From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V16 #1819 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Monday, September 26 2016 Volume 16 : Number 1819 To unsubscribe: e-mail ecto-digest-request@smoe.org and put the word unsubscribe in the message body. Today's Subjects: ----------------- NY Times mini reviews of new and upcoming releases [JoAnn Whetsell Subject: NY Times mini reviews of new and upcoming releases FYI on some new and upcoming releases of possible ecto interest EL PERRO DEL MAR The piping-voiced Swedish songwriter Sarah Assbring has expanded her electronic indie-pop with a global swirl of possibilities on her fifth album, "KoKoro." She ponders the meaning of life and the routes to happiness amid Bollywood percussion, zithers from Asia and modal riffs from North Africa, airborne and determinedly positive. Ging Ging/The Control Group. Sept. 16. (Pareles) [I've only had a chance to listen to this once, but I liked it considerably more than her last album so I'm looking forward to future listens.] JENNY HVAL Ms. Hval, a singer and composer from Norway, is an artist of inscrutable intention, predisposed toward any premise that leads you, disoriented, a fair distance from where you started. "Blood Bitch" is her explicitly sanguine new album, concerned with blood as a substance both vital and mundanely intimate. (One track bears the wry title "Period Piece.") Sacred Bones. Sept. 30. (Chinen) [This is up on NPR First Listen right now: http://www.npr.org/2016/09/22/494571616/first-listen-jenny-hval-blood-bitch.] [https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2016/09/19/jennyhvalpress_wide-796d14ebd7fb 6c93c570eb7c1bc2923bef31aff9.jpg?s=1400] First Listen: Jenny Hval, 'Blood Bitch' www.npr.org On her sixth album, the Norwegian singer Jenny Hval aims for impact, surrounding her vulnerable voice with spiky, disarming instrumentation that bolsters the intensity and intimacy of her songs. REGINA SPEKTOR When Regina Spektor last released an album, in 2012, there was an American presidential election underway, though its tone was a little different than this one. (The election, not the album.) "Remember Us to Life" finds her singing all-new material informed by her experience as a mother, among other hallmarks of dawning maturity. Sire/Warner Bros. Sept 30. (Chinen) SUZANNE VEGA "Lover, Beloved: Songs from an Evening with Carson McCullers" is the result of one wryly perceptive American writer inhabiting the mindspace of another. Setting out to celebrate McCullers not only as a paragon of Southern fiction but also as a colorful New York character, Ms. Vega worked with Duncan Sheik to write the songs for a two-act musical: hot-jazz putdown tracks like "Harper Lee" as well as heartbroken ballads like "Annemarie." Amanuensis. Oct. 14. (Chinen) TANYA TAGAQ Ms. Tagaq is a fearless vocalist and composer rooted in the extreme-sounding rigors of Inuit throat singing - and her new album, "Retribution," will move her further in the direction of provocation. Its subject matter is rape, in the environmental, sociocultural and harrowingly personal senses of the word. (Along with originals like "Summoning," it includes a cover of Nirvana's "Rape Me.") Six Shooter. Oct. 21. (Chinen) LEONARD COHEN Now in his 80s, Leonard Cohen is still writing songs that explore humanity in all its flaws, romances, tragedies and epiphanies. His 14th studio album, promisingly titled "You Want It Darker," was produced by his son (and fellow songwriter), Adam. Columbia. (Pareles) SLEIGH BELLS It's not an insult to say that the punishment meted out by Sleigh Bells on the band's previous releases sometimes obscured its more nuanced gifts. The punishment was first rate! Sleigh Bells - the duo of Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss - have specialized in pummeling, big-brush, electronic-intense rock. On "Jessica Rabbit," their first album in three years, they're staking out slightly broader territory. There's more soulfulness in Ms. Krauss's singing, more intimacy in Mr. Miller's production (not much, but some) - in general, more space to breathe from a band that has long preferred suffocation. Torn Clean. Nov 11. (Caramanica) Full preview at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/arts/music/fall-preview-pop-jazz-albums.htm l?ref=todayspaper [https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/09/18/arts/18POP-LISTINGS/18POP-LISTING S-facebookJumbo.jpg] Pop and Jazz Fall Preview: 105 Albums, Shows and Festivals www.nytimes.com Autumn releases and concerts include punk and cabaret, club and metal, hip-hop and rock, and the indescribable. Oh, yeah, and Springsteen, too. Enjoy! JoAnn ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V16 #1819 ****************************