From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V4 #220 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Wednesday, July 8 1998 Volume 04 : Number 220 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Today's your birthday, friend... [Mike Matthews ] Re: ectopics ["Tim Finney" ] Re: Helping Happy ["Tim Finney" ] Televsion's The Blow Up [Steve Fagg ] Re: Garbage in, Garbage out [Yves Denneulin ] Re: Helping Happy [Yves Denneulin ] Re: This Week's New Releases [Riphug@aol.com] Re: Helping Happy [Riphug@aol.com] Re: Helping Happy ["Joseph S. Zitt" ] Re: Helping Happy ["jeffrey c. burka" ] Mila in Chicago [Michael Curry ] the torhout rock festival [long] [Yves Denneulin ] high relief [just plain damon ] Re: Helping Happy [Riphug@aol.com] one more time: falcon ridge? [meredith ] Re: Garbage in, Garbage out ["Tim Finney" ] Re: one more time: falcon ridge? [just plain damon ] re: Melanie Doane [Steve I ] Emm in the news. . . [00jnweiser@bsuvc.bsu.edu] fwd: Happy airplay [Carolyn Andre ] Re: one more time: falcon ridge? [frater tot ] Elizabeth Hummel at Java Joe's, Sat. July 11, 9PM ["Hummel e-mailer" Subject: Today's your birthday, friend... i*i*i*i*i*i i*i*i*i*i*i *************** *****HAPPY********* **************BIRTHDAY********* *************************************************** *************************************************************************** ********************** Lisa Wilson (JavaHo@aol.com) *********************** *************************************************************************** -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Lisa Wilson Fri July 08 1960 Moonchild with Java Rising Courtney Dallas Fri July 09 1971 Catte Michael Peskura Sat July 09 1949 HallOfFamer Finney T. Tsai Sat July 09 1966 Cancer Larry Greenfield Tue July 11 1950 Virgo Rising; Gemini Moon Marion Kippers Tue July 13 1965 Kreeft Ellen Rawson Thu July 13 1961 Double Cancer Mitch Pravatiner Mon July 14 1952 Cancer Rich R. Wed July 14 1954 Cancer John Zimmer Sun July 16 1961 Cancer Dan Stark Sun July 16 1961 Cancer Cathy Guetzlaff Mon July 18 1955 Cancer Vlad Sat July 18 1970 Warning: severe tire damage Jani Pinola Thu July 20 1972 Jonquil Alvin Brattli Sun July 27 1969 Lefthanded Christy Eger Smith Thu July 27 1944 Horse Crossing woj Sun July 28 1968 children at play John Relph Sat July 28 1962 Leo Bob Kollmeyer Wed July 28 1971 Leo Steve Lusky Tue July 29 1952 Bike! Kate Bush Wed July 30 1958 God Chuck Smith Wed July 30 1958 Reboot Yves Denneulin Fri July 30 1971 Lion-Heart Joel Kenyon Wed July 31 1963 Leo Eli Brandt Sun August 05 1900 Leo Martin Bridges Sat August 08 1970 BigGuy - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 08 Jul 1998 17:52:33 +0000 From: "Tim Finney" Subject: Re: ectopics - ---------- >From: frater tot >To: ecto@smoe.org >Subject: ectopics >Date: Wed, Jul 8, 1998, 2:04 AM > >also found a cd single for imogen heap's "come here boy" which left me >rather nonplussed. is the rest of the record like that? i'd hazard a guess >not since that is the emphasis track after all. ;) Well, yes and no. I bought it today and have listened to it once through, and for all the big deal made about her piano playing (and it is quite lovely) it is only prominent on a few tracks. The weird production/song structure is typical of the album though, so if you don't go at it expecting eleven piano ballads you won't be disappointed. On the albums overall quality, I can't really say after one listen, but a friend who I trust reckons its the best thing he's heard since Tori, so... Regards, Tim ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 08 Jul 1998 17:52:45 +0000 From: "Tim Finney" Subject: Re: Helping Happy - ---------- >From: "Xenu's Sister" >To: ecto@smoe.org >Subject: Helping Happy >Date: Tue, Jul 7, 1998, 7:11 PM > >Ectophiles outside the US will have to figure out how best to modify >that list to suit their region, but everyone can help. Many people have >already done important things to help, bless their Ectophilic hearts. Being in Australia, there's not much that I can do to publicize Happy (except to attempt to convert friends) - but I order my Happy albums (still haven't quite got them all yet - but I got a letter saying Ecto arrived yesterday, so I'm very excited) through multiple retail outlets to increase these shops' awareness of Happy. I noticed that after I ordered The Keep from one place they took the trouble to order it again just for their stock. I'm hoping this will pay off when MWABT comes out, as hopefully many of these places will import the album automatically, not needing any specific orders. By the way, if there are any Ectophiles in Melbourne, a great place to order Happy albums is Basement Music at the Block Arcade in the city. Tim ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 10:40:06 +0100 (BST) From: Steve Fagg Subject: Televsion's The Blow Up On Fri, 3 Jul 1998, Joseph Zitt wrote: > Steve Fagg wrote: > > > > On Sun, 28 Jun 1998 Pez Girl wrote: > > > --Television, _The Blow Up_. This is an official bootleg of the seminal NYC > > > punk band. > > > > Yes, indeed! This two-CD set certainly shows a more rough-and-ready > > side of Television. > > This is out on CD? Woo! I played my cassette of it, from when it first > came out on the at-the-time-cassette-only ROIR label, into a shred. The > version of "Little Johnny Jewel" is to die for... I've no idea if it's still available, I've had the CD a few years now. It's on the "Danceteria Records/RIOR Europe" label. Catalogue number: RE114CD (on the spine) or 842207-WM344 (on the back). Came in a nice fold-out double digipak with some neat liner notes. Hope you manage to track down a copy. The fifteen minute version of "Little Johnny Jewel" is most certainly a highlight! TTFN Steve npimh: Bach - Goldberg Variations (Glen Gould, fast version) nr: Thomas Hardy - Jude the Obscure - -- Steve Fagg (nightwol@dircon.co.uk) http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Metro/1313/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 11:47:57 +0200 (MET DST) From: Yves Denneulin Subject: Re: Garbage in, Garbage out charley darbo writes: > But Garbage has, with the release of 2.0, stuck themselves in a > rut. Now they sound like no one so much as Republica: fun enough party > music, but no real staying power. That's a funny coincidence, I wrote last night a review of the Torhout rock festival (it is not finished yet, I will send it tonight I hope) in which I emphasized how original I find Garbage is. For me the new album is a real departure from the first: it contains more different climates and shows a mastery of the recent technologies that the first lacked. It is hard to say that now but I have the feeling that it will remain as a more innovative one than the first. Best, - -- | Yves Denneulin email: denneuli@lifl.fr | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Autour de Lucie webpage: http://www.lifl.fr/~denneuli/adl/adl.html | | "Les brouillons" the Autour de Lucie mailinglist infos at: | | http://www.smoe.org/lists/brouillons.info | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 12:00:46 +0200 (MET DST) From: Yves Denneulin Subject: Re: Helping Happy Vickie wrote: > Ectophiles outside the US will have to figure out how best to modify > that list to suit their region, but everyone can help. The main problem I met when I tried to have stores carry Happy a couple of years ago was to find a reliable distributor. For a fairly large record store it is impossible to order CDs directly to the source like I did. Now that she signed with Samson it should be easier. Does anyone have a contact address I can give to all the stores I know who want to order the new album? Besides, if someone finds an extra copy of MWABT in an used bin, I would be happy to provide a warming home for it. :-) Best, - -- | Yves Denneulin email: denneuli@lifl.fr | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Autour de Lucie webpage: http://www.lifl.fr/~denneuli/adl/adl.html | | "Les brouillons" the Autour de Lucie mailinglist infos at: | | http://www.smoe.org/lists/brouillons.info | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 08:55:36 EDT From: Riphug@aol.com Subject: Re: This Week's New Releases In a message dated 98-07-08 00:38:54 EDT, meth@smoe.org writes: << Hey, I got here before Jill did! ;) >> Whew! Glad you did, too! I'm on vacation at the glorious beaches of Nags Head, North Carolina, and don't have my library of information available to me. Picked up BNL's "Stunt" yesterday....and found lots of other treasures in the used bins. Taking a chance, I bought a cd from someone named Zoe. Anyone familiar with her? Jill :D ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 08:55:39 EDT From: Riphug@aol.com Subject: Re: Helping Happy I hereby promise to buy any used Happy albums I find in the bins. I almost hereby promise to buy any regular ol' new Happy albums I find, too, since they're relatively scarce around Cincinnati. If any out-of-the-States ectophiles need any of Happy's cds, I'll be happy (hee-hee!) to pick them up for you in trade for something from your country. I recently received a mix tape from a friend of mine in Norway. The tape included a couple of songs by a two-woman group called Deux Filles. They reminded me so much of Happy Rhodes that I decided to tape some Happy for my friend. Now she wants me to purchase some of Happy's cds for her! ;-) Mission accomplished! She's also the same friend who picked up Bel Canto's latest release, "Rush," for me. I don't know when it's being released here in the States, but it's excellent! Quite a bit more on the *dance* side than their previous albums, but I like it. ;-) Jill :D ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 08:50:16 -0500 (CDT) From: "Joseph S. Zitt" Subject: Re: Helping Happy On Wed, 8 Jul 1998, Yves Denneulin wrote: > Besides, if someone finds an extra copy of MWABT in an used bin, I > would be happy to provide a warming home for it. :-) Parenthetically: I don't know if others are in the habit of pronouncing acronyms as I am, but MWABT keeps reminding me of Elmer Fudd :-) - - ---------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: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 13:39:44 -0400 (EDT) From: "jeffrey c. burka" Subject: Re: Helping Happy jill :D sez: > She's also the same friend who picked up Bel Canto's latest release, "Rush," > for me. I don't know when it's being released here in the States, but it's > excellent! Quite a bit more on the *dance* side than their previous albums, > but I like it. ;-) Uh, but wasn't _Magic Box_ "quite a bit more on the *dance* side" compared to the previous three?! jeff ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 18:05:37 -0500 (CDT) From: Michael Curry Subject: Mila in Chicago - ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 07 Jul 1998 21:28:32 -0500 From: Little Pro Records To: info@littlepro.com Subject: SWEET HOME CHICAGO Dear Illinoisians, Bring a picnic and your swimming trunks: Mila's wrapping up the summer with a free outdoor solo gig at Northwestern University. Come hear the big radio hits on the shore of Lake Michigan. MILA DRUMKE AT NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY THURSDAY, JULY 16 @ NOON EAST LAWN 1999 S. CAMPUS DRIVE EVANSTON, IL NO ADMISSION/OPEN TO PUBLIC And later that day... MILA DRUMKE AT THE BEAT KITCHEN THURSDAY, JULY 16 @ 10 PM 2100 WEST BELMONT AVENUE CHICAGO, IL 773.281.4444 ______________________________________________ For more information, visit us on the Web at http://littlepro.com See http://littlepro.com/order/mailorder.html to order copies of Illinois or Gathering My Name ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jul 1998 01:51:24 +0200 From: Yves Denneulin Subject: the torhout rock festival [long] Hi there! I have been quite silent lately, the main reason being that I was too busy with my work and music to spend a long time reading (and answering) ecto. After having catched up most messages of the past month my first reaction was: "what is happening here?" I don't really understand Dave's unnecessary bashing of the list, even more since I have known him from the Maria McKee mailing list before he subscribed to ecto and have occasionally "spoken" with him on IRC and he seemed to be a nice fellow. I am CC:ing this message to him, I hope he will be back soon with his thoughtful posts and gentle character. On the music side, I recently started to play guitar. It is a rather time-consuming activity. Someone (sorry, I forgot your name) said recently that the only thing that topped listening to music is playing it. I definitely agree! And it really helps to understand music better, too. I would be grateful if someone can explain to me how Kristin Hersh is getting these sounds out of her guitar, it's impossible that we use the same instrument. :-) Besides playing music I have also attended an impressive number of concerts this past month. Is it a coincidence that it happened shortly after I spent some time with Woj, JeffW, Mike Curry and Meth or did they give me their virus? Only time will tell... :-) I won't bother with an exhaustive list of the sets, see under for a report of the Torhout festival, I will only talk about my favourite one. An evening I was with a friend and we decided to go see some music. After a brief look at the program of our local area we found something an ectophile can't miss: a man playing guitar with two girls singing. The program mentioned Fiona Apple as a major influence as well as south american rythms. The only strange thing was that it was happening in a jazz club. When we arrived there was only one girl, the other canceled a couple of hours earlier, and they had to improvize something at the last minute. Plus it was the first time the girl sang in public. To summary, everything was united for a complete disaster... and it was wonderful! Of course there were some problems but the magnetism radiating from the guitarist was mesmerizing and the girl's voice was fragile enough to bring tears to the eyes just by vocalizing. They only played one song by Fiona Apple, _Never is a promise_, the rest was mainly bossa nova. The guitarist made me want to stop learning, he was so good both technically and emotionally it was incredible. Just for the record their names are Alain Dubard and Marion Clement. They gave another show the following day, I taped it but Alain asked me not to copy it because he is not happy with the result. That's too bad, it would have been great on the upcoming HBP. I haven't given all hopes to convince him though. Last week-end there was the Torhout-Wechter festival in Belgium, close to my home. It is one of the biggest european rock festival with more than 110,000 peoples. It lasts two days but I only went to the second one to see Nick Cave, Tori, Garbage and Bjork none of them I had seen before. I was particularly interested by Tori of course since I find her last album fascinating. Curiously, it gave me the keys to really understand the previous ones. I am still amazed at how dense Tori's work is, a thing I didn't suspect when I listened to UtP a couple of years ago. Go ahead, sue me! :-) Back to the topic, there were other bands playing at this festival, I will review them in order of appearance. 1) Evil superstars. I don't know if they will become superstars but their music is evil, that's for sure. Uninteresting noisy rock, the awful sound didn't help them too. All we could hear was the bass and the drums. It was a major problem, it was impossible to understand what the guy was singing and trying to hear the guitars was a major challenge too. I will come back to that later. 2) Money mark. At least these guys were funny. The singer started to apologize that they usually have a DJ but all his records were stolen a couple of days ago and so he started to replace it with his mouth and did a good job. The music was quite good, despite the sound problems, it was a mix of rock and techno with a bit of grunge. 3) Ben Harper. I don't really know his work so I can't judge if he suffered from the sound problems. He is obviously more at ease with an accoustic guitar than with an electric one. His performance didn't give me the need to investigate his work further though. He didn't bother me and didn't grab me; to be honest I slept most of the time :-) (I attended a concert the previous evening and slept only three hours between). 4) Tori. Even if I own a couple of bootlegs I didn't really know what to expect from her. I feared that playing in front of more than 100,000 peoples would affect her music and her behaviour and the sound problems wouldn't help too. On this I was right: she spent the first song doing the soundcheck, I only realised at the end that she was playing _Spark_, I didn't recognise it before! (and I was 10 meters from the stage, right in the middle so in the best position possible accoustic-wise). After that the sound was all right, but still far from good, and I could at least enjoy the music and the show. And what a show it was! I understand now why peoples are ready to travel to Australia to see her! (no offense to the down-unders) To say she is intense would be an understatement, she is much more than that, she seems to be in a transe when she is playing. She was with three musicians: a drummer, a bass player and a guitarist (who had 9 different electric guitars and changed for every song). Tori herself had a piano an a keyboard. I was really curious to see how she could adapt songs like Raspberry Swirl. It is really different, I think she doesn't use enough electronic gizmos to really exploit this song to the fullest but I am not in charge. :-) She played _Cornflake Girl_ and _Crucify_ in the usual way, no surprise here. If I had a complaint to make that would be that: she should really change the songs, especially the old ones, to add someting new to them. It was a bit too predictable IMO, if you had bootlegs from the previous tour. 5) Garbage. A big surprise. I really liked the first album even if "noisy grunge" is usually not my cup of tea. I didn't own their second album then but the show made me run to get it. Even if some of the songs were a bit hesitant, it was obvious they were only starting this tour, they have an originality that comes IMO from their mastering of the most recent technology and, of course, from Shirley too. They are one of the few commercial bands who are really taking risks. Go get 'em Shirley! :-) Highly recommeded if you are on the noisier side of the ecto range. 6) Therapy? Boring, uninteresting. They had a lot of fans in the audience I really can't understand why. Coming after Garbage their complete lack of originality was blatant. They sounded like something you have already heard a thousand times: big sound, no brain. Plus, the constant use of the word "fuck" (exemple: "how the fuck are you?") did bring on my nerves, too. Avoid them at all costs! 7) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Nick Cave holds a special place in my heart, between Diamanda Galas and Miranda Sex Garden: depressing music that I can listen to only if I am very high or down in the dumps. I was curious to see how he could translate his sadness and blackness in a festival where peoples are usually here to have fun. The answer was: he had fun too! The show started by the saddest songs, most of them from _Murder ballads_ and the last album and it finished with more upnote and "nervous" songs. He had the only encore of the day, where he played _Where the wild roses grow_ with one of his musicians, a somber guitarist, taking Kylie Minogue's place (I had secretly hoped for Tori but it didn't happen) to the audience's delight. A good joke to end a perfect set. 8) Bjork. Like the rest of her current tour she was playing with a drum machine, and a musician to operate it, and a string octet. The result is not as strange as could be expected, the drum machine playing an important role. How can I describe Bjork on stage? Elfan would be the best term, I think. She comes in a sort of white dress with wings (not unlike KT's bat costume on the cover of NFE) ans she takes poses like a child would do. When she moves this impression disappears completly though. She seemed a little detached, like if she was playing a role, she didn't seem to really believe in what she was doing. I don't know if she is always like that, it gives a strange impression to the audience. The music was great so it compensated a bit her attitude. Hyperballad with strings is definitely better than the original version, as you already know if you bought _Telegram_ that features a version of the song by the famous Brodski(sp?) quartet. They played with Elvis Costello too, on the _Juliet letters_ album. 9) Beastie boys. No opinion, we left shortly after the begining of the set. Rap music bores me in general and this one was no exception. That's it for today, I am off to bed. Thanks for reading this far I hope I didn't bore you to death! :-) Best, | Yves Denneulin email: denneuli@lifl.fr | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Autour de Lucie webpage: http://www.lifl.fr/~denneuli/adl/adl.html | | "Les brouillons" the Autour de Lucie mailinglist infos at: | | http://www.smoe.org/lists/brouillons.info | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ np: Rasputina _Thanks for the ether_ nr: still Judith Tarr ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 08 Jul 1998 20:01:02 -0700 From: just plain damon Subject: high relief a while ago, when neile mentioned that susan court had just released her first album, i remembered the name from her (neile's) post of a couple of years back and thought oh! i'll have to get that! unfortunately my financial situation is a little unsure right now and even the cost of a new cd makes me a little queasy. but i visited susan's web site with the intention of finding out ordering info. and noticed her "ongoing contest": find something wrong with the site (spelling, etc) and win a free cd. so i did find a few things in the faq and earned myself a free copy of _high relief_, which arrived yesterday. it's signed, too! nitpicking pays off! ;) i had a first listen to it yesterday, and today it has been spinning away in the cd player all day. this album is a gem! she has a lovely voice... uniquely her own, though i do occasionally think of kate bush in a few songs. echoes of someone else, too, though i can't put a finger on it right now. laur just said that at the beginning of "thread" she's reminded of alanis morrissette, which despite my initial surprise i think is a pretty good comparison. she does sound a bit like a more-gentle-than-usual alanis, voice-wise. the instrumentation is lovely, and well-done... not to mention original and interesting. she does out-of-the-ordinary things with the music in a lot of the songs that catch my ear and intrigue me, which is a quality i value (i think most ectophiles do :) it's hard to pick favourites - the whole album is strong, imo - but the things that have stood out are "parrish blue"; "galahad" - a very bright and fun song (i think there's something inherently bright and fun about the recorder); the funky BVs in "high relief"; "fundevogel (do not forsake me)" - - a neat hansel-and-gretel-esque story (not really, but it involves a boy, a girl and a witch-type) with great harmonies in the chorus; and my favourite track of all, i think, is the last, "between the quiet" - a nice, gentle arrangement in which a piano plays the prominent instrumental part. but i've always been a sucker for the piano (and violins). i definitely recommend this album! at least, to people with musical tastes not too far from my own, whatever they are ;) - -damon, doing his bit to evangelise :) np - hmm... guess :) nr - "one side laughing: stories unlike other stories" by damon knight - lovely title, i think. Damon Harper des Jumeaux _/\_ "Canadians lie awake at night damon@pobox.com __\ /__ worrying if there's a hyphen Les Jums: jumeaux@pobox.com \ / in anal retentive" http://pobox.com/~jumeaux/ |/||\| - Red Green ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 20:06:30 EDT From: Riphug@aol.com Subject: Re: Helping Happy In a message dated 98-07-08 14:21:14 EDT, jburka@raptor.cqi.com writes: << Uh, but wasn't _Magic Box_ "quite a bit more on the *dance* side" compared to the previous three?! >> Hmmmm.....I suppose it was.....but it didn't really strike me that way as much as "Rush" does. The track called "Hearts Unite" is very disco/Madonna/Travolta-ish. Now I'll have to go back and listen to all of Bel Canto's cds to properly judge (such difficult work being on ecto). ;-) BTW, my favorite Bel Canto song is "Shoulder to the Wheel," which was my first exposure to them and which I heard when I bought Nettwerk's "Decadence" boxed set. The end Jill :D ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 08 Jul 1998 20:27:53 -0400 From: meredith Subject: one more time: falcon ridge? Hi! Okay, so the date is looming ... just who is going to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, anyway??? Don't be shy - despite what Paul2K may say, we're not *that* scary. :) woj and I are getting 3-day camping passes, but we may not end up getting there until Saturday anyway (depends on what happens). How's this for a dilemma ... we just got Susan Court's new double album in the mail today, but WPKN is playing such cool stuff right now (Loreena McKennitt, Deanna Kirk, Heidi Berry, various Irish traditional music) I don't want to turn off the radio to listen to it! Yow. :) +==========================================================================+ | 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 *** | | *** http://www.smoe.org/meth/trajectory.html *** | +==========================================================================+ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 09 Jul 1998 11:52:29 +0000 From: "Tim Finney" Subject: Re: Garbage in, Garbage out - ---------- >From: charley darbo >To: ecto@smoe.org >Subject: Garbage in, Garbage out >Date: Wed, Jul 8, 1998, 5:03 AM > >So I guess I've decided I don't much like the new Garbage album. I >really loved their first one--still play it pretty frequently--so I >gave myself a while to adjust to whatever it was about the new one >that didn't grab me. No adjustment; doesn't grab me. That's funny, the opposite sort of thing has happened to me. While I liked the first album a lot, I couldn't really listen to it that much because I felt many of the songs slipped into formulaic rock idioms (Not My Idea etc.). The one song that genuinely excited me (and everyone else seemingly ignored) was A Stroke Of Luck, and was always sad that there weren't any more songs like that. Meanwhile I love the second album, because of all the things which make it so obviously different from everything else. Shirley (or whoever actually writes the lyrics) has obviously found her form, and while many of the debut's songs were based around rock cliches (Only Happy When It Rains/Dog New Tricks), I find the new album's lyrics refreshingly frank (prime examples Temptation Waits, Hammering In My Head, The Trick..., Sleep Together and You Looks So Fine), to the point where you can easily forgive Special's tribute to Chrissie Hynde, and Push It's to Brian Wilson. And while the dumb rock songs of the first album made me press the skip button, I Think I'm Paranoid, When I Grow Up and Dumb all make me want to throw myself around my room. What's more, while the first album was deliberately messy, Version 2.0 really shows how advanced recording techniques can completely change music. Hammering In My Head and Push It in particular are delightfully complex, with layers you can sink yourself into - and more importantly sound like no other rock outfit I could name off the top of my head. Have you tried listening to the album on headphones? A pure listening experience matched only in my mind by Bjork's Homogenic and Massive Attack's Mezzanine. Finely what I love about this album is its unabashed beauty. The Trick Is To Keep Breathing, Sleep Together and You Look So Fine alone would justify this album's purchase for their lusciousness. Sure many of these moments (the loud ones, the layered ones, the gorgeous ones) come at the expense of the first album's dark wonders like Queer or Stupid Girl, which in many ways combined all three of these aspects, but IMHO I'm glad that Garbage have expanded their horizons so that they can strike off in all these directions to increase the variety of their second album. I can understand your feelings about this album, but I think that you might want to try listening to the album again, without searching for the debut album in there, but concentrating on what the debut was missing, but this release offers in abundance. Regards, Tim ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 08 Jul 1998 21:58:58 -0700 From: just plain damon Subject: Re: one more time: falcon ridge? >How's this for a dilemma ... we just got Susan Court's new double album in *double* album?? did i miss something? - -damon Damon Harper des Jumeaux _/\_ "Canadians lie awake at night damon@pobox.com __\ /__ worrying if there's a hyphen Les Jums: jumeaux@pobox.com \ / in anal retentive" http://pobox.com/~jumeaux/ |/||\| - Red Green ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 08 Jul 1998 03:06:47 -0400 From: Steve I Subject: re: Melanie Doane This is an excerpt from my post to the Canadian Music list... Jill typed: >If you don't know who Melanie Doane is, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised >at her beautiful music. She's a Canadian singer/songwriter who has an album >called "Shakespearean Fish" -- among my favorites! I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that Jill is familiar with Melanie Doane. :-) Melanie's based in Toronto now but she's actually a transplanted Maritimer... sound familiar? I think she's from Cape Breton. Her music is heavily east-coast-folk influenced, especially the ones where she plays fiddle. The sweetness of her songs on her album belie the energy and power of her live shows. An example is a really mind-blowing version of the traditional folk song "She's Like the Swallow". She starts it very spare and acoustic, and gradually adds instruments until she's got the whole band playing it rock-style and she's wailing like a madwoman on the fiddle. Fantastic. I saw her on a triple bill a few years ago with Damnhait Doyle and Suzanne Little and Melanie completely stole the show. Those going to Lilith Fair in Boston, Ottawa, Toronto, or Buffalo should go early enough to see Melanie, she's a terrific live performer, her CD doesn't nearly do her justice. I wish she'd play a club show again... Steve ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Steve I | Check out cool Toronto artists Sarah Slean & Emm Gryner Toronto, CAN | at NORTHERN SOUNDS: http://webhome.idirect.com/~nsounds/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 08 Jul 1998 16:22:34 -0500 (EST) From: 00jnweiser@bsuvc.bsu.edu Subject: Emm in the news. . . Hey guys, Emm's CD has already gotten positive from both Bass magazine (August) and Elle (July). They are both *real* brief but Elle has a small picture of her w/ it and compares here to Sarah/Fiona (Why?) and also mentions that she plays 8 instruments, etc. :) Anyway, now if the 21st would get here... :) BTW, New BNL rocks. :) And I heard a band "Esthero" on Much Music yesterday--female lead, really weird/interesting stuff... They'reo on EMI in the states, so the CD should be available... anyway, new music is always cool :) Jessica ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 08 Jul 1998 21:15:01 -0500 From: Carolyn Andre Subject: fwd: Happy airplay saw this on the folk dj mailing list ... folks out in Tucson, AZ are having their horizons broadened: >KXCI-FM Music Mix Playlist - Jim Foley >Tuesday, July 7, 1998 - 15:00 - 18:00 MST > >----- 15:52 ----------------- >Happy Rhodes >Proof >Many Worlds Are Born Tonight >Samson > Dark rock, samples, odd moody 15 octave female vocal. This new record > differs from previous Rhodesiana in having few lyrics, repeated mantralike, > somewhat like Jenifer Smith's record of last year. >KXCI web site: http://www.kxci.org > > Regards, Carolyn Andre - ------------------- Chicago, IL / USA | Support Independent Music! Use the Internet candre@enteract.com | Carolyn's House of Music: http://house-of-music.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 08 Jul 1998 22:31:42 -0400 From: frater tot Subject: Re: one more time: falcon ridge? >>How's this for a dilemma ... we just got Susan Court's new double album in > >*double* album?? > >did i miss something? meredith meant to type susan *james*. yeesh. too many susans round these parts. hmmm. maybe they ought to get together and reform band of susans. just with different people. yeah. woj n.p. bozzio levin stevens -- black light syndrome (surprisingly mellow!) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 00:10:12 -0700 From: "Hummel e-mailer" Subject: Elizabeth Hummel at Java Joe's, Sat. July 11, 9PM ELIZABETH HUMMEL NEWSLETTER July 1, 1998 Underlie your ecstasy with water smooth and clear One, two three calls of unknown bird you hear=20 Moon is a smudged scythe over ocean black Bend to the ground and pull your power back ******************** Greetings! Sorry it's been so very long since I've been in touch...I've = been holed up in my house with my dogs and my instruments, working on = new songs, and getting ready to play the Lilith Fair, which I did this = past weekend. (More on that below...) Epiphanies abound, and life is = good. I'm putting up my own website, which is going to be called the EliZine. = The URL (web address) is: www.EliZine.com and it should be up within a week of this posting. To those of you who = used to receive my in-the-mail newsletter, the EliZine is my latest form = of communication about what's happening with my music, show dates, tour = schedules, concert reviews, photos, lyrics, letters and all that stuff = that's on other music web sites. The EliZine is also about other things = that interest me and I hope will interest you, including writings of = mine which are not lyrics (poetry, journal, essays) and also writing, = images, and sounds from other people whose work I like. This newsletter = is part of the EliZine, but we'll also e-mail it directly to you if you = are on my e-mailing list. To be added to this list, send email to:=20 ElizabethHummel@yahoo.com My next show in San Diego is only a few days away!!! Saturday, July 11th, 9:00 PM Java Joe's in Ocean Beach Corner of Newport & Bacon, 523-0356 $7 RUSINGS by Elizabeth Hummel Today is one of those days that bring to mind other days in my life, = other days sharp, clear, in relief. Days when only to gaze on a late = afternoon light-drenched delphinium is enough. Madness, despair, = disillusion are only disintegrating jet trails high in a pure summer = sky. Strawberries and raspberries are in season, the heavens can be = touched in a single note. Some days, on some level of being, I seem to = think that I am still a child being directed through my life, forced to = go to school, take piano lessons, required to be friends with certain = girls just because they are in my Bluebird group. But on the days that are like today, I stretch out my leg in the tub to = examine it and think: this is my leg, here in the bathtub right now, = this is me, this is my life, I'm the one who decides who I am and what I = do with myself, it's up to me who my friends are, and I am forced to do = nothing. Nothing but breathe, stretch, be audaciously my peculiar, = extravagantly selfish self, and dodge the cookie cutters descending from = the corporate skies.=20 ************** A few days ago, I was the opening artist on the Lilith tour's stop in = San Diego. Lots of you were there and know how exciting it was to be = part of this amazing "celebration of women in music". I also know that = hardly any of you who live in San Diego got a chance to see me because = for some reason the doors were opened only minutes before my set...so = I'll tell you all about it. Even though there were so few people there = while I was playing, the energy was already very intense and high. Half = of them had been waiting in line all day and were really really ready = for something to start, and half were press people snapping and = scribbling away. I was pretending to be European royalty inside my = head...the dress I was wearing helped this fantasy (see the pictures at = www.EliZine.com!). I especially had a good time playing my dulcimer. (Later, Sara McLachlan = told me she was walking by while I played "Are We Gonna Get Naked" and = that she thought it was very beautiful! I got all happy...) After = signing autographs and saying hi to people I changed my clothes and got = into listening to the other artists. Tara Maclean, who's a friend, was = her pure and lovely self. K's Choice rocked. Actually, everyone was = great--but I think the Indigo Girls took me to another plane more than = anyone. Backstage, something that seemed unusual to me compared to other music = tours was how healthy and connected with human reality it all was. Erica = Badu walked off stage and immediately picked up her baby who had been = crying for her. (I was imagining how weird it would be to be a baby and = hear your mother's sweet voice through enormous speakers!) Shawn Colvin = was 7 months pregnant. Several of the women had their dogs with them. = Both Sara and Tara have their husbands in their bands. The food was = yummy. At one point, Sara asked me to sing with her and several other of the = festival=92s performers on her encore, "What's Goin' On" by Marvin Gaye. = That was a big wow of course, singing with the likes of these talented = and powerful women to 13,000 fans spread out in the grandstand like one = huge, glittering fan. Another cool aspect of the day was having two of the "San Diego Divas", = Joy Eden Harrison and Peggy Watson with me as my techies. While there is = no doubt that the music industry can be very mean and competitive, = Lilith is proof that women can do it differently. Joy and Peggy, who are = both remarkable songwriters and recording artists and stars themselves, = were 100 percent there as friends to help me out with such mundane = details as guitar cords and nerves, and keeping track of my errant = picks. I think maybe we were on the same track as Sara four years ago = when five of us got together as an informal group (which people started = calling "The Divas") to support each others=92 hearts and careers. The = day of Lilith, Mary Dolan was on tour, and Lisa Sanders was playing on a = stage just outside of Lilith, but I felt they were part of things too.=20 Also I want to thank Kurt Norton, who, like a photographer-warrior, = fought his way through the mob and past the gates, even though his press = pass didn=92t show up and the doors were still closed -- and was there = to videotape my show! And another very especial thanks to Shelly Curson = the Nordic Queen for all the help before, during, and after the show. ************************ If you are kissed by a goddess at night by the sea Or chased by a god round a gnarled oak tree Or caught in the breath of a wandering sprite And held like a babe in a prism of light... =20 You must reach for the stars and bow to the sun To be gifted and blessed as love's chosen one Love to you all, Elizabeth ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V4 #220 **************************