Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Ben Taylor at Futureappletree Studio 1

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Ben Taylor gives off some of the same vibrations that his father started giving off back in the late 60s and early seventies – there’s no avoiding that in his voice – but he lends more of the sea salt laze that must make up the other percentage of people calling the Vineyard home that wasn’t already accounted for by water. It’s a committed, but lackadaisical flair for being able to keep things in perspective and to keep the blood pressure at all-time lows. Here he sings about America, a country that he grew up seeing from one angle and has since discovered in all its warts, shadiness and overriding splendor on his own, in a way that Simon & Garfunkel sang about it, while adding to the description (mostly a love in spite of the black eyes and sour reports) a carefree tonality that’s vaguely of a reggae feel, where the drinks are helping.
---Sean Moeller, founder of Daytrotter


Welcome back, dear readers. Today's Daily Dose of Daytrotter gives us Ben Taylor, who certainly has music in his blood, as he is the son of James Taylor and Carly Simon. His voice sounds a lot like his dad's; to compare his music to to that of other contemporary artists, I think Ben's sounds like Jack Johnson and Ben Harper finally had a baby after touring so long together, and that baby grew up loving James Taylor and Carly Simon and so he changed his name to Ben Taylor....I understand if you didn't follow that; neither did I. The important thing to understand is that Ben Taylor makes amazing music, and if that's not enough, he writes great lyrics to boot. Any guy who makes an album called "The Legend of Kung Folk, Pt. 1: the Biting Kiss" is a guy I want to listen to. "Kung Folk" is the coolest silly album phrase I've heard in a while. Ben crafts fun and meaningful songs that stand up to the acid test of constant (and I mean constant) loop replays. He can even keep you very entertained just by telling a hilarious anecdote, or reading a short poem (a surprisingly good poem!).

My favorites from his Daytrotter session are "Wrong", "Turn On The Lights", and "Wicked Way", though "America", "After It's Over It's Over", and his untitled "Poem" are all great too.


Ben Taylor's Daytrotter Session
Ben Taylor - Turn on the Lights
Ben Taylor - Wrong
Ben Taylor - Wicked Way
Ben Taylor - America
Ben Taylor - After It's Over It's Over
Ben Taylor - Poem

Buh-bye. As always, happy sounds.

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