From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V13 #382 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Monday, January 28 2008 Volume 13 : Number 382 To unsubscribe: e-mail ecto-digest-request@smoe.org and put the word unsubscribe in the message body. Today's Subjects: ----------------- big news/changes from last.fm [birdie ] Re: big news/changes from last.fm [DanS <2005.carnivore99@verizon.net>] RE: For Fellow Tribe Fans ["Michael Colford" ] RE: Nick Drake Documentary To Air on Starz [Suzanne DeCory ] Sarah Brightman has a new album (just hear me out) [morayati@email.unc.ed] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 23:05:57 -0800 From: birdie Subject: big news/changes from last.fm LAST.FM Changes Everything Category: Music From Jason @ Insomnia Radio: Earlier today, Last.FM (a service that allows customized streaming audio and music discovery) announced a revolutionary new on demand service that allows their users to stream entire tracks AND entire albums. They have the full support of EMI, Sony BMG, Universal, and Warner. While this humble music freak slash promoter slash podcaster doesn't particularly care for the major labels, it IS an extremely important development. Why, you ask? Well, those of you familiar with Last.FM know how valuable a service it can be to promote your music. (Those of you NOT familiar, I'm happy to field questions after class.) But why is the involvement of all 4 major labels important? I'm glad you asked...or rather, made you ask me :-) First, consider this: Not even iTunes has the full support of all 4 major labels. Secondly, Last.FM is owned by CBS, so you can expect that with this announcement, they will be promoting the crap out of their service. It's already hugely successful, and this announcement is all but guaranteed to change the music industry landscape. But here's the real clencher: As of today, Last.FM will pay you DIRECTLY for your music being streamed on their website or their player software. Let's sweeten the pot even more. They'll pay you directly WITHOUT the need to be associated with a royalty collection service like ASCAP or BMI, and without the need to be associated with a record label. Go ahead and read that again. The beauty of Last.FM is the literally millions of worldwide users that are looking for new music. The service allows both artists and listeners to "tag" artists they hear, as well as list similar artists. For example: Fans of Tool will eventually be steered towards one of our clients, Cire, (check out that link to see the Last.FM profile) because their music is along the same vein. We noticed that after adding about 5 similar artists, Cire's streams on Last.FM tripled. And now, you're going to get paid for that exposure, as an independent artist not associated with a label or royalty collection service. If you sit down and think about the implications, this spells out very good news for indie artists. Obviously the more effort you put into the system, the more success you'll get out of it. It's impossible for us to cover every aspect of Last.FM, and hey, we can't give away ALL that knowledge for free - but I highly recommend you check out the service. If you're not there, GET on there! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 04:35:35 -0500 From: DanS <2005.carnivore99@verizon.net> Subject: Re: big news/changes from last.fm It does sound good on the surface but with big labels and big media taking over you just have to wonder where this is really headed. Do you think the RIAA players are going to be content with a level playing field? We'll see. In the meantime it seems like good news for the little guy....for now. Dan birdie wrote: >LAST.FM Changes Everything >Category: Music > > From Jason @ Insomnia Radio: > >Earlier today, Last.FM (a service that allows customized streaming >audio and music discovery) announced a revolutionary new on demand >service that allows their users to stream entire tracks AND entire albums. > >They have the full support of EMI, Sony BMG, Universal, and Warner. >While this humble music freak slash promoter slash podcaster doesn't >particularly care for the major labels, it IS an extremely important >development. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 09:12:32 -0500 From: "Michael Colford" Subject: RE: For Fellow Tribe Fans There is definitely something in the cosmos surrounding Tribe recently. Just before Tribe came up as a topic a week or so ago, I had pulled out all of their albums and enjoyed a major nostalgic groove for this talented and critically underappreciated band. Living in Boston, I enjoyed Tribe during their heyday seeing them perform live dozens of times; basically anytime they played live, which was a lot. (I had the similar fortune to enjoy 'til Tuesday the same way, seeing them two to three times a week for long stretches of time). As great as Tribe's albums are (and they are) this was a live band. Their lives shows were just over-the-top heart-stoppingly good. I think much of that comes from lead vocalist Janet LaValley's theatrical performances, which can be hinted at in the studio thanks to her incredibly expressive voice, but to see her perform live, especially when she was "on" was to see a master performer at work. My favorite Tribe song has always been "Jakpot" but that is the perfect example of the power of Janet's live performance. The studio recordings of "Jakpot," while great because it's a great song, just don't match the escalating madness that Janet threw into the live version every single time she performed it. And while woj was reminiscing fondly about their terrific cover of "Goldfinger," another frequent cover they performed also brought the house down: "To Sir with Love." I always thought Tribe would do well nationally, and instead they just couldn't catch a break and disappeared quickly after the release of their second album. In retrospect, it's easy to see why. Tribe's Abort came out in 1991 with Sleeper following in 1993. Musically we're talking the emergence of grunge and the death of just about everything else musically. Had they broke nationally 3 - 5 years earlier, I suspect their tale may have turned out differently. Of course, who am I to know for sure. The vagaries of the music industry are well known. Anyway, it's thrilling to see a band like Tribe brought up on ecto and hear so much praise and excited about them. It's great to see what the members are doing and to find out about Eric and Terri's success in the video game market. But man, would I love to see some sort of reunion show here in town and to hear Janet go slowly mad on stage again. Michael Michael R. Colford Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film, President P.O. Box 301237 Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 781 526-5384 colford@chlotrudis.org http://www.chlotrudis.org/ "Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!" - -- Kittie Farmer, Donnie Darko - -----Original Message----- From: Ethan Straffin [mailto:drumz@best.com] Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2008 1:44 AM To: robert bristow-johnson Cc: ecto Subject: Re: For Fellow Tribe Fans By a similar coincidence, I checked in today and saw your post. I have been terribly behind on my ecto. As in, by months. I think Woj said it well (see the Ectophile's Guide): "the first five songs off /abort/ are probably one of the greatest first five songs off any albumthe most numbingly stunning sequence of five songs known to humanity." (The last three are also dangerously good.) There have been a few releases of "Abort." It keeps going out of print, but it keeps coming back. While my own Amazon review appears elsewhere, this seems to be where the action is going on at the moment: http://www.amazon.com/Abort-Tribe/dp/B0000057BI I've posted one of their finest moments here: http://highwire.stanford.edu/~straffin/Joyride.mp3 I will never grow tired of what Tribe did in their short but brilliant career. So, yeah, recommended and all. Ethan robert bristow-johnson wrote: > this is so coincidental, getting stuff from *both* ecto and AES about the group "Tribe". > > I dunno how well the ecto list takes HTML attachments, so i removed it and appended plain text. > > This invitation says: "Please download our flyer, and give it to your friends and colleagues." So that is what I'm doing. > > So if you're in Boston on 2/12/2008, here's you're chance to meet two Tribe members. > > I need to learn who Tribe is. (can anyone educate me?) > > -- > > r b-j rbj@audioimagination.com > > "Imagination is more important than knowledge." > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Boston AES Announcement" > To: rbj@audioimagination.com > Subject: The next AES meeting, February 12th. > Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:59:51 -0500 > > > > > Tuesday, February 12th, 7pm at Devlin Hall room 026 Boston College (Devlin Hall is in about the middle of the map). Dinner will be served, with the meeting to follow. Parking is available at their Commonwealth Ave lot. Directions can be found here (you will want the Chestnut Hill Campus). > > This meeting will take an in depth look at creating audio for video games. Joining us are Audio Directors; Eric Brosius from Harmonix Music, and George Valavanis from Blue Fang Games. The Gaming Industry has grown leaps and bounds over the last couple of years, and is on the cutting edge of technology. We will discuss the skills needed to create interactive audio and how this differs from general audio engineering. Eric and George will also give us insight on how they got started in the Industry and their take on the current State of the Gaming Industry. > > Eric Brosius is a musician and video game developer, and a former employee of Looking Glass Studios. He is a former member of the band Tribe, and is married to Terri Brosius, also a former Looking Glass employee and Tribe member. Brosius is best known within the video game industry for his sound design and music work in several Looking Glass Studios, Irrational Games and Ion Storm games, particularly the Thief series. He and his wife still contribute to games made by Harmonix and Irrational. Eric has created music and was the sound designer for a number of video games. His credits include: Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri, System Shock 2 and the Thief series, along with Guitar Hero, SWAT 4, Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich, and Rock Band. > > George Valavanis is a musician and video game developer, and former employee of Revival Interactive. George is the Creative Director and Sole Proprietor of Polyfly Sound Productions. Polyfly is a personal sound production company specializing in sound and music for film, television, and video games. Past credits include ATI Graphics, Full House Productions, Suntory Whiskey, Tokyo Midtown Project, Day Preys Night, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, and many more. Valavanis has done all of Blue Fang Games music and sound since the release of Zoo Tycoon 2: Endangered Species in 2005. Blue Fang Games mission is " to create compelling, emotionally engaging games focused on the animal kingdom that set the benchmark for broad-based family entertainment". > > Please download our flyer, and give it to your friends and colleagues. > > Please do not respond with questions to this email, this address is not read. Questions regarding Boston AES events can be sent to secretary@bostonaes.org. If you have an audio related event you'd like Boston AES to help you publicize, please send information to secretary@bostonaes.org. Text only please, no atachments. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 13:41:23 -0500 From: Suzanne DeCory Subject: RE: Nick Drake Documentary To Air on Starz I love Nick Drake! I myself don't have Starz, the channel it airs on - but you can see it in parts on YOUTUBE. It's called 'A Skin Too Few: Days of Nick Drake.' I haven't watched all of them yet. The sad thing though is that Nick was never filmed performing live. I always wished he had been.. Suz (email filtered and set to exclusive contacts)To get the full value of a joy, you must have somebody to divide it with (Mark Twain). May your February and the year ahead be filled with long division ;) _________________________________________________________________ Helping your favorite cause is as easy as instant messaging. You IM, we give. http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/Home/?source=text_hotmail_join ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 14:32:37 -0800 From: Michael Pearce Subject: Re: Katie Noonan At 1:55 AM -0500 1/27/08, andrew fries wrote: >I guess her voice and style could be compared with the likes of >Norah Jones or Katie Melua This is the first reference to Katie Melua I have noticed on Ecto, but I probably just missed them. When she appeared on Graham Norton last fall I was interested so I got her album and really enjoyed it. Glad I'm not the only one. Michael ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 18:33:24 -0500 From: morayati@email.unc.edu Subject: Sarah Brightman has a new album (just hear me out) Yes, I'm a Sarah Brightman fan. Quite a devoted one, in fact. Everything in my music collection can be traced back to her. She inspired me to start singing. And on Tuesday, her album 'Symphony' will be released. Basically, Sarah Brightman is an artist whose core fan base, in my opinion, is a liability. After Time To Say Goodbye (which I hate) got big, she picked up a lot of middle-aged fans weaned on adult contemporary, Celine Dion-type stuff, who have since been pandered to. They would probably come after me with pitchforks for this. I often wonder what kind of music she would be making if none of that ever happened. It'd probably sound more like Fly, her second major solo album and, in my opinion, her best one. Fly has no pandering whatsoever (because the Celine crowd wasn't on the bandwagon yet) and is actually edgy. And it has a Stina Nordenstam cover. That's my recommended first album of hers, and Symphony, at least at times, inches back towards that direction. "Fleur Du Mal" is by far the best song on there. It doesn't quite reach Nightwish-like proportions, but it's in that mold. I haven't heard all of the tracks in their entireties so I can't comment on them. Ignore the dumb Italian Faith Hill cover; I'm certainly planning to. (See my above comments about pandering.) It's definitely worth a try. And you can't deny that she is an excellent singer, even if she's declined a bit from illness and age. ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V13 #382 ***************************