Tag Archives: Music

New Year, New Mix

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Hello, friends.

I know it’s been months since I’ve written. No excuses. I just haven’t felt like writing much lately. Work is kicking my butt and the last thing I want to do at night is come home and fire up the old computer. My company – where I have been for nearly 18 years – got sold and the merging of the two new companies isn’t the smoothest transition ever. It’s been stressful. And my Mom had to have some more treatment – cancer sucks, by the way – so I made a quick trip home to Jersey to be with her for awhile. (She’s doing okay…strongest person I know, my Mom.)

Honestly, you guys, I’ve been pretty blue. And tired.

But it’s not all gloom and doom. I haven’t been sitting around doing nothing. I closed out 2015 with a big milestone…seeing more than 100 live shows in a year (101, to be precise). Kind of a big deal for me – I’ve never done it before, and I’ve been keeping track of all the shows I’ve gone to since 2004. It was such a big deal that one of my sweet friends made me a trophy. I’m really proud of myself…I got outside of my box and saw a LOT of new music this year. Artists and bands I didn’t know. I found new loves. Oh, and Christopher Jak is BACK. Played a show in Charlotte. And is making a new record. So there’s that.

And of course, the Panthers are making history here in Charlotte. So that’s super exciting, especially for those of us who have cheered them on through a couple of really tough seasons.

In between all of this, I made the Winter Mix. But the notes, which are usually my favorite part, just weren’t coming easy to me. I guess the whole not feeling like writing thing has been sort of infecting all of my life. So I’ve been sitting on it for awhile. But it’s a new year, and I’m trying to get re-inspired about writing.

So here it is. The Winter Mix. Winter’s definitely not my favorite season, but I like this mix a lot. Hope you will, too.

Grab the notes and the label here.

Lots of love,

Krissie

Looking for the Light with David McMillin on Daytrotter

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“I can still hear your voice echo beneath the Alabama night, like a firecracker whistle on the Fourth of July / You said, ‘Don’t fear the distance dear, don’t fear the dark, you don’t need to set the world on fire, you just need to catch a spark.'”
– David McMillin, “Looking for the Light”

David McMillin

A new Daytrotter session from the musician who loves the craft of songwriting more than any artist I know, David McMillin. Artwork by Johnnie Cluney, copyright Daytrotter

A long time ago, I went to see a show of a local musician I tried to support. It was at The Evening Muse, my absolute favorite place to see music in Charlotte, a tiny, intimate venue that might hold 125 people when it’s busting at the seams. The opener clambered onto the stage, a kid of maybe 21 or 22 that might have weighed 100 pounds soaking wet. He had just an acoustic guitar and he looked so small, even on the miniscule Muse stage. Then he opened his mouth and started singing. Huge voice came out of that little body. He was probably about a song in when I turned to look at Annie and we both had the same expression on our face… WOW.  And that is how my friendship with David McMillin began.

If I could say one thing about David, just one, it would be that among the musicians I know, he is the one who loves songwriting the most.  I mean he absolutely LOVES it.  And he excels at it. He’s prolific, but I’ve never heard him put out a mediocre song. He and his band, Fort Frances, make amazing music together, and in the down times in between, when his band mates are tending to their personal lives, David writes more and pursues his solo work. It’s pretty inspiring to watch as a fan.

In the eight or nine years since that first show at The Muse, I’ve gotten to know David well…and he remains the only rock star ever to hail me a cab. I’ve watched him grow tremendously as a songwriter (and grow a tremendous beard) and been heartened by the fact that no matter what successes come his way, he remains humble and genuine. And so today, when Daytrotter released a solo David McMillin session, my heart skipped a beat. Even better?  NEW SONGS. Gorgeous, lovely new songs like “Looking for the Light.”

I’d recommend going to take a listen (if you are a Daytrotter member, you can download it…and if you aren’t a Daytrotter member, you should be). Let yourself be won over. Because if you love music, you can’t help but appreciate an artist who loves it even more than you do.

LISTEN TO THE DAVID MCMILLIN DAYTROTTER SESSION

More David McMillin:  Website | Facebook | Twitter | Buy Heartsteady on iTunes

Quiet Hounds & The Wild Hunt

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Quiet Hounds The Wild Hunt

The Wild Hunt, the latest album from Atlanta’s brilliant Quiet Hounds, drops on August 9th.

I am turning 40 next week.

It’s a big birthday, and to my credit, I am not freaking out about it. That said, the milestone has me doing a bit of serious reflecting ­– where I am versus where I thought I’d be, the things I’ve cut from my life in recent years and the things that really are important, and mostly where I go from here. I think a lot of people do this, don’t they? Because no matter how happy we are, I think it’s human nature to always be on the hunt for that next big moment, the new best thing…

Amidst all this ruminating and nostalgia this week, the new Quiet Hounds album, The Wild Hunt, landed on my desk. My admiration for this band hasn’t been much of a secret; I’ve put their music on a bit of a pedestal. I have an insane amount of respect for the way they’ve struck out to create music that is a deep and reflective experience ­– to challenge the “accepted” way of doing things. They’ve been uncharacteristically quiet as of late, so when The Wild Hunt arrived this week, it was an unexpected surprise and I dove in with pretty high expectations.

The experience begins before the first note even sounds, with the album preamble, where the Hounds set the stage:

Mystical creatures crafting story.
Personified in song and otherworldly experiences.
The Quiet Hounds find themselves amongst the souls, the embers, the lights of a new journey.
A seekers chase, a race to find the questions and to build the answers. The past, the future, the present. They all have their role.
And so the Wild Hunt begins…

A story of hardship, of life and of love. The weary traveler’s tale can only be sung. Though the cities have yearned, the path has been long and the wanderer takes on a life of his own. So listen close for his language is old but his message is burned into the deepest of souls. May you smile or may you cry, be you lifted by the light, share this tale with all kin in sight.

The record is, as I’ve come to expect from this sextet of artists and their compatriots, masterful. A few factoids on the actual recording: the album was tracked in a number of places around Atlanta, including the famed Southern Tracks studio. It was mastered to analog tape, so if you’re a critical listener, you’re going to notice the richer tones and slightly fuzzier sound (with all the percussion and low-end in this record, it sounds pretty fantastic.)

At 33 minutes, it is the longest of the three QH albums. There are nine tracks in total, and eight full-length songs, making it the deepest dive the band has taken to date. That’s not the only difference fans will notice. These songs seem decidedly more personal; while the lyrical poetry that is a QH hallmark is still at play, the fantastical and historical elements that peppered earlier songs are toned down in The Wild Hunt. Instead of an exotic adventure through lands foreign to us, this record is much more of an emotional journey ­­– and if you’ll forgive the metaphor, a lot like real life.

The album begins with an outtake from a later track, and then kicks off hot and heavy with “Good Bones,” a youthful, angsty, rebellious song loaded with clapping, buzzy bass, wicked drumming and cymbal smashes, and even a howling hound. “Wild Light” continues this theme of youth and adventure, of striking out to create yourself, no matter the risk. The horn arrangement that dominates the last minute of this song is pretty damn spectacular.

Things settle down a little bit with the hazy, sing-songy “Cove Noises,” the closest thing to an outright love song I think the band has done. That is followed by a tremendously upbeat “Young Clover,” which could easily be a breakout single for the band, with its snappy staccato percussion and stick-with-you chorus. Is this a song for a lover or a new spouse?  A song from a young parent to their child, or an aging parent to their adult child? I can’t quite put my finger on it, but this song just fits here. (Watch a live takeaway of Young Clover here.)

A pair of rockers, “Underwater Listening” and most likely my favorite Quiet Hounds song of all time, “Dangerlove,” team up to form what I’ve been calling the “midlife” songs: doing the work it takes to keep the life you’ve built, fighting for your identity and for those that you love, questioning your decisions, and pushing through the tough times. [Aside: Word from the QH camp is that “Dangerlove” barely made the cut for the record, so I have to say a little “thank you” to the band for bringing it to life.]

If this record is the tale of a life’s journey, then the closing two songs are reflective, looking back at life, teaching lessons to those of us yet to get to those later years. “Stand and Stare” is the carpe diem anthem, the one that chides us with quiet snaps not to waste and to not be held back, with a particular warning for our technology-obsessed society. “Making time to listen is an accident / we fall into our boxes, so hollow / Making time to turn away and lift our heads into the atmosphere/ oh, I follow.” The capstone of the album is “Weathervane,” an orchestral number rich with strings and timpani that reminds us that wherever our wild hunts may take us, we must seek out the things that truly bring us joy and comfort. It reminds me of Whitman, telling us “In things best known to you, finding the sweetest, strongest, lovingest/ Happiness, knowledge, not in another place, but this place, not for another hour but this hour.”

The Wild Hunt reveals another dimension of this mysterious band of brothers,  the next phase of the continuing evolution of Quiet Hounds. They’ve made an album that allows their audience to find a bit of themselves in every song. It’s that type of emotional connection that makes art the most meaningful, and that – at least for this fan ­– makes The Wild Hunt the best of what Quiet Hounds have created so far.

And as for me, I’m feeling a little inspired. I’m thinking that 40 might be my best decade yet.

The Wild Hunt will be released on August 9 to the public, coinciding with Quiet Hounds opening for Rodrigo y Gabriela at Chastain Park in Atlanta. For you vinyl enthusiasts, the album was also recently cut in Nashville, so expect an actual record to be available within the next few months.

More Quiet Hounds:  Web | Facebook | Twitter | Buy Megaphona or Southern Charm on iTunes

Memories: My First Rock Boat Moments

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Last night, I found myself at Target in the “travel size” aisle, which can only mean one thing: THE ROCK BOAT IS NEAR!!  With just about 75 days to go until TRB14, I am in two states of mind:  1)  Sheer panic that I haven’t gotten back on that work out train that I promised myself that I would this year so I will love myself in pictures and 2) Utterly excited for what is always the best week of my year.

I went on my first Rock Boat in 2003 with a group of 10 friends that have these days scattered due to marriage, kids, and life.  Anyway, I had no idea then that The Rock Boat and the community that surrounds it would ten years later be the source of my favorite memories, turn me on to ridiculously good music, introduce me to people all around the world who have become my best friends, and ignite a passion for “discovering” and helping to promote unknown bands.

There’s a lot I remember about my first Rock Boat, but there are two vivid music memories that today I would call “Rock Boat Moments.”  The kind of moment that is so awesome that everything else around you goes quiet.  When you catch yourself holding your breath because you literally forgot to breathe.  So because it’s almost Christmas and you can never have enough nostalgia (and for Miranda, who I am trying to convince to come on her first Boat)… My first Rock Boat moments.

1)  Meeting Cary Pierce from Jackopierce.
Backstory: It was 1993.  I was a freshmen in college and being exposed to all kinds of new stuff after living a relatively sheltered first 18 years. I bought the very first AWARE compilation from the campus bookstore, and Jackopierce’s “Vineyard” was track 3. My obsession with the song was instantaneous – the hopeless romantic in me pictured falling in love with a boy during a summer romance and having him chase me until I agreed to stay on the Vineyard for the year with him (ironically, the first boy I met at WC, who ended up becoming a very good friend, had a summer house on The Vineyard).

Ten years later, I find myself on The Rock Boat, where Cary Pierce, one half of Jackopierce, is playing. I’d seen Jackopierce a few times, but never in a million years did I think I would ever MEET them.  I’d met an amazing couple at The Rock Boat pre-party the night before, and we went to see Alex Woodard play within a few hours of getting on the Boat.  While we were sitting at the show waiting for it to start, Cary walked right in front of

me.  I mean five feet from me.  I gasped as he walked by, and Gina looked at me and said, ‘What?”  I said, “That was Cary Pierce!”  She asked who he was, and I gave her the short version of what I just said above.  So she goes, “Well, you have to meet him then!”  and leapt out of the booth to chase him down.  The next thing I knew, Cary freaking Pierce was standing in front of me.  “Hi, I’m Cary,” he says.  And me, ever brilliant…. “I know.”  Anyway, he was a complete sweetheart and asked if I wanted to take a picture.  I just nodded.  And here it is…

Me and Cary Pierce, The Rock Boat, 2003.

Me with Cary Pierce, The Rock Boat, 2003.

I love this picture for so many reasons.  First of all, it was probably my very first “personal” Rock Boat moment. Secondly, Cary is just the most adorable thing ever.  Thirdly, I look like a 5 year-old on Christmas morning. Could I be cheesing any harder? Look at the way I’m holding my hands together!  And finally…I was SOOO skinny, and I LOVED those pants.

2) The Edwin sings in the casino at 3 AM moment. No, really.  It was 3 AM.  This will make sense to some of you.
Backstory:  The summer after my sophomore year in college, Rob made me a tape of a band he said was going to be huge.  They were called Hootie and the Blowfish.  By the third week of my junior year, I’m pretty sure the girls on the hall were considering evicting me from the dorm because I played “Let Her Cry” approximately 50 times a day.  I set about learning everything about them… which led to Edwin. And a new obsession was born. After I moved to North Carolina in 1998, it became pretty easy to see Edwin regularly, and he rocketed into my Top 10 musicians of all time.

So, two days in on the Boat, I’d met a fella (we’re still friends today!), and we’d spent the better part of the evening sitting in the back at a few shows … and we ended up in one of the dining rooms eating pizza at 2:30 in the morning (Emerson Hart sat two tables over from us…I lost my shit) before we parted ways.  As I tipsily walked my way back toward my cabin, I was coming down a hall when I heard a very familiar voice singing… It was 3 AM, and I came around the corner and ran smack into Edwin McCain playing with another musician (Francisco Vidal, for all my TRB folks reading this) in the casino bar.  There might have been 20 people watching him.  I stood there, transfixed, watching this performer whose songs I knew inside out, sing to me and a handful of other people like we were the only people in all the world.  He was clearly having a blast, and while he has probably had many more nights like it in his time, it is a moment that I will never forget, and one that will always live in my best memories.  Edwin’s back on The Rock Boat this year… can’t wait!

There really is nothing like The Rock Boat.  Sixthman, the company that started The Boat almost 14 years ago, has created an experience that is truly unmatched. I go on this trip, and just know that these types of moments are going to happen…not just once, or twice, but over and over again. Because it’s happened year after year for me. Writing out these memories that live in my head only makes me all the more excited about heading back out on the high seas with great music and great friends … and more Rock Boat moments.

More Rock Boat:  What the heck is The Rock Boat? | Okay, so what bands are playing this year? | Damn, I need to book a cabin.

Taking Off With Audio Astronauts

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In the Japanese workplace, there’s a philosophy called kaizen.  The word literally means “good change,” but it is essentially the belief that there should be continuous improvement that reduces waste and improves efficiency.  Originally, it was a philosophy that applied to manufacturing and engineering, but over time, other businesses, areas of study, and doctrines have adopted it.  The more you read about kaizen, the more you understand that it is more about tasking workers with the responsibility of examining their own practices in an objective way and finding ways to better their own environments.  As music lovers, why shouldn’t we apply kaizen to the way we select and listen to our music?

While I’ve always been a music analyst, I will freely admit to relating more to lyrics and vocals and not really understanding all the intricacies that go into making the tunes that pump out of my headphones.  That’s why when a musician that I’ve come to really respect announced that he was launching a podcast about audio engineering, producing, and recording, I found myself intrigued.

Two dudes exploring the depths of modern recording – and dedicated to musical kaizen.

Two dudes exploring the depths of modern recording – and dedicated to musical kaizen.

Meet the Audio Astronauts:  Deke Spears and Matt Rowles.  Both fellas are accomplished musicians and studio gurus.  Each Wednesday, these guys spend about an hour (depending on how chatty Deke is feeling) talking about recording equipment, processes, and techniques.  They discuss albums, producers and engineers, playing examples and digging into what makes certain recordings great.

It’s really fascinating to hear them talk about records that I’ve literally been listening to for more than half my life and hear them from a totally different perspective because they steer me into listening to them with a different ear.  Whether it’s hearing a new instrument that I’ve never noticed before, or understanding how individual producers influence styles and sound, I come away each week with a literal earful of new information.  And while I might only really key in or understand two or three things that they talk about, each time I listen to a new piece of music, I’m hearing it through new filters.  And, bonus, I’ve started listening to artists I might otherwise have skipped because it’s not “my type of music.”  Talk about expanding my musical horizons.

The thing I love most (well, other than their rather endearing sound geek senses of humor) is that Deke and Matt are completely dedicated to getting people to not only appreciate, but to demand more, from the music they listen to.  They expect it not only of themselves and others in their craft, but they are giving anyone who listens to music the power to improve their auditory environment.  Musical kaizen.

I’ve embedded my favorite episode below for easy listening (and no, it’s not my favorite just because they give me a shout-out), but you can get to the podcast in any number of ways – by subscribing on iTunes, listening on SoundCloud, or on their webpage.  They also love interacting with people in the community, so if you listen, be sure to touch base with them and let them know what you think.

More Audio Astronauts:  Web | Facebook | Twitter | SoundCloud | iTunes