Said the Gramophone: Said the Winner: Matt Christie

Said the Winner: Matt Christie

by Matt Christie

Please note: MP3s are only kept online for a short time, and if this entry is from more than a couple of weeks ago, the music probably won't be available to download any more.

[On November 3rd, Matt Christie won our "My Funny Valentine" contest, sending me a studio recording of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet ft. Chet Baker, and in so doing winning the contest. The prize: the chance to post here about whatever he pleased. And so here, ripe with Christmas spirit, is Mr Matt Christie and some songs that he likes. The special bonus? That he writes with verve and that his songs are great. A very worthy contributor to StG.

For more from Matt, visit pas au-del‡, or check out his contributions to the groupblog Long Sunday.

Welcome and congratulations, Matt. --Sean ]

Tiken Jah Fakoly - "Plus rien ne m'etonne"

I confess there is something in the world-weariness of Tiken's singing voice that I find overwhelming (a quality--one could say--that he shares with Ja Rule and others). This, his most iconically-identifiable track (the one you heard on the radio and immediately wrote down on that napkin long since discarded), has a chorus that goes, "They divided up the world // Nothing astonishes me anymore..." It's from the excellent album, Coup de Gueule. A tough choice between this track and the more precise, politically-charged, "Quitte le pouvoir" (if you've never heard Afro-Jamaicans rap in fast French and in harmony, then you really should).

[buy]

Chris Smither - "No More Cane on the Brazos/Mail Order Mystics"

It starts out as a molasses-slow rendition of a great Dylan song, and blends into one of Smither's most biting, least sentimental numbers. I love the lyrics (though the delivery on the single track is even more cynical and biting).

[Buy Happier Blue]

Greg Brown - "'cept you an me, babe"

He sang this song recently, on a winter night in front of a slightly over-contemplative audience, just him and a guitar on stage, standing for over two hours. He doesn't like computers much, this seems clear, and he tends to wallow like the best of them. But Greg Brown spoke to something in me that night, sitting next to S. I wish I'd recorded it, maybe something of the strange magic in the silence would have come across. This from the album Covenant, although Further In is also one of my favorites.

[buy Covenant and/or Further In]

The next song, were there space, would be Leonard Cohen's "Take This Waltz", but with that I might be banned from Christmas-time forever.

Posted by Matt Christie at December 28, 2005 2:27 AM

Comments

Thanks Sean. I feel very lucky indeed, even if it seemed somehow appropriate to continue on a more melancholy note. I hope for the sake of your readers the next something is some-thing very upbeat and loud, those being necessary too. Cheers.

Posted by Matt at December 28, 2005 2:31 PM

a nice change of pace with Smither and G Brown. Have never heard the first artsist so I look forward to checking them out

Posted by craig at December 28, 2005 5:38 PM

When I used to live in Iowa City, you could frequently catch Greg at a bar called The Mill. I'd literally go there three times a week on the off chance that he'd show up with his guitar and a couple buddies. On occasion, when his bandmates were out doing something else, he'd just get people to come up and play at random with him. No one knew all the tunes or anything, didn't matter much though. Good times.

Posted by panoptican at December 28, 2005 8:53 PM

Sounds about right:)

If I can add something late at this point: in answering the call for more obscure possibilities, one of my readers suggested the wonderful benefit tribute album Por Vida. The song "Way it Goes" from that, along with quite a few others, is certainly more than worthy of mention. So consinder checking out Alejandro Escovedo too, if you like.

Posted by Matt at January 7, 2006 3:06 PM