From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V8 #312 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Friday, November 8 2002 Volume 08 : Number 312 Today's Subjects: ----------------- OP 3 ["Marcel Rijs" ] new stuff: tori and hem [JoAnn Whetsell ] Hem and Tom McRae [jjhanson@att.net] New Abra Moore / Ellis Paul ["Sherlyn Koo" ] Re: Lynn Miles, Tom McRae [Neal Copperman ] Re: julee ["Michael Pearce" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 07 Nov 2002 10:06:07 +0100 From: "Marcel Rijs" Subject: OP 3 Hi all, For those who responded to me re: the Happy Rhodes article: I will work on this during the weekend and send it through to here next week. Meanwhile I had a different question: I read with interest that October Project has had another incarnation recently. Their website doesn't change much, though. They keep announcing the EP which is for sale at their gigs, but it hasn't been made available online yet. Does anyone know how this poor soul in the Netherlands can get hold of this particular piece of candy? Kind regards, Marcel Rijs - marcel.rijs@kb.nl afd. Communicatie - Communication department Koninklijke Bibliotheek - National Library of the Netherlands Website - http://www.kb.nl ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2002 18:25:50 -0500 From: JoAnn Whetsell Subject: new stuff: tori and hem Well, my package came Tuesday night, and I should probably listen to the album more than twice before I comment, but I'll jump in and warn that my opinions are subject to change. Is there anyone besides me who doesn't think Scarlet's Walk is that great? This is the first Tori Amos album that I would have to call disappointing (Strange Little Girls doesn't count because I didn't expect to like it, and there are a few songs on there that I really like). Scarlet's Walk I find kind of lukewarm. This might have more to do with me and the changing nature of my relationship to Tori and her music than to the album itself, and I suspect the album will grow on me. Still, there's nothing on here I love, and only a few songs I really like ("Crazy," "Taxi Ride," "another girl's paradise," and "Virginia." Stylistically, I'm not sure which of her previous efforts it reminds me of. There are definite shades of the studio half of To Venus and Back, yet it seems a lot sparer than that album, the electronica gone. I also hear similarities to some of the short interludes of Boys for Pele. In some places, like the song "Sweet Sangria," the sound reminds me of her live-with-full-band concerts, and I wonder if I would like some of these songs better solo. "I Can't See New York" sounds like her live shows but also has intricate piano work. The piano is foregrounded in some songs and more mixed into the whole on others, and I like both. "your cloud" has some wonderful piano on it. At first signature Tori moments like when she ends songs on breathy notes or drawn out phrases that turn dissonant surprised me. Like the curl at the end of "January" I just love, yet when she does it here, it seems jarring and out of place (I don't remember which song). But this is Tori, changing and doing something new, which I appreciate, even if I don't (yet) love it. On second listen, I'm really beginning to like the opening tracks "Amber Waves" and "a sorta fairytale" too, so I can tell the album will grow on me. It's an ambitious project in scope and vision, but musically and lyrically I don't think it's up there with her previous work. As for the packaging, I got the DVD edition. Like the stickers, like the pictures, but don't really know what to do with them, haven't looked at the dvd or the website yet. I like the map, and maybe people who don't really understand it are just trying to read too much into it. (Or maybe I'm missing something.) But I took it as the journey of the characters, and certain songs I could guess what state or region of the country they took place in. I figured the map also marked (although probably not literally) Tori's own journey across the country and about where she was when she was writing each song. I absolutely, enthusiastically, whole-heartedly recommend Hem's album, Rabbit Songs. This garners not only 2 thumbs up, but all 20 fingers and toes. It's beautiful, spare, mostly new songs in the style of traditional Americana. If you think of Copland as being a classical composer who interpreted traditional music that way, and Robin Holcomb as a popular/classical composer who interprets it in those styles, then you could think of Hem as popular musicians who make traditional music that way. It's one of those very rare perfect albums, and if you like acoustic or folk music at all, you'll probably like it. Definitely check out some sound samples. 30 second bits at CDNow were enough to make me order the album and fall in love. I think Rabbit Songs is a perfect title too. The music is like hay, soft and gentle and soothing, but also thoughtful and chewy. Their website doesn't mention a new album, but both Amazon.com and CDNow list "I'm Talking With My Mouth," a 5 track ep of covers. Anyone know anything about this? JoAnn ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 07 Nov 2002 23:44:00 +0000 From: jjhanson@att.net Subject: Hem and Tom McRae I'll second JoAnne's recommendation for Hem--not sure I'd call it a perfect album, but definitely a beautiful one. I'd also like to recommend Tom McRae--I know nothing about this guy, but Neal loaned me his album, and to me, Tom personifies the male side of ecto. His voice carries an incredibile amount of passion, and the arrangements are stunning, feauturing guitar, cello, etc. Spare, but driving, moody, evocative music. Looks like (from his website) that he's doing a UK tour and a date in Belgium this month. Highly highly recommend this one. I also noticed that Jann Arden has a new book (based on clippings from her web-site journal), as well as a best of and a live album! Dayna Manning also has a new release out in Canada--look forward to hearing that one as I loved her debut. Jeff Hanson n.p. Lynn Miles - Night in a Strange Town (playing in my living room on Sunday!) n.r. The Magician's Apprentice - Ann Patchett ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2002 20:09:05 -0500 From: "Sherlyn Koo" Subject: New Abra Moore / Ellis Paul Hey folks, Does anybody know what's up with Abra Moore's new album? Amazon doesn't even have it listed anymore and CDNow has it on special order. Which is a pain, because I want it now, now, NOW. Also, Ellis Paul has a new album called "Speed of Trees". Yay. - -sherlyn ps - Neal, have a great house concert. You know I love me some Lynn Miles... - -- Sherlyn Koo | sherlyn@pixelopolis.com | Sydney, Australia "...claims to be a human, from a planet called Erp..." SAVE FARSCAPE - http://www.savefarscape.com - -- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2002 19:29:19 -0700 From: Neal Copperman Subject: Re: Lynn Miles, Tom McRae >ps - Neal, have a great house concert. You know I love me some Lynn Miles... Thanks Sherlyn. This is a killer week at the AMP House Concert series. We've got Lynn Miles on Sunday and a return visit from Eliza Gilkyson (as a trio) on Wednesday! Lynn's new album, Unravel, is really fantastic. It took a few listens to grow on me, but has really caught my fancy. It seems to be impacting others here too, as both the free weekly and daily paper opted to enthusiastically highlight it this week. Also, the adult contemporarly station in Santa Fe has been playing it a lot and getting a lot of good feedback. (We easily got 10 reservations based on their playing the album, which is definitely a record [er, a record as to the number of reservations, not that the album is a record! Oh, never mind.]) And the response from our mailling list has been overwhelming too. We can't really understand why. As far as we know, Lynn is virtually unknown in NM, but as soon as we sent out a description of her music, reservations started pouring it. It's kind of mindboggling. (If you'd like to see what local press had to say, check out the music section at http://www.alibi.com) I also highly highly second Jeff's comments on Tom McRae! AdamK included a song of his on a sampler he sent me which prompted me to pick up his CD while visiting Neile in Seattle. (Oh those ecto webs.) It's wonderful! I think it's almost a guaranteed win for anyone who likes the "ecto male voice". neal np: A Recent Future - James Keelaghan ------------------------------ Date: 7 Nov 2002 18:19:48 -0800 From: "Michael Pearce" Subject: Re: julee At 1:55 AM -0500 11/7/02, anna maria "stjrnell" wrote: >hi.. >has anyone heard the new julee cruise cd? >what do you think? >anna maria I got it on the spot. It is interesting but a bit different without Badalamanti doing the music for her. She is defining herself as a lounge singer on this CD, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but many of the songs are not what you are used to from her. In short, pretty subjective. See if you can find it on Usenet or Gnutilla before splurging for it. Michael ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V8 #312 **************************