Groovin' on the New Aimee Mann

One of the best songwriters out there is Aimee Mann. She is probably most famous for her time in Til Tuesday and the video for "Voices Carry." This was back in 1985 or 1986. She has gone on to a great career as a power-popper, making two GREAT solo records (Whatever and I'm With Stupid), a handful of decent solo records, and soundtrack work, most notably for P.T. Anderson's Magnolia, which used "Wise Up" to interesting effect.

Her latest record is called Charmer and it's great. It's full of smart song-writing and great hooks. That's what I felt has been missing from her last few solo records. Perhaps I should go back and give them another try, but for now I'll keep the new record in the rotation. I was going to point out a couple of the better tracks, but really they are all really good.

The video for "Labrador" has a clever gimmick: it is a shot-by-shot recreation of the "Voices Carry" video. Check it out (including a cameo from Jon Hamm):

I have seen Aimee Mann twice. The second time was at the 930 Club. The FIRST time was at the old Bayou in Georgetown. That was a memorable show. One because it was The Bayou and it has been gone for many years, but more interesting to you was the crowd. There were a lot of girl-power type chicks there. The opening act was Semisonic which Dan Wilson and John Munson's band after they ended Trip Shakespeare and before "Closing Time" success. Semisonic got some rough treatment from the women in the audience, who were not particularly interested in seeing an opener of three dudes. Anyhow, Semisonic finished their set (who by the way impressed me enough to buy their EP that night) and when Aimee Mann came on stage she scolded the audience for booing Semisonic, that they were a great band and so-on-and-so-on. I thought that was a nice thing to do. She also told a funny story about Elvis Costello but that might have been at the 930 Club show.

If you like power pop, do check her out.