Throwback Thursday - Fiona Apple Live

This post originally appeared on my tumblr on Oct. 1 2012. Funny how at the time I rarely went to live shows.

Fiona Apple - The Live Experience

I don’t go to many shows, mainly because artists I like are either dead or do not play near me often enough or both. So when I do go, it’s going to be a big deal. Last night was no different. Fiona Apple is a performer that I felt was important to see live at least once, since she’s sort of an unstable talent, and I mean that in a good way. Her songs are raw emotion set to music and as great as her albums are, the live experience had to be better. I wasn’t wrong.

The Fillmore in Miami Beach is a great venue and really fit perfectly with Fiona’s general vibe. It’s small enough to be intimate, but big enough to be able to contain her orchestral explosions. I wish we’d had better seats, since there were moments where we got to hear the band jam while Fiona did some things on the stage floor for the first few rows. But, really, the band was so great, it’s a minor complaint. 

They kicked off with Fast as You Can, which was dynamic and a good way to let you know how great they were going to sound from then on. Following that with On The Bound and then some other cuts from the first two albums made sure everyone was comfortable.

Interesting, to me, was that when she got Extraordinary Machine and Idler Wheel material, the crowd of damaged girls, hipsters, young and old, and generally lovers of good music, was not only excited, but singing along. I didn’t think Extraordinary Machine was a popular album, but but the title track was actually one of the biggest crowd pleasers.

The old adage of leaving them wanting more is good way to describe what happened at the end. After a rousing cover of Conway Twitty’s It’s Only Make Believe, Fiona leaped across the stage never to return. The lights came up and the roadies started taking everything down. No Limp, no Criminal, no more. All in all, it felt a little short, but was more than made up for by the power of what we did hear. 

Throwback Thursday - Fiona Apple: Idler Wheel. . . .

This was originally posted on my Tumblr on June 20, 2012. 

Fiona Apple - Idler Wheel… .

In 1913, Igor Stravinsky’s ballet, The Rite of Spring, caused a riot in Paris. The music was jarring for it’s time, incorporating African rhythms and dissonance that hadn’t been heard before. I’ve always been fascinated by the idea that music could cause such violent reactions among high brow audiences, but it’s apparently not that rare. A quick search on Wikipedia will reveal a section simply called Classical Music Riots. The point is, art is powerful. And I think that’s a good place to start in with my thoughts on the new Fiona Apple album, The Idler Wheel… .

If you didn’t like her last album, Extraordinary Machine, you probably won’t like this either, but I think then you’re missing out on something that doesn’t happen often these days. This is art on a level that most musicians do not even think about (maybe Bjork does), and I’m not saying that to disparage other musicians. This is the type of thing you’d imagine Fiona would play at some little cafe in the 20’s where members of the Algonquin Round Table would judge her loudly, honestly and even harshly at times. People would yell at her in anger and disgust, some would cry, some would laugh and eventually fights would break out. But all along, there would be Fiona, on stage, still playing, still singing, still baring her soul and confronting expectations.

So, yes, the album is challenging. She has always struck me as the girl at the party who sits in the corner, openly disdainful of what’s going on, seriously observing, judging, remembering, just to later put it back in your ear holes. Basically, Dorothy Parker or Sylvia Plath. Her lyrical honesty is obvious enough, but the musical and emotional truth is just as genuine. No matter how complicated the orchestration, there’s always a sense of rawness to the music on this album, like she’s constantly working out demons of one form or another. And this is not to say that the album doesn’t go somewhere that’s ultimately melodic. But before we get there, we listen as she sings complex melodies over even more complex music. Slowly, but surely, though, there is a clear progression towards something, with the last few songs demonstrating more conventional interactions between melody and accompaniment. The stand out track, for my money, is actually the last song, “Hot Knife” which incorporates many of the musical ideas glimpsed in the previous tracks, and turns them into a Phillip Glass like kaleidoscope of melody, harmony and rhythm. 

The album really seems to work best as a whole. It’s not something I’ll likely listen to often, but it’s something I would consider special and important. And as pretentious as this write up may have come across, the beauty of the album is that it doesn’t feel that way at all, even though it’s on a level that could be considered quite high brow. But enough talk, just listen.

Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do

Throwback Thursday - Perfect Songs - I Want You

Next week.

This post originally appeared on my Tumblr on July 25, 2012. I go see Elvis live next week. Can't wait.

Perfect Songs - I Want You

Music, lyrics and performance can combine to have an impact that goes beyond what was recorded. That’s the sweet spot for any song, really; to be able to transcend into the emotional, sometimes in gut wrenching ways. It’s the rawness of that emotion, whether it’s personal or not that the best writers and performers can drill into your soul. Ultimately, singers are basically actors, finding the truth in each phrase, each line, each note. One of the rawest songs ever written, in every sense, is Elvis Costello’s I Want You.

Elvis Costello & The Attractions – I Want You

It’s the story of a break up where the singer has been cheated on by his girlfriend/wife, and no matter how hurt he is, how angry, how completely destroyed, he still wants her to the point of further emasculating himself before her in his gut wrenching accusations, confessions and pleadings. It’s a complex display of emotions that make the story feel so true, so real, so raw. You can just see this being acted out as a heartbreaking argument, filled with discomfort and confrontation. It exposes so many basic human truths about love, trust, jealousy, hate, desire, and just everything that makes a relationship.

Part of the song’s brilliance is the romantic, nostalgic intro that seems to be from another song and another era completely. It’s sweet and pure and innocent and it gets interrupted by a nasty chord that plunges us into the rest of this breathless diatribe of a song. I think I read somewhere that Costello wanted to write a song similar to John Lennon’s Jealous Guy. Well, in my mind, he surpassed it. I have no idea whether or not the song is based on a real experience or not. I could look it up, I guess, but it doesn’t matter. It is real. Too real.

I could leave it at that, but in this case, there is also a cover of the song that does it equal justice while bringing other elements to the table. Fiona Apple sang the song with Costello on guitar during a tribute show for Costello. Watch for yourself.