Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream

Denison Witmer’s latest elixir for an ever-growing audience is his new long player Carry The Weight.  Suggesting a heavier, more somber tone to the album, the album title is only somewhat applicable.  On the opening “Beautiful Boys and Girls”, Witmer’s voice conjures up a certain ‘catchy’, almost infectious darkness that serves to adorn the song rather than detract from it.  The disciplined piano keys of “Carry The Weight” is an achingly sweet statement of (perhaps) the burdens that Witmer must take on.  But he proves fearless in this endeavor, as the song crescendoes into a wonderfully melodious concoction of pianos and harmonious voices.

The seemingly lighter but slightly repetitive “Catholic Girl” shows Witmer’s penchant for writing more sanguine folk songs.  Witmer continues to dispel the ‘carry the weight’ notion with “Life Before Aesthetics”, which showcases Witmer’s vocal range and a damn near perfect chorus. Witmer begins to slow things down, literally, with the latter half of the album–and it appears to be the weaker part of the album. “If You are the Writer” and “One More Day” are mediocre at best, only to be saved by the Are You a Dreamer-esque sound of “Chesapeake Watershed”.  The “Carry The Weight” acoustic version at the end of the album might actually be better than the ‘original’ version.  So go ahead and tell me what you think. Buy a copy of Carry The Weight.

Listen to “Carry The Weight (Acoustic)”

Listen to “Life Before Aesthetics“

I’m sure that you’ve already had a chance to listen in full to Cat Power’s Jukebox, ripe full of lovingly done covers of songs that are now approaching 4 decades old.  But Chan Marshall will be releasing an EP (B-sides of Jukebox?) entitled Dark End of the Street on December 9th.  Check it out here.  The six song EP is not a terrible amount to chew on, but nonetheless, it’s still definitely worth your time.  Cat Power’s cover of “Fortunate Son” by CCR is…..amazingly different and serves a testament of what ‘The Power’ is capable of doing.  It’s as seething and sardonic as the original, but even more haunting and beautiful with its gentle strings and Marshall’s outspoken rasp.  She’s the ultimate manipulator of sound, I say.

Listen to “Fortunate Son (Creedance Clearwater Revival)“

As I am sure many of you may be aware, Coldplay has released an accompanying EP Prospekt’s March to their now 5 month old record.  I was duly impressed with Viva La Vida, and you can read my review on this album here.  Coldplay has always released several ‘B-sides’ along with their records–it seems as though this is done more as an artistic decision as opposed to a marketing one.  The truth is that these B-sides could easily be A’s, but I think Chris Martin and the gang are very particular about what they want on each record.

And so that leaves us with Prospekt’s March.  I thought I’d do a little rundown of the tracklisting…

Life in Technicolor ii - The instrumental album version gets some vocal treatment, and I have to say that this song becomes infintely better for it.

Postcards from Far Away – Clocking in at only 48 seconds, there’s not much here.  And frankly, it’s a little bit of a waste of time.

Glass of Water – A pounding, high-charged rock song that is unmistakably Coldplay.  The chorus seems a little disjointed from the verses, but the dreamy bridge reels you back in.

Rainy Day – An uncharacteristic track here, that sounds more like a song from a sun-drenched Orange County outfit rather than…Coldplay.  It’s perhaps Coldplay’s most playful song they’ve ever written, and it seems as though the band does a good amount of experimentation.  I like it, but I don’t think this is where Coldplay is going to go with their sound.

Prospekt’s March – A dreampop Coldplay song, as it could be done other way.

Lost+ – Coldplay and Jay-Z. Ambitious, delicious, not time to get vicious. So I won’t. Wonderfully done.

Lovers in Japan (Osaka Sun Mix) – Exactly that. A remix of Lovers in Japan.  Just a little more backbeat and some cool instrumental harmonies but nothing much more than that.  Will this be turned into a club mix? Boy, I hope not.

Now My Feet Won’t Touch the Ground – Begins as an acoustic, folk ditty and slowly unfolds into a gentle horned delight.

Buy a copy or download of Prospekt’s March.