Classical music. It’s old. It’s complex. It can be intimidating. But somehow, the best of it goes beyond mere academic appreciation and makes you feel things. This is especially true if, like our Shannon Dohar, you get to participate in it. Shannon performed Beethoven’s Mass in C as a member of a choir and this Read more about 8: Beethoven – Mass in C major[…]
Beethoven’s Mass in C encompasses many human states: mystery, contemplation, joy, exultation, dismay, wonder, adoration, love. It tells the story of the Mass but makes small and large innovations in how it tells that tale. In short, it’s a welcome addition to the albums covered by Deeper Cuts and we have it on this week’s Read more about Deeper Cuts Spotify Playlist: Week Seven[…]
In episode seven of our podcast (which you can listen to right here!), we talked a lot about the expanding musical possibilities that Joe Jackson’s Night and Day album helped me discover beyond the borders of top forty pop. But in parallel, Joe Jackson himself was on a journey all of his own around the Read more about Joe Jackson Night and Day Addendum: Steppin’ Out of a Comfort Zone[…]
Have you ever felt a page of your life turn, moving from one chapter to another? It’s a common experience that can be tumultuous but also pretty exciting, too. During a time of transition for Rob, it was Joe Jackson’s 1982 album Night and Day that provided the soundtrack. It was what we term an Read more about 7: Joe Jackson – Night and Day (1982)[…]
Ever found an album that promises the latest top 40 hit by a new wave artist and then it turns out to have Cuban influenced salsa numbers, songs ruminating about living in New York, jazz (and not the cool kind AM radio played) and lyrics that explored urban living in 1982 in all the many Read more about Deeper Cuts Spotify Playlist: Week Six[…]
Road trip! It’s a common and very welcome battle cry, even if we’re just taking a journey by ourselves. The best and most memorable road trips are very often, if not always, accompanied by a great soundtrack. For Graeme, that soundtrack was Indigo Girls’ 1992 offering Rites of Passage, an album that he took with Read more about 6: Indigo Girls – Rites of Passage (1992)[…]
Songs about motion, songs about journeys, songs about destinations, songs about places and people long past… all these things and more can be found in the Indigo Girls’ 1992 album Rites of Passage, the latest addition to our Spotify playlist, which includes almost every album covered on Deeper Cuts. Put on some headphones, put on Read more about Deeper Cuts Spotify Playlist: Week Five[…]
For every great record, there is almost always another great one behind it. Sometimes, there’s even an entire body of work that helped to inspire it. Shannon, Graeme, and I aren’t the only ones who have albums that hold deep meanings! This idea is absolutely true of XTC’s Apple Venus, Volume 1, a record that Read more about XTC Apple Venus, Volume 1 Addendum: The Influence of Judee Sill[…]
Location, location, location. Sometimes, a record is vivid enough to make you feel as though you’re in one as you listen. Maybe it can even help you make sense of your physical location, too. For Rob Jones, XTC’s eminently pastoral and Anglocentric 1999 album Apple Venus Volume 1 provided both of those things to him Read more about 5: XTC – Apple Venus Volume 1 (1999)[…]
Very often, we outgrow the place where we’re from. That can be one of the signs that we’ve come of age. But leaving an old familiar place and finding a home in a new one is rarely simple, especially when you’re young. That’s the subject of our discussion around The Weakerthans’ 2000 album Left and Leaving, a Read more about 4: The Weakerthans – Left and Leaving (2000)[…]
Songs of living in Winnipeg, being awkward, dealing with the hard work of relationships and evaluating your life choices through a garage sale are among those being examined this week when the Weakerthans’ 2000 album Left and Leaving joins our Spotify playlist. Give it, and the songs on albums covered on previous episodes, a listen. You Read more about Deeper Cuts Spotify Playlist: Week Three[…]