From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V6 #131 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 Sunday, July 9 2006 Volume 06 : Number 131 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [loud-fans] Re: loud-fans-digest V6 #130 [Jim Davies ] Re: [loud-fans] Re: loud-fans-digest V6 #130 [2fs ] [loud-fans] What? Judee Sill again?! [Gil Ray ] Re: [loud-fans] Re: loud-fans-digest V6 #130 ["Stewart Mason" Subject: [loud-fans] Re: loud-fans-digest V6 #130 Just you wait. Here's a bit from the new interview with Scott Miller, published in a Portuguese venue (on the LF website): Q: Anton is truly a freak, right? But I love this guy... SM: Yes, Anton was created with a bit more personality than the rest of us. But he's strangely professional to work with. His meter and pitch and things like that are up there with the best people you work with. The thing is, if you have Anton record five things, five arrangement touches or something, you'll never get five average, adequate results. You'll get two or three that are exceptionally brilliant and deftly executed and make the song, and then two or three others that seriously sound like he didn't think the record button was on. I think he just doesn't check his work in anything like the fussy way someone like me does. The party just starts and then stops and maybe you got something in between. I think Scott's great, but this makes me think that he hasn't heard the latest stuff. I would agree with him when it comes to the first five Ant albums. But not Guladong. And King Of Missouri suffers from the opposite problem - that is, a general lack of variety, or whatever. Village of the Apple Sun is kind of niche - like Elephant 6 stuff, only brilliant as opposed to, gosh, deathly dull and unimaginative - such a shame that bands like the Olivia Tremor Control didn't live up to their names, or maybe they did - but not inconsistent in the way that Scott suggests. And the Ant and Su album? Wow. That sounds like a review of the last several Ant records... Oh well. You can go "oh well" now, as long as you're ready to go "oh wow!" later. x Jim ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2006 09:36:39 -0500 From: Chris Prew Subject: Re: [loud-fans] mp3 editing software? (NS) You can do this in iTunes (at least in the mac version -- I assume Windows has the same capability)--its a bit of a pain but I guess no worse that editing it using another editor and reimporting it into iTunes 1) Select the track in the Library 2) Figure out what time of the track you want to keep - where does the break come? 3) Go to "File-Get Info" 4) Go to the Options tab and you can manually set the stop time of the track so it ignores the blanks stuff at the end -- but it still keeps the file intact. If you want to actually edit the file, do the above steps, then 5) Select the track, go to Advanced, "Convert to MP3". Make sure your import bitrate settings are what you want. 6) This will create a new MP3 file using only the time you have selected, ignoring the rest. So, when I split the last track from Nevermind into 2 songs, I changed the runtime from 0 to the end of the first song, converted to MP3 and got just the first song in a new file. Then i went back to the original long file, changed the runtime from the beginning of the second song to the end of the track, converted again and got another Mp3 with the same name, then I deleted the long track with blank space and renamed the last new track to "Bonus Track". Probably more than you wanted to know. Hope this helps somebody. iTunes has a lot of useful tricks buried in it. Chris np: Eleventh Dream Day, "Zeroes and Ones" -- nice! On Jul 6, 2006, at 5:46 PM, Michael Bowen wrote: > Can anyone recommend an mp3 editing software for Windows, preferably > freeware? Basically, all I want to do is stuff like chop off the blank > space off the end of "The Naked Dutch Painter". > > Thanks, > > MB ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2006 11:53:27 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Re: loud-fans-digest V6 #130 On 7/8/06, Jim Davies wrote: > > > SM: Yes, Anton was created with a bit more personality than the rest of > us. > But he's strangely professional to work with. His meter and pitch and > things > like that are up there with the best people you work with. The thing > is, if > you have Anton record five things, five arrangement touches or > something, > you'll never get five average, adequate results. You'll get two or > three > that are exceptionally brilliant and deftly executed and make the song, > and > then two or three others that seriously sound like he didn't think the > record button was on. I think he just doesn't check his work in > anything > like the fussy way someone like me does. The party just starts and then > stops and maybe you got something in between. > > I think Scott's great, but this makes me think that he hasn't heard > the latest stuff. Actually, in context, I think Scott's talking more about arrangement ideas etc. - that is, that half of them will be utterly brilliant, while the other half will be just curious and odd. Some of those latter might even work - but they're not the sort of thing one would expect someone "curiously professional" to come up with. Unlike Scott - who might be described as "professional" but unlikely to be so spontaneous. (Accurate - so far as I know, not yet having heard Apple Sun or the Ant/Su project - review of last handful of Ant albums omitted.) I consider myself a fan of Anton, so you're preachin' to the choir - but I do feel the last slew of material he released (prior to the current and ongoing one) suffered a bit from a quality-control problem. If he'd have relegated the more off-the-cuff stuff to a website collection of curios or something, and concentrated the best of those four or five CDs' worth of material onto two discs, those CDs would have been monsters. (I'm including the demos and semi-official bootlegs as well.) Aaron Mandel points out (at his website) that Anton's and Scott's material in many ways has little in common, thematically - but I think they work well together musically and personally (it would seem). And I think Anton's willingness to just throw monkey wrenches into the kitchen sink works well with Scott's perfectionist tendencies (even though Scott, too, is willing to experiment) - perhaps more at a songwriting level. "(Kind Of) In Love" is lightweight, to be sure - but it's also catchy as hell and clever in an utterly non-taxing way that Scott's lyrics have never been before. Okay, if you don't like it at all you can dismiss it as dumb - or more charitably assume he's writing a "dumb" character - but I think that it's unwilling-to-acknowledge-self narrator is actually quite connected to characters Scott's written with before - but approached in a lighter way that I'm not sure he would have done sans Ant-influence. Anyway, further thoughts on the CD: True, it's the least cohesive of Scott albums - more like a gathering of EPs - and of course it isn't only a Scott album (one reason it's not as cohesive thematically). But I'm just glad it bloody exists. I don't know if there's any likelihood of another gigantic LN-type set of songs from Scott - but I'll take the random collection of songs over nothing, especially when those songs are pretty top-drawer (SARO, MOMT, and DBMWILF all). - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2006 11:56:09 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: [loud-fans] mp3 editing software? (NS) Wow - I never knew that. Thanks! On 7/8/06, Chris Prew wrote: > > You can do this in iTunes (at least in the mac version -- I assume > Windows has the same capability)--its a bit of a pain but I guess no > worse that editing it using another editor and reimporting it into > iTunes - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2006 12:39:12 -0700 (PDT) From: Gil Ray Subject: [loud-fans] What? Judee Sill again?! Oh my...here's some amazing footage of Judee Sill doing one of her best songs - The Kiss. The melody is to die for, and it's a great performance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM3EQVUkMzc if that link doesn't work, it's up on "her" MySpace site http://www.myspace.com/judeesill Gil ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 08 Jul 2006 14:52:40 -0400 From: "Stewart Mason" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Re: loud-fans-digest V6 #130 - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Davies" >> That sounds like a review of the last several Ant records... Oh >> well. > > You can go "oh well" now, as long as you're ready to go "oh wow!" > later. No, I think that pretty much nails what's always been my take on Anton's stuff: consistently, he's one-third brilliant, one-third boring, one-third crap. S ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2006 15:16:11 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Re: loud-fans-digest V6 #130 On 7/8/06, Stewart Mason wrote: > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jim Davies" > >> That sounds like a review of the last several Ant records... Oh > >> well. > > > > You can go "oh well" now, as long as you're ready to go "oh wow!" > > later. > > No, I think that pretty much nails what's always been my take on > Anton's stuff: consistently, he's one-third brilliant, one-third > boring, one-third crap. While I disagree with the proportions, I think this situation is an excellent example of the way digital song-files can really benefit an artist: it allows someone like Stewart to cherry-pick the one-third excellent stuff, rather than either ignore it all or have to buy the 2/3 boring crap. - -- ...Jeff Norman, who's never had Anton inexplicably title a song after me The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2006 15:53:25 -0700 From: "rslloyd" Subject: [loud-fans] Scott mentioned on radio program A friend of mine told me last night that he had heard Scott mentioned on the local (San Francisco) public radio station during a program discussing Paste Magazine's "100 best living songwriters." Scott didn't make the list, but they read an email from Joshua citing Scott-including Aimee Mann's opinion of him as a songwriter. The Paste Magazine editor then noted that Scott has a new album coming out. The program (from June 29) is archived at: http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R606291000 I didn't listen to the whole show, but Scott's name comes up (very) roughly two-thirds of the way through. Bob ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 08 Jul 2006 15:54:06 -0700 From: "Steve Holtebeck" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] excerpt from interview 2fs: > I consider myself a fan of Anton, so you're preachin' to the choir - but > I do feel the last slew of material he released (prior to the current and > ongoing one) suffered a bit from a quality-control problem. If he'd have > relegated the more off-the-cuff stuff to a website collection of curios > or something, and concentrated the best of those four or five CDs' worth > of > material onto two discs, those CDs would have been monsters. (I'm > including the demos and semi-official bootlegs as well.) I think one of the things that kept WIIW as cohesive as it could be was that it was Scott's album, so all of the songs (Scott songs, Anton songs, and covers) have a reason for being. Anton's first few albums were the best songs selected from much larger batches (The Horse's Tongue and Waterbugs were the best songs from 10+ years of homemade cassette recordings), and the last few have been mostly unedited batches of songs. It helps Anton when someone helps him identify his good and less-good songs, especially if it's someone he respects like Scott Miller. > Aaron Mandel points out (at his website) that Anton's and Scott's > material in many ways has little in common, thematically - but I think > they work well together musically and personally (it would seem). And I > think Anton's > willingness to just throw monkey wrenches into the kitchen sink works > well with Scott's perfectionist tendencies (even though Scott, too, is > willing to experiment) - perhaps more at a songwriting level. In fact, the whole title of the album makes a good analogy for the Scott/ Anton collaboration. Scott's experimentation always seems more directed ("everything in this album is on purpose"), while Anton's is more throwing things at the wall to see if they stick but not being completely sure if they're sticking or not. > "(Kind Of) In Love" is lightweight, to be sure - but it's also catchy as > hell and clever in an utterly non-taxing way that Scott's lyrics have > neverbeen before. Okay, if you don't like it at all you can dismiss it > asdumb - or more charitably assume he's writing a "dumb" character - but > I think that it's > unwilling-to-acknowledge-self narrator is actually quite connected to > characters Scott's written with before - but approached in a lighter way > that I'm not sure he would have done sans Ant-influence. "(Kind Of) In Love" was the first of the new songs I heard, and before I found out it was a collaboration, I thought it was one of Scott's most indirectly direct songs ever. When I found out it was a co-write with Anton it made more sense. I've always thought that Scott+Anton=Chilton+Bell, and "(Kind Of) In Love" sounds like a Big Star song to me. I think it's pretty good (much better than "mediocre"), but could probably learn not to like it if I was required to. And it's the first song that Anton Barbeau has ever co-written with anyone. > Anyway, further thoughts on the CD: True, it's the least cohesive of > Scott albums less cohesive than ATTRACTIVE NUISANCE, even ? > But I'm just glad it bloody exists. Ditto. New songs from Scott make everyone's life worth living. - -Steve NP: Jeff's swap CD which had the misfortune of arriving in my mailbox the same day as WHAT IF IT WORX. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2006 19:39:15 -0700 From: "b.j. skaught" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Re: loud-fans-digest V6 #130 > Actually, in context, I think Scott's talking more > about arrangement ideas > etc. - that is, that half of them will be utterly brilliant, > while the > other > half will be just curious and odd. Some of those > latter might even work - > but they're not the sort of thing one would expect > someone "curiously > professional" to come up with. Unlike Scott - who > might be described as > "professional" but unlikely to be so spontaneous. Scott's process is surprisingly spontaneous, but the big difference between his creative process and Anton's is that Scott has the audience reaction in mind--he's thinking about how what's going on is going to communicate. Anton, on the other hand, is just going to let whatever's happening happen, and it's impact on the audience is not usually taken into consideration. I'm endlessly amazed by how a great idea of his will just be torpedoed by some crazy impulse he has to do something ridiculous. Scott might do the same thing at some stage int he process, but he'll see it through--he'll see how it can be useful. I often think that it's the Roxy Music influence on Scott--that great marriage between Ferry and Eno that brought out the best of both. > (Accurate - so far as I know, not yet having heard >Apple Sun or the > Ant/Su > project - review of last handful of Ant albums >omitted.) Apple Sun is the most realized thing he's done in awhile, the Ant/Su album is classic mixture of half-baked ideas and gloriously inspired moments. > but I > do feel the last slew of material he released suffered > a bit from a > quality-control problem. And if you ever see him live it's even worse. I've seen him win over fairly hostile crowds with an amazing set, and i've seen him ruin his best songs and empty a room--and he did not recognize any difference between the two shows. > If he'd have > relegated the more off-the-cuff stuff to a website > collection of curios or > something, and concentrated the best of those four > or five CDs' worth of > material onto two discs, those CDs would have > been monsters. (I'm including > the demos and semi-official bootlegs as well.) Someone else would have to do it--I really don't think he has any clue that there's a quality difference between songs. >I think Anton's > willingness to just throw monkey wrenches into the >kitchen sink works > well > with Scott's perfectionist tendencies I've really fallen hard for "Don't Bother Me While I'm Living Forever". I don't know what the process of writing or recording was, but it certainly sounds like the most seamless blend of their two styles. It's the loosest and most classically "psychedelic" thing Scott's done, and it's very Anton-like in that regard, but it's got the execution and lyrical/melodic focus that Scott's semi-famous for. Really an amazing song, and one that shows off a side of Scott's guitar playing you don't often hear--an almost shoegazer-like, hypnotic riffery. >"(Kind Of) In Love" is > lightweight, to be sure - but it's also catchy as hell >and clever in an > utterly non-taxing way that Scott's lyrics have never >been before. I like it quite a bit, and it reminds me of the Quercio collaboration--the b-side from Take Me Down whose title escapes me... > But I'm just glad it > bloody exists. Amen. xo, B ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V6 #131 *******************************