From: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org (idealcopy-digest) To: idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Subject: idealcopy-digest V7 #365 Reply-To: idealcopy@smoe.org Sender: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk idealcopy-digest Monday, December 20 2004 Volume 07 : Number 365 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [idealcopy] Wire announements/Scottish Play? [Wireviews ] [idealcopy] test [waveangst@fastmail.fm] [idealcopy] hello? [waveangst@fastmail.fm] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2004 05:19:39 -0800 (PST) From: Wireviews Subject: [idealcopy] Wire announements/Scottish Play? Ian said: "I recall seeing something about the above a few days ago which looked like it was something to do with the possible release of footage from the Tryptych gigs, but can find no other information. Can anybody bring me up to speed?" You might want to try bookmarking and regularly checking posteverything.com and wireviews.com. Wireviews had this news up a week back. By the way, as Jack seems to have vanished, I was wondering whether anyone else here would like to help me out with the site (in terms of posting news, and anything else they fancy). If so, let me know. Happy holidays, all! Craig ===== - ------- Craig Grannell / Wireviews --- http://www.wireviews.com News, reviews and dugga. VMU: http://www.vmuonline.com SVA: http://www.snubcommunications.com - -------------- wireviews@yahoo.com --- __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2004 17:41:41 -0000 From: "Keith Knight" Subject: [idealcopy] Some favourite songs from 2004 part 1 In two parts I give you some faves from 2004: The Day Texas Sank to the Bottom of the Sea - Micah P Hinson The last track on Hinson's splendid debut, 'Micah P Hinson and the Gospel of Progress' (and also to be found on the Uncut CD of the year). It's a long song which starts slowly with acoustic guitar and then builds in more instruments - cello, keyboards, drums - as it goes. Lyrically it repeats the same phrases as it describes a frustrated love scenario "I've been waiting so long / why can't you see / me.thoughts of you / thoughts of me / I admit it's not a lot / but it's all that I've got". By the end MPH has built himself into a frenzy, his already deep voice (he sounds nothing like 22) cracking with emotion. And by the end the music has built and built subtly layering itself in. I first heard this in concert when it ended the set, MPH colliding with the microphone, glasses flying (the second time I saw him he sensibly removed them in advance). Marvellous. The Devil's Country - The Earlies Christian Madden is not only one of the mainstays of The Earlies but he produced the MPH album too and plays a variety of instruments on it, including a devilish looking accordion - as a result he's my music man of the year as he's given me more pleasure than anyone. I think I described how bowled over I was when I first saw The Earlies and having seen them twice subsequently, this song - from 'These Were The Earlies' - - remains the live and recorded favourite. Despite there being 11 of them and all of them seeming multi-instrumentalist it's the only song in the canon that really uses brass in full. What this means is that after 30 seconds or so of introductory nurdling three of them - including the excellent Billy Connolly look-alike guitarist at the front - picks up trumpets and trombones and blow slow clarion calls over driven rhythm. The song them picks up the rhythm until it slows for a section only for the brass to be picked up again with a grin and herewegoagain. Irresistible and almost Dexy's-like, if Dexy's has been influenced by Love and Mercury Rev that is. O Children - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds One could reasonably choose half a dozen songs from the tremendous 'Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus' double album (the shift to the phrase "There is a war coming" at the end of Hiding all Away is a particular favourite moment) but I keep returning to the song which closes 'The Lyre of Orpheus' much to the displeasure of my kids who, reasonably, find it creepy in the extreme, right from the first line 'Pass me that lovely little gun / my dear, my darling one'. Actually I don't know what this song is about. Part of it seems to be older people addressing children ("We're older now the light is dim / and you are only just beginning") but whatever its meaning it's not good news ("We're all weeping now, weeping because / there ain't nothing we can do to protect you"). But the song works because of its subtle playing ( a given for the Bad Seeds of course), Cave's vocal performance (wonderful throughout the albums), the London Community Gospel Choir's interventions (I'm usually suspicious of gospel backings but Cave makes it work brilliantly on all the songs here) and the great ending when the choir and Cave move up tempo and sing what could be nursery verses - but you can bet they're not - "Hey little train! We are all jumping on / The train that goes to the Kingdom / We're happy Ma, we're having fun / And the train ain't even left the station". By this stage the song has creeped me out so much that I'm sure they're on the train to heaven or worse. It's certainly not the 8.18 to Waterloo East. Cave allegedly wrote these albums by going to his office from 9 to 5 every day. If so it's a triumph for mundane living - see Nick, you didn't need all that heroin after all. More to come Another the Keith ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2004 17:45:47 -0000 From: "Keith Knight" Subject: [idealcopy] Some favourite songs from 2004 part 2 And more. Poppy - TV on the Radio It is perhaps invidious to choose one track from 'Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes' as they go together to form a piece. The album - which I genuinely think creates a new soundscape - still strikes me as the most original LP I've heard all year, a mashing together of heavy rock, MBV, psychedelia, gospel, opera and something akin to barbershop. It's as if the Beta Band had continued to develop after the Three EPs in the way we hoped they would. 'Poppy' is, to my mind, the apotheosis of this sound. After some opening thuds, a guitar comes in like J Mascis reining himself in before the big one. Over the top, Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone sing (sarcastically?) in duet falsetto (how many other bands can you say that about?) about how they and their girl don't need to commit, comparing the situation to nature, blackbirds and dragonflies. So far so good. Then two and a half minutes in, the music stops and the singers go something like "Dum-be-a-lumby-dumby-lumby-dom-be-a-lumby-Dum-be-dumby-dum". The lyrics resume and falsetto is tracked over the top. Then some percussion and doomy drums and the guitar comes in again, the dum-be-a-lumby continuing and Kyp still singing. Then nearly 4 minutes in the guitar is racked up over this lot as Kyp sings 'we are not some pair of wild boars' and the effect is astonishing for about a minute - there's noise everywhere and it has no right to exist at the same time. The track ends with the percussion and the dum-be-a-lumby until just the vocals are left. A great song and there are more where that came from (try King Eternal for another one). I Wish I Had an Evil Twin - The Magnetic Fields I'm not a huge fan of The Magnetic Fields, but this song - from the album 'I' - is the wittiest I've heard all year. Which wouldn't necessarily always lead me to recommend it - XTC would probably have got that accolade in some years and I wouldn't rush to proclaim them - but this song leaves me laughing out loud when I hear it. In his articulate, cultured voice, Stephin Merritt considers over sawing Beatles-like strings what he would do if - yes - he had an evil twin: "My evil twin would lie and steal / And he would stink of sex appeal. / All men would writhe / beneath his scythe. / He'd send the pretty ones to me. / And they would think that I was he. / I'd hurt them and I'd go scott free. / I'd get no blame and feel no shame./ 'Cos evil's not my cup of tea." I love that last line. Plenty of other good songs on this really rather impressive album too. A Dog Like You - Misty's Big Adventure Chosen almost at random from the Misty's set-list just because something from Misty's has to be mentioned as they've given me so much enjoyment this year, live (I've seen them three times) and on record (this is on the almost media-invisible 'Misty's Big Adventure and their Place in the Solar Hi-Fi System'). Live, Misty's are about nine people, led by the chainsmoking Grandmaster Gareth and comprising a bunch of brass, guitars, keyboards and anything else that comes to hand - the album lists cutlery, sitar, Theremin and crisps amongst other things. This song features an infant toy with a nice tune and a chugging rhythm over which Gareth sings a song to his dog. It ends a big shout-fest as various bandmembers out do each other. It's ridiculously catchy like so much of this band's material - the sort of band you come away from humming a raft of tunes. In a better world they could be as successful as, say, The Scaffold or Madness - but they're a great deal better than that - but now that Peel's gone I suspect they may get no exposure at all. Which would be criminal. No singles in the above of course - that's a different list. A year for big bands, brass, gospel, strings and falsetto. The biggest influences I heard this year - supplanting the Gang of Four, whose reformation may have missed the zeitgeist by a year - were Mercury Rev and, oddly, Virginia Astley whose bucolic whimsicality threaded its way through a number of bands I saw, although admittedly this may be my brain going as no-one else seemed to pick this up (or perhaps no-one else can remember her). Another hugely enjoyable year, especially live where it is now possible to see musicians and bands from every era of pop and rock at the top of their game, a host of sub-genres throwing up interesting performers as well as - in London at least - a set of bands in small venues who deserve much, much more. Another the Keith ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2004 16:36:01 EST From: PaulRabjohn@aol.com Subject: [idealcopy] moz vs polly well i know there's a few fans of both artistes on here , so i thought i'd share a festive missive on my trip last week to birmingham's not-remotely-intimate NIA to see the moz show. i was initially offerred a ticket to this by a couple of very irregular gig-going friends and declined for obvious reasons. however , tickets appeared to sell like very cold cakes so polly was added to the bill and i seriously debated this decision , the invite was repeated after somebody dropped out so i felt it was probably worth a bash..... (incidentally , the NIA is best known for hosting WWF and the Gladiators. so i will resist any cheap gags about goings on here , no way would i try such a thing) anyway , the place is a bit of a hangar to put it mildly. not often i go somewhere like this , do people really think a #25 t-shirt is a good deal? for polly the sound was a bit duff , but it miraculously improved for moz (quell surprise. note to geordie and jaz ; tommy will have you sounding like the cortinas on the second night of that tour if the first night goes well) given the venue , polly was pretty damn excellent to be honest. given what was to follow , she wisely knocked off any ballads or torch singing and did a great hour of primal blues. she played quite a lot of guitar , with a 4-piece band including 2 drummers for a lot of tracks (in case you've not seen it , PJH live is a constantly changing set-up as everybody seems to take turns at everything). bit intense for a lot of the moz massive i think (who i guess prefer the fireworks lyrically not musically) , but i really enjoyed it as i'd not seen a "uh huh her" set before. highlights were probably the opening "me jane" and a brilliant double hit of "dress" and "victory". the new stuff stood up pretty well too , given the setting i was well impressed. incidentally i did enjoy "uh huh her" , but it didn't seem to have been too well recieved. maybe it was seen as a bir safe and not pushing any boundaries , which i suppose was true , but there havn't been that many better albums this year. i mean , some people re-make the same album endlessly...... which brings me neatly round to moz. bit pointless criticising him i guess , clearly he gives the fans what they want and i suppose you can't argue with that. you know what's coming and he delivers it very professionally ; i got told by the venue he'd be on 9.15 to 10.45 and (including encores) he did it to the minute. very similar to what new order do now ; more tracks from the seminal band than off the album they're nominally promoting , and most of the hits in between. moz seems to have ditched all the viva hate/kill uncle stuff now , i think "november" was the earliest solo track he did. on top of that you got a cover of "redondo beach" and a smiths track every 20 minutes in case anyone was drifting off ;-) i wouldn't deny it was entertaining , but i think (to coin a phrase) once is enough. demographic note ; i don't think anyone in the place was under 30. and i have never in my life seen an event like this with a queue of 50 people for the gents and the ladies utterly deserted. like a bad football match , loads of people were drifting away in the last 15 minutes , i guess this related more to babysitters than the gig. this is a very different musical experience..... it's easy to take the piss but i had a good night out. i hear rumours that next year we have a cream , jam and floyd reunion to look forward to so i guess if that lot can do it we can guess what else must be on some promoter's mind somewhere. please don't do it johnny ;-) p ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2004 15:58:08 -0800 (PST) From: Jan Noorda Subject: [idealcopy] Githead website Also mentioned on the Wireviews site, but good to mention here also I suppose. http://www.githead.co.uk j Send holiday email and support a worthy cause. Do good. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2004 01:12:57 -0800 From: waveangst@fastmail.fm Subject: [idealcopy] test saFSDFDF ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2004 01:14:53 -0800 From: waveangst@fastmail.fm Subject: [idealcopy] hello? is this working? ------------------------------ End of idealcopy-digest V7 #365 *******************************