From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V4 #300 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, November 5 2004 Volume 04 : Number 300 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [loud-fans] better late than never [Sarah Gordon Subject: [loud-fans] better late than never At times, I feel like I catch on to things a bit late. Recently, I caught two shows of artists who released albums last year that I didn't get to hear until this year. Both the shows and the albums I subsequently acquired blew me away. Both artists are touring now, so maybe check them out if they make it to your town: I caught the Dresden Dolls show in Raleigh at the Cats Cradle, and I thought it was fantastic. They are a keyboard/drums duo from Boston, and the dramatic interplay between them is great during their live show. Their songs are strong, and I love the lyrics and the vocal delivery. They get amazingly full sound with just the two instruments. How to describe their music--gothic/punk caberet? Whatever is, I am a fan. Their self-titled studio album would've been high in my top ten last year if I had heard the album last year. Of the songs to download from their website (which also gets points for being very cool), I'd recommend starting with 'coin-operated boy', 'half jack', and 'girl anachronism'. http://www.dresdendolls.com/ Menomena are a trio from Portland, and their music is a bit hard for me to describe. They remind me a bit of the Flaming Lips, but upon saying that, I almost want to take it back and replace it with some combination of bands that I can't put my finger on. Their show at SF's Cafe du Nord was mesmerizing. The only thing I'd fault them on is their website, which drives me a bit batty. I've included a direct link to their song 'E. Is Stable' in case you just want a shortcut to the music, since my description fails to paint a real picture. I bought 'I Am The Fun Blame Monster' at their show and think it is the sort of album folks here might enjoy it. 'E. Is Stable' is a track from that album. http://www.menomena.com/ http://www.menomena.com/eisstable.mp3 http://www.menomena.com/tour.html Finally, to justify this post to this list, I'll even toss in some Scott content. If any folks live in SF and subscribe to Comcast cable, you can tune in on Sunday, Nov 7 at 9:30pm on channel 29 and watch some of the highlights of the August 2004 Scott Miller shows. More info is here: http://www.fingeronthepulse.org/scottmiller/ - -Sarah ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2004 01:29:27 -0500 From: "Stewart Mason" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] better late than never - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sarah Gordon" > I caught the Dresden Dolls show in Raleigh at the Cats Cradle, and I > thought it was fantastic. They are a keyboard/drums duo from > Boston, and > the dramatic interplay between them is great during their live show. > Their songs are strong, and I love the lyrics and the vocal > delivery. > They get amazingly full sound with just the two instruments. How to > describe their music--gothic/punk caberet? Whatever is, I am a fan. The best I've come up with so far was "Imagine what the White Stripes would sound like if Jack was a classically-trained pianist who had been a total Goth girl in high school and Meg worshipped Elvin Jones." It's also very important to note that Amanda has hacked the logo of her Kurtzweil electric piano to read "KURTWEILL." > Their self-titled studio album would've been high in my top ten last > year > if I had heard the album last year. You can also cheat and put it on your list for this year, because it was reissued by Koch in 2004. Charity and I saw the Dolls' Halloween show on Saturday evening, and it was one of the most enjoyable gigs I've been to in ages. The opening act, Count Zero, was just okay, but the middle act was the Tiger Lillies, a British trio specializing in something that's kind of between Tom Waits, Brecht/Weill (their main point of shared influence with the Dolls) and Edward Gorey, which was just an utterly perfect complement to the headliners. The Dolls came out onstage encased in bags, which they burst out of dressed as Sonny and Cher. (Actually, I didn't get at first that Amanda was supposed to be Cher, so my first thought was "Why is Brian dressed like Harry Reems?") They went to their instruments and did a dead-on, utterly sincere "I Got You Babe." Then they got up, stripped down to lace undies, garter belts and Xs of electrical tape on their nipples and got re-dressed as a pair of Britneys, as which they did a version of "Baby One More Time" that proved that, loath though most are to admit it, it's a pretty kick-ass pop song. Then they stripped again and got into their usual stage gear (bowler hats, white pancake makeup, etc.) and led right into an absolutely killer version of "Girl Anachronism." Whole set was just outstanding, and Sarah's absolutely right: See them if you get the chance. S ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V4 #300 *******************************