Brandi Carlile - Bear Creek

I have been a fan of Brandi Carlile since I saw her open for Train in 2006. Carlile was able to grab my attention and keep it. She has amazing songs, an amazing voice, and amazing stage presence. In 2006 she only had one album out and I bought it and listened to it like crazy. Last year Carlile released her fourth album, Bear Creek, and I love it just as much as he first album.

Bear Creek has more of a country feel to it, but more of nod to classic country rather then what passes for country nowadays. It also sound a bit more reminiscent to her first album with flecks of the second and third thrown in. Bear Creek is pretty stripped down and more raw and it feels like Carlile is rediscovering her roots and I love every second of it.

I have always been a fan of Brandi Carlile’s vocal style, she has a strong voice and she really knows how to utilize in terms of her music. Knowing when to sing full out and when to be more on the quiet side is something that Carlile nails repeatedly and it never fails to enhance the emotion that she is trying to convey in her songs. Bear Creek also has some really great harmonizing and vocal layering that adds depth to the vocals and the song.

Brandi Carlile has always been able to write great lyrics and she does not disappoint on Bear Creek. The lyrics are some of Carlile’s best and they don’t fail to make you think and feel the way that well-written lyrics should.  I love the way that Carlile’s lyrics compliment the music and vise versa. There aren’t many songwriters that are able to write music and lyrics that are so well suited for each other, but Carlile is consistently good at doing just that.

So, check out Brandi Carlile and see what I am talking about! Here is favourite song off of Bear Creek Hard Way Home.

Game of Thrones Book Review

After having a box set of the first four books in the Song of Ice and Fire series for a few months I finally picked up Game of Thrones. I have mixed emotions about this book. I enjoyed reading it and at the same time I didn’t really love it. I think that I thought that it would be more exciting then it turned out to be, not to say that it was interesting, it was just very different.

First off I want to say that I really like George R.R. Martin’s writing style, he is very clear, concise, and I never once was confused as to what was happening. Each chapter is told by a different character and I like that you get to see so many different points of view. I think that one of the best parts of Game of Thrones is by far the world building. The characters tend to be in different parts of the world and this really helps to create scope and make the reader realise just how big this world is. Even when the characters are in the place you get different perspectives of what a place is actually like and it interesting to see what different people notice about a certain location.  I really love how this world, which by the way is called Westeros, feels so real while you are reading the book, and I can’t say that I have read anything that has world building of this scale.

I found the characters to be very interesting in Game of Thrones. While for me I felt there was a clear good guy versus bad guy in this book I could also see where a reader could see it a differently from me. Each character has both strong good and bad qualities and displayed both good and bad judgment throughout the story. I really like the notion that all the characters can have both sides of the coin and it makes for interesting character development.

The story really caught my attention when I first started to read Game of Thrones, but it never really picked up later in the book and instead stayed at the same pace of the remainder of the book. This makes the story feel more like a history instead of fantasy or adventure for me. I think that it is an interesting idea to have a fiction novel that reads like a history because it helps with the world building and makes it feel more realistic. However, it did make this already very long book feel like it was longer then it really was.

Circle of Friends Review

My Mom bought me Circle of Friends for my birthday because Mauve Binchy is her favourite author. I had never read a Mauve Binchy book before and I am someone who loves to get recommendations. Circle of Friends is set in 1950’s Ireland in the small town of Knockglen and the city of Dublin. The story starts out with best friends Benny and Eve who grew up the small town and are now heading to Dublin for University. This is where the other characters enter the story and things really start to happen.

The characters are great! Each person is believable, their actions make them realistic, and they are straight forward. Benny was the most relatable character to me, the way she saw the world and the struggles that she had to face really hit home for me.  I loved how each character got their say; each chapter was spilt up into sections that were narrated by a different character which gave an interesting and unbiased view of the events that were taking place. The characters became fast friends and then as the story unfolds they become closer and I felt like it was such a natural progression and that never seemed forced by the writing.

When I first started to read Circle of Friends I wasn’t really into it, but after about 100 or so pages things really started to happen and I was hooked. All of the events that take place in the story are interesting, but never outrageous. Everything that happens is completely plausible and I think that is what makes it such a captivating read. I honestly had no idea how things were going to turn out for the characters and some of my guesses were completely off the mark. I loved that the story was not predicable, it had the option to be something cookie-cutter but was a pleasant surprise by being something fresh.

I for sure recommend Circle of Friends; even though it took me a bit to get into the book it was worth it! It was such a great read and I really enjoyed the journey that characters took me on.

Carrie Browstein is my Hero

Today I finished watching all the episodes of Portlandia, I feel like I am little bit late to the party, which I have decided is one of the best shows ever written. If you don’t know, and I’m sure that you do, Portlandia is a sketch comedy show created by Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein that is about life in Portland Oregon. It is so clever and funny, to me this is what comedy is and should be. All in all this show has confirmed that Carrie Brownstein is, in fact, my hero.

I have written about Carrie Brownstein’s band Wild Flag before, but my love affair with Carrie really began back in 2005. During the summer of 2005 by brother and I purchased tickets to see Pearl Jam, it was going to be my first time, and we discovered that the opener was going to a band called Sleater-Kinney. I proceeded to look them up on the internet and found out that they were an all girl, or riot grrrl, band that had just released their latest album called The Woods. I rushed out and bought The Woods at the first chance that I got and the music that one small disc held was, honestly, life changing.

The Woods is so grungy and raw. It was like nothing I had heard before, and I had never heard women play music like that before. It was powerful and it made me think about women in music differently than I ever had before. Knowing that the sounds coming from my speakers were coming from three women was an awesome experience and I related more to this music than a lot of the female musicians that I was listening to at the time.

When Sleater-Kinney opened for Pearl Jam that September it was such a cool experience. Up until this point I had never really seen a female band or artist live and watching these three women kick ass was an eye opening experience. It made me realise that women can rock as hard, or harder, then men. When I listen to Sleater-Kinney, and their offshoots Wild Flag and The Corin Tucker Band, I feel empowered and like I can do anything.

It is really difficult for me to choose my favourite song off of The Woods, they are all so great, I’d have to say that it is probably Entertain. This is a great song because it highlights what each member of the band brings to the group. I love everything about this song; I could listen to it over and over and never be tired of it. I can still remember Sleater-Kinney playing this song live, it was one the best performances of a song that I have ever seen. The band killed it and there were these strobe lights that would flash with the drum beat, and all I can remember thinking is Holy crap, that. Is. it. It blew my mind.