Get Into It: Regina Spektor

I find that I've been neglecting the request to introduce viewers of blog to new music, which should be the primary purpose of any blog. Anyone can report news, but most people visit blogs to learn new things and explore opinions. With that, I bring you a new segment of the blog that will go hand-in-hand with the Rant section called "Get Into It." Hopefully over time I will introduce you all into some wonderful new sounds.

There's something quaintly kitsch about Regina Spektor. Perhaps that's why she has an album called Soviet Kitsch, which still stands as one of my top ten favorite albums of all time.

If you don't know, Spektor is a Russia-bred and New York raised pianist who began taking footsteps in the industry just as the anti-folk movement, with artists like Fiona Apple at the helm, really began to jump.

At heart, Spektor's music is all acoustic based, normally just her and her piano, but as time progressed and Spektor became more recognized and received, her music began to sound fuller and more alive. In essence, the production quality was raised. Before 2006's Begin to Hope, the music was simplistic. Songs about heartbreak were more than just sad love songs. They were adventures into depression and repeated upsetting memories, offset by quirky remarks that reminded us of trying to disguise our tears. In "Ode to Divorce" a lover witnesses their past flame move on while they long for a second chance and beg, "Won't you help a brother out?"

"Ode To Divorce" from Soviet Kitsch

Other songs like "Pavlov's Daughter" or "Back of a Truck" were ballads that were more like novels. Her music was so intelligent, that you'd find yourself Googling for dear life, trying to find answers to specific lines.  Without understand, her music can sound haze and under-constructed, but rest assured they're actually quite genius.

"Back of a Truck" from 11:11

My favorite songs, though, were the songs that remained bare. Acapella songs, or those accompanied only with small strokes of her piano. The album Songs was specifically greatly filled with those, including the perfect tracks "Consequence of Sounds" (which is the inspiration behind one of the biggest blogs on the net) and "Aching To Pupate." 

"Aching to Pupate" from Songs

Today, Regina's music is more robust. It was when she was featured on Vh1's You Outta Know Artist of the Month that I discovered her and this song, "Fidelity."

It was the song that introduced Spektor to the mainstream world and she never looked back. Since, her music has become fuller with bigger productions, yet she's managed to maintain her respective story telling talents. Her latest songs like "Human of the Year," "Apres Moi" or "Genius Next Door" actually show that she's learning to tell stories in different ways and is using the growing production values to emphasize dramatics. 

I could go on forever, but honestly, I just want you to give Regina a chance. She's not the upbeat pop star we blog about most of the time, but she's a true talent that writes music with substance and is still fun. She's surprisingly relatable and gorgeously gifted with soft vocals. 

Her next album, What We Saw From The Cheap Seats is out at the end of this month!