Oceans

Wishing you and yours love and good health – this Valentine’s and V-Day week – and throughout the year(s)!!

 

Allison Crowe’s voyage encompasses Canada’s Pacific and Atlantic coasts and, virtually, the whole world – and it all comes back to the heart.

 

On “Oceans”, Allison (voice, guitar, engineer) is accmpanied by musical shipmates: Billie Woods (acoustic guitar); Dave Baird (bass); Laurent Boucher (percussion); Larry Anschell (electric guitar, engineer); with Kayla Schmah (producer).

Dearly

This time of February, for lots of folks, opens a door through which love, its many forms and facets, is a focus. With Valentine’s Day and V-Day happenings songs have a cherished part, too – reflective, celebratory, and all else.

In days of doo-wop, people addressed love’s pizmotality in musical letters. Fast forward to this week - and delivery of a bundle of songs bearing Allison Crowe’s singular stamp.

First posting is “Dearly”, from Allison’s “Spiral” album. On this, Allison (composer, voice, guitar, engineer) is joined by Billie Woods (guitar), Dave Baird (bass), Laurent Boucher (percussion), Larry Anschell (engineer) and Kayla Schmah (orchestrator, string arranger, producer). The foto of Allison was captured by Billie back-stage at Berlin’s beautiful Osterkirche.

Alive and Breathing

Rounding into home with this series, some familiar characters and universal themes help spin Allison Crowe’s “16 Songs” Video Album full-circle.

Reimagining more than a century of cinema, decades of songwriting, and a dozen albums of genre-spanning musicality, Allison’s fusion of music + movie invention carries us up, up, and away.

She dreams in Technicolor for this capping episode of an animated mission accomplished by the Fleischer Studios team in 1941 - “Superman: The Mechanical Monsters”.

Alive and Breathing from Allison Crowe on Vimeo.

Emblematic of the intertwined DNA of inspiration - Superman’s creators, child-hood pals Joe Shuster (1914 – 1992), illustrator born in Toronto, Canada, and Jerry Siegel (1914 – 1996), Cleveland, Ohio, USA-born writer, were big film buffs, too.

Metropolis, the city of Clark Kent, Lois Lane and The Daily Planet, gets its name from the 1927 German expressionist science-fiction epic – a movie masterwork of Fritz Lang (1890 – 1976). Superman’s alter-ego is a nomenclatural mashup of American film actors Clark Gable and Kent Taylor.

In art, as in all areas of life, self-determination and expression – freedom - is elemental.

“Alive and Breathing” - Allison Crowe (vocals, guitar, piano, engineer and producer) is joined here by Dave Baird (bass) and Laurent Boucher (percussion).

#15 of 16 Songs

 

Circular Reasoning

"Circular Reasoning" was our "sneak peek" fun 'Song of the Summer' - at the start of August, when we're all invited to dive in!

 

In this part of the world we've enjoyed our season for celebrating bathing suits, ice-cream, fresh berries, bicycle bells… any and all other of life’s simple joys and pleasures.

It's Autumn's turn, and this song video is now third up in Allison Crowe's "16 Songs" Video Album.

Allison is joined musically by the simpatico rhythm section of Dave Baird (bass) and Laurent Boucher (percussion). Visuals are from a 1930s French silent film that also became a talkie.

 

"Prix de beauté” (“Beauty Prize” aka “Miss Europe”) is directed by Augusto Genina, written by René Clair & Georg W. Pabst and stars the endlessly radiant Louise Brooks.

 

Sláinte!

 

#3 of 16 Songs

 

        

Song of the Summer: "Circular Reasoning" + "Prix de beauté"

Song of the Summer - dive in!

In advance of the upcoming full Allison Crowe video show – here’s “sneak peek” fun in the form of her song “Circular Reasoning” with visuals from a 1930s French silent film that also became a talkie.

"Prix de beauté” (“Beauty Prize” aka “Miss Europe”) is directed by Augusto Genina, written by René Clair & Georg W. Pabst and stars a radiant Louise Brooks.

Enjoy :)

Allison Crowe has a 16-song-video-series that launches September 2, 2014. Pairing a spectrum of recordings from the Canadian musician with visuals from great artists and innovators of the 20th and 21st centuries - film-makers, animators, painters, photographers and more… - it’s a multi-media expression of Crowe’s mission to make "Soulful. Alive. Joyous. Grievous. Real, true, music." ( http://allisoncrowe.com/bio.html )

And, this collection confirms the diagnosis of Dr. H Guy aka Allan Showalter, the world’s inimitable blogger “On Life, Love, Lust, & Leonard Cohen” – who notes: “Once you’ve heard one Allison Crowe song, You’ve heard one Allison Crowe song." ( http://1heckofaguy.com/2009/01/27/wedding-song-allison-crowes-small-masterwork )

Much more on this all, naturally, to come – once we’ve celebrated Summer in this part of the world. Right now, it’s time for bathing suits, ice-cream, fresh berries, bicycle bells… any and all other of life’s simple joys and pleasures.

Sláinte!

This Little Bird flies free

May you and yours have a high-flying holiday, and joyous times beyond. Rousing our Allison Crowe music video series - (enjoy the growing 'Chanson et Lumière' playlist @ http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzwM8Ztw_8D1zBB_ZjkF9270RyojzYFP5 ) - here's "This Little Bird":

"This Little Bird", from Allison Crowe's album of the same name, flies here with excerpts from "The Story of the Birds" - created by animation pioneer Max Fleischer in 1935 (as the fourth entry in his "Color Classics" series):  http://music.allisoncrowe.com/track/this-little-bird

♫ "Why music?" "Why breathing? ♫

No Matter the Battle + Le Voyage dans la Lune (Excerpt II)

A sequel of sorts, part deux, of Allison Crowe’s other-worldly musical adventures aboard the S.S. Méliès. Happy Valentine’s, Happy V-Day, everyone! May there be peace and love – to the Moon and back.

Halloween Skeletons and Spirits from Allison Crowe & Dr H Guy

The Mysterious Dr H Guy beckons from the shadows... on All Hallow's Eve. It's The Great Pun'kin mix of Allison Crowe's "Skeletons and Spirits".


Boo-galoo!!

Effortless

Allison Crowe's "This Little Bird:" album opens "Effortless"-ly. Dave Baird plays bass, and Laurent Boucher is on drums, Tibetan bells and other percussion. The visual art is created by Billie Woods, photographer, and Alix Whitmire, graphics, direction and design.

Happy Halloween with Skeletons and Spirits

Each year, 'round this time, after the Great Pumpkin visits Linus in the patch there's the sound of music rising...



This year, the 1 Heck of a Guy blog features Allison Crowe's Skeletons and Spirits, along with tales of the Ozarks Spooklight, and a pic of Leonard Cohen’s pumpkin.

the upward Spiral

...or further up the Spiral, as it were.

(can I tag Trent Reznor in this note?!)
(turns out - no)

Finally, my 7th album is complete. Wait a minute - did i say SEVENTH?! WTF?! The reality of time and age starts to set in when I count albums. I feel old lately. (blame the event of last year's 10 year high-school reunion - which I was unable to attend)

Let's just say "new" album - ahhh. That's better.

So, my NEW album, Spiral, is finally out (digitally - the hard copy of same is not to be completed til the end of this week) and I am SO freaking excited about this one.

All of those little ideas I've always had, the little sonic bits and pieces that I've wanted, the arrangements and orchestrations, the instruments, were brought to life by some of my best friends. Have I ever rapped away to you the virtues of being independent? Well if I haven't, I'm sure I will. One of the greatest parts of doing whatever I want (besides THAT fact in and of itself) is that I get to work with people that I actually LIKE.- nay, LOVE.

I was certain at the outset of this that the next album had to be different - I just wasn't sure how. I wanted big production sound but as always have wee production budget (meaning everything ends up being mostly homemade - current technology lends itself to this beautifully)

I had the wonderfully talented musicians, and friends, on my side. Billie Woods, Dave Baird, and Laurent Boucher. Check. We played together, even went on tour. Remember that whole thing with the UK. welll, the stuff after that was awesome. Check.

What's this? A cellist? Brendan Millbank. Boo ya. Just happens to be my neighbour in Nanaimo. Done.

Moving along...

Next question - how to capture?

I've been engineering my own albums for a while now, learning as I've been going along - so I was sure I'd be able to do a good deal of it - though the perfection of, and gear for, some certain sonic elements still elude me. Enter the mix between myself and Larry Anschell - Turtle Studios super dude. (has done mobile recording for Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains - as well as countless successful studio recordings - his studio has an arcade!!!! SRSLY)

The combination of things was decided. I did a lot at home, some already existed, I travelled to some homes, some was live, some was Larry - perfect for all the little bits we needed. You know, Adrian himself caught pieces of Dave's background vocals and all of Brendan's cello.

And what about all those other strings I want to hear in my brains? How the…?

After hitting wall after wall of limitations, both financially and idea-wise, finally, a breakthrough in the form of Kayla Schmah - the ridiculously talented string arranger and producer who I have known for, oh... let's see... at LEAST 10 years. 11? 12? Do i really want to go there? Wasn't I feeling old already? Let's just say we used to sing Indigo Girls and Vonda Shepard songs together on Salt Spring Island at Summer Stock in some year that was still the 90's.

I was lucky enough to have Kayla offer to shape the album in to something beautiful and different altogether. She's sensitive to all the sounds, and knew just what to do - things I never would have even been able to imagine - landscapes of sound I didn't even know existed other than in Lord of the Rings (sorry for the uber-nerdy comparison, it's just that I REALLY REALLY love Lord of the Rings) She made it so I didn't have to listen to tiny little bits of things and adjust their relative volumes. She's also a new mom. I love her endlessly.

Finally, it was coming together.

What about art? Something different... something new... something not my face... (which is always beautifully photographed and made to look really pretty by Billie Woods - she's f**king awesome) (pardonnez-moi...)

Enter Tara Thelen - the painter of the paintings used for this album's artwork. Seriously? I can use these? Are you kidding? I am so freaking lucky it's ridiculous. lol After a lovely telephone conversation with Tara and a bit of time deciding on which of her many amazing paintings to use for this album, we decided on "Look at Me" and "I Found You". Thankyouthankyouthankyou.

Ok so what about layout?

Alix Whitmire - web-designer and cover art designer for a great number of my albums and all around amazing lady who is also an incredibly talented knitter and lover of fibres... She just always knows what looks awesome, including Billy Argel's font, Ginga. Seriously. I love the font. And Alix knows just what to do with it- I can't wait to see it in hardcopy, what with the metallic foils and things with the mixes of colours... YAYYYYY!!!!

I can't forget, too, Condor and John MacMillan - who recorded tracks live way back in the day that have found themselves years in the future on this particular piece - and soundboard operators the world over.

Add in everybody - add in everything - and finally, the culmination, aurally, of what I've imagined and wanted since I used to listen to Counting Crows' August and Everything After until I wore out copies and copies of it from when I was a pre-teen and well after...

I've got it. It's done. I'm pumped. I hope you like it. Thank you to everyone who helped me do this - and to Adrian du Plessis for listening carefully again and again more times than I ever could before my brain would bleed.

Thank you.

Allison :)

next up, the euro-tour in April... stay tuned...

Charmed St. Patrick's Day release for "Spiral

Allison Crowe's newest album, Spiral, is released this March 17, St. Patrick's Day, as digital downloads and a series of 14 videos posted on Allison’s site, Facebook, and YouTube. The physical album/CD is scheduled to start shipping the same day. Spiral comprises 11 songs plus a two song reprise/encore.

Follow the yellow-brick road of song, cinematic in scope, visceral in nature, thinking, feeling, courageous and fun - rock, pop, folk, soul, roots.

Allison Crowe’s music is that feast where, says the poet Rimbaud, “all hearts open and all wines flow.”

Over a decade of reviews, the word most often used to describe the voice of Allison Crowe is “gorgeous”. The word that testifies more than any other to her musical performance is “amazing”. This month, the much-loved and acclaimed singer-songwriter releases “Spiral”, her seventh album/CD. It is both of these things. And plenty more.

U.S.-based entertainment blog ‘Muruch’ earlier this year named it as an album most highly anticipated, and, now, UK music blog ‘We Write Lists’ includes "Spiral" as one of "The Twelve Most Exciting Albums of 2010", remarking: "Crowe's speciality is startlingly beautiful piano-based songs that sort of make you wonder why you bother with anything else."

(Joining Crowe on the list are new recordings from: Fleet Foxes, Fyfe Dangerfield, Girls Aloud, Goldfrapp, Gorillaz, Joanna Newsom, Marina and the Diamonds, Massive Attack, MGMT, Music Go Music and She and Him.)

For Allison Crowe, a peerless live performer, and a singer-songwriter of the thrilling calibre known in the 1960s, Spiral is the seventh release from her label, Rubenesque Records, in as many years. Musical production wrapped on Valentine's Day.

Spiral contains eight of Crowe’s original songs, ranging from the tender and playful country/roots of “Dearly”, to the upbeat pop of “Double-Edged Swords”, ’cross the loving “Oceans”, and darker terrain of “I Don’t Know” and the hard rocking title track. Raw, natural, emotion is embraced passionately with elegiac beauty and melody in these, and such joy-filled tunes as “Going Home Tonight” and “No Matter the Battle”. With the live track, “Wake Up”, Crowe, again, renders the personal universal, and the global, human.

Uniquely known not just as one of the most exciting songwriters of a new generation, Crowe is also one of our finest interpreters of popular song. Spiral’s mix of light and shadow includes a trio of fresh covers – revisiting music of Annie Lennox (“Why”), Leonard Cohen (“Chelsea Hotel No. 2”), and Hunters and Collectors’ Antipodean anthem, “Throw Your Arms Around Me”.

On this new song collection, the bi-coastal Canadian, (she calls Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Nanaimo, British Columbia, home), is joined by ideally-skilled and sympathetic west-coast musicians Billie Rocha-Woods (acoustic guitar, backing vocals), Dave Baird (bass, backing vocals), Laurent Boucher (percussion), Brendan Millbank (cello) and Larry Anschell (electric guitar, and, also, Engineer/Producer at Turtle Studios in White Rock, B.C.)

Kayla Schmah, Los Angeles-based, Canadian-born, composer and film scorer, orchestrates and produces the album with, yes, "gorgeous" musical textures, and cinematic ideas artfully brought to life. Concert capturings by Engineers B.R.N. (aka Condor) and John MacMillan complete this diverse mix of music made in Corner Brook, Nanaimo, as well as Chilliwack, White Rock, Denman Island and Salt Spring Island, Canada, Vienna, Austria, and Hollywood, USA.

The visual art of Spiral matches its aural beauty - with cover paintings by Netherlands-based Tara Thelen, photographs by Canada's Billie Rocha-Woods, and California's Dan Goldwasser, fontage from Brazil’s Billy Argel and graphic design by Florida's Alix Whitmire.

Allison Crowe's trans-national and international concert dates for 2010 follow the release of Spiral.

This Little Bird

Canada's Allison Crowe, on piano and vocals, lays down another song track with Dave Baird on bass and Laurent Boucher on percussion. ("This Little Bird", on the album of the same name, a song that playfully celebrates freedom, makes me think of other such innocent fun as The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night".)



While she puts together her next album, Im riffing through a batch of photos of Allison just stumbled upon, and picking up other cultural footnotes.

Conan OBrien, American comedian and late-night television host, now a free bird, gave a moving farewell in signing off 'The Tonight Show'. After thanking his fans for coming together to make a sad situation joyous and inspirational, 'Coco' addressed his audience, directing these words particularly to young people watching:

"All I ask is one thing... Please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism. For the record, it's my least favorite quality. It doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen. I'm telling you, amazing things will happen. I'm telling you. It's just true."

This calls for more... cowbell.

Summer side of life - new album hatching

For those of us living in the northern hemisphere, Summer is nearing its end - and Autumn/Fall starts to reveal itself.

For me, it's a season of musical revelation.

Allison has started to create her next album. She travels from Canada's Atlantic coast to the Pacific in about two weeks' time to record her fellow musicians - Billie Woods, on acoustic guitar; Dave Baird on electric and acoustic bass; and Laurent Boucher on percussion.

These are the band-members who've toured with Allison in 2009.

There'll be an electric guitarist, joining the group on about three songs. Right now Alley is working with a brilliant, and incredibly sympathetic, orchestrator. One of the big questions at the beginning of this process was - how would the strings and orchestral elements Allison was hearing on several songs be realized?

We've learned over the years, that it's like alchemy, the joining of art and science (in the form of technical engineering/production). It's a magic that calls for invention, serendipity, inspiration.

It's early on, two songs in to what promises to be a 12 song collection - but, I'm hearing it.



Sir George Martin talks about The Beatles' recording art - listen here

My Dad made buttons for my brothers, sister and myself that said "I am a Beatle" and I was happily wearing that more than forty years ago, before I'd learned to ride a bicycle.

At this moment, I feel the same excitement that stirred when George Martin (now Sir) got together with those four lads from Liverpool.

Much more to come ( :

Songs Sung Summer

It's pretty much Summertime here in the northern hemisphere. Canucks celebrate Canada Day today, and the big Independence Day holiday happens this weekend in the USA.

Allison Crowe is celebrating this period of great artistic success and reaching new milestones in her progress as an independent musical force. The band, recently formed with guitarist Billie Woods, bassist Dave Baird and percussionist Laurent Boucher, is a rocking combo.

These are exciting times. Thank you for listening, writing, and being in touch in all ways.

July and August will see a focus on writing, recording, bike-riding, and all 'round fun. (Live touring resumes in the Fall.) Marking this moment, here be a selection of repertoire-spanning tunes:



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Photographic images by Billie Woods and the illustration accompanying the "Midnight" audio is by "tradigital" artist boki.b - from Vienna, now living in sunny Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Rust never sleeps, so, to keep check on a bureaucracy targeting creators and educators, using as props the dual straw men of terrorism and illegal immigration, here's the Visiting Artists and Academics Petition

For some related Summer+ reading, you can download and read the report: "UK Arts and Culture: Cancelled by Order of the Home Office"

Allison Crowe Band: Triumphant in Europe, Unique in Canada

Allison Crowe and her traveling band – Billie Woods (guitar), Dave Baird (bass) and Laurent Boucher (percussion) – are back in Canada following a triumphant tour of continental Europe.

Playing to full-houses and multiple encores in Aachen, Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin, Prague and Vienna was especially gratifying for the troupe – after a start in the UK that could have derailed less able and determined musicians.

Instead, an encounter with new anti-terrorist/illegal immigration rules has helped fuel the vibrant reform movement in the UK. With public and media support from stern to bow on the island of Great Britain, the news was featured by BBC Radio, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian/Observer, The Scotsman, The Northern Times, The Press & Journal, and many more outlets. The Times of London warned: “Immigration rules threaten to destroy Britain's arts reputation”.

Cultural events described as canceled or in jeopardy as a result of the new laws include: concerts by supreme Russian pianist Grigory Sokolov; African jazz band Les Amazones de Guinée; the English National Opera's production of Così Fan Tutte to be directed by Abbas Kiarostami, the great Iranian film-maker; and events involving a range of participants from Argentinian tango-dancers, to neuroscientists, university lecturers, Chinese artists and touring church choirs.

On June 3, the UK civil liberties group, Manifesto Club, hosted the first “Cabaret Without Borders” in London, England. Allison Crowe spoke to attendees of this packed event via telephone hook-up, minutes before her band's performance in Frankfurt. The Visiting Artists and Academics Petition was launched earlier this year by the Manifesto Club with the endorsement of dozens of the UK's most prominent artists and educators, including: sculptor Antony Gormley; director of the National Portrait Gallery, Sandy Nairne; and the artistic director of the Royal National Theatre, Nicholas Hytner.

Home in Canada, the bicoastal musician and her transnational band, next devote the Summer to writing, playing and recording before Fall '09 Canadian tour dates, Winter 2009 “Tidings” concerts, and, a return to Europe in Spring 2010.

Crowe's success has been built quite differently to a pattern followed for decades by Canadian rock musicians. Rather than rely on grants or corporate support, (or multinational record labels that may themselves receive grants/subsidies), the exciting singer-songwriter who lives on, both, the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, has connected directly with her audience, building a passionate international fan base for her music via internet videos and songs and peerless live performances.

Allison's Crowe's next CD/album will be her seventh release since the 2003 launch of her label, Rubenesque Records Ltd. It will be the first to showcase her quartet.


l - r: Billie Woods (guitar, bgs); Axel Dollheiser (road manager/driver); Allison Crowe (voice, piano, guitar); Dave Baird (bass, bgs); Laurent Boucher (percussion) - the Allison Crowe Band