Kevin Kendle's After Christmas Gift

A couple years back I was weaning myself from my usual post-Holiday splurging blues... from all that sugar, the endless libations, the mystical high I always yearn to attain (yes, I always get a little down after December comes and goes - funny how a couple of weeks of time transforms the stark landscape from glittering wonderland into bleak tundra). So I was searching through Emusic for a little midwinter pick-me-up and came across Kevin Kendle's Winter.

I was immediately struck by how nicely the music fit the songs titles and conjured a meditative mood that really helped me ease into the new year and embrace the small offerings of beauty that winter truly offers. I find myself returning to the CD each January and actually look forward to it.

Later that same year I checked out Kendle's Autumn release and was equally enthralled. It is described as a haunting atmospheric album that evokes images of ethereal, magical landscapes of the season of mists and I enthusiastically agree. 

Now Kendle has a new CD coming out in 2012 that sounds very intriguing:
The Leaves of Paradise: a collaboration with the Joao Santos. Check out the incredible digital landscape images at the Kevin Kendle web site!

If you enjoy meditative electronic music or spacey new age and need a little shot in the arm to pick up your spirits, I recommend the music of Kevin Kendle! Now pass me a cup of hot chocolate...

Kevin Kendle Amazon Store

2011: The Year That Was

New music releases I enjoyed the most:

Hammock Longest Year
Doug Powell The Apprentice's Sorcerer
Ron Sexsmith Long Player Late Bloomer
Paul Simon So Beautiful or So What
The Sea And The Cake The Moonlight Butterfly
Bon Iver Bon Iver
Daryl Hall Laughing Down Crying
Jonathan Wilson Gentle Spirit


Other artists whose albums I listened to but they didn't really knock my socks off:

Joseph Arthur, Fow, Rundgren, Waits, Buva, Neon Indian, Kate Bush, Fleet Foxes. Rundgren needs to get back to basics... Waits needs to flee them.



Probably the recording I listened to most last year was:

Eden Ahbez Eden's Island

My soundtrack of the summer from hell!!!


Odds and Sods (mostly Sods):

Songs from 2011 you must download now!

The Copper Top Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat / Burden of Tomorrow Tallest Man on Earth / Beachcombing Typewriter / Perfect Day Cassettes Won't Listen / Hold That Thought Nik Freitas / Soft Washed Out / Dancing Barefoot Todd Rundgren



Best Shows I Saw (aka Only Shows I Saw):

Steely Dan at the Starlight Theater in KC
Ben Folds with the OKC Philharmonic and Paul Simon both at the beautiful Civic Center Music Hall within a few days of each other.

Made Me Quite Merry: Carla Bley Carla's Christmas Carols

A band I'd like to check out more in 2012: Balmorhea

Personal MVP of 2011:

Would have to be Paul Simon. I've spent a lifetime fending off the guy but there's no denying it now... he's one talented sob. His album was great and the impromptu show he gave us in the lobby of the Civic Center while the sound system was being fixed was magical. Showed he had stamina, versatility and most importantly... heart.

Silver Moon's Orange Glow: BOO!

In honor of tonight's OKC Ghouls Gone Wild parade I've compiled some Halloween picks:
http://c.itunes.apple.com/us/imix/silver-moons-orange-glow-boo!/id476603699


The Gleaming Armament of Genatalia - Chrsitmas on Mars - The Flaming Lips
--- no March of a 1,000 Skeletons this year at the Ghouls Gone Wild OKC parade and that's really too bad... this is the theme music.

Manu Christi - Music for "Blood" - Stan Rdigway & Pietra Wexstun
--- this is really creepy... a little bit goes a long way.

Bonfires On The Heath - The Clientele
--- it can't be Halloween without something burning somewhere, right?

Halloween Spooks - Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
--- an old favorite... odd, silly yet captures the spirit!

Monsters of the Id - Snakebite: Blacktop Ballads - Stan Ridgway
--- the really scary things lie within (as Stan well knows).

Lockjaw - A Capella - Todd Rundgren
--- Todd's always good for a laugh. I wouldn't lie.

Edgar Allan Poe - All The Things You Are - Reynold Philipsek
--- a little gypsy jazz on a dark spooky night.

The Raven - Lou Reed
--- spoken word piece that follows Reynold very nicely.

Frank's Wild Years - swordfishtrombone - Tom Waits
--- had to include some Tom somewhere... dig the Halloween imagery at the end and just imagine its October 31st.

Halloween 2009 - Songs for the New Depression - Loudon Wainwright III
--- no double dip yet but late 2008 was damn scary... Woody woulda liked this one.

The Cask - The Raven - Lou Reed
--- another spoken word piece with nice musical enhancement featuring the distinctive voice of that funny-lookin' little guy, Steve Buscemi.

Great Pumpkin Waltz - Vince Guaraldi Trio
--- a little cliched perhaps but its time to wind down and chill.

Pumpkin  Man - Superheterodyne - Rock E. Rollins
--- is it really already all over? This soulful little piece bids adieu to spooks, falling leaves and October.

Do you know who I am?....

Daryl Hall - Laughing Down Crying

Daryl Hall's new album is damn catchy. I can't seem to get these songs out of my head. The guy has always had a knack for writing great songs and he knows how to sing them. Alot of people I know like to dismiss Hall as just a pop song writer but that's only because he had so much success with Hall & Oates back in the 80s. You can't blame the man for producing hit after catchy hit. The truth is he's always surrounded himself with incredible musicians including Robert Fripp (check out Sacred Songs), Todd Rundgren (War Babies for starters), G.E. Smith (he was the H&O lead guitarist during their incredible 80s run), the late great T Bone Wolk and even the underrated John Oates. On top of that he's always had an experimental side to his work (see Fripp & Rundgren). Soulful pop, sing-along ballads, melodious rock - Laughing Down Crying has it all.


available from the Silver Moon aShop



The Best Songs of 2011 (so far...)

Recommended for immediate downloading from your favorite vendor:

The Movement of Cherry Blossom Shadows - Le Concorde

Come A Rain - Kevin Welch

Not Too Late - Freebass

Burden of Tomorrow - The Tallest Man On Earth

You Say It Too - Buva

Magic Lantern - Doug Powell

Drinking Beer On The Roof - The Handsome Family

Like New Year's Day - Matthew Ryan & Hammock

Mr. Let's Find Out - The Caribbean

The Magic Place - Julianna Barwick

Late Bloomer - Ron Sexsmith

Kiss Like Your Kiss - Lucinda Williams

Love And Hard Times - Paul Simon

Up On The North Shore - The Sea And Cake

Someone You'd Admire - Fleet Foxes

Always Like The Son - Release The Sunbird

Perfect Day - Cassettes Won't Listen

The Copper Top - Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat

Towers - Bon Iver

Horses - Joseph Arthur

Cemetery Guns - Fountains of Wayne

NOTE: many of these can be downloaded for free at

 http://www.magnetmagazine.com/category/free-mp3s/

Ron Sexsmith - Long Player Late Bloomer

Ron Sexsmith writes songs that get into your head and once they do they tend to stay there. His tender vocal stylings underscore his very insightful mature lyrics. His new release Long Player Late Bloomer is perhaps his most sonically accomplished and is filled with plenty of catchy pop sing-a-longs and his typically heartfelt acoustic ballads. As a relative newcomer to Sexsmith I have not heard his complete catalog but from what I have heard I surely believe this guy is an artist who deserves to be heard. Available from the Silver Moon aStore.

Below are a Silver Moon Baker's Dozen of great Ron Sexsmith tracks to download NOW from your favorite online vendor:

~ Maybe This Christmas ~ Not Too Big ~ Thumbelina Farewell

~ Keep It In Mind ~ Brandy Alexander ~ Not About To Lose

~ For The Driver ~ Wishing Wells ~ Jazz At The Bookstore

~ Hands of Time ~ Spiritude ~ I'll Believe It When I See It

~ Michael And His Dad

Doug Powell - The Apprentice's Sorcerer

Somehow Doug Powell's latest release slipped past me until I stumbled upon it about a week ago on emusic. Released fittingly back on Halloween 2010 The Apprentice's Sorcerer is a concept album that turns the world of magic and belief upside down while scrutinizing the essence of light and its impact on what is and is not revealed. It's easy to interpret these songs as an extension of Powell's ongoing spiritual quest as they probe the concepts of belief, deception and ultimately faith. He's become quite the wizard in the studio as the production is top-notch and the songs sound dynamic, provocative and crystal clear. Most of the tunes are hyperactive toe-tappers but Doug squeezes in a couple of touching ballads that really shine in contrast. The album ends with The Professor's Nightmare which features a spoken-word intro by a Stephen Hawking-like drone whose computerized voice creates a synthetic non-human approach to the spirit world yet morphs into a lively piano solo that seemingly incorporates all of humanity's passion and potential and, perhaps, even a bit of its madness. And then suddenly, it's over: all matter has at long last fallen apart along the edges and God has left the building.

Or has He simply emerged from another door?

Available from CD Baby.