I have a huge, huge soft spot for Paul Simon. Simon & Garfunkel was one of the first bands I ever got into (like when I was eight) and I still love virtually everything Simon's ever done. My musical tastes were shaped by his catchy melodies, pretty harmonies, and wry, literate lyrics. I'm one of the 12 people that bought the soundtrack to his Broadway play.

So I was both excited and trepidatious about the musical debut of his son (with his first wife) Harper Simon. Needless to say, a lot can go wrong with these musical legacy artists. They tend to ... try too hard. Happily, Simon escapes that trap -- his eponymous debut is a short (30 minute), modest, likeable affair. It doesn't stray to far from his father's template, perhaps with a little less folk and a little more steel-guitar americana. Promising.

This track may be the most Paul-like, perhaps because he co-wrote it with Paul. It's called "Tennessee."

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Friday music blogging: Phosphorescent

Friday music blogging: Here We Go Magic

Happy birthday, EMA Awards ... and you other groups, too

Phosphorescent is a low-key, low-fi indie folk band along the lines of Iron & Wine or Bon Iver -- your basic haunting, echo-y, twangy music for bearded folk. They've never really broken out, but if you're among the bearded, trust me, they will richly reward your attention.

Their new album is called To Willie, and as you might guess from the title, it's a tribute album to Willie Nelson, along the lines of Nelsons' To Lefty from Willie.

This is the first track, "Reasons to Quit."

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Friday music blogging: Harper Simon

Friday music blogging: Here We Go Magic

Happy birthday, EMA Awards ... and you other groups, too

Here We Go Magic is the new project from Seattle singer-songwriter Luke Temple. It is quite a departure from his previous albums under his own name, which were folky, hummable affairs.

HWGM, on the other hand, is like krautrock meets Graceland meets Bon Iver meets ... a really big bong. Drony, pulsating, ethereal, gorgeous, occasionally latin tinged, this is an excellent album for the long, cold nights of winter. Snuggle up.

This track is called "Fangela."

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Learning how to count to 350

Friday music blogging: Harper Simon

Friday music blogging: Phosphorescent

This weekend marks the twentieth annual occurrence of a vaunted celebration you’ve quite possibly never heard of: the Environmental Media Association awards. The EMAs actually do a pretty good job of attracting A-list stars, or at least A-minus, and are the original “green-carpet” event. Each year, there are a handful of honorary awards (this year’s recipients include Richard Branson and Jason Mraz) and several others given in various film and TV categories. Sometimes it can feel like a stretch: for instance, while the nominating committee must have been thrilled with the documentary selections available to them this year—Fuel, Food, Inc., The Cove, No Impact Man—when it came to TV, they were reduced to choosing episodes of such knock-your-socks-off shows as Better Off Ted and ‘Til Death.

Yeah.

But it’s fun to add some glitz to green, and I tip my newsgirl cap to the EMA for the work it’s done on that front through all its efforts, including these awards. Apparently for twenty years! Who knew.

In search of a little context, I thought I’d see who else is celebrating a “platinum” anniversary this year—since Grist has made it to ten years (tin/aluminum!), why not look to our elders for wisdom. Turns out those commemorating their twentieth include such international heavyweights as the Goldman Prize and the U.N. Environment Program’s information office, known fondly as GRID-Arendal. They also include slightly lesser, but no less fascinating, eco-lights: the National Wetlands Awards, New York City environmental-justice and health organization WE-Act, NRDC’s Southern California office, Canadian grocery company Loblaw’s PC Green product line, and ... Turtle Independence Day!

Which can mean only one thing—it’s time to raise a glass, and it’s time to vote:

Related Links:

Chuck Norris on Copenhagen

AP: Since 1997 “climate change has worsened and accelerated”

Here’s what we know so far

Ken rewrote this song -- one of our favorites in the "music for the apocalypse" category -- as a rallying cry for the Day of Climate Action this Saturday, October 24, everywhere. He had to smoke a whole pack of cigarettes beforehand to get his voice that gritty. We'll be at the Boston Under Water Festival in downtown Boston.  Please join us in the spirit of 350, wherever you are. (Find an action near you at 350.org.)

Eve of Destruction (New Millennium)

music, Barry McGuire
new lyrics, Ken Ward

The Arctic ice, it is a'meltin'
The polar bears, they are sweltering
You've heard about this, till your brain's explodin'
Your lightbulbs are changed, but what's that car you're drivin'
And do you really think, we'll save the world by recyclin'?

And you tell me
Over and over and over again my friend
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction

Necessary conditions, for civilization
Three hundred fifty, there is no debating
Three ninety now and, acceleratin'
Scientists say, we don't need more explanation
Look around you now, there's chaos in the making

But you tell me...

I feel so sad, just contemplatin'
what the world will be like, for the children we are raisin'
How do we prepare them for a world disintegrating
What good for them, is a liberal education?
And what do we say when they ask for explanation?

And you tell me...

Big Green Groups, they are hesitating
To tell the urgent truth, it's so frustrating
Lobby hard they say, and pass legislation
Cap and trade alone, will be our salvation
And BP, they tell us, is cooperating?

And you tell me...

But look around you now, it's so energizin'
October twenty four, we are organizin'
A planet-wide Day, of Climate campaignin'
To heed McKibben's call for, global action
for Three Five O, the only path to salvation
The most important number, in the whole damn nation
Let's not reverse course, of Almighty's creation!

So don't tell me
Over and over and over again my friends
You don't believe we're on the eve of destruction
Open up your eyes and and move your feet into action.

Related Links:

Kids just say no—to fossil fuels

Bill McKibben says time is running out on climate delays

AP: Since 1997 “climate change has worsened and accelerated”

I was bummed to miss FMBing last week, because last Tuesday marked one of the most anticipated events of the year for me: the release of The Avett Brothers' new album I & Love & You.

I FMBd the Avetts almost two years ago, and my gushing then still applies. They play a brand of americana with bluegrass roots, pop hooks, and (live at least) a punk sensibility that's unlike anything else going right now. Most bands struggle to write one or two those special songs you feel like you've known all your life the minute you hear them; the Avetts have dozens.

The new record -- produced by the famed Rick Rubin, who called the boys out of the blue to offer his services -- takes them in a somewhat different direction. It is far more produced and carefully arranged than their somewhat raggedy earlier work, and way cleaner than their raucus, messy live shows. In fact it's almost chamber pop, pristine and gorgeous, foregrounding the piano over the banjo. Some long-time fans have grumbled about this, and I can certainly understand missing the low-fi back-porch vibe of their early albums, but with a result this exquisite, it's hard to complain too much.

Warning: if you're into the sort of disaffected irony or macho braggadocio that passes for pop culture these days, you might not care for the Avetts. Their keening harmonies and vulnerable lyrics will either bring a tear to your eye (and make your significant other snuggle up a little closer) or make you roll your eyes. For me, this is a band that's personal like few bands ever have been. My kids know how to sing these songs; the Avetts might as well be our family band. They speak to a felt need to reconnect to what's real, to find deeper currents of honest feeling in the shallow rapids of today's virtual world. Also they're fun to sing along with.

This song, "Laundry Room," has a moment in it, at about 4:10, that gives me as much joy as anything I've heard in popular music this year. And check out the lyrics. It's hard to convey just how rapturous this song is live. You really must see them if you get a chance.

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Friday music blogging: Harper Simon

Friday music blogging: Phosphorescent

Friday music blogging: Here We Go Magic

So earnest it hurts.The new climate anthem is out—you know, the remake of “Beds Are Burning” that features such hip, 21st-century acts as Duran Duran, Bob Geldof, and Youssou N’Dour—and I can’t get it out of my head.

Actually, it left my head pretty much as soon as the 4:02 video ended. But I was struck by, and can’t stop thinking about, the fact that the modified language in the song goes like this: “The time has come/to take a stand/it’s for the Earth/it’s for our land.”

I expect this to resonate with exactly no one.

Right? Of all the ways to get people fired up about the urgency of the climate issue, is “land” going to get the job done?

This notion keeps surfacing in discussions at Grist—first when Obama gave his speech, and laid out the various reasons the U.S. needed to take action. (Not any plan for taking action, but some darn good reasons why we should think seriously about it.) Then with the debut of the latest Ken Burns documentary, the one on the national parks. Associated with that program has been a fair amount of press (and press releases) warning of the damage that climate change could inflict on our treasured parks—Glacier losing its glaciers, Joshua Tree losing its Joshua trees, and so forth.

Which is a bummer, to be sure—even tragic in some sense. But is it tragic to someone who can’t find a job? For that matter, is it tragic to someone who has a great job and all the comforts that go along with it?

There was a time when protecting land was enough to get environmentalists and their allies all fired up. That’s what got the movement going. And to be sure, there is still important work going on in that arena. But as a way in to the climate issue, I think we can do better.

How about drawing the connections to jobs, or health, or the despicable folk who run our slimiest corporations? How about saving money or protecting your children?

Or how about thinking of some shiny new ways to get people to “care” about the climate. How about making it a competition to see which country can lower its emissions most—winner gets free ice cream for every citizen! How about making a new reality show in which industries face off against each other, American Gladiator-style, for the right to emit? How about tying it to sex? Surely there’s a way to tie it to sex.

I think they should redo that video.

Related Links:

Kids just say no—to fossil fuels

AP: Since 1997 “climate change has worsened and accelerated”

Here’s what we know so far

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Friday music blogging: Harper Simon

Climate Citizen: Mary Stuart Masterson

Gucci Group commits to saving Indonesia’s rainforests

Several years ago -- I think around 2004 or 2005 -- I caught a show in Seattle that I figured was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes), Jim James (of My Morning Jacket), M. Ward (solo artist and She & Him), and Mike Mogis (who played on and helped produce records from all the above) were touring together, on hiatus from their respective day jobs. They each played on the others' songs and did a few covers, jokingly calling themselves "Monsters of Folk." It remains one of the more spontaneous, delightful shows I've ever seen.

(You young whippersnappers may not get the reference. Monsters of Rock was an annual music festival, but is particularly known for for an epic 1991 show in front of 1.6 million people at an airfield in Moscow, with Metallica, AC/DC, and Pantera. Those were the days!)

Most "super groups" disappoint, but these guys finally made the time to put out a self-titled album and it's fantastic. I guess they join the ranks of the Traveling Wilburys and ... that other good super group.

All of them have, in their own ways, spent the arc of their careers trying to transcend the genres they came up in, and the album shows the resulting diversity, though it's united throughout by warm, beautiful vocal harmonies. The songwriting is top notch. It's just good music. (See: NPR review.)

This song is called "Say Please."

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Friday music blogging: Harper Simon

Friday music blogging: Phosphorescent

Friday music blogging: Here We Go Magic

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Friday music blogging: Harper Simon

It’s Getting Ha! in Here: Maria Bamford

Climate Citizen: Mary Stuart Masterson

Fact: At some point, everyone could stand to give in to a little cheesy Euro-disco-electronic music. Do not try to dispute this.

To celebrate this late-summer sunny day in Seattle and my upcoming birthday, here's something more upbeat than usual. Röyksopp is a Norwegian duo that makes music that lends itself to television -- their songs have been used in all sorts of shows and commercials. They do know their way around a hook. Their latest is called Junior. This track is called "This Is It."

See also the immortally cool video for their first single, 2005's "Eple" -- now used as intro music to Apple's operating system.

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Friday music blogging: Harper Simon

Friday music blogging: Phosphorescent

Friday music blogging: Here We Go Magic

The Low Anthem originally released their debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, last year. It's been a sleeper hit (as these things go), gradually spreading by word-of-mouth to the point that label Nonesuch felt compelled to re-release it this year.

It's a really special album -- been steadily growing on me for a while. I'll wager these guys are going to blow up soon.

The trio alternates between spooky folk harmonies and gargled Americana barn rock, and they do both extremely well, so here's one of each. The first is called "Ohio," the second "The Horizon Is a Beltway."

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Friday music blogging: Harper Simon

Friday music blogging: Phosphorescent

Friday music blogging: Here We Go Magic

Gomez is one of those bands that for a brief moment in the late '90s and early '00s aaalmost reached the big time, and then ... didn't. But when their moment of almost-fame passed, they didn't quit. They've soldiered on ever since as a solid second-tier draw, touring incessantly and releasing a modest-selling album every few years. These kind yeoman, committed career bands don't get enough credit.

The latest from these Brits, their sixth LP, is A New Tide. Over the years they've drifted from one part of their sound to another -- blues, indie pop, and art skronk in varying ratios. The latest is on the poppy side, accessible and catchy, if still with the band's trademark smoky rasp. This song, "Airstream Driver," is my fave.

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Friday music blogging: Harper Simon

Friday music blogging: Phosphorescent

Friday music blogging: Here We Go Magic

Several studies have looked at the climate impact of internet infrastructure and information technology, and other studies have attempted to compare the relative efficiency of internet retailing vs. traditional bricks-and-mortar stores. A new study takes a different spin on the subject, comparing the energy embodied in physical products with their digital, network-based counterparts.

The result is hardly shocking, but it’s kind of fun nonetheless: a life cycle analysis reveals that downloading music digitally creates less than one sixth the carbon emissions of buying it from a retail store (pdf).

The study compares six scenarios:

Even when the consumer burns the downloaded music to writeable CDs, the digital version of an album is environmentally friendlier than the physical version, despite the electricity consumed by the internet delivery infrastructure and the shopper’s computer.

Note that well over half of the emissions of the album purchased from a physical store come from the car ride to the store. This portion of the footprint will vary dramatically based on the purchaser’s proximity to the store and choice of transportation. In the best case — a trip on foot or by bicycle — buying a CD in a physical store has about the same impact as downloading it, burning it to CD, and storing it in a jewel case.

In semi-related news, several universities are experimenting with using the Amazon Kindle electronic reader to deliver electronic textbooks to students — and they’re claiming sustainability as a primary motivation. This notion rubs some people the wrong way. Books are low-tech, durable, and ostensibly derived from renewable resources. Electronic readers are cheap-looking plastic devices that need to be plugged into an outlet and presumably will end up in a landfill when newer models come out.

It’s not clear to me, though, which way the scales tip. Book are not, of course, completely benign. Energy goes into their manufacture, transport, and disposal. Beyond that — and here I speak as a Kindle owner — electronic readers do result in at least some energy savings by supplanting computer use. I suspect that physical books retain an edge over their digital cousins, possibly a substantial one. But I’d be curious to see some actual numbers.

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Friday music blogging: Harper Simon

It’s Getting Ha! in Here: Featuring Aziz Ansari

Dogs Vs. SUVs

Last year I FMB'd Black Mountain, a druggy, bell-bottomed Canadian indie band that does fantastic stoner rock.

Two members of that band, Amber Webber and Joshua Wells, formed a side project a few years ago called Lightning Dust. They have a new album out, Infinite Light, and it's well worth your time.

Where Black Mountain lay on the psychedelia pretty heavy, Lighting Dust is a bit more open and airy, more accessible, slightly more theatrical. It hangs together because of Webber's haunting, shivering voice, one of the most memorable voices in popular music right now.

This song is called "I Knew."

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Friday music blogging: Harper Simon

Friday music blogging: Phosphorescent

Friday music blogging: Here We Go Magic

Photo: Ryan Eilders via FlickrDuring their 2008 summer tour, the Dave Matthews Band encouraged 160,000 fans to carpool, diverted 8,000 cubic yards of waste from the landfill, employed 550 volunteers to educate fans, and reduced their carbon footprint by almost 8.5 million pounds of CO2 (through eco-efforts and offsets).

This year, they are continuing that commitment with their So Much to Save campaign. Fans who recycle a can (or ten) at a Dave Matthews Band show this summer will receive a download code for the exclusive So Much to Save 2009 album featuring songs from the band and supporting acts from their tour like The Avett Brothers, Gomez, Umphrey's McGee, and others.

Not planning to attend a show? No problem. The free download is also available to fans who take the So Much to Save pledge committing to at least one of the following eco-actions:

So make the commitment today -- I know you're already reading Grist, so why not sign up to stay informed inbox-style? All the kids are doing it.

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Ask Umbra’s video advice on composting

Ask Umbra on trash, toxics, and tots

Friday music blogging: Harper Simon

Photo: Mark O'DonaldWake up, America!
Miley Cyrus, the JoBros, and other Disney mouseketeers tweensters want you to "send it on" -- your love for the earth, that is. However, when it comes to this sugar-pop single, we suggest you only send it on to your worst enemies.

Bagging climate change
It's Jack Handey meets eco-advert ... but we're pretty sure it's just a bunch of hot air.

Photo: Ricardo FariaSpooning
What happens to all those ice-cream taster spoons once you've slurped off the chunky monkey? They become the light of your life!

Onion rings true
PETA: "We have no intention of changing our tactics until every last animal on the planet is given more respect than women."

Heard it through the grapevine
EPA admin Lisa Jackson on Obama: "I haven't seen a brother take on so many issues at once since Marvin Gaye put 'What's Going On,' 'Mercy Mercy Me,' and 'Inner City Blues' all on the same album." How sweet it is, indeed.

Related Links:

Chuck Norris on Copenhagen

The U.S.-India climate ‘partnership’

Obama headed to Copenhagen, sets the bar for success

Show them all the Jonas they possess inside.

It’s easy to smirk at Selena and Miley
They don’t seem to work, and they’re far too smiley.
And when they record a new eco-song,
Who can afford to listen for long?

But here is the thing us fogeys must know:
When tween angels sing, even if the songs blow,
The messages hurled in each sappy chorus
Will help save the world—for the next ones, not for us.

Hat tip to Ecorazzi—if you give hat tips to people who make bad songs burrow into your brain.

Related Links:

Kids just say no—to fossil fuels

Newtongate: the final nail in the coffin of Enlightenment thinking

Friday music blogging: Harper Simon

"President Obama has lit a fire under people. He’s actively engaged in taking on big issues: energy; two wars; health care; the economy. 

I haven’t seen a brother take on so many issues at once since Marvin Gaye put 'What’s Going On,' 'Mercy Mercy Me,' and 'Inner City Blues' all on the same album."

-- EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, speaking at the National Association of Black Journalists 
conference

Related Links:

Chuck Norris on Copenhagen

The U.S.-India climate ‘partnership’

Obama headed to Copenhagen, sets the bar for success

David Bazan is an indie artist from Seattle (wo0t!). He fronted the beloved Pedro the Lion until he went solo back in 2006 with a stellar EP called Fewer Moving Parts. His first full-length solo album, Curse Your Branches, is finally coming out on Sept. 1. You can , and anyway, I'm too jazzed to wait.

Bazan has the potential to become an iconic American songwriter. As he's evolved out of droney Christian folk into something more musically confident and lyrically rich, he's nearing a sound that's timeless, not to mention catchy -- for all his seriousness, Bazan knows his way around a pop hook. This is definitely an album to snag and an artist to watch.

This song is called "Bless This Mess."

Related Links:

Friday music blogging: Harper Simon

Friday music blogging: Phosphorescent

Friday music blogging: Here We Go Magic