From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V8 #71 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Friday, February 26 1999 Volume 08 : Number 071 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Can You Still Write Good Music? [Joel Mullins ] Falkner/Feel [Eb ] Dolphage. [Capuchin ] New Olds [Michael Wolfe ] Re: Falkner/Feel [Danielle ] Re: Falkner/Feel [Joel Mullins ] XTC & Derek [digja611@student.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan)] Elliott-Kinney [Joel Mullins ] Re: Falkner/Quasi [Joel Mullins ] Cambridge Folk Fest Liner [Michael Wolfe ] PopCanon [The Great Quail ] stalk [dwdudic@erols.com (David W. Dudich)] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 16:10:59 -0800 From: Joel Mullins Subject: Can You Still Write Good Music? Well, I've been listening to the new Jason Falkner album, Can You Still Feel? I think the more appropriate question is can Jason Falkner still write good music? Well, apparently not. This album is so far below the quality of Author Unknown, that it's hard to believe it's the same guy. There are one or two decent songs. I like both Holiday and I Already Know. But most of the songs are just average pop songs, making it almost a complete waste of time to even listen to. In fact, a few of the songs are so bad, I would think they'd be big hits on MTV. Actually, if Jason wants to become more popular and sell more records, he's moving in the right direction. Unfortunately, this is not the same direction he needs to go to create better music. The ironic thing is that Can You Still Feel? doesn't make me feel anything at all. I think Eb gave this album a 14/20. For once, he's being way too kind. I'll give it a 10/20. And that's probably being too nice. Anyway, this has been a major disappointment. - --Joel ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 15:16:37 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Falkner/Feel Ehh, be a little patient with it, Josh. Yes, it's inferior to the first album, "See You Again" and "All God's Creatures" are really weak (not to mention the pointless opening snippet, "The Invitation") and the cheesy synthesizer touches are a problem, but it's growing on me. Just like the first album did (heck, I'd put Author Unknown in my top 10 of 1996 now, and I *didn't* rank it at the time, and wasn't even sure I would *keep* it when I first heard an advance tape). On the new album, I like "Author Unknown," "Holiday," "Eloquence" (probably my favorite?), "I Already Know" and "The Plan" quite well, at this point. And Dan-Yell likes it more than I do.... But yes, I'll definitely hear a couple dozen better albums this year. Eb ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 15:16:53 -0800 (PST) From: Capuchin Subject: Dolphage. Got a package in the mail last night from Mr. Chaney. No, not Lon Chaney... or even Lon Chaney, Jr. It was our own phantom Dolph! I got his new album. I listened to it. You know, it's really good! I mean, I kind of expected to like it, but it's much better than I even expected. This may be a backhanded compliment, but it's head and shoulders above the Glass Flesh contribution of Wax Doll (that's not to say it's not good, Dolph... just that your album work is Really Good). The packaging is stellar. I was impressed. I hate jewel cases. I read the lyrics before I even played the disc because the packaging was so cool. And I was stunned. There are some fantastic lyrics in there. Fantastic things like "Do angels fear my tread?" and "cataracts on my windshield". OK... too many driving tunes, Dolph. Stay out of the car. Walk a little. Move to a city with a good transit system. The little note in the package was great, too. Enjoy the Dolphage, indeed! Fegs are #1! Man, I can only thank James and Dolph both for this treat. It'll hold a slot in my changer for a while. It's fairly twee (if I understand that word as often as I use it) and that's usually not my bag... I was a little worried I'd be bored by the end of the disc after the first two songs, but then the rhythm section hits on track three and I perked up. It's great plain old listening music. We'll see how far it goes. Funny, really, that I like this. I mean, Mark's album is very much like the things that end up in my CD player regularly anyway. I just happen to listen to a lot of They Might Be Giants and Oingo Boingo (shut up... don't say it). I can't think of anything else I own that sounds like Dolph's stuff, but I know quite a few local indie pop kids that would eat it up. Thanks again. James, Dolph... phew. Enjoy the kiwipop, Dolph. Waiting for Dignan, J. - -- ________________________________________________________ J A Brelin Capuchin ________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 22:30:51 +0000 (GMT) From: Michael Wolfe Subject: New Olds Yeah, it's way, way, waaaaay out of date, but hey, at least it's on topic: I went into the metropolis of downtown Portland to meet my mom for lunch today, and found myself with a few minutes to spare. So I ducked into 2nd Avenue records to browse, and what do you know? I found Live at the Cambridge Folk Festival! Yeah! I'm listening to it now, and really enjoying it. What's up with that inaccurate track listing? That's just weird. Did the amusing little story from the insert get posted here? If some interested folks haven't seen it, I'd be happy to type it in. If it's already been posted, just go to the archives. A couple thoughts: * Uncorrected Personality Traits is quite a strong rendition. I'm sick of the studio version, and most of the live audience recordings I have of it are pretty unsatisfying. This version reminds me why I spent a year looking for that track after the first time I heard it. * This version of Satellite is incredible! I love it! It makes me think of some unholy cross between "The President" and "I Am The Walrus". This by itself makes the disk essential for me, but we also get... * That groovy Respect-era re-orchestration of Globe of Frogs on cd. This isn't quite as strong as the version on Thoth Boys, but it is nice to have it on cd, and the vocal phlanging makes a nice change of pace. * Nice to hear a fully fleshed out Yip! Song after hearing his solo version for so long. I think that his solo version has no business sounding as good as it does, but this is the way it was meant to be heard: with full, three part harmonies, Morris's machine gun drumming, and Andy's rubbery bassline. Oh man. Nice pick up. Thank goodness I've got two ears, so I can listen to the new Built to Spill album AND Live at the Cambridge Folk Festival. Otherwise I might split in two. And I really *do* miss the Egyptians, that's for sure. Oh, and one more important thing: If anyone STILL doesn't have the Storefront vinyl, 2nd Ave had 2 copies for 18 bucks each (not an amazing price, but...) As always, I'd be happy to pick one up for anyone and ship it to y'all. - -Michael Wolfe np: Live at the Cambridge Folk Festival ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 17:54:50 -0800 (PST) From: Danielle Subject: Re: Falkner/Feel Dan-Yell here... don't give up on Jason, Joel! I really like what Eb calls the 'cheesy synthesiser touches', myself. Ebby has an irrational prejudice against such things. ;) I wouldn't say that it was as good as Presents Author Unknown, but it did make me all thrilled and pleased on first listen, especially 'My Lucky Day' (the final minute or so of that is *wonderful*), 'Holiday', 'Eloquence', and 'Author Unknown'. I am a complete *sucker* for anything with harmonies and handclaps, of course. :) However, I'm waiting for the Texan to let me borrow his new XTC and Sebadoh discs on Saturday. We'll see how Jason holds up against all these other new releases... though no one could *possibly* dress better than he does. :) Danielle, all squidgy because someone kindafamous in music journalism complimented her writing today NP Can You Still Feel?, just to make sure I'm not wrong _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 20:02:52 -0800 From: Joel Mullins Subject: Re: Falkner/Feel Danielle wrote: > > Dan-Yell here... don't give up on Jason, Joel! Okay, I won't give up. Author Unknown grew on me in a big way, so maybe this album will be the same way. It's just that none of it sounds near as good as AU did the first time I heard that. > I really like what Eb > calls the 'cheesy synthesiser touches', myself. Ebby has an irrational > prejudice against such things. ;) The synthesizer parts don't bother me at all. I kind of like them. But I really miss all the kick ass guitar solos. The solos on She's Go To Bed and Nobody Knows are fucking awesome! And there's none of that on the new album. And I just don't think the songwriting is as good. > I wouldn't say that it was as good > as Presents Author Unknown, but it did make me all thrilled and > pleased on first listen, especially 'My Lucky Day' (the final minute > or so of that is *wonderful*), 'Holiday', 'Eloquence', and 'Author > Unknown'. Those are all great songs. But the last five songs are just average. And I don't particularly like listening to average music. > I am a complete *sucker* for anything with harmonies and handclaps, of > course. :) Me too! And the harmonies on this album could've been a lot better. > However, I'm waiting for the Texan Who's the Texan? I'm *a* Texan. But I don't think I'm *the* Texan. > We'll see how Jason holds up against all > these other new releases... though no one could *possibly* dress > better than he does. :) Yeah, I'll give him that. He is a very good dresser. Anyway, I won't give up on the album. Maybe I'll get a bottle of whiskey and give it a few more listens. - --Joel ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 15:14:31 +1300 From: digja611@student.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: XTC & Derek >I >have no idea what Andy Partridge's actual spiritual beliefs are - Easter >Theatre and Greenman are extremely pagan, but on the other hand he always >inveighs against organized religion - so it's hard to tell the intent >behind the use of the phrase. well, so are a lot of XTC's other songs. Much of the Skylarking album can be interpreted within a Wiccan spirit. Note however that 'much can be interpreted as' is not necessarily the same as 'much was intended as'. >Derek Nimmo is dead. ohhhh bother. Very sad to hear this - he was a staple of TV comedy in my early years. Have you heard Fortran Five's version of Layla, in which he does lead vocals? James James Dignan ***NOTE NEW EMAIL ADDRESS*** Dunedin, New Zealand ***NOTE NEW EMAIL ADDRESS*** ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 23:53:18 -0800 From: Joel Mullins Subject: Elliott-Kinney So, are any Texas fegs going to see any of the following shows?: Elliott Smith 3/9 Dallas Elliott Smith 3/10 Austin Sleater-Kinney 3/11 Austin I'll be at all three shows..wooohooo!! So, let me know. - --Joel ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 00:04:04 -0800 From: Joel Mullins Subject: Re: Falkner/Quasi Danielle wrote: > > Dan-Yell here... don't give up on Jason, Joel! Well, I'd like to give Jason more of a chance, but I followed the lead of so many of you guys, and went out and bought Quasi_Featuring "Birds"_ And it may be awhile before I can pry this CD out of my stereo. I've fallen instantly in love with this one!! Jason will just have to wait on my shelf for awhile. - --Joel ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 17:11:20 +0000 (GMT) From: Michael Wolfe Subject: Cambridge Folk Fest Liner Cambridge, July 1992 -- A UFO had crash-landed in the Cherry Hinton Road and access to the Folk Festival was extremely limited. Worse, when the firemen prised open the capsule, they found no trace of the occupants. The aliens had snuck off somewhere, and this made the VAT people jittery. Fortunately, Morris Windsor, Andy Metcalfe and myself had all lived in Cambridge in the late 1970's, and we knew most of the underground tunnels into the festival site. Saint Anselmois Conduit was jammed with bales of straw, but Rogeris Gulch was apparently clear, so one by one we slid into its dark recesses. In front of us Max, our sound engineer, snipped through the cobwebs with his pliers. Our manager of the time, Peter Jenner, brought up the rear, pushing our instruments on a steel catering trolley. As we trundled through the dank corridor, we would occasionally look up and glimpse the shoes and ankles of the festival goers standing in daylight on the iron grids above us. Below, the whiff of patchouli and grilled charcoal reached our nostrils. Intervals of light became fewer and further apart. Soon the only glow was from the phosphorescent walls of the Gulch that enclosed us. Ahead of us, Max swore, dropped the pliers and clasped his hand to his neck. At first I thought he had been stung, but when Morris had dislodged Max's fingers from the area, and Andy had loosened the soundman's collar, I could see that Max's gills were working furiously. "Oxygen!" shouted Peter Jenner from behind us. "Oxygen?" we queried as one. "Yes, oxygen!" gasped Peter, thundering up to us with his troller. He produced a jar of pickled gherkins. "Swallow one of these each. That should do it." "Swallow a whole one?" Max looked doubtful. "They're all a bit big aren't they?" "Well, you know," Peter waved his hands impatiently, "chew it first, or whatever". This advice was to prove helpful, and within seconds Max and the rest of us were breathing normally. I massaged my own gills and pondered the set list. Should we start the show with 'Oceanside' or finish with it? The tunnel we were in was getting narrower. The cobwebs seemed to grow back even as Max severed them. They became thicker and more fibrous. Soon we couldn't move forward at all, but found ourselves thrashing in the dusty floss of webbing. Jeez! Maybe Roger's Gulch wasn't such a great idea after all... And then it all happened. There was a sickening flurry, a moment of darkness, and then the next thing I knew my bandmates and I were suspended above an underground stage, in three white cocoons. These dissolved, dropping us down onto the boards. There, three microphones awaited us; places of execution. From the side of the stage a heavily cobwebbed Peter Jenner threw us our instruments. I strapped on my 12-string guitar and looked out. We were in a subterranean chamber full of clamouring aliens. They were very much your standard, long-headed, scaly, drooling sort. God knows how they had all fitted into that capsule -- there must have been a spawning. But they had obviously feasted recently and were in a receptive mood. They clinked their barium pods together and brayed festively. "'My Wife and My Dead Wife'!" yelled an enormous one from down the front. "Do some old!" barked another from mid-throng. Next to it, Max was hunched in the sound booth, giving us the thumbs up. A big moth fluttered precariously above the salivating audience. It turned from blue to red as it flew through the beams of light. "'Oceanside' -- first of last?" I mouthed to Andy and Morris. "Last," they mouthed back as one. "OK," I said, "'so think in love'. One, two, three, four..." -Robyn Hitchcock September 1998 Sounds like it was quite a gig, or are they all like that? - -Michael Wolfe ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Feb 99 15:11:43 -0500 From: The Great Quail Subject: PopCanon Fgz, (To use the official EvenEb designation) I just wanted to mention that I have discovered a pretty cool new band. Called "PopCanon," they hail from Florida (Hi Mike!) and are so far unsigned. I discovered them while compiling my "Joyce and Music" Web page, as their first CD "The Kingdom of Idiot Rock" contains songs based on the likes of Joyce, Pynchon, Borges, Eco, and others. So they sent me their CD, and I really liked it! It was produced by Frank Zappa's old Producer-guy, and their sound is very full, hooky, and muscular -- to me, they sound a but like a weird blend of They Might be Giants, XTC, Phish, and Camper Van Beethoven. While doing some research on them, I found one review that said: "If you enjoy . . . XTC, Squeeze, or Robyn Hitchcock, you already worship at the same temple - go buy the CD now. If you enjoy Clang, Primus, They Might Be Giants, or early Talking Heads, then PopCanon is like the girl next door -- encourage your friends to buy the CD and then steal it from them when they're out of town." I don't think they sound much like Robyn; but nevertheless I think they'd make a great opening band for, say, Big Rubber Shark. . . . PopCanon homepage: http://www.popcanon.com My "review" of their Joyce song, "Bloomsday": http://www.rpg.net/quail/libyrinth/joyce/music/pop_canon.html A page where you can buy their CD online and read reviews: http://www.cdbaby.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/buy/popcanon.htm?E+cdbaby - --Quail PS: I do not get any kickbacks from the group; in American dollars or Czech money. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Great Quail, Keeper of the Libyrinth: http://www.rpg.net/quail/libyrinth "Countlessness of livestories have netherfallen by this plage, flick as flowflakes, litters from aloft, like a waast wizzard all of whirlworlds. Now are all tombed to the mound, isges to isges, erde from erde . . . (Stoop) if you are abcedminded, to this claybook, what curious of signs (please stoop) in this allaphbed! Can you rede (since We and Thou had it out already) its world? . . . Speak to us of Emailia!" --James Joyce, Finnegans Wake ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Feb 1999 00:56:59 GMT From: dwdudic@erols.com (David W. Dudich) Subject: stalk On Thu, 25 Feb 1999 14:09:32 -0500 (EST), you wrote: > >>Maybe someday, but he hasn't shown up at the Hradcany since I started >>dropping in. I here Lou is afraid to even leave his apartment now; some >>wild-haired Brooklynite has been stalking him. > >Um, actually I'm stalking his girlfriend, Laurie. . . . > >- --Mousestalker II why bother? her albums make no sense....:-) -luther ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V8 #71 ******************************