Full Length Animated Film, Seemingly Still Determined to Prove That Listening to the 80-Minute Operatic Monstrosity is Somehow Worthwhile (It’s Not, Guys…There’s Petticoats, Outdated Literary Tropes, and Prog Breakdowns…and Somehow It Wound Up Not Awesome. Lick Your Wounds, Move on); Watch the Trailer Here [Pitchfork]
Watch Vampire Weekend’s Video For Contra Cut “Cousins;” Contra, Which I’m Already Declaring Both the Best and Worst Album of 2010-2020, Released January 12 [Stereogum]
compiled by Max Sebela
Watch Oberst/Ward/James/Mogis Folk Supergroup Monsters of olk Perform With the Roots on Late Night; Experience Shock as the Four of Those Guys Approach Some Level of Danceability for the First Time in their Lives; See Oberst Hear Bass for the First Time [Prefix]
The Fiery Furnaces’ Matthew Friedberger Calls Out Radiohead for Releasing Song About WWI Veteran Harry Patch, Claiming They “Brazenly Associate” With Things Others Find “Cool;” Meanwhile, Friedberger Thought Radiohead Released the Song About Music Innovator Harry Partch, and the Fiery Furnaces Are Releasing an Album that Contains Absolutely No Music [NME]
Stream New Asobi Seksu Track “Thursday,” Which is Pretty Good; Moreover, It is Thursday! Tripwire, Saving a Song Called Thursday, For Thursday? You Cheeky Devils. [Tripwire]
Scottish Post-Rockers Mogwai to Release Live Album, Special Moves and Live Documentary, Burning; Expect Them to Be Abrasive, Angry, Angular, and Contain Very Little Alliteration [Pitchfork]
Sufjan Stevens Calls the “50 State Project” a Joke, Implies It Will Never Happen, Confirming What All Intelligent Fans Realized When he Didn’t Release Another Album Two Weeks After Illinois [Paste]
Strap on Your Petticoats and Climb the Parapets! The Decemberists’ Antiquated and Verbose Frontman Colin Meloy is Writing a Children’s Book, More than Appropriately Called The Unfortunate Demise of Whitley Rackham; If the Book is Anything Like the Decemberists Career, Kids Will Find it Full of Promise, But Ultimately Just Kinda Shitty [Pitchfork]
Vivian Girls Launch Record Label, World Wide Records – Begin by Releasing a Compilation by Yellow Fever, and the Debut Single from Woods/Vivian Girls Super (Only in Extremely Scenester Circles) Group Babies [Brooklyn Vegan]
Pavement to Release Collection of Radio Sessions and Outtakes “Sometime;” NME Runs Story With Headline “Pavement Planning New Album Release.” NME Remains Hotspot for Facetious, Hyperbolic, and Counterfactual Headlines, Journalism Cries [NME]
compiled by Max Sebela
Yeah Yeah Yeahs It’s Blitz! Tour Won’t Hit Brooklyn [The Tripwire]
The Scoop on Snoop [NYTimes Arts]
Rihanna Tries to Reclaim Rocks [Rolling Stone]
New iPhone Apps Search Blogs [CNET] and Spin Records [Prefix]
Village Voice Siren Fest Still at Coney Island - Initial Lineup Announced [Brooklyn Vegan]
Eminem’s Relapse Track List Leaked [Prefix]
No Age, Deerhunter, and Dan Deacon, Oh My! [Pitchfork]
Decemberists Appear on Colbert Report [Videogum]
Destroyer and Sunset Rubdown Schedule (Separate) NYC Shows [Brooklyn Vegan]
Sonic Youth Summer Tour [Prefix]
Rooftop Films Returns [Brooklyn Vegan]
compiled by Elana Jacobs
April 8, 2009
Shara Worden, My Brightest Diamond
Photo by Matt Wignall
About two years ago, at the apartment of a friend who shares, to an equal extent, my love for classical and rock music, I received my revelatory introduction to My Brightest Diamond.
“Have you heard of My Brightest Diamond?” he asked me. “I really think you’d like her. She’s a classical musician turned singer/songwriter.”
Blushing, he quickly added, “Plus I totally have a huge crush on her.”
Though I proceeded to ridicule him for his “very lame confession,” I agreed to give My Brightest Diamond, the musical project of classically trained singer and multi-instrumentalist Shara Worden, a chance. We turned his iPod to her 2006 release Bring Me the Workhorse. Moments later, I was also in love, with Worden’s symbiosis of the delicacy and precision of classical music and the emotional energy and rawness of rock.
Worden’s haunting, pristine voice mesmerized me. It contains a unique quality of calm potential toward destruction, contradictorily punk rock and operatic in its roots, at times quiet, and at other moments heart-wrenching and angst-ridden, as she sings about dark moments in childhood, life, and love. What gives Worden’s music that extra push, that distinctively mysterious effect, are the color and thoughtful use of register and dynamics in her instrumental arrangements. Inspired by other musical acts, such as Antony & the Johnsons and Rebecca Moore, she has developed her own distinctive blend of string quartet and standard three-piece rock.
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