Her moon, Her man.

NUMBER 14: Feist "The Reminder" Usually a full blown advertising campaign is bad for an artists whose songs are featured in conjunction with a product. Especially when you are dealing with a mega-company who has the money and desire to put their name everywhere like Apple Computers. Bad for everyone but an artist as talented as Feist.
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Achieving notoriety as one of the founding members of the juggernaut Broken Social Scene and with a mildy succesfull previous album of half covers/half original songs called "Let it Die", Feist commanded at least a sample listen on her latest 2007 album. Fully written by her this time around, Feist opened up a Joni Mitchell-esque heart felt powerhouse album. It also doesn't hurt that her voice is as good as anyone's out there too. Norah Jones and Alicia Keys wish they had her musical chops.
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The best I can describe it is a jazzy-folk album that heavily features her voice and what I think must be a marraca or brush stick on a cymbal on nearly every track. Why this hiss-shake noise works so well in conjunction with her voice, I don't know. There is also plenty of simplistic acuoustic guitar melodies and piano that provide a solid path for Feist to flit and fly her voice over, along with a hearty dose of soft clapping rythems. The marraca and clapping makes this perfect travelling music as these noises sound kind of like a train that happily chugs through country side. There is also surprising brass jazz thrown in that gives a happy sense of life. I always picture a smiling louis armstrong on the hit "1-2-3-4"
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Unlike the Voxtrot album that sits at number 15 that I wish I had put at number 19, I think I wish I had put this album a little closer to number 1 and definitly ahead of the next album I am going to talk about. With its mix of happy songs, sad songs, and break the mold songs, this album is good the whole way through and is diverse in its sound. I could probably be easily talked into a top 5 for it as a matter of fact . But then again, if I put this years Joni Mitchell up too high on my personal list, people will start to ask what I do with my spare time when no one is looking. So....my manliness puts it at number 14. But for all the girls out there with an appreciation for real music, this album could be one of the best albums you have ever bought.
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Unfourtunatly, you always feel a sense of betrayel when an album gets discovered by the public when you are in on the ground floor. Those Apple and Verizon bastards. But in fairness to Feist, her music is not the type to be exposed for its sugar-pop that soon goes sour after a lot of listens. This is a hearty album full of great songs that are diverse and feel fresh with each listien. Lyrics that are insightful into Feist's journey's as a travelling artist and the love and issues involved with always being on the move and the lessons she has learned. "My Moon, My Man" is a song about how the man in the moon is the only man she can seem to keep. A very depressing song that seems so personal to you when you hear it.
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"Take it slow. Take it easy on me. And shed some light, shed some light on me. please. Take it slow, and shed some light. Shed some light on me, please"

Samples: My Moon, My Man, I feel it all, 1-2-3-4,
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