Thursday, August 16, 2007

Ear crush: Brandi Carlile

Freshly bestowed with an iTunes gift card, I went bonkers and bought two albums from singer-songwriter chick Brandi Carlile, The Story and Brandi Carlile. I will confess that I haven't been listening to the radio much lately (mostly because all of my local stations have slowly turned to crap), but I had heard a few tunes of hers here and there over the last year or so, like "Turpentine," "The Story" and "What Can I Say," all of which are lovely. After listening to several other clips I decided to just buy the lot. So for the past couple of days, I've been constantly listening to both albums. She is really something else. Her voice is beautifully strange (strangely beautiful?), a lot of interesting falsetto. It's technically wack in a really compelling way. Which is why she can get away with covering "Hallelujah," succeeding where others failed (I'm looking at you, Imogen Heap). I haven't had enough time yet to really chew on her lyrics, but I like what I've gathered so far. There are cliche lines here and there, but some interesting turns of phrase as well.

Oh, and hey, guess what? She's totally gay. I didn't even know when I bought the albums. I'm not sure how I missed out on that. Even my straight friend Jen was all over it. I feel especially stupid for not knowing more about her since she appeared on the most recent Indigo Girls album, collaborated with them on a song for The Story, and has been touring with them this summer. Being a good, dutiful lesbian, I love my Indigo Girls, y'all. I am old-school in that regard. (Shut up. They still kick ass. Amy Ray is writing songs these days that make the hairs on my neck stand up. Listen to Prom.) Anyway, my point, which I am taking an ice age to get to, is I think she might have the most commercially marketable sound of any lesbian artist in a good long while. She could be a really big deal.

I'm not calling this a full-blown crush yet since I have never seen her live (or even on Memorex). I've only listened. It's only a matter of time, though. I can tell.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does anyone start reading new blogs in 2007? Blogs that aren't on an existing social network? I guess I do! Genius posts so far.

On topic (sort of), Brandi Carlile was featured on the pilot episode of Private Practice, the Grey's Anatomy spinoff starring *my* very own TV Girlfriend, Kate Walsh.

Should you ever consider devoting posts to your dear readers' tvgfs, start with Kate, please.

WordNerd said...

Mmmm, Kate Walsh. Don't worry, she's on my list. Actually, all the Grey's women except Ellen Pompeo have been my imaginary girlfriend at some point. (Pompeo just doesn't do it for me.) Thanks for reading!

Anonymous said...

Hey Am..., I mean "wordnerd". Thanks for mentioning me. I am still amazed that I knew who she was before you! You really need to tune into the crap that is VH-1's "Jump Start". They do occasionally play worthwhile artists. I am not a fan of many female artists, but I do love those with nontraditonal voices (ie. Stevie Nicks) and Brandi fits that mold. Disclaimer: Please do not analyze the grammatical content of this post. I am sure it is a certifiable mess.
Also, please, at some point, mention my TV girlfriend, Bea Arthur (or any of the Golden Girls).

WordNerd said...

That's so funny -- yesterday I just finished up our department newsletter, and we always have a silly question at the end that everyone answers. This one was "If you could be a character on a TV show, who would it be?" I picked Dorothy Zbornak, because Bea Arthur is so insanely fabulous and gets all the best one-liners.

So if I'm Dorothy, does that mean you want to be my girlfriend now? Awkward.

p.s. -- Your grammar is totally on point. You never give yourself enough credit, dude. Also, I had no idea you liked Stevie Nicks. Interesting.

Anonymous said...

HAHAAA! I know why you chose Bea Arthur....the recent survey regarding senior citizens;)

I am Z said...

brandi carlile is awesome!!!

if you still have not caught her live, put everything down and find out where she is going to be then find a way to get there.

also...on her newest tour, she is doing a few shows with the indigo girls. check out http://www.myspace.com/brandicarlileband for live dates.

that's all.

peace,
z

Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!