Sunday in the Park with Steam Powered Giraffe.

(or, as subtitled: You had me at 'la da da da da da.....')

It was a really good weekend for music. In all honesty, I sat around and listened to music all weekend. That's what I did. (Okay, I did do a few other things as well, but I was mostly paying attention to the music I was listening to while I was accomplishing them.) While within this past year I've fallen in love with House of Heroes & The Megas (who are both still awesome) other than that it's felt like a really long time since I've found fresh music that I really latch onto. 

Over the weekend I discovered my old recording of Sunday in the Park with George that I have (rather ashamedly) never listened to and instantly fell in love with it. Children & Art? One of the most gorgeous songs I've ever heard. I actually sat down and just listened to it when it came on. And then replayed it. And then played no music after it for awhile because nothing could have come after it. (You're going to go listen to that song now and probably not have the same reaction. Maybe I was just in the perfect mindset for it at the the right moment and maybe that's why it was so overwhelming, but it was incredibly lovely. Or maybe it's because nothing good is coming out on Broadway recently and I'm starving for it.)
And Finishing the Hat? Beautiful. Wow. I was reminded why I was so entranced at Dave's place the one time I watched the DVD. The musical is just a gorgeous piece of art in and of itself. I now have two shows on my "Shows-I'd-Like-To-Dramaturg-Just-For-Kicks" list. (Ragtime, of course, being the other.)
Seriously, I've got to listen to more Sondheim.
Now I wouldn't argue that it's a perfect show or necessarily recommend it to everyone - it's certainly slower at times and based more on character development than plot, and the music is minimalistic - so it really depends on what you're looking for. I haven't actually researched if this is true or not, but I read where: "Just as Seurat used only eleven colors, orchestrator Jonathan Tunickonly used eleven instruments in the pit...." and I've got to admit, that's pretty awesome.

Anyway, I was swooning over my good musical fortune when suddenly I saw this:
Les Mis released five new clips from the upcoming movie.  

"....AND LES MIS RELEASED FIVE NEW CLIPS?"
I have watched them over. And over. And over. And...over....  (Hey, autoplay is on. I can't mess with that.) Oh, Eddie Redmayne.... Oh, Samantha Barks.... I love you both.
I could give you my opinions of every clip, but that really seems unfair to shove my thoughts down your thought before you've seen them. (Even tho I usually do that anyway. :) ) So hey, if you watch them I'd love to know what you think first!

And then just when I was completely content surrounding myself with my musical happiness, I came across these guys:


(Man, that keyboardist is awesome.)

Meet Steam Powered Giraffe.

I had actually heard of them a few months ago via EpBot, but I think I ignored them because I was afraid they were going to be steampunk gimmicky and never looked into them. I think steampunk's really fun, but...in music? I figured it was just guys dressing up as robots and performing music and doing it....badly. Eh.

I was so wrong.
When EpBot posted about them again I decided to give them a chance. It took about three videos to really get a solid grasp on how good they were, but now I'm sold.

I love these guys. Their commitment to character through their movement and voice work is perfection and their music is really fun and so well done. And somehow at the same time they're also very silly and I think that's wonderful (see Captain Albert Alexander.) And they're completely family friendly!

This is a favorite of mine. Totally did not expect that music style to kick in by the title Automatonic Electronic Harmonics. :)


Actually, the first video I watched was Honeybee:



Which was almost a mistake (and why I didn't start off with it.) It starts off so slow that I almost turned it off within the first minute. But now it's one of my favorites. The harmonies kicked in and....seriously.
 The three characters involved are The Spine (silver makeup), Rabbit (glasses on hat) & The Jon (suspender man), although Jon has now been replaced by Hatchworth (not yet featured in their videos.) On their website they include full biographies for each characters as well as their background for their existing world.

"Hello, goodbye, twas nice to know you, how I find myself without you, that I'll never know...."

While they won't be everyone's cup of tea, I think they're absolutely wonderful showmen and musicians. I'm super excited to see what they do next. (And in the meantime, I'll keep replaying their videos on youtube....)

And that, my friends, was my very wonderful, very musical weekend.