May 2, 2009
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Gravity Serenade
The other night, Ken and I went to the Vienna Teng concert at The Roxy on Sunset Blvd. He came over early and we had a nice sushi dinner before walking up to the club. We were both hesitant about seeing an artist like Vienna at such an impersonal rock venue, but the crowd was actually quite polite and the show was great!
This video is worth watching if you would like an idea of the what her music is like. That’s actually the audience making noise in the beginning, and Alex Wong of The Paper Raincoat on percussion. The song is called Gravity, and it’s from her first album in 2001. I’ve linked to the album version at the bottom of this post.
Just like last year, she was nice enough to sign a CD, this time for my friend Jonathan who falls asleep to her music every night!
She shares her name with the Austrian home of Mozart and Beethoven. And she herself studied classical piano from the age of five. But there’s nothing old-world about the music of Vienna Teng, whose Zoë/RounderRecords debut brings to mind artists as diverse as Tori Amos, Simon & Garfunkel and Radiohead. “People used to ask what kind of music I played and I never knew how to answer that,” says Teng. “I work a lot with classically trained musicians, but most of my influences are from1970s-era folk music. So now I call it chamber folk.” She adds: “I’m always looking for the perfect pop song combined with an unexpected amount of depth; that’s my idea of great music.”If you haven’t heard of Vienna Teng, you can check out her music here or two of my favorites below. If you like her, please support her. (Direct link for iTunes users)
Comments (17)
If only my speakers work :[ boo.
she has a beautiful voice – the lullaby is a wonderful song. thanks. peace, Al
I hope you didn’t tell her that he falls asleep to her music (in a good way of course). Hmm… 2 drinks minimum? The cops here will have a field day.
She is great… and I keep listening to her often!
@aliceandrandy - Speakers are cheap! http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-S120-Multimedia-Speakers-Black/dp/B000R9AAJA/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1241281629&sr=8-1
@pukemeister - Thanks! Glad you liked it.
@ElusiveWords - Oops, I kind of did. You think she was offended?
@Dezinerdreams - I told her that! She remembered us.
Nice, lullaby! I do not mind listening to her so I can go to sleep either. Hey, do not remember hearing you sing on Xanga. Do you sing lullaby? lol
@stevew918 - Only if you want to ruin your computer’s speakers!
I love her voice. :O
A computer science degree from Stanford, too?! O_O
From the video, it looks like it was a pretty awesome concert! She definitely has an amazing voice.
@beatingdrums - Yep, she’s the real deal. Should I find out if she’s single for you?
@youthinasia613 - That she does! Have a great weekend. –Carey
KICK THEM!
lol Carey, you’ve got quite the social life. Celeb galore!
lol i like how the ticket says “two drink minimum”
@shake_things_up - That ticket was stupid. There was no way they could enforce that. We didn’t have any drinks!
She reminds me of a friend and she has the voice of angel. I’m loving her already.
*sigh* Imeems used to play full songs, now you could only hear 30 seconds samples. I do have an account there, btw.
@reckless_eagle - That’s really weird Victor, because both of those songs play full length for me, even though there are many other songs on Imeem that don’t. If I’m logged in, and go to their website, I can usually get around the 30 second bullshit, but it’s odd that these two songs in particular don’t play for you. I’m so fucking sick of digital rights management! These greedy fucking record companies are so goddamn stupid. They don’t realize that this is free publicity for their artists. If you were able to listen to her music on my blog, you might be inclined to pay money for a CD or a concert to see her. It’s so ridiculous. YouTube is getting just as bad. If you add music to a video, they remove it immediately. Don’t they realize we will always be one step ahead!! It’s so frustrating. Anyway…at least you can watch the video I put up here. Thanks for letting me rant!
$15 is a bragain for such a talent! I swear you meet/see the greatest/most famous people. xD Thanks for sharing.
@Olallie - Next time she performs here, you should come down Johnny!