From: owner-trajectory-digest@smoe.org (trajectory-digest) To: trajectory-digest@smoe.org Subject: trajectory-digest V3 #122 Reply-To: trajectory@smoe.org Sender: owner-trajectory-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-trajectory-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk trajectory-digest Saturday, December 18 1999 Volume 03 : Number 122 Today's Subjects: ----------------- little 3xthin and devil's sooty boy brother [dmw ] mr. pathetic reviews "you do not live..." [dmw ] Re: little 3xthin and devil's sooty boy brother [meredith ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 12:06:47 -0500 (EST) From: dmw Subject: little 3xthin and devil's sooty boy brother umm, so i'm still kicking myself for missing the chat. it wasn't even like i was stuck at work or something; i feel asleep. argh. so here's a long complicated question i would've asked: after repeated listens, i've managed to convince myself that "devil's sooty brother" is built from sounds from "the boy in the woods" (i took the reference to the "devil's own self" as a lyrical clue); listen to the drum+cello (? or is that just tenor guitar?) sounds right after the devil's own self line, isn't there something in common with the heartbeat/record skip sound? (although the sounds in 'sooty' also sound like the noises that microphones make when you touch them, so i may be totally offbase). further, i've begun to think that "little thin" is made at least in part from "3xthin." when i've done digital editing on narration files we sometimes cut out the intakes of breath before a word proper. (there's a clear example at about 0:42 in 3xthin before "where you been my bony boy") i think "little thin" has a bunch of those sounds as well as isolated terminal "t's" (cf kissed/wrist, both line ending words in "3xthin"). don't s'pose anyone knows for sure? anybody have any thoughts? this obsessive listening (i don't ususally cite noises in songs by the second!) is in part to clarify my impressions and order my thoughts to finish the review i'm submitting to _snap pop_, which has been running everything i give 'em so far, so it's likely to be in january's issue. i'll inflict it on y'all good folks when i'm done, too. - -- d. n.p. you do not live in this world alone - - oh no, you've just read mail from doug = dmw@radix.net - get yr pathos - - www.pathetic-caverns.com -- books, flicks, tunes, etc. = reviews - - www.fecklessbeast.com -- angst, guilt, fear, betrayal! = guitar pop ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 17:28:28 -0500 (EST) From: dmw Subject: mr. pathetic reviews "you do not live..." whether _snap pop_ uses this or not, it'll be up at www.pathetic-caverns.com in a couple of weeks. Veda Hille You do not live in this world alone. (self-released) 8.8 "You do not live..." opens with a half-minute instrumental, a collage of percussive sounds simultaneously reminiscent of a heartbeat, a skipping phonograph needle, tapping the side of the microphone. In a way, it's a manifesto for one aspect of the record, which uses tape loops and electronics in a very unusual way. Synthesizers are often used to "fake" real instruments. Tape loops are used to make a point of their own artificiality (as with Art of Noise, etc.). And electronics are often used to emphasize the dehumanization and depersonalization of harsh industrial music. This is something quite different: Hille (and "electro-acoustic artist" Christof Migone, who worked extensively with Hille to sculpt the record) use the sounds are in support of music that is very personal and human (it has what may be two of the best songs about good sex you will ever hear). It's almost an exploration of what emotional and musical value these sounds can have when separated from the notion that they're inherently gimmicky. What does the synthesizer play to itself, when there's no-one around to listen it? If that were all this album had going for it, it might be worth a curious listen, no more, but this is a dense, challenging, compelling set of songs. Hille is interested in ambiguity and multiple interpretations -- the record's title, for example, carries a message of responsibility -- don't screw the world up for everyone else -- as well as the suggestion that we live in many worlds, not all of them easy to perceive. "The Williamsburg Bridge," like "Ode to Billie Joe," to which it may allude, asks more questions than it answers: "Just when you think you got the map straight," Veda says with characteristic wry humour, "they go and change the route. Last night there was an accident, on the Williamsburg bridge." Like most of the album, the song is arranged with fine attention to detail: underpinned by Hille's insistent, idiosyncratic tenor guitar; driven by fierce, martial drums; colored by snarling slide guitar and unexpected trumpet flourishes. Some of the songs are more easy to interpret. The spare, moody "Clumbsy" - -- an intentional misspelling, suggesting "dumb" and maybe "numb" as well as clumsy, warns that "love is not strong enough, we must be strong enough," one of several lyrics that seem to speak of betrayal and the difficulties of reconciliation. "Ponybride" exults, "there's nothing wrong with feeling good," and then immediately chastises itself for being, "inane, inane." One of the most striking things about this album is how hard it is to categorize. _Spine_, Hille's last to receive U.S. distribution, was easier: what if Tori Amos grew up listening to a lot of Thelonious Monk and wrote words that made more sense? A little hard to picture, maybe, but it gets you in the ballpark. "You do not live..." isn't so easy: the electronics wander in and out of songs, "All Fur" is arranged for string quartet, and "Killzone!" is full of hornet-like guitar buzz. It's not an easy listen, it's not radio-friendly, it'll never tear up the dance floor, but you could look long and hard and not find something more original, intelligent, and rewarding. There are no immediate plans to release _You do not live in this world alone_ in the United States, but it is available (along with sound samples) from Hille's website, www.vedahille.com, as well as many Canadian retailers. - -- d. - - oh no, you've just read mail from doug = dmw@radix.net - get yr pathos - - www.pathetic-caverns.com -- books, flicks, tunes, etc. = reviews - - www.fecklessbeast.com -- angst, guilt, fear, betrayal! = guitar pop ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 23:18:19 -0500 From: meredith Subject: Re: little 3xthin and devil's sooty boy brother Hi! doug wondered: >after repeated listens, i've managed to convince myself that "devil's >sooty brother" is built from sounds from "the boy in the woods" >further, i've begun to think that "little thin" is made at least in part >from "3xthin." Weird -- from the first time I looked at the track listing, even before I listened to the album I just figured both were the case. They both seem completely intuitively to refer to "Boy In The Woods" and "3x Thin", respectively. "The devil's sooty brother" is (to me, anyway) obviously a reference back to "the devil's own self", and then "Little Thin" is pretty self-explanatory. Usually these types of things go completely by me, so I just assumed they were obvious ... am I perhaps emerging from my perpetual fog? :) +==========================================================================+ | Meredith Tarr meth@smoe.org | | New Haven, CT USA http://www.smoe.org/~meth | +==========================================================================+ | "things are more beautiful when they're obscure" -- veda hille | | *** TRAJECTORY, the Veda Hille mailing list: *** | | *** http://www.smoe.org/meth/trajectory.html *** | +==========================================================================+ ------------------------------ End of trajectory-digest V3 #122 ********************************