Tag Archives: Ben Folds

The New Music I’m Listening To Beyond All Measure This Week, May 27 – June 2, 2023:

Hey all you cool cats, welcome again (perhaps) to the hippest corner of the internet. Only the Coolest Of The Cool hang out around here, so be cool, Daddio! Coolen up!

I have eight recommendations from seven artists this week, oddly. That’s just how cool I am, you dig?

A single to start this week’s findings actually came out a couple of weeks ago. Back on the 11th of May, my wife mentioned to me that there was a new song released from Obongjayar. It slipped my mind (because my mind is slippery), but I finally gave it a listen this past weekend and immediately added it to my life. Just Cool is a return to form after last year’s mostly disappointing album from this fantastic London-based vocalist.

Obongjayar – Just Cool

A Synth Punk band from Barcelona called Prison Affair has been rocking my speakers for the past year with their Demo EP. They’ve returned with a two-track single. Versiones Talegueras will have you bopping around the kitchen forcing the cat to dance with you for four minutes.

Prison Affair – Versiones Talegueras

I seem to be enjoying a certain brand of musical style that is often identified as ‘Egg Punk’. I’m not entirely sure what that means, but, like Prison Affair, KLINT is also Egg Punk, apparently. Synth-heavy, hard-driving Rock is what you find in this German band’s new EP, Adrenaline.

KLINT – Adrenaline

An eccentric sounding artist from New Zealand crossed my path this week. Pete Hope hails from Tutaki and his project, EXPLODING MIND utilizes nonsensical spoken poetics across Electronic Industrial beats. The five tracks EP, Big Smile, was released on Saturday (05/27) in advance of his new full-length album that was released on Thursday (06/01).

EXPLODING MIND – Big Smile

20 SPEED METAL DEATH THREATS is the title of EXPLODING MIND’s new full-length. Pete Hope continues on the same uneasy musical canvas that spans multiple rhythmic palates.

EXPLODING MIND – 20 SPEED METAL DEATH THREATS

London’s Jazz Scene strikes again. South London’s Speaker’s Corner is a local bar that hosts Hip-Hop and Spoken Word Nights. Among this community Speaker’s Corner Quartet was formed. The four form a unique combination of flute, violin, bass and drums, with synth to make a beautiful sound on Further Out Than The Edge. Guests include Shabaka Hutchings and Sampha.

Speakers Corner Quartet – Further Out Than The Edge

My favourite piano-based Singer/Songwriter has come back with his first album in eight years. Ben Folds (he of the Five) is a terrific lyricist, with biting humour and insightful musings. His musicianship is beyond compare. I love Ben, and his new album, What Matters Most, may grow on me yet. As it currently stands, I’m merely somewhat bemused. When he’s strong, as on the track Kristine From The Seventh Grade, there really is none better.

Ben Folds – What Matters Most

My Feature Pick for this week comes from Zambia, via Belgium. WITCH is a revered six-piece Rock band, known throughout Africa and Europe. There’s a party going on on Zango, with driving rhythms, call-and-response vocals, and pulsating bass. PLAY LOUD.

WITCH – Zango

Just remember, being kind to yourself and others is the coolest! I’ll talk to you again soon.

Upcoming New Releases (Running Away With Me), Week Ending Friday, June 2, 2023:

I’ve noticed that I’m starting to get regular readers to my page, and the numbers are growing. I’m not going viral, exactly, but I seem to have a small community growing around my weekly musings. It has inspired me to drop some fresh rhymes. Drop the beat!

Uh…yeah…

Writing this blog, it’s hard to concentrate,
I’ve got so many fans, I gotta oscillate.
With twenty views a day, it’s time to celebrate.
You say that’s pretty bad, I say “naw, it’s hella great.”

Take that, Machine Gun Kelly!

Machine Gun Kelly

It looks to be a fully-loaded New Release Week, with lots of known and revered Artists pitching their wares. Bob Dylan has a new album, but it is merely reworkings of his repertoire. Leading the pack with New Music is Foo Fighters, which is sure to do very well, despite my lack of promo.

Foo Fighters – Show Me How

The undercard is chockablock with well-known musicians including Metro Boomin, Noel Gallagher, Rancid, Rufus Wainwright, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, John Mellencamp, Ben Harper, Cowboy Junkies, Avenged Sevenfold, Jack Johnson, Tanya Tucker, and my New Music Hero, Ben Folds. I would be foolish if I pretended I wasn’t going to add that album to my life. I’ve already pre-ordered it. We will discuss it on Friday.

Rancid – Devil In Disguise

The ol’ BandCamp Wishlist has eight titles awaiting release and adjudication. I’m interested to hear how the full album by a six-piece from Zambia has turned out. Funk-Rock Band Witch releases their album Zango on Friday.

Witch – Avalanche of Love (feat. Sampa The Great)

Is it just my imagination, or is it gearing up to be an exceptional New Release Week? Come back on Friday to check out my findings.

Be kind to yourself!

Jason’s New Music Heroes, Chapter Nine – Ben Folds:

Back in the ‘90’s there used to be an Indie Music Magazine called CMJ New Music Monthly. It ran from 1993 until 2009. CMJ stood for College Media Journal, and with every issue, it came with a Compact Disc, featuring 15-20 tracks from the artists featured that month. I never subscribed to this magazine but my old roommate and Life Hero Phil did. That year I lived with Phil (most of 1997), we discovered great New Music via this method (though Phil was far more savvy than I).

CMJ New Music Monthly, March 1997 Vol. 43 Check out that track list!

Phil called my attention to Track Two of the disc by a band I hadn’t heard of, called Ben Folds Five. The Battle Of Who Could Care Less was my introduction to the talent, humour, and tunefulness of this trio. The band’s name alone gives clue as to where their heart lies. The smokin’ hot harmonies and casual obscenity were a one-two knockout to my heart.

Ben Folds Five – The Battle of Who Could Care Less

As usual, not only did Phil know who this band was, he was already in possession of their 1995 Self-Titled Debut Album. I immediately dove in.

Ben Folds Five – s/t

I soon learned that Ben Folds Five was the brain science of the band’s chief songwriter, pianist and leader, Mr. Folds. On bass was Robert Sledge, and rounding out the trio on drums was Darren Jessee, and they hailed from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. What made this band lineup unique in the mid 1990’s was the fact that it was piano-led, and avoided the use of guitars. Post Grunge, they really stood out for that reason alone. The fact that the musicianship is so tight and confident, they’re able to rock like any screaming Metal Band, and cap it off with an impromptu Sonata. The thoughtful and humorous outsider lyrics helped cement their reputation as “Punk Rock For Sissies.”

Ben Folds Five – Underground (Live)

The Five started gaining a reputation for their live show, and they toured ceaselessly through the mid-to-late ‘90’s. They travelled in a van bringing along a baby grand piano and Marshall amp stack with them. That, my friends, is dedication to your craft.

Ben Folds Five – For Those of Y’all Who Wear Fanny Packs
This is the band, jamming during soundcheck, with hilarious effect.

The Battle Of Who Could Care Less was the first single from Ben Folds Five’s second album, Whatever And Ever Amen. It continued their humorous insight into modern culture, with more space being given to musings on failed love and starting over.

Ben Folds Five – Selfless, Cold and Composed (live)

What came next was the surprising success of the album’s fourth single, Brick. Brick is a standout song on the album, and if anyone knows Ben Folds Five, it’s probably because of this song. This ballad about a real-life teen abortion is so unlike any of the rest of the band’s repertoire, but it drove the album to sell over a million copies in the US. It became a millstone around the band’s neck. The early fans thought they had “sold out,” and the people who fell in love with Brick had no time for the other (more accurate) side to the band. The band quickly learned to hate it.

Ben Folds Five – Brick

The success of Brick gave Ben Folds Five the opportunity to tour the world, and soon began to establish a fan base in Japan and Australia, that still exists today for Folds. On the Japanese edition of Whatever And Ever Amen, they added a Japanese lyric version of Song For The Dumped.

Ben Folds Five – Song For The Dumped
(Japanese Version)

After experiencing what the highs of success and fame had to offer, Ben made a decision to take this opportunity to create a project that I knew that he could lean on the record company for the studio time, and not worry too much about success. The result was an album under the name Fear Of Pop, which was released to no acclaim, and quickly disappeared. What’s notable for this project was the track that featured William Shatner. The ElectroPop of In Love, matched with the creepy come-on from Captain Kirk is more than enough to spark anyone’s curiosity. This wouldn’t be the last time that Ben worked with Shatner, producing an album for him in 2004.

Fear Of Pop – In Love

The pressure to follow up the success of Whatever and Ever Amen was wearing on Ben around this time, and he began composing a long-form song cycle, with little to no regard to audience reaction. After some coaxing, Ben Folds Five’s third album was finally cobbled together from what Ben had come up with. The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner arrived with a thud. It was clear that aside from the lead single, Army, this was going to be a difficult listen.

Ben Folds Five – Army

Orchestral arrangements accompany the band on Messner, giving the band a lush sheen to counterpoint the down and dirty lead bass and furious piano. The band’s fans were left confused by its depth and murky subject matter. People looking for Brick Part Two were instead warned that the protagonist suffers from Narcolepsy. He’s not tired. He just sleeps.

Ben Folds Five – Narcolepsy

It was during this album cycle that me and my wife, Jennifer, were able to see Ben Folds Five in concert. They opened up for Beck while he was touring behind his latest album, Midnite Vultures. It may not be his best, but it’s my favourite Beck album.

Beck – Sexx Laws

Ben Folds Five more than outdid themselves in terms of aggressively tight musicality and fantastic showmanship. The manic collective of the band was palpable, as though one too many shows had seeped whatever conscious energy that remained, and they were working with pure adrenaline. A show filmed for Japanese Television around this time is a document of a band at the end of their tether.

End of Song For The Dumped, encore at Tokyo Dome, September 1999

Friction between the band members, and fatigue with being around each other, led to the band breaking up the following year.

It wouldn’t be until years later the Reinhold Messner album got some of the credit that it deserves, as many of the Emo Bands of the ‘00’s would cite it as an influence. In fact, it was because of this that MySpace was able to coax a reunion out of the band in 2008, where they performed the album in its entirety.

Ben Folds Five –
Narcolepsy & Don’t Change Your Plans

After the band broke up in 2000, Ben’s solo career began in earnest, and he began work on Rockin’ The Suburbs. Having gotten married (to this third wife, Frally), and becoming father to twins, Ben’s lyrics take a sentimental turn on his debut solo album. The biggest hit to have longevity from this record is his ballad to his wife, The Luckiest. It’s a new wedding favourite that has been used in many movies.

Ben Folds – The Luckiest

The album is a spotty, but mostly great introduction to the many previously unseen facets to Folds’ personality. Where it’s strengths lie are in the several character studies (Annie Waits, Zac and Sara, Fred Jones Part 2, Losing Lisa, Carrying Cathy), which have been a strength throughout his career. The humour is still there, with the cutting title track (a swipe at Limp Bizkit and their ilk), and Fired.

Ben Folds – Fired

Rockin’ The Suburbs came out on the unfortunate Street Date of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Terrorist attacks are terrible, in terms of album sales, and didn’t help anybody in anyway, much less Ben Folds and Mariah Carey. No one remembers the real victims.

Mariah Carey – All My Life

That fall, Ben Folds did a show in Toronto in support of the album, with a new trio, and a more approachable stage persona. That show cemented my fandom in Folds. At one point in the show, before doing Army, he divided the audience in half to sing the saxophone and trumpet parts. Before performing Not The Same, he taught the audience the three-part harmony for the backup vocals. The Music Nerd in me lit up with all sorts of dopamine. He’s one of us!

Ben Folds – Not The Same (Solo/Live, June 2002, Northhampton, MA

Unfortunately, Rockin’ The Suburbs wasn’t the success that it should have been, but it continues to be a classic for those in the know. At this point, I had come to the opinion that it was completely unjustifiable that this man was so talented and original and still wasn’t as rich and famous as Bono.

I have no good reason to dislike him, I just do.

Folds, in fact, at that time, was so unsuccessful that he was forced to go on a financially-strapped US tour, where he performed solo and interacted with the audience. It was on this tour that a tradition began, where Ben would improvise a song on the spot at each show. Thus began Rock This Bitch.

Ben Folds – Rock This Bitch (Solo/Live, March 2002, Chicago, IL

The Ben Folds Five fan base in Australia and Japan was still strong enough for Ben to make a return visit. It was on a stop in Tokyo where he would show off his ability to quickly compose and produce Station Idents for “Tokyo’s Number One Music Station.”

Ben Folds – Radio Jingles For Tokyo’s InterFM

Folds’ second solo album, Songs For Silverman, took nearly three years to arrive. Though this album was dedicated to Ben’s wife, Frally, the lyrics contained within spoke of an unhappy home, distrust, and betrayal. The writing on the wall wasn’t hard to read, and Ben’s marriage broke up not long after Silverman was released. The lead-off single for the album was Landed, another surefire hit in another dimension.

Ben Folds – Landed

Songs For Silverman became another Cult classic, in that it sold worse than his first solo record, but is still much-loved. Ben’s insightful and sarcastic humour is in full force, with songs like Jesusland and Bastard. The chorus of the latter track is a bit of a mantra of mine; “Why you gotta act like you know when you don’t know? It’s OK if you don’t know everything.”

Ben Folds – Bastard

Ben’s third solo album Way To Normal was released in 2008, and a curious, very Early-21st Century thing occurred in its lead-up to release. In July of that year, someone posted an early link to a fansite with a pdf of an album cover, and a list of songs for Ben Folds’ new album. When this was brought to his attention, Ben and Band were on tour in Ireland. He immediately booked studio time and spent an evening creating and recording new songs with the titles that had been “leaked.” He then leaked those songs himself. In some cases, the fake versions have become more beloved than the actual album versions.

Ben Folds – Bitch Went Nutz (Fake Version)

Way To Normal is a much more mean-spirited album, in the way the lyrics play out towards the object of his emotional turmoil. While Ben was always hesitant to talk about the autobiographical nature of his songs, in deference to the mother of his children, it is pretty clear that Ben is not in a happy place. His duet with Regina Spektor, You Don’t Know Me, was a minor hit. Watch for Jason Sudeikis on trombone.

Ben Folds w/ Regina Spektor – You Don’t Know Me (live on Late Night With Conan O’Brien 10/02/08)

Ben’s next project would ensure that he wouldn’t be getting questions regarding the lyrical inspiration. For this one, he was approached by author and fan Nick Hornby. The author of Fever Pitch and High Fidelity wondered if Ben would be interested in putting music to some of his words. Turns out that appreciation was mutual, and Folds jumped at the idea. The resulting album, Lonely Avenue was critically acclaimed, and featured some of Ben’s most ambitious songcraft. It spawned another minor hit for Ben, From Above.

Ben Folds/Nick Hornby – From Above

I truly feel that not being bogged down by his own emotions, and giving voice to someone else’s words was a terrific exercise for Ben to flex musical muscles previously unseen.

Ben Folds/Nick Hornby – Saskia Hamilton

Following the project with Nick Hornby, Ben reunited with the pair from BF5 for a new album and tour. The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind was released 2012 to almost zero fanfare, despite having The Fraggles star in their video.

Ben Folds Five – Do It Anyway

The album sold to expectations, and the following World Tour was also a success, but it wasn’t enough to extend the life of the band, and after a Live album Ben Folds Five again went their separate ways.

Ben Folds Five – Draw A Crowd (Live)

Ben then got himself involved in a project that none of his fans saw coming. I’m not sure if you remember watching television in the early 2000’s, but reality shows were all the rage. In particular, Music competitions that promised fame and fortune to the winners were on every Network. There were too many shows like this to mention, but Ben Folds ended up being a mentor and judge on NBC’s The Sing Off. What made this show different was that it was not a contest pitting solo artists against each other, but instead it was acapella choral groups. I’m a sucker for unaccompanied voices. This was, without a doubt, the nerdiest Reality Competition on Television, and I was hooked.

Street Corner Symphony w/Ben Folds – Gone

Ben’s next project was a step towards Classical and Chamber Pop. His fifth solo album So There was a collaboration with New York City’s octet yMusic on eight songs, with the album ending with three concertos for Piano and Orchestra, performed with the Nashville Symphony. It is a bold and unique mix of Pop and Classical elements. Lyrically, Ben has gained perspective; “Seems what’s been good for the Music hasn’t always been so good for the life,” he sings on Phone In A Pool.

Ben Folds w/yMusic – Phone In A Pool

For the last few years Ben has been dividing his time between Nashville and Sydney, Australia, and has remarried again. While in Nashville, he helped save RCA Recording Studio A, which is a legendary studio founded by Chet Atkins, where artists such as Dolly Parton, The Monkees, and Paramore have recorded, and was due for the wrecking ball. Ben bought this Historic Landmark and it continues to operate today.

RCA Recording Studio A, Nashville, TN

Ben has become renowned for his efforts in support of Music Education, and is the first Artistic Advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Centre in Washington, DC. He continues to travel and perform around the world, and will often do shows with local orchestras.

Ben Folds & LSU Symphony Orchestra –
Rock This Bitch

He still performs solo shows, and at times will do “Paper Airplane Tours”, where the audience requests songs, via paper airplane, and Ben would make up the setlist on the spot.

Ben Folds – Straight Up (Paula Abdul cover?)

Back in 2020, when the pandemic started, Ben found himself confined in Australia, with all his shows cancelled, and travel restricted. He decided to spend his time doing weekly livestreams, playing requests for viewers.

Ben Folds – Apartment Requests #3

That same year, at the halfway point of the year, Ben released a single that captured the moment beautifully, called 2020.

Ben Folds – 2020

There doesn’t appear to be a new album in sight from Ben Folds, and he recently released his autobiography, A Dream About Lightning Bugs: A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons. I truly hope this doesn’t mean he is hanging up his songwriting gloves (or whatever), because it would be a damn shame.

A Dream About Lightning Bugs –
Audiobook Sample

Whether or not we will be another album by Ben Folds remains to be seen. I hope we’ll hear some new songs, because I’m invested in this man’s voice. The story isn’t over yet.

Ben Folds Five – Best Imitation of Myself
(live, 1997)

Thanks for reading! Check back next Sunday (11/13) for Jason’s New Music Heroes, Chapter Ten – Danny Michel.

Be kind to each other!

Jason’s New Music Heroes, Chapter Eight – Thelonious Monk:

When my life in Music Retail began at the forgotten CD Plus, in Kitchener, Ontario, I soon learned that I needed to get my head out of all the Popular Music that was occurring around me, and engage in something completely different, lest I go crazy. This realization was precipitated by the success (in Canada) of the single, Superman’s Dead, by Our Lady Peace. “Stop!,” my brain screamed, “Anything but this!”

Our Lady Peace – Superman’s Dead

The plan was to engage in a genre of Music that wasn’t being spoon-fed to the masses, that I could pick up at my own pace, and find my own joy. Now that I was working in a Music Store, I could open and listen to any CD that we had in stock. Imagine the freedom to have access to that amount of Music! It was like a really inconvenient Spotify, where you have to reseal the CDs after you’ve finished listening.

I can still remember the smell of melted plastic.
Photo Credit: sealersales.com

My next musical move would ultimately be inspired by the authors that I admired. At the time I was a fairly prodigious reader, and my heart was firmly stationed among the amphetamine-fueled Beat Writers of the 1940’s-60’s. Poets and authors like William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and Jack Kerouac especially are still favourites of mine. As such, I would dive into stream of Jazz known as Bebop. This began a deeper appreciation of the many different facets of Jazz at-large that lasts to this day.

Poetry and Jazz, baby!

One of the few CDs that I still own from my year at CD Plus is a Budget-line repackage collection that cost me about $4 with my staff discount. It started my love for Thelonious Monk.

Thelonious Monk – ‘Round Midnight And Other Jazz Classics
From Jazztime!

I had never heard such beautiful dissonance! Remarkable melodies offset by a raging genius tiger on piano. Monk’s sure sense of timing, and use of “off-rhythms” caught my heart immediately. The solos sound like tightrope walks wobbling toward disaster, before transcending to heights I had previously not heard. And there’s the man himself, grunting along as he plays in unconscious acquiescence. There is something special about this man.

Thelonious Monk – Epistrophy

Thelonious Sphere Monk was born October 10, 1917 in North Carolina, and his family moved to Manhattan when he was 5. He started playing piano at the age of six, and was classically trained for a time. He spent his early years accompanying a travelling Pastor on organ, and by his late-teens he was a working Jazz Musician. In 1943 he reported for his Army Induction, and he was labeled a “Psychiatric Reject.” Around this time he became the House Pianist at Minton’s Playhouse, a legendary nightclub that played host to “cutting contests”, where soloists would go up against each other. Future legends, including Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins, and Miles Davis were regulars at Minton’s.

Thelonious Monk, Howard McGhee, Roy Eldridge & Teddy Hill at Minton’s Playhouse, September 1947 Photo Credit: nytimes.com

Monk’s reputation grew, and he had his first recording sessions with Blue Note Records in 1947. Things were rolling smoothly for Monk until August, 1951, when New York Police searched a car that he was in with Bud Powell. They found narcotics (gasp!) believed to be Powell’s, and Monk refused to testify against his friend. The Police, as a result, confiscated Monk’s Cabaret Card, which, as a Black Man, he needed to perform in nightclubs in New York City. It wouldn’t be returned to him until 1957. During that time, Monk still recorded, for Prestige and Riverside, where he recorded Brilliant Corners with Sonny Rollins. That album would be his first commercial success. Monk’s melodies are on point.

Thelonious Monk – Brilliant Corners

After Brilliant Corners, Monk’s next quartet featured another saxophone legend: John Coltrane. Not much was recorded of this pairing, save a session for Riverside of what were already becoming Monk Standards.

Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane

Back in 1960, saxophonist Steve Lacy compiled a list of pieces of advice said by Thelonious Monk, and thanks to Music Writer Eric Alper, it has been making the rounds on the internet. It shows the amount of passion that Monk put into his work. Some gems include, “DON’T PLAY EVERYTHING (OR EVERY TIME); LET SOME THINGS GO BY. SOME MUSIC JUST IMAGINED. WHAT YOU DON’T PLAY CAN BE MORE IMPORTANT THAT WHAT YOU DO.”, and “YOU’VE GOT TO DIG IT TO DIG IT, YOU DIG?”

Photo Credit: thatericalper.com

In October of 1958, Monk and his travelling companion Baroness Pannonica “Nica” de Koenigswarter were detained by police in Wilmington, Delaware. Thelonious refused to answer questions or cooperate with police, who then beat him with a blackjack. Although they found narcotics in the car, the Judge in the Superior Court ruled that because of the beating and unlawful detention, the charges were void. I will have more to say about the Baroness in a future chapter of New Music Heroes, because she absolutely fits the bill.

Pannonica de Koenigswarter
with Thelonious Monk
Photo Credit: ricochet.com

At this stage in Monk’s career, he is highly thought of by his peers, and some critics, but his records still sold poorly, and was regarded as too “difficult” for Mainstream audiences. That would change with his contract in 1962 with Columbia Records. As one of the four Major Labels in the Music Industry, they had the best recording equipment, engineers, and producers. Monk would utilize them through his next dozen albums, over the next six years, through various band setups, solo recordings, and live albums. Monk’s success finally caught up with his reputation, and he was featured on the cover of Time Magazine.

Time Magazine cover, February, 1964

His time at Columbia offered Monk the opportunity to travel abroad, and do shows to rapturous audiences across Europe.

Thelonious Monk – Well You Needn’t

There’s a fascinating documentary about Thelonious Monk, called Straight, No Chaser, that I can’t recommend enough. Produced by Clint Eastwood, the film details Monk’s life and career, and in particular his struggles with mental illness.

Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser

Thelonious Monk’s last recording session was in 1971, after which he went into a sort of isolation. The last few years of his life were spent at the home of Pannonica de Koenigswarter, where she and Monk’s wife Nellie took care of him until he passed away from a stroke on February 17, 1982.

Thelonious Monk – Crepuscle With Nellie

Monk is a hero to me for his bold and unique approach to instrumentation, and his skill with rhythm and melody. His ability to be his authentic self in the harsh reality of 20th Century America, with the obstacle of mental illness is a mighty inspiration.

Thelonious Monk Quartet – Blue Monk
Live in Belgium, 1966

Thanks for reading, friends! I’ll be talking to you again this week, a couple of times, before next Sunday’s (11/06) edition of Jason’s New Music Heroes, Chapter Nine – Ben Folds. Be kind!