Subject: Bowery Beat/ Labradford
Subject: Albino Alligator
Subject: Spaced-out Alligators
Subject: Re: CT website always busy
Subject: lilys' *tonebender*
Subject: Re: artsy fartsy
Subject: Re: Listworthy Show on 12/12
Subject: Re: sliding and diving
Subject: Paradise Motel/Philipa Nihil live
Subject: Re: artsy fartsy
Date: Sat, 7 Dec 1996 21:24:10 -0800
here are some attempts at descibing some of the excellent kranky music
i've recently acquired...
\\--------//
bowery electric - beat
(kranky records, krank014, CD/DLP)
simple, catchy basslines anchor the minimalistic guitar drones and
accents. a wonderfully moody & sedate album. it lulls. while it's
obvious that they revere Slowdive, (less so here than on their debut,) BE
are clearly defining their own character. this album seems richer and
more varied than their first.
the album's title track, "beat," opens with a simple hypnotic combination
of bass, a single keyboard chord, drum machine and wonderul scratchy
surface-noise. with margaret's vocals "words are just words/words are
only noise." it approximates portishead stripped to the bones.
"empty words" "black light" and "coming down" are all solidly good
slowdive-esque tracks. the first would have been at home on BE's debut.
the latter two feature lawrence's vocals on top of margaret's (very
neil+rachael-like.)
on both "without stopping" and "fear of flying" the percussion reminds me
of evanescence-era scorn. beyond that the tone is brooding or hopeful and
dreamy with some nice subdued whirring noises (likes banks of washing
machines in a laundromat.)
"under the sun" is stark and spooky with reverbed bass and a subdued
noisy background like (i hear the eraserhead soundtrack.)
"inside out" is a strange courtship - a single guitar chord answering an
inviting bassline while lazy drums with constant cymbalic shimmer
maintain the pace. there's a warm relaxing feel here.
"postscript" is a minimal single-chord subtly phasing for 16 minutes.
relaxing, but not powerful enough to be hypnotic.
//--------\\
\\--------//
labradford - s/t
(kranky krank013) CD/LP
it seems that labradford are still painting brilliantly lonely sonic
landscapes. after creating exploring the tundra with last year's "a
stable reference," they've on to explore the deserts of the american
southwest.
this album isn't as intense and overwhelmingly gorgeous as ASR (which may
well be one of my favourite albums ever.) but after a few listens, it is
holding up quite well.
the album opens with "phantom channel crossing" - an subtle instrumental
appetizer with intermittent clanking chains.
the guitar melody/reverb and violin on "midrange" set the album's vaguely
western motif.
Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 01:09:49 -0800
It was written:
> What is HNIA's Albino Alligator (it's a Kevin Spacey movie, i think)?
It IS in fact a soundtrack to the movie Kevin Spacey directed and
starred in. However, the artist who contributed the soundtrack is 4AD's
Michael Brook as opposed to His Name Is Alive. The movie received
glowing reviews when it premiered at the Toronto International Film Fest
in September. Someone connected to 4AD told me the album and the movie
are released in February.
Jeff Keibel
Scarborough, ON
CANADA
[email protected]
Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 17:40:36 -0800
It was written:
> What is HNIA's Albino Alligator (it's a Kevin Spacey movie, i think)?
It IS in fact a soundtrack to the movie Kevin Spacey directed and
starred in. However, the artist who contributed the soundtrack is 4AD's
Michael Brook as opposed to His Name Is Alive. The movie received
glowing reviews when it premiered at the Toronto International Film Fest
in September. Someone connected to 4AD told me the album and the move
are released in February.
Jeff Keibel
Scarborough, ON
CANADA
[email protected]
Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 03:16:14 EST
---from Kendal Myka Obermeyer:
> ...I can't get to the CT website (garnet.berkeley...etc:8080)
> I always get a busy signal. Did the whole thing move and I didn't
> catch it? This is entirely possible.
The band's official website is:
I think the Berkeley site has been taken down for some time now, but I
don't know this for sure.
And totally off the subject, I just saw an ad for some cold medicine or
something whose slogan was "[product] makes you feel better. Not worse."
Pretty amazing, huh?
---Jeremy
Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 04:44:27 +0500
no, 'tonebender' is probably what his friend is looking for. the
'tonebender' cdep on summershine (of which there is also a 7" version)
includes 'tonebender', 'eskimo', 'february fourteenth', and 'threw a day'.
there *is* a 'february fourteenth' 7" on slumberland (with completely
different artwork than 'tonebender' and of which there are a few different
pressings with different-coloured vinyl and sleeves), but it only includes
'february fourteenth' and 'threw a day' (yup, the 'hidden' ninth track on
the 'in the presence of nothing' album). whew! confused enough?
in regards to finding any of these, do try
sell' and vinyl ink (http://vinyl.ari.net/). (i've no problem advertising
either one of these 'cause they're both great places to find stuff!)
hope this was of some help...
~susan.
>there are 3 (i think) different pressing of this. the older ones are
>harder to find but the newest is pretty easy. got mine from VinylInk i
>think. It has Feb 14th and Threw A Day (the second to last song on ITPON
>cd). No, Tonebender is different.
>> (1) A friend of mine is looking for a CD copy of Lilys "February
>> Fourteenth" single. Is this hard to find? Is it the same thing as the
>> _Tonebender_ EP?
Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 16:03:15 PST
>To convey an
>emotion... ..wheather pleasant or not, is what makes good art (IMO).
> Cheers, Pat
actually, conveying UNpleasant emotions especially, was the purpose of
the most respected form of art in ancient greece: tragedy. considering
the kind of music I normally listen to nowadays, I guess some aspects of
art hasn't changed much since then. of course, the idea behind the greek
tragedy (one of the ideas anyway) was that experiencing strong unpleasant
feelings during the show would clean the soul of these emotions and leave
the viewer feeling better afterwards. this does not seem to work me now.
oh well.
-naor-
daydreaming days in a daydream nation
Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 11:15:44 +0000
[email protected] wrote:
> Just wanted to let you all know that the band Paige will be playing at the
> Martini Lounge, Thursday December 12th. For all of you that remember, they
> were the ones that played with His Name Is Alive this last September. They
> are definately worth checking out. It's 21 and over. Hope to see ya all
> there.
>
You know, I would be there except I don't happen to be familiar with
the Martini lounge. I wonder why... maybe it's because we don't all
live on the same continent, much less in the same city?
[email protected]
Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 18:34:20 -0500
On Fri, 6 Dec 1996, C. Kemnitz wrote:
>I believe that it was Bauhaus that did "She's In Parties" at least
> > >that's >what the 12'inch
>
> Okay, let's not get petty, or i'll ask you how you fit that twelve foot
> record on your turntable.
Touche!!!!!You got me :). I'll be thinking about that 12 foot record
next time an anal streak strikes.
Jes