The Set List

Kimya Dawson Birthing Songs For Kids While 'Juno' Keeps On Growing

No matter how much the “Juno” soundtrack raises her profile, Kimya Dawson is determined to keep her life simple and grounded.
The anti-folk progenitor is a road warrior, a woman who loves to be on tour and avidly chronicles her journeys on the web. She’s a one-woman operation, selling crafts and art pieces on line, CDs and T-shirts at shows; she keeps her recordings simple and sparse and is beginning a write songs and a book for children. At home, where her baby is now 18 months old, she’s been spending a lot of time painting, less time writing music.
Her bio notes: “she is on a mission to embrace the whole world” and she seems more than happy to play to just about any crowd. Mixed among her current collection of in-stores and club gigs on the East Coast is a show at a hippie commune in rural Virginia. Dawson’s payment? A hammock to sleep in.
“And I hope they'll take me on a tour of their tofu-making operation,” she adds, pointing up her interest in self-sustaining environments and the people who live in them.
Her own home environment is in Olympia, Wash., where she lives with her musician husband Angelo Spencer and daughter Panda. It’s where she created Moldy Peaches with Adam Green and sparked a groundswell of interest in primitive, confessional folk songs and remains committed to the people who have been supporting her all along.
“It's a matter of figuring out how to maintain a sense of community,” she says, appearing uncomfortable forecasting any sort of change now that her music is reaching a far larger audience thanks to “Juno.” The soundtrack was No. 3 in the U.S. last week, selling 68,000 copies and is expected to vie for the top of the chart next week.
It’s a distant commercial cry from the response her fifth album, the acclaimed “Remember That I Love You” (K Records), received when it was released in May 2006 on K Records.

A Rebirth For Soundtracks At Retail?

With the "Juno" soundtrack showing impressive sales numbers in its digital only week - and the expectation that it will hit No. 1 next week at around 100,000 sold - starts to make one wonder if the death certificate for the film soundtrack was not signed a little early.
"Juno," dominated by the acoustic work of Kimya Dawson, is one of those rare entries that holds together as a single entity with other works flowing around hers. Other soundtracks, some as artful, some not, are selling briskly, as well.
"Alvin & the Chipmunks" keeps rising on the chart, it's now No. 13, despite selling fewer copies than the last two weeks. It sold 33,000 in the week ended Sunday.
In addition, cumulative sales for individual tracks from the soundtrack are nearing 1 million, accoridng to the label, Razor & Tie. The Chipmunks are also the only artist with four songs on the top 100 singles sales chart.
After that, it's:
"Sweeney Todd," up five to No. 18, selling 31,000 for a cume of 126,000.
The DVD release of "Once" a week before Christmas has meant significant leaps on the chart. This week it's No. 38, up from 74 and, the week before that, 122. It sold 20,000 in the latest frame bringing its cume 260,000.
"P.S. I Love  You" rose 64 slots to No. 70, selling 13,000 in its second week.
"Enchanted" was down two to No. 86 selling 11,000.
The deluxe edition of "Across the Universe" sold 8,000, about half the previous week's tally, yet dropped only four slots to No. 105.
Eddie Vedder's "Into the Wild" dropped four grand to 7,000 and rose one slot to No. 188. Its cume is 213,000.

Oscars Whittle Down Best Song Contenders: Vedder, Lerche and 'Dewey Cox' Get a Shot

The Oscars might be inviting some cool kids - Marshall Crenshaw, Eddie Vedder, Sondre Lerche and Adam Schlesinger - to their party for song trophies.
Fifty-nine songs are being considered for the 80th Academy Awards,among them three Vedder tunes for "Into the Wild," Schlesinger's centerpiece from "Music and Lyrics" and three from “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.”
Only one film has four contenders - “August Rush” - while Lerche's tunes in "Dan in Real Life," “56 Drops of Blood,” Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz's "Enchanted" and “Good Luck Chuck” (songs by the Flaming Lips, Dandy Warhols and Aidan Hawken) joined “Into the Wild” and "Dewey Cox" with three competitors.
The music-centric pic "Once" has two of the songs from the Frames' Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (“Falling Slowly” and “If You Want Me”) up for consideration.
Naturally, the new tune composed for "Hairspray," “Come So Far (Got So Far to Go),” is in the mix as is “China Doll,” the tune John Sayles and Mason Darling wrote for  “Honeydripper.”
"Walk Hard's" three contenders are "Beautiful Ride” by Dan Bern and Mike Viola; “Walk Hard” by Marshall Crenshaw, John C. Reilly, Judd Apatow and Jake Kasdan; and “Let’s Duet” by Charlie Wadhams and Benji Hughes.
Other pop and rock musicians being considered: Aimee Mann, John Legend, John Mayer, Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Roger Waters, Rob Thomas, Rufus Wainwright and the Eels.
On Jan. 15, the Academy will screen clips featuring each song, in random order, for voting members of the Music Branch in both Beverly Hills and New York City.  Following the screenings, members will vote to determine which three, four or five songs become nominees in the category.       
The list of original songs is after the jump:

Carrie Underwood Rocks Like A Whisker On A Kitten

Carrie Underwood as Julie Andrews? (Well, obviously, based on the Rodgers & Hammerstein reference in the headline).
And Beyonce gets to be Judy Garland. Apparently that's one producer's idea of "rock."
Those two will be part of the "Movies Rock" that will be filmed Sunday at the Kodak Theater for a two-hour prime-time special airing Dec. 7 on CBS. A spinoff of "Fashion Rocks," the initial lineup seems rather devoid of anything resembling "rock."
Underwood will perform "The Sound of Music," Beyonce gets to tackle “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” and Mary J. Blige and John Legend will duet on “As Time Goes By.” Where exactly the rock performers or even rock songs are is anyone's guess.
Being given medley duty are Elton John (an actual rock artist, but he gets animated films), Jennifer Hudson (James Bond tunes) and composer John Williams conducting an orchestra doing his own work.
David Paich, who occasionally rocked as a member of Boz Scaggs' early '70s band before creating Toto, will be the music coordinator.

Soundtracks Tap Vedder, Lerche In The Hunt For Iconic Moments

An Associated Press writer discovers they just don't write movie songs like they used to as a preface to interviews with pop musicians who have written songs for films this year, among them Sondre Lerche (pictured at the "Dan in Real Life" premiere) and Jesse Harris, and filmmakers such as John Sayles and Kirsten Sheridan. Overall point, though, is a little cloudy: Are song composers not coming up with radio friendly work? Is it too expensive to license? Or is it mere fact that no matter how you approach it, soundtracks boil down to sheer luck of the draw and "Garden State" and "Titanic" are landmarks because they connected with music buyers and movie-goers in unique ways that could not be predicted? And no matter what anyone does, you probably won't create an iconic scene to match John Cusack and his boombox in "Say Anything."
What none of the parties involved acknowledge is the destruction of the soundtrack business by iTunes. When soundtrack albums were hot commodities, a fan of a film would not think twice about buying a film soundtrack to capture a collection of songs in a particular order, a la "Garden State." Lightning is unlikely to strike twice these days as fans can, for the most part, cherry pick unless there are a collection of compelling new tunes, such as the case with Eddie Vedder's work for "Into the Wild." Record companies are increasingly reducing the number of soundtracks they release that are dominated by catalog tracks, unless, of course, the catalog tracks are already coming from their vaults. 
Serious soundtrack trivia buffs will immediately the interesting, and slightly moot, point about "Easy Rider" and the inclusion of the Band's "The Weight." While the film did indeed include the original, the soundtrack album was forced to use a version by the band Smith. Capitol Records had no interest in licensing tracks to Dunhill back in the day.

Eddie Vedder Debuts 'Wild' Songs

Eddie Vedder gave the first performance of his songs from Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" at a post-screening party Friday on the Paramount lot. Introduced by Penn and the film's star, Emile Hirsch, Vedder played the film's gem of a track, "Guaranteed," and followed with soundtrack tunes "No Ceiling," "Society"  and, on mandolin instead of acoustic guitar, "Rise."
He also offered up "Drifting," a song initially released only to Pearl Jam fan club members, that he said was a "Christopher McCandless kind of song," referring to the film's nomadic lead character.
He closed with a tune he cut for another Penn film, "I am Sam": The Beatles' "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away." 

Denzel Washington Digs into the Blues With Youngblood Hart and Sharon Jones

It may be a long shot but would it not be wonderful it the soundtrack to "The Great Debaters" did for pre-WWII blues and gospel what "O Brother Where Art Thou?" did for old-time country.
Alvin 'Youngblood' Hart covers Blind Willie Johnson and the Mississippi Sheiks with an assist from the Carolina Chocolate Drops; Sharon Jones, who plays a juke joint singer in the pic,  belts out Tampa Red, Bessie Smith and traditional gospel; and the legendary Memphis session guitarist Teenie Hodges leads the rhythm section on the soundtrack to "The Great Debaters," which Atlantic Records will release on Dec. 11, two weeks before the pic hits screens.
David Berger and the Sultans of Swing cover Duke Ellington's "Delta Serenade" and vintage tracks from Marian Anderson, Art Tatum, and the Delmore Brothers round out the collection.
G. Marq Roswell & Denzel Washington produced the soundtrack.
The track listing:

1. "My Soul Is A Witness" - Alvin 'Youngblood' Hart & Sharon Jones
2. "That's What My Baby Likes" - Sharon Jones, Alvin Youngblood Hart & Teenie Hodges
3. "I've Got Blood In My Eyes For You" - The Carolina Chocolate Drops & Alvin 'Youngblood' Hart
4. "Step It Up and Go" - Alvin 'Youngblood' Hart & Teenie Hodges
5. "It's Tight Like That" - Sharon Jones, Alvin Youngblood Hart & Teenie Hodges
6. "Busy Bootin'" - Alvin 'Youngblood' Hart & The Carolina Chocolate Drops
7. "City Of Refuge" - Alvin 'Youngblood' Hart & The Carolina Chocolate Drops
8. "Two Wings" - Alvin 'Youngblood' Hart, Sharon Jones w/Billy Rivers and the Angelic Voices of Faith
9. "Delta Serenade" - David Berger & The Sultans of Swing
10. "Rock n' Rye" - David Berger & The Sultans of Swing
11. "Wild About That Thing" - Sharon Jones, Alvin Youngblood Hart, & Teenie Hodges
12. "Nobody's Fault But Mine" - Alvin 'Youngblood' Hart & The Carolina Chocolate Drops
13. "How Long Before I Change My Clothes" - Alvin 'Youngblood' Hart
14. "We Shall Not Be Moved" - Sharon Jones w/Billy Rivers and the Angelic Voices of Faith
15. "Up Above My Head" - Sharon Jones w/Billy Rivers and the Angelic Voices of Faith
16. "The Shout" - Art Tatum
17. "Scoodle Um Skoo" - Papa Charlie Jackson
18. "I Ain't Got Nowhere To Travel" - The Delmore Brothers
19. "Begrussung" - Marian Anderson

Dylan's 'There' Found In Neil Young's Lair

Bob Dylan's recording of "I'm Not There" that appears on the soundtrack to Todd Haynes' film sounds plenty different from the version that appears on "Basement Tapes" bootlegs. Thank Neil Young's fanaticism and pack rat mentality for that.
The newly unearthed version clearly has the Band backing him as opposed to the popular bootleg version, a mostly acoustic reading by Dylan with a bit of rhythmic thumping in the background.
"It's pretty much just a sketch," Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo said in an interview for a piece on the soundtrack. "The lyric is open ended. It's hard to tell if (the words) make any sense."  Sonic Youth recorded a version of the song that runs over the end credits.
Soundtrack producers and Haynes were creating 5.1 mixes of songs and still using a bootleg copy of the tune when the suggestion arose that they find a better copy of the title track.
Joel Bernstein, a rock photographer who has been shooting Dylan and Young since the early '70s, was working with the team as an archivist and he suggested contacting Elliot Mazer. Mazer, who has produced a number of Young's albums, had worked with Dylan's manager in the '60s, Albert Grossman.
After Dylan's period of inactivity following his 1966 motorcycle accident, Grossman began to work on the publishing side for Dylan and started amassing a collection of tapes of songs that were not released over the next several years. Naturally, copies of the tapes were made; the Band's Garth Hudson even brought in a collection for the "I'm Not There" team to sift through.
Mazer, it turns out, had made a copy for his friend Young, who had tucked it away.
Randall Poster says his partner on the soundtrack, Jim Dunbar, "had to be Sam Spade, trying to make all these connections. What helped us get it quick was having the support of the Dylan camp."
What struck recording engineer Greg Calbi, who has worked extensively with Dylan, was the distinctiveness of the version in Young's vault.
"Every engineer who ever got a copy would put their stamp on it," Poster said, relaying Calbi's observation. "It was mutated over the years. We got the raw version."
Coincidentally, Young revisits his unreleased past with "Chrome Dreams II," which was issued last week; the "I'm Not There" soundtrack is released Oct. 30.
 
      

New Dharma Initiative: The 'Lost' Symphony

A symphonic piece culled from hours of score for ABC's “Lost” will receive its premiere n Honolulu on Sept. 22. The Honolulu Symphony Toyota Pops, conducted by Tim Simonec, will perform composer Michael Giacchino's work with “Lost” star Terry O’Quinn (John Locke) narrating passages.Performance will beheld at the Waikiki Shell. Giacchino has scored all three seasons of "Lost" in addition to the Disney-Pixar film “Ratatouille,” “Mission: Impossible III,” “The Incredibles” and the series “Alias.” "Lost" is mostly shot on Oahu.

Lerche Scores Carell Pic

The soundtrack to Touchstone Pictures' "Dan In Real Life" will feature 11 new Sondre Lerche compositions and performances by Lerche, A Fine Frenzy and Regina Spektor.
Capitol will release the disc on Oct. 2. In addition ot the originals, Lerche covers Pete Townshend's "Let My Love Open The Door" and A Fine Frenzy does "Fever."
"Dan" director and co-writer Peter Hedges says he listened to 500 different artists while in pre-production, but kept returning to Lerche, who attended rehearsals with the actors before filming began. Pic stars Steve Carell.