Sounding Out: Yellow Ostrich

Every once in a while I stumble across a band or album that completely excites me. The Mistress is one of these albums and Yellow Ostrich is one of these bands. Using mostly vocals and little else, Alex Schaaf, who records under the name Yellow Ostrich, has created an album that is fresh, interesting, and totally original.

When I first heard this album I was intrigued with the way Schaaf layers his voice to create these choral chamber-like vocal arrangements under what are otherwise very poppy and contemporary oriented songs. Wanting to learn more I tracked down Schaaf in NYC where he had recently moved from his home state of Wisconsin.

After listening to his album and talking with Schaaf, I was not surprised to learn that Schaaf grew up singing in church choirs, school choruses, and jazz a cappella groups starting in jr. high. The influences of his musical background, and his obvious appreciation for the human voice as a true instrument, can be heard throughout the songs and albums that Schaaf has written and recorded over the years.

Mary   

There are so many interesting facets to the way Schaaf constructed the songs on The Mistress, especially the way the vocals/voices and the other instruments are spaced and play off of one another.  I asked Schaaf how much of what the listener hears is by design. Schaaf said “For the album, I had a clear concept from the beginning, which was to make the album using only a few ingredients….to try and make a whole song using only vocals, one guitar, and one four top. I think that it is more interesting sometimes to put a limit on things.” He went on to add that he only wanted to add something if it was going to bring a new dimension to the song. “I wanted to keep things as focused as could be” he said.

This new focus is apparent. What struck me when listened to The Mistress and then earlier Yellow Ostrich recordings was how differently he uses his voice here. Schaaf said that he wanted to put out a sound that was more angular, aggressive, and harsh. He said, “I did not want to make the soft beautiful, and lush album. I wanted something more tribal.”

WHALE   

Given how open and sparse the songs on The Mistress can sound and feel, I was amaze to find out that there are as many as 30 tracks on a given song. After learning this, I commented to Schaaf that layering and building songs like this requires such commitment and patience. I asked him what this said about his personality and approach to song writing and playing. His initial response….a laugh, which I appreciated.

Schaaf is definitely a lover of the process of creating and building his songs. He told me that when he gets an idea he quickly lays down some rough tracks to keep the idea fresh in his mind. He then takes that idea and starts to play with it. He said that his favorite part about being a musician “is being in that moment when I begin to figure out how to turn that idea into a song.” He went on to say that he still likes the performing aspect of being a musician, but if he could only do one thing for the rest of his life, it would be to create.

Talking with Schaaf, I really felt a mid-West sensibility about him, which I think also comes through on his recordings. Given this, I was curious if his move to NYC was producing the kind of creative results that he expected when he left Wisconsin. He said that logistically the move was the right one. He said that access to other musicians and a wider audience has been great. He said in terms of the move's impact on his music and songs "it is hard to tell because I think even without moving here, the style would have changed....and I think that it should change. I don’t think that staying the same is healthy.”

Hold On   

One large change in Yellow Ostrich's approach to writing, recording, and playing has come with the addition of drummer Michael Tapper, who joined Schaaf a few months back. “It is really great to have someone else to bounce ideas off of and not feel so isolated…creatively” Schaaf said. He went on to say that a third musician, Jon Natchez, has also recently joined Yellow Ostrich, expanding the band's sound with horns, woodwinds and bass. 

As our conversation came to a close, I asked Schaaf if he has a favorite song. He said that his favorite song is always the one that he is creating at that moment in time. Circling back to a theme that we had visited earlier on in our conversation, he said he is happiest when he is creating something new. 

If The Mistress is any indication of how Schaaf plans on pushing himself creatively, I have no doubt that he is going to be a very happy musician for many years to come.

You can check out The Mistress and his other albums and EP's at Yellow Ostrich. There is a lot of great music here. I told Schaaf that I particularly enjoyed Happy Birthday on Carousels and the very brief Red Ribbon on Yellow Ostrich.

For those who live in Seattle, Yellow Ostrich will be playing at the Crocodile on March 31th.

ON ROTATION

The Decemberists, The King Is Dead
The Decemberists are back!! After the very ambitious rock opera-like The Hazards Of Love, The Decemberists have stripped their sound back down and set sail on a new musical direction. The King Is Dead, rooted in a kind of folk-rock Americana, stays away from the grand story telling that was seen on The Decemberists' last few albums. Each song here is allowed to stand on its own, yet collectively they deliver a rich and near perfect album. I know that it is early in the year, but I expect to see this album on my list of top albums for 2011.


Empresarios, Sabor Tropical

This album is just down right cool. Grooving to a mix of cumbia (a form of traditional Latin American dance music), reggaeton, dub, and house music, Empresarios have released an impressive debut album. The layering of sounds, beats, and rhythms of traditional instruments and electronics is flawless here. I found myself moving to these songs the first time I played this album. Yet, what really moved me was the shock that I got when I learned that Empresarios hail from Washington DC. Just goes to show that great music can come from the most unlikely of places.
Cumbia             

Sabor Tropical     

ON ROTATION

Abigail Washburn, City Of Refuge
Abigail Washburn's fascination with the banjo and old time music and love of China and Chinese culture has produced some wonderfully rich and unique music over the past ten years. On her new album, Washburn's clawhammer banjo playing is still present in all of its glory, but the songs are more pop and less folk oriented than what she has produced in the past. When one hears an album like this, we should be thankful that Washburn picked up the banjo instead of going to law school.
City of Refuge   

Tape 'n Tapes, Outside

I will admit that I did not know much about Tape 'n Tapes before listening to their sophomore album. I do know that this band from Minneapolis has crafted an album with one fun filled song after another. With influences that range from the Pixies to the Talking Heads, Tape 'n Tapes has produced one heck of an album that I have been thoroughly enjoying.
One In The World   

Duran Duran, All You Need Is Now
The 13th studio album by Duran Duran is a welcomed return to the sound and style of their early years....and a fun listen. The songs on this albums are catchy, pop morsels, and all the elements that made Rio and The Reflex such great albums are here; John Taylor's cool, funky, and loose base lines, Simon Le Bon's powerful voice, Nick Rhode's synthisizing (I do realize that this is not a real word), and choruses that are as over the top and indulgent as ever. The band has not sounded this good in years.

Safe (In The Heat Of The Moment)   

The Roots in 2010

I am a big fan of The Roots. Beyond the fact that they are absolutely amazing musicians, mixing hip hop, soul, jazz, funk, rock, and R&B, I have always appreciated their social mindedness. For over twenty years, the Roots have been putting out super albums that are musically and socially relevant.

2010 was another REALLY strong year for The Roots. The band put out not one, but two great albums, they opened The Rally To Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington DC, and they continued their presence as the house band on Jimmy Fallon's Late Night show.

In early 2010 The Roots released the first of the two albums, How I Got Over. From my perspective, this was the better of the two albums, and frankly, I am regretting that I did not include this album as one of my top albums of the year. Everything about this album works. Musically, this album is more restrained and toned down from previous releases, but there is a groove to these songs that I just love. Lyrically, the band has a lot to say. Social theme abound throughout this album as the the band reflects on the end of the Bush administration and the hope of better days ahead under the Obama Presidency. Even if one is not a fan of hip hop or rap, this is a great listen.
Now Or Never [Explicit]   

In September of 2010 The Roots released Wake Up! with John Legend. Comprised mostly of soul music covers from the 1960's and 1970's, Wake Up! was intended to draw parallels between the social and political issues of the times when these songs were written and today. The selection of songs here are fantastic and I love the way The Roots and Legend have incorporated musical elements that are squarely of today's times, while holding onto the essence of these songs. Listening to this album has made me go back to Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield albums that I have not listened to in years. I forgot just how great and powerful the song writing was for these artists.
Compared To What   

THE HEAVY, HOW YOU LIKE ME NOW?

I find it amusing that there is some debate as to whether these guys are from outside Bath, England or Madison, Wisconsin. What is not up for debate is that The Heavy can lay down funk, rock, soul, and lots of attitude in the best of ways.  The songs on this EP have a great sound and can at once feel big and funky like James brown and stripped down like The Black Keys. Is that even possible? Yes it is.
How You Like Me Now?   

SOUNDING OUT: JOHN HEART JACKIE

I have really been enjoying listening to We Are Gold Mounds by John Heart Jackie. Jennie Wayne and Peter Murray, the duo behind JHJ have crafted a beautiful gem of an album.

Initially, I was drawn to the music, which made me feel like I was out walking on a country road on sunny spring day. A little folk, a little country, the songs have an easy feeling to them and I just loved the confidence that is shown in allowing quiet spaces to exist within these songs. But after a listen or two, I was also quite taken with the lyrics.

Earlier this week I had an opportunity to talk with Jennie and Peter about their music and writing. What struck me was that John Heart Jackie is an idea that goes beyond the notion of a band and making music.

Peter explained that for years he has carried around a letter that he found in a used copy of the book Le Balloon Rouge. The book had originally been a gift from one friend to another, and the correspondence had been given along with the book. “The letter really spoke to me.” Peter said. “It was a really beautiful thing. In this letter this person is saying let this beautiful book be an escape for you when you need it to be…..This project (JHJ) is in a sense this idea.”

For a time when Jennie and Peter got together, they wrote a series of make believe letters to each other, taking on these characters who where corresponding. They simulated the way letters use to be written, before email and instant messaging, when time passing between correspondences could be weeks or months. “We would not write back and forth everyday.” Peter said. “We would sit with these things for a while.” The letters and characters, they explained, took on a life of their own over time. “We thought that this was an important part of creating other parts of this project that are not musical.”

This idea of allowing a new form of expression and interaction to develop between Jennie and Peter is so intriguing to me. For Jennie and Peter, it allowed them to find a new space to create and collaborate in that was different from what each had done before on their own.

Hook In My Arm   

“When we were having conversations about music, when we first started, one of the things that we were particularly interested in was the notion of the duet….and what you can create with just two people. In being together, we can make music that we could not make on our own. And that is the whole idea behind collaboration. The sum of our parts is greater than what either one of us can do individually.” Peter went on to say “I think that it is an important and humbling thing that I always try to remind myself of…… And it is more fun to hang out with your friends and make wonderful things.”

That sense of humility that Peter mentioned was no more apparent than when Jennie talked about song writing. Jennie said “I am not a tremendously prolific writer. I am not constantly writing little songs. I have to pull them out of myself. Those songs that come in 30 minutes are really few and far between. We are both constantly considering other artists and writers and listening to lots of different sounds and reading lots of different words and thinking of those things. And with all those bits of information in our heads, we can apply our own musical sensibilities. I think as long as we stay inspired by things we are able to create.”

I asked them, in creating songs, did the music or the lyrics come first? “The words and music are really related.” said Jennie. “You have to have the right words at the right point in the melody. You cannot just write some words that are meaningful and put them with some other melody. They really need to be created simultaneously and woven.

Listening to We Are Gold Mounds, one can really sense that these songs were created in a special and unique space, both figuratively and literally: From the ideas that developed from their letter writing, to the sounds of birds in the back ground of songs recorded at a countryside winery in Oregon, to the playing of a saw, recorded in the upstairs bedroom of a house.

Deep As Whales   

When I asked Jennie and Peter if they have arrived at a sound and process for creating music that they were content with, they said no. “There is the inevitable progression of an artist.” Peter said. “You make one thing and that is just a step to the next. And at the end of your life or in this case, the end of a project, when it is done, whether it be tomorrow or in 25 years, it will end when it is supposed to end. And it leaves this body of work and you will have seen the progression from the first recordings that we did out in our garage to the end.”

From the sounds of it, Jennie and Peter are onto the next set of songs, which they say will be more fully developed than those on We Are Gold Mounds. I will look forward to hearing those recordings when they are done. In the mean time, I will be enjoying the songs from what I hope is the beginning of a great creative journey for them both.

For those in Seattle, John Heart Jackie will be playing at the Sunset Tavern on February 20^th….so come and check them out.