FEATURE: RADIO ON THE TV! (PART ONE)

Inspired by recently posted song Travis' "Love Will Come Through", which played over the climax of the series finale of Alden-favourite TV show Wonderfalls, this roulette will focus on music that is inexorably linked to their respective TV moments. As you well know, I'm a complete TV junkie, and I love moments where the song meets the visual and combine to create an even fuller sense of emotion and story, leaving both inexorably linked in the viewer's mind. One career option I've long considered is music supervisor for a TV show, combining my two great loves. If I could construct a seminal TV moment like many of the below, I'd be a proud man.

Five such moments are below, with another post to come.

[Note that the below spoils, to varying degrees, Weeds season 2, Supernatural season 2 and Grey's Anatomy seasons 2 and 3.]

Jenny Owen Youngs - Fuck Was I [Batten the Hatches, 2005]
Weeds, "Corn Snake"

"What the fuck was I thinking?" sings Youngs on this track, set to Mary-Louise Parker's drug-dealing Nancy Botwin reeling from discovering her new beau is a DEA agent. This choice of song pulls out so many of the emotions of the scene - the fact that this was her first tryst since her husband's death and the guilt that comes with compromising his memory and her family's stability and safety because of her own loneliness. "Love grows in me like a tumor", the song warns, reminding us that we all think "maybe I'll be the lucky one that doesn't get burned". Unfortunately for Nancy, she's got plenty of trouble ahead of her.

Screaming Trees - Look At You [Dust, 1996]
Supernatural, "Heart"

When creating a montage for an 'intimate moment', a music supervisor has to choose very carefully, or else the mood of the entire scene is ruined. Luckily, Supernatural hired Alexandra Patsavas (look below for more amazing work she's done for Grey's Anatomy). This tune is sensual, haunted and fits the series rock aesthetic, while simultaneously layering the scene with a sense of unease and imbalance... Hinting at the tragic end of the story, wherein one is forced to kill the other.

Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars [Eyes Open, 2006]
Grey's Anatomy, "Losing My Religion"

The Grey's moment that gets the most press, though my only third-favourite music moment from that show, is a doozy. Using Snow Patrol's soaring anthem as a funereal tone for the weeping Izzie, as the show balances its ethical and moral questions about the sacrifices she's made for love, was remembered by fans for a long time after. The moment is scored perfectly: "If I lay here, would you lay with me and just forget the world?", as Izzie lays on the hospital bed and tries to forget the world, tries to forget that the future she'd built for herself in her head has come crashing down, and can't. Beautiful moment, and a cap to the show's best season.

Anna Nalick - Breathe [Wreck of the Day, 2005]
Grey's Anatomy, "...As We Know It"

The show had an even more intense musical moment earlier that season, however, in the second half of the riveting bomb-episode. The episode that launched Anatomy to the hit it became, part of it must have been attributed to this sequence, in which the lead character must remove her hand from a body cavity with live ammunition in it. The song's climactic moment, urging us to "breathe, just breathe" as the music swells, certainly added a great rhythm and emotion to an already pretty powerful scene. But Anatomy's stand-out musical moment:

Ingrid Michaelson - Keep Breathing [Be OK, 2008]
Grey's Anatomy, "Didn't We Almost Have It All?"

Though following up from a season full of questionable plot elements, the series moved towards a crescendo in its finale, tying together all of the character's various arcs and destroying their hopes, one-by-one. The song, emulating the rhythm of deep breaths with its violin while keeping a quick pace via piano, underscored the climactic moment wherein a character, who had boxed away more and more of herself in order to become a 'bride' and appease the man she loved, found herself alone and begging her best friend to cut her out of her restrictive wedding dress. As the song rises and rises in emotion, she breaks down and exclaims the mystifying statement that she's finally free. Combining the visuals of the dress and her need to breathe with the song, which moves faster and faster until the viewer feels as if they, too, need more air. Perfect synthesis of song and visual, combining to create a greater sense of the story.

I'll post part two soon, with moments from Battlestar Galactica and How I Met Your Mother, among others. If I remember/uncover more, part three will follow soon enough, no doubt. Now, I'm sure everyone has one or two of these moments in their mental vault. What are the greatest TV/music moments in recent history for you?

And don't forget, search for more at The Hype Machine; purchase albums or mp3's at Amazon, Amazon Canada, Amie St., cdbaby, or Insound.

ALBUM REVIEW: MORGAN PAGE'S "ELEVATE"

"If you prefer it all to me, then, my love, you go down the longest road to nowhere..."

DJ/Producer Morgan Page is making quite a name for himself. After releasing an unofficial group of remixes for free download called Cease and Desist (after the expected legal action), he instead received a boost in buzz and notice that has really helped his career. I myself downloaded Cease and enjoyed it, shocking considering my usual ennui toward remixes.

Now he's come up with Elevate, a mix of original material and remixes that is quite a listen. I've gotten a copy of the album before its release next week on March 25, 2008, and its pretty impressive. I don't know all of the originals of Page's remixes, but hopefully that will remove any bias for from those track reviews due to my knowing the original artists. Taking it on a track-by-track basis:

(Note: Try not to judge these songs by their first listen. I didn't like many of them after the first time, and it was only on the second listen they really clicked with me.)

Morgan Page feat. Lissie - The Longest Road
Page has called Lissie "one of the most exciting voices [he's] heard in years" and after hearing her contribution to this album, I have to say he's spot on. She does great work with this song, which infuses Lissie's native folk and Page's love of electronic music. Page happily doesn't interfere too much with Lissie's work, backing her up perfectly with a beautiful and yet danceable beat. The song, while not too conventional in its storytelling, is also quite interesting. Quite probably the best track of the album.

Morgan Page feat. Tyler James - Call My Name
Not a bad song by a long shot, but unlike "Road", here the song does grate a little. Guest singer Tyler James ranges from pretty good to unbearably annoying depending on what mood I'm in. Page's producing work here is just as good as ever, though, which works in the track's favour.

The Submarines - Peace and Hate (Morgan Page Remix)
I'm not familiar with The Submarines, but this remix is a good selection for the album. You can clearly hear Page's contributions, and it gets your feet going. There's a great feel of darkness here, which I believe was Page's intent with the song, and it works well. Page really compliments the voices of the singers, and in general has made a damn good remix here. There are some really beautiful portions as well.

Morgan Page feat. Matt Wasley - Fade Away
Wasley is a better guest singer than Tyler James on track 2, and he does a good job. I'd say this is the first time Page himself gets a bit carried away; I noted he never stepped on Lissie's toes, enhancing but not obscuring her, while here Wasley's voice is sometimes overtaken by the music. That's a shame because both the singing and the music are excellent, and in places it's much more successful than in others.

Jenny Owen Youngs - Fuck Was I (Morgan Page Remix)
After alternating between original and remixes up until this point, this track kicks off a section of purely remixes. This is a great track to do it with, as it showcases Page's especial skills in remixing. He takes a pretty folky, strings based rolling song and turns it into a great, low key electronica song that works just as well as the original. I'm familiar with the remix from Youngs' Take Off All Your Clothes EP. I liked it then and I still like it now.

Leigh Nash - Nervous in the Light of Dawn (Morgan Page Remix)
The beginning of this track is Page's second misstep, as the static accompanying the early beats of this song do the track no favours. His remixing of her voice in those parts is quite good, and once you get over the static the song is quite nice. There's an echoing quality that I always love in here, as it really enhances the singer's emotional effect. The annoying static recurs throughout the song, unfortunately, despite the rest of the remix being quite nice. I'm guessing, as you listen to it, the static eventually blends into the rest of the song.

Bitter:Sweet - Dirty Laundry (Morgan Page Remix)
A good remix, although again the vocals are a bit too obscured for a proper listen. That said, the remix is nice, but the volume of it also decreases its effectiveness, despite it sounding quite good. That said, there's a large section near the end that mostly works, as you know you don't need to hear the lyrics, but before that the song itself is compromised a little too much.

Nelly Furtado - Maneater (David Garcia & Morgan Page Remix)
I will be straight up here: I do not like club remixes. That's probably why I cannot stand much that the remix world has to offer, and one of the reasons why I don't find myself drawn to this particular song. Not only does this fact hurt the song for me, but I was long ago ruined for this song when a reviewer noted that producer Timbaland was responsible for the sexiness of the song and not Furtado herself, and I thought "... wait a second, he's right!". Ever since, both the song and specifically Furtado's performance in it have seemed lifeless to me. That all said, even this remix isn't hopeless, as I do like some of the things Garcia and Page do with it; I just care little for the remix material.

Delirium - Angelicus (Morgan Page Remix)
I'm not overly familiar with Delirium's work, but this mostly instrumental track (including opera-style vocals used purely as an instrument) is an interesting departure from Page's other choices. This does mix quite well with Page's remixing work, though it's not so much in my personal taste.

Morgan Page feat. Camila Grey - One Day
Page has a good ear for vocalists, particularly female ones. Just as Lissie was perfect for "The Longest Road", Camila Grey has a beautiful voice that works well with the music infused with bleeps and quiet static. He again showcases rather than obscures, and that allows the song to breathe properly.

Dengue Fever - Sleep Walking Through the Mekong (Morgan Page Remix)
Page takes a shot at a band who, despite hailing from Los Angeles, have decided to mix Cambodian stylings and language (Khmer, to be more precise) this time around, which combined with Delerium gives this album a nice range. Between the heavy, pounding beats and the light, glittery ones, the opening is a nice study in contrasting sounds working well together. The lyrics are in another language but their beauty is just as real as if they were in English. There's something very tribal about Page's take on the song, and it's a refreshing listen. The last few moments are especially nice and echoing.

Under - Under (Morgan Page Remix)
The closing track is a really nice, low key and echo-filled song with a wonderful female vocalist in the lead, and I have to admit I've become quite fond of it. There's something both sleepy and sexy about this song, and that intrigues. You can hear Morgans influence, and it works very much to the song's favour. A wonderful closer.

VERDICT

Definitely worth a listen. I can't say I would have bought it before having heard it, despite knowing a few of Morgan Page's unofficial remixes, but it has impressed me much more than I expected it to. I'd recommend it to anyone a fan of electronic music especially, but some (like the Jenny Owen Youngs remix) will appeal to others as well, like those who enjoy great female vocals. Give it a shot with the sample downloads below.

SAMPLE TRACKS

Morgan Page feat. Lissie - The Longest Road (Sendspace link)
Under - Under (Morgan Page Remix) (Sendspace link)

PRE-ORDER/BUY MORGAN PAGE'S "ELEVATE"

Morgan Page's Official Site - Amazon - Amazon Canada

MUSIC VIDEO SHOWCASE: JENNY OWEN YOUNGS' "HOT IN HERRE" AND ALANIS MORISSETTE'S "MY HUMPS"

What's funnier: A white indie girl turning a mainstream hiphop song by Nelly into a low-key indie song, or... a white mainstream pop girl turning a mainstream hiphop song by Fergie into a piano-led sad ballad?

I just discovered Jenny Owen Youngs' take on Nelly's "Hot in Herre", the original of which took the world by storm back in 2002 by telling all the hot girls to take off all their clothes. Jenny Owen Youngs' take on the song, hilariously placed in the Arctic, is here:



This reminded me, in a big way, of Alanis Morissette's amusing stunt for last year's April Fools Day, parodying Fergie's "My Humps" without changing a word of it by turning it into a sad piano piece and showcasing the lyrics - which are, of course, absolutely terrible. The following video, 'Alanis-izing' the original, never ever gets old:



Buy Jenny Owen Youngs' Take Off All Your Clothes EP (featuring 'Hot in Herre') in mp3 format.