Picture Feist covering Nick Cave. Or Ute Lemper’s rendition of My Chemical Romance. Or Edith Piaf and Jim Morrison’s progeny. Or a less bouncy, more depressed Kate Bush . Or Tori Amos and Jeff Buckley at afternoon tea . . . You get the idea.
Shara Worden, who goes by the name My Brightest Diamond, was raised by a National Accordion Champion and classical organist, and her granddaddy was a traveling evangelist, and all of it ends up in her music. Dark and gothic in many ways, but with a voice at least as powerful as any woman on the indie pop scene, My Brightest Diamond’s newest album, Bring Me the Workhorse, is thrilling, deep, spooky, flawless and powerful.
Although the songs are deeply personal and generally mid-tempo, downbeat and/or sad in content, the album itself is neither heavy nor a downer. In fact, it is at times inspirational.
Three cheers to Asthmatic Kitty Records for bringing this album to light.
Go here to hear a full show on KCRW, including an interview and live versions of “Feelin’ Good”, “Something of an End”, “Dragonfly”, “Youkali” and “The Good and The Bad Guy.”
Right-click for a live podcast of Dragonfly, Golden Star, The Good and The Bad Guy., If I Could Say One Thing.
Something of an End (From the Workhorse album)
WHAT SPIDERMAN 3 PROVES
1. Critics are idiots. Every review I read said that Tobey Maguire was unconvincing. One even said there wasn’t a single FX “money shot.†Between the first Goblin chase, the battle under the city with Sandman, and the metamorphosis of Venom, there were tons of money shots. And Tobey was great.
2. The Web is not crushing the movie business. Spider-Man 3 took in $148 million in its opening weekend, just in the U.S. and opening-weekend records in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Korea, China, Russia, Italy, Mexico and Brazil.
3. People will sit through long movies. Grindhouse didn’t fail because it was long. It failed because it was stupid.
4. It’s possible to make a movie both 7-year olds and adults can like. Saw it with my kids, and we both had fun.
5. The series can survive without big names. Gwen Stacey was far more interesting than MJ, anyway, and JJ Jameson eats up the scenery. Along with Bruce Campbell, who needs an HBO show to display his awesome talent.
PLUS:
Check out yesterday’s post, and vote for your favorite woman of indie rock.
