Send "Ben Sollee " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 A state-of-the-state album, Dear Companion finds three musicians focusing on the ecological challenges facing of old Kentucky home. Between them, they represent a range of the Bluegrass State's musical traditions: Lexington native Ben Sollee plays cello in a style that borrows from Appalachian techniques, Daniel Martin Moore of Cold Spring is a solo folk artist whose unsolicited demos earned him a slot on Sub Pop's roster, and producer Yim Yames sings in Louisville's famed My Morning Jacket. On their first record together, they play songs about the west Kentucky mountains and the plight brought on by the industrial practice called mountaintop removal mining, which is just as invasive and evil as it sounds. Dear Companion examines what it means to be from Kentucky when Kentucky is disappearing-- both literally (entire mountains are being obliterated) and culturally (the geography that shaped its culture and music is being drastically reshaped).So this is exactly the kind of album you want to succeed, and for the most part, it does. Dear Companion generally avoids the self-importance of most issue-driven music, mainly because Sollee and Moore write songs that rarely stray from their own points of view. Rather than sing about a tractor dismantling a mountain, they focus on their own fears and hopes, especially as they bear on subsequent generations. In addressing these concerns, the songs can be measured and even moving, but occasionally they get a bit lofty. On the aggressively humble "Only a Song", with its lyrics about ghettos and Harlem Globetrotters, Sollee and Moore solemnly offer, "But this is only a song, it can't change the world." While their voices don't have the rough edges to sell the hardened blues of the title track, their harmonies are loose and casual on opener "Something, Somewhere, Sometime" and "My Wealth Comes to Me", which breaks into a chorus that sounds like an updated Louvin Brothers....full text |
| Pastemagazine |
| Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore have both released twangy, acclaimed solo albums in recent years, and they glide from song to song with smooth harmonies, minimal percussion and delicate string instruments on this debut collaboration. Produced by My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, the record displays golden flecks of rock and bluegrass, mixing well with the steady swell of Sollee’s cello. The three musicians, all Kentucky natives, tether a genuine concern for their home region to the album, calling attention to the issue of mountaintop removal coal mining that plagues the Appalachians. Far from preachy, tracks like “Only a Song” and “Try” approach these issues through an unmistakably human lens, acknowledging the difficulty of choosing right from wrong. The record and its message simultaneously comfort and provoke....full text |
| Tinymixtapes |
| Raised in the rolling green hills and verdant forests that often come to mind when someone mentions an Appalachian state, Kentuckians Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore have combined their talents to create an environmentally-conscious indie folk record that works as both a quiet protest album and a careful exploration of the supposed new-folk revival. Written in remonstration of the heinous form of surface mining known as mountaintop removal, Sollee explains in the liner notes how this type of coal mining is devastating the mountains and woodland areas that he grew up loving. His eagerness to do something about the situation led him to contact Moore and record Dear Companion; all of the proceeds benefit ilovemountains.org. But Dear Companion provides more than just social commentary; it’s also a meeting of two of the more recently celebrated names in indie folk music. In 2007, Sollee was named one of NPR Music’s Top 10 Great Unknown Artists. He’s garnered a commendable reputation as a songwriter and cellist, having played with a list of notables in both blues and jazz that includes Otis Taylor and Béla Fleck. Moore, on the other hand, has the distinction of being that one-in-a-million artist who managed to land a record deal with a noteworthy label (Sub Pop) simply by submitting a demo tape. Both have released solo albums: Sollee's Learning to Bend in 2008, and Moore's Stray Age in 2009, the latter featuring an exceptional cameo by Petra Haden....full text |
| Popmatters |
| It used to be that the assemblage of a live album was quite the precarious tightrope act for big name musical acts. The longer the career spanned, the harder it was to cover all of the artist’s bases in concert while simultaneously promoting their latest material. Multiple takes were culled from multiple performances over the course of a tour, forcing musicians and producers to weigh the merits of musicianship versus energy, accuracy versus emotion. And it would be nice if it sold respectfully, to fans and passers by alike. However, in an age when everyone’s musical library has gone digital and the internet’s bandwidth seems to behave like an entropic universe, these concerns of getting a live album “just right” have faded over time. Now it seems that any in-concert documentation has the potential to be uploaded to a website like iTunes for mass consumption, be it a complete show stopper or something weaker than a mere musical footnote. The availability of so many download options on the internet forces music consumers to ask themselves an important question; is this new collection truly unique by offering advantages over the artist’s studio albums, thereby holding its own in their respective discography? Or is it just a middling afterthought? In a bid to be stripped-back and intimate, Moby’s iTunes Live from Montreal too often falls into the latter category. It was while touring in support of his latest release Wait for Me that DJ/singer-songwriter Moby, a.k.a. Richard Hall, stopped by an Apple store in Montreal with a handful of fellow musicians for a low-key performance in front of a small Canadian iCrowd. This live arrangement is strikingly minimal compared to what Moby has done recently. Wait for Me was already a pretty muted affair to begin with, but the instrumentation of just guitar, piano, violin, and voices seem to make the same songs shrink even further, like cotton in the wash. The “unplugged” aesthetic that ran amok in alternative music during the ‘90s was driven by the notion that less was more. Through soft guitars and even softer drums, there was potential for an excellent song to speak louder than before. This particular set is presented in such a low light that less is not enough. Moby’s brand of brightly ornate yet tame trip-hop usually comes with a preferable amount of window dressing, and it’s too bad he didn’t bring it to the Apple store that day....full text |
| Celebrifi |
| t used to be that the assemblage of a live album was quite the precarious tightrope act for big name musical acts. The longer the career spanned, the harder it was to cover all of the artist’s bases in concert while simultaneously promoting their latest material. Multiple takes were culled from multiple performances over the course of a tour, forcing musicians and producers to weigh the merits of musicianship versus energy, accuracy versus emotion. And it would be nice if it sold......full text |
| Moby |
| While in the midst of an extensive critically acclaimed US tour in Fall 2009, Moby recorded an intimate live performance at the Montreal iTunes store to a captivated audience. 'Moby iTunes Live from Montreal' becomes available around the world at iTunes this week (March 2 in North America and March 1 in the UK, and Internationally). For this special recording Moby performed tracks from his most recent album 'Wait For Me,' as well as some other classics from previous albums, with a rare ‘stripped back‘ set consisting of just guitar, piano, violin and vocals. Joining him for this incredible and unique performance were the very talented lead vocalists from his tour - Kelli Scarr and Inyang Bassey. Moby joins an exciting and diverse list of artists that have participated in this iTunes global signature music series which features sessions recorded at Apple stores in London, New York, Tokyo, Montreal, Sydney and Munich. ...full text |
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