Sunday, March 07, 2010

Johanna Newsom Makes Bjork Look Normal



I'm admitting that I have been in touch with  the broadening of my horizons by showing you this.  Ladies and gents( who don't already know.... or those of you who don't circle like nerdy vultures around Brooklyn Vegan or Aquarian Drunkard) This is Joanna Newsom.  Joanna used to be one of my guilty pleasures. I used to crank her anthem "The Sprout and the Bean" on the way to a diaper run at Walgreens with all the window down..with my mind on my money and my money on my mind. Laid back, yeah....

Joanna grew up in the north of Northern California, in a suburb called middle earth. After 19 years of home schooling, and mastering the handcrafting of never before seen instruments made from driftwood, she slowly became one with the woods surrounding her home, disappeared into the pines one harvest moon night but soon returned as a musical prodigy/forest nymph armed with a giant harp, a lyrical intuition above most everyone I've ever heard and that voice. That one of a kind voice. Like an angel whose been huffing rubber cement for a decade, but beautiful underneath.

Here she is on Jimmy Fallon's show just effortlessly grooving through a song with 500 notes and six or seven changes. She just picked up the piano about a month ago....you get my drift. There's nobody like her. She makes Bjork look like a low rent Sheryl Crow.

Look at how her mouth moves while she sings...kind of like a muppet, about to catch a fly... like grooving a mouthwash gargly motion...I love it.

I'm not kidding around here. I think she's blessed with pure talent. Truly an original.
Her new album is a three disc opus called Have One On Me.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to watching my ebay auction. I'm bidding on a vial of her pixie dust, stolen from backstage by an over zealous fan.

8 comments:

  1. ummmmmm
    not sure what to say
    you are kidding right?

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  2. Anonymous12:31 AM

    I'd say more like a bootleg Kate Bush. -The Outlaw

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  3. Anonymous12:37 AM

    I'm with Barbara and "The Outlaw" on this one. Almost as hard to watch as listen to.(nerve damage?) That was a long five minutes...-Friend of "The Outlaw"

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  4. Not Kidding. She may not have the voice of a 70s soft rock legend or a folk songstress, but she is truly one of a kind, and musically prolific to boot. You will rarely get Verse-Chorus-Verse from her, so if you'd like to hold hands and repeat catchy choruses...she won't be for you.

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  5. I'd have one on her!
    I like wacky chicks!

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  6. She makes me want to hear more. I too am into quirky and she sure fits the bill.

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  7. So you were actually listening to that CD of hers that was in the car at one point? Now that is surprising.

    I think she's awful but love Bjork. Go figure.

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  8. I love both Bjork and Joanna Newsom. Newsom just edges it for me. Is she a genius? Yes.

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