From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V9 #300 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Friday, October 24 2003 Volume 09 : Number 300 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: TORI's new [Ethan Straffin ] Thea Gilmore feature in today's Guardian ["Adam K." ] new tori [Paul2k@aol.com] new tori [Paul2k@aol.com] new tori [Paul2k@aol.com] elliott smith. ["heidi maier" ] elliott smith, from the new york times. ["heidi maier" ] Re: Tori, Shudder to Think [RedWoodenBeads@aol.com] Re: Tori, Shudder to Think [Ethan Straffin ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 01:32:33 -0700 From: Ethan Straffin Subject: Re: TORI's new On Wednesday, October 22, 2003, at 12:25 PM, iflin@speakeasy.net wrote: >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Ethan Straffin [mailto:drumz@best.com] >>> i think i've pretty much outgrown my tori phase of my life.... >> >> Noooo! The horror! ;) > > actually it's really funny. i get this reaction a lot from TORIPHILES. > i can understand, as i used to be a hardcore tori fan. but with each > release, i find myself losing more and more interest in her work. i > didn't even bother to pick up her covers album STRANGE LITTLE GIRLS, Understandable...though you did miss a rather nice cover of Lloyd Cole's (<-- personal hero) "Rattlesnakes," along with a version of Joe Jackson's "Real Men" that I'd say she made her own and then some. > and i finally broke down and bought SCARLET WALK just for the > packaging elements - which in retrospect, weren't all that stunning. > the fake POLAROID photos have been done, and done better by a chinese > artist named FAYE WONG (who covered one of TORI's songs years ago). What an odd reason to buy a CD! No disrespect intended, since I'm all in favor of good packaging. > that said, i recently aquired the album ROUNDS by FOUR TET. its > organic instrumental electronica (definitely recommended if you are > interested in that sort of thing) I am. It's now on my wish list. > strangely TORI isn't the only artist that i feel i've outgrown. the > same has happened to ANI DIFRANCO. haven't much been interested in > anything by her since she released LIVING IN CLIP. Agreed. Ani seems to have decided that she's a jazz artist, and I'm simply not down with that in that I simply don't like jazz much. I still thank her for "Not a Pretty Girl," though...and FWIW, IMHO, "So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter" ain't all that bad either. > *sigh* just getting old i guess. no longer the angst ridden boy that i > used to be (i just turned 30 last week so i guess i can't be calling > myself a boy anymore...) Yet "Little Earthquakes," which remains Tori's most angst-ridden album by any standards of which I can conceive, is your fondest memory of her? Hrm. Ethan ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 10:18:37 +0100 From: "Adam K." Subject: Thea Gilmore feature in today's Guardian Today's Guardian has a huuuuuge feature in it about Thea Gilmore, including a fascinating interview, as well as comparisons with PJ Harvey (natch) and Ani Di Franco. Check it out (hopefully, if the link works) at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1068726,00.html It strikes me as a bit of a puff-piece, however, going so far to gush over her "angular, Liv Tylerish features" which makes me wonder. Thea has a very striking face, but it's hardly "angular", and the comparison to Liv Tyler beggars belief. Maybe it's just me. adam k. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 05:24:22 EDT From: Paul2k@aol.com Subject: new tori In a fairly recent musician/recording magazine (I think it might have been Keyboard), there was an article on the new Tori collection, talking with her hubby and the mastering (re)engineer for the album. I skimmed the article last week, but what I remember is her husband talking about taking the original tracks and remixing them slightly to get a result that Tori was more satisfied with. He explained that, at least with Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink, they didn't have the biggest budget or a lot of time, and the mixes that were chosen weren't the ones that they specifically would have liked, although they were still good. So, with the new mixes, they maybe brought the piano out a little more, tucked a guitar away...he gave an example of Cornflake Girl and how the original mix really emphasized the bells, and how they made it less noticeable in the remix. Paul K ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 05:27:42 EDT From: Paul2k@aol.com Subject: new tori In a fairly recent musician/recording magazine (I think it might have been Keyboard), there was an article on the new Tori collection, talking with her hubby and the mastering (re)engineer for the album. I skimmed the article last week, but what I remember is her husband talking about taking the original tracks and remixing them slightly to get a result that Tori was more satisfied with. He explained that, at least with Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink, they didn't have the biggest budget or a lot of time, and the mixes that were chosen weren't the ones that they specifically would have liked, although they were still good. So, with the new mixes, they maybe brought the piano out a little more, tucked a guitar away...he gave an example of Cornflake Girl and how the original mix really emphasized the bells, and how they made it less noticeable in the remix. Paul K ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 05:36:15 EDT From: Paul2k@aol.com Subject: new tori In a fairly recent musician/recording magazine (I think it might have been Keyboard), there was an article on the new Tori collection, talking with her hubby and the mastering (re)engineer for the album. I skimmed the article last week, but what I remember is her husband talking about taking the original tracks and remixing them slightly to get a result that Tori was more satisfied with. He explained that, at least with Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink, they didn't have the biggest budget or a lot of time, and the mixes that were chosen weren't the ones that they specifically would have liked, although they were still good. So, with the new mixes, they maybe brought the piano out a little more, tucked a guitar away...he gave an example of Cornflake Girl and how the original mix really emphasized the bells, and how they made it less noticeable in the remix. Paul K ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 20:12:37 +1000 From: "heidi maier" Subject: elliott smith. adam wrote: > I have yet to hear any of his music, but I know that a lot of you out there > are fans, so I thought I'd just pass this on, from Drowned in Sound. he was a wonderful singer-songwriter whose music has meant, and continues to mean, a great deal to me. i awoke to the news yesterday morning (australian time), though at that stage it had not yet been substantiated. then, yesterday evening, it was confirmed that he had indeed died. it is terribly sad ... i saw him perform twice when he toured australia, and his performances were dense, melancholic, beautiful but wrenching. so, yes, on a personal and a musical level, it hits close to home. he shall be missed. heidi. i) http://www.undercover.com.au/news/2003/20031022_elliottsmith.html ii) http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1479869/20031022/smith_elliott.jhtml?headlines=true ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 20:14:40 +1000 From: "heidi maier" Subject: elliott smith, from the new york times. from: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/23/arts/music/23SMIT.html . . . October 23, 2003 Elliott Smith, 34, Rock Songwriter and Singer, Dies By Jon Pareles ELLIOTT Smith, whose songs of despair and self-doubt made him a luminary of independent rock and earned him an Academy Award nomination, died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 34. His body was found by his girlfriend at their home in the Silver Lake section of the city, with a single stab wound that was apparently self-inflicted, according to The Associated Press, which quoted the coroner's office. Mr. Smith reached his largest audience when he performed "Miss Misery," the song he wrote for "Good Will Hunting," on the Academy Awards telecast in 1998. But for much of the 1990's, he was widely heard on college radio stations and on the club circuit, where he was admired for his delicately harrowing songs and, on his first albums, for the intimacy of his recordings. In his songs, he wrote about drug abuse, failing relationships, betrayals and occasional glimmers of hope. His sense of melody harked back to the Beatles and to folk-rock, but within the understated settings were bleak stories of turmoil, addiction, domestic violence and despair. Mr. Smith often insisted he was not a confessional songwriter, but he had struggled with drug addiction and alcoholism and had spent a short time in a psychiatric hospital. "Miss Misery" begins, "I will fake it through the day with some help from Johnnie Walker Red/Send the poison brain down the drain/To put bad thoughts in my head." Elliott Smith's real name was Steven Paul Smith. He was born in Omaha and grew up in Dallas and in Portland, Ore. He studied piano and guitar and at 10 won a local award for a piano piece he composed. He began writing songs as a teenager. He also started calling himself Elliott because, he once said, Steve Smith was too alliterative and Steve sounded too "jockish." He graduated from Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., and returned to Portland, where he and a college friend, Neil Gust, started a punk band called Heatmiser, named after a character in the Christmas cartoon "The Year Without Santa Claus." The group released its first album, "Dead Air," in 1993 on the small Frontier label, and disbanded after releasing its third album, "Mic City Sons" (Caroline), in 1996. In Heatmiser, Mr. Smith and Mr. Gust shared songwriting and lead vocals. Mr. Smith began recording his own songs in quiet, homemade versions that revolved around his acoustic guitar. His first solo album, "Roman Candle" (Cavity Search), noted that it was "recorded on four-track in the basement fall 1993." His next two albums, "Elliott Smith" and "either/or," both on the Kill Rock Stars label, made him a college-radio staple, and he regularly toured the indie-rock circuit. The director Gus Van Sant chose Mr. Smith to write songs for the soundtrack of "Good Will Hunting," and "Miss Misery" was nominated for best original song. (Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" won the award.) With the soundtrack, Mr. Smith began recording his songs with producers and backup musicians. He was signed to DreamWorks Records, which released the albums "XO" in 1998 and "Figure 8" in 2000, and toured internationally. Mr. Smith had been working on his sixth album, tentatively titled "From a Basement on the Hill," but his last release was a limited-edition seven-inch vinyl single, "Pretty (Ugly Before)," for the independent Suicide Squeeze label. He is survived by his parents, Gary Smith and Bunny Welch, a sister, a half sister and a half brother. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 17:32:34 -0400 (EDT) From: dmw Subject: OT cadence -- follow up (call off the hounds) Pkg arrived today. Tracking # indicates it was shipped on the same day as my (polite, but slightly pointed, as yet unanswered) e-mail asking when I might expect my shipment. More importantly, I was incorrect in my assertion that I had already been charged for the shipment a month ago -- there was some confusion on my part because I had two orders in a very short time frame, but in fact I had only been charged once at the time of my writing. A simple note to the effect that the sleeves were back-ordered, or even an "Oops, we mislaid your order" would have alleviated my concern greatly. If anyone has another vendor for a sufficiently similar product, I'd love to hear about it. Thanks once again to all the ectofolks who offered consolation and guidance. - ------------------------------------------------- Mayo-Wells Media Workshop dmw@ http://www.mwmw.com mwmw.com Web Development * Multimedia Consulting * Hosting ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 17:43:18 EDT From: RedWoodenBeads@aol.com Subject: Re: Tori, Shudder to Think In a message dated 10/22/03 10:55:47 PM Pacific Daylight Time, owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org writes: > actually it's really funny. i get this reaction a lot from TORIPHILES. i can > understand, as i used to be a hardcore tori fan. but with each release, i > find myself losing more and more interest in her work. i didn't even bother > to pick up her covers album STRANGE LITTLE GIRLS, and i finally broke down > and bought SCARLET WALK just for the packaging elements - which in retrospect, > weren't all that stunning. the fake POLAROID photos have been done, and done > better by a chinese artist named FAYE WONG (who covered one of TORI's songs > years ago). I didn't think STRANGE LITTLE GIRLS was particularly impressive, especially compared to past Tori stuff. I found the Eminem cover fascinating, however. She seems to be really outraged about Eminem's trivializing of violence against women. Talk about an amazing statement. That was the highlight of the disc for me. SCARLET WALK I have yet to get. Is it good? I think it'd be pretty hard to improve on a beautiful, personal record like Little Earthquakes. Stunning in my book. The imaginative, eclectic textures, the intensity and gorgeous pain in the lyrics (it's almost like listening to someone talk in her sleep about her life).... and then Tori's voice ... yeah, she's got one of the most disturbing, distinct, painfully beautiful voices I've ever heard, or at least she uses it that way. One thing you don't hear too often about Tori is the quality of her piano playing. She's got the feel, the power, the ideas. I think it's safe to say she's a more intense keyboardist than just about any singer/songwriter who prefers the ivories to an acoustic guitar (as far as I have heard). Tori's playing is just so powerful... I saw her live on VH1 with Matt Chamberlain and some dudes, and good lord, the notes just spill in spiraling gushes of passion from her fierce, commanding hands... And hey, I saw a movie with a song at the end by Shudder to Think called "She Might Be Waking Up." I have never been a huge Shudder to Think junkie, but this song is awe inspiring. The slow, brokenness of the rhythm, the eerie beauty of the lazy guitar passages, the incredible ache in the vocals.... Who in the heck is that singing? It's not their normal high-pitched voice guy. Is it Nathan Larsen? n.p. Yes, Classic Yes joe and ellen music: http://www.jotdot.net/joeandellen http://www.mp3.com/joeandellen ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 15:09:49 -0700 From: Ethan Straffin Subject: Re: Tori, Shudder to Think On Thursday, October 23, 2003, at 02:43 PM, RedWoodenBeads@aol.com wrote: > SCARLET WALK I have yet to get. Is it good? Everything glenn mcdonald says here is correct: http://www.furia.com/twas/twas0408.html Even that really tangential part. It's official! > I think it'd be pretty hard to improve on a beautiful, personal record > like Little Earthquakes. I'd say she didn't try, and succeeded. Ethan ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V9 #300 **************************