Ecstatic yet devout

Several years ago, Lincoln started attending local events of the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism), a non-profit educational group that celebrates and recreates the medieval way of life. His friend Mad Gordy Stax was and remains a great fan of the SCA and goes to their events on a regular basis. Lincoln has a fascination with the era, so he started going, too. There was a nice thick handbook that the SCA put out called A Handbook for the Current Middle Ages that not only explained the purposes of the organization, but gave a great amount of information to help people enjoy their time with the SCA. One of the chapters was about medieval music, and one album they strongly recommended was A Feather on the Breath of God: Sequences and Hymns by Abbess Hildegard of Bingen, recorded by Gothic Voices for the Hyperion Record Label in 1982. Lincoln bought it more than 20 years ago, and it remains one of his favorite CDs. Read about it here.

It's snack time with barenaked ladies! What will you have?

Children's music shouldn't be stupid, condescending or simplistic. Children are smart and will respond to music that treats them like real people. The Barenaked Ladies get this, probably because almost all of them have children of their own. Snacktime! is an album featuring 24 songs for children, but it's every bit as musically sophisticated as any album they've released for adults. It's also a fun album. Adults can listen to it just as much as children and love it every time. Don't believe Lincoln? Then go listen to it.

Even the cover is shimmering, warm and bright

A well-written European fairy-tale is a creepy, frightening thing. There is a magic quality that makes the real world seen false, and the false real. Bel Canto's Shimmering, Warm & Bright is exactly that, a frighteningly creepy, well-written fairy-tale. Lincoln loves this album like few others, and decided it was time to share the love.

Zuu zuu zuu. Pow!

From the mid-'50s to the arrival of the Beatles in 1964, there was a type of swinging, witty, joyful music now known by various names such as exotica, lounge music and space age pop. One of the most clever and inventive bandleaders of the time was Juan Garcia Esquivel, better known simply as Esquivel. When the Beatles hit big, it spelled the end of this type of music. It was mostly forgotten until a music collector by the name of Irwin Chusid discovered Esquivel's music. Most collectors would simply buy the old albums, play them for friends and that would be it. Not Chusid. He convinced Bar/None Records to release a compilation of Esquivel's music, and wrote the liner notes himself. It might be pushing things to say that this one album single-handedly jump-started the lounge music revival of the mid-'90s, but it was certainly right on the leading edge of the scene. Lincoln zuu zuu zuus the pow! right here.

Lipstick, Lies & Gasoline

Lincoln reviews another album from 1997, but a very different one than Chara's joyful Junior Sweet. In contrast, Lipstick, Lies & Gasoline is a menacing piece of alternative country. Fred Eaglesmith explores the world of people beaten down by life. People just trying to get by, trying to find a little happiness in a world that seems to constantly stack the deck against them. Read more.

Junior Sweet

Junior Sweet was released in 1997 and our local Kinokuniya bookstore had it in stock. Lincoln fell in love with it at first listen. Even after having listened to it over a hundred times over the last 10 years, he still loves it. Her sweet, raspy vocals and the easy groove of her songwriting and musicianship makes this an album he can go to time and time again without worrying about getting bored with it. Read more.