95 North. . . The Newspaper

Cat Power's, the name in which singer-songwriter Chan Marshall performs under, has a few different "eras" that define her musical journey. . . 1: I'd categorize  Dear Sir , What Would the Community Think? ,  Myra Lee, and Moon Pix (1995-1998)   as albums in which Marshall channeled that mellow electric guitar spider-web feeling into her music. In many of these songs, there's a detectable folk guitar rhythm underneath, punctuated by drums, sharp lyricism, and a lead guitar that takes a melodic, spacey, and clean direction. "Talking People", a song that chronicles Marshall's thoughts about achievement, social status, and higher education, provides an excellent example of the electric-spider web sound. Listen as Marshall weaves her guitar around a slick drum beat that kicks in around the 25 second mark: 2:  Marshall moved into different territory with 2003's You are Free . If, sonically, albums like What Would the Community Think?  and M...

Gillian Welch covering "Black Star" by Radiohead. Don't have much time to write today, but this song is delivered in typical Gillian Welch style: she sings directly to the listener in her melodic, ageless voice. . .she holds down the rhythm guitar while Dave Rawlings explores the universe with his always brilliant lead. Acoustics all around, but the sound is somehow big. Listen below! \

The opening riff to the Rolling Stones 1965 classic "Satisfaction" sounds like guitarist Keith Richards is trying to ignite the world in flames. After Richards lit that match, the band followed in, as Mick Jagger drones on about traveling, lack of relationships, and the fallacy of advertising. The song carries with it a certain swagger despite Mick admitting he's "on a losing streak" towards the end of the song, although admittedly that sounds more like a pickup than anything else. "Satisfaction" is certainly an energizing tune that serves as kind of prelude to the next two decades of British rock. However, it's not this song that interests me as much as it's cover version, because 35 years later a Georgia singer-songwriter took "Satisfaction" and turned it on it's head. Impressively, the song was emptied of it's contents and laid emotionally bare without changing one line. Cat Power (Chan Marshall) has one of the most...