From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V4 #454 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Tuesday, December 29 1998 Volume 04 : Number 454 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Raincoats, Radio Iodine ["Donald G. Keller" ] Merrill Bainbridge [Eponine ] Beth Orton, etc... [Eponine ] (Members of) Comma (and others) in Austin ["Joseph S. Zitt" ] Re: no output from k.b./love-hounds [Old Spice ] Re: Merrill Bainbridge ["Bill" ] Re: no output from k.b./love-hounds [Steve VanDevender ] [none] [Michael Curry ] My top albums of 1998 ["Xenu's Sister" ] Re: no output from k.b./love-hounds [Richard ] Top 10 CDs/concerts of 1998 [Greg Dunn ] Merrill Bainbridge and other Eponine's points [Andrew Fries ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 07:09:57 -0500 (EST) From: "Donald G. Keller" Subject: Raincoats, Radio Iodine The Raincoats are great favorites of mine; I was listening to them when they were first extant (early 80s), and was overjoyed when their albums were rereleased on CD (at the behest of their big fan Kurt Cobain). =Odyshape=, the second album, is absolutely brilliant, a 10-best-of-decade level album. But "pretty and folky" are not among the first dozen or so adjectives I'd apply to them. Very twitchy, very edgy, vocals more often strained than warm, music apt to veer into percussive atonality at any moment. But great. I still have a little cardboard-sleeved promo compilation Radioactive Records was handing out at the Snowpony showcase during the CMJ festival in 1997; one of the tracks on it (along with a Live live track, Elysian Fields, Snowpony of course, Shirley Manson with her previous band Angelfish, etc.) is Radio Iodine's "For You." A very good darkish song which I remember liking better than the Snowpony at the time. Never saw a Radio Iodine release, though. I'd pick one up if I saw it. Bob's review of the Kristeen Young show only makes it harder for me to wait until New Year's Eve... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 09:11:17 -0800 From: Eponine Subject: Merrill Bainbridge Hi everyone - I heard a song by Merrill Bainbridge on a TV drama - it was either "Trinity" or "Cupid", I don't remember. But I DO remember that I liked what I heard very much. When next in the music store, I was going to buy her CD, when I saw she that she in fact has two CDs. I didn't buy either, since I didn't know the name of the song I had heard. Does anyone here at Ecto like her? Can recommend one of her CDs? Or is she a crap prefab artist ala Natalie Imbruglia?! Any comments apprreciated! E. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 11:07:38 -0800 From: Eponine Subject: Beth Orton, etc... Since Beth Orton's new CD is getting SUCH great press, I decided to finally unwrap and listen to 'Trailer Park' which I bought last summer. Anyway, I listened to 'Trailer Park' in the car on the way to work this morinig. I thought the first song was GREAT. Then as the CD progressed, I found myself becoming more and more detached from the music until by the time I got to work I was almost really glad to turn it off. However, I am rather preoccupied with a stressful personal situation, so it could just very well be that nothing would have "grabbed me" this morning. Since so many Ecotphiles seem to like her I will certainly give her another listen. I went to MusicBoulevard.com and listened to samples from Milla's 'The Divine Comedy' and was rather underwhelmed by that, too. I remember now having heard it on the radio a little bit (I live near Chicago, which used to have the absolute coolest radio station: WCBR, "Chicago's Bear"). I'm gonna pass on Milla. My local record store called to tell me two of the Happy CDs I ordered came in: 'Equipoise' and 'Happy Rhodes'. What he means by "Happy Rhodes" I can only guess is either the 'Volume I' or the 'Volume II'. I am worried that I won't like them, especially in my present state of mind. I have ten days to decide. I wish I hadn't gone overboard and ordered so many (four). I ordered: 'Rhodes I', 'Rhodes II', 'Rhodesongs', and 'Equipoise'. Sigh. I always go overboard. Lastly, I put myself through a truly masochistic experience by watching the 1958 film 'Imitation of Life' again. This must be truly the most gut-wrenchingly heart-breakingly unbearably sad movie of all time. Mahalia Jackson singing "Trouble Of the World" at the end is just almost too, too much. I just bawled and bawled. Any Mahalia fans out there? I love, love, love her. She was an acquaintance of my parents, so she was big in my home growing up. But if I had been the producer or director of 'Imitation of Life' I would NOT have cast Lana Turner in the so-called "lead". Juanita Moore in the so-called "secondary lead" wiped the floor with Lana Turner!! E. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 11:22:37 -0600 (CST) From: "Joseph S. Zitt" Subject: (Members of) Comma (and others) in Austin [of possible interest to area Ectophiles, though a rather different kind of performance...] Performance: (Members of) COMMA (and Friends) Members of the Washington, DC, based experimental ensemble Comma, in conjunction with a crew of cutting-edge Texas cronies, will be performing at 33 Degrees in Austin on Wednesday, December 30th, at 8 PM. Comma includes intermittent Austinite Joseph Zitt (formerly of Empty Words and the Human Systems Performance Group), once-and-future Houstonian Thomas Bickley (leader of Deep Listening(TM) workshops, who has recorded with the Denison/Kimball Trio), and stuck-on-the-east-coast opera and new music specialist Matthew Ross Davis. Zitt and Bickley will be joined for this performance by - - Josh Ronsen (of Brekekekexkoaxkoax), - - Jay Rozen (of the Creative Opportunity Orchestra), - - John Snyder (formerly of Empty Words), - - Tim Wood (of "Question Authority, the", Dallas's "The Word", and poetryvideo.com), - - Bobby Corbell (of Mezaway), - - Thom the World Poet (of, well, the world), and surprising guests. The performance will include music by John Cage, pieces by the performers, and improvisations by the entire group (and subsets thereof). The show is free and open to the public. 33 Degrees is at 4017 Guadalupe (476-7333) - - ---------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 \| ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 13:52:45 -0500 From: Whitney Pomeroy Subject: Re: Merrill Bainbridge At 09:11 AM 12/28/98 -0800, Eponine wrote: >I heard a song by Merrill Bainbridge on a TV drama - it was either >"Trinity" or "Cupid", I don't remember. But I DO remember that I liked >what I heard very much. When next in the music store, I was going to >buy her CD, when I saw she that she in fact has two CDs. I didn't buy >either, since I didn't know the name of the song I had heard. > >Does anyone here at Ecto like her? Can recommend one of her CDs? Or is >she a crap prefab artist ala Natalie Imbruglia?! Any comments >apprreciated! Okay well I'm not a huge Merril fan (in other words, I don't know the whole scoop on her), but I do own and love both of her CDs. Her first CD, "The Garden" came out a couple years ago in the States (summer/fall '96? Maybe it was as early as '95?) -- her one single that made the radio was "Mouth," (I know it was big on the radio in the summer of '96) you'd probably recognize it if you heard it. Her second CD came out a few months ago I think, although I just picked it up last month. I haven't heard any of those songs on the radio yet. It's titled "Between the Days" and it's along the same lines as her first album. Personally I favor "The Garden," but that also might be because I overplayed it for months and months when I first bought it and haven't listened to this new one as much. Anyways, her music is very poppy-happy. I always put her on when I'm cleaning and it's a bright, sunny day. I also love her accent. (She's Australian -- I love a line in her new CD -- the song is titled "hello" when she rhymes "A to Zed" with "head." Heehee I think that's so cute :)) Okay so some people might say she's a "crap prefab artist" (LOL, I love that!) like Natalie, but in my NSHO, she's not -- I think she's a lot of fun and has a great voice. I'm sure someone here will have more info. for you, but I HTH! Love and happiness, Whitney - -------------------------------------------------------- wpomeroy@gis.net ** wpomeroy@trincoll.edu ** http://www2.trincoll.edu/~wpomeroy ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 14:35:57 -0800 (PST) From: Old Spice Subject: Re: no output from k.b./love-hounds - ---jfrancis@villagenet.com wrote: > > Kate was precocious and probably totally naive to the > "rules" of music making which allowed her to do the things > she did much to everyones listening pleasure. > The kind of insight, innocence, and imagination that combined > to make the music what it was (as far as I'm concerned it was > downhill after the brilliant peak of Hounds of Love) may just > not be part of Kates personality anymore. A lot happens between > 17 and 40+ years of age. > Sort of like mathameticians & physicists do they're best work > by the age of thirty, by way of analogy. I agree with you what you say, but not with what you seem to mean. You seem to be suggesting (taking the rest of your post into account as well) that any artist who lacks the foresight (or perhaps the conviction) to die young inevitably suffers a diminution of creative power. I agree that this often appears to be the case, but I believe (in the first place) that the cause of this is success, not age; and in the second place, that Kate has proven herself the exception to this rule, rather than, as you (and indeed not a few of her fair-weather fans) opine, an example of it. No album has ever grabbed me by the heart with talons like _The_Dreaming_’s, in 1982, when I was nineteen and Kate was--what?--twenty-three. "The Ninth Wave" was a powerful piece of art for me, but it took me longer to find a home for side one of _HoL_ and, to a greater extent, _TSW_ and _TRS_ . The emotional stability that began to rear its ugly head in _TSW_ and seemed to have grown to full maturity in _TRS_ was not what I went to Kate for. What I had always needed from Kate I couldn’t, at the time, get from anyone else. Emotional stability--egads, it was nearly serenity!--could, on the other hand, be had from any number of artists, for (…[dare I?]…) a song. _TSW_ and _TRS_ were so _not_ what I needed from her at that time that I felt my disappointment almost as a betrayal: it just wasn’t where I was at right then. But guess what (and you’d be surprised how long this revelation was in coming): it was where Kate was at. Suddenly I realized that, in fact, nothing had really changed in Kate’s approach to her art. One day--I think I was listening to "The Fog"--I suddenly felt the emotional _truth_ of what Kate was singing about. It wasn’t _my_ truth, like much of _TD_ was, but all at once I realized that it was, however, still Kate’s truth. Her music hadn’t grown any weaker at all, I realized; our respective lives, and the images and metaphors and emotions that defined them, had only diverged. When I realized this, my respect for her suddenly grew even greater than it had been before. Do you know how easy it would have been for Kate to just continue pumping out _Dreaming_ clones? And how much thinner and smaller each one would have gotten? Isn’t that the route almost every successful artist takes? Create a formula in the crucible of your artistic youth, patent it, and live off of it till you grow old, and then live out your golden years touring with Flock of Seagulls. Look at Queen. Look at Jethro Tull. Look at Yes, at Elton John, at Bruce Springsteen, at David Bowie. How much harder for Kate to continually reinvent herself artistically; to reevaluate her relationship to her art with every new foray. For us to demand that she continue recycling husks of her greatest creations is to demand that she be true to her fans’ desires, not to her own art. > You can see it coming when she asks the likes of Clapton & > "the artist formally known as...." to collaborate. > (first rule: stay away from the vh-1 commercial crap artists, kate!) I’ve never yet found room for Eric Clapton in my musical universe, so I can’t comment on him, but to refer to Prince as a "vh-1 commercial crap artist" is to open oneself to charges of musical timidity and provincialism, jfrancis. Prince, like Kate, is an artist whose relationship with his fans and the public at large remains in flux, precisely because he is unwilling to coast along the easy paths that are familiar and smooth because he laid them, simply because that’s what his fans want from him. Prince has earned my respect for exactly the same reason that he continues to disappoint so many people: his love of experimentation and artistic growth is greater than his fear of failure. Prince and Kate have this in common: they never even consider letting their artistic agenda be influenced---let alone dictated, as is the norm---by the marketplace. I can count the other successful artists who have the same philosophy on about half a hand. Readers of this list should know that adherence to this creed is almost guaranteed to lead to an imbalance of artistic integrity and commercial acceptance. How great would the loss be if the great Ectopians--Happy, Jane, Mary Margaret, Ingrid, etc.--suddenly gave up their devotion to the gods of music and began to sacrifice all to the god of money? > She's a middle -aged women already and as a recording > artist her image is frozen in time as the young brilliant kate. > She may have lost that spark of originality No; she’s simply outgrown the emotional state that produced _TD_ and _HoL_ as honest artistic expressions, and has become the woman for whom _TSW_ and _TRS_ are closer to her present truth. > and subsequently > any further output may have Kates distinctive voice, but > the music will be sadly lacking. Sadly, yes, for you, and for others who would wish artistic stagnation upon Kate or any other artist. > Many other singers about may have the same "stylings" as > Kate, but the time has move forward and her uniqueness was > as much a product of the moment in history and any further > likelihood of another "kate-like" artist is diluted by the > glut of music in the genre. I’m sure this made sense to you when you wrote it, jfrancis, but I can glean nothing from it. > > tried love-hounds for a day.....what a mess. I agree. > but as dysfunctional as that group is, ecto is > clique-ish and sickly sweet.... Again, I’ll surprise no one here by saying that I largely agree with you on this too. I sometimes feel that Ecto’s…style…leaves itself open to abuse; that its atmosphere is one in which a fool’s foolishness can---and usually does--go merrily unanswered. But then many Ectophiles, I know, see my heroic defense of truth, justice, and the American way as a childish inability to refrain from squabbling in the sandbox. And, to be honest, and though I sometimes forget myself to some degree, I think it’s a worthwhile tradeoff: to have to exercise a measure of discipline and diplomacy in exchange for a comfortable place like Ecto. > no offense. > I rarely post. Yes; I don’t recognize your name. But you should post more: the lack of posts from people who feel as you do is exactly _why_ Ecto seems cliquish and sickly sweet. There are an awful lot of cooks for a broth that doesn’t seem to get stirred up much. > > happy new year Ditto. - --charley _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 14:47:43 -0800 From: "Bill" Subject: Re: Merrill Bainbridge On Mon, 28 Dec 1998 09:11:17 -0800, Eponine wrote: >I heard a song by Merrill Bainbridge on a TV drama - it was either >"Trinity" or "Cupid", I don't remember. But I DO remember that I liked >what I heard very much. When next in the music store, I was going to >buy her CD, when I saw she that she in fact has two CDs. I didn't buy >either, since I didn't know the name of the song I had heard. > >Does anyone here at Ecto like her? Can recommend one of her CDs? Or is >she a crap prefab artist ala Natalie Imbruglia?! Any comments >apprreciated! Well, I do like Natalie Imbruglia's work, so you may not find my comments on Merril Bainbridge valid; but anyway... I very much like Merril's "The Garden" disc; although her music may be thought of as in the "poppish" side, upon closer examination (through listening), I found that the arrangements and orchestration on this album are very well done: they are musically intriguing, done with an ample variety of instruments, and they compliment Merril's voice rather well. Yes, the disc is perhaps better suited for a "happy day", due to its "uppity" nature; but, even on a "normal" day, I enjoy Merril's voice and the music on the "The Garden" disc; it is just a job well done. Now, having said that, I must also say that I have been so far quite disappointed with her second disc, "Between The Days"; I was looking for that same "uppity" and clever music, and there is none to be found. This second album, in my opinion, is quite "bland", and, although it is still that same lovely Merril voice, the arrangements are devoid of any cleverness or excitement, and to me *that* is more "crap prefab" (as you put it) than her first album. So, I guess my recommendation is, buy the album that has the song that you liked on the radio... except, neither "Trinity" nor "Cupid" is a title on either of her two discs. Lacking that, I'd say buy "The Garden" first, before "Between The Days" makes a "misleading" first impression on you. Just IMHO (in my humble opinion). - - Bill. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 15:39:30 -0800 (PST) From: Steve VanDevender Subject: Re: no output from k.b./love-hounds [Charley, you've got to fix whatever software you're using that inserts some odd character rather than a proper apostrophe (').] Old Spice writes: > ---jfrancis@villagenet.com wrote: > > tried love-hounds for a day.....what a mess. > > I agree. > > > but as dysfunctional as that group is, ecto is > > clique-ish and sickly sweet.... > > Again, I'll surprise no one here by saying that I largely agree with > you on this too. I sometimes feel that Ecto's…style…leaves itself open > to abuse; that its atmosphere is one in which a fool's foolishness > can---and usually does--go merrily unanswered. But then many > Ectophiles, I know, see my heroic defense of truth, justice, and the > American way as a childish inability to refrain from squabbling in the > sandbox. And, to be honest, and though I sometimes forget myself to > some degree, I think it's a worthwhile tradeoff: to have to exercise a > measure of discipline and diplomacy in exchange for a comfortable > place like Ecto. From long experience I've found that the best response to many a fool's foolishness is to leave it unanswered. Especially when some fools are so persistently foolish. As for ecto's "cliqueishness", I'm at a bit of a loss to understand why some people feel that way. I guess that feeling may result from there being a lot of ecto subscribers who have been here and known each other for a long time and who have a lot of in-jokes and shared context that can be difficult for a newcomer to figure out. But what's wrong with ecto being a place where people are so consistently civil to each other, especially when it's a shared voluntary agreement rather than an enforced peace, and remarkably tolerant of dissension? Eponine's "conversion" to Happy may have been one of those sickly-sweet ecto moments, but I think it's also an example of how well the "ecto ethic" has worked to keep ecto both a pleasant and interesting place for so long. How many other lists would have shouted Eponine away? Even if Eponine still disliked Happy now, I think we'd be just as accepting of her opinion. > > no offense. > > I rarely post. > > Yes; I don't recognize your name. But you should post more: the lack > of posts from people who feel as you do is exactly _why_ Ecto seems > cliquish and sickly sweet. There are an awful lot of cooks for a broth > that doesn't seem to get stirred up much. And I wholeheartedly agree. If you lurk here, and think ecto is missing something that you want to see, the best way to get it out there is to post something yourself. Feeling like you're not "in" enough to post here is like sitting in a corner at a party and thinking "this party sucks, no one is talking to me" without ever trying to introduce yourself to anyone. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 19:12:41 -0500 From: Greg Dunn Subject: Re: no output from k.b./love-hounds > Isn't that the route >almost every successful artist takes? Create a formula in the crucible >of your artistic youth, patent it, and live off of it till you grow >old, and then live out your golden years touring with Flock of >Seagulls. Look at Queen. Look at Jethro Tull. Look at Yes, at Elton >John, at Bruce Springsteen, at David Bowie. Well, I *gotta* comment on that one. You were doing pretty well till David Bowie's name came up. :-) I submit that few artists have had the option of going "formula" and rejected it the way Bowie did. Personally, I find the work he's been doing since about 1994 (or maybe earlier) pretty forward-looking. Who among the ecto-artists would embrace not only a tour, but a recording collaboration with Trent Reznor? And of those, who would impress as much of their own personality upon Reznor's music as he would upon theirs? I also point out that even in the early 80s, when Bowie was arguably dallying with some formulaic styles, he had the foresight to hire for his band and subsequently promote the likes of Adrian Belew and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Bowie has never fallen back on collaborations with hack artists. Except for a couple of lamentable albums in the '70s, he has merely stopped recording when he didn't have anything interesting to offer. OK, I'll be good and shut up now. :-) - -- | Greg Dunn | Well, you ain't Fiona Apple; and | | gregdunn@indy.net | if you ain't Fiona Apple, I | | GregDunn@aol.com | don't give a rat's ass. | | http://www.indy.net/~gregdunn/ | Officer Barbrady | ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 20:32:49 -0500 From: Michael Curry Subject: [none] Hi all, With the end of the year upon us I thought it was about time that I shared my picks for the best music of 1998. I'll start with the CDs. Please note that these are simply my favorite ten from among the new CDs I actually bought this year. There is plenty of other stuff I either never quite got around to buying or in some cases bought and didn't especially like. In rough order... 1. Sarah Slean -- Universe Yes, technically this album had already been released in cassette form before this year, but this is the year I discovered Sarah and the CD says 1998 on it, so here it is. 2. Tori Amos -- From the Choirgirl Hotel Despite the presence of one or two less than stellar tracks, overall I absolutely love this album. 3. Kristin Hersh -- Strange Angels This album absolutely blew me away. Pure genius. 4. Lisa Germano -- Slide I was a bit disappointed by _Excerpts from a Love Circus _, Lisa's last effort, but I was not at all disappointed by this one. I'd rate this album as being second only to _Geek the Girl_, and since it's not quite as difficult to listen to as that album I find that it's in my CD player on a fairly regular basis. 5. Cry, Cry, Cry -- Cry, Cry, Cry A truly wonderful effort by Richard Shindell, Dar Williams and Lucy Kaplansky, though I think that Richard's efforts are the best the album has to offer. 6. Susan McKeown and Lindsay Horner -- Mighty Rain After spending some time sitting in the vault, this amazing album was finally released this fall. I think the simple arrangements help to highlight the astounding talent possessed by both Susan and Lindsay. 7. Rachael Sage -- Smashing the Serene This great album was my first exposure to Rachael, and I find that I seem to enjoy it more every time I hear it. 8. Kristin Hersh -- Murder, Misery and Then Goodnight A collection of songs from Kristin's youth that certain seem to go a long way toward explaining the person she became, and a very cool album in its own right. 9. Susan James -- Fantastic Voyage: a double album While there were a few misses on this double-CD set, overall I really enjoyed it. 10. Shotgun Wedding -- A Big World of Fun I think "fun" is the perfect way to describe this album. I actually hadn't expected to enjoy this one as much as I do, but if you're someone who prefers the later Moon Seven Times material to their first album you should probably give this one a try. Re-issue of the year: Throwing Muses -- In a Doghouse Take the amazing _Throwing Muses_, add the equally amazing _Chain Changed_ and throw in both _The Doghouse Cassette_ and a few bonus tracks recorded by the last TM lineup and what do you get? An astonishingly great double-CD. Now on to the live shows. 1. Tori Amos at the taping of her Sessions at West 54th appearance, NYC, November 14 It was effectively a Tori Amos concert with a small, attentive audience. Tori was brilliant as always, and because of the setting the constant annoyance of loud fans was missing. 2. Kristin Hersh at The Knitting Factory, NYC, May 5 & 6 Just like the first time I saw one of Kristin's solo performances, these two shows were just unbelievably great in every way. 3. Veda Hille at The Acoustic Studio, Stamford, CT, November 21 It was my first time seeing Veda with the full band and she just completely blew me away. 4. Veda Hille at woj-n-meth's house, New Haven, CT, November 20 Veda Hille in Meredith's living room?! A very intimate, very wonderful show in a very cool venue. 5. Susan McKeown and Johnny Cunningham at the Rotch-Jones-Duff House, New Bedford, MA, July 10 Though I went to less Susan McKeown performances this year (only 10) than I have in previous years (mainly due to her growing popularity in areas outside the northeastern US), there were still enough that they sort of blend together into one long amazing show. This show however stands out. Susan was in great form and fiddler Johnny Cunningham, in addition to being a brilliant fiddler, was absolutely hilarious. There may have been other Susan McKeown shows that were more impressive musically, but this one was easily the most fun. 6. Altan at the Iron Horse, Northampton, MA, September 9 Their two shows that night were easily the best Altan performances I've ever had the pleasure of seeing. 7. Iris DeMent at the Iron Horse, Northampton, MA, October 4 I went to this show having heard very little of Iris DeMent's music and came back a dedicated fan. She is absolutely amazing live. 8. Tori Amos at The Avalon, Boston, MA, April 25 Despite having to wait outside all day and then being crushed during the entire show, this concert from Tori's "sneak preview" club tour was still a great experience, which I think is a good indication of how amazing the actual music was. 9. Tori Amos at Symphony Hall, Springfield, MA, August 2 A great show with a great set list in a great venue with a comparatively well-behaved crowd. 10. Solas at the Iron Horse, Northampton, MA, November 13 Another wonderful performance by one of the top Irish trad bands. So those were the highlights of my year in music. Mike np: Lisa Germano -- Slide nr: Angel Souls and Devil Hearts by Christopher Golden | Michael Curry / mcurry@io.com / mcurry@smoe.org | | http://www.io.com/~mcurry | | Am I bitter? Do I sound bitter? -- Veda Hille | ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 19:56:08 -0600 From: "Xenu's Sister" Subject: My top albums of 1998 1. Happy Rhodes - Many Worlds Are Born Tonight 2. Tori Amos - from the choirgirl hotel Vickie (that was easy!) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 22:29:17 -0500 From: Richard Subject: Re: no output from k.b./love-hounds jfrancis@villagenet.com wrote: > > tried love-hounds for a day.....what a mess. > but as dysfunctional as that group is, ecto is > clique-ish and sickly sweet.... no offense. > I rarely post. > > happy new year Sickly sweet? While Ecto isn't as vitriolicly dysfunctional as Love-Hounds, I've always found that the rare flamer here is answered quickly and firmly but without rancor; IOW, people here go out of their way to avoid sinking to the level of the provocateur in question while still making their point- I call that *civility*. Have we been so desensitized by the toxic behavior of politicians, journalists, professional athletes, media stars, nearly everyone in the public eye, that we no longer understand the distinction between civil behavior and saccharine sweetness? And....clique-ish? Well, I can see how someone would get that impression, but I think it's due to the fact that many people here simply know and respect each other. However, I don't think that results in the exclusion of newbies or delurkers from the talk... My experience has been that an intelligent and reasonable post will get intelligent and reasonable responses, as your post has. Take care ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 22:40:07 -0500 From: Greg Dunn Subject: Top 10 CDs/concerts of 1998 Here they are, in no particular order (except the one in which they occurred to me): CDs released in 1998: Heather Nova - Siren Not her strongest effort, but full of interesting, cohesive tunes. And that angelic voice! Happy Rhodes - Many Worlds are Born Tonight Also not my favorite of all her CDs, but it's great to hear from Happy again; this CD will get a lot of re-play when I need music to support but not distract me. Steve Poltz - One Left Shoe Truly one of the underrated performers of the '90s. Strong, strong writing with an introspective, wry sense of humor. Carrie Newcomer - My True Name Carrie just keeps turning out finely-honed, honest, lovely songs. Jennifer Kimball - Veering From The Wave A surprising, original album of quirky and emotional folk music. Even better appreciated after you've seen her live. Firesign Theatre - Give Me Immortality Or Give Me Death The kings of cerebral comedy bounce back with their wackiest, deepest stream-of-consciousness humor since the '70s. King Crimson - Absent Lovers A great live show from their last world tour; more polyrhythmic, high-decibel improvisation than you can shake a Stick at. They Might Be Giants - Severe Tire Damage Fun, fun, fun. Bright, poppy, multi-level music with killer arrangements and thoughtful humor. Letters To Cleo - Sister It's easy to see where this band's roots grew; this first "official" release of their premiere album contains the seeds of talent, plus some great cover tunes. Joy Eden Harrison - (self-titled?) pre-release Her sophomore effort, more mature, more folky, and extremely rich with meaning and memorable tunes. Honorable mention: Jewel - Spirit Over 100 tunes were written and discarded between Jewel's first album and this release. If four or five of them had made it here, this might have been the album of the year. Ani DiFranco - Little Plastic Castle Typically Ani; good stuff; just missed the top 10 by a hair. Patty Griffin - Flaming Red Totally different in style from her excellent premiere release; almost over-produced, yet compelling, with many fine songs. Concerts: Carrie Newcomer - Borders Books, Indianapolis Heather Nova - Bogart's, Cincinnati OH Jennifer Kimball - LRT concert, Mason OH Joy Eden Harrison - LRT concert, Greenfield IN Patty Griffin - The Patio, Indianapolis Sister7 - Ripley's, Cincinnati OH Chuck Marten - The Indigo Coffeehouse, Indianapolis (no, you've never heard of them -- it's my daughter's band ;-) - -- | Greg Dunn | Now I know I'm being used. But | | gregdunn@indy.net | that's okay man, 'cause I like | | GregDunn@aol.com | the abuse. | | http://www.indy.net/~gregdunn/ | The Offspring | - -- | Greg Dunn | Well, you ain't Fiona Apple; and | | gregdunn@indy.net | if you ain't Fiona Apple, I | | GregDunn@aol.com | don't give a rat's ass. | | http://www.indy.net/~gregdunn/ | Officer Barbrady | ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1998 15:48:45 +1100 From: Andrew Fries Subject: Merrill Bainbridge and other Eponine's points In a message "Merrill Bainbridge" on 28/Dec/1998 09:11:17 Eponine says: > I heard a song by Merrill Bainbridge on a TV drama [snip] > Does anyone here at Ecto like her? Can recommend one of her CDs? Or is > she a crap prefab artist ala Natalie Imbruglia?! Any comments > apprreciated! " Crap" is in the eye of the beholder - but she's not prefab. She's just genuinely into writing terribly chirpy, bubble-gum happy songs. Sort of like the Cardigans, or St. Etienne... If you like these, you might enjoy MB. Approach with caution - massive toothache can follow :) As for Beth Orton, I also get a bit bored with the whole record, but there are parts that I really, really enjoy. These are different parts on different days which is a bit unusual for me. Normally I either like a song or not; with her I'm never sure what will grab me this time. So yes, give her a chance... btw, while my reactions to "Trailer Prk" may vary, I consistently enjoy her later "Best Bit" EP. I hope her next record will follow in that direction! And Happy - well, given your experience with MWABT and since I personally remain underwhelmed by "Equipose" but love Vol. 1, I'd suggest that you start with the others and leave "Equipose" till last. I'd be very curious about your opinion when you finally hear it though, since we seem to share the preference for her more acoustic sounds.. - ------------------------------------------------------ A rich man who hailed from Seattle Wrote Win95 to do battle, But Mac users pity The masses not witty Enough to know Wintel's for cattle. - ------ http://www.zip.com.au/~afries/hall.html ------- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 22:03:44 +0100 From: Dirk Kastens Subject: albums of the year Hi, 1998 was a year with many great new albums. Here are a few of them: Albums of the year (in no particular order) - ------------------------------------------- Happy Rhodes - MWABT This one took me a very long time to get used to. At first I was rather disappointed and found it boring. But meanwhile I like it a lot. Neil Finn -Try Whistling This Full of excellent songs and sounds. Great vocals. I like it better than Crowded House or Split Enz. Sinner is my single of the year. What a great song. Vaerttinae (Värttinä) - Vihma Complex rhythms and haunting layered vocals. More acoustic and traditional than their last album. Mari Boine Band - Balvvoslatjna (Room Of Worship) Deep pulsating rhythms, dense sounds and Mari's stunning voice create a mystic atmosphere. Khadja Nin - Ya... The female Sting. Brilliant arrangements with acoustic guitars and African percussion. Contains great interpretations of Sting's Russians and Rod Stewart's Sailing (sic!). Robbie Robertson - Contact From The Underworld Of Red Boy Another ambitious work of RR. Unfortunately the music is more programmed than played. But still haunting vocals. Massive Attack - Mezzanine The most melancholic album of the year (maybe of the whole decade). Elizabeth Frazer's angelic voice perfectly fits to the slow motion rhythms. Mandaly - Empathy Mandaly are Nicola Hitchcock and Saul Freeman with Guy Sigsworth and Steve Jansen. Great trip-hoppy music with beautiful vocals and spheric synths. Moloko - I Am Not A Doctor Their second album. Imagine a mixture of Bel Canto, Bjoerk and Yello (hi, Claudia ;-) Very inventive and varied music with break beats and techno influences and a great voice. PJ Harvey - Is This Desire? Her most accessive album and her best, IMO. I still couldn't really get into To Bring You My Love, yet. Vangelis - El Greco Well, this has originally been released in 1995 as a strongly limited edition for an exhibition in Greece. The new release contains two additional tracks. One of Vangelis' darkest and most depressing works. Eric Serra - RXRA The first pop album of RXRA, produced by Rupert Hine. Excellent ambitious pop music in the vein of Peter Gabriel (similar voice). Madonna - Ray Of Light A very fertile collaboration of Madonna and William Orbit. Fortunately she gave him enough room for his electronic experiments. Propellerheads - Decksanddrumsandrockandroll The biggest beats of the universe. You can't listen to it without moving your feet and dancing around. Simple Minds - Neapolis Surprisingly they moved back to their more experimental days and back from the stadium sound. Refreshing. Alice - Exit When I saw the rock chick on the cover I couldn't believe that this is Alice. Where are her long brown curls? And why this glitter dress? The music sounds very fresh and modern. Highlight is the duet with Morcheeba's Skye. Joni Mitchell - Taming The Tiger Mmh. Don't really know what to think about this one. It starts very promising with Man From Mars being one of her best songs. All in all a solid work but not very inventive. Disappointments of the year: (Well, still good albums but I expected more) - --------------------------------------------- Tori Amos - From The Choirgirl Hotel Maybe I am simply tired of Tori but this is my least favorite of her albums. The acoustic songs are brilliant as always, but I don't like her electronic stuff. Tori should collaborate with a genius like William Orbit. I prefer the remixes of Raspberry Swirl, for example, or the b-sides of Spark. Heather Nova - Siren Too mainstream. Some songs are excellent but most of them are too flat. Clannad - Landmark Another "oh, it's time to enter the studio and record a new album" Clannad album: the same sound, the same songs, no progress at all. Maire Brennan - Perfect Time I would call it Perfect Slime - gasp. Being Enya's sister doesn't mean to make the same music. Esp. if she has released two brilliant solo albums, before. A perfect sleeping pill. Soraya - Wall Of Smiles After the rather good On Nights Like This she put out this very meaningless and flat successor. Dirk And best wishes for the new year. Hopefully the new Peter Gabriel album will be released.... ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V4 #454 **************************