From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V10 #12 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 Tuesday, January 25 2011 Volume 10 : Number 012 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [loud-fans] Interesting name dropping [TruePantone293@aol.com] Re: [loud-fans] Interesting name dropping [TruePantone293@aol.com] Re: [loud-fans] Interesting name dropping [aweiss4338@aol.com] [loud-fans] on finding interesting music ["Brian Block" Subject: [loud-fans] on finding interesting music >From: Jenny Grover [sleeveless@suddenlink.net] >You pretty much have to hear someone play it, or get a >recommendation from someone. No one has time to sift through >sample songs of dozens and dozens of bands they've never heard of Some people *do* have that sampling time (have you checked out Jeff's quarterly mixes?), and there's two MP3 blogs I make regular use of, but mainly I work from reviews. Every day I look at the brief taglines on the Pitchfork and PopMatters reviews, then skim or (if motivated) read maybe 7-8 reviews a week from each site. Every month I read the brief reviews at Aiding & Abetting. Every couple weeks I check New Arrivals at Wayside Music's catalog; occasionally I see what Sea of Tranqulity has been raving about of late. I pay attention when music-geek friends make a case for something. I wonder what happened to some band I liked 5 or 10 years ago, and sometimes learn intriguing things as I seek an answer. I get mix cd's back in the mail from some of the people I send mixes to. Sometimes I discover things for some other reason I can't even recall later, but it's almost all publicly available info. My real-life friends aren't music geeks at all; they enjoy *my* mixes and recommendations, some of'em, but they let me do the questing. Luckily, I enjoy the search. It's time-consuming, but not radically so. (I'm not so much recommending my favorite sites, which are selected for my tastes, as the principle of using the written word shamelessly.)

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Both groups are Earthy guys with a penchant for beards and look as if they hit all the Renaissance festivals, yes, but the music is what I mean. How can you compare CSN (and sometimes Y, like vowels) to Fleetwood Mac? Maybe they got high off the same joint in the same Mid-Century Modern house at the same Laurel Canyon party with Peter Fonda and put the keys to their Mercedes Benzes and Porsches in the same bowl, but the similarity ends there, right? These bands sound similar to me, where their influences do not. I guess it's the factor of their own talents, their own "voice," coming into the equation. A Friar Tuck outfit and an ungroomed beard does not a folk rocker make, - --Mark ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:25:09 -0800 From: Andrew Hamlin Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Interesting name dropping Recently I tried (not very successfully) to convince a friend of mine that music made post-1/1/96 was in fact quite interesting to listen to. I'll pass along to Jen (and everyone else) what I told him. To wit (with a few more names added): Hokay, I'll exclude artists who came to prominence pre-1995 from my count, assuming (and correct me if I'm wrong) that you've made up your mind about, say, Meat Loaf, Fleetwood Mac, Warren Zevon, Freedy Johnston, and/or Ornette Coleman, to the point of latterday releases unlikely to change aforementioned. I'll mention Scott Walker, though, because his last two albums deviate so very much from his earlier work, and even a good bit from "Climate Of Hunter," the 1984 album where he began deviating from previous norms... This leaves (at least): Anton Barbeau, Orange Peels, Richard Youngs, Chemical Brothers, Smoosh, Kinski, Low, Venus Hum, Sick Bees, Six Organs Of Admittance, Fountains Of Wayne, Otis Taylor, Patty Griffin, Sara Gazarek, Melody Gardot, Scarlett Johansson, Kate Rusby, Elizabeth Cook, Tift Merritt, Boo Boo Davis, MC Ripynt, Dirty Projectors, Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, Soul Coughing, and Laura Barrett. And Boris. And Moss. No particular order. For those who dig the Dum Dum Girls' Spector-by-way-of-C86 business, I'll recommend the upcoming "La Sera" by La Sera--that's a side project from Vivian Girls' "Kickball" Katy Goodman. Not the most original sound, but, to borrow a line from David Thomas, a very good thing for that sort of thing. Okay Jen, dig in! I'll expect a full report on my desk no later than March 31st. =) Write in ink on one side of the paper only, Andy "please do not eat" - --handwritten note left near some small rubber snakes at work recently ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2011 09:41:53 -1000 From: "R. Kevin Doyle" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Interesting name dropping Totally unfair of me, since I agree with many of the points on both sides of this discussion, but here's the song that was going through my head as I was reading this entire exchange: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_j8BG-ybng ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2011 17:55:53 -0500 From: Jenny Grover Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Interesting name dropping On 01/24/2011 02:25 PM, Andrew Hamlin wrote: > Okay Jen, dig in! I'll expect a full report on my desk no later than > March 31st. =) > > Write in ink on one side of the paper only, > Darn, I'm all out of ink. Will blood do? In general our tastes are rather different (I already like a few of those, feel ambivalent about a few, and dislike a few), but I'm curious about La Sera, since I do like Dum Dum Girls. I listen to mixes, occasionally read a review or two (though in general I find them of little use), listen to internet radio, and suggestions from this and other online groups. I hear a LOT of new music, but lately I'm just not hearing much that really grabs me, and a lot that, at best, underwhelms me and, at worst, annoys the hell out of me. I have stepped back from it a bit, Mark. I listen fewer hours per day to internet radio than I used to, hoping for playlists to change soon. I guess I'm just craving more "serious" music (and by that I don't mean humorless) than I'm hearing these days and, dammit, I lost my all piano jazz SKY-FM station. Anyone know of another that I can pick up via Slimserver or that's online, that isn't just "restaurant" piano jazz? Jen ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2011 18:06:51 -0500 From: Jenny Grover Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Interesting name dropping On 01/24/2011 02:41 PM, R. Kevin Doyle wrote: > Totally unfair of me, since I agree with many of the points on both > sides of this discussion, but here's the song that was going through > my head as I was reading this entire exchange: > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_j8BG-ybng > Good one! Oh, and I've been meaning to say that insound.com puts out a free digital "mixtape" every month, and has a lot of other free tracks up (you can sign up for their newsletter to get alerts of these) that would likely be to the taste of many folks here, and for you cool kids who are into new vinyl, and you cooler kids who are into new cassette tapes (what's next, an 8-track tape revival?), they cater to those whims, as well. Jen ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:05:40 -0800 From: Andrew Hamlin Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Interesting name dropping > In general our tastes are rather > different (I already like a few of those, feel ambivalent about a few, and > dislike a few), but I'm curious about La Sera, since I do like Dum Dum > Girls. *whew* Right then...if you're *absolutely sure* you have an *informed opinion* about *every single one* of those acts I mentioned, I don't know how else I can help you. Except, of course, advising you to check out Meat Loaf, Fleetwood Mac, Warren Zevon, Freedy Johnston, and Ornette Coleman. > Anyone know of another that I can pick up via Slimserver or that's online, > that isn't just "restaurant" piano jazz? Hey now, some of the greatest jazz in history was cut using a piano, in what was at time of recording (I'm pretty sure) a restaurant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiub38ys-FA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSXRvgFea-0&playnext=1&list=PLDDC91F16C66E48A5&index=23 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzugAJXfgj4 Etc. Reminds me to ask, though: Did any onlist suggestions about piano jazz bear fruit for you? If so, which? Perhaps Brian can tell us more about the MP3 sites he uses. Me, I usually check out Pitchfork and Slant, then try Amazon samples and/or YouTube if I think something reads like it would sound interesting. Aside from that though, I think the French Maids explained it best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTVFz_weYgA Oh, and here's a taste of La Sera: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKwZSoIrAnY Kickin' song (not sure about the video), Andy "We do not serve food. We haven't served food here in 25 years. So if someone offers you a hamburger, check the expiration date." - --from the Village Vanguard's web site, http://www.villagevanguard.com/html/information.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:44:43 -0800 From: Andrew Hamlin Subject: [loud-fans] Music 2010 Poll : Your Vote Counts (no, really) http://trismccall.net/critics-poll-2010/ Tris McCall invites one and all to weigh in. Results published at Tris McCall Central, as shown above, and also in the Newark "Star-Ledger." And with strange aeons, Meat Loaf might even come out on top... Andy "Helen" by H. D. All Greece hates the still eyes in the white face, the lustre as of olives where she stands, and the white hands. All Greece reviles the wan face when she smiles, hating it deeper still when it grows wan and white, remembering past enchantments and past ills. Greece sees, unmoved, God's daughter, born of love, the beauty of cool feet and slenderest knees, could love indeed the maid, only if she were laid, white ash amid funereal cypresses. [--Hilda Doolittle, aka H.D. (1886-1961), from http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15446 ] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2011 22:09:38 -0500 From: Jenny Grover Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Interesting name dropping On 01/24/2011 07:05 PM, Andrew Hamlin wrote: > Hey now, some of the greatest jazz in history was cut using a piano, > in what was at time of recording (I'm pretty sure) a restaurant: LOL! You may be right about that, or it could be bars (but I also suspect you know what I actually mean, hence the quotation marks around "restaurant"). Know of any good music recorded in elevators or doctors' offices? > Reminds me to ask, though: Did any onlist suggestions about piano > jazz bear fruit for you? If so, which? Yes, not quite for the style I was looking for with that question, but for other nice stuff. I don't recall, however, who all was suggested, but I don't think there was anyone that I decided I didn't like. Lala was still in existence, then, so I was able to go listen to some entire albums, make some buying decisions, and then I would have deleted those posts (that was like a year and a half ago, right?). I remember that Monk and Evans were suggested, the former whom I was already into, and the latter whom I had just heard a little of and liked, so I investigated further and downloaded "Explorations". Andrea suggested Keith Jarrett to me offlist, whom I hadn't really listened to, and I ended up downloading "Life Between the Exit Signs" and "Foundations." Someone might have suggested Oscar Peterson, whom I already liked, and perhaps Brubeck, who is probably the first jazz pianist who caught my ear, back when I was a child. His autograph hangs over my desk from when he played at my college in 1980. The Mac is powered down, unplugged, etc., so I don't have iTunes handy as a memory jog (we had a 12-hour blackout Saturday night. Ugh). > Aside from that though, I think the French Maids explained it best: > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTVFz_weYgA Okay, how many of you guys just went and illegally downloaded something? As far as iLike goes, I pretty much avoid those kinds of spy and share aps, I almost never buy anything from iTunes, and I'm rarely on the Mac (loading some new stuff onto my iPod a week ago revealed I had not been into iTunes since the beginning of last October). > Oh, and here's a taste of La Sera: > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKwZSoIrAnY > > Kickin' song (not sure about the video), I can't watch that. Sorry. It also just turned me against them. And what I heard of the song didn't do much for me either. Jen ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V10 #12 *******************************