A girl, a bloody-nosed guy, and a really grand piano, chamber-rocking the house with their close friends, Mr. Bassoon, Mr. Sousaphone, Mr Glockenspiel and Mr. Cello. This recital includes a couple torch ballads and a Stalling-esque interlude or two, but it's mostly instrumental — to your life!
Listen to these sample tracks:
Baby Dee and Andrew W.K. on the making of Regifted Light
Baby Dee:
In the sound of the piano I can hear the bassoon playing and I know for a fact that Mark Messing wasn't actually playing in those moments. The same goes for Jon Steinmeir's Glockenspiel and Matthew Robinson's Cello. There's a magic thing that happens when a really great piano is played with other instruments. It's as if the piano has a memory of its own...
Andrew W.K.:
A few years ago I bought a huge Steinway and Sons concert grand piano - a model D. I had it in my old apartment in Manhattan for a few years, and when I first met Dee, she came over and played it. It was the best the piano had ever sounded. They say that pianos become better when they're played by good pianists. Ever since Dee touched that piano, I swore it sounded better.
Slugs! Slugs! Slugs!
The delectable artwork of the album was made by the Dutch artist Christina de Vos, who easily managed to shoo away those darned quadruped canines as man's best friends: slugs admittedly won't roll over, nor bring you your slippers, pee on your rug or even give you a paw, but they sure know how to slither their way into your heart!
You've got to love those slugs!
Regifted Light
release date: 22/3/2011
label: Drag City
catalog number: DC462
media: LP, CD, MP3, flac
order now at Drag City
piano, vocals:
Baby Dee
cello:
Matthew Robinson
pump organ, percussion:
Andrew W.K.
tuba, sousaphone, bassoon:
Mark Messing
glockenspiel, danmo, melodica, percussion:
Jon Steinmeir
all songs written by:
Baby Dee
produced and mixed by:
Andrew W.K.
recorded in January 2010 at Baby Dee's house in Cleveland using the clockwerke mobile unit engineered by Tom Gagen and Greg James
artwork by Christina de Vos
Track list
Cowboys with Cowboy Hat Hair 3:45
Yapapipi 5:17
Regifted Light 3:09
Coughing Up Cat Hair 1:33
Deep Peaceful 2:08
Brother Slug and Sister Snail 4:54
Lullaby Parade 2:53
On the Day I Died 2:50
Horn Pipe 0:45
The Pie Song 2:13
Cowboy Street 1:16
The Move 2:50
Sharon Kean:
"...a moment alone with Dee's piano will be enough to send shivers down your spine and spark curiosity about her uncommonly marvellous and unique music."
The Pie Song
I want that pie
Give me that pie
Give that pie to me
I must have that pie
Pie, pie, pie
Pie, pie, pie
Give that pie to me
Or I will be so sad.
James Christopher Monger:
"...Baby Dee sounds more settled here than she has in the past, perhaps due in part to the gorgeous Steinway D ..."
Sharon Kean interview:
Juxtaposing odes to pie with poems about slugs: TLOBF meets Baby Dee