From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V16 #2771 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Thursday, April 30 2020 Volume 16 : Number 2771 To unsubscribe: e-mail ecto-digest-request@smoe.org and put the word unsubscribe in the message body. Today's Subjects: ----------------- Lisa Kori [neal copperman ] Re: Lisa Kori [Gregory Bossert ] Re: Lankum, Carly Pierce & more [Sherlyn Koo ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2020 10:17:26 -0600 From: neal copperman Subject: Lisa Kori Hey ecto-folk, A local New Mexican artist just put out an amazing 3-song EP that I think people here would really love. I never even heard of her, but there was an intriguing article in todaybs Santa Fe Reporter that drove me to her site (article below). Herebs here short intro: In 2017, after eight months of increasing exhaustion, weight loss and pain, I was finally diagnosed with Giardia, a parasite, and post-viral syndrome from a probable case of Chikungunya. Despite the acute illnesses resolving, Ibve been managing chronic fatigue and pain since. Quarantine is about being quarantined by the CDC in 2017 and grappling with the feeling of being trapped-- both physically, due to illness and forced isolation, and psychologically, struggling with the loneliness and ennui of a lost year sick in bed. Unseen and Summon are mystical fever dreams about crossing over into the spirit world, asking for guidance, and emerging from illness with a deepened sense of gratitude, trust, and appreciation for the strangeness and fragility of life. https://lisakori.net/unseen.html And herebs the Reporter article if you want a little more: Quarantine Redux Lisa Kori stuns with 3-track single bUnseen' by Alex De Vore The COVID-19 pandemic doesn't mark the first time musician, composer and visual artist Lisa Kori has faced isolation and quarantine. In 2017, following a trip to Mexico, Kori took ill. It took eight months of extreme sickness and fatigue before doctors diagnosed her with giardiasis; the CDC placed Kori in quarantine for weeks, her only company a busted-up acoustic guitar and a laptop. "I was basically stuck in my room," she says, "and I was trying to create the biggest sound I could." First, she attempted to download various audio plug-in programs to flesh out her songs, but when Kori couldn't get the sounds she wanted, she wrote her own remodulator code. Using that and working her way around the guitar's shortcomings, Kori birthed the songs for the three-track single, Unseen, which was finally released recently. These songs are absolute stunners, like an imperfect yet beautiful marriage of noise and melody. Beginning with the unsettling multi-track harmonious chants on opener "Unseen," Kori sets the stage for a dreamlike foray into -foggy strangeness. Her voice, layered on itself, sounds inviting in the early moments, but as it builds on itself, a hidden pain is slowly unveiled. "I can say I was definitely angry and frustrated with the health care system," Kori tells SFR. "I was so grateful to get on Medicare, but I was also acutely aware that many people in this country don't have health care." Kori next phases into the song "Quarantine," perhaps the most -accessible and relatable of the three and a beautiful bit of acoustic guitar over creeping audio effects and a sort of stream-of-consciousness set of lyrics. "Never said I feared this ailing feeling, but I've run out of time/Yet I'm the one who looks at the ceiling, to find the sublime," Kori sings, pointing to a year lost in bed and time spent utterly alone. You can feel this one deep in your gut, a sense of powerlessness, the strength needed to do the simplest things; a new take on the lyrical idea of listlessly staring at one's ceiling while in pain. Unseen is rounded out with the song "Summon," a subtly dense combo of phasing vocals and minimalist guitar akin to Thom Yorke back when that meant something. Again, Kori harmonizes with herself to almost spiritual droning effect. Noise elements rise up in the peripheral, threatening to overtake the guitar and voice but backing off until the last minute or so when Kori reprises themes set during the opener. It's dark and cacophonous and completely unexpected, but someplace within its jarring transformation, Kori brings things full circle, signaling erratic thoughts and terrifying illness. It's like the soundtrack to forced isolation. Perhaps that sounds obvious, but as the entire world recently learned how to relate to Kori's 2017, it suddenly feels more universal than most noise music ever does. "I will tell you thisbI wrote the music with faith that writing about illness and profound challenge was deeply humanistic," she explains. "The rest is up to the weird entropy of this strange planet with all these wonderful beings on it." Indeed, how Kori achieved Unseen's content could easily be labeled as one big coincidencebhow could she have reasonably known in 2017 when she wrote these songs that they'd become so thematically universal by the spring of 2020? It's far more fun to think of the pieceas strangely prophetic fever dream, though. Like something plucked in waves from a mind thrust into absurd circumstances we're all now positioned to fully appreciate. Futher, if Unseen is a glimpse into the directions Kori plans to take her solo work, I'm here for it in a very real way. Up next, she says, is a potential alternate history concept album based in her heritage. She's of Japanese and Chinese descent, but was born and grew up in Hawaii. Certain vocal techniques from that state's Indigenous peoples have already found their way into Kori's music, but delving more into her Asian identity, she started wondering why there's very -little evidence of its existence in American music. "American music is a lot of West African music mixed with Spanish -guitars mixed with Scotch and Irish -ballads," she says. "I'm thinking about how my Japanese side and my Chinese sideb&they lived in the American west, but their - -music never really made it into the mix. Where are their work songs? I'm trying to write an alternate history as if Asian music had [been in the mix]." That might conjure up dreams of country music given Kori's pedigreeband to a certain extent, she says, that's not too far off. Nevertheless, it's OK to hope for stranger or more experimental elements, and Unseen is the must-listen proof that she knows just how to do it. Enjoy! - - neal ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2020 15:25:22 -0400 From: Gregory Bossert Subject: Re: Lisa Kori Cool. > On Apr 29, 2020, at 12:17 PM, neal copperman wrote: > > Hey ecto-folk, > > A local New Mexican artist just put out an amazing 3-song EP that I think > people here would really love. > > I never even heard of her, but there was an intriguing article in todaybs > Santa Fe Reporter that drove me to her site (article below). > > Herebs here short intro: > > In 2017, after eight months of increasing exhaustion, weight loss and pain, I > was finally diagnosed with Giardia, a parasite, and post-viral syndrome from a > probable case of Chikungunya. Despite the acute illnesses resolving, Ibve > been managing chronic fatigue and pain since. > > > Quarantine is about being quarantined by the CDC in 2017 and grappling with > the feeling of being trapped-- both physically, due to illness and forced > isolation, and psychologically, struggling with the loneliness and ennui of a > lost year sick in bed. > > > Unseen and Summon are mystical fever dreams about crossing over into the > spirit world, asking for guidance, and emerging from illness with a deepened > sense of gratitude, trust, and appreciation for the strangeness and fragility > of life. > > https://lisakori.net/unseen.html > > > > And herebs the Reporter article if you want a little more: > > Quarantine Redux > Lisa Kori stuns with 3-track single bUnseen' > by Alex De Vore > > The COVID-19 pandemic doesn't mark the first time musician, composer and > visual artist Lisa Kori has faced isolation and quarantine. > > In 2017, following a trip to Mexico, Kori took ill. It took eight months of > extreme sickness and fatigue before doctors diagnosed her with giardiasis; the > CDC placed Kori in quarantine for weeks, her only company a busted-up acoustic > guitar and a laptop. > > "I was basically stuck in my room," she says, "and I was trying to create the > biggest sound I could." > > First, she attempted to download various audio plug-in programs to flesh out > her songs, but when Kori couldn't get the sounds she wanted, she wrote her own > remodulator code. Using that and working her way around the guitar's > shortcomings, Kori birthed the songs for the three-track single, Unseen, which > was finally released recently. > > These songs are absolute stunners, like an imperfect yet beautiful marriage of > noise and melody. Beginning with the unsettling multi-track harmonious chants > on opener "Unseen," Kori sets the stage for a dreamlike foray into -foggy > strangeness. Her voice, layered on itself, sounds inviting in the early > moments, but as it builds on itself, a hidden pain is slowly unveiled. > > "I can say I was definitely angry and frustrated with the health care system," > Kori tells SFR. "I was so grateful to get on Medicare, but I was also acutely > aware that many people in this country don't have health care." > > Kori next phases into the song "Quarantine," perhaps the most -accessible and > relatable of the three and a beautiful bit of acoustic guitar over creeping > audio effects and a sort of stream-of-consciousness set of lyrics. > > "Never said I feared this ailing feeling, but I've run out of time/Yet I'm the > one who looks at the ceiling, to find the sublime," Kori sings, pointing to a > year lost in bed and time spent utterly alone. You can feel this one deep in > your gut, a sense of powerlessness, the strength needed to do the simplest > things; a new take on the lyrical idea of listlessly staring at one's ceiling > while in pain. > > Unseen is rounded out with the song "Summon," a subtly dense combo of phasing > vocals and minimalist guitar akin to Thom Yorke back when that meant > something. Again, Kori harmonizes with herself to almost spiritual droning > effect. Noise elements rise up in the peripheral, threatening to overtake the > guitar and voice but backing off until the last minute or so when Kori > reprises themes set during the opener. It's dark and cacophonous and > completely unexpected, but someplace within its jarring transformation, Kori > brings things full circle, signaling erratic thoughts and terrifying illness. > It's like the soundtrack to forced isolation. Perhaps that sounds obvious, but > as the entire world recently learned how to relate to Kori's 2017, it suddenly > feels more universal than most noise music ever does. > > "I will tell you thisbI wrote the music with faith that writing about > illness and profound challenge was deeply humanistic," she explains. "The rest > is up to the weird entropy of this strange planet with all these wonderful > beings on it." > > > Indeed, how Kori achieved Unseen's content could easily be labeled as one big > coincidencebhow could she have reasonably known in 2017 when she wrote these > songs that they'd become so thematically universal by the spring of 2020? It's > far more fun to think of the pieceas strangely prophetic fever dream, though. > Like something plucked in waves from a mind thrust into absurd circumstances > we're all now positioned to fully appreciate. > > Futher, if Unseen is a glimpse into the directions Kori plans to take her solo > work, I'm here for it in a very real way. Up next, she says, is a potential > alternate history concept album based in her heritage. She's of Japanese and > Chinese descent, but was born and grew up in Hawaii. Certain vocal techniques > from that state's Indigenous peoples have already found their way into Kori's > music, but delving more into her Asian identity, she started wondering why > there's very -little evidence of its existence in American music. > > "American music is a lot of West African music mixed with Spanish -guitars > mixed with Scotch and Irish -ballads," she says. "I'm thinking about how my > Japanese side and my Chinese sideb&they lived in the American west, but their > -music never really made it into the mix. Where are their work songs? I'm > trying to write an alternate history as if Asian music had [been in the > mix]." > > That might conjure up dreams of country music given Kori's pedigreeband to a > certain extent, she says, that's not too far off. Nevertheless, it's OK to > hope for stranger or more experimental elements, and Unseen is the must-listen > proof that she knows just how to do it. > > > > Enjoy! > > - neal - -- www.gregorynormanbossert.com -- - -- www.suddensound.com -- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2020 12:41:15 +1000 From: Sherlyn Koo Subject: Re: Lankum, Carly Pierce & more Oops, you're right. I was thinking ahead to Siobhan Miller. (But at least my email dramas seem to be over, hooray) - -sherlyn > On 30 Apr 2020, at 11:32 am, neal copperman wrote: > > Lankum is a favorite of mine. (They are Irish, not Scottish though.) > > They have so many fantastic live videos on YouTube. Whenever they post a new one I end up watching an hour of their live videos. Very different than traditional Irish music. Got a cool drone/trance thing going, and that kind of nasally, shape note singing like Tim Eriksen from Cordeliabs Dad. > > - neal > >> On Apr 29, 2020, at 6:38 PM, Sherlyn Koo wrote: >> >> Hi everyone, >> >> Just a quick email (partly to test if my email issues have been resolved!). Thanks everyone for all the recommendations lately. I have been saving everything to my Spotify Albums list, which now has more than 200 albums on it, whoops. Better get listening. >> >> Just wanted to give a quick plug to a couple of albums: >> >> - Lankumbs bThe Livelong Dayb - an amazing atmospheric Scottish trad folk album >> - Carly Piercebs new self titled album - well executed country pop >> >> I have also recently discovered Siobhan Miller (Scottish trad/contemporary folk), whose 2017 album bStratab I have listened to quite a lot. She has a new album out this month that I havenbt had a chance to listen to yet. >> >> I havenbt been able to send to this list for months due to issues at my end, herebs hoping this one makes it through! >> >> Cheers, >> sherlyn >> -- >> Sherlyn Koo - sherlyn@pixelopolis.com - Sydney, Australia - -- Sherlyn Koo - sherlyn@pixelopolis.com - Sydney, Australia ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V16 #2771 ****************************