From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V15 #210 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Tuesday, September 12 2006 Volume 15 : Number 210 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Barfing up Amazon recommendations [Eb ] Re: Barfing up Amazon recommendations ["Stewart C. Russell" ] Re: Minor musical reap [wojbearpig ] Re: Barfing up Amazon recommendations [Dolph Chaney ] New political songs [The Great Quail ] Re: i wish i was doing this [The Great Quail ] RE: New political songs ["Michael Wells" ] Re: Barfing up Amazon recommendations ["Spotted Eagle Ray" ] Re: Barfing up Amazon recommendations ["Spotted Eagle Ray" ] Sad reap, even if you hate her [Eb ] Re: Barfing up Amazon recommendations [Eb ] Re: Barfing up Amazon recommendations [Tom Clark ] Re: New political songs [Capuchin ] FW: Barfing up Amazon recommendations ["Bachman, Michael" ] RE: New political songs ["Bachman, Michael" ] Re: Minor musical reap ["Stewart C. Russell" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2006 14:47:28 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Barfing up Amazon recommendations I've probably tossed out some of these titles before, but...any thoughts on these albums? Some items I contemplate exploring more... Albert Mangelsdorff-Trilogue Live Ali Farka Toure-Savane Aloha-Some Echoes Art Brut-Bang Bang Rock & Roll Badfinger-Airwaves Big Star-Nobody Can Dance Black Rebel Motorcycle Club-Howl Bonniwell Music Machine-Beyond the Garage Brian Eno-January 07003: Bell Studies for the Clock of the Long Now Burnt Friedman-Secret Rhythms, Vol. 2 Caetano Veloso-Caetano Veloso: 1967 Chrysalis-Definition Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd-The Moon & the Melodies Cursive-Happy Hollow David Bowie-Bowie at the Beeb: Best of BBC Radio 68-72 [differences between these performances and the familiar versions?] David Sylvian-Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities David Sylvian-Blemish David Sylvian-Brilliant Trees David Sylvian-The Good Son vs. The Only Daughter: Blemish Remixes DNA-DNA on DNA Donovan-Barabajagal Donovan-Mellow Yellow Donovan-The Hurdy Gurdy Man Eluvium-Talk Amongst the Trees Excuse 17-Such Friends Are Dangerous Fairport Convention-Before the Moon Figurines-Skeletons Flaming Lips-20 Years of Weird: Flaming Lips 1986-2006 Four Tet-Everything Ecstatic Freeheat-Back on the Water Gavin Bryars-Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet Gene Clark-White Light Graham Parker-Songs of No Consequence Grapefruit-Around Grapefruit Grizzly Bear-Yellow House Heavens to Betsy-Calculated Hot Chip-The Warning Jaco Pastorius-Invitation Jaco Pastorius-Jaco Pastorius Jaco Pastorius-The Birthday Concert Jaco Pastorius-Word of Mouth Japan-Quiet Life Love on ma, Eb ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2006 18:11:03 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: Barfing up Amazon recommendations Eb wrote: > > Four Tet-Everything Ecstatic For those who like that sort of thing, that's the sort of thing they like. I think I slightly prefer my IDM from Manitoba/Caribou, but it's good enough. Didja see Little Miss Sunshine yet? cheers, Stewart (avoiding downtown TO like the plague 'cos of the film festival) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 10:07:39 +0200 From: Sebastian Hagedorn Subject: Re: Barfing up Amazon recommendations - --On 10. September 2006 14:47:28 -0700 Eb wrote: > Art Brut-Bang Bang Rock & Roll I like that one a lot. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 13:18:47 +0100 From: Rob Subject: Minor musical reap Arab Strap, perhaps best known for inspiring the the Belle & Sebastian song 'The Boy with the Arab Strap', are calling it a day with a farewell tour & compilation album. Pesonally, I prefer the solo material of Malcolm Middleton. Aidan Moffat, the other half of Arab Strap & the actual inspiration of the B&S song sounds like he's a bit of a twat. http://www.chemikal.co.uk/news/Compilation2.html And another minor reap, the original email address I subscribed to fegmaniax with 12 years ago finally disappeared over the weekend - it won't be missed, was getting way too much spam. Rob ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 08:56:46 -0400 From: wojbearpig Subject: Re: Minor musical reap one time at band camp, Rob (rcollingwood@gmail.com) said: >And another minor reap, the original email address I subscribed to >fegmaniax with 12 years ago finally disappeared over the weekend - it >won't be missed, was getting way too much spam. which reminds me, this summer, woj@remus.rutgers.edu also went the way of the dinosaur. so, if any of you clowns happen to have aliases for me that point to the rutgers address, now would be a good time to fix 'em. woj ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 08:20:34 -0500 From: Dolph Chaney Subject: Re: Barfing up Amazon recommendations At 04:47 PM 9/10/2006, Eb wrote: >I've probably tossed out some of these titles before, but...any >thoughts on these albums? Some items I contemplate exploring more... > >Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd-The Moon & the Melodies I heard some of these pieces on the soundtrack to "Mysterious Skin" -- very effective. >Flaming Lips-20 Years of Weird: Flaming Lips 1986-2006 Is this the collection of videos? I'd think that'd be fun to have around. >Gavin Bryars-Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet Apparently, there are two recordings of this, and it really matters which one you get. >Grizzly Bear-Yellow House I just heard this last week and was impressed. Pretty dramatic and "free" for indie rock. >Japan-Quiet Life >David Sylvian-Brilliant Trees These two are of a piece -- Sylvian in full-on new romantic mode, although by Brilliant Trees some jazz elements are settling in (mainly in Steve Jansen's growth as a drummer and the use of flugelhorn). Quiet Life is Japan's first album in this style and is therefore a bit tentative; it's not as consistent as Gentlemen Take Polaroids. >David Sylvian-Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities A collection of Sylvian's ambient stuff from the 80s. I love this for mellowing out but some would call it boring, ymmv. >David Sylvian-Blemish Haven't heard the remix album, but Blemish is a stunner. It's very sparse and loose, fragile sounding. - -- Dolph ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 10:06:07 -0400 From: The Great Quail Subject: New political songs I was thinking... I am surprised at how little good political music has emerged since 911 and the Iraq invasion. You'd think there'd be plenty of of material for some amazing works, but aside from "American Idiot," it's been run-of-the-mill. And a few big names with recent albums have been very mild on Bush and the war -- Public Enemy, Ice Cube, Bob Dylan.... I know Neil Young has his new anti-war album, but compared to the sublime "Prairie Wind," it seems tossed-off and forgettable. And Radiohead's stuff is more personal angst-y. Eminem's "Mosh" was good, though. I hope Patti Smith will do something less misguided than "Radio Baghdad." I am sure she has the anger and the talent to really come up with some good songs.... Thoughts? - --Quail ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 09:59:47 -0400 From: The Great Quail Subject: Re: i wish i was doing this > i'd have to hear the whole thing; but with that great couplet > ("upside-down M / i'm sick of your lies / you call it freedom / but it's > just fries") it must be up there. other politi-contenders include: Hmmm... I have to disagree. This is the exact reason why I dislike when Robyn gets directly political. It's just obvious and silly. Other songs like "Filthy Bird" are so much more effective, in my opinion. Robyn's strength lies in his obliqueness, his metaphor, his loopy ability to suddenly make unexpected connections. When he tries to say something too directly, I think it comes across as ham-fisted. Except in love songs. I think he really writes some beautiful and fairly direct love songs. - --Quail ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 10:26:36 -0500 From: "Michael Wells" Subject: RE: New political songs Quail: > I was thinking... I am surprised at how little good political music has emerged since 911 and the Iraq invasion. [snip] > I know Neil Young has his new anti-war album Neil actually said something rather similar not too long back, and while he was summarily lambasted for not knowing how much stuff is actually out there his point that it's not always easy to find is taken. He's since created a page to listen to and rate current political/protest tunes: http://www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/lwwsongspage.html I myself like Mark Erelli's "Seeds of Peace" currently sitting at #41, but of course YMMV. MW ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 08:55:20 -0700 From: "Spotted Eagle Ray" Subject: Re: Barfing up Amazon recommendations On 9/11/06, Sebastian Hagedorn wrote: > > --On 10. September 2006 14:47:28 -0700 Eb wrote: > > > Art Brut-Bang Bang Rock & Roll > > I like that one a lot. > Me, too. Seemingly gimmicky in a way, but really hard to resist. - -SER ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 10:56:29 -0500 From: Dolph Chaney Subject: RE: New political songs I'm not a great follower of protest music. The stuff I think is good makes me angry and upset, which I don't like to be -- a catch-22. My favorite recent album with political content (albeit expressed in personal terms) is Josh Ritter's THE ANIMAL YEARS. I loved his previous work, but he's taken a big step forward with this, particularly on "Thin Blue Flame" and "Girl In The War." (Not sure why both songs reference Laurel & Hardy, but idiosyncrasies make the world go 'round...) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 08:58:28 -0700 From: "Spotted Eagle Ray" Subject: Re: Barfing up Amazon recommendations On 9/10/06, Eb wrote: > > > Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd-The Moon & the Melodies If you like the Cocteaus from that period, it's pretty consistent with that stuff. > Gene Clark-White Light Superb, but I've blathered about that before. > > Heavens to Betsy-Calculated Oddly not the one HTB record I own. Interesting but not essential (more innovative than most Riot Grrrl stuff, but nowhere near as great as Sleater-Kinney.) SER ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 13:33:20 -0400 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: Barfing up Amazon recommendations Eb: >> Gene Clark-White Light SER: >Superb, but I've blathered about that before. Cue eerie background music (not a reference to Gene though): That's weird, I just started playing White Light before reading this string. Related Gene: On the Go-Betweens message board, Keith's bad drug influence (heroin)on Gram and Gram subsequently loosing interest in the Burritos verses hanging around Keith and the Stones has been discussed recently. Someone piped in and wrote if it wasn't Keith, a LA druggy like Arthur Lee or Gene Clark would have lead Gram astray from Chris Hillman's friendship and writing great music with the Burritos and Gram would still have been lost in drugland for years. I didn't agree. Michael B. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 13:11:42 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: Barfing up Amazon recommendations On 9/11/06, Bachman, Michael wrote: > > > On the Go-Betweens message board, Keith's bad drug influence (heroin)on > Gram > and Gram subsequently loosing interest in the Burritos verses hanging > around > Keith and the Stones has been discussed recently. Someone piped in and > wrote if it wasn't Keith, a LA druggy like Arthur Lee or Gene Clark would > have > lead Gram astray from Chris Hillman's friendship and writing great music > with the > Burritos and Gram would still have been lost in drugland for years. I > didn't agree. I'm not all that up on the history of Gram Parsons' drug life - but if the point of those someones was that, Keith Richards or not, GP probably would have found a way to heroin if heroin is what he sought, well, I'd have to agree with that. I don't think anyone, uh, twisted his arm - and it wasn't as if anything was hard to find in GP's milieu at the time (or so I've understood - obviously, I wasn't there). Especially if the intent was to blame Richards for GP's drug problems, that's stupid. People make their own decisions, at least unless there's some compelling force or situation - which I don't believe was the case here. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 11:42:00 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Sad reap, even if you hate her Anna Nicole Smith's 20-year-old son, of as-yet-unidentified causes? I remember seeing him in that E! reality show she did..... My musical discovery for the week is Aloha. Very interesting group. Kinda sound like Lou Barlow fronting Stereolab. ;) Eb ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 11:51:21 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: Barfing up Amazon recommendations >> Gene Clark-White Light > > Superb, but I've blathered about that before. I actually have that whole album on my hard drive...trying to get into it. I also have No Other (ditto), which doesn't seem as good. White Light is a tough one to judge. Every song STARTS like it's going to be great, but Clark has a fatal disinterest in writing a decent chorus. Too buried in folk tradition, I guess. He has so many songs which just come off like "verse...verse...instrumental break...verse...verse...fade out...." Hard for me to accept this. Leaves the songs seeming kinda stilted and anti-climactic, without much emotional dynamics. Eb ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 11:54:35 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: Barfing up Amazon recommendations On Sep 11, 2006, at 11:11 AM, 2fs wrote: > On 9/11/06, Bachman, Michael > wrote: >> >> >> On the Go-Betweens message board, Keith's bad drug influence >> (heroin)on >> Gram >> and Gram subsequently loosing interest in the Burritos verses hanging >> around >> Keith and the Stones has been discussed recently. Someone piped in >> and >> wrote if it wasn't Keith, a LA druggy like Arthur Lee or Gene >> Clark would >> have >> lead Gram astray from Chris Hillman's friendship and writing great >> music >> with the >> Burritos and Gram would still have been lost in drugland for years. I >> didn't agree. > > Especially if the intent was to blame Richards for GP's drug problems, > that's stupid. People make their own decisions, at least unless > there's some > compelling force or situation - which I don't believe was the case > here. Interesting coincidence as just this weekend I watched the GP tribute concert organized by his annoying daughter, Polly. Keith was well received at the show and even joked about "getting into trouble" with Gram. During his duet with Norah Jones on "Wild Horses", the backdrop showed vintage photos of Keith and Gram lounging around and playing acoustics (no needles could be seen though...). The one thing I came away withfrom the DVD was that nobody can really do a GP song justice. Dwight Yoakam's version of "Sin City" was almost unrecognizable, and the others were fairly bland and unispired. - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 12:49:18 -0700 (PDT) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: New political songs On Mon, 11 Sep 2006, The Great Quail wrote: > I was thinking... I am surprised at how little good political music has > emerged since 911 and the Iraq invasion. You'd think there'd be plenty of of > material for some amazing works, but aside from "American Idiot," it's been > run-of-the-mill. Eminem's Mosh is quite excellent. J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin _______________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 16:06:36 -0400 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: FW: Barfing up Amazon recommendations On Sep 11, 2006, at 11:11 AM, 2fs wrote: > On 9/11/06, Bachman, Michael > wrote: >> >> >>> On the Go-Betweens message board, Keith's bad drug influence >>> (heroin)on >>> Gram >>> and Gram subsequently loosing interest in the Burritos verses hanging >>> around >>> Keith and the Stones has been discussed recently. Someone piped in >>> and >>> wrote if it wasn't Keith, a LA druggy like Arthur Lee or Gene >>> Clark would >>> have >>> lead Gram astray from Chris Hillman's friendship and writing great >>> music >>> with the >>>Burritos and Gram would still have been lost in drugland for years. I >>> didn't agree. > >> Especially if the intent was to blame Richards for GP's drug problems, >> that's stupid. People make their own decisions, at least unless >> there's some >> compelling force or situation - which I don't believe was the case >> here. >Interesting coincidence as just this weekend I watched the GP tribute >concert organized by his annoying daughter, Polly. Keith was well >received at the show and even joked about "getting into trouble" with >Gram. During his duet with Norah Jones on "Wild Horses", the >backdrop showed vintage photos of Keith and Gram lounging around and >playing acoustics (no needles could be seen though...). >The one thing I came away withfrom the DVD was that nobody can really >do a GP song justice. Dwight Yoakam's version of "Sin City" was >almost unrecognizable, and the others were fairly bland and unispired. The concert could certainly have been better with Emmylou Harris, Chris Hillman, Bernie Leadon. At lease they sang with Gram and would have had a better shot at conveying the feelings that Gram infused in his songs when he was on stage. According to Pamela Des Barres, when Gram was having an on night he would literally bring tears to the audience on songs like Hot Burrito #1 (I'm Your Toy). Michael B. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 15:16:49 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: New political songs On 9/11/06, The Great Quail wrote: > > I was thinking... I am surprised at how little good political music has > emerged since 911 and the Iraq invasion. You'd think there'd be plenty of > of > material for some amazing works, but aside from "American Idiot," it's > been > run-of-the-mill. And a few big names with recent albums have been very > mild > on Bush and the war -- Public Enemy, Ice Cube, Bob Dylan.... > > I know Neil Young has his new anti-war album, but compared to the sublime > "Prairie Wind," it seems tossed-off and forgettable. And Radiohead's stuff > is more personal angst-y. Eminem's "Mosh" was good, though. I think one reason there's relatively little good political music now (compared to, say, Vietnam era) is that, politically, we're either (your choice) less naive or more lost and despairing. My impression is that in the sixties, a lot of people genuinely felt a huge change was on the way (in some respects they were right) and that they could make a difference by singing clearly and directly about things that seemed (to most) perfectly clear in terms of right and wrong ad in terms of what to do about them. Whereas now...I think there's a prevailing sense of hopelessness, a sense that even though a lot of people know about all the (pardon my technical language) very bad shit going down at so many levels, it seems little can actually be done, little that can make a difference. In part I think it's because (in the US) we don't seem to have an actual opposition party: the Democrats, particularly those getting most the press, are nearly as bad as the Republicans. So it feels like hammering a twelve-foot-thick brick wall with your bare fists. Even aside from hopelessness, I think people don't want to oversimplify, both because I think people recognize things aren't completely simple or straightforward (if 9/11 is the catalyst, after all the US *was* attacked) and because, well, simple direct protest songs get immediately shunted into the "sixties retread" wastebasket. (The media is pathetic here: you simply cannot read about any political protest at all without some mention of the sixties - as if the whole notion of political protest began and ended then.) I could blather on endlessly - but I'll stop now & see what anyone else might have to say. * oops - except for one more thing: there's just more *music* now, so if there were the same number of protest songs, they'd be far less visible. The commercial stranglehold on music is, I think, much more thorough now than it was then - you could still get your record played on an FM station if one DJ liked it, and if others were paying attention, that could generate a reasonable amount of sales. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 16:49:47 -0400 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: New political songs - -----Original Message----- From: owner-fegmaniax@smoe.org [mailto:owner-fegmaniax@smoe.org]On Behalf Of 2fs Sent: Monday, September 11, 2006 4:17 PM To: Not Reg Subject: Re: New political songs On 9/11/06, The Great Quail wrote: > > I was thinking... I am surprised at how little good political music has > emerged since 911 and the Iraq invasion. You'd think there'd be plenty of > of > material for some amazing works, but aside from "American Idiot," it's > been > run-of-the-mill. And a few big names with recent albums have been very > mild > on Bush and the war -- Public Enemy, Ice Cube, Bob Dylan.... > > I know Neil Young has his new anti-war album, but compared to the sublime > "Prairie Wind," it seems tossed-off and forgettable. And Radiohead's stuff > is more personal angst-y. Eminem's "Mosh" was good, though. Jeff came back with: >I think one reason there's relatively little good political music now >(compared to, say, Vietnam era) is that, politically, we're either (your >choice) less naive or more lost and despairing. My impression is that in the >sixties, a lot of people genuinely felt a huge change was on the way (in >some respects they were right) and that they could make a difference by >singing clearly and directly about things that seemed (to most) perfectly >clear in terms of right and wrong ad in terms of what to do about them. >Whereas now...I think there's a prevailing sense of hopelessness, a sense >that even though a lot of people know about all the (pardon my technical >language) very bad shit going down at so many levels, it seems little can >actually be done, little that can make a difference. In part I think it's >because (in the US) we don't seem to have an actual opposition party: the >Democrats, particularly those getting most the press, are nearly as bad as >the Republicans. So it feels like hammering a twelve-foot-thick brick wall >with your bare fists. I think it's the hopelessness factor. Of the few Democrats to speak out against Iraq from the get go, like Senators Levin from Michigan or Biden from NJ, they are either not running or have no chance. Biden has been quiet clear and concise about the things that are wrong with the current Iraq strategy and what needs to be done to correct it. Hilary Clinton I would put in the "nearly as bad as the Republicans" column. The fear mongering that Bush, Chaney and Rumsfeld spread also has a numbing effect. They have been particularly over the edge the last couple of weeks, as if it's the only tactic that they have left to campaign with. Vote Democratic, and they will appease the terrorists and you will have WWIII on your hands seems to be the message coming out of Bush Co. Michael B. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 16:59:54 -0400 From: The Great Quail Subject: Re: New political songs > I think one reason there's relatively little good political music now > (compared to, say, Vietnam era) is that, politically, we're either (your > choice) less naive or more lost and despairing. I see your point, but that doesn't account for punk rock and reggae. There was a lot of amazingly good political hip hop in the 1980s and 1990s, too. True, a lot of it had to do with identity, but there are some pretty good things there about Bush I and the Gulf War and so on. > and because, well, simple direct protest songs get immediately shunted into > the "sixties retread" wastebasket. Well, I think the entire notion of "protest song" became dated the second it was turned into a consumer marker.... I suppose I just want to hear something angry and clever that does not embarrass itself.... - --Q ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2006 07:18:34 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: Minor musical reap Rob wrote: > > Pesonally, I prefer the solo material of Malcolm Middleton. I do too -- didn't realise he was half of the Strap. Stewart (a bit slow) ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V15 #210 ********************************