From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V4 #294 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 Friday, October 29 2004 Volume 04 : Number 294 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [loud-fans] Every day, every day, every day I record the album ["Rex.Broo] [loud-fans] boys are dyin' on these streets [Aaron Mandel ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 09:51:02 -0700 From: "Rex.Broome" Subject: [loud-fans] Every day, every day, every day I record the album Jeffrey: >>It's too bad there aren't more rules for the lacunae thing: I mean, >>the easiest thing to do is sit down at a piano and pretend to be Keith >>Jarrett for half an hour, or set up some equipment and channel Eno >>ambient for the same time...but in most cases, this wouldn't exactly >>be interesting...nor would it really be that much of an >>accomplishment. Mentioned this on another list, but, while it's not a "solo" album, my experimental guitar quartet essentially cranks out an improvised "double album" on a monthly basis; surely with enough pedals, a pair of amps and some microphones I (or anyone) could do pretty much the same thing in real-time... The rules in this, and the other one (album in a day) are kind of arbitrary, as they would have to be, and of course there's system for verifying it's been done correctly... at least I'd assume a website named crap-art is unlikely to send auditors to your recording session/allnigher. But there's certainly an appeal to this kind of thing... - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 14:27:43 -0400 (EDT) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: [loud-fans] boys are dyin' on these streets Anyone else pick up the deluxe Pavement reissue? It seems like a lot to take in all at once, but the middle section of disc 2-- unreleased CRCR outtakes-- has at least one stone classic: "Hands Off The Bayou". I'm not saying that one song justifies the whole purchase, but it inclines me to be patient with the whole thing. A few of the unreleased tracks with first drummer Gary Young are good too, those there's no "if only he'd stayed!" regret in my mind after hearing them. a ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 14:49:42 EDT From: LkDylaninthmvies@aol.com Subject: [loud-fans] John Peel rememberances Hi there all, I wanted to get this out to the list. Jim Stretch is a DJ at WNCW, and a really good bloke. This was sent out to all the WNCW crew, after my boss, Joe Kendrick sent out an e-mail about Peel's passing. - --Mark S., about 2/3 finished with the megabitch project p.s. The new Luna is pretty good, but it's no LUNAPARK Hello, you all... Thanks, Joe, for your email. You know I'm not from around here, but a few miles to the north east. (Some of you might know more than that; I ask you to please keep it to yourself, and I'll put the cash in the usual place, wrapped in an old newspaper, just as you asked). As far as Peelie is concerned, I could wax lyrical and bore the pants off every one of you, whether or not you're wearing any. My only excuse is that I was there where and when it happened. Maybe you're interested to hear, maybe you aren't. I will still go ahead with the boring wax. If you have ever checked my yahoo profile (jims_1) you'll see the first "cool link" has always been John Peel's pages at the BBC web site. No apologies, as there's a very good reason for that. No, several good reasons. If you haven't been to http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/alt/johnpeel/features/peel_tributes.shtml you might like to. The site's only been able to add 10,000 messages of all those that have been posted since the news broke.. History lesson. In the early 1960's UK, there were only three radio stations that played music for people who were younger than 30. Auntie BBC, of course, with her three different sets of programming, was most often dragging her skirts over the music of the 40's that our parents had apparently refused to let die. But there was a brief moment on Sunday afternoons. That didn't really work for us who were hormone-flooded every day of the week. AFN - American Forces Network - was a little different. Buddy Holly maybe, Gene Krupa ... but reception was, in a word, sparse. The young Brits' most important frequency was 208 meters, medium wave: Radio Luxembourg. It was broadcast from the tiny country just over the other side of the North Sea, and was the only commercial station then broadcasting to the UK. More importantly, it was the only one that played "pop" music in large enough doses to satisfy us. No alternatives to those, so anyone with a secret wish to set up a radio station had to work with the law at the time, which was all-powerful. At least, that's what we thought. All that was shattered, swept up, and thrown into the sea when "Pirate Radio" became a fact of life. I can't remember how many stations sprung up. Sometimes it seemed that there was a new one every week. Most were on ships just outside territorial waters. No license required, and also untouchable - or so we thought. But.... Music!!! Of them all, Radio Caroline was probably the most well known. But for some of us it quickly became a bit too predictable. There were many alternatives, ranging from classical to weird. But the best of the lot was Radio London. And that's where I first heard John Peel. One thing that set him apart from the beginning was his birthplace. A full-blooded Scouser, talking and playing music on the radio? That was something new, but probably the next logical step after the other Merseyside notables. Good morning, Liverpool! After Her Majesty's Coastguard raiding the ships and shutting stations down, the police contemplating (at least) arresting people for listening to the stations (yes, it was against the law), and other wonderful events taking place, the government realized that this new kind of radio wasn't about to go away as quickly as they'd like. People Power!!!! British radio entered a new universe. Auntie was shaken down, her woolen camisole was dusted off, and she was dragged screaming into the 1960's. Pirate radio faded away; but they had fulfilled their duty to society. Many of the better DJ's found that they could play the same kind of music working for Auntie, so that's what they did. Even though they probably had to wear suits in the early days. It would be a few more years before commercial radio stations really began to be important, so the BBC was the only game in town for the new breed. I think most of us of the time knew that, when it came down to the basics, the most important DJ was John Peel. Other DJs might have made the most of their own charisma (for that, read "natural inclination towards self-indulgence"). But the most highly regarded DJ didn't have that kind of charisma. At least, if Peel had it, he kept it locked away. If anything, he was self-effacing. On his shows, it was the musicians and their music that mattered. Peelie was just a guy who played new music that he had found because he wanted to turn other people's ears around to it. The BBC let him do it, and that worked for me. When more "pop" DJ's were playing easy stuff, Peel didn't Some of the bands I first heard on his shows were Faust, Soft Machine, King Crimson ... the list goes on and on over the years. Peelie didn't hold back. Right from the start he would play entire LP's at one sitting, only breaking for conversation as he flipped the second side to play. Amazing stuff for the time and place, maybe, but that was just for starters. Suddenly there were live sessions by the same bands, and mostly some we had never heard of. Sex Pistols, punk ... Peel really worked with that. He did it all with humor, and made it sound as if a friend had stepped indoors with some new music to play just for you. There's no question about it: nothing else on British radio came close. Later on, as outdoor music festivals became common, you might be waiting in line for a plate of freshly refried beans, and suddenly bump into a "normal" looking guy - somewhat unshaven, wearing jeans and wellington boots - but who just happened to be called Peelie by anyone who recognized him. Charisma was something different where Peelie was concerned. It was not from him, but from the music and the people who made it. I can't imagine a better legacy for a DJ than that. And that is all I needed to say in the first place. Please put your pants back on now, and thank you! Jim Stretch ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 14:53:23 EDT From: LkDylaninthmvies@aol.com Subject: [loud-fans] d'oh! that's "remembrance" Pepperidge Farm remembers. - --Mark S. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 16:34:30 -0400 (EDT) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: [loud-fans] Re: Swap mix review: Laminate/Animal On Thu, 28 Oct 2004, Rex Broome wrote: > 5) Swervedriver, How Does It Feel to Look Like Candy? > ...and I'd heard their second album and thought it was dreadful > faux-grunge. I guess they found themselves sometime thereafter, huh? I liked their last album, 99th Dream. As a bonus, it was so heavily mispromoted by Zero Hour that even now I think secondhand promotional copies are pretty cheap. > 13) Futureheads, Hounds of Love. > Fun, punky Kate Bush cover. Vocalist has a vaguely Billy > Bragg-meets-Robert Smith vibe. I'm giving up on sorting out the fake > accents from the real ones for the time being. I have no idea if the accent's real, but he's really British. Great album, and now available in the States. np. Beans - Shock City Maverick (not exciting) a ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 07:42:21 +0100 From: "Angela Bennett & Ian Runeckles" Subject: RE: [loud-fans] strange link The Scott quote, "Always be wary of the superstructure of whatever situation you're in. It may just be that the whole game that you're into is something very bogus and you should get out." it says, is lifted from : Woelke, Tina. "Where Have You Gone, James Joyce? A Nation Turns Its Lolita Eyes To You. "Non*Stop Banter, December 1988. Any more info on that article, book, whatever it is, anyone? Ian > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-loud-fans@smoe.org > [mailto:owner-loud-fans@smoe.org] On Behalf Of SL Jarzabek > Sent: 24 October 2004 22:35 > To: 'Jack Lippold'; loud-fans@smoe.org > Subject: RE: [loud-fans] strange link > > It's a lecture on Game Theory (the subject) and looks like > the instructor has heard of Our Scott :) > > -Simone > > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-loud-fans@smoe.org > [mailto:owner-loud-fans@smoe.org] On Behalf Of Jack Lippold > Sent: Sunday, October 24, 2004 10:55 AM > To: loud-fans@smoe.org > Subject: [loud-fans] strange link > > > Scott and Game Theory is mentioned in the middle of some > document about God-know-what. > http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Sloan-School-of-Management/15- > 040Spring2004/ > CF9C8AF9-3D32-4CC2-BC6C-609548BF57F6/0/lec5.pdf ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 22:10:06 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: [loud-fans] Re: Swap mix review: Laminate/Animal On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 13:17:06 -0700, Rex Broome wrote: > 1) Majesty Crush, No. 1 Fan: > From 1993; I know nothing about this artist, but I like this very > much. Vaguely shoegazer-y I suppose; subject matter suggests that > they might be American, although I guess Peter Gabriel wrote a > sympathetic song about a Presidential stalker, too, didn't he? I've always > wondered how a songwriter decides that a single chord sequence is > great enough to carry an entire song... it's never happened to me, but > it works in plenty of noteworthy cases. Pure balls? Laziness? Too > much weed? Oh quite possibly all of the above. > 2) A.C. Newman, Homemade Bombs in the Afternoon. > 3) Electric Light Orchestra, 10538 Overture. > Interestingly, > hearing this > slightly harder-edged but orchestrally ornamented track after the less > brazen chamber-rock sounds of the previous one suggests that ELO may > be the missing link between AC Newman and the New Pornographers, but > that can't be right, can it? That was my theory. It's probably even clearer if you sequence this ELO track next to "The Town Halo" from the ACN album itself. There's even similar effects on the vocals. > > 4) Lilys, Precollection. > Don't know much about these guys/this fellow. A bit Barrett-esque in > the vocal department, eh? Nice chord changes in the verse... organic > enough that it doesn't immediately strike you that the whole thing is > like, 20 bars long without repeating itself, making this damned well > the polar opposite of track 1. How far back does this band go? The > only place I recall seeing them before is on the Just Say Roe > compilation, and I remember that mainly because of the cognitive > dissonance created by having a band called Lilys on a record with a > song called "Lillies of the Valley". Early '90s. As someone else commented, the first album, 1992's _In the Presence of Nothing_, might as well have been called _In the Absence of My Bloody Valentine_ - but it was, in fact, the best MBV album they never recorded. And in fact, what I think is most distinctive about Heasley is his melodic and harmonic sense, already in evidence here. They - and from now on, I'll say "he," since Heasley's the only constant member - then went into more or less an Apples in Stereo/Poole (remember them? shared a member or two) phase with the _Brief History of Amazing Letdowns_ EP, before moving to what might have been the band's best album before _Precollection_/_The Lilys_, _Eccsame the Photon Band_ (which is not by The Photon Band, although the guitarist at the time, Art DiFuria, did start a band called exactly that. Confused?), which puts all that stuff in a blender along with, oh, the song-based stuff on _Ummagumma_-era Pink Floyd. Heasley then went on a major Kinks/mid-'60s bender - but structurally, his songs became rather weird. If you can find it, the next album _Better Can't Make Your Life Better_ is probably better realized in its British variant, where proceeds from a VW commercial allowed Heasley to hire bassoonists, harpists, and string players to decorate his deconstructed Kinks tributes. I've never been as fond of _The Three-Way_, which is more of the same but lesser (except for one or two tracks) and marred by a couple of stylistic dead-end throwaways. Somewhere in there are a few EPs and such. _The Tayt Overture_ is contemporary with BCMYB and has a couple good tracks and couple forgettable ones. There's a split EP with the Philly neo-psych act Aspera Ad Astra (now just Aspera) featuring 4 songs done about the same time as EtPB - worth getting. There's also _Selected_, an EP rerecording older tracks that was done a couple years back, and which in retrospect looks forward to last year's _Precollection_ (which was rereleased this year in England, with a few tracks remixed, some with new parts added, and with 3 new tracks, under the title _The Lilys_: the band is just "Lilys," btw). At first, I wasn't sure what to make of this: the production seemed kind of thin and demo-y. But somehow (as I noted in my notes with the CD), the reissue of those tracks on _The Lilys_ returned them to my attention, where they blossomed, to the point that that album is in contention for my best of '04. > > 5) Swervedriver, How Does It Feel to Look Like Candy? > singles, and I'd heard their second album and thought it was dreadful > faux-grunge Huh. That's weird - I never would've thought that. Sure you're not thinking of one of those other zillion British bands of the mid-nineties whose names began with S-? "Duel" in particular is a brilliant track (that's from _Mezcal Head_ with the bull on the cover). > 6) Sonic Youth, Within You Without You. I unfortunately didn't think of it at the time, but...this version replaces the sitars with guitar feedback. And last year, an act called Saicobab redid SY's "Death Valley '69"...and replaced the guitar feedback with sitars. Funny how that works. > > 7) Macha, The Nipplegong. > Erm, dunno about that title. "Nipple gongs have a raised boss or nipple in the centre, often made of a different metal to the rest of the gong. They have a clear resonant tone with less shimmer than other gongs, and two distinct sounds depending on whether they are struck on the boss or next to it." So nothing to do with gongs attacking anyone's actual nipples. You can stop cringing now. Anyways, Macha is a > name I see from time to time without having heard much by them... do > they normally sound like this? Pretty much, yes. > 11) Sparks, Amateur Hour. > Okay, this band confuses the shit out of me. I've read career > overviews of them which have utterly failed to clear things up to my > satsifaction. Sometimes they are referred to as "new wave" but I'm > pretty sure they > predate punk. I think I've heard that they are from LA, but nobody > ever talks about them in the course of mentioning great LA bands, and > I swear that on a few of the tracks that I've heard ("National Crime > Awareness Week", maybe?) the guy is singing in a British accent. > Very few of the scattered tracks I've heard by them sound remotely > similar. A friend of mine played me most of their last record, mostly > orchestral-sounding and kind of snidely arch; I've heard other tracks > that sound like, I dunno, maybe early Split Enz, and then a synth-pop > thing or two, and this... well, this sounds like a mildly roccoco spin > on the middle-period Mekons, Sally-Timms-on-vocal flavor, but maybe > that's not even a female singer. Anyways, yes, I know I could look > the band up and learn all kinds of things about them, but I've done > that before and I'm still confused... could a human being have a go at > straightening this out for me? Thanks! All of the above. That is: (a) they predate punk, but (b) they also anticipated a lot of "new wave" (as well as being heavily influential on Queen, which may or may not be to their credit), and (c) they are from LA but (d) the guy often does sing w/a faux-Brit accent, and they were more popular in England than here. Also: (e) right, their first two albums were sort of toystore spazz-rock that early Split Enz probably heard, and then they were kinda weird baroque pop for a bit, and then they worked with Giorgio Moroder, so yes on the disco/synth-pop tip. No female singer - but Russell Mael sang rather stratospherically. And then there's the matter of Ron Mael's mustache. > 16) Julian Cope, 24a, Velocity Crescent. > Well, this is just nutty. Kind of fun, but probably more fun to have > played than to hear. Weird raveup and slide-guitar type thing. Copey > mostly intones gibberish... one of the few clear proclamations goes > "Inna gadda da vida... when the music's over... white rabbit... that's > an F-minor." That's actually "Mass in F# minor" - which (as are the other phrase) is the title of a '60s psych "song" (in this case by The Electric Prunes) - you probably know the other ones. > > 17) Sixteen Horsepower, The Partisan (French Version). > Jeffrey is apparently really into these guys, about whom I know > little... the overall vibe here is reminiscent of Nick Cave and the > Bad Seeds with someone other than Nick Cave singing, but no less > intensely... thus, I suppose, Crime & the City Solution. It's a good > song, of course, but an original might've given me a better read on > the artist. Might have to do some digging. Probably not the best place to start w/them. There's usually more Appalachia about them, very minor-key spooky old ballads with banjo and wheezy accordion. But yeah, for this song in particular, I can see the Nick Cave thing. The best known version (not the original - I think the song's very old) is by Leonard Cohen. > > 18) Television, Marquee Moon (TVKQ Mix). > At first I wished he'd been more liberal with sprinkling > the string quartet bits over the band track, but on a few subsequent > listens I've come to appreciate the subtlety he employed, as shimmery > little slivers of violin and viola weave in and out of the guitar > lines without you noticing they're there until they're about to fade > out again. That was the point - thanks! This is a very cool thing for a Verlaine obsessive like > myself to have and hear I figured either you'd like it, or you'd call up that Guido guy and my kneecaps would be history. > > 3) The Sugarplastic, Dunn the Worm. > Hey, these guys still exist! Or at least they did four years ago... I > haven't heard them since their debut (I think)... I am glad to hear > they have outgrown their need to remake Drums & Wires down to the last > note but still do okay in the melody department. Jeffrey draws > attention to a tricky middle section which is indeed a very arresting > spiderweb of tricky but unpretentious guitar. They've been releasing a limited edition single every few months for the past year in a series called "7x7x7" (the third "7" refers to the 7 deadly sins, loosely the series theme), and a new album (independent of those releases) called _Will_ is due out soon. > 8) John Greaves/Peter Blevgrad/Lisa Herman with Robert Wyatt, Kewm Rhone. > Jeffrey's liner notes trumpet, "This is our title track. And its' > (bwah hah ha ha!) PROG." (All punctuation and capitalization his.) Oh man - did I really mistype "its'"? I'm sure that was just a speck of ink. Oh - it's "Blegvad" and "Kew. Rhone." Anyway - you hinted that you wanted to hear some prog...thus my evil laugh. > Okay, I don't hate this, but there's one really irksome smooth-jazz > change under the melody bit. Ha. This predates laxative-jazz entirely - so it's not their fault. Actually, that's one problem: when some aspect of a style or even a song later turns into a cliche, thereby rendering it very difficult to hear in its original context. > 13) GRNDNTL BRNDS, Wind (v.4) > Jeffrey has apparently met few songs with extended sections in 7/8 > that he didn't like. Someone will thank you for the theme of my next mix. Hmmm..."Inca Roads" by Zappa, "Back in NYC" by Genesis (or Jeff Buckley)... This is freaky. I am comforted by the fact that > as recently as four years ago someone was able to come up with a > keyboard sound that makes me go, what the fuck is that? Well, duh - it's a detuned rotary flange with wah-portamento fed through a Waring. > 15) Genesis, Lamia. > Okay, everybody, story time. I submit to you the following... > watching, yup, MTV. This I could kind of get into as a film geek, so ... > beginning to impinge on my consciousness, and I was devouring rock ... ... ... > outright. Pinheads seemed to be more concerned that their music [checks watch. Goes out to dinner. Has a few drinks.] > song. The rest of his introductory package consisted of, if I can ... ... ... ... ... ... ... [finishes mosaic done entirely in handpainted sugar-crystals depicting the action of the unabridged _Moby-Dick_. Decides to wait until there's a new Kate Bush album] ......................................................... > The moral of the story? Send me a Prog Rock song, get a Prog Rock review. MMhhph? Huh? Eh? What's that statue sticking up out of the sand? Get your hands off me, you damned dirty ape! My god - you've done it! You've finally done it! > Hey, Jeffrey, did you like the > new Cale record, or did I build it up too much for ya? No - I like it a lot! I thought I read that the _Five Songs_ EP was also being released domestically by Or - izzat so? (Uh-oh...Cat Stevens reference - now I'm a terrist!) > Well, there you go. By the way, vote Kerrey, and go Sox. Or have I > been writing so long that both of those things are over? One is, one isn't. Thanks again for the kind words - and it's good to know I'm not necessarily the most verbose person on the list... - -- ++Jeff++ The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 20:52:22 -0700 From: Steve Holtebeck Subject: Re: [loud-fans] strange link Angela Bennett & Ian Runeckles wrote: > > The Scott quote, "Always be wary of the superstructure of whatever situation > you're in. It may just be that the whole game that you're into is something > very bogus and you should get out." it says, is lifted from : Woelke, Tina. > "Where Have You Gone, James Joyce? A Nation Turns Its Lolita Eyes To You. > "Non*Stop Banter, December 1988. > > Any more info on that article, book, whatever it is, anyone? Non*Stop Banter was a fanzine out of Chicago(?) in the mid-80s. The presenter probably pulled the presentation from the online version of the interview at http://www.loudfamily.com/gtnonstop88.html. still on-topic after all these years, - -Steve ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V4 #294 *******************************