Last Orders

I was introduced to Jon Allen as I was riding home after a long day of work. My buddy told me he had found a great song ("Last Orders") from a guy named Jon Allen, that I had to hear. There are very few songs that have the ability to not necessarily make time stop, but rather, take you outside of it. Though it does feel like it stops, instead of it disappearing... you become quite conscious of time in general, sitting outside of yourself on a warm perch, gazing down at either what once was, what is, or what may come... lost in introspection; a daydream of sorts. As soon as the track started playing... everything dimmed around me and quieted, except for a soft glow that seemed to start to stretch... longing for something. For what exactly, I'm not completely certain. It may have been the rest, the quietness the song brought, or maybe the simplicity and carelessness the past always seems to harbor and horde. It could've been the simple longing to love and be loved in return. 

Whatever the case, I really like how this guy sang with such honesty. He lets the song breathe, taking his time before singing the first words through a scotch coated voice. Though he follows a pretty standard folk progression, he throws in quite a few curveballs which'll make you smile. You can buy his new sophomore album Sweet Defeat on iTunes. The lyrics almost risk being cliché, but I think his childish honesty seem to be the saving grace. You see, as grown-ups we tend to think too seriously about things and overcomplicate life. This whole song is him simply saying 'i love you, forever' in as many ways as he can think. Remember when we were kids? Thats how we loved people. Our imaginations would exaggerate life to shadow what was in our hearts. Galaxies wouldn't be fit to house our love. Nor would our love multiplied by a billion be enough. So we'd make up numbers and even multiply them by multiple infinities. Colors seemed more rich and more vibrant back then. Summers lasted ages. Its not till we started to learn of heartache, to become guarded, to set up walls, to look both ways before crossing the street, that we started losing our wonder, started aging and becoming busy, serious, closed and "protected". Life started losing its glow. This is one reason I absolutely love music. It keeps the wonder alive. Gives life that glow. 

Make sure the first time you listen to this song is at night.

This song made me stop. Made me smile... and long for that which is timeless.

I hope it does the same for you. 

-Frey

  Last Orders by Jon Allen

Frosted Window Panes...

First off, major props to my brother Joel for the amazing job he's done on the covers for these albums! 

This next volume in our Christmas series is a collection mostly of originals along with a couple covers. When it comes to Christmas music, I'm not the biggest fan of originals (mainly because most are weak and don't come near the classics). However, over the past few years, some artists have been releasing and putting together some really great stuff. As timeless as the classics are, it is nice having some new songs. And even better... how great is it discovering new music? I hope these songs will keep you company this Christmas as you're baking cookies, hanging stockings, reminiscing through  'days of yore', and while creating new memories with friends and family. 

So, in the spirit of entering into new seasons, new chapters, new beginnings...

Happy Holidays...

-Frey

1.   The Christmas Waltz She & Him

2.   Christmas Don't Be Late Catwalk

3.   Christmas Isn't Christmas The Boy Least Likely To

4.   I Wish It Was Christmas Today Julian Casablancas

5.   Last Christmas Jimmy Eat World

6.   Silver Bells Bright Eyes

7.   In This Home On Ice Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

8.   Sleigh Ride The Late Greats

9.   Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home) Slow Club

10. We Wish You A Merry Christmas Weezer

11.  Got Something For You Best Coast & Waves

12.  Frosty The Snowman Banjo or Freakout

13.  Get Down For the Holidays Jenny O.

14.  Christmas Tree Bewitched Hands

15.  Lo, How A Rose E're Blooming Feist

16.  The Christmas Song Owl City

17.  Christmas In The Room Sufjan Stevens

18.  Snow Sleeping At Last

19.  Mary And Joseph Dave Barnes

20. We Come Back Local Natives

21.  Blue Christmas First Aid Kit

22.  It's Christmas So We'll Stop Frightened Rabbit

23.  God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Bright Eyes

24.  Maybe Next Christmas Matthew Mayfield

25.  Christmas Lights Coldplay

26.  The First Song Band of Horses

27.  White Winter Hymnal Fleet Foxes

28.  Silent Night Meaghan Smith

29.  O Come O Come Emmanuel The Civil Wars

30. Angels We Have Heard On High Omaha Collective

31.  It's Christmas, I Love You Daniel Ellsworth with Alva Leigh

32.  My Dear Acquaintance (A Happy New Year) Regina Spektor

|DOWNLOAD| (.zip)

[PS. This album is a bit bigger than the last... so you might want to have a fresh cup of hot chocolate or a pumpkin spice latte handy when downloading.]

Here We Are As In Olden Days...

One of my absolute favorite things about this time of year is the music. I love how preserved it is... as though we pack it up in its own old brown cardboard box and set it along side the others in our attic labeled "christmas tree", "lights", "boughs of holly", and "stockings"... not to be seen again or brought down until after Thanksgiving. It makes them that much more timeless... and gives the season and your family traditions their own soundtrack.

I put together a Christmas album of some "classics" that every Christmas playlist must have.

May your day be merry and bright...

-Frey

1.   Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Dean Martin

2.   Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree Brenda Lee

3.   White Christmas The Drifters

4.   Jingle Bell Rock Bobby Helms

5.   A Holly Jolly Christmas Burl Ives

6.   Sleigh Ride Amy Grant

7.    Its Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas Johnny Mathis

8.   'Zat You, Santa Claus Louis Armstrong

9.   Santa Claus Is Coming To Town Ella Fitzgerald

10. Santa Baby Eartha Kitt

11.  The Christmas Waltz [Alternate Version] Frank Sinatra

12.  Winter Wonderland Tony Bennett

13.  Baby, It's Cold Outside Johnny Mercer & Margaret Whiting

14.  O Tannenbaum Vince Guaraldi Trio

15.  Carol Of The Bells John Williams

16.  I'll Be Home For Christmas Bing Crosby

17.  Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas James Taylor

|DOWNLOAD| (.zip)

Cœur de Pirate

Beatrice Martin is Cœur de Pirate and hails from Montreal. Her 2008 self-titled debut was quite successful. I don't remember how I discovered her... one of those chance encounters... but I'm so glad I did. I fell for her instantly, not only because she's gorgeous, tatted up, plays wicked piano, and sings in French (she's bilingual)... but her songs never leave you. There are songs that rest in your ears, and then those that reside in your heart. The first time I heard her song Fondu au Noir I had it on repeat every night for almost a week and couldn't stop listening to it. Even though you may not have any idea of what exactly she's singing... you can feel the heart behind each of this pirate's songs. Her music is very straight forward, at times sarcastic, and on others she makes herself quite vulnerable. Bottom line, she'll win you over. She just released her second album Blonde and it's phenomenal. You've got to check it out! I've got such an affinity for songs in 3/4 and minor keys. Its filled with simple yet genius piano lines, haunting lyrics and melodies, and an absolutely beautiful voice... all together making up the classic sound of Cœur de Pirate that we all love.  She's absolutely brilliant.

Also, you've got to check out a side project she did with Bedouin Soundclash's frontman, Jay Malinowski called Armistice. (song: "City Lights Cry [Live in Paris]")

Here's a session she did with guys at Wood & Wires. She plays and sings two songs from her new album Blonde: "Place de la République" & "Adieu".

Cœur de Pirate- Wood & Wires Session on Vimeo.

  "La petite mort" by Coeur de Pirate

-Frey

Annabel Lee

The first time I heard their song "Hardly There" it quieted everything in me... much like when you were a kid and your mom tucked you into bed and told you everything was going to be okay. Not just your body, but your soul would relax. Passing the burdens onto shoulders much stronger than yours. The business of your day.. week.. all the deadlines and worries just dissipate as soon as she starts singing.  The melancholic chords from their guitars, soothing voices, and the perfectly blended harmonies (very reminiscent of the ones from back in the 50's... at the dinners shows that had a full big band, everyone was dressed up, cigarettes in hand, women adorned with sparkly dresses, and a dance floor surrounded by tables with white-linen cloth, candle light and penguin waiters) all act as a big warm quilt.

Annabel Lee (Website // Bandcamp // Facebook // ReverbNation) is folk-trio (from Seattle) made up of sisters Caroline & Katrina and friend Lena (who the met while attending Cornish College of the Arts). They're in final stages of the recording process and will soon release their debut (12 track) album. Here's a preview:

-Frey

Becoming A Better Writer

I found a great list on 99% this morning of 25 25 snippets of insight, from some exceptional authors, on writing. While they are all focused on the craft of writing, most of these tips pertain to pushing forward creative projects of any kind.


Enjoy.

1. PD James: On just sitting down and doing it…
Don't just plan to write—write. It is only by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style.
2. Steven Pressfield: On starting before you're ready…
[The] Resistance knows that the longer we noodle around "getting ready," the more time and opportunity we'll have to sabotage ourselves. Resistance loves it when we hesitate, when we over-prepare. The answer: plunge in.

3. Esther Freud: On finding your routine...
Find your best time of the day for writing and write. Don't let anything else interfere. Afterwards it won't matter to you that the kitchen is a mess.

4. Zadie Smith: On unplugging...
Work on a computer that is disconnected from the internet.
5. Kurt Vonnegut: On finding a subject...
Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, and not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style. I am not urging you to write a novel, by the way -- although I would not be sorry if you wrote one, provided you genuinely cared about something. A petition to the mayor about a pothole in front of your house or a love letter to the girl next door will do.
6. Maryn McKenna: On keeping your thoughts organized...
Find an organizational scheme for your notes and materials; keep up with it (if you are transcribing sound files or notebooks, don’t let yourself fall behind); and be faithful to it: Don’t obsess over an apparently better scheme that someone else has.  At some point during your work, someone will release what looks like a brilliant piece of software that will solve all your problems. Resist the urge to try it out, whatever it is, unless 1) it is endorsed by people whose working methods you already know to be like your own and 2) you know you can implement it quickly and easily without a lot of backfilling. Reworking organizational schemes is incredibly seductive and a massive timesuck.
7. Bill Wasik: On the importance of having an outline...
Hone your outline and then cling to it as a lifeline. You can adjust it in mid-stream, but don’t try to just write your way into a better structure: think about the right structure and then write to it. Your outline will get you through those periods when you can’t possibly imagine ever finishing the damn thing — at those times, your outline will let you see it as a sequence of manageable 1,000 word sections.
8. Joshua Wolf Shenk: On getting through that first draft...
Get through a draft as quickly as possible. Hard to know the shape of the thing until you have a draft. Literally, when I wrote the last page of my first draft of "Lincoln's Melancholy" I thought, Oh, shit, now I get the shape of this. But I had wasted years, literally years, writing and re-writing the first third to first half. The old writer’s rule applies: Have the courage to write badly.
9. Sarah Waters: On being disciplined...
Treat writing as a job. Be disciplined. Lots of writers get a bit OCD-ish about this. Graham Greene famously wrote 500 words a day. Jean Plaidy managed 5,000 before lunch, then spent the afternoon answering fan mail. My minimum is 1,000 words a day – which is sometimes easy to achieve, and is sometimes, frankly, like shitting a brick, but I will make myself stay at my desk until I've got there, because I know that by doing that I am inching the book forward. Those 1,000 words might well be rubbish – they often are. But then, it is always easier to return to rubbish words at a later date and make them better.
10. Jennifer Egan: On being willing to write badly...
[Be] willing to write really badly. It won't hurt you to do that. I think there is this fear of writing badly, something primal about it, like: "This bad stuff is coming out of me…" Forget it! Let it float away and the good stuff follows. For me, the bad beginning is just something to build on. It's no big deal. You have to give yourself permission to do that because you can't expect to write regularly and always write well. That's when people get into the habit of waiting for the good moments, and that is where I think writer's block comes from. Like: It's not happening. Well, maybe good writing isn't happening, but let some bad writing happen... When I was writing "The Keep," my writing was so terrible. It was God-awful. My working title for that first draft was, A Short Bad Novel. I thought: "How can I disappoint?"
11. AL Kennedy: On fear...
Be without fear. This is impossible, but let the small fears drive your rewriting and set aside the large ones until they behave – then use them, maybe even write them. Too much fear and all you'll get is silence.
12. Will Self: On not looking back...
Don't look back until you've written an entire draft, just begin each day from the last sentence you wrote the preceeding day. This prevents those cringing feelings, and means that you have a substantial body of work before you get down to the real work which is all in... The edit.

13. Haruki Murakami: On building up your ability to concentrate...
In private correspondence the great mystery writer Raymond Chandler once confessed that even if he didn’t write anything, he made sure he sat down at his desk every single day and concentrated. I understand the purpose behind his doing this. This is the way Chandler gave himself the physical stamina a professional writer needs, quietly strengthening his willpower. This sort of daily training was indispensable to him.
14. Geoff Dyer: On the power of multiple projects...
Have more than one idea on the go at any one time. If it's a choice between writing a book and doing nothing I will always choose the latter. It's only if I have an idea for two books that I choose one rather than the other. I always have to feel that I'm bunking off from something.
15. Augusten Burroughs: On who to hang out with…
Don’t hang around with people who are negative and who are not supportive of your writing. Make friends with writers so that you have a community. Hopefully, your community of writer friends will be good and they’ll give you good feedback and good criticism on your writing but really the best way to be a writer is to be a writer.
16. Neil Gaiman: On feedback...
When people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.
17. Margaret Atwood: On second readers...
You can never read your own book with the innocent anticipation that comes with that first delicious page of a new book, because you wrote the thing. You've been backstage. You've seen how the rabbits were smuggled into the hat. Therefore ask a reading friend or two to look at it before you give it to anyone in the publishing business. This friend should not be someone with whom you have a romantic relationship, unless you want to break up.
18. Richard Ford: On others' fame and success...
Try to think of others' good luck as encouragement to yourself.
19. Helen Dunmore: On when to stop...
Finish the day's writing when you still want to continue.
20. Hilary Mantel: On getting stuck...
If you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to music, meditate, exercise; whatever you do, don't just stick there scowling at the problem. But don't make telephone calls or go to a party; if you do, other people's words will pour in where your lost words should be. Open a gap for them, create a space. Be patient.
21. Annie Dillard: On things getting out of control...
A work in progress quickly becomes feral. It reverts to a wild state overnight... it is a lion growing in strength. You must visit it every day and reassert your mastery over it. If you skip a day, you are, quite rightly, afraid to open the door to its room. You enter its room with bravura, holding a chair at the thing and shouting, ‘Simba!’
22. Cory Doctorow: On writing when the going gets tough...
Write even when the world is chaotic. You don’t need a cigarette, silence, music, a comfortable chair, or inner peace to write. You just need ten minutes and a writing implement.
23. Chinua Achebe: On doing all that you can…
I believe myself that a good writer doesn’t really need to be told anything except to keep at it. Just think of the work you’ve set yourself to do, and do it as well as you can. Once you have really done all you can, then you can show it to people. But I find this is increasingly not the case with the younger people. They do a first draft and want somebody to finish it off for them with good advice. So I just maneuver myself out of this. I say, Keep at it. I grew up recognizing that there was nobody to give me any advice and that you do your best and if it’s not good enough, someday you will come to terms with that.
24. Joyce Carol Oates: On persevering...
I have forced myself to begin writing when I've been utterly exhausted, when I've felt my soul as thin as a playing card, when nothing has seemed worth enduring for another five minutes... and somehow the activity of writing changes everything. Or appears to do so.
25. Anne Enright: On why none of this advice really matters...
The way to write a book is to actually write a book. A pen is useful, typing is also good. Keep putting words on the page.

-Frey