From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V7 #373 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Tuesday, January 1 2002 Volume 07 : Number 373 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Christmas Wish List ["Lyle Howard" ] Happy New Year!!! GiGs!!! Marcella Detroit [Birdie ] Re: Best of 2001 [Mike Connell ] CD Reviews Alio Die/ Amelia Cuni & Hana [Craig Gidney ] new favourite - alison krauss + union station ["Karen Hester" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2001 17:16:28 From: "Lyle Howard" Subject: Christmas Wish List Hola, My Christmas wish list was short and simple this year: A Cadillac and a good woman. Oh, and World Peace. I haven't seen hide nor hair of either item. And people die in combat every day. Now I am consulting the classifieds for used cars and women seeking men. There doesn't seem to be a column for World Peace seeking world. I am trying not to be bitter. I just put on _Wingspan_ by Laurel MacDonald. This is a cd of six mixes of a song titled "A Wing and a Prayer." It is a good song. I have heard the Bill Laswell mix and it is strong. Other mixers: Transglobal Underground, Richard Horowitz, and Plunderphonics. I am looking forward to hearing the Plunderphonics version, since I have read about them (or him?) but never heard the result of their work. Right now, some guitar player seems to be channeling the soul of Kevin Bartlett. Enjoy your champagne or sparkling apple cider. Bye, Lyle _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2001 12:22:29 -0800 From: Birdie Subject: Happy New Year!!! GiGs!!! Marcella Detroit Return-Path: Received: from imo-r04.mx.aol.com ([152.163.225.100]) by motown (Earthlink/Netcom Mail Service) with ESMTP id u31h0r.dsd.37tiu50 Mon, 31 Dec 2001 12:01:31 -0800 (PST) Received: from MarcyFans@aol.com by imo-r04.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v31_r1.9.) id o.140.72f3139 (4158); Mon, 31 Dec 2001 14:54:42 -0500 (EST) From: MarcyFans@aol.com Message-ID: <140.72f3139.29621c81@aol.com> Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2001 14:54:41 EST Subject: Happy New Year!!! GiGs!!!Happy New year!!!GiGs!!!! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit To: undisclosed-recipients:; X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Mac sub 28 X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 Hello everyone, Marcy here. I truly hope you all have a wonderful new year! As far as I'm concerned, this year has been a tricky one and I'm very ready for the new one to begin. Hope yours is healthy, happy and prosperous! I just wanted to fill you in on my upcoming shows, so here goes: first one is @ The Knitting Factory on January 9th, 2002 address: 7021 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA dinner reservations: 323 463-0262 showtime: 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm admission: free!!! details: I'll be performing with three other singer/songwriters, each of us doing 3-4 songs apiece, kind of like a storytellers thing, should be fun. next show: January 31st, 2002 @ The Crooked Bar downstairs in the Coconut Teaszer, 8121 Sunset blvd. on the corner of sunset blvd and crescent heights/laurel canyon blvd. showtime: 9:00 pm. telephone: 323 654-4773 admission: again, $6.00 ,$4.00 if you print out and bring this email/flyer. alternatively, you can email me and I can put you on the $4.00 guest list @marcyfans@aol.com next show: February 13th, 2002 @ The Gig 7302 Melrose Ave. Hollywood, CA 90046 telephone: 323 936-4440 showtime: 8:30 pm. admission: $5.00, $3.00 if you print out this email/flyer, either way, it's cheap!!!!! Please note, the showtimes are pretty much on time. So, if you're late, you may miss the show. I truly appreciate all your support in the past and hope to see you all again soon!! best wishes; marcy :-) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2001 17:09:36 -0500 From: dave Subject: once again, it's that time of year.. Here's my obligatory list, a selection from the ones I bought this year, but not necessarily released in 2001. Sort of broken down by style.. Girls with Guitars.. - -Jewel - This Way - -Jennifer Knapp - The Way I Am - -Michelle Branch - The Spirit Room Celtic - -Meav - Meav - -Karan Casey - The Wind Begins to Sing BlueGrass - -Alison Krauss + Union Station - New Favorite Pop - -Deborah Gibson - M.Y.O.B. - -Eden's Crush - Popstars Somewhere between the Go-Go's and No Doubt - -Flight 180 - Girls & Boys Spanish - -Jaci Velasquez - Mi Corazon - -Ella Baila Sola - e.b.s. - -Ella Baila Sola - Marta & Marilia Polish - -Kasia Kowalska - 5 - -Bajm - Szklanka Wody - -Anita Lipnicka - Moje Oczy Sa Zielone Armenian - -Sona Avagyan - Katil French, Egyptian, etc.. - -Ishtar - The Voice of Alabina Whatever else - -Lara Fabian - Lara Fabian - -Joy Williams - Joy Williams - -Crystal Lewis - More Best shows - -Crystal Lewis - -Grey Eye Glances and Mary Fahl Favorite movie - -Final Fantasy, the Spirits Within Newest toy - -DVD player. The Crystal Lewis CD came with a DVD of videos so I figured it was time to get a player. So far I've bought 3 movies, Labyrinth, Dark City (yes, I'm going for the Jennifer Connelly collection here..) and Rock and Roll High School.. we'll miss you Joey, along with George and the rest who left us this past year.. dave ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2001 17:55:08 -0500 From: Mike Connell Subject: Re: Best of 2001 Considering I purchased only two CDs of *new* music in 2001 (Jewel - This Way, Cowboy Junkies - Open) and thus far have only listened to Open, I don't really have a "best of" listing for 2001. However, I do have both a "Best Musical Moment of 2001" and "Worst Musical Moment of 2001" nominee. To me, the single worse musical moment that occurred in 2001 is without question the incredibly butchered (and I mean butchered) and disrespectful offering of the "Star Spangled Banner" that Macy Gray coughed-up at the NFLs Hall Of Fame game in Canton Ohio in mid-August. It was appalling. On the bright side, while I wish this moment had never had the opportunity to occur as it happened soley due to the events of September 11th, to me the best musical moment of 2001 was Neil Young's perfect performance of John Lennon's "Imagine" during the "America: A Tribute To Heroes" telethon that aired on 35 networks about 10 days after the attacks. Young sings Lennon, it don't get any better than that. Happy New Year to all :-) Mike np: Moody Blues - Seventh Sojourn np: Cat Stevens - Tea For The Tillerman np: Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water (while as I said I purchased only 2 *new-music* CDs this year, I brought home maybe 3 dozen "oldies" like the above three I got this past weekend....Seventh Sojourn was my first-ever LP pruchase way back then) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2001 16:41:54 -0800 (PST) From: Craig Gidney Subject: CD Reviews Alio Die/ Amelia Cuni & Hana Alio Die/Amelia Cuni: ASPARAS Indian vocal music can have a vaporous quality, perfectly suited to the amorphous tonalities of ambient music. The collaboration between Italian electronic composer Alio Die and dhuparad singer Amelia Cuni shows how there is a natural symbiosis between the two forms. The wafting, formless ambience melds with Ms. Cunis deep alto. Highly reminiscent of the works of Sheila Chandra. Alio Dies aquatic environments evoke the sub textual theme of the recordingthe invocation of the Indian water spirits. Hana: OMEN The second collaboration between Anisa Romero and Jeff Greinke takes Eastern-styled music into triphop territory. Romeros wavering soprano darts through Greinkes bank of synthesizers, percolating rhythms, augemented by trancey basslines. Unlike the first recording, this one features straightforward song structures and lyric. Its downtempo mix, post 4AD chillout. Greinke manipulates Romeros serpentine voice, particularly in songs like Asab and Hide, while liquid electronica plays in the background, at times suggesting a cross between Dead Can Dance and Aphex Twin. A raw sensuality pervades throughout the pieces, definitely moving it out of the New Age category. - --Craig Happy New Year, all. ===== Book and Music Review Editor, Spoonfed. http://www.spoonfedamerika.com Send your FREE holiday greetings online! http://greetings.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2002 12:37:43 +1100 From: Andrew Fries Subject: Lynn Canfield, again I just came across the answer to my own query from a while back regarding Lynn Canfield: She is currently performing with a band called "Lynn Canfield and Hot Tub Party". Their website is at - it's kind of light on detail, but there is a video clip of their performance which I'm downloading at the moment... Anyhow it's great to know she's still active. Happy New Year everyone! - ---------------------------------------------------------------- "Directed denial of service attacks. Computer security averted and disabled. Files deleted from hard drives. Is this the work of malicious hackers breaking into a computer system? No. This is what the RIAA envisions is fair play in their crusade to control the distribution of copyrighted material." - arstechnica.com - ---------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2002 16:23:01 +1300 From: "Karen Hester" Subject: new favourite - alison krauss + union station New Favorite - Alison Krauss + Union Station Soft creamy vocals (plus Soggy Bottom Boy vocalist!) and great contemporary bluegrass instrumentation. Though Alison Krauss' unique confusingly sweet and soft yet precise and not breathy/fluttery vocals are lovely across her pop, spiritual and country lps, the bluegrass-lite backing instrumentation of previous albums kept me away. The difference between Union Station's earlier arrangements and the ones on "New Favorite" is perhaps minimal, but the group now does not seem at all 'blah' to me. Maybe the success of Union Station mainstay Dan Tyminski's charming work as George Clooney's singing voice in "O Brother..." brought them further back to their roots, or maybe I'm imagining things, but this album does seem an improvement. There are gorgeous ballads and mid-tempo numbers and fun frisky faster tunes. Lyrics move between the lovelorn to wistfully seductive, and Tyminski's lead vocal tracks are more traditional tales of hoeing corn etc. They choose their songs perfectly, including the rich closing number written by Gillian Welch and Rawlings, bare like many of Welch's own performances, but without a dreary affect. Even though the melodies throughout are great, it is the musicianship that astounds me. The tracks are great rhythmically despite there only being one song with 'percussion' instruments - all the others use string plucking to emphasize the beat! Took me ages to notice that. Yummy stuff. Karen nr: If chins could kill : confessions of a B movie actor - Bruce Campbell (including tale of young Rob Tapert, for Xena fans). ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2002 18:45:19 +1300 From: "Karen Hester" Subject: Vienna Teng - Waking Hour Waking hour by Vienna Teng Melodic, piano based; thoughtful, reflective, beautiful; stunning debut. Available cdbaby.com, mp3.com and viennateng.com I was suspicious at first because of the website description of these songs as aural photographs, in which the recordings (representations) on Waking Hour vary in fidelity to the songs themselves (mainly/all girls, like Toris songs). I think I know what she means, and I love discussions about this side of artistic creation, how the song/picture/story/poem/thought that floats out there at the edges of ones mind is transformed as it is captured, recreated, imitated, or otherwise dragged into reality. Sometimes a song can become less unique and perfect due to limitations of technology or musicianship (or sometimes the reverse, when newcomers are forced to try unusual tactics to recreate their vision), or the music can be altered by others involved in the process who dont have the same vision (producers, musicians), and sometimes a song or other creation can never exist in the way it does in a dream, because artistic visions can contain intangible qualities of inspiration not replicable in sound.  but, [and I feel the need for a new paragraph here for the sake of my eyes], I was nevertheless suspicious in case this was a pre-emptive defensive statement meaning "well, if you dont like the album, then it isnt the songs you dont like, just these versions." That seemed to be cheating, because if these arent the best versions, then existing wonderfully elsewhere doesnt help me. This is probably displaced grumpiness at the opinion that Toris Boys for Pele is better after hearing her live during that period  this may be true, but then that is a fault of the album as they are stand alone creations. Anyway,. All-such was a damned stupid suspicion because the sound clips on Viennas website revealed music of such beauty and delicacy and clarity. Not just a one day shell do great things listening experience, but wow wow wow *now*. The album lives up to the clips and thrills me as much as a full-length version of Sarah Sleans Universe would have. Following that thought, to me Vienna Teng fills the niche at the more restrained end of the piano girl spectrum, where Sarah Slean was before she began her theatrical vermouth swilling approach (which I love too). I was always a bit uncomfortable with Sleans niceness  even her sharpest lyrics (Ill devour him, see me drawing out his spine) were done in the most pleasant well-mannered way and I felt the songs wanted something more vibrant and uncontrolled, whereas Vienna Tengs singing and playing, I feel, is true to herself and her music. Ironically, I now love listening to Waking Hour with the comments on the differing photogenic qualities of these songs in mind. I can hear the make-up on Between and I enjoy both this version with her dangling ornaments and her simpler EP form. Im trying to imagine the more beautiful beings that Soon love soon and Drought really are (can they be any more beautiful?). How would dressed up full-band versions of all the solo songs, and pared down versions of the elaborately recorded ones sound? Its like having both photos of friends dolled up at their best and posed with thought to how theyre being viewed and what image they want to convey, as well as the photos in which theyre grinning madly and goofing around. My only niggling comments are that Enough to go by is so different in style and instrumentation that it is unexpected and jars, the gospel tinged Soon love soon isnt quite my kind of song, and the chorus of Momentum applies the term baby to someone who isnt an actual baby, (or cat or penguin or polar bear or similar), and Im funny about that word! If some of these recordings are ghosts of something magical that Vienna cannot yet create outside of her mind, or partially-formed sketches which need practice and experimentation before their final form is realised, or songs which strayed away from their original nature because playing with instruments and layered voices was fun, then imagine the sparkling land they have come from, and I look forward to Viennas representations of more of these beautiful creatures. Its fun to think of musicians as compilers of the authoritative wildlife-spotting guides for their world, each piece illustrating a song-being for outsiders, but perhaps never quite able to translate the song-creature precisely into the common music of our world. Karen ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V7 #373 **************************