From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V11 #412 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Thursday, December 5 2002 Volume 11 : Number 412 Today's Subjects: ----------------- b-b-b-born [Miles Goosens ] Re: Would I like... The Soft Boys? ["Charlotte Tupman" ] Re: Hey Max, did you go to this one? [Ken Weingold ] Re: reap ["FS Thomas | at work" ] ...like I would [Tom Clark ] Re: Re: reap ["Stewart C. Russell" ] Interpol [Christopher Gross ] Top 10 woes and drunkenness ["Rex.Broome" ] Re: Top 10 woes and drunkenness [Miles Goosens ] RE: Lips, Flaming ["da9ve stovall" ] CDAmazon [Tom Clark ] Re: Hey Max, did you go to this one? ["Maximilian Lang" ] Hairy Putter/covers [grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan)] RE: CDAmazon [Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey ] Re: Would _I_ like the Flaming Lips? [Caroline Smith ] flame on [drew ] Re: lee flame on nails [Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey ] Interpol [Eb ] 0% RH-100% PCS are evil [Mike Swedene ] Re: Would I like...The Soft Boys? ["Brian Hoare" ] Re: Flaming Lips ["Brian Hoare" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 04 Dec 2002 13:15:36 -0600 From: Miles Goosens Subject: b-b-b-born At 12:59 PM 12/4/2002 -0600, Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey wrote: >I'm not sure about "Born in the USA" - I mean, yeah, it's specifically about >Vietnam vets, but I think Bruce's lyrics are hardy enough to survive a certain >amount of adaptation - or even change the word "yellow." I'm fond of the Stanley Clarke Band's 1985 cover, which put the song into a hip-hop/funk atmosphere, and simply putting the song's words in the mouth of a black man (black Americans made up a disproportionate number of the ground forces in Vietnam), gives the chorus an even greater air of disillusionment. In fact, Jeff should have this song nearby if a certain package landed in Milwaukee last week (even if he can't play it on his malfunctioning office CD-R drive). My favorite version of the song is Bruce's ferocious acoustic slide-blues version as played on the '95-'96 solo tour -- by late 1996, the song had lost its chorus entirely and had become a white-hot poker of rage against hypocrisy that almost defied any attempts to sing along, and I actually heard conversations among exiting audience members where the subject was "why didn't he play 'Born in the USA?'" The 1999-2000 acoustic version that Bruce played on the E Street Band tour was largely the same, but with the vestigal chorus making a return. later, Miles ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Dec 2002 19:12:23 +0000 From: "Charlotte Tupman" Subject: Re: Would I like... The Soft Boys? The Soft Boys are indeed playing in Bristol on the 26th January. Thanks, Mike! It will be a particular joy to see Kimberley bouncing around in his usual happy way wearing his 'life couldn't be better' face... I've just joined this mailing list and thought I should say hello to everybody. _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 11:30:19 -0800 From: "Jason Brown (Echo Services Inc)" Subject: reap CD Now =20 http://www.cdnow.com =20 =20 Jason Brown MSWeb Best Bets http://msw/=20 =20 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 14:32:56 -0500 From: Ken Weingold Subject: Re: Hey Max, did you go to this one? On Tue, Dec 3, 2002, Maximilian Lang wrote: > >Since no one's mentioned it yet, last night Ray guested with Yo La Tengo > >as part of YLT's annual Hanukkah shows at Maxwell's. He joined the band > >for a three-song encore, e.g. "This Is Where I Belong," "Animal Farm" and > >"Till the End of the Day." > > > > > >I, uh, wish I'd been there. > > > >Jill > > F$%K, no. We had John Cameron Mitchell. I am by no means complaining, he > was brilliant. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, why did I have to miss Ray Davies. Great, we got the crap we got, and last night they got Ray. Fuck. Fuckety fuck fuck fuck. The YLT show we saw I thought was ruined by these guys. It was like putting ketchup on fancy French food, or something like that. By far the least enjoyable of all YLT shows I have seen. - -Ken ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 14:37:43 -0500 From: "FS Thomas | at work" Subject: Re: reap > CD Now They've been rolled into Amazon?!? Quietly?!? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Dec 2002 11:42:44 -0800 From: Tom Clark Subject: ...like I would Random responses to recent writings: on 12/4/02 4:15 AM, Brian Hoare at arrowodd@hotmail.com wrote: >Would _I_ like the Flaming Lips? You can hear the entire Yoshimi album by plugging the following URL into your QuickTime 6 player: http://www.flaminglips.com/media/apple/launch.mov on 12/4/02 7:21 AM, Michael R Godwin at M.R.Godwin@bath.ac.uk wrote: > I don't get this. Are the hamsters playing the Angels? If so, I would call > it miscasting - surely something more in the line of the Wild Wooders is > needed. Or are they playing the musicians? I can just about see a hamster > cast as Grace Slick, but not as the Dead or the Stones. Maybe the > hamsters are just the poor bloody infantry in front of the stage? I'm truly sorry I ever brought it up. Really. on 12/4/02 10:36 AM, Rex.Broome at Rex.Broome@preferredmedia.com wrote: > That's part of the appeal. There's also no "there" there on the internet, > so when I imagine living in Big Sur I similarly imagine doing a lot of > writing which I presumably would send to my imaginary publishers via the > internet, thus being totally nowhere by most human measures. Sitting in my > no-there-there land. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy... ;^) > Anyway, Interpol... does anyone else hear the breathtaking originality on > that record, or does the lack thereof not matter terribly? Like I said, I > enjoy the album a good deal; I just dunno if I respect it as much as a lot > of people do. I like the album. The sound is definitely reminiscent of Joy Division. Yet, listening to JD I always have the feeling of dank Manchester nights. Interpol only occasionally evoke the kind of emotion I think they're trying to achieve (yes, I know they're from NYC). Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, it's a good album, but not consistently good. Welcome Charlotte! - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 14:53:06 -0500 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: Re: reap Ferris wrote: > > They've been rolled into Amazon?!? > Quietly?!? let's hope this stops them spamming me ... I bought one CD, once, from them, and turned off all the mailing options -- they still send me mail. Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Dec 2002 15:00:37 -0500 (EST) From: Christopher Gross Subject: Interpol Eb via Rex: > >>What's more, I believe it's going to end up in my top 10. Yup, Mary, > >>I caught your addiction: Interpol. I'll chime in with a brief "me too" here. (Only I can claim to be extra cool because I first heard the CD at Mary's apartment....) I can't answer the question of how original it is or how much it sounds like the Chameleons, but I know what I like. Thanks Mary! This week I'm interviewing candidates for a part-time permanent position in our department. Would it be unethical to pick someone based on their musical tastes? Personally, I think it should be okay as long as I'm upfront about it. - --Chris ______________________________________________________________________ Christopher Gross On the Internet, nobody knows I'm a dog. chrisg@gwu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 13:22:36 -0800 From: "Rex.Broome" Subject: Top 10 woes and drunkenness Miles: >>YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT is going to be my #1 of 2002, or at least in a tie with >>Wire's two READ AND BURN EPs. Miles, are you kinda doing what I'm thinking of doing and considering R&B 01 & 02 "one" album? Because I gotta say that taken together they are the most exciting and invigorating thing I heard this year. Otherwise my own Top 10 is proving to be a real pain... some really admirable stuff that I also enjoyed but didn't find as addictive as I'd hoped (Costello/Earle/Lips); things that sound good but feel a little insubstantial (Doves/Interpol etc.); and albums which are mildly disappointing for the artist but still good for the year (Cornershop/Negro Problem/Neil Young)... just no through-line. A few to parse a little further, a few to reconsider, and a few yet to hear, but I dunno other than high marks for the Soft Boys, Sleater-Kinney, Sonic Youth, and probably Stew (good year for "S", I guess). As usual I'll probably buy my favorite 2002 album in 2004 or so. Wow, a Paul Westerberg record scraping the bottom of Amazon's Top 10? Maybe I should have taken that a little more seriously. Then again, look at that list... or worse yet, check out the customer picks. _______ Me, then Kay: >>>>Possibly because I myself go oddly literary when I've had a few. >>Care to explain, that sounds interesting? I bet it's common around here. I'm a happy/funny drunk, and while I may seem opinionated here, I'm pretty mellow and reserved with my opinions in day-to-day life. A few libations (spodee-odeee) and my enthusiasm for all forms of art & lit come bubbling up, and along with it comes a slew of obscure references, quotes, effusive recommendations, and general holding forth on all kinds of oddball topics. Plus an apparent belief that if I can keep a bunch of people blathering with me on such topics, we will actually figure something out. Which can happen, although it's likely to involve pulling a lot of reference books of the shelf, experimenting with origami, or everyone taking their clothes off. So thank god most of my friends are both intelligent and attractive. - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Dec 2002 15:35:48 -0600 From: Miles Goosens Subject: Re: Top 10 woes and drunkenness At 01:22 PM 12/4/2002 -0800, Rex.Broome wrote: >Miles: >>>YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT is going to be my #1 of 2002, or at least in a tie >with >>Wire's two READ AND BURN EPs. > >Miles, are you kinda doing what I'm thinking of doing and considering R&B 01 >& 02 "one" album? Because I gotta say that taken together they are the most >exciting and invigorating thing I heard this year. No, I'm going to list them separately. I don't think they're meant to be taken as a single listening experience, but as short, sharp, and separate sonic polemics. Colin has talked about there being a "Read & Burn" album compiled from the EPs, but probably not before a third limited edition comes out. Any reconfiguring is also likely to entail radical remixing, creating a substantially altered product. It does mean that my entry for #1 might end up being an essay about all three of these releases rather than a more standard "#) [artist, TITLE] [1-4 clever sentences about release]" sorta thing. >Wow, a Paul Westerberg record scraping the bottom of Amazon's Top 10? Maybe >I should have taken that a little more seriously. Giving away a sentence (in draft form, anyway) from the MONO entry in my year-end review: "There is no greater indictment of Paul Westerberg's post-Replacements career than the fact that this piece of willfully lazy, tossed-off crap is being hailed by fans as the best thing he's done since the Replacements." And STEREO is worse. Rex, before I forget to say it, best wishes on a safe, happy, and healthy baby arrival. later, Miles ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Dec 2002 13:36:36 -0800 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: Top 10 woes and drunkenness on 12/4/02 1:22 PM, Rex.Broome at Rex.Broome@preferredmedia.com wrote: > A few libations (spodee-odeee) and my enthusiasm for all > forms of art & lit come bubbling up, and along with it comes a slew of > obscure references, quotes, effusive recommendations, and general holding > forth on all kinds of oddball topics. Plus an apparent belief that if I can > keep a bunch of people blathering with me on such topics, we will actually > figure something out. Which can happen, although it's likely to involve > pulling a lot of reference books of the shelf, experimenting with origami, > or everyone taking their clothes off. So thank god most of my friends are > both intelligent and attractive. I wanna party with YOU, cowboy! - -t "two 'Stripes' references in six weeks?" c ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 2002 13:42:40 -0800 From: "da9ve stovall" Subject: RE: Lips, Flaming >From: "Michael E. Kupietz, wearing a pointy hat" Subject: >Re: Would I like... >I don't know the Flaming Lips as well as some but I can >tell you two things: > >- - They put on a great stage show last Tuesday, pretty >much comprising of a video screen, 20 teenagers dressed up >in animal costumes I've seen the Flaming Lips live three times now - the only three times they've played in Indiana - once in late '93, once on Easter Sunday in 2000, and once a few weeks ago opening for and backing Beck. Back in '93, they were still a shoe-gazing noise-fest, though with amazing attention to detail. They pulled off every bit of their studio-intensive layering with aplomb. I don't know if I'll ever find out for sure, but that Easter Sunday gig in 2000 may have been the first show featuring people in animal suits. There was one solitary guy in a bunny suit, walking around in the crowd, tossing confetti - I figured it was a special thing just for the holiday, but I guess not. I think Dolph summed them up rather well - the particular itches the Lips scratch for me involve the intersection of goofy-but-earnest bug-eyed good cheer and either a) melodic guitar-squalling (pre-Zaireeka), or b) fractal complexity (Zaireeka and on). Either way, their melodies are infectious, sometimes willfully obtuse, and amost always memorable. If I had to pick the best few introductory albums/songs, they'd be: _The Soft Bulletin_/"The Spark That Bled" (? - I'm pretty sure that's the right title) - there's an INTENSELY Led Zeppelin-esque break near the end of this one (right after the line, "and it seemed to cause a chain reaction. . ." WHAP!) where Steve Drozd and Wayne Coyne sound more like Bonzo and Page than anyone has in years, and _Zaireeka_/"The Big Old Bug is the New Baby Now" (the 4-disc one - each disc is more than listenable on its own; I've yet to play more than 2 of them simultaneously) for the latter period, and for the former: _Hit to Death in the Future Head_/"Talkin' Bout the Smilin' Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants to Live Forever)", and _Transmissions From the Satellite Heart_/"Slow Nerve Burn" -featuring the most bombastic, overdriven kick-drum in history. _Oh My Gawd! The Flaming Lips_/"One Million-Billionth of a Millisecond on a Sunday Morning" - which may as well be a long-lost early Pink Floyd track. You should be able to find most of those available for streaming at any decent online CD store - www.djangos.com, www.cduniverse.com, whatever, . . . da9ve ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Dec 2002 14:20:30 -0800 From: Tom Clark Subject: CDAmazon Now I'm pissed. I used to to use CDNow as a reference tool to explore discographies and track listings, especially now that I'm trying to provide dates for all my ripped music. They were really helpful in tracking down the info for the tracks on all my compilation CD's. Now Amazon has done away with all that info in favor of more S&M (sales & marketing) links. Fuckers. - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Dec 2002 17:28:01 -0500 From: "Maximilian Lang" Subject: Re: Hey Max, did you go to this one? >From: Ken Weingold >Great, we got the crap we got, and last night they got Ray. Fuck. >Fuckety fuck fuck fuck. The YLT show we saw I thought was ruined by >these guys. It was like putting ketchup on fancy French food, or >something like that. By far the least enjoyable of all YLT shows I >have seen. > > >-Ken I dunno, I liked it quite a bit but I like jazz, alot...a whole lot...a whole very lot. Listening to the recording it has grown on me, I think it may be one of the best concerts of the year for me. I still would trade it all for Ray Davies though, MOTHERFUCKER!!!!!!!!! Effity eff eff too, Max PS. Jazz IS fancy french food! _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 14:28:43 -0800 From: "Jason Brown (Echo Services Inc)" Subject: RE: CDAmazon I think you can still access the old site at cdnowpbc.com for how long I don't know. - -----Original Message----- From: Tom Clark [mailto:tclark@mac.com] Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2002 2:21 PM To: Detonating in a Ten Ton Truck Subject: CDAmazon Now I'm pissed. I used to to use CDNow as a reference tool to explore discographies and track listings, especially now that I'm trying to provide dates for all my ripped music. They were really helpful in tracking down the info for the tracks on all my compilation CD's. Now Amazon has done away with all that info in favor of more S&M (sales & marketing) links. Fuckers. - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 11:39:31 +1300 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: Hairy Putter/covers >PS The only possible casting for Dumbledore is Peter O'Toole (or possibly >Ian Richardson?) they'd work well. O'Toole in particular would be pretty damn fine - Richardson can be perhaps a little more sinister than is called for. How about Richard Attenborough? >Altamont with hamsters - genius... I was thinking maybe a recreation of >Stop Making Sense with monster trucks. Or Storefront Hitchcock with >speciality cheese. and now, the townswomen of Batley will recreate the Battle of Agincourt... >I'm not sure about "Born in the USA" - I mean, yeah, it's specifically about >Vietnam vets, but I think Bruce's lyrics are hardy enough to survive a certain >amount of adaptation - or even change the word "yellow." ISTR Stanley Clarke doing a great cover of this. James James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand. =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= .-=-.-=-.-=-.- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-. -.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= You talk to me as if from a distance =-.-=-. And I reply with impressions chosen from another time -=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 16:44:04 -0600 From: Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey Subject: RE: CDAmazon Quoting "Jason Brown (Echo Services Inc)" : > I think you can still access the old site at cdnowpbc.com for how long I > don't know. That's just the crappy "Preferred Buyer's Club" (a/k/a the online version of BMG Music Club: it uses their CDs, not the real ones), and has only those titles available. ..Jeff J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society www.uwm.edu/~jenor/ADS.html :: we make everything you need, and you need everything we make ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 17:50:24 -0500 From: Caroline Smith Subject: Re: Would _I_ like the Flaming Lips? I'm quite fond of the Flaming Lips. Call me mushy, but the lyrics to "Do You Realize" are some of the best I've heard in ages. There's a recent interview with Wayne Coyne, energetic happy frontman of the Flaming Lips here (he requests "Lucifer Sam" and makes a reference to Robyn Hitchcock and drug-taking!): http://kcrw.com/show/or and you can find a wealth of music and eye candy on their website: http://www.flaminglips.com/main.php Apologies if someone else has already provided this info to the list. I just re-joined the list today! Caroline On Wednesday, December 4, 2002, at 01:30 PM, Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey wrote: > It should also be noted that fans of guitar freakouts should steer > towards > material preceding _The Soft Bulletin_, while fans of lush textures > who do not > require much in the way of guitar noise will be more interested in the > last few > releases from SB onward. > > > ..Jeff > > J e f f r e y N o r m a n > The Architectural Dance Society > www.uwm.edu/~jenor/ADS.html > :: sex, drugs, revolt, Eskimos, atheism ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 18:42:20 -0500 From: Ken Weingold Subject: Re: Hey Max, did you go to this one? On Wed, Dec 4, 2002, Maximilian Lang wrote: > > PS. Jazz IS fancy french food! Yeah, but would you put French food with... ummm... French food... ? Umm, wait.... :-/ - -Ken ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 16:56:28 -0800 (PST) From: drew Subject: flame on That Amazon list sucked. > From: "Brian Hoare" > > Looking at the list is a catalyst to ask a question that has been on my mind > of late. Would _I_ like the Flaming Lips? Looking at the subject lines in the digest, I predict that you've gotten plenty of answers to this question. My short take is this: I own _The Soft Bulletin_ and am impressed by it but the truth is that in practice I rarely play more than a few songs that I really like. I bought the new album solely on the basis of the title song and nothing else on it is quite as enjoyable...the melodies are kind of unwieldy, though the music is interesting enough. The most confident statement I can make is this: try before you buy. I listened to the Wilco album recently and found it pleasant but far from overwhelming. I checked out a sample of Interpol on Amazon (the full track of "NYC"); the descriptions sounded good, but I thought the song needed a different vocalist and all-new lyrics ("subway is a porno"? please) before I would really like it. Comparisons to Joy Division seemed odd; to me it sounded like nothing so much as a slightly spryer Coldplay. Eb, what's the hook for you? > From: Dolph Chaney > * So. Much. Ear. Candy. Warning: this depends very heavily on your definition of "ear candy." > * Wayne Coyne is a great lyricist and melodist. And this depends very heavily on your taste in lyrics and melodies. > From: "Michael E. Kupietz, wearing a pointy hat" > > - - a few years ago they released an album on 4 CDs which had to be played > simultaneously. _Zaireeka_. It's cooler than it sounds (see, to me, it sounded amazingly dorky). The easiest way to play it is to rip it to mp3 and run four instances of your mp3 player. > From: "Stewart C. Russell" > > Kay wrote: > > > No Lee as Dumbledore. Hes too typecast as a bady. > > He was a memorable good guy in Gormenghast. Um...this is _Gormenghast_ we're talking about, where even the "good guys" are creepy as all fuck. > From: "Rex.Broome" > > Anyhow, suddenly you have a word for uptight which literally means "of the > anus"... a distinction which, ironically, few genuinely anal-retentive > people would be able to countenance. In fact it's closer in meaning to > another slang term which means something more like "jerk" or "obnoxious > person". It doesn't really mean "uptight". It means "obsessive about organization and details," which I think you said at one point, but I'm not anal enough to UnCut and go find out (gotta get a different editor installed). I am anal enough to point out that this is a fairly anal observation you make here (pedants are anal, with no exceptions that I can think of). I rather like the shortened form myself, since it has a nice connotation of disappearing up one's own (or perhaps someone else's, but same result ultimately) anus. If anyone's still reading: I've always thought a lot of Tori Amos songs would be tough to cover; hard, for example, for me to sing "Silent All These Years" convincingly. And what would it mean for me to sing "Marianne"? Or "Song for Eric" (not that I would, ugh)? Some songs just feel too personal to work as covers. - -- drew at stormgreen dot com http://www.stormgreen.com/~drew/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 19:20:19 -0600 From: Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey Subject: Re: lee flame on nails Quoting drew : > I checked out a sample of Interpol > on Amazon (the full track of "NYC"); the descriptions sounded > good, but I thought the song needed a different vocalist and > all-new lyrics ("subway is a porno"? please) before I would > really like it. Comparisons to Joy Division seemed odd; to > me it sounded like nothing so much as a slightly spryer Coldplay. That's in some ways an atypical track: quieter, moodier, fewer guitars. And yeah, that's a suck-ass line. > _Zaireeka_. It's cooler than it sounds (see, to me, it > sounded amazingly dorky). The easiest way to play it is > to rip it to mp3 and run four instances of your mp3 player. Or you can burn a CD with all four tracks overlaid (assuming you have a sound editor that allows you to do so). What's interesting is that (as the liner notes imply) the tracks do *not* sync up exactly: the different discs' versions are of slightly different lengths. I tried to edit them so they would sync up...and if I were Mr. Sophisticated Digital Engineer, I probably might have been able to do so. Instead, I decided that the occasion moments of out-of-phase weirdness were part of the listening experience. Oh - and I got rid of the annoying announcement things that allow you to sync up the tracks. (Another CD to be reburned to get rid of annoying inter-track distractions: that 2-CD Future Pilot remix thingy with the wonky Mac voices. Annoying as fuck, that. ..Jeff, fond of profanities today. J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society www.uwm.edu/~jenor/ADS.html :: it's not your meat :: --Mr. Toad np: Damon & Naomi _Playback Singers_ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 18:44:17 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Interpol >Eb, what's the hook for you? The groove...the harmonic combination of the guitars, bass and voice (building chords with pulsing, one-note repetitions), as the more "free" drumming adds a needed spark of spontaneity underneath.... Also, just the sheer *confidence* of the thing. For a debut album, it's remarkably poised and self-assured. I don't really approach it from a Joy Division/gloom-rock angle -- it's more like a Sonic Youth appeal for me. Shifting guitar layers. I didn't expect it to like it as much as I do, but I dig it quite a bit. I'm bumping those dudes way up my "Still unseen in concert" list. Otherwise.... I didn't hear the new Flaming Lips album until quite recently, and when I finally did, I was disappointed. The ambience just doesn't feel like a "band" anymore. It's like Coyne recorded the whole thing in the studio himself, slipping in a hired drum track now and then. I picture him sedately singing the album while seated at a mike behind the console, flicking switches with either hand as he sings...it just doesn't feel enough like "rock 'n' roll" to me. Similarly, I think the album is too relentlessly mellow. I'd vote for The Soft Bulletin as the best Lips album. I would also highly recommend Transmissions From the Satellite Heart and In a Priest Driven Ambulance. I finalized a top 10 of 2002 today but I'm hesitant to post it, due to the unheard albums which I previously cited. I feel like my list might change, after a few more purchases. In particular, I listened to some clips of that Guided by Voices disc the other day, and jeez, it really sounded good to me.... Eb ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 22:44:32 -0800 (PST) From: Mike Swedene Subject: 0% RH-100% PCS are evil My friend sent me this... more proof that MACS are the "good side" and that the PC is in the realm of the DARK SIDE: http://www.burnoutpc.com/index.php?page=reviews&review_id=123 Herbie np -> "Help The Aged" Pulp ===== - --------------------------------------------- View my Websight & CDR Trade page at: http://midy.topcities.com/ _____________________________________________ Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 05 Dec 2002 08:37:52 +0000 From: "Brian Hoare" Subject: Re: Would I like...The Soft Boys? MRG: >It has been drawn to my attention that the Fleece & Firkin in Bristol is >advertising a Soft Boys gig on Sunday 26 Jan 2003: > > >#10 in advance, phone Credit Card Hotline 0117 929 9008 >However, there is no confirmation of this at www.thesoftboys.com That's a few days after the Dublin show so it is quite possible. I'll give the ticket people a call later on. Brian _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 05 Dec 2002 09:31:59 +0000 From: "Brian Hoare" Subject: Re: Flaming Lips Thanks to all those who replied. In the light of Dolph's ringing endorsement and the lack of "over rated talentless sucksters" sentiments among the "they don't do it for me" posts I will follow my curiosity and see if the local shop has one of the last two albums. "psychedelic version of Soft Cell" isn't enough to scare me off, Godders but the Golden Shot image is still troubling me. I tried a few of the A'zon samples which wasn't enough to get into the music but proved that I could cope with the singing voice. I'm up for a bit of speculative buying at the moment. Brian _________________________________________________________________ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V11 #412 ********************************