Christopher Barzak

Category: Music

  • New Music Crush

    Robyn is weird.  I barely remember her former early 90’s self, which was largely forgettable over-produced, mediocre dance music/love ballads that sounded like the dance music/love ballads of the time.  But thanks to the most recent episode of Saturday Night Live, I was turned on to Robyn’s reinvented contemporary self, and she made some really…

  • Discovering Anita O’Day

    I’m a fan of jazz and the blues. A big fan. But mostly of the old school stuff. And mostly the big names. But recently a friend of mine sent me these wonderful clips of Anita O’Day, who I hadn’t really listened to prior to my friend’s email. She’s written me a wonderful introduction to…

  • Are you reading?

    Last week I posted an excerpt from the introduction to Interfictions 2 here, and a link to the whole deal.  But we also now have two of our Annex stories live online.  Have you checked them out yet?  The first one is Genevieve Valentine’s “To Set Before the King” and this week’s addition is F.…

  • The Oasis Video

    Okay, so this video is now officially making the rounds in the blogosphere.  It’s a song by Amanda Palmer, of the Dresden Dolls, whom I love, and before I say anything else, I’ll say I love this song and the video.  But I have a sort of critique of it, too.  So far I’ve read…

  • On any given day

    I’m redistributing this link via Christopher Rowe, because it’s a really beautiful recommendation from Ralph Stanley, who I would listen to on any given day.  Hearing it made me smile (non-ironically), which is a really nice thing to be able to do these days. If for some reason you don’t know who Ralph Stanley is,…

  • Straight from the Underground, by Nitro Microphone Underground

    I think I was only in Japan for a few weeks before I found myself venturing out to media stores alone, trying to figure out what was all around me. So much of what we in America know of Japan isn’t contemporary Japan. Most books present Japan at various stages of its history, and seem…

  • Folklore by Clammbon

    I love this band, and this singer’s voice.

  • There goes the neighborhood

    The Lutheran church across the street from my apartment building set up a little performance area tonight, with a backdrop cloth that said “Elvis Lives”. When the sun went down, fifteen cars showed up, then people got out of their cars with folding chairs and arranged them about fifty feet across the parking lot from…

  • Choux Pastry Heart

    I am a sucker for this song for more than one reason. 1.) I’ve been sucked in by Corinne Rae Bailey’s bluesy voice, and I love bluesy voices. And 2.) The way I was introduced to her was just the other day when my friend Paul forwarded me this video because it has part of…

  • You can stand under my umbrella

    A return to a mood I have not felt in a while. Recently I have been sort of obsessed with the song “Umbrella” which is sung by the very popular Barbados-born Rihanna. And when I say popular, I mean popular. You go to this woman’s myspace page and look at how many “friends” she has.…