vocals

june 18th - word of the day - "vocals"
playlist

you know, you're at a show in a smoky bar, pint glass in your left hand, and the opening band comes on stage. the first thing you want to hear to gage the band youve never heard is the lead singer...

...or at least, that's how i start off a new band. maybe its because ive been trained in the vocal department-- maybe if i were a professional percussionist, id want to hear the licks of the drums first to see if the band were in my opinion worth listening to. but theres something compelling about the frontman or frontwoman or frontpeople of a musical act. my dad used to quiz me on which band was playing on the LP... "is it led zeppelin, dad?" "are you kidding? thats not robert plant's voice! come on, kellen girl!" i quickly started to get my chops on which band was who, and it was mostly from the vocalist. "wait wait, i know it. let me hear the singer one more time..."

this weeks show was based on some of the most powerful, riveting, and envelope-pushing vocal chords. i wanted to mix up wordplay a bit by including more musicians of back-in-the-day instead of heavily playing what's going on now (as we usually do). what better word of the day than a vocals show?

it was, to say the least, a pretty difficult show to make. how can anyone sit down and try to squeeze in their favorite singers in a time span of 2 hours? there are so many bands, especially in doo-wop and motown and in the 50s and 60s, that are never played on the greatest hits albums in all the jukeboxes over town, but in fact, provide some incredible talent that was overlooked or lost. i wanted to collaborate with one of my dear friends, the owner of the best and well-rounded record collection ive ever met. he used to cook us indian food in his tiny kitchen and play some of the greatest music ive never heard. that experience of having this incredible music-appreciation afternoon was what i wanted to put through the airwaves on ktsw... not a show of me standing on a pedestal giving my votes on who are the best singers in the world.. it was more of an experience of just listening to some powerful vocals all tied together in the growing amoeba that is music.

i played and mentioned "water boy" by odetta, and i should definitely share this:



cheers listeners and readers!