Unfamiliar with Joanna Newsom? Let's just say she's an acquired taste. She looks like an elf (but a pretty one), plays the harp (of course she does), and has a voice that upon first listen sounds like a squawky rooster on helium (but then upon careful listening you realize how uniquely lovely it actually is...seriously). I had my "I love Joanna" epiphany a few years ago while listening to "Peach, Plum, Pear," a surprisingly hooky track (+QUALITY lyrics) off 2004's The Milk-Eyed Mender. I'm PUMPED for Have One on Me.
I'm sure the manager at the coffee shop where I work will be pleased (NOT). The other night I was working and put on a '90s playlist...not what typically plays in there. She complimented my choice and said it was so nice to listen to something besides "artsy" music everyone plays all the time in the shop (aka what she hears all day, every day as manager.) She said, "It all just sounds the same after a while. It's just, like, one waifish woman tickling a keyboard and whining about dolphins and unicorns." HAHAHAHA. I disagree on some levels, but I had to admit that her description of whimsical folkers a la J. Newsom was pretty dead on.
Other cool music: Taylor Swift covering "Breathless" by Better than Ezra (see below). She performed it at George Clooney's (siiiiiiggghhh) crazy-successful Hope for Haiti telethon on MTV last Friday. BTE=Not exactly my favorite group, so I actually like T's cover way more than the original (not typical for me to like a cover better, but T's got the magic.) She tends to put out pretty great covers, though, because she chooses not-too-sacred songs that she can safely perform without getting pummeled to the ground with her guitar by the Original Only Patrol. Like her cover of "Umbrella." LOVED it.
Hope for Haiti Now is an album of live performances from the benefit now available on iTunes and Amazon (and of course with proceeds supporting Haitian relief). It includes Taylor's performance of "Breathless," along with performances by Beyonce, Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder + many more. Oh, and apparently a Justin Timberlake cover of "Hallelujah..." hmmm... interesting. Never really took JT for a Leonard Cohen lova, but you never know. I remember reading some semi-surprising things about his musical tastes in one of my gabillion *NSYNC fan books back in the day...but I digress as uze
^Better than Ezra looking deceptively cooler than they actually are. Snazzy lighting and aviators will do that for you.
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