Catching Up With Christopher O'Riley
I'm also up for crossgenre'd interpretations of indie rock. Gold Sounds was surprisingly awesome.
Classical pianist Christopher O'Riley, who has done some truly majestic work with Radiohead's catalog, had his work cut out for him with Home To Oblivion, a collection of Elliott Smith covers. Smith fans take that shit seriously.
O'Riley stopped by NPR's All Things Considered yesterday to discuss the challenge of translating Smith's lyrics and music and why he thinks the late songwriter is the greatest American songwriter of the past 60 years. Interesting stuff. Listen here (Win Media).
Pitchfork hated the album, which Christopher acknowledges on his site: "Same guy who hated me last time, this time more articulately, I'd say, so whether he likes it or not, I seem to be getting through to him."
He's put two tracks on his site, though. So you can decide for yourself.
Christopher O'Riley - "Roman Candle" (MP3)
Christopher O'Riley - "Not Half Right" (MP3)
Posted at 2:03 PM in MP3
I really wanted to see Christopher O'Riley live, when he was here in Greensboro, NC, as part of our annual jazz festival. But tickets to see him were surprisingly expensive, so I passed.
I did, however, get to see The Bad Plus for just $15 (and it was Buy One, Get One Free, so I took a friend with me). For a jazz trio, these guys fuckin' rock! My favs were their covers of "Iron Man" and Aphex Twin's "Flim".
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Hey Scott... I just posted live Beck video of an acoustic version of Debra with him making R. Kelly "In The Closet" jokes and a live video of Soldier Jane.
You can snag it and repost it if you want.
www.kissatlanta.com
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I really want to hear the NPR interview, does anyone have a mac-friendly link for me?
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Just go to the NPR site, and you can get a Real stream. It already has my preferences cookied, though, so I couldn't find it.
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Hi Aaron--here's a mac friendly link to the NPR program:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5481868
As for Pitchfork, there is no accounting for "taste" :)
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I wouldn't say I'm an ES pursit or anything but man, those tracks are just plain dull.
All life, soul and emotion sucked out of them. Just proves technical proficiency is no match for natural talent and ability.
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I couldn't agree more Richard.....all Mr. O'Riley does is play covers on a piano...nothing remotley creative about it. On the other hand, there is a sick jazz piano player by the name of Brad Mehldau (www.bradmehldau.com) who turns radiohead, nick drake, paul simon etc... tunes into works of fucking art...he makes them his own while still keeping the original 'vibe' of the song. much more interesting I thinik.
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i got to see him live in rochester when he was performing radiohead covers - he's remarkable. he did an encore of 'just' with his eyes closed.
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When we get married next year, my fianceé is going to walk down the aisle to O'Reilly's version of "Let Down" which is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard.
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I agree with Dusty's comments about Brad Mehldau. I wouldn't be listening to his music today if it wasn't for trying his Radiohead covers out many years ago. His solo live album is the shit!
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I'll go third on Mehldau. He's amazing, and he plays a lot at the jazz clubs in the Village. Worth every penny, and every drop of the two drink minimum!
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