The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
CD Reviews  |  Classical  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features

Mad lulling

Mia Doi Todd's dark folk
By MICHAEL BRODEUR  |  March 4, 2008
insideDOWNLOAD_Mia-photo2-c
Mia Doi Todd

Attendees of this week’s José González show on March 13 at the Paradise will be treated to an opening set from LA’s Mia Doi Todd. Caffeinate yourself beforehand, for she’s mad lulling. Not boring, mind you: her particular filtration of dark folk leaves in plenty of heart but subtracts the melodrama, making for some crisp, clean, plainly poured catharsis, with trace amounts of Joni Mitchell, Chan Marshall, and Sylvia Plath. Here are a few tracks you can find on line . . .

“River of Life”
If Todd has seemed a little too proper in the past, this single from her newest release, Gea (City Zen), is a sign of some long-overdue loosening up. She’s not swinging her suddenly big hair around or anything, but she’s more settled into the simplicity of her arrangements, and it’s comfy for everybody.

“The Way”
I saw Todd perform this song with just a guitar downstairs at the Middle East, and, boy, was it depressing. Really dark; gratuitously brooding. This full-band version from 2005’s Manzanita (Plug) is much, much better. Punchy, simple, and reminiscent of those first couple of Cat Power albums in more good ways than one.


“Rock My Boat”
In 2001, Todd collaborated with indie electronica producer Dntel on the track “Anyone Anywhere.” Its glitchy vistas were a nice change of scenery but sounded as if someone had spilled DayQuil on a PowerBook. This 2007 reunion of the two is straiter-laced, but the melody’s uneven footing and dreamy slow-jam pace give it a spookiness well suited to Todd’s own.


“Norwegian Wood”
Buy the whole MP3 if you please, but a one-minute preview of Todd’s tame take on “Norwegian Wood” is all I needed to recall why she sometimes reminds me of the lady who spent two weeks teaching my second-grade music class four-part harmonies for “Scarborough Fair.”

Related: Guest lists, Slideshow: Tattoo you, Playlist: June 1, 2007, More more >
  Topics: Download , Mia Doi Todd, Jose Gonzalez, Cat Power,  More more >
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • RSS feed
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article
Comments

[ 11/28 ]   Seth Shomes Band  @ Wolf Den @ Mohegan Sun
[ 11/28 ]   Noche De Estrellas  @ Mohegan Sun Arena
[ 11/28 ]   Hot Tuna  @ Calvin Theatre
[ 11/28 ]   McAlister Drive + Whitetree + Cadrin  @ Center for Arts In Natick
[ 11/28 ]   Aventura  @ Agganis Arena
ARTICLES BY MICHAEL BRODEUR
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   SING YOUR LIFE  |  November 24, 2009
    Charles Spearin's Happiness Project — to be performed this Friday at the Middle East Downstairs as part of a trio of Torontonian acts — was originally just that: a project.
  •   A BAND, A PART  |  November 24, 2009
    My lingering qualms with Devendra Banhart's new album have very little to do with its substance and more to do with its consistency, a quality that throughout What Will We Be? seems present only in its glaring absence.
  •   HEATHER WOODS BRODERICK | FROM THE GROUND  |  November 17, 2009
    Let not the minimalist packaging of Heather Woods Broderick’s From the Ground mislead you into assuming it’s some sort of heady ambient work that you’ll get around to next time you’re cleaning — as happened to me.
  •   DO OVER  |  November 18, 2009
    I tried hard to be born earlier, but it didn't work. As a result, I've had to contend with an irritatingly positioned cultural blind spot (roughly 1976–1986) that currently occupies all that open space once filled with childhood memories.
  •   FAUX FI  |  November 16, 2009
    A few years ago, before Merrill Garbus was touring the world as Tune-Yards (she spells it tUnE-yArDs — but we're going to pretend we didn't know that), she was deep into puppets. Following her studies at Smith, the Connecticut native relocated to Putney, Vermont, to join the Sandglass Theater company.

 See all articles by: MICHAEL BRODEUR

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group