I found this in my gmail inbox this morning:
Dear BurkaMom*-
I was searching for reviews of my new album on Google today and came across your blog post which placed my song Beth in your top 5 "in" things. I've no idea how you found it, since I didn't promote that album at all, but I'm glad you did, and thankful for the mention and your patronage.
My new album, "The End of Suffering", comes out on November 3 on Incurable Eclectic Records and will be available on iTunes, Amazon et al. Hopefully you'll find something to hum along with on this album as well!
Cheers,
Ken Flagg
(* he later sent a second email, apologising for misspelling my 'nom de blog')


When I was a kid, I never wrote to my favorite stars. One of my friends wrote to Donny Osmond. Twice. And never even got an autographed picture (with which she was hoping to torment the rest of us into fits of terrible jealousy, so that probably worked out for the best).
At any rate, this early experience, indirect as it was, put to rest any vague thoughts of fangirldom.
And that's good.
Otherwise, after listening to the song "Beth" obsessively every day for a month, I might have written to Ken Flagg. And he would have thought I was a pathetic, yet creepy, stalker.
But instead of that, he wrote to me! How cool is that?

I thought it was very gracious of him to thank me for my very brief mention of his work in my previous blog post. He seems like a nice (as well as obviously talented) guy. In fact, he seems so nice and talented that I've taken the trouble to track down a few of the songs off his unreleased album, give them a listen and review them here on my blog.

So, here it is- the first ever music review by BurkinaMom!

"The End of Suffering" is very different from Flagg's first album. This time around, he seems determined to show what he can do - and that seems to be just about everything. He slides between genres with ease and grace, always adding his own quirky signature to everything he touches.
"Pieces" is a heartfelt ballad that showcases the sweetly intellectual side of him, which is what first hooked me on his music. It's definitely one of my favorites.
In direct contrast is "Mountain Girl", a determined rock anthem, complete with screaming guitar solo. He does indeed "rock the hell" (as one reviewer wrote) out of the song. I won't go into the lyrics here ("your peaks sublime", etc), but I think (fervently hope) he means them as a parody of silly rock songs.
"When the Sun Sets in the Eastern Sky" is Brazilian on the surface, but delightfully geeky to the core. Flagg admits in his bio to being a geek. Hey- who else would rhyme "myriad dreams and hopes" with "barren field of isotopes"?
"Candyman" has an infectious alt-rocker energy and sounds like something my teenagers will want to load on their iPods.

I haven't heard full versions of every song, but I really get the impression that this is a strong album. The variety of musical styles could have led to a very disjointed feel. But Flagg's musical vision is very keen and he keeps everything on target. The songs are all very different, but all very "Flagg".

I wish him the best of luck and healthy sales figures!