Today's Music That You Should Have Seen Coming is Snakes and Ladders, by Basia Bulat. First off, to clarify, Basia Bulat is a lady's (stage) name. She and her band were the opening act for Devotchka, and they were excellent, certainly worth investigating. Not surprisingly, as Basia looks to be fairly young, she has a single album (and an EP, I think) out, so that is naturally what I got my hands on.
Basia's band has a very rustic, earthy sound. Basia plays a guitar, sometimes, I think, and also this little thing that looks like a miniature piano but has strings like a harp. (I wish I knew what this was called.) Her band has a ukulele, a violinist, and a drummer (maybe a bass?). The overall sound is something of a bustling string highway, but the simple sounds layered together are definitely pleasing to the ear. There's also a fair amount of clapping on the album, which is something of a gimmick, but it's not overused here. Basia herself has a wonderful voice, one that definitely leads without being overemphasized; she has good vocal range and bounces around enough that I get the impression she is a capable yodeler (or could be, anyway).
I prefer the more uptempo songs on the album (big surprise) but they're generally all good, as even the slower ballads are not too over-emotional or drawn out. In particular, "In the Night" and the title track are the songs I am most fond of, I also like "I Was a Daughter".
Will I take down my New Pornographers stuff and frame pictures of Basia Bulat instead? Probably not. But this is a lovely album, not too sweet or sad, something that I think I could recommend to most people I know.
A personal aside:
Seeing Basia and her band in concert was a real treat. After the opening band (two guys who I don't know at all), the roadies and techs came out to mess with the equipment for a while. Then, very unassumingly, Basia came out by herself and sang a short acapella gospel song, clapping and stomping on stage with her cowboy boots. The crowd didn't really see it coming but we were all mesmerized by the end, and I wouldn't be surprised if she made some people cry. It was such a surprise, one of the more amazing things I have seen at a show in my lifetime. (I thought for sure that she and her band would have upstaged Devotchka mightily, but this was not the case, as the headliners were incredibly good.)
In Other News:
There is no other news today. I guess. Maybe later this week?