It's Friday and the end of another strange week in a long series of strange weeks. Unless I miss my guess things are going to get stranger before they return to any semblance of normalcy - and what the hell is normalcy, anymore, anyway?
For now, though, it's time to kick back and relax. Have a drink, have a nice meal, and if you're like me, listen to some great music. My tastes in music run the gamut; I may be listening to Led Zeppelin one day, Wagner the next, and George Strait after that. If it's a musical genre (rap doesn't count as one in my estimation), I've listened to it.
One of the great things about being in this stage of the Information Revolution is being able to search out indie and alternative bands, and boy, I've found some fun ones. Here, then, are five of my favorites; not necessarily the best, not in any particular order, just five songs I think are cool. Give them a listen.
1) October Project: "A Lonely Voice." I've mentioned Mary Fahl before, as she is a great female vocalist. In the '90s, she was the lead singer for a New York-based independent band called October Project. She left the group after their second album, but they did some great tunes, and "A Lonely Voice" is one of the best.
2) Capercaillie: "Fear Allabain." Capercaillie is a Scottish folk band, and they (interestingly) render their vocals in Gaelic. They combine a modern beat with some present-day instruments and style, applying it to old Scottish folk tunes to make an entirely new blend. "Fear-Allabain" is a neat tune, with a great beat, well worth consideration. It's my favorite of this Scottish band's work.
3) Grey Eye Glances: "The Me You See:" GEG is an independent band from the Philly area. I guess their style is a mix of rock & roll, New Age, and alternative rock; in fact I'm not sure if you could really pin down their style. But their third album, "Eventide," included the song "The Me You See" which showcases lead singer Jennifer Nobel's great voice.
4) Great Big Sea: Lukey's Boat. GBS had a neat idea; take a bunch of Newfie and Labradorian sea chanties and traditional folk songs, and do them with modern instruments. They managed to update the music while keeping the feel of the original songs, and along the way, they did some neat collaborations. In my favorite of their songs, they teamed up with the Irish folk band The Chieftains to produce a live take of the Newfie folk song "Lukey's Boat," which dates back to the 1930s.
5) Harmonium: Un Musicien Parmi Tant D Autres: Harmonium is another Canadian band, this one from Quebec, which probably explains why their vocals are all rendered in Quebecois French. Un Musicien Parmi Tant D Autres (A Musician Among Many Others) is neat; it was featured in an episode of the great Canadian comedy, "Letterkenny," which is where I discovered the group; I've devoted some listen-time to most of their catalog, and it's fun stuff.
There's a whole weekend ahead. Politics is consuming a lot of everybody's time right now, and it's going to just get onerous as we move through Labor Day and into the main run of the election season. There will be meltdowns, there will be drama, there will be exchanges of accusations, vitriol, and bunkum. But today, it's Friday. Have a drink, if that's what suits you, relax, and if you want to listen to some great music, well, I hope I've given you a good place to start.
See Related: Start Your Weekend Right With 5 Great Female Vocalists
