SpudShow 409 - Kelley Ryan

Music supplied by IodaPromonet Artist - Kelley Ryan Track 1 - About a Girl Track 2 - Heart and Bone Track 3 - Key to my Heart MainSite MySpace Get the music from CDBaby Kelley Ryan "About A Girl" (mp3) from "Twist" (Manatee Records) Buy at iTunes Music Store Buy at Napster Buy at Amazon MP3 More On This Album Kelley Ryan "Heart And Bone" (mp3) from "Twist" (Manatee Records) Buy at iTunes Music Store Buy at Napster Buy at Amazon MP3 Kelley Ryan "Key To My Heart" (mp3) from "Twist" (Manatee Records) Buy at iTunes Music Store Buy at Napster Buy at Amazon MP3 Info "I didn't do this record the rock'n'roll boy way…it's my own sound," says Kelley Ryan. Note the emphasis there—on the word "boy." Kelley Ryan, the front-woman for the California band astroPuppees and a go-to songwriter and collaborator (most recently on Marshall Crenshaw's Jaggedland), took a decidedly different approach to recording her first record under her own name. Twist is an album told from the female perspective; a theme encompassing everything from the lyrics to the instruments to the album's many moods. "I had this idea: the record was only going to be about girls, be it the daughter I never had, a heroine of my mine, my grandmother or a woman who lived near me in Ireland," says Kelley. "It's all from the feminine perspective. Even in the music – there's no electric guitars, it's just acoustic and loops and strings. I mean, I love three-minute electric-guitar pop songs, but I wanted to create something more comfortable for me and stay in that mood." But don't get the wrong idea – Twist isn't a polarizing record, a long lost Lilith Fair soundtrack or an angry feminine response a la Exile in Guyville. It's a gutsy record with ambitious production, smart collaborations (with the likes of producer Don Dixon (R.E.M., Smithereens), legendary arranger Van Dyke Parks and singer / songwriter Marti Jones), and a personal touch and warmth that crosses all musical boundaries. If anything, the album is reminiscent of something like Beck's Sea Change…which, not so coincidentally, is represented here by a cover of "Lost Cause" (more on that in a minute). Seachtain na Gaeilge ###