From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V5 #64 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Monday, February 22 1999 Volume 05 : Number 064 Today's Subjects: ----------------- I'll have the Hoot Night with a side of Cool Whip please! [stunning@tezca] Re: Steam (Hamam: The Turkish Bath) soundtrack ["Tim Finney" ] Re: shoegazers (was: IQ's Ever/Guitarists) ["Veronica S." ] Movie Awards and such [Michael Colford ] trashmonk, willard grant conspiracy, kyle eastwood ["girl with the curiou] Male Vocalist recommendation [Patrick Moseley ] Re: trashmonk, willard grant conspiracy, kyle eastwood ["Joseph S. Zitt" ] RE: Male Vocalist recommendation ["J. Moon" ] Boston-Area question [Michael Colford ] Re: Male Vocalist recommendation [Mark Lowry ] Re: Male Vocalist recommendation [Neile Graham ] Re: Male vocalist recommendation [Valerie Kraemer ] Re: Male Vocalist recommendation ["Joseph S. Zitt" ] Re: Male Vocalist recommendation [Neile Graham ] Early reactions to Happy's catalogue... [Patrick Moseley ] Re: Early reactions to Happy's catalogue... [Mark Lowry ] Re: Male Vocalist recommendation [Michael Colford ] Re: Male Vocalist recommendation [Rubber DeNiro ] Re: Male Vocalist recommendation [Rubber DeNiro ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 01:48:33 -0500 From: stunning@tezcat.com Subject: I'll have the Hoot Night with a side of Cool Whip please! Well, than it must be the Boy Hoot! Actually that would be the "Ode To Boy" Hoot Night at Schuba's! (Belmont and Southport in Chicago.) This Wednesday night Feb 24, at the "still new time"of 8:00pm, please come see your favorite friends and some new folks too! Featuring the lovely: *TOM DUNNING & YOUR BOYFRIENDS *THE BALTIMORES *JOE CASSIDY OF BUTTERFLY CHILD *FRISBIE *NORA O'CONNOR OF THE BLACKS *COW LILY *JUSTIN ROBERTS *THE TWIGS *JACQUIE KRUPKA OF THE PLUNGING NECKLINES *CATHERINE SMITKO *VICTORIA STORM *ARLO LEACH *GLEAMIR *BRYTER *ANTJE All singing songs that have something to do with Boys! Who put this show together anyway? Oh. Go figure! Admission is only $4 and the show starts at 8. Oh my God! It's this Wednesday!!!! Quick, what am I gonna wear? Other things to know about: 1) Best of luck to Jeff Tweedy & WILCO who are up for a GRAMMY for cutest band of the year! (Set your VCR's everyone, you'll be at Hoot Night!) Do you think they'll thank me on national television if they win? Wouldn't that be cool? Of course, they don't really know who I am so they probably won't, but maybe they'll mention Chicago and then that's kinda like they thanked me. OH GOD I HOPE THEY WIN! My mom would be really proud if I got thanked on national television. 2) FRISBIE at Metro on March 6! HELLO? This band is blowing peoples minds! Good God, I'm gonna faint! DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW!!!!!! Harmonies and Pop melodies that kill. Cute factor, 1 to 10? Try a 27! 3) Pick up a copy of I WANNA BE KATE: The Songs of Kate Bush at your local independent record shop! Thanks for your time. We all hope to see you at the Hoot! Love, Thomas Dunning Brown Star Records Chicago The Kate Bush Tribute CD is here! I WANNA BE KATE: The Songs of Kate Bush http://www.tezcat.com/~stunning/kate/index.html VISIT THE WEBSITE! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 19:59:27 +0000 From: "Tim Finney" Subject: Re: Steam (Hamam: The Turkish Bath) soundtrack - ---------- >From: Mark Lowry >To: "ecto@smoe.org" >Subject: Steam (Hamam: The Turkish Bath) soundtrack >Date: Sun, Feb 21, 1999, 7:22 PM > >When I was in NYC over the holidays, I saw a joint Turkish/Italian art >film called "Steam." The original title was "Hamam: The Turkish Bath." >Nice film, very sensual. Here's a piece of ectosynchronicity: I actually just saw the film on Australian cable last night. I hadn't expected it to be so sad, but still it was great. And the soundtrack was fantastic. Tim ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 20:08:20 +0000 From: "Tim Finney" Subject: Re: IQ's Ever/Guitarists - ---------- >From: Bill Mazur >To: Tim Finney >Subject: Re: IQ's Ever/Guitarists >Date: Sun, Feb 21, 1999, 2:38 AM > >Forgive my ignorance please, but what is "shoegazer music"? This sounds >interesting. I will have to search out some Real Audio or MP3 samples on >Music Blvd or Borders.com. This very question sparked off a rather large thread a while back. I wish I'd kept them 'cause there was a really good description of it there. Okay (deep breath), "shoegazer" (or dream-pop) is basically guitar rock which uses layers of guitar, feedback, distortion, samplers, keyboards and then more guitars to make a sound which is both ethereal and dissonant. The two bands which seemed to influence dream-pop the most without actually being part of it were "The Cocteau Twins" (the ethereal side) and "The Jesus and Mary Chain" (the dissonant side), but the ultimate shoegazer band, who were sort of in the middle but more "out-there" than either, were My Bloody Valentine, whose 1988 album "Isn't Anything" sort of defined the genre's explosion, while their 1991 album "Loveless" signified it's pinnacle. The basic shoegazer sound involves lots of guitars mixing in and out of each other, an often very slow, dreamy sound (though it could be punkishly fast as well, see My Bloody Valentine's Only Shallow) and light, airy vocals singing lyrics about nothing in particular. If I were going to name ten key dream-pop albums they would be: The Jesus And Mary Chain - Psychocandy (1985) Loop - Heaven's End (1986?) My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything (1988) A.R. Kane - i (1989) The Cocteau Twins - Heaven Or Las Vegas (1990) My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (1991) Ride - Nowhere (1991) Lush - Spooky (1992) Kitchens Of Distincion - The Death Of Cool (1992) Curve - Cuckoo (1993) That's all IMHO of course. There's other bands as well like Slowdive, Moose, Souvlaki, Chapterhouse etc. etc. >Actually, now that you describe them to me they sound vaguely familiar. >Were they once called The Chameleons UK or something like that? In America they were, like so many great UK bands who lost legal battles against unknown American bands. >Now I find it extremely doubtful that Ani DiFranco will ever have that >effect on me. However, I think that my opinion can definitely be swayed >toward having a positive view of her performances and music. Well I don't know. Ani's music isn't as singular as Genesis', so if you don't like her too much now, you may not like her ever. Genesis I can sympathise with though because every song starts out sounding horrible to me and ends up sounding great, whereas Ani I loved virtually from first listen. >Very interesting observations. I tend to agree with your statements here >except for one. I really like This Strange Engine, especially pieces >like Estonia and Memory of Water. Out of curiosity, what don't you like >about This Strange Engine? I just find it to be inconsistent, which colours my opinion of the songs a bit unfairly. I *really* love the title track, Estonia and Memory of Water, quite like Man Of A Thousand Faces, One Fine Day and Eighty Days, and don't mind the other two, but it seems like a very uncohesive album. Individually the songs are fine, but as a group they don't work very well. The band made Afraid Of Sunlight, a favourite of mine where every song builds on the others, in one year, but TSE sounds like they spent one and a half years perfecting the title track, then realised they needed to release an album and rushed through the rest. Apparantly many of the songs were outtakes from the AOS sessions and it kind of shows. Accidental Man is a cross-between Cannibal Surf Babe and King, and therefore they can't decide if they're serious or not. Estonia is beautiful in a similar way to Out Of This World, but not as inventive or gutwrenching (although to be fair it's intended to be uplifting). Man Of A Thousand Faces tries to be anthemic like Gazpacho, but is blunt and overstated where Gazpacho was brilliantly restrained. Also, although it is an experimental album, many of the experiments are half-realised compared to Radiation. Hope For The Future looks like a throwaway digression compared to Born To Run's amazing success, and One Fine Day's flirtation with strings is thoroughly superseded by These Chains' love affair. >Some of the imagery in Fish's lyrics on "Fugazi" are brilliantly poetic. >However IMHO, Fish shows too much venom and bitterness towards women, or >at the very least to one particular women, in his lyrics on "Fugazi". I >find many of his lyrics on "Fugazi" to be unsettling and they rub me the >wrong way. I've always seen it as the ultimate "angry breakup" album, and therefore discounted the more vicious lyrical attacks. My problem with Fugazi lyrically is that while on paper his lyrics are fantastic, some of the songs can't support his imagery (the verses of Jigsaw are a good example). >I too prefer Fish's lyrics on "Clutching at Straws". Talking about >self-destructive alcohol abuse and how it affects everyone around the >addict is, as you state, a *very* dark theme. The other issues that are >addressed in a song like "White Russian" are also extremely powerful. >"The silence never louder than now, how quickly we forgot our vows, this >resurrection we can't allow". These are a few of the many poignant words >in that song that talk about how the evils of Nazi propaganda infest our >society to this day. It also addresses the fact that most people turn a >blind eye to this happening today. White Russian is my favourite Fish sing-a-long, while I think Warm Wet Circles has some of the most beautiful lyrics of any song ever. The imagery is just as potent as that on Fugazi, but while on Fugazi he tends to create songs by describing one thing over and over again in an increasingly complicated fashion, in a song like Warm Wet Circles he uses different images to create a wonderfully captivating story. Another favourite of mine is Blind Curve, which has just about everything you could want from Fish lyrically. Have you heard that on his latest album Fish has recorded a 23-minute epic called Plague Of Ghosts? He's published the lyrics and it looks like he's back on form. Speak later, Tim ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 04:45:04 -0500 From: "Veronica S." Subject: Re: shoegazers (was: IQ's Ever/Guitarists) my fair ecto-folk, how odd it seems, with a pencil stroke'd post to be drawn from Silence, but a little question begs an answer, a refuse i cannot offer. yet however odd or uneven unsilence seems, i do follow, and my fingers for this moment lead. Bill asked, > > My Bloody Valentine's last album, Loveless (1991), represented both the > > pinnacle of shoegazer music, and also what could be done with guitar. > > ... > > Forgive my ignorance please, but what is "shoegazer music"? This sounds > interesting. I will have to search out some Real Audio or MP3 samples on Ecto's name is hard to explain, but shoegazing was word-bourne and may be as easily by words put to it's death. words *do* grow on trees, and a music writing Adam plucked this fair fruit to speak of bands who do what it says, who gaze at their shoes 'stead of their fans. radically rooted it grew, to speak of a genre, a music made a fog of words, a blender-wall of guitar and noise, a chromatic mist, flowing, of shapes so vague but moving, through colors and patterns well-seen. Lush and Slowdive, if names and names i must name, come foremost to my mind. my bloody valentine, may fairly be so-called, though my ears can bear but little. my tastes are oh so simple, and mbv shone with the bright guitar colors of sonic youth, and hurt my tender y/ears. other names i barely know, moose and ride and maybe blur, pretty boys may sing perhaps, but not ecto fair, that bus i did not ride. think walls and layers of guitar, few lead but many follow. vocals there, somewhere, oh where? and what was said, unclear. what was said, and what was meant? for each who hears, her own personal truth. too loud to trance, too slow to dance, swim, as the coloured wave whirls round. the name of Curve you might hear said, and maybe this is true. but to me they sit another place, and something else they do. as a father is blood and kin of his own children, yet apart from their new world, so sit the Cocteau Twins, distant creators and muses, to a world they never made, but sometimes produced in the studio. and to sweet Silence's lips i return, ---veronica npimh: those 4 notes from Shine on you Crazy Diamond ne: a Dove Bar ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 07:51:34 -0500 (EST) From: Michael Colford Subject: Inevitable schedule conflicts Isn't it always the way? I have tickets to see the musical "Sideshow" this coming Thursday night in Boston. I've had these tickets for over a month. Also coming to Boston on Thursday night are Suzanne Vega as part of her book tour, and Susan McKeown & Chanting House, who I have only recently discovered (thanks, of course, to this list). Susan's playing Johnny D's in Somerville, a great venue to see a band, and I'm really bummed I can't split myself into three people (a la Triplicate Girl for you comic readers) and hit all three events! Waah! Michael n.p. Nuclear Valdez - Dream Another Dream (?) - -------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Colford | Reading Public Library Head of Technical Services | Reading, Massachusetts colford@noblenet.org | *North of Boston Library Exchange* - -------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 07:53:50 -0500 (EST) From: Michael Colford Subject: Movie Awards and such Hi everyone! I know there are lots of movie fans on this list, so I just wanted to point those people to my Movie Awards website, The Chlotrudis Awards. This year marks the Fifth Annual Chlotrudis Awards, and if you are at all a fan of movies, especially non-Hollywood types, head on over to http://www.whereitis.com/home/chlotrudis. There you'll find the 1998 nominees, our Mission Statement, a list of past nominees and winners, and even an on-line ballot for you to register your vote! Thanks for checking it out! Michael http://www.whereitis.com/home/chlotrudis/ http://www.whereitis.com/home/colford/ - -------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Colford | Reading Public Library Head of Technical Services | Reading, Massachusetts colford@noblenet.org | *North of Boston Library Exchange* - -------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 09:42:48 -0600 From: "girl with the curious hair" Subject: trashmonk, willard grant conspiracy, kyle eastwood let me first say how much i love sampler cds. i have discovered many a great artist through sampler cds, most notably naomi. so when i picked up one of my favorite magazines, uncut, and it came with a cd i was overjoyed. then i listened to it and it was perfect. and there are three artists on there that just blew me away. trashmonk: this one stood out more than any others. it feels like it was recorded underwater, his voice is absolutely hypnotic, it truly does sound like elliot smith produced by the beastie boys, or bob dylan with samplers. then i find out this guy wrote songs with pink floyd and did that song in the 80's, life in a northern town. does anyone have any more information about this guy? the magazine came with a short interview, but i'm really interested in how his album, 'mona lisa overdrive' is.... willard grant conspiracy: i don't know how to describe this, a folky-country-rocky slowish thing. at first you think, oh country music, but it has deeper roots than that. truly fantastic song, 'morning is the end of the day.' it's another male singer, something i've been lacking in my cd collection these days. they sound a bit like cracker meets nick cave. (just nick's vocals, not the blowing up cars part) kyle eastwood: everyone already knows this is the son of a famous guy, so there are automatic jakob dylan and jeff buckley mentions in the cd reviews, but he deserves to have recognition for his own music. heavily jazz influenced, very dreamy, and very mature. (for immature jazzy, i'm thinkin fiona) the song they included was 'why can't we live together?' there's something about it that sounds a tad soft-rock 80's and 90's mix radio station, but it's still a beautiful song. other great great artists on this cd include cotton mather, lucinda williams, john cale, my bloody valentine, kristen hersh, and dakota suite. the magazine is worth it just for the cd, but it also has extensive interviews with john cale and new order. so everyone should pick it up. btw, there's a willard grant conspiracy webpage: http://world.std.com/~dahlia/wgc.html jessa ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 10:42:55 -0500 From: Patrick Moseley Subject: Male Vocalist recommendation Quick question to all you Ecto regulars... What seems to be the "general consensus" favorite male vocalist or male-fronted band among Ectophiles and/or Happy fans in general? Just curious, since I'm finding my music collection is becoming more and more female-dominated. And if anyone says David Bowie, I might just cry. Thanks, Patrick ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 09:49:20 -0600 (CST) From: "Joseph S. Zitt" Subject: Re: trashmonk, willard grant conspiracy, kyle eastwood On Mon, 22 Feb 1999, girl with the curious hair wrote: > trashmonk: this one stood out more than any others. it feels like it was > recorded underwater, his voice is absolutely hypnotic, it truly does sound > like elliot smith produced by the beastie boys, or bob dylan with samplers. > then i find out this guy wrote songs with pink floyd and did that song in > the 80's, life in a northern town. does anyone have any more information > about this guy? the magazine came with a short interview, but i'm really > interested in how his album, 'mona lisa overdrive' is.... Yup, the guy used to be with The Dream Academy, which ranked among the much-mentioned here in days of yore (or perhaps days of mine :-]). He was featured on one of those ubiquitous VH1 "Where Are They Now?" shows. (Speaking of VH1 -- did the sound on last night's Storytellers episode with Tori really bite, or was that just DC inCapablevision screwing things up again? Good show, though -- far more coherent than she was on Sessions, and her speaking voice was working again...) - - ---------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, 22 Feb 1999 09:57:03 -0600 From: "J. Moon" Subject: RE: Male Vocalist recommendation i'd say jeff buckley (who is, btw, also one of my favorite guitarists, but i didn't say anything during that survey.) and my guilty pleasure male fronted band is u2. (ducking the lemons being thrown) others: radiohead bernard butler pulp - -----Original Message----- From: owner-ecto@smoe.org [mailto:owner-ecto@smoe.org]On Behalf Of Patrick Moseley Sent: Monday, February 22, 1999 9:43 AM To: ecto@smoe.org Subject: Male Vocalist recommendation Quick question to all you Ecto regulars... What seems to be the "general consensus" favorite male vocalist or male-fronted band among Ectophiles and/or Happy fans in general? Just curious, since I'm finding my music collection is becoming more and more female-dominated. And if anyone says David Bowie, I might just cry. Thanks, Patrick ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 11:06:24 -0500 (EST) From: Michael Colford Subject: Boston-Area question Is anyone in the Boston area planning to see Rufus Wainwright and Imogen Heap at the Paradise on March 19? (I think.) I think I'm going to go and was just curious if any ectophiles would be there. Thank, Michael n.p. The Superjesus - Sumo - -------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Colford | Reading Public Library Head of Technical Services | Reading, Massachusetts colford@noblenet.org | *North of Boston Library Exchange* - -------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 10:13:42 -0600 From: Mark Lowry Subject: Re: Male Vocalist recommendation Patrick Moseley wrote: > Quick question to all you Ecto regulars... > > What seems to be the "general consensus" favorite male vocalist or > male-fronted band among Ectophiles and/or Happy fans in general? My bet is on Peter Gabriel, although my personal fave is Nick Cave. Mark n.p. Exene Cervenka _old wives tales_ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 08:37:27 -0800 From: Neile Graham Subject: Re: Male Vocalist recommendation At 10:42 AM -0500 2/22/99, Patrick Moseley wrote: >Quick question to all you Ecto regulars... > > What seems to be the "general consensus" favorite male vocalist or >male-fronted band among Ectophiles and/or Happy fans in general? Patrick-- I would say that the consensus figure probably is Peter Gabriel. My personal favourites are ones other ecto members don't seem to share, though it could be argued that they just haven't heard the first two yet and the second two are only of interest to those who like traditional material: Gabriel Yacoub--French, formerly with Malicorne which did electric traditional folk but now does something strangely contemporary and wonderful David Usher--Canadian, also plays with the band Moist which I have not heard but I adore his new solo album which is just a few months old. He plays deeply emotional contemporary alternative pop/rock Martin Carthy--English, does English traditional folk mostly just him and his guitar Cordelia's Dad--American, a group with a male lead singer who do stripped down American folk, highly emotive I would definitely recommend checking out Gabriel Yacoub and David Usher in particular. All but David Usher have entries in The Ectophiles' Guide at http://www.smoe.org/ectoguide. There's a David Usher site at http://www.davidusher.com which has some liquid audio sound samples (I haven't run across liquid audio before) on the front page but also .wav files if you go to the album page then to individual songs. The song that caught me first by hearing it on Much Music was "St. Lawrence River" but I think the whole album (_Little Songs_) is wonderful. I just looked it up on CDNow, and it's due for a U.S. release March 23rd. - --Neile - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Neile Graham ...... http://www.sff.net/people/neile ....... neile@sff.net Les Semaines: A Weekly Journal . http://www.sff.net/people/neile/semaines The Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music ....... http://www.smoe.org/ectoguide ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 12:10:56 -0500 From: Valerie Kraemer Subject: Re: Male vocalist recommendation Someone who's mentioned often here and is certainly one of my favorites is the late English artist Nick Drake. He's well worth checking out if you haven't heard him before. - --Valerie Richardson n.p. WNYC-AM, talk radio ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 11:28:14 -0600 (CST) From: "Joseph S. Zitt" Subject: Re: Male Vocalist recommendation On Mon, 22 Feb 1999, Patrick Moseley wrote: > Quick question to all you Ecto regulars... > > What seems to be the "general consensus" favorite male vocalist or > male-fronted band among Ectophiles and/or Happy fans in general? > > Just curious, since I'm finding my music collection is becoming > more and more female-dominated. > > And if anyone says David Bowie, I might just cry. David Bowie. Here's an handkerchief. After him, Peter Gabriel and David Sylvian. - - ---------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, 22 Feb 1999 09:41:10 -0800 (PST) From: Rubber DeNiro Subject: Re: Male Vocalist recommendation - ---Mark Lowry wrote: > > Patrick Moseley wrote: > > > Quick question to all you Ecto regulars... > > > > What seems to be the "general consensus" favorite male vocalist or > > male-fronted band among Ectophiles and/or Happy fans in general? > > My bet is on Peter Gabriel, although my personal fave is Nick Cave. I'd have to say I think Jeff Buckley's status as an Ectopian artist has risen nearly to the consensus level of Peter Gabriel's. And except for a few people who by their own admission haven't really given him a chance, Rufus Wainwright has been almost universally appreciated by the Ectophiles who've heard him. I will second the Nick Cave nomination, and suggest a few others: Tim Buckley Nick Drake David (sorry) Bowie yes to Pulp and an artist I haven't seen mentioned here yet but whom I think would be well received as an Ectopian, Plush (the performing name of Liam Hayes). - --Charley > > Mark > > n.p. Exene Cervenka _old wives tales_ I. LOVE. this. album. - --ch _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 09:59:46 -0800 From: Neile Graham Subject: Re: Male Vocalist recommendation Charley wrote: >I'd have to say I think Jeff Buckley's status as an Ectopian artist >has risen nearly to the consensus level of Peter Gabriel's. Not so sure about the consensus issue here, but what can I say--I'm not a huge fan of either of them, but I like some of both of their work a lot. Both are very uneven experiences for me as a listener: some of it bores me, some of it captivates me. >And except >for a few people who by their own admission haven't really given him a >chance, Rufus Wainwright has been almost universally appreciated by >the Ectophiles who've heard him. Hmm. I disagree on this one. He's the reason I'm not hearing Imogen Heap on this round of tours, dammit. I've gone out of my way to watch the video of his current single several times, and have seen Much Music's "Break This" segment on him more times than I can count. I really wanted to like him because I like the McGarrigles' work so much. Actually, don't particularly dislike him, but he doesn't do anything for me either, and life's too short and concerts too expensive. >Nick Drake >David (sorry) Bowie I would second these, though the Bowie music I love best is pretty damn old now. >and an artist I haven't seen mentioned here yet but whom I think would >be well received as an Ectopian, Plush (the performing name of Liam >Hayes). Hmm. Never run across this name before. Description?? - --Neile - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Neile Graham ...... http://www.sff.net/people/neile ....... neile@sff.net Les Semaines: A Weekly Journal . http://www.sff.net/people/neile/semaines The Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music ....... http://www.smoe.org/ectoguide ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 13:18:25 -0500 From: Patrick Moseley Subject: Early reactions to Happy's catalogue... Hello all... Well, about a week ago I completed my Happy discography, meaning that between early November 98 (starting with MWABT) and last week, I've crammed in ten albums' worth of new (to me) Happy material. Many thanks to Harmony Ridge music for helping me get my hands on most of it. My initial reaction: I'm overwhelmed with amazing music. I wish I'd known about Happy all along so I could've absorbed this music slowly as it came out, but hey... I'm more than ecstatic to be listening to her now, so. And while I don't think in this short amount of time I've even begun to crack the surface, I thought I'd share my initial reactions: 1) I'm definitely a bigger fan of Happy's newer, more electronic music than her initial, acoustic-based music (with a few noteworthy exceptions). I do appreciate the back-to-basics approach of the two compilation albums, however. 2) I think Happy has shown a definite growth and progression with each all-new album, again with a couple of exceptions. I think RHODES I has more high points and stand-out songs than RHODES II, but I'd say RHODES II is consistently the better of the two. I also like (the earlier) EQUIPOISE just a tad better than BUILDING THE COLOSSUS, but only by a matter of degrees. 3) Her voice is just beyond compare. I have little doubt Happy is on her way to becoming my all-time favorite musician, hands down. Sorry, Loreena. ;-) 4) Right now, I'd rank the albums in the following order (favorite to least-favorite): 1. Many Worlds Are Born Tonight 2. Equipoise 3. Building the Colossus 4. Warpaint 5. Ecto 6. Rearmament 7. Rhodes II 8. Rhodes I I don't know where the compilations would fit into the list, as I like most of both, but have a hard time comparing them to the full albums. 5) I haven't heard a single Happy song that I don't appreciate on some level. Not all are favorites, and her musical highs are so high that some of the stellar moments even pale by comparison. A lot of the material on the first few albums is, at least right now, indistinguishable one song to the next. Repeated listenings will probably remedy this. On a humorous note, the first time I listened to RHODESONGS, I was listening over headphones in my room late at night with the lights out. As the closing notes of the tribute version to "Feed the Fire" faded, I got up to turn my stereo off, when suddenly through the headphones I heard Happy say, "Hey Pat?" Needless to say, this nearly caused me (Patrick) heart failure. So there you have it. I think as I absorb this music more, I may post individual reactions to each album if anyone's interested to hear this newbie's opinions. Overall though... simply "wow." Patrick ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 12:21:48 -0600 From: Mark Lowry Subject: Re: Male Vocalist recommendation I so agree with Neile on Jeff Buckley. I think he's a wonderful songwriter, but sometimes I can't get past that voice, which can annoy me to no end (a la Rufas Wainwright to, is it Meth?) I will cast another vote for male vocals: Spiritualized and Jason whats-his-name, who can be quite the tortured genius. > Charley wrote to Mark's n.p. Exene Cervenka _old wives tales_ > > I. LOVE. this. album. Yes. It's been ages since my last listen. I think I like it now more than ever. Of course I love her in everthing she touches, from X to her guest spot on the Old '97s track "4 leaf clover." Mark n.p. Still Exene, and wondering if I should bother with work today ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 12:35:15 -0600 From: Mark Lowry Subject: Re: Early reactions to Happy's catalogue... Hi, Congrats Patrick on completing the collection ... that's no small feat. I was lucky enough to have found her when _Warpaint_ came out. Over the next few years I found the previous four, and then kept up with every step she made. (I did get _The Keep_ rather late, though). > 4) Right now, I'd rank the albums in the following order (favorite to > least-favorite): > 1. Many Worlds Are Born Tonight > 2. Equipoise > 3. Building the Colossus > 4. Warpaint > 5. Ecto > 6. Rearmament > 7. Rhodes II > 8. Rhodes I Interesting how everyone has reacts to her music differently. My list would be: 1. Warpaint 2. Many Worlds Are Born Tonight 3. Rearmament 4. Rhodes II 5. Ecto 6. Equipoise 7. Rhodes I 8. Building the Colossus BTW, how close are we to finding out when she'll have more concerts this year, and if/when she'll be touring with another act, and who? Mark ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 10:40:07 -0800 (PST) From: Rubber DeNiro Subject: Re: Male Vocalist recommendation - ---Neile Graham wrote: > > Charley wrote: > > >And except > >for a few people who by their own admission haven't really given him a > >chance, Rufus Wainwright has been almost universally appreciated by > >the Ectophiles who've heard him. > > Hmm. I disagree on this one. He's the reason I'm not hearing Imogen Heap > on this round of tours, dammit. > > I've gone out of my way to watch the video of his current single several > times, and have seen Much Music's "Break This" segment on him more times > than I can count. Sorry, Neile, if you've written about RW I must have missed it. I framed my impression of the Ectophiles' consensus regarding him based on the only posts I remember seeing here: a couple people with a visceral dislike for his voice which prevented them from giving his music a chance (not unlike a common reaction to Kate's music, and indeed very much like my first reaction to Victoria Williams, who is now among my very, very favoritest artists), and the rest very enthusiastic. I know there are always far, far more people who don't respond to a thread than those few who string it along, but of course I can only process what I take in. Sorry if I appeared to dismiss your opinion of RW; if, as I said, you'd posted it, I missed it. > I really wanted to like him because I like the McGarrigles' work so much. I'll agree that it doesn't seem much related to their work, but personally I'd grab his disk from a burning house before I'd grab one of theirs. > > Actually, don't particularly dislike him, but he doesn't do anything for me > either, and life's too short and concerts too expensive. Ain't _that_ the truth. > > >Nick Drake > >David (sorry) Bowie > > I would second these, though the Bowie music I love best is pretty damn old > now. Me too. My favorite of his albums is _Scary_Monsters_Super_Creeps_. > > >and an artist I haven't seen mentioned here yet but whom I think would > >be well received as an Ectopian, Plush (the performing name of Liam > >Hayes). > > Hmm. Never run across this name before. Description?? Plaintive, textured solo voice with piano and occasional acoustic combo. Elements of Jeff Buckley and Mary Margaret O'Hara. Not really raw, but organic sounding; emotions evident throughout the levels and textures because there's really no polished surface to deflect your gaze. Melodramatic but honest; haunting but accessible. On Drag City. - --Charley n.p. RUFUS!!! n.r. _Inside _MicroStation_95:_4th_Edition_ --Moving to Seattle to work production in an architectural firm. _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 13:36:57 -0500 (EST) From: Michael Colford Subject: Re: Male Vocalist recommendation Hey everyone, I don't think you're going to find any single Male Artist that all of Ecto will agree on. In fact, short of Happy, you probably won't find a female artist who ALL of Ecto will agree on (and not even Happy!) Still The male artists who have been mentioned are probably liked by the majority of Ecto members. I'm one of the Rufus Wainwright propponents. His music speaks directly to my heart and moves me a great deal. I can definitely see his voice being an acquired taste, but it grew on me very quickly. Funny, I don't own Jeff Buckley's album, although I do love the song "Grace." But I would definitely put his voice and Rufus' voice in the same category (which I'm sure will outrage some people.) I like the both, by the way. Another favorite male artist for me is Trent Reznor a la Nine Inch Nails. Not really ectopian, but he is liked by a lot of people on this list. Also Bob Mould, Neil Finn, The Tragically Hip, Midnight Oil, R.E.M., 54-40, Kitchens of Distinction... those are just off the top of my head. There are lots more. Still, I definitely lean toward the female artist, and my collection if probably 75% female, or female fronted. Michael n.p. Martha & the Muffins - Then Again - -------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Colford | Reading Public Library Head of Technical Services | Reading, Massachusetts colford@noblenet.org | *North of Boston Library Exchange* - -------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 10:46:41 -0800 (PST) From: Rubber DeNiro Subject: Re: Male Vocalist recommendation - ---Mark Lowry wrote: > > I will cast another vote for male vocals: Spiritualized and Jason > whats-his-name, who can be quite the tortured genius. Ohmygod! I can't believe I forgot this! Probably the artist I've listened to most over the last two years: I didn't discover Spiritualized until their last album, and suddnly had the whole back catalogue (not to mention the many related projects) to absorb. Bought 'em all, wearin' 'em out. Also--also also also--Blue Nile! Beatiful, beautiful stuff. Kind of a cross between David Byrne and Jane Siberry. > > > > Charley wrote to Mark's n.p. Exene Cervenka _old wives tales_ > > > > I. LOVE. this. album. > > Yes. It's been ages since my last listen. I think I like it now more than > ever. Of course I love her in everthing she touches, from X to her guest > spot on the Old '97s track "4 leaf clover." KNITTERS! "poor little critter on the road"! > > Mark > > n.p. Still Exene, and wondering if I should bother with work today Look, if I have to, you have to. Don't you think I'd rather be home listening to music? But no, I'm here slaving over a hot keyboard, doing my part to maintain the fabric of YOUR existence. Han't you read Ayn Rand? Don't you know that every white male has a sacred duty to uphold his burden, or the world will stop spinning? Now mush! - --Ch.D _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 10:58:19 -0800 (PST) From: Rubber DeNiro Subject: Re: Male Vocalist recommendation - ---Michael Colford wrote: > > Funny, I don't own Jeff Buckley's album, although I > do love the song "Grace." What are you doing reading your mail?!?! Run get it, right now! But I would definitely put his voice > and Rufus' voice in the same category (which I'm sure will > outrage some people.) I agree: they're among the only artists western male artists who treat the human voice with the same reverence as the female artists (the Ectopians) I love. Jeff's voice was as much an instrument as Jane Siberry's, and Rufus is obviously as awed by the power of the human voice as Sarah Vaughn or Kate Bush. The list we're building here consists largely of those few male artists who've rejected the more common approach of using the male voice as weapon or a territory marker. One of Jeff's greatest influences was Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, perhaps the best male example of the human throat as a musical instrument. > I like the both, by the way. > > Another favorite male artist for me is Trent Reznor a la Nine Inch > Nails. Not really ectopian, but he is liked by a lot of people on > this list. I was going to mention him as well, but chickened out because he's not as clearly Ectopian as the other artists cited. But then I figure that "Ectopian" doesn't really have a concrete definition, so if you like him, and I like him, and I know others here like him, then, voila, he's Ectopian. > I definitely lean > toward the female artist, and my collection if probably 75% female, > or female fronted. Me too: I'm more likely to buy a female artist's work without hearing it first than a male's--I've just mostly had better luck with female artists. But partly because of the disproportion of my musical accumulation, sometimes I'll go out of my way to find a male artist I like. It was in this fram of mind that I discoverd Jeff Buckley, Blue Nile, and Spiritualized. - --Ch.D _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V5 #64 *************************