Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire

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The soundtracks of our lives.

I listen to music constantly. Like, constantly. If I'm not playing MP3s on my computer or listening to my iPod, I'm listening to the music in my head. I listen to classic rock and modern rock, folk music of all kinds, filk music, soundtracks, heavy metal, country, indie rock, and goth. I listen to damn near everything I can get my hands on. And with all of that, it's reasonably rare for an album to crawl so far under my skin that it becomes a part of me.

Talis Kimberley's Archetype Cafe is one of those albums.

Many of you have bought Wicked Girls, for which I am hugely appreciative (and not just because it gets them out of my house). Well, that album would not exist without Talis. She inspires and drives my songwriting in a way that very little else does; every lyric I write is put together using lessons I've learned from her. The title track of her album, "Archetype Cafe," posits a gathering place for history's women that would be a perfect fit for my own wild and wicked girls. See for yourself:

"Lady MacBeth said to Helen of Troy
When they finished the wine they'd been drinking,
'I'm all for regicide once in a while, but
Helen, dear, what were you thinking?"
Helen smiled back enigmatically, for she'd
Never much cared what her friends say,
And the Ladies' Historic Society meets
Down at Archetype Cafe on Wednesday..."

Vixy and I sing "Archetype Cafe" together sometimes, when we do concerts in the same place, and it breaks my heart and heals my heart a little bit every single time.

I'll be honest: even if every other song on this CD were bad, terrible, no good, and wrong, I would recommend it just for "Archetype Cafe" and "Small Mended Corners." But none of the songs are bad, or terrible, or no good, or wrong. They're all different flavors of amazing. If you enjoyed "Wicked Girls," or Vixy and Tony's "Thirteen," this is really an album that you need to hear.

Archetype Cafe is available through CD Baby.

I love Talis madly, but that's not why I'm posting this. I'm posting this because this album is amazing, and you need to know that it's out there. To close this entry, and illustrate my point, have a verse from "Small Mended Corners":

"There are women I've been who you haven't seen yet
There are women I shall be who you've never met
As to who I am now if you're prompted to ask
I'm the ghost of my future and the sum of my past..."

Love.
Tags: filk, good things, people make things
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  • 109 comments

anderyn

September 9 2011, 14:40:31 UTC 5 years ago Edited:  September 9 2011, 14:42:13 UTC

I adore Archetype Cafe! My fave song on that album is "Cassandra", which kick-started a novel I'm in the process of writing.

Though I bought mine on iTunes, 'cause I don't have a physical copy. Hmmm. Perhaps I should have a physical copy... But then I'd have to have a physical copy of Thirteen, too. Augh, so many songs, so little space!


But any time you want to recommend something, I'm all ears. I've gotten far too much cool music from recommendations by artists/writers and I love to find more.

Edited for stupid coding faults.
"Cassandra" is actually on The Hearth and the Hive. Are you sure you have both albums?

anderyn

5 years ago

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

anderyn

5 years ago

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

I have multiple copies of the song "Archetype Cafe" on my playlist because it is on three of her CD's About Damn Time, Reading Positions, and Archetype Cafe and I don't mind a bit.
Word.

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

maverick_weirdo

5 years ago

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

ladymondegreen

5 years ago

Oooer. And iTunes has it too.
Yes!

amanuensis1

5 years ago

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

amanuensis1

5 years ago

My favourite song on AC, and the one that I sometimes cover, is atypical to most people: "Harbouring Hopes".

I first heard that song in late 2000 or early 2001 (whenever it was I first bought the album), and it was a song that I really needed to hear right then, and it resonated on a level that I can't easily describe. And somewhere under the scars, there's a part of my heart that remembers, and it resonates still.
I love that song.

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

Me too

maverick_weirdo

5 years ago

Small Mended Corners is one I don't hear often enough.

I like the album a huge amount as well.
I'm putting together a cover for Consonance. It should be amazing.

notalwaysweak

5 years ago

idancewithlife

5 years ago

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

morvab

5 years ago

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

dormouse_in_tea

5 years ago

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

That's one of the albums I don't have, but I love The Hearth and the Hive and most of the songs I've heard. Talis is so very talented... :)
She really, truly is.

trialia

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

trialia

5 years ago

keristor

5 years ago

trialia

5 years ago

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

trialia

5 years ago

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

I love that album. Also, Talis is amazing. I really like her.
Icon win.

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

sheistheweather

5 years ago

I've come to adore many Talis songs. Paper Worlds vs. Wicked Girls was one of a long list of Pegasus match-ups that almost made me cry.
I'm now seeing the Wicked Girls at Archetype Cafe holding an origami marathon...

phillip2637

5 years ago

idancewithlife

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago


That verse from Small Mended Corners is one of my favourite verses of music ever.
That makes me very happy. Thank you.

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

Deleted comment

"Archetype Cafe" is a song that is covered often in the circles I get to. When I first heard it, it struck me as an OK song that didn't really stick with me, but as I've heard it more and more, it's grown on me a lot. It's one hell of a song.
My archetypal mythology teacher plays it in his classes now that I introduced him to it.

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

idancewithlife

5 years ago

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

filkferengi

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

I hereby endorse this product and/or service.

Loudly! =:o>
Thank you, sir!

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

I'm listening to samples on Amazon, and WOW. Why yes, I will buy this product! Thanks so much for the rec!
Hooray!

I hope you'll adore it.

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

It's a wonderful, wonderful album, and one day I hope to actually open a restaurant called Archetype Cafe.
If you ever do... please ask me to come and sing there, hmm? Pleeease?

inaurolillium

5 years ago

deakat

5 years ago

inaurolillium

5 years ago

ldwheeler

5 years ago

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

I'm listening to the music in my head

I call that "head radio" and mine is always on. The only question is what volume is set.

Thanks for the recommendation on the music. I enjoyed the song at WorldCon, and now I know where to buy it.
Excellent!

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

reedrover

5 years ago

Admittedly I'd never heard of Talis Kimberley until I recently followed a link to the Pegasus Filk awards that you posted.
But she's brilliant all the same. :)

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

A sentiment shared. I love just about every song on that album. "Harbouring Hopes" ... helped me understand a life experience that wasn't that far behind me when I first heard the song. "Small Mended Corners" is a particularly wise reflection on the steps we take in life, the steps we build ourselves. And "One Big Sea" is just ... gorgeous.

I have been that thief and I have been that liar.
So have many of us.

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

Seanan, dearest Seanan, you are the most great-hearted and generous of people, you know that? I am awed and thrilled that my music continues to move you, and I hope it may always be so. Thank you, my friend, for loving my music, and thank you for being my friend.

All the words there are, dear, and a few more in a language yet unwritten.
You are terribly welcome, and the same thanks go to you, you know. All the love.

Besides, I realized that a great many people might not have this album, and from the comments, that's turned out true. :)

trialia

5 years ago

briargrey

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

I seem to have completely spammed your comment thread, Seanan... sorry, dear! But these nice people were saying nice things... :-)
It's all right! I totally understand, and I'm glad there were nice things for you to reply to.

ohari

5 years ago

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

Sue Jeffers has been doing an amazing job singing Small Mended Corners and I'll bet her cover has sent people looking to buy the album for that song alone. It's become one of my favourite Talis songs too - but I have a long list of those.

If you are covering it at Consonance, Seanan, any chance we'll hear it at ConClave too? Some of us, sigh, don't get to Consonance.
Sadly, no. I won't have the appropriate musicians at ConClave, so that's a very different set list.
I do have - and love - this album, and LoveLoveLove "Archetype Cafe", but I've never heard you sing it. I'd pay a LOT for that (well, for my definition of a LOT, anyway, which may not match anyone elses). Honestly, though (and no sucking up intended, I swear), I vastly prefer your voice to hers. Lately your singing has been just what I needed and I had my "everything Seanan" playlist on shuffle while I worked all of last week.

Thank You for being You.
Aw, thank you. :)

I love that song so much.

ohari

5 years ago

talis_kimberley

5 years ago

So, four days and 100 comments later, what has Seanan done to Talis's sales numbers? When I hit CD Baby for a copy of the CD, I was told it was on backorder...
I do not know! You'd need to ask Talis (who is bopping about elsewhere in this thread).