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ecto-digest           Sunday, July 26 1998           Volume 04 : Number 246



                               Today's Subjects:
                               -----------------
  Re: Highlights of my concert-going week (rather long)  ["Xenu's Sister" <v]
  Rebecca Stout & The Shakers!!!!          ["Xenu's Sister" <vickie@wwa.com>]
  shoegazers, cont'd                      ["J." Wermont <jwermont@sonic.net>]
  Billie Myers...                   [Krys & Geoff <us@moonviews.demon.co.uk>]
  Re: shoegazers, cont'd       ["Robert Lovejoy" <rlovejoy@bellatlantic.net>]
  Re: Billie Myers...                                        [Riphug@aol.com]
  Re: Rebecca Stout & The Shakers!!!!                   [stunning@tezcat.com]
  Re:  Rebecca Campbell                                      [Riphug@aol.com]
  Chris Butler                       ["Donald G. Keller" <dgk@genie.idt.net>]
  Re: shoegazers, cont'd                        [James Gurley <jmg@serv.net>]
  Neutral Milk Hotel, 7/24: If I knew you were coming...  [queen of carrot f]
  Re: Rebecca Campbell                         [Neile Graham <neile@sff.net>]
  Re: Rebecca Stout & The Shakers!!!!          [Neile Graham <neile@sff.net>]
  Re: Samson site                           [Michael Pearce <mp@moonmac.com>]
  Re: shoegazers?                   [Cheri Villines <cvilline@comp.uark.edu>]
  Re: Billie Myers...                  [Joseph Zitt <jzitt@humansystems.com>]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 01:38:51 -0500
From: "Xenu's Sister" <vickie@wwa.com>
Subject: Re: Highlights of my concert-going week (rather long)

At 02:38 PM 7/24/98 EDT, Riphug@aol.com wrote:

<Nice trip! snipped>

>Besides.....I’ve got more concerts coming up in August:  
>Tori Amos in Kansas City on the 28th

There's a 98% probability that Chris and I will be at
this concert. Chris's brother is wangling tickets and 
once we're sure he has them we'll buy our Amtrak
tickets. That sounds like 4 Ectophiles going: you, me,
JavaHo and Kerry. Right? We all should meet!

I really want to see this because we missed the Rosemont
show here in Chicago the other day. Plus, I get to go
to KC to see my granddaughter, yay!. Plus, in all the years
I lived in and around Kansas City (duh, my whole life), 
I've never once been to Starlight, which is a wonderful 
outdoor theater at the Kansas City Zoo. It's going to be
a *great* show!

Vickie
 




DIVX = GREED - Boycott Circuit City!

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 02:03:20 -0500
From: "Xenu's Sister" <vickie@wwa.com>
Subject: Rebecca Stout & The Shakers!!!!

At 01:27 PM 7/24/98 -0700, Neile Graham wrote:

>n.p.  The Shakers, Living in the Shadow of a Spirit

Excuse me? What is this??? Is this the "concept EP" (includes
the song "Song For Kate") or something else? I have that 12" EP
but I can't get to my vinyl shelves at the moment so I can't 
double-check the name. I just want to know I'm not missing 
out on something. If it is the EP, do you have it on CD? 


> (hey Vickie, apparently
>Rebecca Stout from The Shakers will shortly have a solo album out!--There's
>a promo picture of her on the net somewhere to do with a festival she
>played and it was pretty hard to play the whacked-out Rebecca Stout with
>the one from The Shakers, but the note below said it was her!  Anyone heard
>of Treason Records?  Anyway her new album will be called _The Empress_.)

Thank you for this information Neile!! 

Folks, The Shakers were the epitome of an "Ectopop" band. A lot of 
good pop, a little bit of interesting rock, healthy dashes of cool
weirdness, a sense of humor, a good female vocalist and on a really,
really obscure label. They were on a label called Carlyle Records
out of Nashville. The only full-length album I've ever known about
is called _Songs From Beneath The Lake_, released in 1990. Of course,
they might have tons of material out and I wouldn't know about it.
It's well worth getting (just to hear their cover of "The Rain Song"), 
though I imagine it's long out-of-print. 

Another Rebecca to add to the "Keep track of" list. (Stout, Pidgeon &
Gates)

Vickie

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 01:09:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: "J." Wermont <jwermont@sonic.net>
Subject: shoegazers, cont'd

Tim Finney wrote:

 > such groups being Lush, The Cranes, Curve, Slowdive, Ride, The Verve
 > etc. The basic style is a flowing, but often dissonant, style of
 > music which concentrates less on the song itself, but more the
 > sound, which is often multi-layered.

OK, I know what you mean. It's definitely different from what I was
thinking. But the description you give here definitely fits Cranes -
I've always tried to describe their music with the phrase "ambient
dissonance." I also really like Curve (at least I love the
Doppelganger album, and like Cuckoo, though I didn't much care for
the latest one), but their songs seem a lot tighter than Cranes or
Cocteau Twins or Lush (though I don't know a lot about the last 2 - I
have one album by each and haven't listened to either that much).

I think I like the Curve/Cranes end of the spectrum a lot better than
the Lush/CT end, because they have a harder sound. Not just a more
pronounced beat, but harsher music - more dissonant musically and
more aggressive instrumental sounds, not as flowy and pretty. Does
this make sense? Sounds like I might like My Bloody Valentine, and I
would like to know which of the groups you mentioned above would be
at that more dissonant end of the spectrum. I find Cranes' and
Curve's music hypnotic, but definitely not soporific.

 > Although dream-pop has to a large extent died down, it seems to have
 > largely influenced all the new "progressive" American bands (Built
 > To Spill, Shudder To Think etc.).

Are most of the shoegazer bands from the UK (originally)?

Also, speaking of American bands, how would you rate Garbage in the
shoegazer category? I think they're very influenced by Curve.

Joyce

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 09:26:23 +0100
From: Krys & Geoff <us@moonviews.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Billie Myers...

Hello Ectophiles,

Does anybody out there know anything about the singer Billie Myers?
Caught a few seconds of her and her band performing live on the UK
weekly pop show "Top of the Pops" and was impressed.

Any info to me at the above E-mail address.

Love and peace,
- -- 
Krys XXX

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 08:32:12 -0400
From: "Robert Lovejoy" <rlovejoy@bellatlantic.net>
Subject: Re: shoegazers, cont'd

Catherine Wheel, esp. 1st album, is perfect shoegazing music!

The Other Bob

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 09:18:39 EDT
From: Riphug@aol.com
Subject: Re: Billie Myers...

In a message dated 7/25/98 4:54:09 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
 us@moonviews.demon.co.uk writes:

<< Does anybody out there know anything about the singer Billie Myers? >>

Billie Myers (the woman with the at-times-manly-sounding voice) is best known
 for "Kiss the Rain."  She has one full-length album called "Growing Pains" and
 you can hear sound samples from it at   
 <A HREF="http://face.simplenet.com/billie/index.htm">Billie Myers RealAudio
 Website</A>

<<Billie Myers
Active Decade: '90s
Born 1971 in Coventry, England
Genre - Rock 
Style - Adult Alternative Pop/Rock

 Billie Myers, born in England, came to the world of popular music in 1997
 with her debut release Growing Pains. Her vocal style is a combination of pop,
 jazz and world music. There has always been a defined line, though invisible,
 between pop lyrics and poetry; Billie originally began writing poetry as a
 child, and in doing so has successfully joined the two together in cohesive,
 accessible music. 
Billie's mother is English, her father Jamaican. She did not follow a musical
 path from the beginning; before her CD debut, Billie was a nurse and insurance
 agent in England. Billie was discovered in a dance club by producer Peter
 Harris. Intrigued by her look and dancing, Peter asked Billie if she could
 sing as well as she danced. Soon after their first meeting, Billie began
 writing the material for Growing Pains. The album was produced by veteran rock
 icon Desmond Child. The first single off the album, "Kiss the Rain," quickly
 became a Top 20 hit. Billie was signed to Universal Records in 1997 and toured
 with the Lilith Fair in the summer of 1998, as well as headlining her own
 tour. Singles from the album Growing Pains have appeared on television in
 commercials and in the series Dawson's Creek. Growing Pains achieved gold
 record status in 1997. ~ Tina Mrazik , All-Music Guide  >>

According to CD Universe:
<<People who buy Billie Myers also tend to buy these artists:
Kiss • Madonna • The Golden Palominos • The Verve • Vigilantes Of Love • 2Pac
 • Aqua • The Beach Boys • Bob Dylan • Mars Lasar • Lisa Loeb • Loreena
 McKennitt • John McLaughlin • Adam Sandler • Stephen Stills • Uncle Tupelo •
 Van Halen • Vangelis • Neil Young  >>

Ummmm.....don't believe everything you read.....

Jill :D

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 09:19:42 -0600
From: stunning@tezcat.com
Subject: Re: Rebecca Stout & The Shakers!!!!

>Another Rebecca to add to the "Keep track of" list. (Stout, Pidgeon &
>Gates)
>
>Vickie

Don't forget about Rebecca Campbell!  Jane Siberry's dear friend who has
recorded some solo stuff...
Does anybody know about her solo stuff? - I've only heard one song on a
compilation, but it was great.

Thomas Dunning
Chicago

Brown Star Records
I WANNA BE KATE: The Songs of Kate Bush
http://www.clubi.ie/twomey/trib.htm
http://www.tezcat.com/~stunning/kate/index.html

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 10:21:31 EDT
From: Riphug@aol.com
Subject: Re:  Rebecca Campbell

In a message dated 7/25/98 10:12:13 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
stunning@tezcat.com writes:

<< Don't forget about Rebecca Campbell!  Jane Siberry's dear friend who has
 recorded some solo stuff...
 Does anybody know about her solo stuff? - I've only heard one song on a
 compilation, but it was great. >>

In my possession is a copy of a cd called Grace Under Pressure.  It's a
recording made by Rebecca's a cappella group called 
<A HREF="http://www.primalbeat.com/a-cappella/sheets/sheets.html">Three Sheets
to the Wind</A>.  Nice stuff!

I don't know of any future plans, though.

Jill :D

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 10:41:55 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Donald G. Keller" <dgk@genie.idt.net>
Subject: Chris Butler

I have the greatest respect for Chris Butler, and the one and only Tin 
Huey album is an oddball masterpiece which--a musical crime--is not 
available on CD...but to say that Mr. Butler "invented math rock" is to 
stretch things a bit.

I heard Tin Huey's album when it first came out...and even then, great as 
it was, =it wasn't something I'd never heard before=.

Let's focus on that moment (1979, I believe--I don't have my copy of the LP
handy). Pere Ubu's =Dub Housing= (also by a group of Ohio musicians, by 
the way), an even greater album in the same vein, came out in 1978. Captain
Beefheart across the decade break recorded three albums (his last, alas--he
retired from music after that) at the height of his extreme style. Even such
more "mainstream" acts as Talking Heads (1979's =Fear of Music= was their
peak), Devo and the B-52s (whose debut albums were both 1979, I think)
approached Tin Huey's jagged waywardness.

In Europe you had bands like Henry Cow and Univers Zero producing great 
albums like the former's 1978 =Western Culture= (their last) and the 
latter's 1977 =1313= (their first).

And =all= this stuff goes back to Frank Zappa and King Crimson in the 
late 60s; and as Zappa and KC's Robert Fripp acknowledged, =their= music 
goes back to Bartok and Stravinsky (who kinda sorta "invented math 
rock" in the classical realm)...and =their= music is derived from 
Eastern European folk music. Which, if you think about it, is full of 
uneven meters, discordant melodies, and a tendency towards twitchy stops 
& starts.

So all praise to Chris Butler and give him his due (Tin Huey, the 
Waitresses, =The Devil Glitch=); but let's not exaggerate his originality.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 10:50:11 -0700 (PDT)
From: James Gurley <jmg@serv.net>
Subject: Re: shoegazers, cont'd

Another perfect shoegazer band was Th Faith Healers (who disbanded in 1993
and were the original band signed to Too Pure).  All their stuff fits
nicely into this musical shelf.

Oh good news.  On NPR this morning I heard the offical wod from New
Musical Express that Brit Pop is dead.  Well, it's about time!

- -J


On Sat, 25 Jul 1998, Robert Lovejoy wrote:

> Catherine Wheel, esp. 1st album, is perfect shoegazing music!
> 
> The Other Bob
> 
> 

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 14:25:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: queen of carrot flowers <tugboat@channel1.com>
Subject: Neutral Milk Hotel, 7/24: If I knew you were coming...

Of all the bands whose music has played an active role in my life, whose
beautiful melodies, insightful lyrics, and deep emotion has helped me to
better understand my life and the world around me, only Neutral Milk Hotel
have inspired me to make them a cake.  NMH's music inspires this reaction
in me because their music, like much good art, is like food: it tastes
good, and listening to it makes me feel nourished and gives me energy to
put into my everyday life and creative endeavours.  Musically, _In An
Aeroplane Over The Sea_ resembles a Molotov cocktail made of Pere Ubu's
obtuse angularity, the hippie-dippy Christian spirituality of Tom Rapp,
Mary Margaret O'Hara's intoxicating vision and graceful stutter, and the
tarnished brass filigree of the Salvation Army Marching Band, but only list
the possible influences would be leaving out the other half of the
equation, the spine-tingling magic realism, innocence, and hope, and the
passion and urgency in executing these story songs that could well make
this the album of the year.

My major qualm in seeing the band perform live was whether or not they'd be
able  to sustain said energy and passion over an extensive live set.  After
all, it's easy to keep energy going on a studio album, since it's easier to
keep the energy levels high over an extensive period of time in a studio
than in the concentrated atmosphere of a rock concert, and that combined
with Mangum's feeling that NMH will eventually be a project confined to the
studio made me fear the worst.  However, the record was wonderful enough to
warrant a desire to see them live.

And, happily, their live set was amazing.  Though the band wasn't tight and
cohesive in the traditional sense, they had much fun throwing out musical
curveballs, trying new improvs in front of a captive audience and being
adventurous with these tunes.  The sometimes-uncontrollable live setup
threw the band off track once or twice -- after a lighting-related snafu
that aborted the opening of "Naomi", Mangum explained to the audience that
"I like bagpipes because you can tape them down.  You can't tape down
lights, and that can confuse me."  And sometimes the musical limbs they
went out on weren't solid enough to support them, as with the set-closing
improvisation that bogged down the pace of the set.

However, when one is in the presence of genius, one does not quibble.  The
band were clearly having lots of fun on stage, as their antic
bouncing-around onstage would suggest, and the passionate encore medley of
"Two Headed Boy Pt. II" and "The Fool" brought out the eerie shadows in
both songs, especially when the former, a ballad suggesting both sexual
awakening and suicide, was paired with the bleating funeral dirge.  Hotel
concierge Jeff Mangum had an appealingly youthful presence that dovetailed
with his songs of innocence and experience; his wide-eyed approach to music
and choirboy's voice gave the songs, particularly the darker tunes, an
eerie impact.

After the show, I noticed Mangum walking around, doing after-show business
and talking with fans, with a ring of brown frosting and chocolate crumbs
around his mouth.  I hope the cake left him with as much of a feeling of
satisfaction in his belly as his music leaves with me.

(Aargh.  This is sort of a stream-of-consciousness review, and I apologise
for the occasional lapses into sycophantry.  Ah well, 'twas fun while it
lasted.)

- ----
                              Chelsea, the mod pixie

     home:						       away:
tugboat@channel1.com					odyshape@hotmail.com

"the only thing I want to do is make a great, big, fat story in my own
language and really have people throwing up and driving cars fast." -- Hal
Hartley, on _Henry Fool_

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 12:02:25 -0700
From: Neile Graham <neile@sff.net>
Subject: Re: Rebecca Campbell

stunning@tezcat.com wrote:

>Don't forget about Rebecca Campbell!  Jane Siberry's dear friend who has
>recorded some solo stuff...
>Does anybody know about her solo stuff? - I've only heard one song on a
>compilation, but it was great.

I don't know about solo stuff, but I do have two fun albums she did with an
Ottawa group called Fat Man Waving.  There's an entry in the Ectophiles'
Guide for them--fun, jazzy pop music.

I hadn't even heard of Grace Under Pressure!

- --Neile

n.p.  Lamb, self-titled

- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Neile Graham ..... http://www.sff.net/people/neile ..... neile@sff.net
The Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music .... http://www.smoe.org/ectoguide
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 12:19:59 -0700
From: Neile Graham <neile@sff.net>
Subject: Re: Rebecca Stout & The Shakers!!!!

>I wrote:

>>n.p.  The Shakers, Living in the Shadow of a Spirit

Xenu's Sister (Vickie) wrote:

>Excuse me? What is this??? Is this the "concept EP" (includes
>the song "Song For Kate") or something else? I have that 12" EP
>but I can't get to my vinyl shelves at the moment so I can't
>double-check the name. I just want to know I'm not missing
>out on something. If it is the EP, do you have it on CD?

Yes, this is the EP, and I'm sure it only ever came out on vinyl.  Since I
hardly ever use our turntable, I finally taped it yesterday while I was
working in the Ectophiles' Guide entry for The Shakers.  (That's what
prompted my research where I came across the upcoming Rebecca Stout
release.)

For those unfamiliar (I'm only in the know because when Vickie posted a
message about them years ago I followed through right away and ordered the
vinyl & disc and had to write 8 months later and threaten the company with
a formal complaint to the Post Office before they sent the stuff to me),
this is a 4-song concept ep, based on the story of the Bell Witch, a spirit
(which came to be known as Kate) who haunted the Bell family in Adams,
Tennessee in the early 19th century.  There were all kinds of collaborative
reports about the spirit, including from General Andrew Jackson, and
there's a book about the haunting written by a descendent of the Bell
family.

Anyway, the music is wonderful, though I do love _Songs From Beneath The
Lake_ better.  Judging from what I've been able to find out about the band,
these are their only two releases.  I could be wrong.

Vickie says:

>It's well worth getting (just to hear their cover of "The Rain Song"),
>though I imagine it's long out-of-print.

It's a delightful disc that I have played to death.  I have found used
copies of it that I have picked up for various ectophiles.  It should be
even more findable for anyone closer to Tennessee than Seattle is!  Keep
your eyes open and grab it if you find it.  Green & blue booklet cover,
white spine, green back with a picture of green grassy weeds on it.

The Guide entry on them will be up once Damon gets back.

My love of The Shakers' music is just one more discovery I'm grateful to
Vickie for.

- --Neile

s.p. (still playing):  Lamb

- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Neile Graham ..... http://www.sff.net/people/neile ..... neile@sff.net
The Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music .... http://www.smoe.org/ectoguide
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 15:03:16 -0800
From: Michael Pearce <mp@moonmac.com>
Subject: Re: Samson site

WretchAwry <vickie@wwa.com> writes,

> At 07:23 PM 7/20/98 -0400, Robert Lovejoy wrote:
> >The title says it all!
> >http://www.samsonmusic.com
>
> Gee, really? All I get is insulted (because I don't have
> "Active X")  and then a blank screen. No alts, no other
> way to access information, no nothing. A big, fat, rude,
> blank page.

Well, I tested it using a standard install of Netscape 3.0.1 (Mac) and it
displays fine. That install does include Java. Netscape 4.0 also displays
it, and RealPlayer works fine for the music sample. The first page was not
blank but seems to have a single still image, clickable.
>
> I guess I won't be seeing the Samson site anytime soon.
> Just like a large percentage of the people who'll go there
> (including most people with Netscape & Web TV).
>
> The designer has to go back to the drawing board and start
> over again. Bells and whistles are perfectly fine, *if* and
> only if the site's information is also viewable by everybody
> who doesn't care about the bells and whistles. I've been
> seeing this "only the design counts, the information doesn't"
> mindset for years and it only hurts the business, because
> people just looking for information won't come back. When
> you go into a store you're not told "you can't come in and
> look at the merchandise or ask questions unless you have
> this and this and this. Go get these things and then come
> back." Yet that's what's happening with hundreds of thousands
> of web sites that are there supposedly to sell something
> and/or provide information. It's a designer thing. Not a
> service-oriented thing. And usually, the designer's hurt
> feelings and defensive posturing ("well, then they should
> update their computer") are far more important than the
> curious/consumer. So nothing gets done, and everybody
> loses except the pleased-with-themselves designer.
>
> Prove me wrong Samson. Please, prove me wrong. Make
> the information that's there available to people like me. I'll
> even tell you how. I'll do it for FREE!
>
> Vickie (in a mood because I was looking forward to seeing
> the Samson site)

Maybe they fixed some of the problems between the day you wrote this and
today, 7/25. Hope so. But I do agree with your point: the site is way
overdesigned, missing many ALT tags, and they should include an immediate,
page-one link to a parallel site optimized for text browsers.

Love the new Happy cover! Hardly wait for 8/15 (coincidentally, the day of
the new iMac release)!

Michael
|^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Not subject to unwritten-law enforcement^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^|
|     "Give them a light and       |       http://www.moonmac.com/        |
|  they'll follow it anywhere!"   <*>          mp@moonmac.com             |
|       --Firesign Theatre         |          michael@pmug.org            |
|       K  E  E  P     T  H  E     |  N  T  E  R  N  E  T    F  R  E  E   |
|____No Microsoft products were used in the production of this message____|
|           If mail ever bounces, resend to michael@pmug.org              |

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 17:40:55 -0500 (CDT)
From: Cheri Villines <cvilline@comp.uark.edu>
Subject: Re: shoegazers?

> > Some bands discussed there included The Verve, Laika, Bailter Space,
> > Curve, Portishead, Red House Painters, Nick Cave, Spiritualized, and many

> without being new-agey is kind of a good description.  Don't know if the
> bands mentioned above, with the exception of Curve, qualify.

Well, Jason, the list *was* dedicated to shoegazer music, and those bands
were discussed often. The Verve seemed to be a favorite, along with the
bands that you mentioned. I guess, like many music categories, shoegazing
has expanded its borders. :)

Cheri

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 14:44:51 -0400
From: Joseph Zitt <jzitt@humansystems.com>
Subject: Re: Billie Myers...

Riphug@aol.com wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 7/25/98 4:54:09 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
>  us@moonviews.demon.co.uk writes:
> 
> << Does anybody out there know anything about the singer Billie Myers? 

If I'm not mistaken, she's now touring in suport of Savage Garden. Not
that I'd necessarily go see either on the basis of their one hit each
yet...
- -- 
- ---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1----------
|||/ Joseph Zitt ===== jzitt@humansystems.com ===== Human Systems \|||
||/ Maryland? = <*> SILENCE: The John Cage Mailing List <*> = ecto \||
|/ http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt ====== Comma: Voices of New Music \|

------------------------------

End of ecto-digest V4 #246
**************************