From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V10 #232 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Saturday, August 21 2004 Volume 10 : Number 232 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Sad day [andrew fries ] Tanya Donelly's Whiskey Tango Ghosts [karen hester ] Michelle Cross - Smoke Like Perfume [karen hester ] Re: Tanya Donelly's Whiskey Tango Ghosts [meredith ] charlotte [Ethan Straffin ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2004 08:48:16 +1000 From: andrew fries Subject: Sad day It's a sad day - I just found out that Glenn's War Against Silence will be closing next week... Though I could see the writing on the wall for some time, it still comes as a bit of a shock. His site was a shining example of the best that the web can be - pure personal expression, free from corporate brandings, banners and subscriptions. I'll miss it; the Web will be a poorer place without it. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2004 19:01:50 -0700 (PDT) From: karen hester Subject: Tanya Donelly's Whiskey Tango Ghosts Tanya Donelly - Whiskey Tango Ghosts I keep on forgetting this cd; not a good sign. It might be Tanya's strongest album - the songs belong together, it flows and shuffles and blends, understated, melodic, country-tinged. I expected some of her perfect (absolutely perfect!) heart-breaking pop ballads (Swoon, Sweet ride, Last rain...) or delirious country-pop (something giddily-fun like b-side Spaghetti), but it is all a bit grown-up. Opening 'Divine sweet divide' is even jazzy-torchy, which doesn't do anything for me; nor does the wurlitzer. Album closer 'dona nobis pacem' sounds like two horrid school-girls and I hate it. Anyway, if you like her quieter side, and you listen to this album a few times, you'll love enough of it. 'Whiskey tango' ("you're just a freckle away from changing everything") and 'My life as a ghost' catch at my throat. 'Butterfly thing' has a welcome menace, though I preferred it before I realised how the lyrics spell out its theme so plainly. I like the textured paper of the lyric booklet :) Karen __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2004 19:02:27 -0700 From: Ethan Straffin Subject: Re: Sad day On Friday, August 20, 2004, at 03:48 PM, andrew fries wrote: > It's a sad day - I just found out that Glenn's War Against Silence > will be closing next week... Though I could see the writing on the > wall for some time, it still comes as a bit of a shock. His site was a > shining example of the best that the web can be - pure personal > expression, free from corporate brandings, banners and subscriptions. > I'll miss it; the Web will be a poorer place without it. Heartily agreed. With all due respect to Steve Martin, glenn writes about music considerably better than anyone, to my knowledge, has ever danced about architecture. Still, I'm very happy for him and Belle. (There's a great picture of them under "a historical note"). Ethan ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2004 19:11:13 -0700 (PDT) From: karen hester Subject: Michelle Cross - Smoke Like Perfume Michelle Cross - Smoke Like Perfume Am very very much enjoying this catchy album, it's been one of my favourites for several months, though a few songs blend rather in my head. I feel at home listening - Michelle's voice is a welcome return. She is distinct from many other melodic piano girls because of the loud guitars and strong beats (my workmates must find my foot-tapping off-putting) and operatic touches - refreshing. Oddly, this isn't the direction I wanted her to go in at all. Like many, I was impressed by the mp3s on her site of the radio show, but found the ep a bit predictable. 'Smoke like perfume' goes even more in the 'mainstream' direction, but it's enjoyable enough for me to ditch my expectations and just listen. And I've ended up particularly loving the poppy rock anthems like 'Fast in love' and darker 'Rubber skirt'. I don't dislike anything about the album, which is making me suspicious. Let's consider: - - there's a good balance of melody, guitars, piano, cello, delicacy, sexiness - - the youthful, relationship-oriented lyrics (no crack babies and ravens here, oh I do love those mp3s!) suit the music so they don't really disappoint However: I think this is an example of good-enough-ness. I wonder if this form of standard catchy music doesn't easily tolerate deviation - an edge or distinct identity has to be very carefully applied, or it jars. So I'm happy enough with it because everything fits and works, but I'll never *love* the album. Maybe someday Michelle will combine her uniqueness with her mastery of the pop form. They didn't charge me any extra postage to send it to New Zealand! You can order it from www.michellecross.com. Thank you to Anna Maria for mentioning its release. Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2004 19:24:10 -0700 (PDT) From: karen hester Subject: Bertine Zetlitz - Sweet injections I found this cheap, and it's worth the price - neat stripey-shiny-papered booklet, the so-catchy danceable (if one danced) 'Girl like you', and lots of cute quirky beeps and blips. I'm not so keen on her persona (or personality) - a bitchy manipulative temptress shows up on several songs (not a compelling one, more cutesy and bland). Still, good electronic pop, great choruses, and enough oddness and melancholy melodies to offset the mercilously cute nature of the beeps. Beep, Karen. Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2004 22:24:18 -0400 From: meredith Subject: Re: Tanya Donelly's Whiskey Tango Ghosts Hi, Karen reviewed: >I keep on forgetting this cd; not a good sign. It might be Tanya's >strongest album - the songs belong together, it flows and shuffles and >blends, understated, melodic, country-tinged. woj, JeffW and I saw Tanya at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, MA last week. I hadn't heard anything from the new album at that point, so I was really surprised to note the instrumentation in her current band: never in my life would I have expected to see a pedal steel guitar on stage with her, but there it was. So I immediately tossed all my expectations out the window, and ended up really enjoying the very mellow evening. (At times I could close my eyes and almost imagine I was at a Cowboy Junkies show, which was disconcerting but quite enjoyable.) Tanya has indeed grown up -- she even looked like a soccer mom up there on stage. :) We picked up the CD at the show, and I've only heard it a couple times in the car this week, but I like it a lot. I never really noticed before just what a lovely voice Tanya has. Be warned, though, it is very mellow. Not much like her previous stuff at all. But growth is a good thing. :) =============================================== 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: Fri, 20 Aug 2004 20:42:22 -0700 From: Ethan Straffin Subject: charlotte Wow. Between the beat on "Limits of Our Love," which can't help but recall "Running Up That Hill," and the way that "Every Time It Rains" simply must be an homage to "Cloudbusting" on one level or another, this has gotta be the most gaffa album in years. Not that there's anything wrong with that... Good stuff. I sense a cage match with Casey Stratton on the horizon for the singer-songwriter pole position in my changer. (Apologies if any of this has been mentioned before. I'm kinda drowning in email at the moment.) Ethan ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V10 #232 ***************************