From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V8 #322 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Monday, November 18 2002 Volume 08 : Number 322 Today's Subjects: ----------------- FROU FROU [irvin lin ] Re: FROU FROU [walkabout@att.net] tori tori tori [meredith ] Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man, Out of Season. (review) [Craig Gidney ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2002 01:13:45 -0800 From: irvin lin Subject: FROU FROU > From: Paul2k@aol.com > > I just read about this in the L.A. Weekly paper. Frou Frou had a show > tonight in Silverlake, and have one on Sunday at the Temple Bar sponsored by > KCRW, and another on Monday at the Viper Room sponsored by Star 98.7. > > No other tour plans as far as I can see. According to the ad in the SF GUARDIAN, FROU FROU is suppose to be playing the CAFI DUNORD here in SAN FRANCISCO on MONDAY, NOV 18th. But when I hit CAFI DUNORD's website it said that a local indiepop band called LOQUAT is playing instead. Strange that. Wonder what is up? On the other hand VICTORIA WILLIAMS is going to be at CAFI DUNORD in NOVEMBER as well, and that one is listed both in the SF GUARDIAN and on the website. Can't remember when. Maybe NOV 23? But you can check dates at www.cafedunord.com irvin ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2002 06:31:54 -0500 From: walkabout@att.net Subject: Re: FROU FROU At 05:52 11/17/2002 -0500, irvin lin wrote: >According to the ad in the SF GUARDIAN, FROU FROU is suppose to be playing >the CAFI DUNORD here in SAN FRANCISCO on MONDAY, NOV 18th. But when I hit >CAFI DUNORD's website it said that a local indiepop band called LOQUAT is >playing instead. Strange that. Wonder what is up? According to the Cafe DuNord site as recently as Tuesday, Frou Frou *was* scheduled to play there... but there was a recent change (don't know if Frou Frou canceled or the venue canceled), and Frou Frou is now playing LA's Viper Room on Nov 18... their *only* SF show was last Thursday night (Nov 14) at 330 Ritch. >On the other hand VICTORIA WILLIAMS is going to be at CAFI DUNORD in >NOVEMBER as well, and that one is listed both in the SF GUARDIAN and >on the website. Can't remember when. Maybe NOV 23? Yes, Nov 23... also playing Berkeley's Starry Plough Nov 22, Old Ironsides (Sacramento) Nov 21, and The Derby (LA) Nov 24. ~walkabout ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2002 15:33:41 -0500 From: meredith Subject: tori tori tori Hi, If I may giddily gloat for a moment ... Tori played at the Oakdale in Connecticut last night (as expected, it was an ecto convention -- Chuck & Joe, Dan Stark and Leif, JeffW, Chris Montville and Siobain, Marla Tiara, etc...), and in conjunction with that WTIC, a local top-40 radio station inexplicably did a thing where contest winners got to go to a recording studio in Hartford and see Tori play a few songs, then meet her afterwards. A local Torifan friend of woj's managed to get passes, then her husband lamed out on her so she offered the extra pass to woj yesterday morning. Since woj is a wonderful human being (who is about to see a ton of shows I'm not going to), he gave it to me instead. :) Tori greeted everyone by saying she had tried to take Tash for a walk in the park that morning, but it was pouring rain so Tash decided she wanted to watch DVD's instead. This led to a noodled improv about how her life is no longer her own, and it's really crazy, which then became "Crazy". Then she did "Pancake", "A Sorta Fairytale", and "Strange", all solo on the studio's cute Steinway baby grand. Lovely renditions of each. I'd forgotten how disconcerting it could be to have her stare at you when she's singing!! There was a big guy sitting in front of me, and she seemed to zero in on him. (At least she wasn't singing "Me And A Gun" and doing that, like she was wont to do back in the day.) Then Tori retired to the studio's lobby, and people got to say hi to her in pairs, get one thing signed each, and one photo per pair. The whole thing was very well organized, and I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of freak-show fans in the group. I had Tori sign our 12" import "God" single, the one with the Dave McKean cover art that I'd gotten him to sign a lifetime ago when he and Neil Gaiman did a thing at the Musem of Comic Art in NYC. Tori seemed pretty impressed, both by the fact that I had it and by Dave's signature. She even showed the single to someone who I guess was from Epic, saying something about "see, this is one of the dance things I was telling you about, look at what Dave did for artwork on this". Of course I had a major brain freeze, and forgot to ask if she could maybe play "Honey" at the show later on. At the time I was bumming about this, but then she ended up playing it anyway (!!!). I did say something about the Oakdale, and she said "yeah, the Oakdale. We like the Oakdale." :) It's true ... some of the best shows I've ever seen her do have been there, and last night was no exception. The encores especially blew everyone away ... not only did she do "Honey" (with John bowing an upright bass, yum), but she pulled out Fleetwood Mac's "Songbird", which has long been a Holy Grail of sorts amongst the collector set. Oh yeah, and "In The Springtime Of His Voodoo", and "Juarez", and "Past The Mission" to close everything out. Sometimes I think she's out to kill everyone who goes to her shows in Connecticut. While I'm here ... woj and I also saw her at the Riverside Church in NYC on Wednesday (despite the fact that I was sick and couldn't make it to work that day, bad me). The delicious irony of seeing her perform on an altar made up for the horrible sound -- the place is a cavernous cathedral, so there really wasn't much they could do. There were some *scary* harmonics going on. I do have to give Mark Hawley props for managing to make the Boesendorfer sound like an electric piano, though. That one was definitely all him. :P (Fortunately, the piano sounded much better last night!) It was a pretty standard set list, from what I've been gathering -- but I have to say, if I had to sit through "Crucify" again at least it was in the perfect setting. ;) I like how the songs from the new album translate to the live setting. It was also great to hear "Sugar" with the band again -- that one always kicks some major ass. The lighting was great, too. The church has a really ornate High Gothic backdrop to the altar, and the lighting guy used it to great effect, focusing some of the shapes on the tops of the arches and focusing the light in such a way that it made the backdrop come alive. I was really impressed with how well he incorporated that into the lighting. It turned out to be a much different light show than what we saw at the Oakdale, which was also pretty cool. In the church, she wasn't able to have her backdrop set (mountains with a road map going across them) or have her "Roadside Cafe" sign during her solo interlude in the middle of the show. In a few minutes it's off to Providence to see the whole thing again ... maybe she'll play "Little Earthquakes" tonight. That'd be cool. :) ============================================== Meredith Tarr New Haven, CT USA mailto:meth@smoe.org http://www.smoe.org/meth ============================================== Live At The House O'Muzak House Concert Series http://muzak.smoe.org NEXT UP: Chris & Meredith Thompson, 12/8/02 ============================================== ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2002 16:27:33 -0800 (PST) From: Craig Gidney Subject: Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man, Out of Season. (review) Personnel: Beth Gibbons, Paul Webb 1. Mysteries 2. Tom The Model 3. Show 4. Romance 5. Sand River 6. Spider Monkey 7. Resolve 8. Drake 9. Funny Time Of Year 10. Rustin Man http://www.bethgibbons.com Out of Season, the debut solo recording by Portisheads Beth Gibbons, reveals that her eerie talent is somewhat overwhelmed by that bands studio trickery. When drenched by sample-laden music, with sonic treasures surfacing every minute, it is easy to take her vocal talent for granted. Out of Season, Gibbons collaboration with Talk Talks Paul Webb is stripped down, by contrast. The references to film noir and 60s spy flicks remain in several songs; but for the most part, this is a psychedelic folk-blues album, of the type that Webbs former band used to specialize in. Hushed strings, muted trumpets, meandering electronic guitars share the palette with more delicate touches, like Wurlitzers and soft acoustics. Period touchesa 70s female backup singers, wah-wah pedals, appear every now and then. Webb is a wonderful song-shaper, in the Jon Brion mold, minus the gimmicks. Theres an organic feel to his collages. The production is very respectful of Gibbons voice. Much is made about Gibbons chilly, distant delivery. She often sings like a girl locked in her room, each phrase measured and dripping with the fear of discovery. Shes like Little Voice, recasted as frightened child, rather than an offbeat moppet. Her lyrics are intense and inward, the words of a woman seduced by the Hollywood image of romance and betrayed at every turn. Its an unhealthily intimate pose. On Portisheads records, Gibbons becomes a tragic, tear-stained waif, fitting for the bombastic, angst-ridden soundtracks. By removing the attention-getting cinematography, Gibbons gifts come to the forefront. Shes like musical channeler, summoning the spirits of Billie Holiday, Nina Simone and Sandy Denny with dreadful accuracy. Romance captures Lady Day in her burnished, heroin-laced descent, with Gibbons voice crackling like an old womans, grasping for former glory. Funny Time Of Year conjures Simones smoky clarion call, pitch perfect. And the plainsong beauty of the late Denny is evoked by Drake. The curious, retro feel of the work is disrupted by the disturbing song, Rustin Man, which has Gibbon witchily singing to a mythic blues figure against Webbs fractured samples. It is reminiscent of the work that John Cale did with that other doomed chanteuse, Nico. Out of Season is a beautiful, bleak album; it belongs on the shelf, between Cassandra Wilsons New Moon Daughter and Goldfrapps Felt Mountain. - --Craig ===== Esoteric, atmostpheric literature, music and movies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ethereality/ Yahoo! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your site http://webhosting.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2002 16:29:54 -0800 (PST) From: Craig Gidney Subject: Frou Frou, Details. Personnel: Imogen Heap, Guy Sigsworth 1. Let Go 2. Breathe In 3. Its Good To Be In Love 4. Must Be Dreaming 5. Psychobabble 6. Only Got One 7. Shh 8. Hear Me Out 9. Maddening Shroud 10. Flicks 11. The Dumbing Down Of Love http://www.froufrou.net Guy Sigworth is an ace electronica producer, known for his work with Bjork and Madonna. Imogen Heap is a singer-songwriter, possessed of a strong voice that can sound like Tori Amos one minute, and Sinead OConnor the next. Both are multi-instrumentalists with a penchant for hook-laden electronic pop and literate, witty lyrics. Details is slick enough in production to appeal to the more adventurous Madonna crowd, while maintaining its quirks. The whole album goes down easy, like junk food. A CGI-soundscape of glittery technology and jittery beats, Frou Frou is so damn catchy. A cat-and-mouse game is sonically played out, with synthetic sounds chasing acoustic ones, only to meld together and reform. Individual songs transform like puzzle boxes, effortless hopping genres. Each of the songs is worthy of single status; they are finely-honed and stock full of surprises. The songwriting is top notch, with lyrics that, sometimes humorously, sometimes poignantly, take a look at relationships. Psychobabble a dramatic song, has the best lyrics, with its extended of metaphor of a hostage situation: Do just what I tell you/And no-one will get hurt/ Dont come in any closer. This song also features a spellbinding appearance of the Bollywood Orchestra, Hear Me Out has a sly reference to Regis Philbin. Heaps voice is rich and mature; its hard to believe that shes so young. She inhabits each setting perfectly, like a good actress. She sounds amused on Shh, resigned on The Dumbing Down of Love. Heaps voice, like Sigworths sugary production, threatens to become histrionic. This is the delicious tension that fuels this CD. - --Craig ===== Esoteric, atmostpheric literature, music and movies: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ethereality/ Yahoo! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your site http://webhosting.yahoo.com ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V8 #322 **************************