Musical Interlude

[pameladlloyd]

copperwise also mentioned stealthcello, who is a member of Gaia Concert and Tricky Pixie. (This was the second reference I've seen this week to Tricky Pixie, btw.)

Being the curious sort, I had to check out these groups. Gaia Concert 's website offers their lyrics and music (as MP3s, or streaming) for free. They comment:

This music is meant to be shared - we hope that when you download the complete MP3s, you share them with your friends, and we also hope you can support us by buying cd or two along the way. We're trying to strike a balance between helping people to share the music and keeping the business side of the music viable enough to make it pay for itself.

We're not even remotely associated with the major labels, and in fact, want nothing of them. When you buy a CD from us, chances are pretty sure that Chris B. will stuff the disc in the envelope.

Enjoy this music with our blessing!

We put the lyrics to the songs up here to help folks who want to sing along, learn the tunes, explore the ideas. We also reserve the copyrights to the lyrics - if you want to use the music or words or commercial purposes, contact Christopher Bingham, chrisb@gaiaconsort.com, for written permission. Each song should print on one page...

I have spent much of this evening enjoying their music. I love the way they blend classical-style music with relaxed rock to create a sound very much their own. I highly recommend you check them out.

Tricky Pixie's site isn't quite as open-handed, but you can still listen to one of their songs. I couldn't figure out how to describe their gorgeous sound, so I hunted around on the site and found their self descriptions (on the page identified as Press Information. The short version: "Gypsy celtic folk rock for naughty punk faeries." The slightly longer version:

An adventurous gypsy celtic folk rock trio, just unleashed from the land of Fae. These wild and masterful performers are raw entertainment. Expect more than just music, they'll take you on a ride down the twilight roads. Find more at trickypixie.com

I look forward to a time when I can hear more of their music, as I really love the one song they shared.

Comments

Tricky Pixie

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Ooh, the write-up sounds great! I'll definitely check them out.

Re: Tricky Pixie

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

I hope you like them. :)

I wish my budget included music, but I'm staying happy enough with my existing collection (blowing the dust off things I haven't listened to in ages), and with legitimate freebies online, that I'm okay for the moment.

Re: Tricky Pixie

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean! I can't buy any more music for a while either, so I've been going to www.myspace.com/helpmetosing to listen to two songs I really have taken a shine to, Kedron and David's Lamentation.

YouTube is good for free listening, too :-)

Re: Tricky Pixie

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool site! :)

I love listening to this music, but I can't imagine...

Oh! It just popped into a different song (*pops over to check* David's Lamentation) that sounds completely different.

The first was, I think, a shape note song, or something choral and beautiful in the same way as the songs I heard on the Awake My Soul site. And it's that choral music, (which is starting up again, now) that involves those wonderful harmonies, that I can't imagine learned only by listening. But, you probably have a book of shape note music, too, don't you, and you are using them together.

Fun stuff. I love thinking of you and the other members of your choral group, creating, or recreating, these wonderful, full of wonder, songs.

Re: Tricky Pixie

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

(I was realizing that those two songs make it seem like I'm a religious fanatic or something, but really I'm not at all! I came to that site because of the shape-note stuff, and then I just loved the tunes of those two songs, and with Kedron, I liked the guy's gentle and not-very-tutored voice)

I'm going to get that free Tricky Pixie song right now, before I delay any longer, and then forget...

Re: Tricky Pixie

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

I think you come across as someone who loves music, who loves making and sharing music, and learning new (old *g*) ways of making and sharing music. :)

Re: Tricky Pixie

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

The Tricky Pixie song is nice! Lovely harmonies! And now I'm listening to some of the Gaia Consort stuff--fun to dip in like this.

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

They are both indeed made of Awesome. If you haven't listened to Sooj, the other member of Tricky Pixie, you should check her out too...www.skinnywhitechick.com

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Ooh, very very nice! Just listening to the clip of "Manticore's Lullaby"

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Cool! Thanks, I'll do that. :)

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Skinny White Chick has a sound that left me thinking, "I've heard that before, or something very like it." So, I started looking at who's in each of these groups. There's at least one person who is associated with all three, whose music I already knew and loved. That person was Heather Alexander (one of my all-time favorite musicians) and has since become Alexander (Alec) Adams.*


* I wish I'd understood what was going on, because the first I learned of it was when I dropped by Heatherlands (http://www.heatherlands.com/) and saw the announcement of Alexander Adams (http://www.faerietaleminstrel.com/) as the "heir" of Heather Alexander and I really thought Heather had died. I can understand the reluctance to announce the change to all of her old fans directly, but I simply didn't pick up on the subtext of the rebirth and was quite saddened. It's only as I've stumbled over Alec in multiple contexts that I began to put together the clues and finally, today, discovered alexanderfans and found confirmation. It seems the cat's actually been out of the bag for a couple of years (http://www.sfbaytimes.com/?sec=article&article_id=7797) and I simply wasn't being a sufficiently attentive fan.

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

Hee. Yes, Alec was Heather. He did the whole thing rather cryptically in public, and I guess he had his reasons, but I know it confused a lot of people.

ETA: Sooj only met Alec two years ago; their sounds mesh well, but her music is all hers. :)

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Well, it's fun stuff. Do you know if they're marketing this as filk? I couldn't tell from the website.

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

Not exclusively as filk, no. Their collective niche is more pagan than filk, really, though Alec is still considered a filker and Sooj has been doing some Valente related filk music lately.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Cool. Thanks! :)