From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V5 #122 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 14 2005 Volume 05 : Number 122 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [loud-fans] Decemberists Live on webcast (ns) [Michael Bowen Subject: [loud-fans] Decemberists Live on webcast (ns) The Decemberists will be performing live on WFUV-FM sometime between 8 and 11 p.m. EDT tonight (Friday, May 13). WFUV streams their programming at http://www.wfuv.org . MB ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 May 2005 05:37:57 -0700 (PDT) From: "Pete O." Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Of interest to Smithereens fans - --- Jenny Grover wrote: > R. Kevin Doyle wrote: > > >I found myself preferring a lot of the demons > >to the original songs. > > > > > > This is the best typo I've seen all week. Err... it is a typo, right? > > >There have been some issues shipping it, apparently > > > > No doubt due to the demons. > > Jen > Perhaps he was thinking of the upcoming Kevin Tihista release "Home Demons, Volume One"? Anyone heard it? - - __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Find what you need with new enhanced search. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 May 2005 09:49:52 -0400 From: "Larry Tucker" Subject: RE: [loud-fans] The state of live recording > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-loud-fans@smoe.org [mailto:owner-loud-fans@smoe.org] On Behalf > Of Dan Sallitt > Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 10:49 PM > To: loud-fans > Subject: RE: [loud-fans] The state of live recording > > > After doing a lot of research I found that the Neuros II was the one > for > > me and I've been VERY happy with the results. > > Thanks for the info, Larry. Do you use an external mic with your > Neuros? A pre-amp? - Dan (keeping this online in case anyone else is > interested) The Neuros has an internal mic but it's really only good for lecture recording and like, less critical situations. I always use an external mic plugged into the line-in input. You will not be able to get a mic to get anywhere near line levels without a preamp, but thus far I've found I've been able to get by without one. Once I've transferred the recording to my computer I typically then have to amplify it by about 20dB and though this will also be amplifying any potential background noise I've found the digital signal to be clean enough that it hasn't been a problem. I've spoken with the folks at Neuros and they are also developing a preamp that specifically matches their recorder. Larry ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 May 2005 11:51:38 -0400 From: eenie meanie minemeno Subject: [loud-fans] eMusic and not grunge Andy: >> Oh, I know very little about eMusic, make no mistake! I simply reasoned that whereas Merge releases seem to be new to eMusic, and whereas the Gothic Archies released their first (only?) ep on that label << Ah. Labels don't necessarily license *everything* in their catalog to eM. and Andy again >> I think of HYACINTHS AND THISTLES as "the good one" due largely but not exclusively to the magisterial joke of "Oahu," << Heh. I think of "Wasps Nests" as the good one, mostly because I think it has better songs, but partly because I found "Oahu" supremely annoying ... I listened to the entire thing in the mistaken expecation that it had to do *something* different eventually ... I think it negatively colored my impression of the record forevermore. *** In other eMusic news, this morning they added a double disc compilation from Goodness. Most of their catalog we produced and engineered by John Goodmanson, a name you might recognize from his work with Sleater-Kinney, Posies, Blonde Redhead, Heather Duby etc. He's one of my favorite engineers; like Eric "Roscoe" Amble, he's really good at getting terrifically rocking guitar tones on tape, but not at the expense of the songs. Because Goodness were from the Pac NW in the mid/late 90s, they were tagged as "grunge" by many, but mostly they were just a rock band. Vocalist Carrie Akre's timbre is similar enough to Magnapop's Linda Hopper that I could probably play you "Eveready," or "Labor Day" and tell you they *were* Magnapop tracks and you wouldn't blink -- but because Magnapop were from the southeast, no one would dream of calling them "grunge." Goodness weren't super consistent; I'd suggest trying the tracks I mentioned, "Pretender," or "Anthem" to see if you want to explore further. They're not by any means Magnapop soundalikes despite the similarities, the blues underpinnings of Goodness are much more evident; they're a little harder and a little less pop. Not typical loudfan fare, certainly. Apparently the band reformed in 2004; there's a live CD from last year as well. I'm curious, if a little skeptical. update: (hmm. actually allmusic DOES call magnapop grunge.) - ------------------------------------------------------ don't email the sender at this address; it isn't valid. (this address is used in cases where the email address is not adequately protected from abuses.) reply to list or contact via www.antithetical.org/minemeno ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 May 2005 21:02:15 +0300 From: "Richard Blatherwick" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Slint (was Scott interview) On the subject of Slint; after reading the glowing rereview of Spiderland in Uncut a couple of months ago I decided to take the plunge, they being one of those myriad bands I'd heard of, but never heard. My impressions were generally positive, but I was a little surprised in who I ended up being reminded of when I listened to them. The echoes of Americruiser from Bitch Magnet's Umber wasn't much of a stretch, but the fact that I can't listen to the instrumental sections on Washer without the words to Champagne From a Paper Cup from DCFCs Something About Airplanes was a bit of a shock. Richard > I recall having a similar reaction to Slint. I had some sort of > rant/manifesto in the early '90s about how time signatures should get more > complex, and how guitars should be less distorted by pedals and more by > dissonance in chord voicing, and a whole bunch of other arbitrary criteria > I recall being really emphatic about as being Inevitably The Next > Necessary Thing To Do. Then I heard this band doing exactly that stuff > and it bored the hell out of me. Weird how that works sometimes. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 May 2005 09:44:16 -0700 (PDT) From: zoom@muppetlabs.com Subject: Re: [loud-fans] eMusic and not grunge > Heh. I think of "Wasps Nests" as the good one, mostly because I > think it has better songs, but partly because I found > "Oahu" supremely annoying ... I listened to the entire thing > in the mistaken expecation that it had to do *something* > different eventually Ah, but it *does* do different things! As glenn pointed out, and I quote, "At the three minute mark, exactly, everything but the harp waves stops, and for the next twenty-five minutes Merritt slowly (and I mean slowly) adjusts dials while they repeat. How fast your patience for this will run out, I don't know, and I'll save you any suspense by reporting that there aren't any surprises waiting at the end. Eventually you can't hear the waves any more, and then the album is over." "How fast your patience will run out," indeed. But I find it pleasantly like being buried a quarter inch under sand as waves rush over, then back, over whatever passes for my head. Similar to the one time I heard KRAFTWERK 2, an album I bet Merritt adores... > Because Goodness were from the Pac NW in the mid/late 90s, they > were tagged as "grunge" by many, but mostly they were just a > rock band. Hammerbox, Akre's band before Goodness, typifies much more easily as grunge, assuming you'd want to do that. But they made some damn fine hard-hitting music over two albums, I think it was. I've got the second one in my vinyl files, somewhere. Goodness did include Garth Reeves, with whom I'd sometimes debate on KAOS-FM on the relative merits of Happy Flowers. And I once had a seminar with John Goodmanson, though he wasn't nearly so big back then, Andy Tom DeLay Says Democrats Have 'No Class' By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writer Fri May 13, 3:50 AM ET WASHINGTON - Rep. Tom DeLay (news, bio, voting record) fired back at Democrats raising ethics questions about him, telling a crowd of conservative activists that the GOP's opponents have no ideas and "no class." The House majority leader's supporters  among them a dozen conservative organizations  staged a high-profile show of support by throwing a $250-a-plate gala in his honor Thursday night that brought roughly 900 people to the Capital Hilton. When the Texas Republican took the stage after other speakers had hailed him for his leadership in the Republican Party and the House, he made only a passing reference to the problems that have sparked calls for an ethics probe, joking that one speaker's anecdote had tipped reporters off to another foreign trip he took. Instead, DeLay told the crowd that as Republicans helped Americans find jobs and helped the country recover from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Democrats offered the country nothing. "No ideas. No leadership. No agenda. And, just in the last week, we can now add to that list, no class," DeLay said in a reference to Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid's remark to school children that President Bush was "a loser." Reid later apologized to Bush adviser Karl Rove. The ethics questions DeLay faces from Democrats and other critics stem in part from foreign travel arranged by Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist accused of defrauding clients of millions of dollars. DeLay has asked the House ethics committee to review his travel records. He has portrayed the ethics questions raised about him as a Democratic-organized smear campaign, a message that went over well with conservative activists at the gala. "I think the message tonight is, if they pick a fight with Tom DeLay, they pick a fight with all of us," Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said. The crowd dined on filet mignon and salmon and a dessert of red-white-and-blue frosted cake decorated with candy hammers, a reference to the nickname DeLay earned when he was House majority whip. Several protesters shouted outside the hotel, some holding signs reading "Congress can't police itself" and "Congress  owned and operated by Tom DeLay." Rep. Tom Feeney (news, bio, voting record), R-Fla., while defending DeLay, said he thinks tighter ethics rules are inevitable. He supports a proposal to make lawmakers and congressional aides get their trips vetted by the ethics panel before they travel. "We need going forward to have rules that are less gray and ambiguous and more black and white," Feeney said. Several other congressional Republicans also attended the gala, including House Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri. President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were not invited, but Republican Party Chairman Ken Mehlman was there and sat at the head table with DeLay. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 May 2005 14:19:40 -0700 From: rlewis@nethere.com (Russ Lewis) Subject: [loud-fans] Beck on Nightline tonight HEY, ALL, THE FOLLOWING JUST ROLLED IN OFF THE _NIGHTLINE_ MAILING LIST. THEY ALSO ONCE DEVOTED A SHOW TO STEVE EARLE. STILL NOT AS WEIRD AS WATCHING FRANK ZAPPA ON _NITELINE_ THOUGH. THOUGHT SOMEBODY MIGHT WANT TO SEE THIS. Tonight (5/13): A profile of one of the most fascinating figures in pop music, Beck Hansen. Beck (he dropped his last name when he began his recording career) works in a collagist style that pulls in elements of rock, hip-hop, folk and blues. He's a Grammy-winning critic's favorite who has also managed to build a large audience over his decade-long career. Beck is back, with a new album, "Guero" (you'll learn tonight what the title means). And for this story we brought in some expert help, in the person of John Flansburgh of the indie rock pioneers They Might Be Giants: I first met up with the producers of "Nightline" through a series of specials they put together with Robert Krulwich a few summers back called "Brave New World." They had a pretty odd assignment for my band They Might Be Giants: Create five original songs about a series of science-related topics. Now we've written a lot of songs, but string theory and germs on the moon were not topics we had a lot of musical ideas about until their left-field challenge. I also helped put together the videos for the project (I'd directed a bunch of rock videos for TMBG and others previously so I wasn't a stranger to the process) The results were often hilarious -- kind of Ernie Kovaks-meets-MTV, and a grand time was had by all. More recently, the producers at "Nightline" have taken to bringing in non-traditional voices for some of their feature stories by having artist-types profile other artists. And so they invited me to take part, which was flattering, but also a big challenge. I have spent most of my adult life being interviewed rather than conducting them. But I also knew that because of the power of "Nightline" I'd probably be able to interview any artist I was interested in. So I jumped at the chance. I chose Beck. I knew he was coming out with a new album, and the advance word on it was great. I also knew a lot had changed with Beck himself -- recording an overtly downbeat acoustic album a few years ago, and more recently getting married and becoming a dad. While I am a fan of his music, I wanted to profile him for another reason. I feel like Beck enjoys an almost singular status on the pop scene today. He expresses himself in full albums and with the confidence of a rock artist from another generation. And all the while he enjoys a tremendous amount of commercial success. Following him from London to Los Angeles, it was clear this is a make-or-break moment for Beck, and it proved to be a fascinating time to observe him and his organization up-close. Unlike his often hyper-kinetic stage presence, one-on-one Beck was quiet, but surprisingly direct and affable. He let us into his recording process, and with John King of the producing duo the Dust Brothers, we listened to a song track by track for a remarkably close look at just exactly how he puts his music together. I hope you'll join us tonight for an up-close look at a unique artist at a pivotal moment. John Flansburgh & the "Nightline" staff Contributor ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 May 2005 22:43:40 -0400 From: Jenny Grover Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Beck on Nightline tonight Russ Lewis wrote: >Beck is back, with a new album, "Guero" (you'll learn tonight what the >title means). > I didn't get to see the show, and I've been trying to find out for days what the title means. Could someone enlighten me? Jen ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 May 2005 21:28:29 -0700 (PDT) From: "Joseph M. Mallon" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Beck on Nightline tonight It's slang for "white boy". On Fri, 13 May 2005, Jenny Grover wrote: > Russ Lewis wrote: > > >Beck is back, with a new album, "Guero" (you'll learn tonight what the > >title means). > > > > I didn't get to see the show, and I've been trying to find out for days > what the title means. Could someone enlighten me? > > Jen > Joe Mallon jmmallon@joescafe.com ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V5 #122 *******************************