From: owner-ecto-digest To: ecto-digest@ns2.rutgers.edu Subject: ecto-digest V2 #220 Reply-To: ecto@nsmx.rutgers.edu Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Tuesday, 12 September 1995 Volume 02 : Number 220 The Ecto digest is now being generated automatically. Please send problems and questions to: ecto-owner@nsmx.rutgers.edu. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Date: 11 Sep 95 17:50:17 EDT Subject: harmonies |Sage mused: |>I miss them too -- I've always said that the ultimate musical group would |>be made up of 4 women, with harmonies that make me cry, and lyrics that |>tell a story. Any suggestions? :) Well, I can't think of 4, but with 3 there's Vartinna (great live!) and the Roches (who definitely sing songs that tell stories with lots of harmony -- try there eponymous 1st album and Keep on Doing), Miranda Sex Garden (not sure about the stories, though) and for 2 women telling stories with harmonies, there's The Story (snicker). Actually for some *really* nice harmonic stuff with a group and instruments, check out the Black Family (including Mary and Frances and their 3 brothers). They have a gorgeous album called Time for Touching Home which tells good stories and has great 4 and 5 part harmonies (it may only be available as a UK/Irish import but well worth seeking out). For 4 guys telling stories with harmonies, check out Moxy Fruvous, whose new album, Wood, is great! - -mjm ------------------------------ From: Matthew Levy Date: Mon, 11 Sep 1995 21:25:17 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Hello from a new Ectophile. Well hello there. Why am I writing? Well, because I've only heard one Happy song (and loved it) and can't find her albums anywhere! BTW, the song I've heard is called 'Closer', from a compilation album called "A Little Nip". ALN features performers from New York's Hudson Valley. And where did I find this little gem??? Well, being a DJ at my college radio station helped. :) Is 'Closer' from one of Happy's albums? Is it even an original? Someone mentioned Ani DiFranco playing Sept. 29th. Well, she's gonna be at Binghamton University Sept. 30th. Also someone mentioned Boxing Gandhis. I played one of their songs, "Here Comes The New Millenium", this summer during one of my shows. They sounded pretty good. Matt P.s.-Does Happy do any touring? And does she get to Binghamton? :) ------------------------------ From: farmer@lifesci.lscf.ucsb.edu (drowning in math) Date: Mon, 11 Sep 1995 18:41:27 -0700 Subject: Re: New spins (Spencer the Gardener) Hi - just wanted to support what D^2 said: >Spencer the Gardener, _Kiss Me in the Deep Blue Sea_: How to describe, >oh how to describe. Well, let's see, it's sort of James Bond meets a >Latin salsa band... no... it's Ennio Morricone making a tejano record... >no... oh heck, let's just say it's really fun music, with lotsa horns. This >Santa Barbara-based band is also supposed to be a hoot live. they are incredible live!! you can't help but dance and shake and have a great time. and his description.... well, its about as good as you can do :-) they remind me a lot of Lawsuit - a very local Davis/Bay Area band, which probably ain't much help to all of you :-) alas, being as they play here (SB) every week, the rest of the country has to miss out. chris (back after way way to long of an absence due to a variety of factors beyond his control) ******************************************************** * Chris Farmer(805)893-2532 | we are made to bleed * * Biology Dept., UCSB | & scab & heal & bleed again * * Santa Barbara, CA 93106 | & turn every scar into a joke * * farmer@lifesci.ucsb.edu | -ani difranco * ******************************************************** ------------------------------ From: "Jessica Koeppel" Date: Mon, 11 Sep 1995 18:53:41 -0700 Subject: songs that make me cry Hm. It occured to me on saturday that there must be other songs that have made me cry that I'm not thinking of. There's only been one time that music without words has moved me to tears and I can't really say it was all music then, it was the whole experience that was happening and there was more to it than music. But the music was the _main_ force at that moment. But anyway if there are songs that've moved me to tears it's been the words, the lyrics, not the music. Though I probably woudln't have been listening and opening myself up to the message of the words ebough to be moved to cry unless the music was something I liked a lot too. :) What brought this us was that heather nova's song "sugar" made me cry this weekend. I was driving along at high speeds as I generally do, singing along to the album, which I've grown extremely fond of. This one expresses so well some feelings I've had that have been too strong and difficult to express to have ever done so well or often enough and thus there's still a lot of very strong emotion in me. Sometimes when I'm singing the song, if i'm alone and really letting myself be in touch with what I'm saying/expressing, the fact that i'm expressing something really in _me_ that makes me very very sad can make me cry. This reminded me that I cried more than once while singing Alanis Morisette's song "you oughtta know". Bet you didn't tihnk it was that deep. :) heh. Well what got to me about that one was that I know I have made someone feel the way she does in that song. At least certain parts of it. To have hurt someone that much, that way, .. the song is so accurate in spots I can not help but feel in my mind this other person expressing this pain, and it still hurts _me_ that I could hurt another person who I truly did love, that much. So some lyrics, some songs, _have_ made me cry. But they have not done so on their own, they do so by letting me express/feel the emotions I have insde myself that come from my own actions and experiences. --jessica ------------------------------ From: Philip Sainty Date: Tue, 12 Sep 1995 15:51:07 +1200 Subject: Re: Hello from a new Ectophile. Hi Matthew! Welcome to the list! > Well hello there. Why am I writing? Well, because I've only heard > one Happy song (and loved it) and can't find her albums anywhere! > BTW, the song I've heard is called 'Closer', from a compilation > album called "A Little Nip". Yay! > ALN features performers from New > York's Hudson Valley. And where did I find this little gem??? > Well, being a DJ at my college radio station helped. :) :) > Is 'Closer' from one of Happy's albums? Is it even an > original? Yes to both! Closer is from Happy's sixth album, "Equipoise". As far as I recall, Happy hasn't recorded any non-original songs aside from her cover of David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" on the RhodeSongs compilation. There's also an occasional co-written song, I think, but mostly it's one hundred percent Happy! > P.s.-Does Happy do any touring? And does she get to Binghamton? :) She does play live on occasion, but has yet to do any kind of fully fledged touring, beyond a handful of shows. I haven't the foggiest where Binghamton is :) but if it's close to NY (I'm not sure if your getting ahold of ALN indicates this or not), then stay patient and you might be in luck... She plays live more frequently than KaTe, anyway :) Philip _ _ ___ _ _ _ (_ / | / \ |_) |_| | | (_ Philip Sainty (_ \_ | \_/ | | | | |_ (_ ectophil@comp.vuw.ac.nz - -------------------------------------------------------------- "This is where I want to be, this is what I need." --Kate Bush ------------------------------ From: Neal Copperman Date: Tue, 12 Sep 1995 00:15:58 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: Vishnu's Secret, Pooka etc. On Fri, 8 Sep 1995, Neile Graham wrote: > They seem to come out of the same place as their name does--a pooka is a > nightmare, a horse that you ride that takes you on a wild & terrifying > ride then throws you off into a ditch. Weren't Pookas also those creatures that you got to inflate to death in the old video game Dig-Dug too? No wild rides on them. Neal (a recovered video game addict) ------------------------------ From: kerry white Date: Mon, 11 Sep 1995 23:17:47 -0500 (CDT) Subject: [none] Hello, I'm back. I drove from Topeka KS to Syracuse NY. At SU I stopped into Oliver's record runner on Marshall St. I walked out with: $5 cass. of CLASH live in Japan 82 $5 cass. of Tom Waits live in NY 77 $5 used cd "Rocket man" $6 used cd "Aspects of the Sensual World"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! $14 Equipoise $14 Warpaint On to Knuckleheads in N Syr.: Cd singles of Siouxie, Tori, Annie Lennox and a cd boot of Byork's 1st solo gig in Germany 92. I wish I had gotten some studio work before I dove into the boot, the production is good the energy is ok...but I can't sync into it. It's for sale at cost. I have one extra large ad poster of The Dreaming (about 2x3 offtop head) I would like to trade this for a taped copy of the 2 special cds in TWW. (I don't need anything from On Stage. Have vinyl [and 2 cass. I found in a cutout bin?!]) Also looking for a trade for Dreamtime(already have Live Breathing and Do Bears? and Confrontation). KrW "TV or not TV, that is the question. Whether it is nobler to suffer the lies of outrageous pitch-men, or to slit your throat with an electrocoated stainless steel blade"? WOI ------------------------------ From: kerry white Date: Mon, 11 Sep 1995 23:25:41 -0500 (CDT) Subject: spellinggeek spoor On Mon, 11 Sep 1995, kerry white wrote: >.... and a cd boot of Byork's > 1st solo gig in Germany 92. .. Before you point it out, I know that it's Bjork. KrW "TV or not TV, that is the question. Whether it is nobler to suffer the lies of outrageous pitch-men, or to slit your throat with an electrocoated stainless steel blade"? WOI ------------------------------ From: neilg@sfu.ca (Neil K. Guy) Date: Mon, 11 Sep 1995 21:55:56 -0700 Subject: Re: TV (Nation) & Movies At 7:26 AM on 9/11/95, SBI!200HUBBARD!AMYD@lmbinc.attmail.com (gosh what a long email address) wrote: >Saw 2 GREAT movies this weekend, completely different from each other in all >respects. First one is a truly unsettling film called "Exotica" . I >believe it is a Canadian film, but that's all I know about it's origins. > Any of you Canadians (or former Canadians) familiar with this one, or the >director (his name is Atom.... and I cannot remember is last name...) help >me out on this one.. [...] Atom Egoyan. (uh-GOY-yun) He's a Canadian filmmaker based out of Toronto, though originally from Victoria. His family is Armenian Canadian, a fact that has been reflected in a number of his films. He's fairly high-profile as independent filmmakers go... maybe in third place after David Cronenberg and Denys Arcand, to make a sweeping sort of statement. His films tend to be very... er... Toronto. Focusing on alienation in urban settings as themes, and looking at the idea of the camera as the cold dispassionate third party observer. Stuff that plays well in rep cinemas. The film that first brought him a fair bit of publicity was the Adjuster, about an insurance adjuster. In between Exotica, his most recent and successful film, and the Adjuster he did a film shot largely in Armenia called Calendar. As I recall his wife, Arsinee Kazanjian, has been in all three films. That's all the Egoyan trivia I can think of. Oh, and his first name came about because his parents thought that they were living in the atomic age and so Atom would be a pretty apropos name. Naturally the irony of his name plays well in these postmodern times... - Neil K. - -- Neil K. Guy * neilg@sfu.ca * tela@tela.bc.ca 49N 16' 123W 7' * Vancouver, BC, Canada ------------------------------ From: "valerie kraemer" Date: Sun, 10 Sep 1995 16:34:43 +0000 Subject: Iron Horse concerts Hello ecto-people, This is my first posting, although I've been hanging around this list for a few months and have really appreciated finding a group of people who like the same artists I like and who have introduced me to so much new music. I wanted to mention that the Iron Horse in Northampton, MA, has reopened under new ownership. Several ecto favorites will be performing in the next few weeks: September 19 The Innocence Mission September 21 Heather Nova and Ben Folds Five October 6 The Nields and Pete Morton October 20 & 21 Jane Siberry!!! For more information or to get onto their mailing list you can call 413-586-0610. The Iron Horse had closed in early June of this year and seemed destined to be turned into yet another coffee bar or yuppie restaurant. It is certainly the nicest listening space within easy driving distance of my home in New Haven (also known as music-venue-hell). Valerie Kraemer valkraemer@igc.apc.org. WPKN-FM, Bridgeport, CT ------------------------------ From: Dan Stark Date: Tue, 12 Sep 1995 02:04:17 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Change of address...again Hi: Sorry about this, they've changed the address at my domain for the third time this year, this time without notice. My new address is now: dstark@freenet.npiec.on.ca If you sent me mail on Monday, September 11, it looks like I probably didn't get it, so please try again. Now I must look up all the instructions on how to unsubscribe and resubscribe to the mailing lists. Oh boy, something to do. I guess as the saying goes, you get what you pay for! - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- DAN STARK ***NOTE*** dstark@freenet.npiec.on.ca ~\\|//~ NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada -(o o)- NOW IN EFFECT! - --------------------------------------------o000o--(_)--o000o---------------- ------------------------------ From: Damon Harper Date: Mon, 11 Sep 95 23:47 PDT Subject: those emotionally charged songs... to add a bit to this subthread i seem to have started... wull, as i mentioned already, "houdini" is one of the few songs that'll actually make me cry every time i hear it. something of a combination of the music and the story i think. actually i can't think of any other songs that will particularily do that to me, though much of kate's stuff comes pretty close, and carries a lot of emotion for me. another song i've found can bring me close to tears - at least elicit a little sniffle - is "the lamia" from genesis' _the lamb lies down on broadway_. i love the whole story of that album, but that specific juncture seems to me the most emotionally charged one. the longing and the cyclical idea behind the whole lamia thing gets to me somehow, and i find the music beautiful too. plus the "classical" bent or tone to it, which i really like :) lessee... a recent example is dar williams' "when i was a boy", and that's *definitely* a lyric thing. the music is nice, but not very important to the song - the theme of losing something with time wrenches my heart... i've often felt that way, that the irretrievable something i've lost and more or less forgotten is something i should have treasured more, i guess? plus the whole gender boundary thing is something i've thought about a lot. so the song really talks to me. oh, and happy's "i have a heart" is another one that used to bring sniffles... not so much now, though i still find it a heart-wrenchingly beautiful tune with lyrics which, while perhaps a bit too direct, still do get to me. but when i was feeling extremely depressed a couple of years ago it was much more grabbing. anyway, just my contribution for the day :) _/\_ Damon_Harper@mindlink.bc.ca __\ /__ "Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo, Vancouver, BC, CANADA \ / doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo." |/||\| - The Cranberries, http://www.dfw.net/~soulmate/damon/paukarut.html "Ode To My Family" ------------------------------ From: jwaite@popmail.ucsd.edu (Jerene Waite) Date: Tue, 12 Sep 1995 00:24:25 -0700 Subject: Randomness and blatherings Neal said: >Frequently I'm surprised when I sit down and read the lyrics to music I >like a lot, and find that the random, disconnected phrases I have pieced >together actually form some sort of coherent thought or story. Me too, sometimes. But sometimes I read lyrics before I hear the music and they don't make much sense UNTIL the music expresses them. Go figure. Jerene ------------------------------ From: jwaite@popmail.ucsd.edu (Jerene Waite) Date: Tue, 12 Sep 1995 00:24:31 -0700 Subject: Movie review Amy recommended: >The second film is an unfortunately overlooked "children's" film called "The >Little Princess". Yes! Wonderful, touching movie! (The book's good too, BTW.) Most critics said it was just like The Secret Garden, but not as good. I thought that the story and themes were quite different, except that they both had children in them and they were both based on books by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Tears, but tears of empathy for the kindness embodied in this little girl; I wondered, as I walked out of the theater, why I could not be so kind. ------------------------------ From: abehrend@Direct.CA (Ariane Behrend) Date: Tue, 12 Sep 1995 02:14:37 -0700 Subject: lyrics vs. music Hi all! I've really enjoyed this thread as I have been discussing this issue with friends lately. I thought I might be a bit late in getting in on this, but a few comments still seem to be trickling in, so here I go... I've always considered myself more of a lyrics person, but this discussion has made me question that position somewhat. Especially with regard to Sarah... I think she is one of the artists I have really enjoyed without thinking too much about lyrics. Then a friend of mine recently mentioned that she considers her lyrics to be 'fluff', and upon listening to her with that in mind, I am tempted to agree with her, though I resisted at first... Some songs are more 'fluffy' than others of course (whatever that actually means, though I think I know how she meant it)... But this is where I think the importance of music, and, in Sarah's case, I think especially *delivery*/ emotional expression comes in. As David Dalton (ex of this list, but he has decided to concentrate on his thesis for a while - eek :)) put it (he, incidentally, is a huge fan of hers), Sarah's songs would sound trite if he sang them, but she makes them sound infinately more meaningful... I agree that probably only sarah could make the line "your love is better than ice cream" sound somehow profound :) >From: Neile Graham >Date: Fri, 8 Sep 1995 21:19:47 -0700 (PDT) >Subject: Re: Millions of replies (very long) > >I agree with Neil about the quality of Spirit of the West's lyrics. They >are definitely among the more interesting and intelligent lyrics I've >ever heard/read. > >> some people off, but I think one of their main problems and why they've >> never really made it all that big, commercially speaking, is that their >> lyrics are just too intelligent for the mass market. May sound a bit >> elitist, but I think it's true. yeah, their drinking songs have definately always been favorites in the past, and their present success seems to be directly linked to their change toward a 'heavier' sound... >> They [Spirit of the West] have this incredible knack at taking a >> wearisome cliche and twisting it around in ingenious ways - or telling a >> story that fits together like a jigsaw on repeated listenings >Though I actually think that the main reason they haven't taken off is >bad choices about albums to promote--I think _Go Figure_ was a much >better & catchier album that _Faithlift_ which is the only one that's >gotten a U.S. push so far. I like their new one _Two-headed_ a lot, and >think it will do fiarly well if they would just promote it. I disagree. I used to be a HUGE SOTW fan, especially due to their amazing lyrics, but am quite disappointed with the last album, largely because of the music, which I guess does make me a bit more of a music person than i'd like to admit. The great lyrics are still there but often get lost in the heavier sound... they used to have a distinctive and original sound but are leaning toward "second grade rock band" status now (i'm quoting a friend again, i wouldn't go quite that far...) I think Save this House was there best album. I like 'Tell Me What I Think' off Two Headed because it still has some of the old sound, but am saddened by most of the rest of that album. I didn't mind their transition initially but think they have gone too far in almost completely dropping the celtic sound. > >> As for the music and lyrics question, I tend to want both. Greedy, I know, >> but shucks... If a piece of music is really cool I can usually get past >> ho-hum lyrics, but I find vapid lyrics almost inevitably turn me off even >> if the music is okay. yeah, I agree, though I think I'm slightly more tolerant of 'bad' music than I am of 'bad' lyrics-ie. if a song has what are annoying lyrics to me, no amount of musical brilliance can generally make up for it. A good example is yet another Vancouver artist: Danielle French, who just put out a very over-produced, 'nice' sounding debut album. Melodies and arrangements are perfect, and its easy to get carried away by that. Quite Sarahesque, and in fact Dave Kershaw plays on a song... The only song I quite like is Fields of Fire, which may be mainly due to the fact that my friend Mo does a fine job of accompanying her on violin. Other than that I just can't get over my aversion to lyrics like "I am only passing time until the time you are mine." But for all of you who are music people, I highly recommend this album because musically it's brilliant. >> general idea. Early Sarah McLachlan, for instance, may be pretty honest but >> a lot of it sounds like angst-ridden teenage juvenalia to me. But some of >> her later stuff is pretty darn good! >Actually, I still think her lyrics are less mature than her music. >(Please no-one shoot me.) But they're definitely improving. I agree... she could still use more lyrical 'maturation', but also definitely see a trend toward that in her songwriting. well, enough of this... Ariane ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Ariane Behrend ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Vancouver, Canada ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The waves are perfect and the sun will always shine, ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ But there's got to be more to death than surfing all the time ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Dar Williams ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ------------------------------ From: piquet the cat Date: Tue, 12 Sep 1995 19:32:08 +1000 (EST) Subject: Re: Movie review On Tue, 12 Sep 1995, Jerene Waite wrote: > Amy recommended: > >The second film is an unfortunately overlooked "children's" film called "The > >Little Princess". > Yes! Wonderful, touching movie! (The book's good too, BTW.) Most critics > said it was just like The Secret Garden, but not as good. I thought that > the story and themes were quite different, except that they both had > children in them and they were both based on books by Frances Hodgson > Burnett. Tears, but tears of empathy for the kindness embodied in this > little girl; I wondered, as I walked out of the theater, why I could not be > so kind. Gosh... I remember this book... I read my copy so many times that it fell apart. Is this movie a recent release? Is there hope that it will screen in the cinema over here? Speaking of Frances Hodgson Burnett, did anyone else out there ever read 'The Lost Prince'? I think that's what it was called, anyhow... I loved this best of all her books. It's hard to type a coherent post while listening to obnoxious hold music... :) sherlyn =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= piquet the cat (piquet@geko.com.au). also known as sherlyn koo (sherlyn@geko.com.au). "... pray, in your darkness, for wings to set you free..." - Melissa Etheridge ------------------------------ From: Dirk Kastens Date: Tue, 12 Sep 1995 13:07:30 +0200 (DFT) Subject: Re: those emotionally charged songs... On Mon, 11 Sep 1995, Damon Harper wrote: > can bring me close to tears - at least elicit a little sniffle - is "the > lamia" from genesis' _the lamb lies down on broadway_. i love the whole > story of that album, but that specific juncture seems to me the most > emotionally charged one. the longing and the cyclical idea behind the whole > lamia thing gets to me somehow, and i find the music beautiful too. plus > the "classical" bent or tone to it, which i really like :) Incidentally, I've just bought the remastered version of TLLDOB and have listened to it several times during the last days. It's one of my all-time favorite albums. "The Carpet Crawlers" is my favorite song off the album and I had to cry when I heard it for the first time, maybe 15 years ago. Other songs that made me cry are many songs by PG (Mercy Street, Love to be loved), KT (Hello Earth, All the Love, Walk Straight Down The Middle, Top Of The City), Genesis' "Ripples" (the most melancholic song I ever heard: sail away, away, ripples never come back, gone to the other side....) or Tori's "Mother" and "Sugar", but also The Fixx's "Driven Out", Mr. Mister's "Broken Wings", or instrumentals like PG's "Off These - Hope" from Passion or Tangerine Dream's "Song for the Whale part 1" from Underwater Sunlight or "Remote Viewing" from Exit. On some songs it's simply the music that makes me cry, on others it's the combination of the music and the lyrics. But I will never cry because of the lyrics alone. Dirk Kastens _______________Dirk.Kastens@rz.Uni-Osnabrueck.DE Universitaet Osnabrueck Phone: +49/541/969-2347 Rechenzentrum Fax: +49/541/969-2470 Albrechtstr. 28 49069 Osnabrueck Germany ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V2 #220 ************************** ======================================================================== Please send any questions or comments about the list to ecto-owner@nsmx.rutgers.edu