Ben Gibbard

I went to a show by Ben Gibbard last night at First Avenue in Minneapolis and totally friggin’ enjoyed it. He is the lead singer/songwriter of Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service (both of which I’ve been thoroughly enjoying thanks to some friends who gave me the “you have to listen to this” speech) and kicked off a solo acoustic tour of the country with last night's show.

But my enjoyment of said show is just the symptom of a larger phase I’m going through. I’d like to call it my “non-classical music Renaissance” but then I’d sound really, really lame. That name, unfortunately, seems to fit as I’ve had my head in the proverbial sand for so long and I’m finally venturing out to find that the musical pendulum is swinging back towards stuff that has some real integrity. My students tell me that I'm locked firmly into the "Indie" scene (whatever that means). Currently on the listening list are:

(the aforementioned) Death Cab for Cutie—their last album, Plans, contains this great song called What Sarah Said. It’s about watching a loved one die in a hospital bed and, through the course of the song, ramps up to the phrase “Love is watching someone die.” After Gibbard drops that bombshell, he simply repeats “So who’s gonna watch you die?” over and over again like an accusation. In other words, “Who loves you?” and “Who do you love?”…really powerful, but simple, stuff. Gibbard also did a side project called The Postal Service that is just as good and totally worth checking out. He went solo acoustic last night.





















The Shins—I know everyone else jumped on the bandwagon when Garden State came out but I just found these guys. Amazing…just amazing. I love their last album, Wincing the Night Away, and especially the final song. After an entire album of tight songwriting accompanied by electronic beeps and buzzes it ends with a voice and an acoustic guitar in a song (A Comet Appears) that will firmly occupy my “Desert Island List” forever.





















Ben Folds—I got hooked on Folds when a poet I collaborated with a while ago insisted on playing it for me. I’m a much better piano player now that I sat down and plowed my way through his music. The Luckiest will be sung at weddings from here until the cows come home (and not in a corny way like a lot of perennial matrimonial favorites).





















The Decemberists—thanks to my little sister, Caitlin, I’m totally hooked. For their last album they took Russian and Chinese folk tales and wrote songs from the perspective of the characters in them. Intellectually interesting and super-catchy at the same time. They also engaged in a guitar duel with Stephen Colbert on an episode of The Colbert Report (he was only saved when Peter Frampton stepped in to slay us all!).





















Imogen Heap—like most people I heard her Hide and Seek (not on The O.C.) and completely freaked out. The rest of the album (and her side project Frou Frou) are just as amazing. I have a bunch of her stuff on my iPod…good to run to because it’s got some kickin’ beats paired with really beautiful lyrics. She's currently writing her third-album-which-I-will-buy-the-day-it-comes-out.





















So…for those of you who cared, that’s what I’m listening to. I’ll have to write about some “classical” artists that are on the rotations as well but, for now, I’m off to Rochester this weekend to hear the premiere of Color Madrigals, Vol. 1 with The Singers—Minnesota Choral Artists. They’re going to be great and I’ll definitely have some good pics of the event.

p.s. Spider-Man 3 is in my immediate future and this fanboy can’t wait.