Last week there was talk about TECB on the WRIU airwaves. To quote the host(s) loosely, “Echo Chamber don’t like hip-hop no more, just Regina Spektor.”
They pretty much nailed it right there. Creek Regina’s latest video for “How” from this year’s What We Saw From the Cheap Seats. And stay tuned for a hip-hop video I don’t really care for, coming up next…
Filed under: Music, This Is Not Hip-Hop | Tagged: Regina Spektor, What We Saw From the Cheap Seats | Leave a Comment »
Everyone who knows me is fully aware of how crazy I am for Regina Spektor. She’s one of the only non-hip-hop artists I plug on TECB regularly. (<— Soon to change.) That said, one of my last posts on Spektor was about how I can’t stand what she did to this track, originally released on 2002′s Songs and now reappearing on her latest What We Saw From the Cheap Seats. My opinion still stands, and, as much as I hate to come up here and be a negative Nancy, especially about the artists I’m passionate about, the video for “Ne Me Quitte Pas” makes the song even less appealing to me. It’s straight bubblegum.
I need less quirk, more Soviet schizo.
Filed under: Music, This Is Not Hip-Hop | Tagged: Regina Spektor, What We Saw From the Cheap Seats | Leave a Comment »
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine — TEN.
No, I’m not going to rap the “Ten Blog Commandments” to you. That’s my way of saying I’m done for the day. It’s Saturday, I don’t want to feel like any more of a lame-brain, and I’m about to hit the first keg party I’ve been to since the passing of Danno the Clown on last year’s Independence Day.
That said, let’s wrap this up. Here’s the new Regina Spektor joint that was shipped-out to the internets moments ago:
It’ll be on What We Saw From the Cheap Seats, her sixth studio album that will make its way to shelves and all major digital outlets on May 29. In case you missed the first two singles, “All the Rowboats” can be watched and “Ne Me Quitte Pas” can be heard by following those respective links.
Regina. Tweet.
Filed under: Music, This Is Not Hip-Hop | Tagged: Regina Spektor, Tweet, What We Saw From the Cheap Seats | Leave a Comment »
Yessir, this is my second Regina Spektor post within hours, and I’m glad to have it be. She looks fly, and the video for the lead single “All the Rowboats” off of her forthcoming LP What We Saw From the Cheap Seats, directed by Regina’s homegirl Adria Petty (Tom’s daughter), is just as nice as her lovely face piece.
Creek it, and creek my critique of “Ne Me Quitte Pas,” as well as my post on the audio for “All the Rowboats.”
Shame on you if you don’t comment on one of the three.
Love,
Chris @ TECB
Filed under: Music, This Is Not Hip-Hop | Tagged: Regina Spektor, What We Saw From the Cheap Seats | Leave a Comment »
In 2002 Regina Spektor released her sophomore album, Songs. Aside from the recording equipment, it was Regina and a piano. Nothing else. Each of the twelve tracks were completed in one take, and the outcome is something I’ve pressured many of people to witness. It’s raw. It’s breathtaking. It’s the reason why nine out of every ten music journalists can’t muster-up a string of words about Regina without using “quirk.”
She signed with Sire Records a year or so later and put out Soviet Kitsch in ‘04, the album I consider to be Spektor’s masterpiece – a perfect balance of minimalism and production, erraticism and composure, grit and polish. The subsequent albums – her break-out Begin to Hope in ’06 and Far in ’09 – both featured a more accessible, pop-driven sound from Spektor, especially the latter, which may or may not have been over-produced by my standards. (Some days I can dig it, others I want to horse-kick Jeff Lyne.)
Recently we’ve been able to hear selections from What We Saw From the Cheap Seats, Spektor’s sixth studio album due out at the end of May. I posted “All the Rowboats” when it was released, and now “Ne Me Quitte Pas,” a track originally released on Songs, has been re-recorded and distributed over the internet as the album’s second single.
Although I’ve always been partial towards the song, about a month back I saw Woody Allen’s latest, Midnight in Paris, and my liking for “Ne Me Quitte Pas” has skyrocketed. I’ve been obsessed over Owen Wilson’s character – an easy-going middle-aged guy with aspirations of a career change, caught in the middle of a feeble relationship. Essentially, I noticed a lot of parallels (big nose, nostalgia-obsessed, trying to figure out life) between him and I. The only major difference is that I would never give up an opportunity to hit the sheets with Marion Cotillard.
Anyway, the connection between the song and the film is that Wilson’s character spoke of loving Paris when it rained, and “I love Paris in the rain” is a line repeated by Regina throughout “Ne Me Quitte Pas.” Now. Those that know me can vouch that I’ve never spoken ill about Regina and her music, but this updated version has me crying in my soup. It sounds like the music that could have run in the opening credits of Weekend at Bernie’s or been in a Chiquita banana commercial or something. I mean, it’s alright, but it’s more bubbly than I ever expected her to sound.
Give it a whirl for yourself…
Here is the original:
And this is the newbie:
Speak your thoughts below. On the songs. On the movie. On Paris. On the upcoming album that I’m still very excited about, regardless of what I just wrote about this song. On whatever you so please.
Thanks.
Filed under: Music, This Is Not Hip-Hop | Tagged: Marion Cotillard, Midnight in Paris, Owen Wilson, Regina Spektor, Sire Records, What We Saw From the Cheap Seats, Woody Allen | Leave a Comment »
