First post I've done in quite a while. I'm still trying to find a suitable service to allow me to continue this blog in it's current format (my witty prose accompanied by streaming audio at no cost to you or me), but for now, I'm just trying to help a sister out.
You guys remember that gushy post I made about Sherree Chamberlain, right? If not, shame on you. Get edumacated...
Sherree Chamberlain - You Don't Love Me
Doesn't that just break your little heart? No? Good, because it's just a song. A song so amazing that words often fail me when I tell people about it, but still...
What SHOULD break your heart is our wonderful songbird was recently the victim of theft when some jackass thought it would be a good idea to "liberate" her guitar from her. I don't know many independent musicians who are able to afford 1) commercial insurance to cover their gear and 2) to replace that gear on the unfortunate occasion that it gets stolen or destroyed. Based on her current predicament, I have to assume Sherree is no exception to that rule.
Luckily, there is recourse for her to raise funds to replace her lost (and very important) tool of her chosen trade. You can go to her page over at Feed the Muse and donate a few bucks to help her out. I checked out the organization and it seems legit as far as I can tell. You can donate anywhere between $5 and $500 to the cause, earning you in return everything from a simple thank you to a private performance for your family and friends (how I wish I had $500 to burn right now). She's raised just over $1,300 so far, but has a goal set of $2,000, which to a non-musician may seem a bit much, but it's not unwarranted. Anybody can go out and buy a $100 guitar and enjoy themselves, but you won't want to put it on a record... and it probably won't maintain intonation very well with itself, much less other instruments... and the tone is probably going sit somewhere between a cigar box guitar and a cardboard box with rubber bands stretched over it... You get where I'm going with this. Professional grade musicians need professional grade equipment.
So go on over and give a gift that will keep giving back to you... or at least to me. The sooner she can reach her goal, the sooner I can go back to being that creepy guy in the corner at her shows. Is that so wrong?
Showing posts with label Sherree Chamberlain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sherree Chamberlain. Show all posts
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Monday, May 31, 2010
I Set My Body on Fire Today
Stillwater, Oklahoma, home to the Oklahoma State University Cowboys, isn't exactly the place one would expect to find a thriving music scene (the godawful "Red Dirt" sound notwithstanding), but this Oklahoma college town has been home to many amazing artists over the past couple of years. Colourmusic, Other Lives, Sherree Chamberlain and Mayola, all fantastic artists in their own right, have called this place home at one point or another. Ladies and Germs, it's time to add Deerpeople to that already impressive list.
Deerpeople - New Dance (Find the Naughty Word, Kids!)
This debut self-titled EP is a healthy mix of indie rock and folk that you can dance to. It's seriously catchy and at times, melodramatic. Some of the instrumental arrangements bring to mind The Arcade Fire's good album (if you have to ask, please don't) and the lyrical content at times resembles John Roderick's (of The Long Winters) blunt and deadpan snarkiness. As far as I'm concerned, this is a winning combination and those who I've shared this record with so far seem to agree wholeheartedly. Live, they're a little rough around the edges in the best way possible, minimizing down time by filling empty space with all sorts of wonderful noise between songs. In short, they bring the MF'n ruckus. If you want to know what I'm talking about firsthand, you can catch them at The Conservatory this Saturday, June 5th. I know I will.
Deerpeople - Canada (There's Another One Here!)
It doesn't look like there's a physical release floating around as of yet, but you can acquire this fantastic 5 song EP here and pay what you want. I paid $5 because I'm a nice guy and felt that $0.05 over the iTunes price is more than fair for a record this good. If you want to prove that you're nicer than I am, I would encourage you to pay more. Of course, they won't hold it against you if you pay nothing for it as far as I know. Either way, you can get it in high quality 320K mp3s or FLAC or both if you're feeling ambitious. Get it, familiarize yourself with it and hit up their show on Saturday if you know what's good for you.
Deerpeople - New Dance (Find the Naughty Word, Kids!)
Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io
This debut self-titled EP is a healthy mix of indie rock and folk that you can dance to. It's seriously catchy and at times, melodramatic. Some of the instrumental arrangements bring to mind The Arcade Fire's good album (if you have to ask, please don't) and the lyrical content at times resembles John Roderick's (of The Long Winters) blunt and deadpan snarkiness. As far as I'm concerned, this is a winning combination and those who I've shared this record with so far seem to agree wholeheartedly. Live, they're a little rough around the edges in the best way possible, minimizing down time by filling empty space with all sorts of wonderful noise between songs. In short, they bring the MF'n ruckus. If you want to know what I'm talking about firsthand, you can catch them at The Conservatory this Saturday, June 5th. I know I will.
Deerpeople - Canada (There's Another One Here!)
Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io
It doesn't look like there's a physical release floating around as of yet, but you can acquire this fantastic 5 song EP here and pay what you want. I paid $5 because I'm a nice guy and felt that $0.05 over the iTunes price is more than fair for a record this good. If you want to prove that you're nicer than I am, I would encourage you to pay more. Of course, they won't hold it against you if you pay nothing for it as far as I know. Either way, you can get it in high quality 320K mp3s or FLAC or both if you're feeling ambitious. Get it, familiarize yourself with it and hit up their show on Saturday if you know what's good for you.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
A cannonball waiting on a fuse
I'm not saying that writing this review is one of the main motivating factors for having started this blog in the first place, but I'm not NOT saying that either. Either way, I've been putting it off for far too long, so here we go...
Sherree Chamberlain is the most phenomenal artist you've never heard of.
Ok, that's actually not fair. She's phenomenal whether you've heard of her or not, but you get my point. This lady is based out of Oklahoma City (MY TEAM!!!) and has released what is easily one of the best records of 2009 and probably of the last decade, "The Wasp in the Room."
I have my friend and Oklahoma City music guress (that's a female guru and yes, I made it up) Tommie to thank for introducing me to Ms. Chamberlain's music, and thank her I do. Often. While appearing on her college radio program devoted to local music with my band, she threw one of Sherree's songs into the mix. It wasn't the sort of thing that clubs you over the head and makes you pay attention to it, but it was definitely more than enough to pique my interest.
Once I finally tracked down a copy of "The Wasp..." at Guestroom Records, I put it on my computer right away, but it was a couple of weeks before I finally sat down and listened to it start to finish. At the outset, I was captivated. By the end, I was destroyed. The record starts off with an arresting, verbose tale of an old bird in the twilight of his life (PROTIP: It's not actually about the bird), the arrangement of which only serves to enhance the already intense melodrama. The album ends with Sherree singing unaccompanied, unfurling a stark rumination on the sacrifices she feels she must make as an artist, though at times, it's hard to tell which parts are sincere or sarcastic (or maybe it's all just very sarcastically sincere).
Perhaps one of the things that makes this record work so well is that Chamberlain's voice has a very disarming charm about it which allows her already effective, well-crafted folk-pop songs to penetrate to your core. Case in point, "Circus, Dear," an extended metaphor built around the narrator's first terrifying experience under the Big Top, seems filled with a sense of genuine dread when put through the filter of Sherree's unmistakable voice. The character seems inconsolable as she beseeches "Pray for me." Equally effective is "If You Don't Love Me" which essentially ends the first side of the album (Sherree, if you happen to stumble across this: HINT HINT!!!), where she sings from the perspective of a hopelessly heartbroken man (I think) whose plight is only made all the more gut-wrenching by her flawlessly fractured delivery; a song that I can sympathize with so completely that I'm almost ashamed to admit it.
I'm not asking you, I'm telling you to go to Guestroom in either Norman or OKC and pick up a copy of this record. Like, now. And if you're regionally impaired, there's always iTunes and Amazon.
*edit* Author's Note: This post originally contained streaming audio examples which have been subsequently removed. That's what happens when Mark Zuckerberg feels the site that hosts your files is more valuable to him than to you. YouTube still has plenty of her music up though, so you can always listen there for further clarification.
Sherree Chamberlain is the most phenomenal artist you've never heard of.
Ok, that's actually not fair. She's phenomenal whether you've heard of her or not, but you get my point. This lady is based out of Oklahoma City (MY TEAM!!!) and has released what is easily one of the best records of 2009 and probably of the last decade, "The Wasp in the Room."
I have my friend and Oklahoma City music guress (that's a female guru and yes, I made it up) Tommie to thank for introducing me to Ms. Chamberlain's music, and thank her I do. Often. While appearing on her college radio program devoted to local music with my band, she threw one of Sherree's songs into the mix. It wasn't the sort of thing that clubs you over the head and makes you pay attention to it, but it was definitely more than enough to pique my interest.
Once I finally tracked down a copy of "The Wasp..." at Guestroom Records, I put it on my computer right away, but it was a couple of weeks before I finally sat down and listened to it start to finish. At the outset, I was captivated. By the end, I was destroyed. The record starts off with an arresting, verbose tale of an old bird in the twilight of his life (PROTIP: It's not actually about the bird), the arrangement of which only serves to enhance the already intense melodrama. The album ends with Sherree singing unaccompanied, unfurling a stark rumination on the sacrifices she feels she must make as an artist, though at times, it's hard to tell which parts are sincere or sarcastic (or maybe it's all just very sarcastically sincere).
Perhaps one of the things that makes this record work so well is that Chamberlain's voice has a very disarming charm about it which allows her already effective, well-crafted folk-pop songs to penetrate to your core. Case in point, "Circus, Dear," an extended metaphor built around the narrator's first terrifying experience under the Big Top, seems filled with a sense of genuine dread when put through the filter of Sherree's unmistakable voice. The character seems inconsolable as she beseeches "Pray for me." Equally effective is "If You Don't Love Me" which essentially ends the first side of the album (Sherree, if you happen to stumble across this: HINT HINT!!!), where she sings from the perspective of a hopelessly heartbroken man (I think) whose plight is only made all the more gut-wrenching by her flawlessly fractured delivery; a song that I can sympathize with so completely that I'm almost ashamed to admit it.
I'm not asking you, I'm telling you to go to Guestroom in either Norman or OKC and pick up a copy of this record. Like, now. And if you're regionally impaired, there's always iTunes and Amazon.
*edit* Author's Note: This post originally contained streaming audio examples which have been subsequently removed. That's what happens when Mark Zuckerberg feels the site that hosts your files is more valuable to him than to you. YouTube still has plenty of her music up though, so you can always listen there for further clarification.
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