Women of Musical Genius Wednesday: Aimee Mann

I stumbled across Aimee Mann in the most unusual way.

See, long long ago, there was a time when I was NOT an indie music geek (shocking, I know), but rather merely a political geek. I still am a political geek, but that's beside the point.

Like all good political geeks, I was an avid watcher of The West Wing, arguably the greatest drama on television even in its final season. During I think the fourth season, when President Bartlett was running for re-election, the plot involved a Rock the Vote rally, allowing for music types to make cameos. I was most psyched about Barenaked Ladies, but they turned out to be a major disappointment, jumping around on stage to the pre-recorded album cut of "One Week". Far more interesting, however, was the female folk-singer type covering the James Taylor tune "Shed A Little Light". I was definitely a fan, but not being a music geek at the time, I kind of just forgot about it, but the name always stuck in the back of my mind.

Fast forward to last summer, when Ms. Mann (heh, that's amusing) had a new album that was getting some fairly good reviews. I decide to look her up, and literally fall head over hells for the first song I come across. I later found out that this was most likely because the lyrics were a joint effort between herself and the one and only Elvis Costello. Furthermore, her albums (save the most recent) were all produced by Jon Brion, who wrote fantastic music for I Heart Huckabee’s and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind* (more on him next week). This is not to say that Aimee Mann doesn't stand on her own, however- she's got a terrific voice and a knack for ingenious lyrics. The company she keeps creatively just makes her that much cooler.

Aimee Mann- The Fall of the World's Own Optimist

*...and no, sadly I have yet to see Magnolia, which she essentially wrote the score for with Brion. It's on my to-do list somewhere.