Joanna Newsom - Ys
List Price:
Our Price: $13.99
You Save: $1.99 (12%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $8.95 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Music CD Cover
Artist: Joanna NewsomEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2006-11-14
Music Label: Drag City
Soundtracks:
- Emily
- Monkey & Bear
- Sawdust & Diamonds
- Only Skin
- Cosmia
Free Music Notes for Ys
Free Music Review: Five Beautiful Epic Songs from Newsom
Hit: 5 Stars
I usually write reviews for movies but I've been listening to this disc since November and I have yet to get sick of it. I appreciate music as deeply as I do movies but I'm always a bit more apprehensive in asserting any strong opinions about music. To me it seems like a more subjective medium but I'm sure many will disagree. Anyway, Joanna Newsom is a harpist who sings epic folk songs with a voice as equally eclectic as Bjork's but more appropriately contained for her lyrics. The first few times I listened to this album I new immediately that these songs would take some getting used to. They are long and wordy but in time her lyrics come through and she has so much to say. I actually can't even believe Joanna Newsom is real. I'm almost tempted to say that she is some kind of collaboration of talent like some might say of William Shakespeare, but she's not. She is real and she is only in her mid-twenties. Newsom will never be a big star and she obviously doesn't care to be anyway. Her music, as I've described above, is not tailored for mainstream appeal and although the old punk in me might like her for that alone, I actually find her music massively appealing. You might too if you are open to appreciating music like this.
I'm not going to review every track individually because there is a lot to say. However, on an album with just five songs it is quite possible. The first song is probably the most appealing. It is a song called "Emily". It seems nostalgic and is about a loved one (I think her sister?) who chose a different path in life but a path Joanna seems encouraged to understand and appreciate. The only repeated lines, possibly even considered the chorus, are about the differences between a meteor, a meteorite, and a meteoroid. The astrophysics snob in me noticed she has the definitions wrong but perhaps as an outsider to her sister's chosen profession the oversight was intentional. A meteoroid is not the remnant after hitting the Earth, it is just a smaller asteroid already floating in space. Perhaps I'm a hemorrhoid for pointing that out? Regardless, the song is beautiful and says quite a bit in just over ten minutes. Like many of her songs it is bittersweet in some spots but overall absolutely beautiful.
My favorite song on the disc is "Only Skin". It is 17 minutes long but worth it entirely. It is a culmination of experiencing chaos and ruin but finding peace and strength in love through it all. Boy does that sound like a sappy and bombastic mouthful. I can't really put the song's meaning into one sentence of course but it is clearly about a strong relationship and any description I provide won't do her music justice anyway. Joanna's lyrics as a whole seem incredibly mature and are detailed enough that they must be profoundly personal. Her voice in "Only Skin" sounds amazing and the song's climax is in its own way explosive. It is a great piece of music.
Evidently, Newsom has quite a bit of credibility within her genre/sub-genre/indie folk scene. I'm not sure a label can be placed on her style of music. I don't want to call it experimental because it doesn't seem intentionally so, even though it does mix styles in a way I've never heard before. Her music comes off very natural and that is why it is, at least to my ears, as if she he has come from another planet. Like I said earlier, it is unconventional but in the long run it is quite possible that her music consume any listener. I highly recommend not only this album, but in general discovering this artist.
Ys Poster
Joanna Newsom's voice--a piercing flutter that's pitched somewhere between Bj?rk and a hand brake--is an acquired taste. But to the uninitiated, it's not nearly as impenetrable as her cosmic poetry or, for that matter, baroque music. The 24-year-old Californian harpist's second album is a five-track concept piece loosely based on its namesake, the mythological drowned city of the Bretons. We say "loosely" because she leaves plenty of room for digressions on meteoroids and birds flying into windows. While Ys was recorded by minimalist Steve Albini (Nirvana, PJ Harvey), it includes lush string arrangements by Van Dyke Parks (Brian Wilson) and the final mix was done by sonic experimentalist Jim O'Rourke (Sonic Youth, Tortoise). The result is an album that sounds unlike anything else. And despite containing spectacularly beguiling songs that stretch out past 15 minutes, every second seems to drip with magic. You certainly don't get that with Ashlee Simpson. --Aidin VaziriComes in a special packaging with a booklet.
Comes in a Special Packaging with a Booklet.
Alternative Rock Music CDs
Music Genres
Top music charts in Crucial New Music for the Thinking Person!
Beirut - The Flying Club CupRelease date: 2007-10-09; Music CD
Best price: $8.54
Price in other shops:
Luna Trick - Hoar Frost SheenRelease date: 2008-04-01; Music CD
Best price: $15.99
Moby - Last NightRelease date: 2008-04-01; Music CD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
![Y34RZ3R0R3MIX3D / [CD/DVD Combo] Image](/images/Y34RZ3R0R3MIX3D-CD-DVD-Combo-B000X9PNOQ-X.jpg)
Nine Inch Nails - Y34RZ3R0R3MIX3D / [CD/ DVD Combo]Release date: 2007-11-20; Music CD
Best price: $11.54
Price in other shops:
Lisa Gerrard - The Silver TreeRelease date: 2007-05-08; Music CD
Best price: $9.77
Price in other shops:
The Durutti Column - Idiot SavantsRelease date: 2007-08-06; Music CD
Best price: $11.84
Price in other shops:
Radiohead - In RainbowsRelease date: 2008-01-01; Music CD
Best price: $6.57
Price in other shops:
Arcade Fire - Neon BibleRelease date: 2007-03-06; Music CD
Best price: $8.10
Price in other shops:
Siouxsie - MantarayRelease date: 2007-10-02; Music CD
Best price: $8.39
Price in other shops:
Aqualung - Memory ManRelease date: 2007-03-13; Music CD
Best price: $4.76
Price in other shops:
Top Rated Albums
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of SilverRelease date: 2007-03-20; Music CD
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
Sufjan Stevens - Songs for ChristmasRelease date: 2006-11-21; Music CD
Best price: $15.49
Price in other shops:
M. Ward - Post-WarRelease date: 2006-08-29; Music CD
Best price: $9.61
Price in other shops:
The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in AmericaRelease date: 2006-10-03; Music CD
Best price: $9.32
Price in other shops:
Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Letting GoRelease date: 2006-09-19; Music CD
Best price: $11.13
Price in other shops:
Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your AssRelease date: 2006-09-12; Music CD
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
Grizzly Bear - Yellow HouseRelease date: 2006-09-05; Music CD
Best price: $9.30
Price in other shops:
The Decemberists - The Crane WifeRelease date: 2006-10-03; Music CD
Best price: $8.49
Price in other shops:
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain (with Bonus Tracks)Release date: 2006-09-12; Music CD
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed MenderRelease date: 2004-03-23; Music CD
Best price: $10.44
Price in other shops: