From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V14 #202 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Thursday, July 23 2009 Volume 14 : Number 202 To unsubscribe: e-mail ecto-digest-request@smoe.org and put the word unsubscribe in the message body. Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Tori Amos - Abnormally Attracted To Sin ["Marcel Rijs" ] Tori Amos - abnormally addicted to sin [Adam Kimmel ] Five women in Mercury Prize shortlist [Ellen Rawson ] Re: Tori Amos - Abnormally Attracted To Sin [Michael Quinn ] Ectophiles in Copenhagen? [neal copperman ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 09:57:32 +0200 From: "Marcel Rijs" Subject: Re: Tori Amos - Abnormally Attracted To Sin Hi, Believe me, I'd love to rave about a new Tori Amos album - I haven't done so in years. It's so weird, because I totally idolised her up until 'To Venus and back', and after that, the whole thing just went pearshaped. After that album I still liked the singles, such as 'A sorta fairytale' and 'Sleeps with butterflies', but the albums have been so inconsistent that I couldn't bear listening to them from beginning to end. Instead, I ended up dropping the 'boring' songs and listened to the interesting ones only. The Beekeeper came out best for me, with just about seven good tracks, but ADP -well, I have actually just listened to it once or twice. So what about the new one? I liked the first two tracks. 'Give' is a dynamic song and 'Welcome to England' is just as gripping as hear earlier work. But oh dear, everything else just sounds so samey. And then there's the affected voice thing. How can anyone come up with a line line 'Mahahaybe Cahalifohornihia'? I remember her doing that after 'Boys for Pele' came out and her live performances were starting to sound like bawling sessions. As passionate as I was about Tori Amos, I have to say she only frustrates me now. And it also frustrates the hell out of me that she isn't likely to return to form anymore. Maybe the only way out for her is to do an 'Everything but the girl' and start collaborating with dance music producers. Not hiphop, mind.... Kind regards, Marcel Rijs marcel.rijs@kb.nl ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:42:48 -0800 From: Adam Kimmel Subject: Carina Round in London Lordy, what a show. Last night (and again tomorrow) she played the Water Rats in King's Cross, which is a small, sweltering, fetid venue that seems unspoilt by all the gentrification going on around it. The last time I came here was for Thea Gilmore's "Avalanche" preview which was also in the summer and also oxygen-free. It's intimate, I'll say that. Carina, as ever, gave it her all. Beset by technical difficulties that delayed her start and shortened her set (as well as her fuse), she seemed rattled but carried on with typical energy and fire, and with the heat of the room and the closeness of the walls and ceilings, it was as if she'd just opened up her mouth, swallowed us all up and everything was now taking place inside her head. Her new EP got a thorough outing (I have my copy, at last!) and the new music, which she previewed at the Borderline last year, has a gentler, looser feel to it, a bit more akin -- musically, at least -- to her first album and yet dreamier and yet still quite, quite sinister. It all sounds great, and I can't wait to give the EP a good listen -- I've been humming the refrain from Backseat all the way into work, which hasn't pleased my fellow commuters none. She had a great band, despite the absence of regular Tom Livermore and, after a stretch of mellower numbers, let rip with some of her louder pieces which squalled around us like a storm of pure noise and adrenalin, burning out the eardrums and raising the hairs on the back of my teeth. Anna Calvi, the opener, is worth mentioning, as she was definitely someone to watch out for. Her, a guitar (from which she coached some extraordinairy sounds) a drummer and a percussionist/squeezbox/guitarist created an atmospheric stew that my son compared to "David Lynch meets Tarantino meets Elastica", and I might throw in a bit of "To Send You My Love" era PJ Harvey. A great evening, and I got my EP signed, although sweat-drenched middle-aged men are most likely not Carina's ideal demographic. It always baffles me that she's not bigger -- in any sane world, she would be massive and playing venues somewhat bigger than the Water Rats. Adam K. np: Florence and the Machine/Lungs. Still. ____________________________________________________________ FREE 3D EARTH SCREENSAVER - Watch the Earth right on your desktop! Check it out at http://www.inbox.com/earth ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:06:49 -0800 From: Adam Kimmel Subject: Tori Amos - abnormally addicted to sin I admire moryati's take on this album, and from the reactions it looks like Tori is always going to be one of those artists that not even fans can agree on. Latching on to her very early (I bought the cassette -- the cassette! -- of LE just after it came out) each subsequent release alienated me more and more and no amount of "Her best YET!" could drag me back, to the point that only bought Scarlet's Walk months after its release and never even bothered with the next couple. ADP was, for me, a stunning return to form and, while I intend to keep giving AATP a try, there's just been too much other great music coming out recently. But you never know -- I was regaling Garrick (and thanks for making the long wait for Carina last night so much more bearable, Garrick) last night with how it took me 35 years not to hate one particular album, which shall remain nameless, until I ripped it to my mp3 player and started listening to it as a whole on long coach rides. So, it takes time. Maybe 35 years, even. Adam K ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:19:44 -0700 (PDT) From: Ellen Rawson Subject: Five women in Mercury Prize shortlist http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jul/21/mercury-music-prize-women Ellen "Literature stops in 1100. After that, it's just books." - -- JRR Tolkien ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:27:40 -0400 From: Michael Quinn Subject: Re: Tori Amos - Abnormally Attracted To Sin I think the crux of the problem is expressed in this message. If Tori changes too much she alienates some of her fans and if she doesn't change enough she bores (and alienates ) others and it's hard for artists to get past that catch-22. The Beekeeper struck me as a weak album and when I listen to most of it I just think "She can do better than this". But her other changes in sound I just accept because The music is still (usually) high quality and enjoyable to me and we all have to remember that Tori, like anyone, is a very different person in 2009 than she was in 1991 or 1996 and we, her fans, are also all different people than when we first heard those albums. I think each album should be approached by the fan as a new piece of art . Not something that's "supposed to sound like" whatever your favorite Tori album is or be some amazing progression that also happens to be change in a direction you personally really love.. That's what I think is fairest to the artist but it's hard because fans naturally have expectations when they pick up a new album from one of their favorite artists. Mike Marcel Rijs wrote: > Hi, > > Believe me, I'd love to rave about a new Tori Amos album - I haven't > done so in years. It's so weird, because I totally idolised her up until > 'To Venus and back', and after that, the whole thing just went > pearshaped. > > After that album I still liked the singles, such as 'A sorta fairytale' > and 'Sleeps with butterflies', but the albums have been so inconsistent > that I couldn't bear listening to them from beginning to end. Instead, I > ended up dropping the 'boring' songs and listened to the interesting > ones only. The Beekeeper came out best for me, with just about seven > good tracks, but ADP -well, I have actually just listened to it once or > twice. > > So what about the new one? I liked the first two tracks. 'Give' is a > dynamic song and 'Welcome to England' is just as gripping as hear > earlier work. But oh dear, everything else just sounds so samey. > > And then there's the affected voice thing. How can anyone come up with a > line line 'Mahahaybe Cahalifohornihia'? I remember her doing that after > 'Boys for Pele' came out and her live performances were starting to > sound like bawling sessions. > > As passionate as I was about Tori Amos, I have to say she only > frustrates me now. And it also frustrates the hell out of me that she > isn't likely to return to form anymore. Maybe the only way out for her > is to do an 'Everything but the girl' and start collaborating with dance > music producers. Not hiphop, mind.... > > Kind regards, > > Marcel Rijs > marcel.rijs@kb.nl ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:08:14 -0700 (PDT) From: Tim Jones-Yelvington Subject: Re: Tori Amos - Abnormally Attracted To Sin For me it's not changes in sound so much as changes in... like her level of integrity or something. I've found something to like in every album, but seeing her live was the most alienating Tori experience I've had, because I realized how sort-of canned and detached she's become. tim - ----- Original Message ---- From: Michael Quinn To: Marcel Rijs Cc: ecto@smoe.org Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 9:27:40 AM Subject: Re: Tori Amos - Abnormally Attracted To Sin I think the crux of the problem is expressed in this message. If Tori changes too much she alienates some of her fans and if she doesn't change enough she bores (and alienates ) others and it's hard for artists to get past that catch-22. The Beekeeper struck me as a weak album and when I listen to most of it I just think "She can do better than this". But her other changes in sound I just accept because The music is still (usually) high quality and enjoyable to me and we all have to remember that Tori, like anyone, is a very different person in 2009 than she was in 1991 or 1996 and we, her fans, are also all different people than when we first heard those albums. I think each album should be approached by the fan as a new piece of art . Not something that's "supposed to sound like" whatever your favorite Tori album is or be some amazing progression that also happens to be change in a direction you personally really love.. That's what I think is fairest to the artist but it's hard because fans naturally have expectations when they pick up a new album from one of their favorite artists. Mike Marcel Rijs wrote: > Hi, > Believe me, I'd love to rave about a new Tori Amos album - I haven't > done so in years. It's so weird, because I totally idolised her up until > 'To Venus and back', and after that, the whole thing just went > pearshaped. > > After that album I still liked the singles, such as 'A sorta fairytale' > and 'Sleeps with butterflies', but the albums have been so inconsistent > that I couldn't bear listening to them from beginning to end. Instead, I > ended up dropping the 'boring' songs and listened to the interesting > ones only. The Beekeeper came out best for me, with just about seven > good tracks, but ADP -well, I have actually just listened to it once or > twice. > So what about the new one? I liked the first two tracks. 'Give' is a > dynamic song and 'Welcome to England' is just as gripping as hear > earlier work. But oh dear, everything else just sounds so samey. > And then there's the affected voice thing. How can anyone come up with a > line line 'Mahahaybe Cahalifohornihia'? I remember her doing that after > 'Boys for Pele' came out and her live performances were starting to > sound like bawling sessions. > As passionate as I was about Tori Amos, I have to say she only > frustrates me now. And it also frustrates the hell out of me that she > isn't likely to return to form anymore. Maybe the only way out for her > is to do an 'Everything but the girl' and start collaborating with dance > music producers. Not hiphop, mind.... > > Kind regards, > > Marcel Rijs > marcel.rijs@kb.nl ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:36:05 -0700 From: Michael Pearce Subject: artists that sound like a dead ringer for someone else CoCo Lee. She's a Chinese singer who deliberately sounds like both Kate and Tori (in different songs). She also covers Kate songs in Chinese. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:23:23 -0400 From: morayati@email.unc.edu Subject: tori live That's the thing. I kind of dropped the ball on tickets and might - might - be seeing her in Durham if something works out, but I'm not sure what to expect. There are videos from the tour up on YouTube but they were... disappointing. Not for performance quality - that was excellent from what I heard. I don't know if this was the beginning of the set or what, but the video was about a minute or two straight of overly loud applause and side conversations. (Not that she approves of those, of course, but still.) You aren't supposed to scream and shout over "Give"! The song _does not work that way!_ I think Shady Circle spoiled me. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:57:12 -0400 From: Paul Blair Subject: A pairing I like Noe Venable, "Alcina's Things" http://noevenable.com/music/NoeVenable.com--No_Curses_Here--Alcinas_Things_128.mp3 Noe goes bluegrass. Neko Case, "Things that Scare Me" http://www.dizzler.com/music/Neko_Case The banjo of the Apocalypse. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:13:43 -0600 From: neal copperman Subject: Ectophiles in Copenhagen? I'm going to a conference in Copenhagen in October. Any ectophiles out there? neal ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V14 #202 ***************************