May 13th, 2008 · For their self-titled, debut release, Tallahassee, Fla. band The Woods decided to package all the CDs in the pages of old books. With an initial "pressing" of just 40 discs, the group glued together the pages of used thrift-store books, cut a hole for the CDs and stamped the band's name on the cover with a typesetting machine. It's the same kind of inspired care they took with the music itself. The Woods is an enchanting collection of songs rooted in acoustic folk music, with pleasantly unpredictable turns toward more experimental soundscapes.
Keywords: CD · music · package · machine · Fla · songs · wood · acoustic · folk · Em · Thrift · Tallahassee
Oct 12th, 2007 · Seabear's mournful "I Sing I Swim" searches for man's place in the natural world, bringing the acts of Mother Nature into the realm of personal pain: "And I miss you, even when you're around / I'm a black cloud, sending lightning to the ground."
Keywords: world · naturalized · lightning · Icelandic · lullaby · Realm · Seabear · Sing Swim · Mother Nature
May 4th, 2007 · It's difficult to write a song that evokes the slowed-time pull of sleepiness without lulling listeners toward unconsciousness themselves. Eleni Mandell pulls it off in "Moonglow, Lamp Low," which draws on a gentle cowboy lope and a saxophone that sounds like captured breath.
Keywords: cowboys · songs · Breath · Saxophone · lullaby · unconscious · sleepiness · Grownups · Eleni Mandell · Moonglow · Lamp Low
Jan 1st, 2007 · For students out there who may be stressed out, here's a lullaby for our times. "Not on the Test" was written by John Forster and Tom Chapin. It is performed by Tom Chapin.
Keywords: students · songs · lullaby · John Forster · Tom Chapin
Apr 4th, 2006 · In Gonzalo Rubalcaba's "Lullaby for a Black Child" -- written by Amadeo Roldan, known as the first composer to incorporate Afro-Cuban rhythms into orchestral music -- the tension lies just beneath a lovely, pristine surface.
Keywords: music · Bittersweet · Composing · rhythm · orchestral · pristine · Afro Cuban · lullaby · Gonzalo Rubalcaba · Black Child · Amadeo Roldan
May 22nd, 2005 · A flap has emerged in Israel over the popular song "Jerusalem of Gold." Composed after Israel captured East Jerusalem in the Six-Day War, the song quickly became a sort of second national anthem. On her deathbed, the composer confessed she hadn't really written the melody, but taken it directly from a Basque lullaby. The revelation has set off a round of introspection and recrimination.
Keywords: Israel · national · confessed · revelations · East Jerusalem · songs · Composing · melody · anthems · hadn · Jerusalem of Gold · Six Day War
