A leave taking

A video announcing A leave taking, the debut solo album by Bill Ryder-Jones (2011). The forthcoming album was inspired by Italo Calvino's novel 'If On A Winter Night A Traveller'.
In order to listen to 'A Leave Taking Soundrack', press here.
The above video is directed by the very same young photographer/video artist whom Gem showcased here a year or so ago: Adeline Mai.

A soundtrack to a weekend

A music video for 'A Thing For Me' by Metronomy: the band from Devonshire (UK) behind the Mercury Prize nominated album 'The English Riviera' of this year.
The song above is from 'Night Out', Metronomy's preceding album described by the band as 'a soundtrack to a tumulous weekend' (2008).

Actor

'Actor Out Of Work' by Annie Erin Clark (off-stage) aka St Vincent (on stage). The track is from her second album 'Actor' (2009). Lovely, if a bit creepy.

The nest of 100 worries

An energetic video for 'Le Nid Des 100 Soucis' by Madjo, a classically trained French-Senegalese singeress and violinist (the song is from 'Trapdoor', her debut album, 2010).

Stay In My Memory

Music is by Bim: 'Stay In My Memory' (from the 'Scatterheart' album, 2010).
Animation is by Katy Davis.

Happy pagan holidays

Annie Lennox came back to us this year for Christmas with this pagan rendition of 'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen'. The song appears in her newest album, A Christmas Cornucopia. Very wicca. We approve.

Janelle Monáe

Without any hesitation, I proclaim that Janelle Monáe is the top emerging artist of 2010. Her single 'Tightrope' (featuring also Outkast's Big Boi) will probably be placed on any list of top new tracks of 2010. The music video for 'Tightrope', if you haven't seen it yet, is a must. It is quite possibly the best video of 2010. Monáe's stage persona wears a black suit, string tie and saddle shoes and moves faster than James Brown. Apparently, Miss Monáe is a believer in, and a proponent of, time travel and she dates only androids.

It's four in the morning

Famous blue raincoat, a letter sang by Leonard Cohen (1971), recorded for the Songs of Love and Hate album.
Tori Amos arranged and recorded an excellent rendition of this letter-song. Indeed, it is hard to believe that it is not hers.

---

Dear reader,

It's four in the morning, the end of December
I'm writing you now just to see if you're better
New York is cold, but I like where I'm living
There's music on Clinton Street all through the evening

I hear that you're building your little house deep in the desert
You're living for nothing now, I hope you're keeping some kind of record

Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear

Did you ever go clear?

Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder
You'd been to the station to meet every train
And you came home without Lili Marlene

And you treated my woman to a flake of your life
And when she came back she was nobody's wife

Well, I see you there with the rose in your teeth
One more thin gypsy thief
Well I see Jane's awake -

She sends her regards

And what can I tell you, my brother, my killer?
What can I possibly say?
I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you
I'm glad you stood in my way

If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me
Well, your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free

Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes
I thought it was there for good, so I never tried

And Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear

Sincerely,

L. Cohen

Leonard Cohen songbook

This week ends where it began. You are looking (or about to look) at the official video of Dance me to the end of love. This song from Leonard Cohen songbook first appeared on his own album Various Positions (1984). Quickly becoming a standard, it has since been covered by many artists in various arrangements and styles.
According to Cohen himself, Dance me to the end of love is not about a passionate surrender to a beloved, but instead about a passionate surrender to death.
Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin...
Cohen stated that death represented a consummation of life, and poetry an evidence to life. "If your life is burning well," he claimed, "poetry is just the ash."
He explained that he was inspired to write and compose Dance me to the end of love by the string quartets in WW2 concentration camps.
Be that as it may, I find it difficult to connect with this reading of the song. My preference goes to the laid-back cover by Madeleine Peyroux as posted at the beginning of this week.
Other Cohen songs, posted earlier this week, were I'm your man (as performed by Nick Cave), Hallelujah (as performed by Jeff Buckley) and The stranger song (as performed by Leonard Cohen in McCabe and Mrs. Miller).
The choice of songs and artists was arbitrary. There were many excellent covers to choose from that were performed by artists such as Jarvis Cocker, Suzanne Vega, Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, Tori Amos, John Cale, k.d. lang and Laurie Anderson, to name only a few.
Can you imagine a more fitting crowd of performers?
A tower of song.

A man

I'm your man, as performed by Nick Cave (2005). Admittedly, the video is no winner. The song on the other hand is just that.

If you want a lover
I'll do anything you ask me to
And if you want another kind of love
I'll wear a mask for you
If you want a partner
Take my hand
Or if you want to strike me down in anger
Here I stand
I'm your man

If you want a boxer
I will step into the ring for you
And if you want a doctor
I'll examine every inch of you
If you want a driver
Climb inside
Or if you want to take me for a ride
You know you can
I'm your man

Ah, the moon's too bright
The chains too tight
The beast wont go to sleep
I've been running through these promises to you
That I made and I could not keep
Ah, but a man never got a woman back
Not by begging on his knees
Or I'd crawl to you baby
And I'd fall at your feet
And I'd howl at your beauty
Like a dog in heat
And I'd claw at your heart
And I'd tear at your sheet
I'd say please, please
I'm your man

And if you've got to sleep
A moment on the road
I will steer for you
And if you want to work the street alone
I'll disappear for you
If you want a father for your child
Or only want to walk with me a while
Across the sand
I'm your man

If you want a lover
I'll do anything you ask me to
And if you want another kind of love
I'll wear a mask for you

Baffled king

Hallelujah, performed by the late and dearly missed Jeff Buckley. This song also appeared on his debut album Grace (1994). And it was Grace that David Bowie named as one of the 10 albums he would take with him to a desert island.

Well, I heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do ya?
Well, it goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall and the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Well, your faith was strong, but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to her kitchen chair
And she broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Well, baby I've been here before
I've seen this room and I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew ya
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Well, there was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show that to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you?
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Well, maybe there's a God above
But all I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who'd outdrew ya
And it's not a cry that you hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen in the light
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah