From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V15 #40 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Tuesday, February 16 2010 Volume 15 : Number 040 To unsubscribe: e-mail ecto-digest-request@smoe.org and put the word unsubscribe in the message body. Today's Subjects: ----------------- Great Valentine's Eve concert [Karen Hester ] Fallulah (Danish/Romanian singer/songwriter) [Leonora Christina Skov ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:07:05 -0500 From: Karen Hester Subject: Great Valentine's Eve concert Two Loons' Sarah was moved to tears by Noe, but wasn't sure if she could hug her because they were both germ-y. Sarah, Noe and Odessa Chen all had colds. Noe's was most noticeable - sometimes she'd open her mouth and there'd be silence. Somehow her higher notes were still strong, and with Greta, Odessa Chen, Matt? and another guy singing harmonies, her whispers were well compensated. There was some transposing though, such as the too low whispers about Aslan and the silver queen. Noe played.. um Hidden God, Ghazal, Prayer for Beauty, Into the Wild, Boots, Feral, Midsummer Nights Dream, Juniper, Fathering Sun, Flower in Time... and my memory sucks. Sparrow? A sexy one with a pre-recorded beat, it's a garden song, but she has lots of Garden songs! Dan her drummer who died a few years ago played with them via iPod, as did the crickets. Guitar, keyboard, marimba, double bass, cello - it probably would have sounded lovely even sans voices, but fortunately we got to hear her words too. Two Loons played many of their slower atmospheric songs, ending with perkier 'Marietta'. Whose words are they using on some of the newer songs, is it Neruda? My memory sucks because I got free drinks :) I wouldn't have known Sarah had a cold, her voice was strong. A NY friend joined them on trombone and clarinet (?), and of course there were their usual variety of interesting percussion and guitar sounds. Sarah had some wonderful stage chatter about Valentines Day, which she tried to tailor to us cynical east coasters. A band with love songs like 'Toxic Shellfish in the Sun' is hardly going to irritate me! They also played 'Tragically Hip' about hometown Seattle, 'Strongest Man in the World', and, um, my memory is sucky. I hadn't seen Odessa Chen before and she had a lovely sound, both her voice and the guitars. Did she have a cello? In my memory she did, but maybe they conjured a sound bigger than their parts. It was a delicate set of slow dark songs, and the pace didn't quite vary enough for new listeners, but I'd love to see her again. She played 'Snow Angels', a song in response to Townes Van Zandt and other loveliness. Opener Lee Moretti played keyboard with a standard band line-up. I preferred her songs to her cover of Cohen's 'Hallelujah', though the electric cello thingie was interesting to look at. K. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:37:53 +0100 From: Leonora Christina Skov Subject: Fallulah (Danish/Romanian singer/songwriter) You might want to check out much-hyped Danish/Romanian singer/songwriter Fallulah. She sounds a lot like Fiona Apple and credits her as an inspiration as well:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cLK6j5YqkUBest,Leonora _________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:44:02 -0500 From: Karen Hester Subject: The Family Jewels by Marina & The Diamonds Marina & The Diamonds' first album The Family Jewels is a frothy pop syllabub. Sugar and snark, glitter and guilt. It follows an electro-pop path less quirky than the mad bird noises in 'Mowgli's Road' promised, but the straight-forward pop single 'Hollywood' gave us time to come to terms with that. I'd prefer it if they hadn't polished Marina's voice so much, there's some metallic autotuning that strips her oddness. Though it recalls the 80s, The Family Jewels has a fresh sound, not recreating the past like Ladyhawke. Maybe Lily Allen is the best reference - incessantly perky beats, catchy melodies, and then you realize she's singing "puking American dreams." Many of Marina's lyrics (and her blog and album art) are concerned with fame, beauty and gender, new subjects to her, and she's sorting through contradictory opinions. The results can be fun, heartfelt, clever, bitchy and charmingly youthful. Othertimes they're annoying self-important, ah the hubris of youth :) First song 'Are you satisfied?' is about getting a record deal and wondering about success and happiness, which probably seemed a good opening statement of purpose to her, but I don't think they're issues to be worked through in a song. Plus "Are you satisfied with an average life?" is a bit insulting :) 'Oh no', another of the lesser songs, is less problematic because it's silly, "Don't do love, don't do friends, I'm only after success." In 'Hollywood' Marina struggles with fame more successfully - it's a better pop song, and honestly pairs "Hollywood infected your brain" with admitting that she's obsessed with America. I like the remix where she sings "Oh my gawd. Oh my gawd" against a stomping beat. 'Shampain' is a great trashy pop song of "fabricated wealth" and feeling celestial; it sounds like Goldfrapp's new single, though catchier. 'Girls' has insecure gossiping dieting girls, and is damn catchy with a swooping siren that I remember from dance songs a couple decades ago. "All you say is blah blah." Great fun. But in 'Hollywood' she boastfully complains about a fat man comparing her to Shakira and Catherine Zeta ("actually, my name's Marina" she spits back), so is it fair to mock the shallow calorie counting girls? Not that I'd prefer her to be consistent and miss out on a bitchy gem. There's so much bounce and loud singing that the slower tracks are a relief. 'Numb' has a gorgeous choir of Marinas and a wall of keyboard strings, a great deal more feeling than its subject suggests. 'Rootless' has harp noises (I'm not sure which instruments are real). Even songs with quiet beginnings give you time to breathe, such as the touching stripped opening of 'Obsessions'. About half the songs mention loneliness, being an outsider, a nomad etc, and these make for an interesting contrast, such as the incongruously bouncy 'The Outsider'. Hard to tell with catchy pop albums how long it'll take to OD on the sugar, but I won't be listening to much else in the near future. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:13:27 -0500 From: robert bristow-johnson Subject: Re: Great Valentine's Eve concert (except not enough people came) On Feb 15, 2010, at 12:07 PM, Karen Hester wrote: > Two Loons' Sarah was moved to tears by Noe, but wasn't sure if she > could hug her because they were both germ-y. Sarah, Noe and Odessa > Chen all had colds. Noe's was most noticeable - sometimes she'd open > her mouth and there'd be silence. she had a serious friggin' case of laryngitis since Wednesday and had taken a vow of silence to nurse her voice back. > Somehow her higher notes were still > strong, and with Greta, Odessa Chen, Matt? and another guy singing > harmonies, her whispers were well compensated. There was some > transposing though, such as the too low whispers about Aslan and the > silver queen. > > Noe played.. um Hidden God, Ghazal, Prayer for Beauty, Into the Wild, > Boots, Feral, Midsummer Nights Dream, Juniper, Fathering Sun, Flower > in Time... and my memory sucks. Sparrow? A sexy one with a > pre-recorded beat, it's a garden song, but she has lots of Garden > songs! it's called Garden. it's on Secret Knots. > Dan her drummer who died a few years ago played with them via > iPod, as did the crickets. whoa! i only caught some of that comment. Dean Sharp played drums at her Zipper Factory concert in 2008 (and he is also listed on her Summer Storms CD). there is a reference to Dan Morris in her Secret Knots CD. i think that's who she was talking about. > Guitar, keyboard, marimba, double bass, > cello - it probably would have sounded lovely even sans voices, but > fortunately we got to hear her words too. > > Two Loons played many of their slower atmospheric songs, ending with > perkier 'Marietta'. Whose words are they using on some of the newer > songs, is it Neruda? My memory sucks because I got free drinks :) a windfall from having so few people that i wasn't meeting the bar guarantee. > I wouldn't have known Sarah had a cold, her voice was strong. A NY > friend joined them on trombone and clarinet (?), alto sax. never saw a trombone. > and of course there > were their usual variety of interesting percussion and guitar sounds. > Sarah had some wonderful stage chatter about Valentines Day, which she > tried to tailor to us cynical east coasters. A band with love songs > like 'Toxic Shellfish in the Sun' is hardly going to irritate me! > They also played 'Tragically Hip' about hometown Seattle, 'Strongest > Man in the World', and, um, my memory is sucky. > > I hadn't seen Odessa Chen before and she had a lovely sound, both her > voice and the guitars. Did she have a cello? In my memory she did, > but maybe they conjured a sound bigger than their parts. i never seen her perform either (she came totally from the recommendation of Noe). in listening to her music, i also made the false image of her playing cello. no, it was two guitars, drums, and her wonderful voice (she said Noe was, but for laryngitis, going to sing in a couple of her songs). no bass either. > It was a > delicate set of slow dark songs, and the pace didn't quite vary enough > for new listeners, but I'd love to see her again. She played 'Snow > Angels', a song in response to Townes Van Zandt and other loveliness. > > Opener Lee Moretti played keyboard with a standard band line-up. I > preferred her songs to her cover of Cohen's 'Hallelujah', though the > electric cello thingie was interesting to look at. same with me. it was an electric upright bass (switched with bass git). - -- r b-j rbj@audioimagination.com "Imagination is more important than knowledge." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:15:31 -0500 From: Paul Blair Subject: Re: Great Valentine's Eve concert I would have posted something but I've been gallivanting around north of NYC the past few days. Karen's covered everything much better than I could, but I just wanted to add thanks to Robert for organizing the event. The Matt mentioned by Karen is Matt Kanelos from The Smooth Maria. Also playing with Noe, besides the already-mentioned Greta Gertler and Odessa Chen, were Marlan Barry on cello, Payton MacDonald on marimba, and Richard Hammond on bass. I'm not certain whether the other guy singing harmonies was Richard Hammond or another person entirely. And yes, Pablo Neruda is the author Two Loons for Tea mentioned several times. I don't recall a cello playing with Odessa Chen, though I understand she herself studied cello. The string instrument Lee Moretti's band used for "Hallelujah" was, I think, an electric upright bass. On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 12:07 PM, Karen Hester wrote: > Two Loons' Sarah was moved to tears by Noe, but wasn't sure if she > could hug her because they were both germ-y. B Sarah, Noe and Odessa > Chen all had colds. B Noe's was most noticeable - sometimes she'd open > her mouth and there'd be silence. B Somehow her higher notes were still > strong, and with Greta, Odessa Chen, Matt? and another guy singing > harmonies, her whispers were well compensated. B There was some > transposing though, such as the too low whispers about Aslan and the > silver queen. > > Noe played.. um Hidden God, Ghazal, Prayer for Beauty, Into the Wild, > Boots, Feral, Midsummer Nights Dream, Juniper, Fathering Sun, Flower > in Time... and my memory sucks. B Sparrow? B A sexy one with a > pre-recorded beat, it's a garden song, but she has lots of Garden > songs! B Dan her drummer who died a few years ago played with them via > iPod, as did the crickets. B Guitar, keyboard, marimba, double bass, > cello - it probably would have sounded lovely even sans voices, but > fortunately we got to hear her words too. > > Two Loons played many of their slower atmospheric songs, ending with > perkier 'Marietta'. B Whose words are they using on some of the newer > songs, is it Neruda? B My memory sucks because I got free drinks :) B I > wouldn't have known Sarah had a cold, her voice was strong. B A NY > friend joined them on trombone and clarinet (?), and of course there > were their usual variety of interesting percussion and guitar sounds. > Sarah had some wonderful stage chatter about Valentines Day, which she > tried to tailor to us cynical east coasters. B A band with love songs > like 'Toxic Shellfish in the Sun' is hardly going to irritate me! > They also played 'Tragically Hip' about hometown Seattle, 'Strongest > Man in the World', and, um, my memory is sucky. > > I hadn't seen Odessa Chen before and she had a lovely sound, both her > voice and the guitars. B Did she have a cello? B In my memory she did, > but maybe they conjured a sound bigger than their parts. B It was a > delicate set of slow dark songs, and the pace didn't quite vary enough > for new listeners, but I'd love to see her again. B She played 'Snow > Angels', a song in response to Townes Van Zandt and other loveliness. > > Opener Lee Moretti played keyboard with a standard band line-up. B I > preferred her songs to her cover of Cohen's 'Hallelujah', though the > electric cello thingie was interesting to look at. > > K. ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V15 #40 **************************