From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V10 #77 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Thursday, March 18 2004 Volume 10 : Number 077 Today's Subjects: ----------------- carina round [karen hester ] sarah mclachlan's new one & Maria McKee [karen hester ] Re: elysian fields [meredith ] Re: elysian fields [kitty kat ] vienna's a rock star [meredith ] Re: elysian fields [meredith ] Re: vienna's a rock star [DanStark <2004.carnivore99@verizon.net>] Re: vienna's a rock star [meredith ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 00:01:25 -0800 (PST) From: karen hester Subject: carina round Thank you to the 'anonymous coward' who sent in their review, that was very insightful; maybe it'll help settle my thoughts :) I haven't come to solid opinion yet, which is odd since Carina's music is imposing and distinct. She hasn't quite arrived fully-formed out of Zeus' head like PJ Harvey, but her music is forceful and sometimes ... monumental (or maybe that's just loud). 2001's 'the first blood mystery' has got that loose too-many-ideas nature of many debuts (jazzy bits, delicacy, loud guitars, almost animal cries). It's fascinating. All those voices - whispers, spoken, howls, lovely singing. Wish there was a lyric sheet. My favourites are the songs that take on more traditional structures - 'the waves' with its passionate chorus where she trades lines with herself, and stunning closer 'on leaving,' which builds and builds. I like how she can be ugly with her voice. The lyrics seem really personal, perhaps completely autobiographical (the absent Italian father). She can make me uncomfortable. 2003/4's 'the disconnection' has a perfect pop song, of all things - 'into my blood'. Perfect loud pop. Wow. There'll be different directions all 'the first blood mystery' admirers wish she had gone, and 'the disconnection' may also seem a bit conventional and tame (and quiet - it's end-loaded with slower numbers). Carina sometimes matches the guitar-melody/percussion with her voice a bit too closely for me. But it's damned amazing. From the loud and unrushed 'shoot' and 'lacuna', to frisky jazzy 'paris', that cowboy guitar-sound of 'monument' & 'motel 74' (which reminds me of a few PJ Harvey songs - PJ is still my main reference point here), and, well then it drifts off, and I'd pay more attention to 7-9 if they were followed by a punchy track ten. They have stronger identities when I listen to them out of order. None of Carina's songs break my heart (though 'the waves' comes close), and that's what keeps her from 'great' to me. Maybe if I knew the lyrics, there'd be more of an emotional impact. But I've got something strangely akin to faith about her - soon she'll be crossing over, and I'll be set stumbling. Karen __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 00:13:26 -0800 (PST) From: karen hester Subject: sarah mclachlan's new one & Maria McKee If a breeze were to sneak into this album, it'd blow over half the delicate songs. Choruses and verses that appear to form songs at a distance but really only share proximity would be flung up, and happily drift down again next to pieces of other songs without complaint (hell, they could land in the previous album and I'd not notice). Lyrics poetic in form and empty of content could likewise be randomly reassigned. That doesn't mean that Afterglow isn't very pretty and calming to listen to. There are only 3-4 songs (1,3,7,8?) that are solid enough to exist in my head when I'm not listening, but loveliness often relies on insubstantiality. And I've got to praise Sarah and co's acknowledgement that they've found something they do well, and patience to continue doing it. The ability to stay still is a strength in pop culture. I'm listening to Maria McKee's 'High Dive' quite a bit now. It's great on my bad headphones because all those fussy details, every song like an over-written short story from a different collection, disappear. She has so much passion. Just one song, like 'be my joy', contains so much love and happiness and bitterness and self-hatred and funkiness and rock and beauty. Maria has so much colour. I'm so glad to know her music. Karen __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 01:36:34 -0800 (PST) From: anna maria "stjärnell" Subject: elysian fields Hi.. it says at amazon that elysian fields dreams that breathe your name will get a us release in april. it's only been out in france before so that is good news to stateside fans. anna maria np-daughter darling-sweet shadows nr-tanith lee-dark dance __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 20:20:21 -0500 From: meredith Subject: Re: elysian fields Hi, anna maria noted: >it says at amazon that elysian fields dreams that >breathe your name will get a us release in april. >it's only been out in france before so that is good >news to stateside fans. Actually it's out in Germany too. We just got it from amazon.de last week (along with Kristeen Young's _Breasticles_, which has also been recently released in Deutschland). =============================================== 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 =============================================== ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 17:34:00 -0800 (PST) From: kitty kat Subject: Re: elysian fields On Wed, 17 Mar 2004, meredith wrote: > Actually it's out in Germany too. We just got it from amazon.de last week > (along with Kristeen Young's _Breasticles_, which has also been recently > released in Deutschland). I don't remember, did we ever achieve a consensus (or a proclamation from the artist) as to whether that's pronounced like Pericles or Popsicles? - -Kat ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 20:39:27 -0500 From: meredith Subject: vienna's a rock star Hi, So last night woj and I ignored the spring snowstorm and hopped the train to NYC to see Vienna Teng at sold-out Joe's Pub. It was well worth the trip, even considering that we got there after the opener had started and ended up standing in back by the bar. In addition to cellist Marika Hughes and violinist Alan Lin, Vienna was accompanied by Shahzad Ismaily (of Barbez -- I can hear Don's ears pricking up from here ;) on drums. Also, on a couple songs Eric Cheng provided second cello. It was lovely. Vienna's voice has recovered nicely from last week's frog attack -- there were only a couple very high notes on which she had a little trouble. She sounded great, and the sound mix was good, so she didn't get drowned out by the rest of the instrumentation. Here's the set list, as far as I can recall: My Medea Hope on Fire The Tower Gravity Shasta Homecoming Mission Street Green Island Serenade Feather Moon Soon Love Soon Unwritten Letter #1 Harbor Eric's Song (encore) "Homecoming" was done with only Alan Lin accompanying, while "Mission Street", "Green Island Serenade" and "Eric's Song" were just Vienna solo on piano. "Hope On Fire" absolutely kicked with drums, and "Feather Moon" and "Harbor" were transcendent, particularly with two cellos going. She and the band were very well-received; there was a pretty thunderous ovation when the show was over. She was clearly having a great time. Afterwards, so many people were clamoring to meet her that the Joe's Pub people set up an impromptu signing table in the Public Theater's main lobby, which I've never seen them do before. So I had to wait in line to say hello, which I thought was rather amusing. :) Somehow I don't think we have to worry about whether or not she'll remember the "little people" when she's on top of the world, though. Who's planning to see her at the Acoustic Cafe in Bridgeport on April 8? It'd be really great if that were a sellout, too. I can't wait to see her there. =============================================== 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 =============================================== ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 20:41:19 -0500 From: meredith Subject: Re: elysian fields Hi, >I don't remember, did we ever achieve a consensus (or a proclamation from >the artist) as to whether that's pronounced like Pericles or Popsicles? Like Popsicles, I guess. I rhymes with something, um, anatomical. :) =============================================== 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 =============================================== ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 22:11:07 -0500 From: DanStark <2004.carnivore99@verizon.net> Subject: Re: vienna's a rock star Meredith wrote: >So last night woj and I ignored the spring snowstorm and hopped the train >to NYC to see Vienna Teng at sold-out Joe's Pub. Ha ha, the place was so packed, Leif and I didn't even see you there Meredith, even though we looked around for familiar faces. So, can you tell me why the stage was arranged so that Vienna was seated at the piano facing the back wall, with her back to literally half the audience?? (The other half got a side view) . The real kicker is we made dinner reservations specifically so we would get good seats for the show. Well, not only did we end up looking at the back of Vienna's head when she started, but we couldn't even see the band behind the piano. Needless to say, we finished our food and got up and stood in a place where we could see for the rest of the night, but a lot of other people stayed put and spent the whole night with that perspective. Personally, when I go to see a live music performance, I don't really care about Italian food, bottles of expensive wine, mirrored tables, hoity-toity waitress service etc. - I just care about seeing the performer. I don't mind splurging on all the rest of it if it improves the experience, but in this case people were dropping a hundred bucks on all these extras while they were clearly there to see a show, but the management didn't even get the stage set up right so they could enjoy it! I was so angry at the venue for allowing this to happen, it's the closest I've ever come to walking out on a food bill. Fortunately we secured a half decent standing spot so it didn't come to that, although I think I would have been in fine form if I'd had the opportunity to engage a manager. :) Anyway, it was great to finally see Vienna perform with a full band. The audience response really was terrific, and I finally bought Warm Strangers at the show. Dan > It was well worth the trip, even considering that we got there after > the opener had started and ended up standing in back by the bar. > >In addition to cellist Marika Hughes and violinist Alan Lin, Vienna was >accompanied by Shahzad Ismaily (of Barbez -- I can hear Don's ears >pricking up from here ;) on drums. Also, on a couple songs Eric Cheng >provided second cello. It was lovely. > >Vienna's voice has recovered nicely from last week's frog attack -- there >were only a couple very high notes on which she had a little trouble. She >sounded great, and the sound mix was good, so she didn't get drowned out >by the rest of the instrumentation. > >Here's the set list, as far as I can recall: > >My Medea >Hope on Fire >The Tower >Gravity >Shasta >Homecoming >Mission Street >Green Island Serenade >Feather Moon >Soon Love Soon >Unwritten Letter #1 >Harbor > >Eric's Song (encore) > >"Homecoming" was done with only Alan Lin accompanying, while "Mission >Street", "Green Island Serenade" and "Eric's Song" were just Vienna solo >on piano. "Hope On Fire" absolutely kicked with drums, and "Feather Moon" >and "Harbor" were transcendent, particularly with two cellos going. > >She and the band were very well-received; there was a pretty thunderous >ovation when the show was over. She was clearly having a great time. > >Afterwards, so many people were clamoring to meet her that the Joe's Pub >people set up an impromptu signing table in the Public Theater's main >lobby, which I've never seen them do before. So I had to wait in line to >say hello, which I thought was rather amusing. :) Somehow I don't think >we have to worry about whether or not she'll remember the "little people" >when she's on top of the world, though. > >Who's planning to see her at the Acoustic Cafe in Bridgeport on April >8? It'd be really great if that were a sellout, too. I can't wait to see >her there. > > >=============================================== >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 >=============================================== ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 22:58:24 -0500 From: meredith Subject: Re: vienna's a rock star Hi, Dan responded: >Ha ha, the place was so packed, Leif and I didn't even see you there >Meredith, even though we looked around for familiar faces. :) Likewise!! I looked around but didn't recognize anyone. >So, can you tell me why the stage was arranged so that Vienna was seated >at the piano facing the back wall, with her back to literally half the >audience?? That's always the way they set up the stage when the piano is used. Susan Werner was in exactly the same spot when we saw her there on Saturday night (and has been every time we've seen her there). I don't know what the logic behind that is. >Personally, when I go to see a live music performance, I don't really >care about Italian food, bottles of expensive wine, mirrored tables, >hoity-toity waitress service etc. - I just care about seeing the performer. ... which is exactly why I *hate* Joe's Pub. I've discovered that it's possible to avoid the $12 food/drink minimum by standing at the bar, but then you're standing at the bar with all the attendant noise, and very tall people inevitably come in after the show's started and stand right in front of you. :P And yet, Joe's Pub is presenting the most shows I want to see in NYC these days. (Thea Gilmore is going to be there on the 31st, though at least I can avoid it next week by going to see Carina Round at Arlene's Grocery instead.) It's exceedingly annoying. >I was so angry at the venue for allowing this to happen, it's the closest >I've ever come to walking out on a food bill. Fortunately we secured a >half decent standing spot so it didn't come to that, although I think I >would have been in fine form if I'd had the opportunity to engage a manager. :) I doubt it would've done any good. Joe's Pub exists solely as a way for the Public Theater to increase revenue, and for no other reason. They only started bringing in live music when they realized it was the only way to get people through the door ... three times a night. It's tough. On the one hand the inclination is to just boycott the venue, but that won't help some of the up-and-coming artists if there are lots of empty seats and they never get asked back. There just aren't that many places offering this kind of music in the city nowadays. =============================================== 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 =============================================== ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V10 #77 **************************