Jon Brion & Sarah Jaffe "Blue Umbrella Suite"

After taking the kids to see "Despicable Me 2" last week, we sought the refuge of an air conditioned movie theater yet again this week, this time catching "Monsters University" (that is, "Monsters, Inc 2").

The music in the animated Pixar feature is outstanding as always, and I was a bit surprised to see in the end credits that it was Randy Newman who scored the movie.  Newman has always done great work for Pixar, but this score had a really different feel from his previous work.  Good stuff.

But the bigger musical surprise came before the movie.

Pixar always includes an animated short, before the feature (old school!).  And it is generally unrelated to the feature.  Often it is stylistically different than the feature.  But this clip had some serious wow to it.

Check out a scene below, and note that this is animation.  But it's done in this photo-realistic style, where umbrellas and buildings come to life in a way that more recalls Jim Henson than "Toy Story."


See the clip on Youtube.

The short clip doesn't give to much away, which is good, but it also doesn't quite reveal how stunning the piece looked.

But the thing that really sold it, was the music behind it.

While seeing it in the theatre, I couldn't quite place the tuneful, hummable touch of the composer, or place the familiar sounding vocalization, that was wordless yet expressive.

At home, my wife did the Googling.

The music was composed by Jon Brion, who has done some excellent scores for PT Anderson films like "Magnolia" and "Boogie Nights" as well as scores for "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind" and "I Heart Huckabees."

He's also produced some excellent records for the likes of Aimee Mann, Rhett Miller, Fiona Apple and Evan Dando.

He's even been part of some good bands, like Jellyfish and The Grays.

Meanwhile, the vocals were provided by Sarah Jaffe.  Apparently the animator who envisioned the story is a Jaffe fan, and listened to her music while initially creating the short.

Great stuff.


Hear the full song on Youtube.

Fiona Apple "Every Single Night"

One of those things that doesn't add up for people who are not in radio, is the sometimes strange math/ratio of radio airplay to critical acclaim.

Sometimes a band of moderate acclaim gets much airplay.

And very often, an artist of major acclaim is all but absent from radio.

I know when this happens, lots of people will accuse radio of being asleep at the wheel, or of lacking in taste, or simply just not getting it.

Such is the case with Fiona Apple.

She is critically acclaimed.  And she is feverishly beloved by her devoted fans.

But her albums have been largely ignored by radio.

This must seem all-the-more strange, considering that the singles of her first record (like "Shadowboxer" and "Criminal") were incredibly kick ass.

So on the surface, it seems like radio has just shunned Fiona.

But here's the thing, and I know I've said this before* . . . making a great song or a great album, does not necessarily translate into making a great radio song.

Give a listen to "Every Single Night."

Taken on its own merits, it's a cool, different sounding track.  And I bet it really will work in the context of a full Apple record.

But imagine driving down the road and switching on the station during the middle of this song.  Does it hold up?  If the station were on in your office while you're doing work, would you half-hear this song and think "What the hell are they playing?"

It's disappointing and frustrating, as a programmer.  Because we want to support artists who are doing interesting, challenging work.  But there's got to be some kind of meet-in-the-middle point, where the song is artistic, but also accessible, if it's going to work for radio.

I don't think this one comes anywhere close to that median . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.

* Yes, there are some ideas that I feel like I've talked about a number of times . . . so now would be a good time to point out that I am closing in on my goal of 1,000 posts.  If I continue to post every day, I'll hit that number around the end of the summer.  After I get to 1,000 . . . well, I haven't decided what I'll do.

In the meantime, there are many posts that I've been meaning to write that I haven't gotten to yet.  And the reason I haven't put them "on paper" yet, is because they are some of the most meaningful and important stories of my musical life.  But with the pressure of just 120 posts to go, I guess it's time to get to work.

Steely Dan “Cousin Dupree”

About 5 minutes after welcoming Spring weather, I start cursing the arrival of unwanted bugs in my home.

Last week, inchworms started spinning silken strings from the trees in my front yard. And yes, I picked more than a couple of the tiny worms off my back, and out of my wife’s hair, as the little buggers descended from the branches onto us, the moving targets.

This week, it’s ants. They’re only coming in by the back door slider, but that’s where the kitchen is, so they’ve probably chosen wisely. It’s open season on any scrap of food left on the counter---and let’s face it, when you have a 2 year old, your life is crumbs.

Nothing feels more skeevy, than picking up, say, an delicious apple, biting into it, and then pulling the apple away from your face, to see an bug scurrying away from its near miss of your mouth.

And that’s basically how I feel about this song. I’m casually, somewhat absently, enjoying the catchy tune, and suddenly I figure out he’s singing about having skeevy, sexual fantasies about his underage cousin.

Ewwwwww.

Fiona Apple "Sleep To Dream"

Remember back in the day, when you'd get a box of Cap't Crunch, and mow your way through bowl after bowl to get to the prize at the bottom?

I think record promoters sometimes think they can appeal to a programmer's, 10-year-old saturday-morning-cartoon-watching self. Because sometimes (if the budget allows) you can get some pretty funny things in the mail, along with a CD.

Sure, there's the standard bumper stickers and posters, but the tchochkes can get quite elaborate.

For the "Up In The Air" soundtrack, they sent a T-shirt, and a toy plane--the little kind the pilot might give you on your first flight.

For an up-and-coming artist, who's first single had "salt" in the title, they sent the CD in a round metal case, that can be used as a margarita rim salter.

Once, I even got an actual bologna sandwich on Wonderbread, from a band trying to market themselves as "white trash rappers."

Much of this stuff goes directly in the garbage (especially an unwrapped sandwich), but occasionally we get something that proves itself useful and interesting.

In the production studio, sits our Fiona Apple alarm clock, with a snooze button that says "Sleep To Dream." Clever. And when I look at the time, I think of Fiona Apple. Now that's marketing!