Musical Mondays: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

Okay, so here's a new installment for you: Musical Mondays! Lame title but the idea is that (hopefully) every Monday I'll post a review of an artist, band, etc, giving you my thoughts on them. Either from my own eclectic range of artists on my iPod, or one of you can submit and artist you'd like to see me review (at wicked-whimsy@live.com). Either way, hopefully this'll be a permanent segment here and I can show off so new artists to you guys and get to know some of your favorite artists as well! 

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss                                                        

              

1.  Rich Woman                                                  7.  Please Read the Letter          13.  Your Long Journey

2.  Killing the blues                                             8.  Trampled Rose

3.  Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us                        9.  Fortune Teller

4. Polly Come Home                                          10.  Stick With Me Baby  

5. Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)             11.   Nothin'    

6. Through The Morning, Through the Night    12.   Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson

     So, my first artist, or in this case artists, that I'm reviewing are Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. Most of you would have heard of Robert Plant if you've ever listened to Led Zeppelin before, and if you haven't heard of Led Zeppelin, then you've been living under a rock.  *crickets*
               ANYWAY, Robert Plant was the leading vocals in the well known band Led Zeppelin whose moved into many other areas of music with his career and Alison Krauss is a hugely successful bluegrass-country singer. Not usually a combination one would think of but apparently these two are good friends and their collaboration album is certainly good, if not great.  

             It's called Raising Sands  and it's certainly become one of my favorite albums for 2011. I wasn't expecting such an odd array of genres on this album. Each track is deliciously unique and some are downright *strange* in compariosn to the others, though to me strange is a relative term. For example, if you know me, you know my undying love for artist Tom Waits. Hopefully, he'll be one of the artists I review next but, be forewarned: he's not for everyone. He tends to have freakish lyrics, strange rhythms and his vocals are guttural, gravelly, and rough. But strange is the term used most often. in describing his later stuff anyway.  How does this relate to Raising Sands? Well, two particular tracks, called Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us, and Trampled Rose both have that strange quality that I found in Tom Waits' style recording.  

Trampled Rose
Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us

Above I've posted the links to the two tracks and you can see that Alison Krauss has ethereal vocals in both of them and sort of nonsensical lyrics as well. For me it invokes sort of foggy imagery, skeleton trees, gypsy caravans, crumbling gothic churches, ravens, cold rain, clanking lanterns, dirty tarot cards, and just an overall mystical, creepy listening experience. But, coincidentally, that there second track Trampled Rose, was originally written by none other Tom Waits! So obviously, Plant and Krauss had the same ideas I did. 

           Now, don't be thinking that the only tracks on here are raw, foreign enigmas. Plant and Krauss will do you one better than that. There are several tracks on here that are up-beat, have great rhythm and are just fabulous listening. My favorites are Fortune Teller, which is essentially a story telling song with a slow burning sort of rhythm, and Plant still has a kick-ass voice, though it's not as raw as it was when he was singing in Led Zeppelin. But hey! That man is 62, and he's doing damn well in his career. The other track I just love is Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On). This is so upbeat and I can't not jump around my room when I hear it. And I bet my new Sennheiser HD 408's that you will too.       

        However, I don't love every track on this album. Now, again, if you know me, you know I hate most country and bluegrass. Ick. If someone starts playing Taylor Swift I could hang myself with her perfectly, blond, ringlet-ed hair. And though the tracks on this album aren't as mind-blowingly gross as Ms.Swift's, they're not my favorite's for sure.  But on that point, I'm not saying that there are other people who wouldn't enjoy them, because they are impeccably recorded (far more artful and meaningful than Taylor Swift, that's for sure) and they are beautiful to listen to, but, they're not my particular style, being the music snob that I am.

Overall, I LOVE this album and I'd recommend it to anyone. It's a great collaboration between two artists who are fantastic as individual singers as well and in Raising Sands their voices blend smoothly and each track (no matter if it's to your taste or not) has obviously been well thought out.

Favorite Tracks: Rich Woman, Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us, Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On), Trampled Rose, Fortune Teller, and Stick With Me Baby

Overall: 4/5

Think they're worth listening to or what? 

Weekly Musings: Partridge Berry toast & Closet Gutting

Okay, so I un-ashamedly stole this idea from both the wonderful Maddie and Luinae, but it’s a fantastic style of posting so here it is.  This is just a big collage of images and stuff I’ve found inspiring, divine and just a little of what goes on in my life.


Being done with midterm exams – I’m with Luinae on this one. It feel so good to have that pressure gone and of my shoulders. I had to write six exams, plus I had unit tests and two assignments the week before so I thought my head was going to explode. But I wrote the last one  (Math, ew), and now I have free time to get started with new art projects, read, re-organize my room, and just relax for just a little bit.
  

My new Sennheisser HD 408’s – For a music freak like me, these are bliss. They are seriously excellent for entry level headphones;  the quality is amazing. It was either those or a pair of Grado’s, but I was having trouble with getting them shipped in from the states. But with these: Woah. I can hear so many more subtle nuances in the singer’s voices, in guitar riffs, it’s fantastic! If you’re like me and just destroy those little earbuds that come with iPods, get a pair of these. 

Bloggity-blog stuff -  I chose a really awkward week to commence with starting a blog but now that my midterms are over I’m bursting with ideas for posts and I love getting back to coding and layouts and banners, all that jazz. It’s cathartic, for me in a way.


Organization – That may seem really general to you, but that’s really what I’ve been aiming to do these past couple weeks.  I gutted my closet last weekend and got rid of three garbage bags of junk. It was a relief to just slough off all this stuff that had I been hoarding in my closet and finally throw it out!  Naturally this lead through to the rest of my life and I’m itching to organize my diet, room, clothing, school papers, everything!

Honourable Mentions - Dark, emerald green nail polish (see left!) ♥ Breakfasts of Partridge berry toast, orange slices and green tea ♥ Bursting with ideas for blog posts ♥ All black outfits ♥ W.B. Yeats’ poetry; it’s divine ♥  Hanging around the library before midterm exams talking about snow forts and playgrounds. 
♥ Extreme room cleaning, so far I’ve gotten rid of three garbage bags of junk and two small bags as well. Win.♥ The massive seven foot long mosaic we're working on in my art club; it's beautiful, plus we get to put on goggles and smash tiles with a mallet, always a healthy and natural approach to broken crockery
 ♥ Planning a Mad Alice tea party for next weekend ♥ A Bit of Fry & Laurie = My life ♥ the Sassy Gay Friend. No words needed ♥ Tumblr refrences "forever alone"
 ♥ Harry Potter combo-ed with Mean Girls quotes = Harry: "If your a Dark Lord, why are you so pale?" , Voldemort: "......", Dumbledore: "OMG Harry, you can't just ask people why they're pale!!" ♥ Pinterest. Yes. ♥ And, early morning snow.


So, what's been making you're week lovely? 

2011 Style Direction: Gamine Artistique of Road 23

So, this is my first post on my blog. I've been wanting to write up a post such as this one for ages so I sat down and wrote it all in one sitting. I hope you enjoy it, and, if you`re looking for other posts of the same style I suggest both Maddie`s or Luinae`s!

This year I am a Gamine Artisque of Road 23.

             She musses up her super short, gamine pixie cut with pomegranate hair gel, and then shoves wool knit berets in black  & grey over it as she walks to school, contemplating whether or not it will rain. She outlines her hazel eyes with sparkling bronze eyeshadow and long lashes, which, invariably she will accidentally smudge in her tiredness from reading W.B. Yeats till 12:00 AM the night before.  Overlaying bright red tights with those of black lace, and a smudge of red lipstick.  Grey ankle booties with tight black corduroys and  lace shirts. She obsesses over music, listening to everything from Gilbert and Sullivan to The White Stripes, and wickedly raises her hand to having Paul Simon on her iPod when no one else does. 

    
            Comfortable striped knee-high socks, legs crossed while she sketches eyes in her math book. She loves the rain and cozies up on her steamer trunk and peers out the window while surfing the internet for design inspiration for her room. She tears apart her old vintage jewelry to remake to her tastes, and gently repairs broken pendants that she wear by the bunches.  Black wrap dress with chunky knit cowls and knee high boots that help her trek over sea walls to look for ocean pebbles. Double breasted coats, pockets full with milk money and the peppermints she enjoys so much. She constantly drapes scarves around her pale neck that she pairs with androgynous blazers she stole form her mother's closet. She sings constantly and loudly, and when she can't sing, hums. The fingers of her left hand are calloused from guitar playing and her nails are no-nonsense short.                                      

         

 

Earrings long enough to graze her collarbone jingle as she paints delicate water colour paintings on tiny scraps of paper. She spreads art all over one side of her room and accompanies them with strings of Christmas lights. She burns her tongue on green tea as she religiously watches the Twilight Zone, watching for a young William Shatner cameo. She will argue passionately about anything and everything; she is not known for being quiet. Whether or not gorillas are capable of true art, and the debate of humane euthanasia are just a few topics she is fond of debating. Her sarcasm is as sharp as her mind, and often escapes her balm slicked mouth.  

Black, Scarlet, Mauve, Navy&Royal Blue, Coral, Forest Green, Purple, Dove Grey.

Strong Brows float over inquisitive eyes. Stumbles in her heels, distracted by thoughts of the young Marlon Brando. Coffee in tiny demi-tasse cups as she reads wiki articles on actors of Alfred Hitchcock films.  Chiffon skirts, and pleated jersey tees, covered with sequined cardigans.  30's inspired men's sunglasses, cause' the sun ain't really her thing. She browses Etsy for mineral makeup and black corsets. Clear nights are spent star-gazing, and dreaming of backpacking across Europe, inhaling as much food as she can while doing so.Sunday is baking day & cleaning day, the only day she doesn't mind sun. Chet Baker CD's mixed up with those of Tom Waits. She greedily eyes Grado's and Sennheisser's whilst carrying her copy of “Jane Eyre” under the arm of her olive anorak. Messily dyed ginger hair and mismatched brows. 

She's a whole big contradiction, but an enjoyable one none the less.                                                                   

Flowing velvet skirts, vintage belts, Oversized cardigans, flat oxfords, clean new sketchbooks, pearls, fingerwaves, ribbed tights, skintight driving gloves,  massive black leather satchel, fedoras, matte lips, Mad Men inspired, Victorian blouses & wasitcoats, faux fur, tiny neck scarves, children book's illustrations, velvet blazers, raggedy tulle skirts, elaborate brooches, heavy brocade skirts and bare legs, men's watches, & royal blue satin. Leather pants and band tees, fuax-hawks. Rose/Honey/Nag Champa perfume. Red/Green plaid paired with sparkling crystal jewelry. Trousers and envelope clutches. Delicate Blush.

Grey, Champagne, Satiny Pink, Black, & Pale Gold eyeshadows. Raggedy tights with thigh high socks on spring evenings. Wicked and Whimsical.

So, I hope you enjoyed my first post! Now, tell me, what are your style ambitions for the new year?

Rachel                      

P.S. If you own any of these photos, please notify me, because I`ve had these saved for awhile and I don`t know their sources. :)