Repost: Michael Jackson and the Music of Sonic 3

This is one of the geekier things I've posted in a while, but as a fan of video games, video game music, and Sonic the Hedgehog in particular, I found this video by GameTrailers fascinating. As you'll see below, the debate about Michael Jackson and Sonic 3 has been raging for years, and it's great to hear some (semi) official words on what went down.

I won't spoil it for you, check out the video below, it's worth the watch. And here is the link to the music-comparison video by Qjimbo they cite.

GameTrailers

RIP Dave Brubeck

Jazz legend Dave Brubeck died of heart failure this morning. He was just one day shy of his 92nd birthday. Brubeck leaves behind an incredible legacy including some of the most influential music of the 20th century. The thoughts of this blogger are with Brubeck's family and friends.

Take a few minutes to check out Brubeck's incredible "Take-Five" below.

Matty Powell: Kiss the City

My friend Matty Powell released a new album called Kiss The City this past weekend. It's still very much tied to the folk-music tradition like his previous work, but shows Matty expanding his sound with higher production and more varied supporting instruments. However he stays true to his strengths, letting his voice and acoustic guitar shine through as the central unifying forces on the album.

The new approach serves Matty well on many of the songs, giving them a texture and depth that elevates them from campfire singalongs to true pop tracks. Nowhere is this more noticeable than on "Freja," which has been expanded from a cute acoustic ditty to a fully fleshed out ode from a loving father. Likewise, "Toronto" is given mesmerizing new life via a full accompaniment that brings out the song's bittersweet sense of nostalgia. The searing lead guitars on songs like "Yellowquill" and "Smoke Rings" make them sound like something by Greg Keelor. Meanwhile, the supporting instruments help Matty come out as a joyous musical preacher on the patently silly "A to Z of Apple Trees."

However, at times it unfortunately seems like the production is outside Matty's comfort zone. The background synths added to "Any Other Way" make the song sound unsure of its own direction. There's also a tinny sound to much of the album that detracts from its acoustic roots. Matty also stumbles at the songwriting level in a few places, such as with the over-rhyming in "Beatrice" or the awkward spanish verse in "The Creek."

However, one thing that can be said of every song on Kiss The City is that Matty's catchy chord structures and earnest vocals give them undeniable heart. Even when the production gets away from him or the lyrics don't totally work, there's a strength and conviction to Matty's delivery that makes his work endearing. This is a big part of the reason he's a great folk artist, and some of the album's best tracks succeed in capturing this raw essence: songs like "This Cigarette" and (albeit to a lesser extent) "Beatrice" display an unabashed singer-songwriter who's completely without pretension.

Kiss The City shows an artist in transition, playing with new and bigger sounds to move from being a troubadour to a multifaceted pop-folk act. Sometimes he falters but never seriously, and all throughout he retains the earnestness and talent that made his earlier work so affective. It's certainly more evolution than revolution (both in terms of Matty's style and generally speaking), but Kiss The City is a worthwhile addition to the pop folk canon and to Matty's discography. I for one am excited to see what he does next, and to see him live (again).

Reposts: Destructoid's Top 10 Castlevania Songs

I'm a big fan of classic video game music. It's engaging, energetic, and my history of playing games has conditioned me to feel active and want to accomplish things when I hear it. When I go running I use a mix of 8 and 16-bit era tracks as I find they provide a great impetus to keep going and push yourself harder than you would otherwise. Now Destructoid has put together a list of their all time top 10 songs from the Castlevania series (which is deservedly renowned for its music, among other things), and the list has inspired this post in more ways than one (geddit?).

Their number two pick, "Bloody Tears" from Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest, is my personal favourite. I particularly like the 16-bit remix of the track using instruments from the Mega Man X2 soundtrack, embedded below. The enhanced sound quality of the 16-bit era really brings out the best parts of the song and ups the foreboding quality by highlighting the pipe organ opening. In putting this post together I also stumbled across another great remix of "Bloody Tears" using the instruments from Sonic 3. It takes a few more liberties as a remix by adding a electric guitar-style melody at various points throughout the track, and the addition gives the song a new, '80s hair metal-esque twist.

- - -
'Reposts' are inspired by other articles or blog posts around the Internet. They are used here with accreditation as the basis for short bursts of Max's interests.

Deliluh

A ways back I posted about The Vandertramps, a "band" I'd been listening to and enjoying for its early-90s-indie-rock-throwback kinda sound. To be honest The Vandertramps were just a multi-instrumental buddy of mine from high school who put together some really awesome tracks (almost) entirely on his own. I still find myself listening to the EP he put out back in 2009 more often than I'd ever admit to him, but unfortunately he's been busy and hasn't had nearly enough time for music over the last few years.

Now though he's back in the form of an album/band (?) titled Deliluh, and it's available online here. I've just started listening to it myself but so far I love what I'm hearing. It's got the same indie-rock foundation but with a bit more country behind it. Give a listen to "The Things We Need" in this player below, and if you like what you hear then check out the rest of the album over at the bandcamp page. His last set of tracks still isn't stale either so give that another listen if you're so inclined.

 

Existential Crisis

That's what I feel like every time I watch Requiem For A Dream.

Been out of town, new posts impending, I promise.

What if The Legend of Zelda was a John Hughes Movie?

I've had an astoudingly busy week, so I hope you'll forgive me for the lack of posts. I promise to make up for it over the weekend/rest of the month. In the meantime, please enjoy an amazing fake movie trailer that's been making the rounds in the blogosphere. It mixes numerous things I love:

1) Movies trailers
2) John Hughes movies
3) The Legend of Zelda
4) The classic New Order track, "Bizarre Love Triangle"
5) MIDI music

Olenka & the Autumn Lovers

This past weekend I visited Sackville, NB, and in case you didn't know it's a veritable hub of Canadian culture and general awesomeness. I went to see a Julie Doiron show (at a curling club!) and on the way I shared a car ride with silver-haired vixen named Olenka. The trip was pleasant enough, filled with laughter and good conversation, but little did I know the girl in the big fur hat had some serious talent in her. I checked out her MySpace page the first chance I got, and I really like what I'm hearing.

Olenka & the Autumn Lovers have a great sound that features stellar instrumentation and beautiful vocals as well as some of the best songwriting I've heard in ages. Olenka's lyrics are evocative, poignant, and concise, a rare combination that makes for great songs that leave you wanting more. Seriously, my only "complaint" is that the tracks are too short, I keep find myself wishing they would go on longer. But then I suppose it's a pretty minor criticism to say the songs are too to-the-point and effective in their brevity.

Check out Olenka & the Autumn Lovers, just by the stuff available online I can tell this is an act I'm going to keep an eye on. I'm including a stream of "Motel Blues," which boasts some of Olenka's best vocal and lyrical work. You should also check out the video above for "Mama's Bag" made by Southern Souls (another awesome new discovery for me, score!)

More Thoughts on The Social Network

When I reviewed The Social Network I focused a lot on the movie's incredible score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. I said then and still think now that the music is one of the most unique and memorable aspects of the film, adding to if not defining the sense of impending doom that pervades throughout. After posting the review I received a number of complaints for focusing too much on the music, and also for not mentioning Aaron Sorkin's script. I want to take a quick moment to address a few of those concerns.

With regards to my focus on The Social Network's soundtrack, I maintain that it is among the most original and emotive scores in recent memory. The music stands on its own and gracefully improves the film, and moreover is itself improved by its relationship with the visuals. It will be a damn shame if it doesn't win the Academy Award (or is absurdly disqualified for its use of Edvard Greig's "In The Hall of the Mountain King"). Still don't believe me? Fine, don't take my word for it, check out a recent article over at /Film on what the opening scene could have been. You'll recall that the final cut uses Reznor's chilling "Hand Covers Bruise" to juxtaposition naïveté and dread right from the start. Well evidently the original choices for the soundtrack included Paul Young's "Love of the Common People" and Elvis Costello's "Beyond Belief." I think it's safe to say we ended up with the best option.

Finally, on the subject of the script, I did not mean to sell Aaron Sorkin short. I consider him to be one of the finest contemporary screen writers and I always thoroughly enjoy his work. The only reasons I failed to mention him in my review were that I was working with a tight word limit and, frankly, I didn't think The Social Network was his best work. The dialogue is great, don't get me wrong, but I really felt that Sorkin had delivered better material in the past. To a certain extent I still feel this way, but having seen the movie again over the holidays I will admit that the script is better than I initially thought. More than that the film as a whole actually got better with multiple viewings, but the dialogue in particular impressed me more than the first time around. It's quick witted in a way that is completely unnatural but never so much so that it feels that way and draws you out of the experience. I still don't think it's Sorkin's finest work, but that just speaks to his great potential.

On that note, I want to leave you with a scene from The West Wing, a show that consistently demonstrated Sorkin's incredible talent for dialogue. Annoyingly I can't embed the scene but follow this link to watch it in all its awesomeness. For the uninitiated, this scene comes at the end of the first episode and shows the first introduction of the President, played by Martin Sheen. It's a longer clip but totally worth watching. Sheen's "I am the lord they god" speech still blows me away every time I watch it, it's just so fucking brilliant. Enjoy.

True Grit

I should start this review with the disclaimer that I have never read Charles Portis' novel or seen its 1969 film adaptation starring John Wayne. With that said, I thought the Coen Brothers' True Grit was one of the best movies I saw in 2010.

True Grit is told from the perspective of Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), a young girl attempting to track down her father's killer. As the film begins she tells us that "Nothing comes free in this life," and at the end she says, "Time just gets away from us." These maxims bookend a story that is appropriately matter-of-fact in its presentation. Despite what the trailers may have led you to believe, True Grit is neither a heroic western (like the John Wayne version) nor a poetic musing on the human history (like No Country For Old Men). It's actually much more similar to the Coen Brothers' absurdist comedy, Burn After Reading. There are moments of both heroism and horrifying violence but True Grit shows it all with a sardonic wit that takes similar pleasure in victory and tragedy alike. The result is a film that feels strangely and refreshingly realistic in its depiction of the "wild" west.

For a movie that is ostensibly about a manhunt, True Grit spends an awful lot of time showing people arguing about bargains. As one character memorably says, "I do not entertain hypotheticals, the world as it is is vexing enough," and indeed a good portion of the film is dedicated to the sorting out of facts. We see debates about everything from bullet trajectories to obscure legal concepts like replevin, and at all times the answer lies in the minutiae. Similarly detail oriented are the few occurrences of violence in the film, all of which are unflinchingly realistic and shown entirely onscreen. In a world where nothing is certain, True Grit makes it clear that the devil is most certainly in the details.

Yet in spite of this focus, the film is remarkably relativist in its morals. Characters talk about "the Law" a lot but rarely are we shown much in the way of justice. Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) is supposed to be a US Marshal, but he is accused of killing men in cold blood and admits to bank robbery; La Boeuf (Matt Damon) is a seemingly incompetent Texas Ranger who sexually harasses and physically assaults the 14 year old Ross. Despite their flaws, however, these men become heroic in the eyes of Ross and through her the audience: Rooster's irreverent attitude towards violence and death is the source of much laughter, as are La Boeuf's feeble attempts to be a knight in shining armour. Interestingly this benevolent characterization is also extended to the villainous "Lucky" Ned (Barry Pepper), who likewise charms the viewer through his interactions with Ross. Not so much that we don't cheer for Rooster in their inevitable duel, but enough to be noticeably unusual.

True Grit juxtaposes a story about its own details with a truly complex understanding of morality, and the effect of this mixture of elements is a film that feels true-to-life in a way few others have achieved. All of the characters are remarkably human in their strengths and flaws alike, and the story's detail-oriented telling makes it all the more believable. Even the climactic gun battle is shot so that it feels more like a documentary than a John Wayne movie, and the maxims that bookend the film make it clear that this sense of realism is exactly the point. True Grit tells us that life is sometimes cruel and always short but that in and of itself is no tragedy; the movie treats existence as a unrestricted mess that we all share with no value but what we ourselves make. This objective approach is what makes True Grit seem so real, so accurate in its portrayal of human interactions. As a result the film is amusing, horrifying, and uplifting all at the same time, and tells a story that is compelling for its very humanity.

The Coen Brothers' True Grit is a great cinematic achievement that should not be missed.

PSA: New Girl Talk Album Available For Free Download

Girl Talk has released his new album, All Day, and it's available to download for free right now via his label, Illegal Art. Also, it's great.


The Illegal Art download page lists the following license information:

"All Day by Girl Talk is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license. The CC license does not interfere with the rights you have under the fair use doctrine, which gives you permission to make certain uses of the work even for commercial purposes. Also, the CC license does not grant rights to non-transformative use of the source material Girl Talk used to make the album."


PS: I know things have been spare here, again, to say the least. With a little luck this should be changing soon.

The Wooden Sky 10/15/10

This past Friday I had the honour of seeing The Wooden Sky perform at The Seahorse Tavern in Halifax, NS.

The folk-rock band played tracks from their two LPs, When Lost At Sea and the sublime If I Don't Come Home You'll Know I'm Gone. Their sound covers a huge spectrum with both energetic, danceable numbers and slower, more pensive tracks. Whether I was moving my feet or just bobbing my head slowly, throughout the entire night the performance was captivating. These guys are nothing if not earnest and on top of that they've got some great songs at their disposal, and all in all it makes for a very good live show. In an incredible closer after a full electric set The Wooden Sky were joined by opener Yukon Blonde as they came out into the crowd and finished things off with a couple of acoustic sing-alongs. Highlights of the night included an exuberant cover of "American Girl," a haunting rendition of "Something Waiting For Us In The Night," and the acoustic performance of "Oh My God (It Still Means A Lot to Me)" in the midst of the audience. It was a show to remember and one that left me wanting more great tunes, as any good concert should.

I was first introduced to The Wooden Sky last summer at the Hillside Festival in Guelph, ON. There I saw them play alone and accompanied by The Acorn, and both sets were among the highlights of an incredible weekend of music. There's truly nothing like hearing fantastic music in the great outdoors under the sun. Ever since I've been listening to their albums on repeat and eagerly awaiting another chance to hear them play live. Friday's show only reiterated how great these guys are and made me want to see them as many times as possible.

The Wooden Sky have made a real impression on me this year and I strongly recommend giving them a listen. I'll be featuring a track of their on an upcoming mixtape, but in the meantime check out their MySpace page and the video below of their best songs:

Dar Williams' Many Great Companions

Dar Williams is an American folk singer-songwriter who's been active since the early 1990s. She's released around eight or so albums, and has worked with the likes of Joan Baez, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and the Indigo Girls. And until very recently I had never heard any of her work.

This week saw the release of Many Great Companions, a collection of Williams' greatest hits from the span of her career. It also features a disc of new acoustic recordings of some of her songs with special guest collaborators. I got a hold of the collection and sat down to give Williams a shot, and I must say I'm extremely glad I did.

Williams is quite the lyricist, covering topics like religion, sexual politics, adolescence, and love with remarkable maturity. She's at times poignant and introspective, as in the fantastic "Spring Street" or the introspective "After All." Other songs, however, demonstrate her serpent's tongue and brilliant sense of humour, as with the hilarious "The Pointless Yet Poignant Crisis of a Co-ed" (tragically absent from the greatest hits album).  In her more subdued moments she reminds me of other great female sing-songwriters like Sarah Harmer and Ani Difranco , but when Williams unleashes her biting satirical edge she enters a class all of her own. It’s been a long time since I’ve encountered a folk singer who's so adept at translating social politics into catchy tunes, and I will definitely have “The Christians and the Pagans” stuck in my head for days to come.

Many Great Companions gives a broad cross-section of Dar Williams' career, and seemed like a fantastic entry point for uninitiated listeners like me. For fans who already own the “best of” material here, the disc of new acoustic takes makes this release a worthy addition to any collection. Evidence of that fact can be found below via two mp3s of the new acoustic tracks.

Dar Williams - “As Cool As I Am” acoustic (with Gary Louris from The Jayhawks)
Dar Williams - "If I Wrote You" acoustic (with Gary Louris from the Jayhawks)

Update: FYI Tomorrow there will be a live acoustic set and Q&A with Dar Williams on LiveStream at 12:30 pm ET

Awesome In The 90s: Will Smith

He's as confused as you are that this look went out of style

I recently found myself reminiscing with a friend about the '90s, that magical and perplexing time when music was "alternative" and boy bands were socially acceptable. The world was still innocent and people were more accepting of others. Lilith Fair was good. Truly it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Perhaps the greatest thing about the '90s was the popularity of one Will Smith. This so-called "Fresh Prince" was a veritable force of nature that appeared in and dominated just about every imaginable form of media. You couldn't skateboard to the local CD store without being assaulted by billboards advertising his latest entertainment endeavor. Now, I know that you're thinking "But Max, Will Smith is still popular now!," and to an extent you are correct. It's true that Smith continues to appear in major blockbusters and remains one of the most powerful stars in Hollywood. But even in that he is but a shadow of his formerly transcendent self. Allow me to elaborate:

Second only to Thriller?

Back in the '90s it seemed like Smith was constantly in the public eye. He was featured in a major motion picture almost every year in the decade, including veritable classics like Enemy of the State and Bad Boys. Smith starred in the one-and-only American classic, Independence Day, AKA the movie that was advertised using the best acronym ever, ID4 (this point has been agreed upon by top scientific minds). On top of all that he also contributed to the soundtracks for two of his summer blockbusters, Men In Black (acronym: MIB) and Wild Wild West (epic music video above).

I have spent countless hours mourning the days when I could listen to the radio and hear Will Smith's voice "rapping" the title of his latest summer flick over-top of some old Stevie Wonder music. For this alone the '90s were truly the time of kings.

All that is to say nothing of Smith's non-movie-related musical releases, in which he continued to celebrate his being an irrefutable badass. I remember purchasing his 1997 debut, Big Willie Styles, alongside a copy of Our Lady Peace's Clumsy, and then listening to Smith's album like way more. His humbly titled follow-up, Willenium, was notable for its inclusion of the aforementioned Wild Wild West song and for closing off both the decade and millenium in style with "Will 2K." Way to class it up, Will.

How many other celebrities can list coining the term 

"Jiggy" among their career achievements?

Last but certainly not least I should mention Smith's success on television. It would be impossible to forget his turn as the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which has been cemented in the cultural consciousness by countless public renditions of the Carlton dance by bad dancers. That and the continued popularity of the show's theme song, produced by none other than (gasp!) Smith himself! A man of many talents indeed! The show ran from 1990 until 1996 before Smith moved on to work exclusively in film, and the world has felt a little more empty ever since. I take solace, however, in remembering the show's greatest moments, including a crossover with yet another '90s gem, Blossom. If you click here you can watch the TV event of the decade in Spanish on YouTube. Whoa!

I believe that with this post I have proved both that Will Smith was more awesome in the '90s and that human existence in general was better because of it. I will leave you with Smith's classic 1998 single, "Miami." Enjoy, and (as always) make sure to "jig it out y'all" whatever the hell that means...

The Max Rambles Mixtape Vol. 2

I'm long past due for another music-related post, and so with that in mind I happily present the Max Rambles Mixtape Vol. 2. This one's a fair bit peppier than the last one, and frankly more eclectic. There's everything from east coast Canadian rock (Sloan, Thrush Hermit) to classic funk (Tower of Power) to chiptune punk (Anamanaguchi). Here's the tracklist:

She Says What She Means - Sloan
King of Spain - The Tallest Man On Earth
Courage - The Tragically Hip
MJB - Futurebirds
Brick House - Tower of Power
Take a Chance - The Magic Numbers
Thy Will Be Done - Handsome Furs
Not What You Think It Is / Stop Signs (Live) - Dan Mangan / Shane Koyczan
At My Expense - Thrush Hermit
Airbrushed - Anamanaguchi
Ginger - Lilys

Visit Megaupload to download the mix, type in the security code at the above right and click on the "download file" button immediately below. You'll have to wait like 30 seconds and then click on the "Regular download" button to save the mix. Unlike last time around the tracks on this mix will show up as separate files. As always enjoy and lemme know what you think or if you have any recommendations!

Futurebirds

Cover of the upcoming Futurebirds LP, Hampton's Lullaby  

I know I'm on a bit of a music kick lately but bear with me, it's all awesome stuff and I have some geeky posts in the pipeline. My latest obsession is the "psychedelic country" band, Futurebirds, and I've had them on heavy rotation for the past week or so. They sound like an awesome cross between Yeasayer and Dr. Dog, particularly on tracks like "MJB" (available below) off their self-titled EP. The band's upcoming release, Hampton's Lullaby, is due on July 27 and I was lucky enough to give it a spin early.

Futurebirds present a really amazing conflux of divergent musical styles. They're not an indie or jam band by any stretch of the imagination but are clearly influenced by those genres. Most intriguingly they experiment with distinctly country sounds, recontextualizing them in ways that aren't exactly country/alt country but are definitely of that ilk. This is something very interesting and, for lack of a better word, psychedelic. Tracks like "Happy Animals" and "APO" really open up and let you get lost in them, someplace between a honky tonk and a lucid dream.

Not that the bands are at all similar but the whole effect reminds me of Radiohead in a lot of ways, especially in terms of how Futurebirds's songs often sound too big for their production. Each track on Hampton's Lullaby sounds like the CD format is barely able to contain the music for all its sheer epicness. I have a really hard time imagining these guys playing at a rock club, to me it seems like they'd have to play an outdoor venue for the setting to fit their sprawling songs. If they can get the effects to sound right then these guys must put on a hell of a live show, and I for one am excited to check em out if they ever make it to Canada.

Futurebirds is the best new band I've heard in a really long time. I'll be very surprised if they don't get huge attention and acclaim come the July release of Hampton's Lullaby. Definitely check em out, MP3s and relevant links below:

Johnny Utah
MJB (via hearya.com)
MySpace
Stream or Digitally Download the Futurebirds EP

Dan Mangan and Shane Koyczan

Shane Koyczan (left) and Dan Mangan (with guitar)

I recently came upon a post at chromewaves.net that reminded me how awesome it is whenever Dan Mangan and Shane Koyczan perform together. I first heard Koyczan in the fall of '08 when a friend played me a recording of his poem "My Darling Sara," and I was immediately struck by his clever and poignant lyricism. A few months later Mangan's song "The Indie Queens Are Waiting" popped up as a track of the day on CBC Radio 3, and I quickly became a huge fan. I actually included his fantastic "Road Regrets" on my recent Max Rambles Mix Tape Vol. 1.

At some point in early '09 I stumbled across a live medley of Mangan's "Not What You Think It Is" and Koyczan's "Stop Signs." Both pieces are incredible in their own right, but together they form an unforgettable and unparalleled whole. Mangan's song perfectly accentuates Koyczan's poetry and combined they're positively transcendent, and the track continues to blow me away every time I listen to it. Now I've stumbled upon a second medley of Mangan's "Tragic Turn of Events" with Koyczan's tragic "Move Pen Move," and it's every bit as powerful as the first.

Below I'm including the two medleys as downloadable MP3s, as well as Mangan's "Road Regrets" and Koyczan's "My Darling Sara." These two artists are among the very best working in Canadian today, and you'd be a fool not to check them out.

MP3s:
Tragic Turn of Events / Move Pen Move (Via chromewaves)
Not What You Think It Is / Stop Signs (Live) (RapidShare, click Free User)

Dan Mangan - Road Regrets (via chromewaves)
Shane Koyczan - My Darling Sara (via House of Parlance)

PSA: I Get To See Pavement Today

And they're gonna play these songs:

And I will be happy. And it will be a very happy (almost) birthday for me.

Today is a great day.

Reid Jamieson

I was listening to The Vinyl Cafe on CBC Radio this past Sunday when I heard Reid Jamieson for the first time. He was playing a cover of Sting's "Fields of Gold" and it was such a haunting and beautiful rendition that I was startled into attentiveness. As soon as Stuart McLean explained who was playing I instantly looked up Jamieson's website, where I found a whole bunch of MP3s available for download. They're mostly covers, and below I'm including links to a few of my favourites.

Jamieson's a Canadian alt-country singer-songwriter, so it stands to reason that I'd like his stuff. His original stuff is just as powerful as his covers, particularly his fantastic song "Rail." He's playing at the Hillside Festival this summer, which I'm hoping to go to, and he's quickly become one of my most anticipated acts. Give him a listen and enjoy.

MP3s (via reidjamieson.com):

Rail (acoustic version)
Fields of Gold (Sting cover)
Rocky Spine (Great Lake Swimmers cover)

Mary Gauthier

I was recently made aware of Mary Gauthier (pronounced Go-Shay), a folk singer-songwriter from Nashville, TN. She started writing music at the age of 35 and has since put out seven albums, garnering acclaim from The New York Times, Billboard, and others. Gauthier's latest release, The Foundling, is an autobiographical concept album about her quest to find her mother, who gave her up for adoption at birth. Gauthier did find her mother but was denied a meeting (harsh), and the album details her fractured identity and feelings of abandonment and whatnot.

Gauthier's songs are extremely revelatory and introspective, and that works both to her advantage and detriment. The Foundling as a whole describes a heart-breaking story that is told with incredible passion and set to some great music, and listening to it is like reading a novel or watching a movie. The tracks don't hold up quite as well on their own, however, as they sometimes sound fragmented and overly melodramatic when stripped of their context. But Gauthier's best songs work no matter how you listen to them, such as "Drag Queens and Limousines" or the carnivalesque "Sideshow."  I particularly enjoy the sweeping "Blood is Blood." You can check out all of these songs on her MySpace, or download "Sideshow" below.

MP3: Mary Gauthier - Sideshow