From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V16 #333 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Thursday, September 13 2007 Volume 16 : Number 333 Today's Subjects: ----------------- reap [lep ] Re: Nina Nastasia/Jim White ["Stewart C. Russell" ] RE: My name is "Eb": Somebody get me a cheeseburger ["Bachman, Michael" <] Re: My name is ["David Stovall" ] Re: My name is "Bonzo", and when I jack off, it means I'm very sad (but also happy in a way) [2fs ] Re: tl;dr (0% Roback content) [2fs ] Re: My name is "Eb": Somebody get me a cheeseburger [Rex ] Re: My name is "Bonzo", and when I jack off, it means I'm very sad (but also happy in a way) [Capuchin ] Re: tl;dr episode iv: a new hope (sandoval) [kevin ] Re: Nazi Whores [kevin ] Re: tl;dr (0% Roback content) [kevin ] Re: My name is "G-d", and when I jack off, it means I'm very sad (but also happy in a way) [Christopher Gro] Re: My name is [kevin ] Re: tl;dr episode iv: a new hope (sandoval) [kevin ] Re: Frankenfish anyone? [Steve Talkowski ] Re: My name is "G-d", and when I jack off, it means I'm very sad (but also happy in a way) [2fs ] Re: tl;dr episode iv: a new hope (sandoval) [Rex ] tl;dr: radio headquarters, we're running low on dub and paisley! [Rex Subject: reap alex, parrott, 30 + x years: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/09/11/death_of_gifted_parrot_stuns_scientists/ special condolences to james. xo - -- - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "People with opinions just go around bothering one another." - The Buddha ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 07:40:08 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: Nina Nastasia/Jim White djini@voicenet.com wrote: > > Has anyone seen Nina Nastasia and/or Jim White in concert? The WEJ Jim White is definitely worth seeing. Saw him on his first tour in the UK (possibly even his first show there). Great show. Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 09:31:15 -0400 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: My name is "Eb": Somebody get me a cheeseburger - -----Original Message----- From: owner-fegmaniax@smoe.org [mailto:owner-fegmaniax@smoe.org] On Behalf Of michael wells Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 7:48 PM To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Subject: RE: My name is "Eb": Somebody get me a cheeseburger Tom: > Shank Hall, Milwaukee 11/2 > Southgate House, Newport, KY 11/8 > Music Mill, Indianapolis, IN 11/10 > Triple Door, Seattle, 11/28-29 Mr. Wells wrote: >Interesting stops, no? >Shank is a surprisingly enjoyable place to catch a show; the sound is great >- for a rectangular room - and it's near a trendy/university area. ISTR getting a decent AUD recording there the most >recent time Robyn played. Plus Jeffrey might actually go this time around. >I see Schuba's (Chicago) has the Saturday night following Milwaukee un-announced...hmmm... >It's about damn time, Looks like a decent road trip to Milwaukee and Chicago (If Shuba's is a tour stop). I'll be going for sure, as I have plenty of vacation time left to burn this year. It would be great to see Robyn in Michigan as well to complete the hat trick. Michael B. NP Kirsty MacColl - Kite. I just picked this cd up, and I heartily recommend it to all fegs. I have been on a Kirsty kick lately, as I just got Tropical Brainstorm and just ordered Titanic Day. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 09:39:25 -0400 From: "David Stovall" Subject: Re: My name is > I don't know how official it is, but Portland on 12/1: > http://ticketswest.rdln.com/Artist.aspx?evt=57432 > > > Also: > Shank Hall, Milwaukee 11/2 > Southgate House, Newport, KY 11/8 > Music Mill, Indianapolis, IN 11/10 > Triple Door, Seattle, 11/28-29 > > Interesting stops, no? > The Music Mill is a perfect venue for RH. Seats a couple hundred with standing room for a lot more, good-to-excellent sound, nice PA placement for not obstructing one's view, very clean and "shiny" (as remarked by at least two, maybe more acts I've seen there - Richard Thompson, Over the Rhine, and possibly Adrian Belew, maybe one of the Bears, and/or the Ditty Bops,...), and pretty cool, low-key staff. I'll be there and taping if at all possible. d9 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 09:33:30 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: My name is "Bonzo", and when I jack off, it means I'm very sad (but also happy in a way) On 9/13/07, Jeff Dwarf wrote: > > 2fs wrote: > > So whore they using to play drums? > > > > Oh dear - left out an apostrophe. Wouldn't want to imply they're > > doing this only for money. > > Given that it's a charity gig.... Which will in no way assist any band member in making money in any sort of ancillary fashion... - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 16:36:16 +0200 From: Sebastian Hagedorn Subject: Re: Of "Eb" and iPods - --On 13. September 2007 00:01:51 -0500 Steve Schiavo wrote: > On Sep 12, 2007, at 11:16 AM, Sebastian Hagedorn wrote: > >> I got my new iPod Classic 160GB today :-) I had a 60 GB (4G??) >> before, but that was already full again. I hope the 160 (150 net) >> are enough for the next few years. > > I'm also going from a 60 to a 160. Stayed up way too late last night > importing and I'm at it again. After bringing in a pile of CDs I told my > wife that it's not gonna be big enough. Wow. All music or do you have videos on it as well? > But I want to know who thought it would be a good idea to display album > covers at an angle. I guess SJ signed off on it. Well, it looks cool initially, but I think I prefered the "straight" look as well. I'm also not so fond of the new main menu. The font seems different somehow as well, but I can't put my finger on it. I still have the old one, so mybe I'll compare them tonight. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 09:37:21 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: tl;dr (0% Roback content) On 9/13/07, Rex wrote: > > > > And now I'm to be told that "Faith" is darker still? Saints preserve > us and hot young stuff! > > -Rex, wondering why that particular Thurstonism didn't find the pop > culture traction of, say, "my bad"... Never mind Thurston - I think more people should use Marc Bolan phrases. "So, what's she like?" "Oh, she's slim and she's weak, she's got the tooth of the hydra upon her." [backs away slowly] - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 07:43:17 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: My name is "Eb": Somebody get me a cheeseburger On 9/13/07, Bachman, Michael wrote: ichael B. > > NP Kirsty MacColl - Kite. I just picked this cd up, and I heartily > recommend it to all fegs. I have been on a Kirsty kick lately, as I just > got Tropical Brainstorm and just ordered Titanic Day. I have a Best-of in the queue. Dunno why it took me so long... - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 08:20:32 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: Of "Eb" and iPods On Sep 13, 2007, at 7:36 AM, Sebastian Hagedorn wrote: >> But I want to know who thought it would be a good idea to display >> album >> covers at an angle. I guess SJ signed off on it. > > Well, it looks cool initially, but I think I prefered the > "straight" look as well. I'm also not so fond of the new main menu. > The font seems different somehow as well, but I can't put my finger > on it. I still have the old one, so mybe I'll compare them tonight. I'm not a big fan of the "split screen" either. I think they should have added some translucency to the menu to have it blend in with the artwork. - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 11:28:06 -0400 (EDT) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: My name is "Bonzo", and when I jack off, it means I'm very sad (but also happy in a way) On Thu, 13 Sep 2007, 2fs wrote: > I think _An Inadequate Job of Filling In_ should be someone's album > title. I don't know nothin' about no album titles, but that's my job title. It's on my business cards and everything. J. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 08:31:28 -0700 (GMT-07:00) From: kevin Subject: Re: tl;dr episode iv: a new hope (sandoval) >John Cale eats forest fires for breakfast, and then farts >hurricanes. I think I'm gonna have that put on a t-shirt. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 11:36:08 -0400 (EDT) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: My name is "G-d", and when I jack off, it means I'm very sad (but also happy in a way) On Wed, 12 Sep 2007, 2fs wrote: > I believe we're talking about several different kinds of stupid here - > but I'm not sure in what way you see _Memento_ as being stupid. Um, the fact that it was a schlocky 113-minute gimmick wrapped around a garden-path plot? Just a suggestion. J. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 08:38:13 -0700 (GMT-07:00) From: kevin Subject: Re: My name is >Run, which may well be the most bone-jarringly stupid movie ever made by >anyone anywhere ever.> >stupid it most certainly is. but more stupider than *The Sixth Sense*, >*Memento*, *Shawshank*, or any of the *Star Wars* prequels it most >certainly is NOT. OK, I'll give you those, but Logan's Run predates all of them by at least several years for what that's worth. > > >fair enough. but east-coast humidity is enough to make a sane man crazy >(spot the reference, chris g.!) -- and, east-coast don't have the >bumbershoot... Yeah, I'm not big on the humidity either. Don't so much care about B'shoot; haven't been since '82 to catch a rare Firesign Theatre show, and even then the crowds were more than I wanted to know about. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 08:39:42 -0700 (GMT-07:00) From: kevin Subject: Re: Nazi Whores >Yeah, Spielberg and Lucas counted as heroes in my early life. So? Well, they used to do stuff that didn't suck. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 08:45:53 -0700 (GMT-07:00) From: kevin Subject: Re: tl;dr (0% Roback content) >But that sort of allowed me to look at those "pinhead" bands >clearly and realize that I basically did like The Cure, New Order, and >Bauhaus (etc.), and really didn't like Depeche Mode or The Smiths that >much. Uh huh, same here. I can get behind "personal Jesus" though. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 11:50:36 -0400 (EDT) From: Christopher Gross Subject: Re: My name is "G-d", and when I jack off, it means I'm very sad (but also happy in a way) On Wed, 12 Sep 2007, Stacked Crooked wrote: > > > fair enough. but east-coast humidity is enough to make a sane man crazy > (spot the reference, chris g.!) -- and, east-coast don't have the > bumbershoot... "I Tripped Over the Ottoman." Come on, dude. Ask me a hard one! Never been to Seattle (closest I've gotten is Vancouver), but isn't it fairly humid itself? Though I suppose a cool humidity, like a dry heat, is more bearable. I'm an east-coaster through and through, but you won't catch me going farther south on the east coast than, well, here. It's hot down there! - --Morey Amsterdam np: The Dead Milkmen and The Cure, all day today ______________________________________________________________________ Christopher Gross On the Internet, nobody knows I'm a dog. chrisg@gwu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 09:47:38 -0700 (GMT-07:00) From: kevin Subject: Re: My name is >Never been to Seattle (closest I've gotten is Vancouver), but isn't it >fairly humid itself? Though I suppose a cool humidity, like a dry heat, >is more bearable. I'm an east-coaster through and through, but you won't >catch me going farther south on the east coast than, well, here. Definitely on the damp side, which gives us all that picturesque misty stuff in the cooler months (not as many of those as there used to be) but can be nasty in the summer. There was about a week back in July when the temps and the humidity were both in the 90s, and it just sucked. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 10:10:54 -0700 (GMT-07:00) From: kevin Subject: Re: tl;dr episode iv: a new hope (sandoval) >New Age Steppers, "Action Battlefield". A lot more song-oriented than the >self-titled album, composed mostly of covers of songs I've never heard in >their original versions. Ari Upp sounds radically different on these songs, >still idiosyncratic, but also a very good singer in a semi-conventional way >(so much so that it took me a while to realize that she'd stepped aside for >Neneh Cherry on one song). As mentioned, I have this on vinyl but haven't heard it in a coon's age (exactly how long is that, BTW?) but I clearly recall grooving on Neneh's vocal on "My Love" (NOT the McCartney tune). Learning later on that her daddy was Don Cherry was a treat too. >Grinderman, "Grinderman". As with any of these deals where an established, >"mature" artist rebrands his/her/themselves with a new band identity and >more aggressive approach (Tin Machine, Electrafixion , 50 Foot Wave, Wir >okay, forget that last one), you could take almost any aspect of the >Grinderman project and legitimately ask: "Why?" But an equally legitimate >answer to each of those questions would be "Why not? Definitely on the to-purchase list. That Neanderthal-hillbilly-pimp look they've got going on is pretty funny too. Saw them on Letterman recently and dug the electric mandolin; I don't think I've seen anybody playing one of those things since John Abercrombie, somewhere back in the Seventies. > > >The Bangles, "All Over the Place". I'm pretty sure I have listened to this >all the way through, and I've definitely heard all of most of its contents >at one time or another, but just to be sure, and to round out my Paisley >input, and for the opportunity to listen to a Kimberley Rew composition >other than that one song, why not? There's not really a bad song on the >record, And that Kimberley (not a girl) >Rew song is really fantastic, a perfect little transatlantic working class >solidarity anthem for When Reagan Mauled America. Ditto. Picked this one up after the locall college station started playing "Going Down To Liverpool" about every twenty minutes and it wasn't bad at all. Nice guitars. And there's some song of Micahel Steele's on there I don't recall that I was obsessed with for a while. Always been a sucker for deep-voiced women singing depressing songs (Nico, anybody?) np Derek & the Dominos @ the Fillmore. When Nietszche said "God is dead" could he have had Clapton in mind? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:44:35 -0400 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: tl;dr episode iv: a new hope (sandoval) >>The Bangles, "All Over the Place". I'm pretty sure I have listened to this >all the way through, and I've definitely heard all of most of its contents >at one time or another, but just to be sure, and to round out my Paisley >input, and for the opportunity to listen to a Kimberley Rew composition >other than that one song, why not? There's not really a bad song on the >record, And that Kimberley (not a girl) >Rew song is really fantastic, a perfect little transatlantic working class >solidarity anthem for When Reagan Mauled America. Kevin came back with: >Ditto. Picked this one up after the locall college station started playing "Going Down To Liverpool" about every twenty minutes and it wasn't bad at all. Nice guitars. And there's some song of Micahel Steele's on there I don't recall that I was obsessed with for a while. Always been a sucker for deep-voiced women singing depressing songs (Nico, anybody?) I have a hard time picking a favorite song on AOTHP, as I love them all. If pressed, I would go with "Dover Beach". Vicki Peterson's guitar playing was never better than on that song. It's been 23 years now since I bought my vinyl copy of AOTP. The cd is out of print, and why there isn't a deluxe reissue with bonus tracks is anyone's guess. >np Derek & the Dominos @ the Fillmore. When Nietszche said "God is dead" could he have had Clapton in mind? I would have loved to been at the December, 1970 D&TD tour stop in Tampa Bay. Duane Allman was a member of the band that night and also the subsequent stop in Buffalo, NY. There is a boot available from the Tampa Bay show, but the recording isn't all that great from what I've been able to gather. Michael B. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:59:23 -0700 (GMT-07:00) From: kevin Subject: Frankenfish anyone? http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iS0bkNVyP_1oJP3zej74PRJnsWAQ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:26:01 -0400 From: Steve Talkowski Subject: Re: Frankenfish anyone? You forgot the link to the photographic evidence: http://www.tatteredcoat.com/images/simpsons-fish.jpg On Sep 13, 2007, at 4:59 PM, kevin wrote: > http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iS0bkNVyP_1oJP3zej74PRJnsWAQ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 16:45:21 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: My name is "G-d", and when I jack off, it means I'm very sad (but also happy in a way) On 9/13/07, Capuchin wrote: > > On Wed, 12 Sep 2007, 2fs wrote: > > I believe we're talking about several different kinds of stupid here - > > but I'm not sure in what way you see _Memento_ as being stupid. > > Um, the fact that it was a schlocky 113-minute gimmick wrapped > around a garden-path plot? You know, that kinda just breaks down into two insults and an unclear metaphor. I'm not sure what you mean by "garden-path plot": not a garden-variety plot, but one which wanders around like a garden path? Regardless: the plot was a more-or-less classic genre plot - if you don't like genre, and therefore want more originality in your plots, i sorta get that part. (If you meant it was too winding, well, I disagree.) I don't think the gimmick was a gimmick at all: first, it was clearly motivated by the plot (okay: by the genre-driven plot *device*), second, it made the movie more entertaining but also more effective, since it put the viewer more in the head of the protagonist. Finally, if you think that's all there is to it, once you figure the whole thing out, even watch it in chronological order, you'll realize there are actually quite a number of questions artfully left unresolved, revolving around questions of who's using whom, intentionality, yadda yadda yadda. I mean, sure, you can find more profound films - I don't say it's the best film ever at all - bu I think "stupid" is quite an exaggeration. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:37:51 +1200 From: grutness@slingshot.co.nz Subject: Re: fegmaniax-digest V16 #332 > Run, which may well be the most bone-jarringly stupid movie ever made by > anyone anywhere ever.> Of its type and era, you've got a direct comparison here: Que es mas stupido, "Logan's Run" or "Zardoz"? 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: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:19:33 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: tl;dr (0% Roback content) On 9/13/07, kevin wrote: > > >But that sort of allowed me to look at those "pinhead" bands > >clearly and realize that I basically did like The Cure, New Order, and > >Bauhaus (etc.), and really didn't like Depeche Mode or The Smiths that > >much. > > Uh huh, same here. I can get behind "personal Jesus" though. Shhh... that kind of talk makes them even more upset than "Teh DaVinci Code".... - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:22:09 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: tl;dr episode iv: a new hope (sandoval) On 9/13/07, kevin wrote: > > >John Cale eats forest fires for breakfast, and then farts >hurricanes. > > I think I'm gonna have that put on a t-shirt. I think you can make at least three... I'll pay for Jeff's if he's short on cash... - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:23:53 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: tl;dr episode iv: a new hope (sandoval) On 9/13/07, kevin wrote: > > Always been a sucker for deep-voiced women singing depressing songs (Nico, > anybody?) Oh, hells yes. Marble Index fucking rox. - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:27:59 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: fegmaniax-digest V16 #332 On 9/13/07, grutness@slingshot.co.nz wrote: > > > Logan's > > Run, which may well be the most bone-jarringly stupid movie ever made > by > > anyone anywhere ever.> > > Of its type and era, you've got a direct comparison here: Que es mas > stupido, "Logan's Run" or "Zardoz"? "Omega Man". - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:29:25 -0700 From: Rex Subject: tl;dr: radio headquarters, we're running low on dub and paisley! The Embarassment, "Heyday 1979-83 Disc 2: The Scarcities". As one would expect, this is a little more scattershot than Disc 1, which, while plenty lo-fi itself, was comprised of the "official releases". Maybe because of that, the best tracks really do stand out as special things this song "After the Disco" is pretty funny, but fragmented enough not to come off as either arch or overly self-deprecating. In fact, the sense of humor on display is pretty up-to-date might even have seemed a little opaque at the time. The Embarrassment seems to have had a lot of really nerdy concerns spaceships, mad scientists and dinosaurs, but not in the naove Jonathan Richman/Jad Fair way more of a genuine Trekkie / D&D vibe. They toss that right in there with punk rock in a way that wouldn't be that big of a deal these days, but was probably at least a little unusual in its time. It seems to me that, around this period, punk rock was trying to get weightier and brainier in a lofty, arty way for the most part (think "Zen Arcade" or Mission of Burma), so these guys actually gain points for being down-to-earth and goofy. Check out the nutty 2-minute cover of "Immigrant Song" this may be one of the earliest places where the post-punk idea of rock divested itself of any pretense of being "cool", for better or worse. The Pop Group, "For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?". Valid question, still unanswered, I guess. In fact, the more I listen to The Pop Group, the more I'm able to decipher the rants, and therefrom hangs the double-edged sword: that music this old which still sounds exciting fresh in form should also be depressingly current and accurate in content (with some obvious exceptions, like the bit about Nixon and Kissinger being tried for war crimes). I'm still a little muddled as to which of these collections are proper Pop Group "albums", other than that "Y" is one of them. They all feel somewhat stitched together; I'll look it up and get it straightened out in due course. Track 3 here features a genuine rap in an unmistakably American voice, melded with some bongos, dissonant piano and world-music-y, erm, kora, or something, and then it's back to business as usual on the following track. The closer, a schizoid-funk rendition of "Robin Hood" (riding through the glen, that thing) with horns that almost play stardard-sounding charts at times before veering into co-squalling with the guitars and a massive synth-bass swell before the whole thing just stops cold well, it really is just as good as it sounds. Green on Red, "Scapegoats". Hey, I found another one! I think this must've been issued as a twofer with one of the other albums at some point, since I noticed the tracks were numbered 11-20 as I was burning it last night. I really enjoy Green on Red. They don't have the roots chops or poise of The Long Ryders, but that casual ramshackle sound paired up with songs that ooze personality is a winning combination if you're me, which you aren't, but I dig it nonetheless. In a way, they're reminiscent of the Violent Femmes, if the Femmes were a little more rigorous about their country roots and sounding like a more regular band. The dirgey, scary ones on this album are the best, with the narratives tweaking the old murder ballad conventions not too differently from what Nick Cave would get into. I think my favorite GoR record is still that really Stonesy one whose title escapes me right now a bad sign that I am just listening to too many records too quickly? Maybe it's not advisable to absorb whole discographies within a few weeks (or days), but I'm not quite sure how else to make it beyond the horizon. The Cure, "Faith". It strikes me based on the comments spurred by my "Seventeen Seconds" review that it really is pretty weird for me to be hearing these Cure albums for the first time at this stage, and that some context is missing this must sound to some of you the same way I'd hear someone of my age with a pretty big record collection writing about hearing the old R.E.M., Sonic Youth or Replacements records for the first time (and I'd love to read something like that, if anyone's in a position to do so). Context does count in some cases I have no idea if Husker Du would seem all that special to someone hearing them for the first time today, with everything that's come along since then. So, on to "Faith". It's nowhere near as spare and austere as "Seventeen Seconds" (that Nick Drake comparison to that album makes perfect sense in retrospect). It's odd, the arrangements aren't really much denser technically, but there's a feeling of a unit to the playing that doesn't feel nearly as meandering, or willfully lost. I wouldn't call it a "band vibe" so much as a sense of purpose, or a sense of at least desiring purpose. The vocals cut through, and there's more doubling, harmonizing, which makes Smith sound less like he's thinking (or not thinking) off the cuff. It's plenty stark, but it's recognizable to me as a Cure album acting as such; "Seventeen Seconds" sounds more like a record that you would release in its final form only if you absolutely fucking had to, and thus was a lot more shocking to discover. There seems to be more of an arc to this album, certainly a little more craft. It's an effective happy medium. You know, without the happy part. Howe Gelb, "Sno Angel Like You". The most recent (unless I missed something, which is entirely possible) release from Howe, pretty well reviewed at the time. The unifying factor here, I suppose, is Howe being backed up by a sort of Gospel choir on most (nearly all) of the tracks. It takes a special kind of hoodoo to sound at home in such a setting (Nick Cave has pulled it off, but it's sounded hokey when attempted by artists as "major" as Dylan, Neil Young, and that Irish band that Hilburn likes so much). Howe keeps the songs and the musical settings in the neighborhood of front-porch blues, and that turns out to be a way-smart move, probably because those musical forms were kissing cousins from the start, and neither of them really had much relation to arena rock. It also seems to help push Howe's musings forward to a more prominent place than a heavily reverbed mumble, and to provide a bit of focus all around. Some pretty nice guitar work, too. A few songs are recycled from the back catalog maybe more than I recognize, so it's possible that this is more of a career retrospective than I realize. The new, God help me, reimagined versions feel if anything easier to warm up to than the originals, so this is satisfying record all around. True West, "Hand of Fate". One of those Paisleyish bands that I've tended to blank on because I've tended to see their name, and think of *Go* West, which well, what do I know, maybe Go West has some admirable qualities, too, but that really doesn't matter right now. What does matter is that I'm running out of slots on the spectrum between psyche, garage, power-pop and roots in which to file these bands. There's more polish on this album than on any of the Green on Red ones, but no New Wave overbuffing, so it's in a good place to begin with. Rootsiness varies from track to track, and there's some very nice lead guitar which seems to vary in interestingness in inverse proportion to the countryfolkblues content of the tunes. This is another one where I can't see the song titles as I listen, so I have to identify track 7, which may be called "I Wait, I Call" as a standout, and it's more jangly or powerpopclassicist than a lot of the others (where's the jaggedy guitar break on that one?) Oh, there it is, at the start of track 8 ("Daybreak"?) and throughout it nice and then you get "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" as a pleasant surprise, followed by another melodic tune that evokes a more polished mid-period Go-Betweens, and then a mournful acoustic closer. Yeah, side 2, with a far stronger pop leaning, is much more of a grabber than the earlier tracks. Funny how what makes some of these groups sound generic is actually a saving grace for others. The Triffids, "Born Sandy Devotional". Straight from James's all-time top twenty list to my too long don't read list. And not too far off the Paisleymark, from the sound of it. A bit more orchestrated (and why bands from the city that gave birth to Pet Sounds didn't do much of this in the '80's I could not say). The pedal steel is a lovely touch, not expected from a NZ band especially. But from the start it feels very I don't know, coastal, be that the influence of the cover art or the first lyrics I can make out or something intrinsic to the music, I don't know. I'm only making out a fraction of those words, actually, but there is the feeling (and one shouldn't always trust those) that something more considered and individualistic is going on in the songwriting than in a lot of the more workmanlike material I've been auditioning. The arrangements, sense of storytelling, and in some ways the vocals on some of the darker songs suggest a blueprint for The Arcade Fire, or, I guess more relevantly, a parallel with the Bunnymen's "Ocean Rain". They also remind me of a less ostentatious version of a band that nobody's heard, The Passion Fodder (don't ask). There are enough intriguing elements interlocking here that I don't want to say too much more than that I think this might be very good indeed, and to that end, I'm dropping back into the queue to investigate further, sooner than later (and I have a few other Triffids records to check out in the meantime, for that most elusive of tools, context). What does the record's title mean, anyway? The Au Pairs, "Playing With A Different Sex". Often thought of as the female version of Gang of Four, The Au Pairs actually sound more like wait, I already did this for The Pop Group. Forget that. The Go4 comparison is somewhat inevitable, what with all the scratchy tight funkiness and political content, but this is pretty far from the chaos of The Pop Group it's damned focused, if no less hard-hitting. Than *either* other band, I mean it packs a hell of a punch. The most obvious comparison for the vocal sound is Polly Styrene, which is unfortunate because otherwise the X-Ray Spex (whom I like quite a good deal) have little in common with the Au Pairs. The songwriting perspective, while often polemical, and sometimes easily equated song for song, topic for topic, is also different from Gang of Four's, which is more often observational, while Leslie Woods usually inhabits a character in the song, sometimes with one of the male band members playing a role in the sketches as well (I can't think of a duet other than "Come Again" where the singers spend the entire song basically having awkward sex with each other). The two-guitar setup is a nice variation, at times evoking early Talking Heads (which of course makes sense) or, also naturally, one of the newer crop of Go4-style bands (although I've not heard any of them with much female presence). It's a brilliantly sequenced album, nothing scattershot or tentative about it, and then there's an appendix of bonus tracks, most of which are just as stong as the ones on the proper LP. I can't say quite what to make of the fact that music which certainly makes the de-objectification of women a chief point turns out to sound so, erm, sexy at times, but a guy like me, who's had a giant crush on Carrie Brownstein for as long as I can remember, just has to move past these things. Robyn-related note: one song rides a bassline identical to that of "Clean Steve", and yes, that does bring to mind The Knack, Dennis. The Plimsouls, "The Plimsouls". Quite a long time ago, when I was about to embark upon one of my occasional years without buying any records, I had a list of things to pick up before going cold turkey, which were meant to hold me over for that year. One of them was The Plimsouls' "Everywhere At Once" (whose title I have occasionally accidentally swapped with that of "All Over the Place" for more than one reason). It was fine and all, but I think it was probably one of my first disappointing experiences with powerpop, seemingly pleasant, featuring an outstanding single, but a lot of overly conventional songwriting that would've been filler on a lot of other bands' releases. This isn't too much different the melodies are a little catchier on a first listen than the ones on, say, that True West album, and the energy level is just fine, and I do of course adore the 12-string leads (which seem to be paired with the songs that already have the best hooks) and approve of the unfussy production. But I can only do so much faux teenage romance, and sometimes powerpop is just powerpop, and I can apparently only get so excited about it. That said, as it goes on, it sure does seem like a higher percentage of these melodies are keepers than those on your average powerpop masterpiece. Peter Case evolved into a fairly well-respected songwriter in that more blues-troubador idiom, right? Did the songs change along with that evolution? He certainly had the voice for it all along. And yes, Dennis, The Knack comes to mind yet again, for a completely different reason. ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V16 #333 ********************************