From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V3 #127 Reply-To: loud-fans@smoe.org Sender: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk loud-fans-digest Saturday, May 3 2003 Volume 03 : Number 127 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [loud-fans] laptop nyc (ns) [JRT456@aol.com] [loud-fans] been a long time coming [Jenny Grover ] Re: [loud-fans] been a long time coming [dana-boy@juno.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 2 May 2003 07:19:59 EDT From: JRT456@aol.com Subject: Re: [loud-fans] laptop nyc (ns) In a message dated 5/1/03 3:07:49 PM, dana-boy@juno.com writes: << Except for the fact that I'm mentioning it here, thereby ensuring that he won't go, I'd have bet a bundle that one of the best opportunities to spot the jrt would have been tomorrow at Joe's Pub, where Laptop, which now apparently includes five backing dominatrices, is having its new CD release party at 7:00pm. Could be the show of the year, unless Jesse's lying again. >> Or maybe I'll just attend the reading of Jesse's screenplay, about a desperate young musician who thinks he's finally found his big break by hooking up with a faded new-wave star...which, of course, sounds similar to Jesse's own bitter experience putting together the Dim Stars project. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 May 2003 23:51:30 -0400 From: Jenny Grover Subject: [loud-fans] been a long time coming Somewhere in the distant past, Jeffrey sent me a very nice double CD swap mix, the first disc of which I reviewed in the distant past, as well. Finally, I have gotten a chance to review the second disc (which does not mean I haven't been listening to and enjoying it in the interim). So, here's a go at disc 2 of "World of Pain": 1- Oranger- Green Gold Rolling Skull Slightly off-kilter, low-key pop with strings and shuffly "Strawberry Fields" drumming. 2- Pedro the Lion- Penetration Wow, this just blasts right out at you after the first track. Emo-ish indie-pop with unfortunately drab vocals. Song doesn't live up to the hype surrounding it. 3- Pond- Glass Sparkles in Their Hair Indie with a touch o' grunge. This could almost be a Love Battery song. I like what I've heard by this band. 4- Rondellus- Architectus urbis caelstis This is from Sabbatum, which I'm going to have to get my hands on. Very cool song. I like ancient music. I don't know the Sabbath catalogue well enough to recognize this song (if I've even heard it at all), and my Latin is failing me. Woman or counter-tenor? I'm guessing woman, but a lovely voice, in either case. 5- Self- 9 Lives Very jarring segue! Jeffrey's notes inform me that this track was supposedly all played on toy instruments, but you would never guess that to listen to it. Loud and thrumming with some almost subliminally thin, spidery keyboard way back in the mix, that comes forward briefly later in the song and then constitutes most of the outro. Interesting enough. 6- Shalini- Telepathic World This REALLY sounds like a Let's Active song. I wish Mitch were singing it. Somethign about Shalini's voice just doesn't do it for me. It's two-dimensional and, while I know it's a nitpicky thing to say, her accent doesn't help. Too "upper mouth" or something. Still, I really like the song. 7- Soda- Purple Heart Wants to be janglier. Pretty anonymous sounding power pop. 8- The Soft Boys- Om And ode to meditation that's anything but meditative, and talks about laundry. Typical mind-expanding Soft Boys. 9- Statuesque- Arbiters Anonymous This could almost be a Blur song. Very nice, very British. Makes me very inclined to investigate further. 10- The Sugarplastic- Ottawa Bonesaw One of the stranger songs I've heard, but quite fun. Gives a nursery rhyme-ish treatment to death and danger. 11- 10cc- I'm Mandy, Fly Me As a junior high schooler, this was one of my favorite songs. The stuff daydreams are made of. This song managed, at only 5 minutes in length, to sound epic, even at a time when much longer songs were common. 12- They Come in Threes- Rubber Band Collection More fun pop. An ode to my kitchen junk drawer? 13- Thin White Rope- Disney Girl This reminds me of someone else, but I can't put my finger on who. Nice song. Jeffrey informs me Joe Becker drums on this one. 14- Unrest- Six Layer Cake I latched onto this one on the first listen. Tell me more about this band. 15- Verbow- Dying Sun Has a U2-ish feel. A little slick and over orchestrated for my taste, but not bad. 16- Weezer- Falling for You I've just never gotten into Weezer, even after seeing them, but this song is kinda fun. Sort of twists and turns all over the place. 17- Wire- Trash/Treasure Nice! I hadn't heard any of the Read and Burn stuff. Is this one on the new re-release? 18- The Witches- Keep Me Away The notes say 2001, but this could easily be much older. Has a heavier Byrds feel, with some 70's rock and just a touch of 80's dissonance in the right places. I like this a lot. Tell me more about this band. 19- The Wrens- Was There Ever This song just feels "high" to me, and I mean that in a good way. Something about how the guitar sounds almost like a pedal steel contributes to that. Very nice. 20- Cream- World of Pain Nice, low-key lament with perky drumming. Very Creamy. (sorry, couldn't resist that). Thanks again to Jeffrey for a very enjoyable mix that gives me new things to look into (and disc 1 already led me to buy Not From There "Sand on Seven", which not only I really like, but so does a friend I introduced it to who had never heard of them before either). Jen ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 May 2003 23:58:15 -0400 From: Dave Walker Subject: Re: [loud-fans] been a long time coming On Friday, May 2, 2003, at 11:51 PM, Jenny Grover wrote: > 14- Unrest- Six Layer Cake > I latched onto this one on the first listen. Tell me more about this > band. Oh man, Unrest were great. They wrote these wonderful two-chord obsessive/compulsive bubblegummy/poppy/punky tunes with vague psychosexual overtones. The two albums on 4AD, _Imperial f.f.r.r._ and _Perfect Teeth_ , would be a great place to start. Leader Mark Robinson founded DC's Teenbeat Records. -d.w. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 3 May 2003 00:21:01 -0400 From: dana-boy@juno.com Subject: Re: [loud-fans] been a long time coming 14- Unrest- Six Layer Cake I latched onto this one on the first listen. Tell me more about this band. >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Unrest were one of the major minors of the '90's. Headed by Mark Robinson, who also runs Teenbeat records, they had recorded a bunch of interesting-but-not-so-good albums before experiencing a sudden artistic breakthrough with "Imperial f.f.r.r." in 1992. They had one more full length called "Perfect Teeth", whence comes "Six Layer Cake" and then broke up/turned into Air Miami. You can get most of the details at allmusic, but the main points to remember are: 1. Don't confuse them with Unsane. Happened to a lot of us. Big difference. 2. Just about everything that they recorded immediately before and then following "Imperial f.f.r.r." is of a piece and worth having. Their b-sides, many of which are collected on the B.P.M. collection (Bridget, Phil, Mark) are especially strong, making their singles worth looking out for. I'm especially fond of the 30 minute exploration of one note called "Hydro" that appeared on one of their promos. 3. The Air Miami album "Me, me, me", as well as the singles that go with it are great as well, essentially sound just like Unrest, and are underrated by many. 4. The Olympic Death Squad album (basically Mark Robinson doing a solo Unrest album) is not so good. 5. Mark Robinson keeps cranking out the records, as himself and as Flin Flon. All have moments, but none are as good as Unrest. If you're still talking w/Mark Staples off list, I think he was a pretty big fan. And goddamn it -- I had to go to a wedding tonight and missed the Laptop show. If anyone went and wants to tell me about it, on or off list, that would be a very nice thing. - --dana ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V3 #127 *******************************