From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V4 #28 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Monday, January 26 1998 Volume 04 : Number 028 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Mila Drumke [Paul Blair ] Re: Mila Drumke [Michael Curry ] Tara Maclean/random notes/Matthew Good/Wide Mouth Mason [Kamesan ] my 10 cents. [Bill ] Re: Dalbello on MuchMusic [Neile Graham ] Re: venturing into the unknown (fwd) [Neile Graham ] Kristin Hersh's strange angels [Rachel ] Re: _Lit From Within- compilation [Neile Graham ] Re: portishead [Neile Graham ] sTuff [meredith ] Re: sTuff [Sherlyn Koo ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 12:49:15 -0500 From: Paul Blair Subject: Mila Drumke Meth wrote: >Mila Drumke at Arlene Grocery on Friday (we're finally going to get to see >her play!) Where did you find out about this (and what time is the show)? I'm on her mailing list and I haven't heard anything... Cheers, Paul ***************************************************************************** "Let her out? But she's a killer!" "No she's not. And give her your coat." SINED "Why me?" "Because you're perfect." Paul Blair "You have a point there..." psfblair@ix.netcom.com ***************************************************************************** ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 13:01:53 -0600 (CST) From: Michael Curry Subject: Re: Mila Drumke On Sun, 25 Jan 1998, Paul Blair wrote: > >Mila Drumke at Arlene Grocery on Friday (we're finally going to get to > >see her play!) > > Where did you find out about this (and what time is the show)? I'm on > her mailing list and I haven't heard anything... It's on the tour date part of her web page, and it was on the postcard that was stuck in the envelope when I finally ordered Illinois last month. The show is listed as being at 9pm. I assume we'll see you there. ;) Mike np: Natalie MacMaster -- Fit As A Fiddle nr: Otherworld: City of Golden Shadows by Tad Williams | Michael Curry / mcurry@io.com / mcurry@compuserve.com | | http://www.io.com/~mcurry | | Am I bitter? Do I sound bitter? -- Veda Hille | ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 11:47:15 -0500 From: Kamesan Subject: Tara Maclean/random notes/Matthew Good/Wide Mouth Mason Hi 'philes... Steve here from my free disposable email account. :-) [Re: Neile's distaste for Tara Maclean's _Silence_] I have to say that I agree with Neile here, I've never really liked her lp, and having enjoyed her live shows immensely, chalked it up to overproduction. That said, I think that her EP _If You See Me_ is a vast improvement, and taking recordings from live shows really helps capture some of the power that just doesn't exist on the lp. One of the tracks is even a nice stripped down radio performance recording of just her and her guitar. Hopefully her next CD will be more in the flavour of IYSM than _Silence_. Her live performance has also improved tremendously from the time of her album release, although I'm in the camp of those who liked it from the beginning. When she did her residency at C'est What (a la Jewel) in 96 she was visibly nervous and somewhat apologetic to the crowd, but at the shows I've seen more recently she was totally self-assured and her stage presence was vastly improved. Even her performance was better. Anyway the bottom line is even if you didn't like her before it might be worth checking her out now. The Tara of today is far more polished than the Tara of yesterday. I've seen Kevin Fox play several times now and I'm amazed at how good he is. Kevin has been Dayna Manning's cellist/backup-vocalist extraordinaire for the last little while and has been playing second fiddle (or second cello in a more literal sense) to a variety of other acts for the last 7 years. However recently he's dusted off a couple of his own songs from long ago and written a pile of new stuff that is absolutely laden with pop hooks. In fact he might be entirely too poppy for the likes of this list, but I for one like pop and thoroughly like him. I think my friend James McGarry is right on with his comparison of Kevin to Duncan Sheik. Anyway recommended for those who don't mind poppy male singer-songwriters. Sarah Slean continues to impress. Greatly looking forward to her next EP, as some of my favourite songs now are not on her first EP. Speaking of which I picked up a few more copies for interested members of this list, if you want one email me at this address or my utoronto one. If you'd like to hear what she's like check out the soundbites at the address in my sig. I saw a local band named Junior here a couple of weeks ago who were very reminiscent of Letters to Cleo (at least, early LTC, I haven't listened to their more recent CDs yet), especially in the vocals. Lots of fun. And now for an excursion into less ectophilic music... last night I saw the Matthew Good Band and Wide Mouth Mason at Lee's Palace. Wow, I haven't seen a one-two punch like that since Heather Nova/Ben Folds Five in 96. When we arrived at about 10:20 or so we were surprised to find that a) the show was sold out (and there were people outside begging people for spare tickets!) and b) that it had already started, and was absolutely packed inside. Matthew Good is electric and charismatic performer and the band has a really powerful rocking sound. This band has all the earmarks of a successful arena act, look for them to play larger and larger venues in the near future. Recommended for those who like arena-rock bands like Our Lady Peace (a bit of an odd recommendation from me because I don't like OLP, but anyway)... The Matthew Good Band, who we were there to see, opened for Wide Mouth Mason, who are exploding in popularity in Canada right now, and for good reason. These lads put on a rocking good show. I went into their show not really liking their songs I had heard, but over the course of their marathon set they proceeded to completely win me over. Every member of this power trio from (Saskatchewan?) is an extraordinary musician, from the drummer, who did some really good vocals and some very proficient drum solos, to the asian American bass player (as an aside, there don't seem to be a heck of a lot of asian performers in the music biz these days. Cibo Matto come to mind, but otherwise only ones that I can think of right now are also superb bassists, James Iha of the Smashing Pumpkins and Brian Minato from Sarah McLachlan's band) who was extremely solid and a joy to watch since unlike most bassists was extremely animated and was obviously having the time of his life, to the jaw-dropping vocals and guitar virtuosics of the lead singer. This guy bears out more description. This guy has honed his voice to a razor edge, effortlessly sliding from subdued crooning to a hold-nothing-back vocal assault to a dizzying aerial falsetto, all in the same phrase, and employs all of these weapons in equal measure and with equal unparalleled proficiency. His falsetto is however his most striking characteristic since so few performers do it well. Simply put, I have never seen a male vocalist with a better falsetto. To find a comparison to ___ you'd have to go back to the old African-American blues and gospel singers. Good a vocalist as he is, he is just as virtuosic with his guitar playing, and played a number of amazing extended guitar solos. I'm waxing verbose here but to close their energy was totally infectious, and when they exhorted the crowd to get involved on several songs by clapping or doing "backup vocals" by singing the chorus, the crowd readily complied, which is really unusual for the notoriously reserved Toronto crowd, a large segment of which dispensed with the traditional patented crossed-arm motionless stance in favour of dancing to the music. The band's energy never flagged once in their marathon 2-1/2 hour set (!), and a huge portion of the crowd stayed with them until the concert finally ended after 2 encores at 2am. All this energy is especially surprising this was the second show they did that day! Anyway an incredible show. I don't know if they translate well on CD, I suspect not very well, but we'll see. Lots of fun, but not for everyone, as my companion Rachel (who tends to like my ectophilic recommendations and Britpop as well) didn't like them as much as I did. Come to think of it my friend Jen didn't like them either. As always, your mileage may vary, but I do recommend seeing them live if you can and judging for yourself. Anyway if the concerts of the past few weeks have been any indication, 1998 is going to be an excellent year for me for live music. The schedule for the next little while is extremely promising too... Jan 26- Sarah Slean's pyjama party with Tory Cassis, at Holy Joe's, and Jennifer Trynin down the street at the Horseshoe Jan 27- Holly McNarland at York University Jan 28- Chantal Kreviazuk at Trinity St. Paul's (doubt I'll make it though) Jan 29- Kevin Fox at Holy Joe's Jan 31- St X at the Horseshoe (my friend's band!) Feb 02- Blue Rodeo (I think) at the Horseshoe Feb 13- Spirit of the West at the Horseshoe (woohoo!) Feb 14-15- Holly Cole at Convocation Hall Feb 18- Ben Folds 5 at the Phoenix (yeah!) Plus a Holly McNarland/Matthew Good Band show somewhere in there at my own school. Looking good! :-) Steve ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Steve I | Check out cool Toronto artists Sarah Slean & Emm Gryner Toronto, CAN | at NORTHERN SOUNDS: http://webhome.idirect.com/~nsounds/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 14:38:59 -0600 From: Neile Graham Subject: The Changelings upcoming shows.. Some The Changelings dates. These would be in Atlanta. - --Neile >X-Sender: nomad3@pop.mindspring.com >Mime-Version: 1.0 >Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 13:07:02 -0500 >To: julian@draven.net >From: nomad3@mindspring.com (Nomad) >Subject: The Changelings upcoming shows.. > > _,'| _.-''``-...___.. > /_ \'. __..-' , ,--... . > <\ .`--''' ` /' ; > `-';' ; ; ; . > __...--'' ___...--_..' .;.' _ . } > (,__....----''' (,..--'' (.._. ` >___________________________________________ > The Changelings play > Saturday, January 31 >at The Whole World Theatre 404-817-7529 >1214 Spring Street (between 14th & 16th) >Doors open at 11:45. Show begins at 12:30am >___________________________________________ > > >___________________________________________ > The Changelings > also playing Wednesday, January 28th > at The Masquerade.. Early show: 10:00? > Print this pass for free admission > (or $1 off if under 21) >___________________________________________ > > >___________________________________________ > THE CHANGELINGS site: > http://www.draven.net/changelings >___________________________________________ > > >Thanks!! > - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Neile Graham ..... http://www.sff.net/people/neile ..... neile@sff.net The Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music .... http://www.smoe.org/ectoguide - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 12:46:01 -0800 From: Bill Subject: my 10 cents. Thank you, ectoplasmic ones, for having recommended Jonatha Brooke's "10c wings". Goodstuff. I am now compiling a list of ecto-recommendations for future browsing days in CD stores the US over (I travel a lot for biz, and CD window shopping makes a great way to pass lonely nights away... thank God for them listening stations). And thank you Cheri. :) - - Bill. n.p. Jonatha Brooke: 10c wings n.r. Armistead Maupin: Sure of You ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 19:28:53 -0600 From: Neile Graham Subject: Re: Dalbello on MuchMusic Kat wrote: >With the talk lately here about Lisa Dalbello, I was surprised to see a >video from '84 from her, on MuchMusic's '80s weekend show. I somehow >thought of her as a) newer and b) more obscure. They showed her video to >"Gonna Get Close to You," and as this is my first exposure to her music, I >wanted to know anyone's opinons of how reasonable an example of her stuff >it is. It sounded distinctly "eighties", and her voice reminded me more of >Laurie Anderson than anything. I imagine her music has evolved since >then... Any comments? Kat-- There's a fuller entry on Dalbello in The Ectophiles Guide (http://www.smoe.org/ectoguide/dalbello.html), but briefly: Dalbello started her career in the late 70s doing a kind of funk-pop which was very popular. The best-known song from this time is a bouncy thing called "Pretty Girls". Then she changed dramatically and released her first album as Dalbello (_whomanfoursays_) in 1984--that's the album that has "Gonna Get Close to You" on it. It's a _great_ strange, powerful, gutsy album. Following that she released _She_, which was a tiny bit more pop, with "Let's Tango" being the single off it. We were living in Ontario when that was released and it got fairly heavy play on Much Music. CityTV or TVO (I can't remember which) played a live show of hers from the Diamond Club. I still kick myself that we taped over our copy of it. "Black on Black" from that album appeared on the soundtrack for the movie _9-1/2 Weeks_. Heart covered two of her songs. Then she disappeared for several years--the only word we heard about her was that she had done a beer commercial--then burst back with _Whore_. All three of her Dalbello releases are available in Canada, at least I've seen them at A&B Sound in Victoria recently. Ever since I heard _whomanfoursays_ in '84 I've been a huge fan of hers. She deserves way more recognition than she's ever received. Hope this helps. - --Neile - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Neile Graham ..... http://www.sff.net/people/neile ..... neile@sff.net The Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music .... http://www.smoe.org/ectoguide - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 19:28:46 -0600 From: Neile Graham Subject: Re: venturing into the unknown (fwd) Silme@ix.netcom.com wrote: re: Alanis Morissette >I just wish she'd understood the term "ironic" before she wrote the song >of the same name. I now have high school freshmen using examples from >her song as examples of irony... :) Argh! Yes! I was already pretty sick of her when that single came out, but hearing that made me sick. And glad that I don't teach freshman composition any more. I don't envy you dealing with that! See? Pop culture _does_ ruin children's minds! - --Neile - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Neile Graham ..... http://www.sff.net/people/neile ..... neile@sff.net The Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music .... http://www.smoe.org/ectoguide - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 22:42:20 -0500 (EST) From: Rachel Subject: Kristin Hersh's strange angels I just wanted to highly recommend Kristin Hersh's new CD, Strange Angels. It's being released on February 3 and is really amazing, especially "like you" and "gazebo tree." Her voice is just really powerful and her lyrics are really interesting, like one line I had on my sig file for a while: you're one in a million you're one in two you're not like women and I'm not like you Most of them are just her singing and playing guitar, and they're just really haunting. Her press photo is her and her 2 songs, which I thought was really cute. - -- Rachel ``That leaves us with the very real possibility of a criminal perjury charge against the president, not to mention many counts of stupidity,'' said Barbara Nicastro, who once headed the Justice Department unit in charge of setting guidelines for pursuing perjury charges in civil cases such as the Jones suit. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- my Mary Lou Lord page is at http://pages.nyu.edu/~rkb200/ To join Some Jingle Jangle List, the Mary Lou Lord mailing list, email me your with your name and email address. :) Email me for information about my zine I'M NOT WAITING. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 21:42:32 -0600 From: Neile Graham Subject: Re: _Lit From Within- compilation Jill wrote: > >What can you tell me about a Canadian compilation called "Women & Songs", >which I just ordered from A&B Sound? From the track listing I found, it >appeared rather similar to "In Between Dances." Hmm. I don't know this one. Anyone? >Any other good compilations (especially Canadian artists) you can recommend? Actually, this is one of my weak points--I am not a huge fan of compilation/tribute/soundtrack albums because my tastes are so picky. It's rare that I like one enough to play it once I've listened to whatever I bought it for. Despite how much I like _Lit From Within_ I rarely play it. I'm probably not the best person to answer this. - --Neile - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Neile Graham ..... http://www.sff.net/people/neile ..... neile@sff.net The Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music .... http://www.smoe.org/ectoguide - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 21:42:17 -0600 From: Neile Graham Subject: Re: portishead At 2:49 PM -0500 1/24/98, the american people wrote: >erstwhile ectophile don keller sent this review to me. thought some of you >might be amused by it (i *still* haven't heard the record, so i can't >comment). > >>DUD OF THE MONTH: =Portishead= (Go! Beat/London) >> >>When you're this subtle, marginal differentiation is everything. Louder >>tracks, sparser samples, less-insinuating tunes--all these changes are >>slight, but they impel anti-star-to-die-for Beth Gibbons six inches toward >>stridency, and she's hard enough to take seriously when she's toning it >>down. The real and theoretical depressives who adore them will experience >>this as growth. Workaday music lovers will glance off Gibbons's shows of >>misery and never figure out why. =B MINUS= >> >>--Robert Christgau, "Consumer Guide," =Village Voice= 1/27/98 Well, damn. This review offers no place for me. How about people who simply like the album? I don't think it's particularly a sign of growth from them, but I like it and don't "glance off Gibbons's shows of misery" but find them affecting. I don't think it makes her particularly more strident, though I do agree the tunes a less insinuating than the previous album. It's still good, though and well worth a listen. And say hi to Don. - --Neile - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Neile Graham ..... http://www.sff.net/people/neile ..... neile@sff.net The Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music .... http://www.smoe.org/ectoguide - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 23:29:14 -0500 From: meredith Subject: sTuff Hi! I was in a nostalgic mood today, listening to albums I've loved but haven't heard in a long time: Bel Canto's _Shimmering Warm and Bright_, Cocteau Twins' _Heaven Or Las Vegas_, Kristen Hersh's _Hips and Makers_. Sigh. Those were the days. :) Of course, all of my proud resolutions went out the window and I ended up watching the Super Bowl anyway. I don't think I knew ("San Diego's own!") Jewel was going to be singing the national anthem, but I can't say I'm surprised. She did a great job with it, at least. My parents called me after the game to ask me about her, and to ask for a tape of her stuff. I guess she made a few new fans with that gig. :) Interesting that woj posted this: >>WOMEN COMPOSERS HAVE A HELL OF A TIME GETTING RECORDED! >>O. O. DISCS is proud to announce an illuminating and provocative set of new >>CDs by two important and rarely recorded composers: ELEANOR HOVDA and EVE >>BEGLARIAN. Eve Beglarian is one-half of the new music duo twisted tutu, which performed at HEAR in New York City this past Thursday through Saturday. (The other half is Kathy Supove.) I ventured into NYC to see last night's performance, since Hillary has been exhorting us all to do so for months now. :) I'm glad she did -- it wasn't the sort of thing I've been listening to lately, but it was a good performance of some thought-provoking material. The show was called Closed Captioned, and consisted of 8 pieces written by various members of the composers' collective Common Sense, all of which were performed by twisted tutu. The music was electronic, keyboard-driven with lots of samples and MIDI work going on -- besides the two keyboards there was a Macintosh computer running things on the stage. A roving videographer provided an additional perspective on things, with the video projected onto the wall in back of the performers. In between the pieces Eve and/or Kathy would describe things about the origin, content, or technology of the pieces, which was really enlightening. The thing I find about most electronic "new music" is that it's often easy to cross the line into self-indulgence, but I think for the most part the pieces last night didn't do that. This stuff isn't for everyone, but if you're into the experimental electronic music thing, I'd recommend checking Eve Beglarian out. Her composition closed out the evening last night, and it was one of my faves of the show. I'm sure Hillary can provide us all with more info if anyone asks. :) Valerie reported: >Audionet is showing Dar Williams' video for "What Do You Here in These >Sounds?" exclusively this month. Thanks for the tip! We watched the video on our shitty 28.8 connection, and I think we missed a few parts on the middle there -- it looked like the video stream got stuck a couple times. It looked like a neat video, though. I wish they'd put her other videos up there -- she did ones for "As Cool As I Am" and "Are You Out There", right? Going back into my mailbox, which I'm trying to clean out, I found a few things I've been meaning to deal with. Michael Hayes ventured: >Perhaps a more-industrious soul than I might be willing to >compile all the indie stores mentioned here on a web page >as a companion to the Ectophiles Guide To Good Music, or >(maybe much easier) if a site like this already exists, >perhaps all that would be required would be a link to that >page from the ecto page? As far as I know such a thing doesn't exist, but I'd be willing to compile suggestions into an extension of my Radio Ecto page. Just don't expect this to happen overnight. :) I haven't really been keeping track of the messages people have posted with their record store suggestions, so I'd either need help going through the archives to pull them together, or else I'd have to ask folks to send me their suggestions separately via private e-mail. Any volunteers? :) Sue Trowbridge reported: >Anyway, here's a little Emily update. Her son, Noah, was born on Dec. 3. Wow! That's wonderful! Thanks for passing the news along. I hope she can manage to fit music in with motherhood. I too am impatient to hear more albums from her. Tom Mink wondered: >I just saw the very beginning of Sessions. It's not the national >repeat, but instead is one of k.d. lang and Jane Siberry. Just before >the show our local PBS station broadcast a parental discretion advised >notice. I haven't noticed this before on other Sessions programs, >though I may have just missed it. Have any other stations started doing >this? That is *so* bizarre. I don't know of any language etc. that could have warranted such a warning... I don't know where you're located, Tom, but do you think maybe it could have been because of k.d. lang's sexual orientation? I just can't imagine any PBS station feeling the need to broadcast an advisory before any edition of Sessions, much less that one. Weird. I.D. noted: >The most acclaimed album in the `Til >Tuesday catalogue is Everything`s Different Now, from 1988, which I gather >would be the most like Aimee Mann`s solo material (despite years of >searching in Asia and North America, I have yet to see a copy of this in >any store). Really? _Everything's Different Now_ is the *only* Til Tuesday album I ever see any more. I haven't seen anything but that in the bins for years. Where have you been looking? I guess that's it for now... +==========================================================================+ | Meredith Tarr meth@smoe.org | | New Haven, CT USA http://www.smoe.org/~meth | +==========================================================================+ | "things are more beautiful when they're obscure" -- veda hille | |***TRAJECTORY, the Veda Hille mailing list: trajectory-request@smoe.org***| +==========================================================================+ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 16:34:08 +1100 From: Sherlyn Koo Subject: Re: sTuff Hey folks, meth said: >Thanks for the tip! We watched the video on our shitty 28.8 connection, >and I think we missed a few parts on the middle there -- it looked like the >video stream got stuck a couple times. It looked like a neat video, >though. I wish they'd put her other videos up there -- she did ones for >"As Cool As I Am" and "Are You Out There", right? It might not have just been you, meth - the sampling rate was pretty low, out of necessity I guess. But sometimes you couldn't tell whether Dar was supposed to be singing or whether she was just making fish faces. :) (I watched it at work, where we have a spiffo connection.) Anyway, to answer your question, Dar's only other video to date is for "As Cool as I Am". And you didn't miss too much in the chat... although, I *did* get to ask what "who invented roses" means (and got a "That's for you to decide" in response, haha). Back to trying to stay awake - sherlyn ps - meth, remember that Dar tape you wanted? I've *almost* got it... still interested? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Sherlyn Koo - sherlyn@fl.net.au =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= "And when you wake up from this night, we'll start a new beginning, Show the earth her due respect, create new laws for living..." - Sally Fingerett ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V4 #28 *************************