Tag Archives: Christopher Jak

The Sunday Funday Playlist – December 11, 2011

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Yeah, I know.  Long overdue.  What can I say … life’s been crazy and it’s all I can do to keep up with breathing, let alone music.  But, I do have a couple of tracks that have been burning up the old music machines around chez Krissie.  And here they are, for your listening enjoyment.

1.  Ruby Soho (Rancid Cover) – Jimmy Cliff

If there is any one person that I should thank for my love of music, it’s my Dad.  He was my earliest influencer, and Santa gave me tapes as gifts when I was as young as 7 (point in case, Springsteen’s Born to Run). When I was about 10 years old, Dad, who I think was probably meant to live in the Caribbean, came back from a trip with Jimmy Cliff.  He dubbed me a tape copy of Hanging Fire, and I must have listened to “Brown Eyes” a million times on my boom box.  Since then, I’ve had a fascination with Jimmy, and was stoked to see him release a little EP of covers a few weeks ago.  This fun, upbeat reggae twist on one of my favorite cult 90s classics is my favorite.

2. ‘Til My Heart Gives Out (Mountain Song) – The Lusitania

My friends over at Alternative Addiction gave me a heads up about this San Antonio, Texas band a couple of weeks ago and their 2010 album, Rain and Rivers, has been in rotation ever since.  If you’re a fan of The Avett Brothers, OAR, or The Grand Magnolias, you’re going to like this band.  Got a little country-bluegrass-pop-punk thing happening.  As the temperatures drop, this is the kinda music that keeps me rolling down the river in mid-summer in my mind.

3.  Bumps in the Night – The Ruse

Also putting out an EP within the last few weeks is my favorite little LA rock outfit, The Ruse.  These fellas know how to put together a rock song, and the Rebellion EP is no exception.  Two tracks, in particular, have reinvigorated my craving for guitar-driven rock n’ roll, and this is one of them (for the other, In Defense of the Rebellion, visit here).  And I’ve said it already, but I’ll say it again…Jason Young, their drummer, is my hero.

4. The Heyday – Somebody to Someone

There is no denying my love for infectious little pop songs, and no band writes more ear wormy, hand clapping ditties than The Heyday out of Colorado.  The fellas put out a new single this week, and it is full of hooky goodness … Bonus:  the god of production and songwriting that is Christopher Jak had a hand in it.  If this song doesn’t make you wish for being 17 and taking a roadtrip with your best friends, I don’t know what will.

5.  Holy Ghost – Flagship
This is actually an older song that’s been redone.  I wrote awhile ago about two of Charlotte’s young, promising acts – Flagship and Campbell the Band – merging.  They decided to ditch a new name and stick with Flagship.  This weekend, they put up a video of them performing an older Flagship song, “Holy Ghost” … wow.  Forget that every video they put up is outstanding in its production… I am so in love with Drake Margolnick’s voice.  It’s just intoxicating. Mesh an already tremendous song with the players’ from Campbell the Band’s ability to write some melancholic little melodies, you have a hit just waiting to happen.  Telling you now, watch these kids.  They’re going to do big things.

The Sunday Funday Playlist – October 9, 2011

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1.  Audition – Red Wanting Blue

I was way late jumping on the Red Wanting Blue bandwagon.  These guys have been around for a decade, and I only started listening to them in February after seeing them with Erinn when they opened for Honor By August.  I am completely in love with Scott Terry’s voice and his old-school rock band dedication to making music.  Their new album, From the Vanishing Point, comes out in January, but this is the first single.  I have been singing it for days now.

2.  The Fear – Ben Howard

Brit songster Ben Howard’s new album Every Kingdom was released this week and it’s GORGEOUS.  This song speaks so much truth to me right now it almost breaks my heart. “I’ve been worrying that I’m losing the ones I hold dear; I’ve been worrying that we all live our lives in the confines of fear.” Brilliant writing.  This acoustic version is especially stunning.

3.  State of Love & Trust (Pearl Jam Cover) – Gaslight Anthem

New iTunes Session up for pre-order this week…some of my favorite Jersey boys, Gaslight Anthem.  Bunch of great covers listed, but this one was available to purchase and I’m SO STOKED about it.  This song was my anthem for the summer of 1996, when I was dating Charlie, a Pearl Jam nut who played drums in a cover band.  I spent the entire summer driving back and forth from Chestertown to Annapolis to see him play and I swear, I probably had six different mix tapes with this song on it.  Such memories.  Gaslight does it justice.  Unfortunately, the rock version isn’t available on SoundCloud…but this version, an acoustic version that sounds like it was recorded in someone’s living room after a couple of beers and is complete with them talking about the intricacies of the “guitar part”, is.  And it’s still awesome. Rock on, guys.

4.  Chains of Love – Ryan Adams

On Friday, Ryan’s new album, Ashes & Fire, arrived in my mailbox and although I’ve only had a few spins through it, I’m already well “in like” with the whole record.  Ryan’s one of those artists that is so complex sometimes that it takes me a good few weeks to get through all the layers and figure out what I really love.  That said, I can tell you that this record is way more up my alley than some of the stuff he’s done in the past few years.  Way back to his singer-songwriter style, that I love … So far, this one is my favorite.  But that’s bound to change by next week.

5.  Breaking – Christopher Jak

An exchange of e-mails with one of my favorite songwriters this week has inspired the last track of the Sunday Funday playlist.  See the post before this for me going on (and on and on) about Christopher Jak and his unbelievable talent.  This song is from his Folk EP, which you can download for free right now on Noisetrade.  Just listen to the first freaking line…the man is poet.

Christopher Jak … Free Music, Take 2!

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He may run, but he can't hide...Jak is back!

If you’ve never heard me talk about Christopher Jak…well, either you’re a new reader or I don’t like you very much.  In my top five artists OF ALL TIME, Jak is simply one of the best songwriters out there.  Period. The man is just brilliant.

In fact, he wrote my favorite line of any song, ever.  You can find it in his song “Something” … “All I want in life is just a color picture of beauty in a golden frame of mind…” It’s so wonderful.  And his writing is FULL of stuff JUST like this.  He calls some of what he writes “Sad Bastard” music….I call it genius.

These days, he spends more time producing that he does writing and putting out his own music, but occasionally, he surprises me with an e-mail letting me know he’s up to something.  This week, I got a note advising me that he’d put one of the EPs he released last year, The Folk EP, up for free download over at NoiseTrade.  If you don’t have it yet, I highly advise picking it up.

Let me give you some reasons WHY you should be listening to this little 5-song gem.  A) This is what the EP opens with…I swear to God, this is how the man writes…it’s unreal…. “I’m the human wrecking ball and you’re the love grenade, we leave a trail behind us like a suicide parade…”  B) Cover of Neil Young’s “Birds” that will leave you breathless…. C) Acoustic version of Jak’s own song “Begin to Cry” (which is probably his biggest sleeper hit)… D) This line in “Down Below”: “I was a man on fire asking you to dance, but having been burned before, you’re not chances on me…”

Seriously, what are you waiting for?

And…for you fans…rumor is that Jak has booked some studio time.  Perhaps we’ll see new music from CJ in 2012?  A girl can dream….

If you’re a new fan, pick up other Jak music here:  The Leadfoot Lover EP | The New Nostalgia | Applause of the Rain | (And here’s one that not many people know about) Christmas Wouldn’t Be the Same Without You (Breaking My Heart) – with The Heyday

Photographic Evidence …

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A chapter of my life is now complete…Christopher Jak live, check. It was as wonderful as I thought it would be and more.

Thanks, Christopher, for being so nice and humoring me and playing my favorites and requests. If it’s possible, you’ve one upped yourself in my book. Your music is a very big piece of my picture of beauty in a golden frame of mind.

Christopher Jak & Me

New Free Music from Christopher Jak

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If I must repeat again how much I adore Christopher Jak’s music, I totally will.

Jak is in my Top 5 artists of all time…and has written my favorite line, in any song, ever. He is an incredible, intuitive writer, and has a voice that will melt your heart like it’s made of butter. Seriously, LOVE THIS MAN’S MUSIC.

That’s why you should all go download The Folk EP, his latest release, FOR FREE. Go. Right now. It won’t be free forever and you really need to start listening to it immediately.

Christopher Jak - The Folk EP
(I mean, seriously, you have to love an artist with a sense of humor…who tags their own music “sad bastard music”? … hilarious!)

Then, once you’ve fallen in love with him, go buy all his other music…start with The Leadfoot Lover EP, which came out last fall, then get the stunning masterpiece that is The New Nostalgia (the song “Something” is probably my all time favorite song – because it’s so honest and bold and smart), and then the brilliant Applause of the Rain.

Christopher Jak’s music will make your life better. I promise.

(Stay tuned for the “After 7 years of being a fan, Krissie finally meets Jak and sees him live” post that will follow next month….I’m sure there will be video!)