From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V8 #106 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Monday, April 15 2002 Volume 08 : Number 106 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Today's your birthday, friend... [Mike Matthews ] Reply to: D. G. Keller + mn <--> mnoh ["abaton" ] Le Tigre ["Karen Hester" ] Rasputina, "Cabin Fever!" [Craig Gidney ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 03:00:01 -0400 (EDT) From: Mike Matthews Subject: Today's your birthday, friend... i*i*i*i*i*i i*i*i*i*i*i *************** *****HAPPY********* **************BIRTHDAY********* *************************************************** *************************************************************************** ***************** Stuart Myerburg (stuart@sph.emory.edu) ****************** *************************************************************************** -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Stuart Myerburg Mon April 14 1969 Aries T-Bone Wed April 15 1992 happy cat Jeff Hanson Sat April 16 1966 Aries Michael Klouda Mon April 17 1967 Aries Harry Foster Sat April 21 1956 NiceGuy Kjetil Torgrim Homme Thu April 23 1970 Taurus Jeff Burka Thu April 24 1969 GoFlyAKite Christine Waite Tue April 25 1972 Taurus Matt Adams Thu April 26 1962 Taurus Brad Hutchinson Tue April 28 1964 What sign? Geoff Parks Sun April 30 1961 Taurus Marty Lash Sat May 01 1948 Taurus Barney Parker Fri May 02 1986 happy cat Gray Abbott Tue May 03 1955 Suprised Tamar Boursalian Tue May 03 1966 Taurus Richard A. Holmes May 07 Taurus Steve Ito Fri May 08 1970 DA Bull... Brian Gregory Thu May 09 1963 Eclectic Heidi Maier Wed May 10 1978 Taurus Patrick Varker Wed May 12 1954 Torius Philip David Morgan Sat May 12 1962 Chinese Tiger in Bull Clothing Steve Fagg Tue May 13 1958 Nightwol Karel Zuiderveld Fri May 13 1960 Stier - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 13:00:34 -0700 From: "abaton" Subject: Reply to: D. G. Keller + mn <--> mnoh Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 14:16:23 -0500 (EST) From: "Donald G. Keller" Subject: mn<-->mmoh I had an insight about Marianne Nowottny's music recently, and I thought I'd share it here as a guide for the perplexed. Most pop music (and here I'm using "pop" in the widest sense as "not classical") puts the throughline of the song in the vocal part, by which I mean that if the song is sung a cappella, with no instrumental accompaniment whatsoever, it's still recognizable as "the same" song, and nearly as enjoyable as it would be with the instrumental portion. Some songwriters, in fact, reduce the non-vocal part to simple harmonic and rhythmic support that basically stays out of the way of the vocal; among "ecto" singers, Heather Nova and Jewel might be good examples, especially when they accompany themselves only on acoustic guitar. This general principle is true, I think, even of such relative eccentrics as, say, Joni Mitchell or Kristeen Young: the instrumental portion may rise to as much as 50% necessary to understand the progress of the song, but the (imaginary) vocal-only version would still be recognizable and foldable (even "Incubator"!) As a result, I suspect that the average musical listener hears a song from the vocal down, and may not even pay much attention to the instrumental portion at all. (Myself, I listen from the guitar--or keyboard--part up.) Most songs respond to this listening strategy very well. But it's a strategy that doesn't work at all on Marianne Nowottny's music. The throughline of her songs is in the keyboard part (and here I'll note again that I've been lucky enough to hear her perform live, where the keyboard part is easier to follow than it is on her densely-arranged recordings); her vocal sometimes follows the melody on the top line of the accompaniment, but more often swoops and dives around it, and sometimes is actively in opposition A particularly clear example (featuring only voice and keyboard) is "Panopticon," the second track on her most recent album =Manmade Girl=. The tinkly chords suggest a fairly clear melody to the practiced ear, but the actual vocal starts some odd interval away, and though it traces a =similar= rhythmic rise and fall, it's unsettlingly different--and one would never be able to extrapolate the instrumental from the vocal, the way one could with a more usual song. (And the second verse is even further away from the throughline!) While thinking about this issue, I had a sudden hunch: I dragged out my copy of Mary Margaret O'Hara's =Miss America=, which I hadn't listened to in a good while. And there it was, a very similar relationship between vocal line and accompaniment. The instrumental portion of =Miss America= is straightforward and unproblematic (it reminds me a bit of Bob Dylan's music, for some reason), to the point where I found myself wondering, were the vocal part more "normal"-- even if it were very good--if I would like the album much. But MMOH's vocals are, of course, seldom to be found where you would expect the vocal line to be; even on "Dear Darling," an almost "classical" country ballad, where a clear vocal melody is audible, her voice keeps warbling away from the throughline. More often she's all over the place, which makes the album a thrilling listening experience. The most extreme example is the album closer "You Will Be Loved Again." Listening back-to-back with the Cowboy Junkies cover (which closes their second album =The Caution Horses=), one might be inclined to scratch one's head and wonder where in the world Margot Timmins found the melody she sings--or to speculate that Margot and Michael Timmins "wrote" a more conventional song (more followable in the vocal line, especially) inspired by the original. Speaking of back-to-back, a similar comparison between MMOH's "You Will Be Loved Again" and Marianne Nowottny's "The Deep End" (from her first album =Afraid of Me=) rather startlingly underlines the aptness of my linking the two singers: both songs feature free-jazzlike solo bass and even freer solo vocal, and both are extremely hard to follow. "The Deep End" is the Nowottny song I've found the most opaque, and even several different live versions (two of them with Elliott Sharp playing bass clarinet!) haven't helped; in fact the disparity of the various versions has only clouded the matter. (Unfortunately, there's no Cowboy Junkies cover...) More generally: where =Miss America= has accessible music anchoring the flighty vocals, Marianne Nowottny's music ups the ante, because her instrumental parts hardly stay "still" and progress in expected ways. Her keyboard playing somewhat resembles Veda Hille's in the way that quirky little keyboard figures repeat themselves long enough to be recognizable, only to be replaced by another equally quirky figure. And it doesn't help that her rhythmic sense is also idiosyncratic, speeding up and slowing down and quick-cutting to something else entirely. Nor, as I said, do the very interesting "orchestrations" on her recordings make them easier to parse. So a glib description of Marianne Nowottny might take the form Mary Margaret O'Hara Sings Veda Hille!--though it's a strategic rather than a stylistic description. But if one approaches her music with this image in mind, I venture to speculate that it might help get past the music's surface difficulties. Does this mean I'm implying that Marianne Nowottny is as good as Mary Margaret O'Hara or Veda Hille? Maybe not; after all, she's still only 19, and however impressively accomplished her output so far, it still has the air of early work. But I have no qualms in saying she has the =potential= to be that good. (She's already more prolific than Mary Margaret O'Hara!) I guess this is the second in a still-ongoing series, since I still haven't grappled with an actual review of =Manmade Girl=. We'll see what the future holds. Footnote: I wanted to make sure that Mary Margaret O'Hara fans knew about one of her more obscure tracks. It's from =September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill= (Sony 1997). This is the soundtrack for a film I saw on PBS once, and features covers by such notables as Nick Cave, P.J. Harvey and Lou Reed. MMOH performs "Furchte Dich Nicht" from Brecht/Weill's =Happy End=, their "sequel" to =Threepenny Opera=; it's one of several Salvation Army hymns from the show, and is short (35 seconds in the recording I have) and sweetly tonal. To no one's surprise, I expect, MMOH turns it into a 4+-minute jazzy meander, somewhat similar to "You Will Be Loved Again" (quite as if, in fact, her original had been a cover of the Cowboy Junkies version). Any MMOH fan would find it interesting, I suspect, and the rest of the album is worth hearing as well. - ------------------------------ Donald and any ecto perplexed, While I agree with a lot of the points you make, I still have a different take on Marianne Nowottny. First of all, I find it troubling that we have to prefix any mention about Nowottny with terms like "perplexed." Speaking for myself, and only praying that more Ecto's will take this young's woman's material to heart, I just don't see why so many are perplexed in the first place. I mean really. It's not like were trying to understand 12-tone scales or anything. It's possible many Ectos are just not as informed musically as you and feel that Nowottny's material is "strange." This really needs to be rectified. Unfortunately it seems that this group, all lovers of the female voice, may be a little lulled to sleep by the strumming guitars and folksy based vibe that seem to permeate a lot of the music found on this site. Is a "boutique site" good enough for any music lover? Probably not. With Marianne Nowottny you're really dealing with a total musical force, beyond the scope and concept of this site. Understanding her work may be one of those rare situations, where all of your experience as a listener is questioned, and by all the right reasons. She is not one of those artists that fits into any pre-existing molds. Its quite a different set of referents then the great number of music lovers may have on this list. We have to remember that besides classical music, there is no "serious" music made by teenagers for adults. Usually teenagers make music for other teenagers. Many adults I believe do understand where Nowottny is coming from, but seem to hear her only as "adults." You really have to listen to her without these preconceptions. Nowottny recorded her first cd at 16 years-old. Those songs are real coming of age both vocally and musically. They reference teenage perceptual issues, both socially and romantically. I don't think we can fully understand it anymore as adults. Her material is coming from a pre-adult world-view. Its directed towards all listeners BUT specifically towards other teenagers. Strangely enough, she has no actually teenage following of any great number from my understanding, the Tiger Beat article aside! So its a complex situation. I agree totally with your assessment of her vocal lines intertwining harmonically with the keyboard etc.... I find this to be very similar to a lot of the most interesting work by Jimi Hendrix and most jazz artists actually. It seems to be based on a truly free compositional understanding, which Mozart had as a child as we all know. Maybe we should be focusing on the psychedelic and spiritual nature of the construction of her songs, things more inherent in the nature of the human condition. This is where some of the answers are hidden I believe. Also, not having any commercial pressures must contribute to her creative freedom somewhat! Looking at it in this light, a song like "The Deep End" by Nowottny is much easier to understand. Listen to "Sketches of Spain" by Miles Davis for example. Now tell me, isn't the "The Deep End" very close to a Gil Evans/Miles Davis arrangement. Few are willing to except this level of innate genius from a 16-year old "child" by the way. Here she has no competition. I think "The Deep End" shows what Nowottny can really do, homemade primitive orchestration. She had never heard of Miles Davis when I first talked to her in 1997, let alone Gil Evans, Alice Coltrane or Sun Ra, all artists which she seems to have channeled in a song like "The Deep End" and some of her odd instrumentals. To add to this we have to remember the Marianne grew up listening Goth and synth-pop. Her mother does play some classical piano, so she was exposed to advanced compositional structures, i.e. classical form, early on. Not just 3 minute pop song or I,IV,V - verse chorus, verse, repeat chorus structures. There is a interesting review of her cd "Manmade Girl" in the winter issue of "Signal to Noise" magazine about just this, and other issues regarding her. Never has a young artist, let alone a woman come along that has produced material so avant-garde, and can be still called "Pop music," a little like early Brian Eno, or Meredith Monk. Regards, mdabc ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 18:34:25 +1200 From: "Karen Hester" Subject: Le Tigre I've just got Le Tigre's "Feminist sweepstakes" from the library, and it is so much fun, unexpectedly :) I wasn't a Bikini Kill fan, but this catchy sample-punk immediately got me bouncing round the room. Anyone else have any opinions about this album or their earlier stuff? I was expecting from the interview in Wired that they would be more electronic .. um, as in the noises, as opposed to the process, which probably doesn't involve playing any of the instruments. But there are lots of crunchy guitars. And shouty bits. Made colourful with slinky drums and catchy melodies and fun lyrics and all sorts of things that dance around in my head when I'm not playing the cd. The only song I don't currently like is "Dyke March 2001" which is typical beats with sampled voices over the top, a documentary set to beats. Karen ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 16:33:14 -0700 (PDT) From: Craig Gidney Subject: Rasputina, "Cabin Fever!" Just picked this one up. Not much different musically from "How We Quit The Forest," but then I didn't expect it to be. The funny lyrics and comedic bits are the highlight. This one has a great skit about a double date between two guys and PJ Harvey and Bjork. The cd booklet is exquisite, like Victorian porn and Beatrix Potter pictures all mixed up together. - --Craig. ===== Book and Music Review Editor, Spoonfed. http://www.spoonfedamerika.com Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V8 #106 **************************