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| |
| Artist : Nellie McKay |
| Album : Obligatory Villagers-(Advance) |
| Bitrate : VBR kbps |
| |
+-------------------------------[Release Info]-------------------------------+
| |
| Label : Hungry Mouse |
| Year : 2007 |
| Genre : Jazz |
| Rip date : Sep-05-2007 |
| Store date : Sep-25-2007 |
| Size : 43,1 MB |
| |
+--------------------------------[Track List]--------------------------------+
| |
|Track Listing: |
| |
| 01 - Mother Of Pearl 02:10 |
| 02 - Oversure 03:20 |
| 03 - Gin Rummy 02:59 |
| 04 - Livin' 00:24 |
| 05 - Identity Theft 03:28 |
| 06 - Galleon 03:22 |
| 07 - Politan 04:18 |
| 08 - Testify 05:41 |
| 09 - Zombie 05:56 |
| |
| ───── |
| 31:38 min |
| |
+-------------------------------[Release Notes]------------------------------+
| |
| Get Away from Me, the title of singer/songwriter Nellie McKay's debut |
| album, was a play on two titles by romantic female vocalists who became |
| popular in the early 2000s: Norah Jones' Come Away with Me and Jane |
| Monheit's Come Dream with Me. But while McKay shares some of Jones and |
| Monheit's influences ù vocal jazz, cabaret, pre-rock Brill Building pop, |
| torch singing ù and has some things in common with them melodically, it |
| would be a huge mistake to lump her in with Jones, Monheit, and Diana |
| Krall. Those jazz or jazz-influenced pop artists tend to be romantically |
| comforting, whereas McKay's lyrics can be every bit as cutting, edgy, |
| and biting as Alanis Morissette or Pink ù and to lump McKay in with |
| Jones, Monheit, and Krall ignores the fact that her work is distinctive |
| and impressively unorthodox. |
| |
| McKay, who is also a talented pianist, brings an unlikely combination of |
| influences to her work, which isn't easy to categorize. The New York |
| City resident is relevant to pop/rock, but she is also relevant to |
| cabaret, traditional pop, and vocal jazz. Tin Pan Alley, Kurt Weill, |
| Cole Porter, Annie Ross, Peggy Lee, and Billie Holiday have affected her |
| writing (either directly or indirectly), but so have Dory Previn and |
| Randy Newman (the latter a frequent comparison), the Beatles, and hip- |
| hop. McKay, in fact, shares Newman's penchant for lyrics that are |
| cynical and sarcastic as well as dark-humored; like Newman, McKay knows |
| how to laugh at the world even when she's complaining about how screwed |
| up it is ù and she can be incredibly clever and witty. |
| |
| McKay was born in London, England, on April 13, 1984, but spent most of |
| her early life in the United States. At the age of two, McKay (an only |
| child) moved with her mother (actress Robin Pappas) to New York City ù |
| and the two of them lived in Manhattan's Harlem section until 1994, when |
| they moved west to Olympia, WA. After that, they lived in the Poconos in |
| northeastern Pennsylvania, but in 2000, they returned to N.Y.C. so that |
| McKay could attend the Manhattan School of Music. After dropping out, |
| McKay briefly flirted with standup comedy but gave it up and made music |
| her primary focus. McKay began performing around Manhattan in the early |
| 2000s, and for a while, she was managed by folk-rocker Lach (who often |
| booked her at the Sidewalk CafΘ in the East Village). |
| |
| McKay's gigs at Manhattan clubs like the Sidewalk CafΘ and the Fez |
| earned her a small East Coast following, and in 2003, she signed with |
| Columbia. Other labels had expressed interest, including Virgin and Blue |
| Note, but she felt that Columbia had the greatest understanding of her |
| musical vision. Nonetheless, McKay had some creative differences with |
| the label; she wanted to call her debut album either Black America or |
| Penis Envy, and Columbia disliked both. But eventually, McKay and |
| Columbia agreed on the title Get Away from Me. Produced and engineered |
| by Geoff Emerick ù best known for his work with the Beatles ù Get Away |
| from Me was released in February 2004. Although it made the year-end |
| lists of many critics, creative conflict between McKay and Columbia only |
| continued. |
| |
| Sparring over producers and direction for her sophomore album eventually |
| resulted in McKay financing the recordings herself; the result, titled |
| Pretty Little Head, was due to be released in early 2006, but McKay was |
| let go and the album was dropped from Columbia's release schedule. At |
| the same time, McKay was busy rehearsing for co-starring role in a |
| Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera with Alan Cummings, Ana |
| Gasteyer, and Cyndi Lauper. Pretty Little Head finally surfaced in |
| October of 2006, released on McKay's own Hungry Mouse label and overseen |
| by the indie spinART. |
| |
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