From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V9 #358 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Sunday, December 21 2003 Volume 09 : Number 358 Today's Subjects: ----------------- skandinavia (was bellatrix) / new irish singer to check out.../italian ecto [Jason Gordon ] Re: skandinavia (was bellatrix) / new irish singer to check out.../italian ecto [Ellen Rawson Subject: skandinavia (was bellatrix) / new irish singer to check out.../italian ecto The only show I managed to catch the past two weeks was Skandinavia (formerly Bellatrix)...I was not quite prepared for the full on sonic assault with the electric violin and rest of band in tow, but it was excellent nonetheless, even if I couldn't hear a darn thing the next day. http://www.skandinavia.tv/ One track from their forthcoming album can be heard on the web. On an unrelated note, spent a weekend in Dublin and a weekend in Venice and picked up a couple very tasty new cds ;) Too new to make it on top ten lists, but worth mentioning. If you like Susan McKeowns traditional stuff, check out Lasairfhiona Ni Chonaola's An Raicin Alainn. (http://www.hrmusic.com/artists/lncart.html) Of course now I kick myself as it would have been much cheaper to buy it through harmony ridge than with the pathetic exchange rate of the dollar to euro [insert chant, we want parity, we want parity]. Italian ecto? try the minimalistic groove of cristina dona (Dove sei tu) it is way to early for me to be up on a saturday :) jason np kroyt ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2003 06:51:14 -0500 From: aural gratification Subject: CD STREET NOT SO COOL Oh sure they're paying up on product sold after Nov.1 2003. But anything before that, (WHICH IS JUST ABOUT EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING ) they say "new ownership" isn't responsible for. CD street is actually a dark alley to get mugged in. Weasels !!!!!!! In the same breath they say please help us get back on our feet and some of that money will go to labels and artists due prior to Nov 1 2003. The same artists and label slaes they say they're not responsible for ??????!!! Who's the new ownership ??? Dick Fuckin' Cheney ??? All this is in a letter from them entitled "Happy Holidays from CD Street " Nice ! KB ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2003 03:58:02 -0800 (PST) From: Ellen Rawson Subject: Re: skandinavia (was bellatrix) / new irish singer to check out.../italian ecto - --- Jason Gordon wrote: > If you like Susan McKeowns traditional stuff, check > out Lasairfhiona Ni > Chonaola's An Raicin Alainn. > (http://www.hrmusic.com/artists/lncart.html) Of > course now I kick myself as it would have been much > cheaper to buy it > through harmony ridge than with the pathetic > exchange rate of the dollar to > euro [insert chant, we want parity, we want parity]. Oh, we found her CD on a trip to Co. Antrim last summer. Lovely, lovely music. And since it was Northern Ireland, we still paid in pounds. About the exchange rate, we're visiting the US in February and are starting to buy dollars now in case the pound starts to drop against it. Wonderful exchange rate now for people in the UK travelling to the US -- not so hot the other way. :) Ellen ===== "Literature stops in 1100. After that, it's just books." - -- JRR Tolkien ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2003 10:00:53 -0500 From: Jason Gordon Subject: funniest book I read all year / any year end book recommendations? Just finished reading the funniest book I have read in a long time :) "the book of bunny suicides" by andy riley any year end book recommendations? I just finished Neil Gaiman's American Gods and am looking for something new to get into :) cheers jason np Scout Niblett "I Am" ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2003 07:36:39 -0800 From: Ethan Straffin Subject: Re: funniest book I read all year / any year end book recommendations? Finally...the perfect winter solstice gift for the bunny-fearing ex-vengeance demon in your life! I like it already. You might also enjoy the cartoons of John Callahan, or the online comic Chopping Block (www,choppingblock.org). Both are very sick...and very funny. "Buffy" forever, Ethan On Saturday, December 20, 2003, at 07:00 AM, Jason Gordon wrote: > Just finished reading the funniest book I have read in a long time :) > > "the book of bunny suicides" by andy riley > > any year end book recommendations? I just finished Neil Gaiman's > American > Gods and am looking for something new to get into :) > > cheers > jason > > np Scout Niblett "I Am" ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2003 16:42:53 -0000 From: "Adam K." Subject: year end: the tops & tails (sorry about the length) What a year. What an absolute pig of a year. As if the war wasn't bad enough (Don't mention the war!), as if the lies weren't bad enough, the deaths creep closer to the doorstep, four in all, mostly premature, even violent and inexplicable, the kind of deaths that make the world seem, somehow, so much more fragile. Four Funerals and a Wedding, we could only joke, but barely laughed, and not even darkly. Hell, even our dog died. Okay, so that's the big picture out of the way. Musically, it's been a pretty disappointing year, and I'm not even sure I can stretch to a top 10. Still, here goes, in no particular order: 1. Thea Gilmore/Avalanche 2. Radiohead/Hail to the Thief -- Holy comebacks! More TUNES! Less WANK Well, mostly. 3. Kathleen Edwards/ Failer 4. Throwing Muses/Throwing Muses -- a sonic assault, commendable for its energy, if not its audio mix. Can't wait for them to release it in stereo ;-) 5. Mull Historical Society/Us -- a bittersweet amalgam of Beach Boys, Beatles, harmonies and heartbreak. 6. Damien Rice/O -- Okay, so it grew on me. And it's been a poor year. 7. White Stripes/Elephant -- it took a while, but I do like this. 8.Frou-frou/Details -- Okay, this makes the cut 'cos I just got it, and am very pleasantly surprised. More trip-hop? Ah, but pulled off so well, a combination of airy, windswept landscapes, darkest nights of after-hours whisperings and one-sided telphone conversations. 9. the high and lonesome/from the playground -- not too sure if this was from this year, but it's another grower. Almost rans: Dar Williams/Beauty of the Rain -- a little winsome and lightweight, I thought, but with some nice enough moments. Carina Round/The Disconnection -- an odd step back, stripped of all the different textures and fractured rhythms and raw emotion that made her debut so gripping. This is far more generic, but still holds a lot of promise. Just not my thang: Erin McKeown, Turin Brakes, Cat Power, Scout Niblett, Dan Bern Disappointments (some much more than others) from: Tom McRae, Nick Cave, the eels, Lisa Germano (after the accessible Slide, she slips back into a coma), Kristin Hersh, Laura Love, The Thorns, Bic Runga (like stuffing marshmallow into my ears) Reissues: Ahh, the year of good stuff for progrock fans, but the biscuit goes to: Nektar/Live at the Roundhouse. If there are Nektar fans lurking out there who have the vinyl, I can unequivocally say: ditch it, get the reissued cd. It has the whole gig, including all of Remember the Future, plus some of their more obscure stuff, and sounds absolutely wonderful Great Gigs: Thea Gilmore at the Scala, Kathleen Edwards at the Borderline, Peter Hammill at the QEH, Nektar at the Mean Fiddler, and good to finally see Eliza Gilkysson this side of the pond. Bad gigs: Dar Williams (not so much her fault as that of the venue and the backing band) and Eleni Mandel. Fave Films: Gangs of New York, About Schmidt, Finding Nemo, Dirty Pretty Things, Dark Water, Far from Heaven (my god, I liked Julianne Moore in something!) and Kill Bill I (my god, I liked a Tarantino film!) Least Fave Films: The Hours, Adaptation, Intolerable Cruelty Books: I've been reading Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow for so long (8 months and counting) I can't remember any other book. Ever. Let's hope 2004 is a nice, peaceful, dull year. I'm tired of living in interesting times. Merry Christmas, everyone, adam k ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V9 #358 **************************