Commentary on my iTunes Purchases

In this blog post I’ll talk about the music I’ve purchased on iTunes. I’ve bought 5 albums and three single songs. The three single songs I bought are “Technologic” by Daft Punk, “Worrisome Heart” by Melody Gardot, and “My Hallelujah Song,” by Julianne Hough. The albums are: Live at Stubbs, by Matisyahu; The Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture: Folk Songs from Wisconsin, by various artists; The Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture: Songs of the Mormons and Songs of the West, by various artsits; Angola Prison Spirituals, by various artists; and Music from Tuva, by Igor Koshkendey.

“Technologic” by Daft Punk is awesome and catchy and incredible. I highly recommend it. It makes you want to dance. I’m not much into electronic or techno music, but Daft Punk really knows how to put beats together.

“Worrisome Heart” by Melody Gardot was a “single of the week” that you can download for free. Usually the free singles aren’t that good, but this one really is! It’s jazzy, bluesy, sensual and smooth- I’ve listened to it a good amount and have enjoyed it every time. Her album is actually on my wish list.

“My Hallelujah Song” by Julianne Hough. Another “single of the week.” I haven’t even listened to it yet. It’s country and poppy… the 30 second sample I heard was OK. I think my wife my like it. It was free, you know?

“Live at Stubbs” by Matisyahu is lots of fun. It’s a great album to listen to while you’re washing dishes or something. That probably wasn’t that great of a description, though, I like to do dishes with lots of different music playing- but you know it kind of pumps you up. I really like hip-hop music, but the subject matter of hip hop music is often vulgar. But Matisyahu, on the other hand, is clean as a whistle. He’s actually some type of strict Jew, so he sort of preaches while he sings. And he can beat-box, too! (You know, with his mouth and not with a turntable or any other instrument.) But it’s just great. “King Without a Crown” is especially fantastic.

The Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture: Folk Songs from Wisconsin is interesting. I really like it, but I realize that old folk music isn’t for everyone. Not everyone likes scratchy recordings of old geezers with untrained voices singing a cappella. But I like it. It’s so different than music that comes from a studio. And here’s another word about folk music: “folk music” basically means traditional music, or music of the common people. Not music that the common people buy and enjoy, but music that originates “naturally” from common people, or music that is passed down from generation to generation. So Bob Dylan, even though he’s a wonderful musical artist, and even though he sings folk songs, he doesn’t consider himself a folk musician. But “folk music” has also come to mean the music that people like Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, the Kingston Trio and Bob Dylan, produce. I won’t get mad at anybody who says that Bob Dylan is a folk singer. I’ve said plenty of times that Bob Dylan is a folk singer. In a interview in San Francisco in 1965, Bob Dylan, when asked what type of music he played, he said, after hesitation, a thoughtful look, and a cigarette drag, “Vision music, or… mathematical music.” What a trippy answer. That reminds me of what the Gorillaz called their type of music. They called it, if I’m remembering correctly, “transcendental trip-hop pop.” Debates about genres and sub-genres could go on forever. Taxonomy is a tough thing. Another thing about the folk songs from Wisconsin: what I like about it is it’s like I have this little secret in my iTunes music library; nobody that I know of has heard these songs before. I’m sure some old folks in Wisconsin have heard them, but has anybody in Flagstaff, Arizona heard them? These songs will never be played on the radio, unless it’s some kind of special program on NPR or something.

The Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture: Songs of the Mormons and Songs of the West has been one of the best music purchases I’ve ever made. I knew that the early Mormon pioneers must have had some folk songs that they sang, besides the hymns in the hymnbook. And the album I bought has five of those folk songs. The rest of the songs on the album fall under the category, “Songs of the West.” But the five Mormon songs are incredible. There’s “The Handcart Song,” “Tittery-Irie-Aye,” “Echo Canyon,” “The Utah Iron Horse,” and “St. George.” The songs are each sung a cappella by a single man, and were recorded in the 1940s, as near as I can tell. They are incredible. I actually cried the first time I heard “The Handcart Song.” I was imagining all the saints who crossed the country with their handcarts. I was imagining them cold and hungry, but pushing their cart up a hill and singing “The Handcart Song”- gee whiz. I don’t think I’ll ever have to go through anything like that.

Angola Prison Spirituals is an album that I used to have, but I lost it in that package we sent from Nashville to Arizona. It’s a bunch of spirituals sung by the inmates of the Angola Prison in Louisiana in the 1950s. Angola Prison is the epitome of prisons for black men in the post-Civil-War South. It was originally a plantation that held tons of slaves, and after the Civil War, I guess it got turned into a prison. I’ve listened to this album plenty of times and it doesn’t get old. There’s a version of “Go Down Moses” that’s really awesome. (Here’s something funny: I could have sworn that when I bought the album in Amoeba Music in Hollywood in 2006 or 2007, it was called “Angola Prison Negro Spirituals.” Now on iTunes it’s called, “Angola Prison Spirituals.” Maybe they took out “Negro” because it’s offensive. Or maybe I’m just imaging things.)

Music from Tuva by Igor Koshkendey is the weirdest album I’ve bought on iTunes. Have you ever heard of the special throat-singing in Tuva? Have you ever heard of Tuva? Probably you’re answer to both of those questions would be no. I had never heard of either of those things either before I stumbled upon Music from Tuva. It’s really weird. Tuva is either in Mongolia or Russia. But there’s these people that you would read about in National Geographic magazine that live there and sing in this really strange way. It sounds cool. You just have to hear it. I’m glad I bought the album, because it actually is nice to listen to. It’s a bit of an acquired taste; at first it might seem unpleasant just because it’s so unusual, but I think it has nice rhythm and such. I sort of wish I could understand what they were saying. But perhaps the lyrics aren’t as important as the sound.
Well after I bought and listened to all the folk music and such, I think I’m ready for something a little more commercial and poppy. The next album I buy might actually be “We Started Nothing” by the Ting Tings. OK, hang in there, buddy, and I’ll see you later.