31 December 2003
Sonic Youth
mp3 download with sixteen songs from the show at the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee, June 13th, 2003 (via kingblind). Still one of the most amazing live bands in the world if you ask me.
Fom one of my fave sources, close your eyes.
mp3 download with sixteen songs from the show at the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee, June 13th, 2003 (via kingblind). Still one of the most amazing live bands in the world if you ask me.
Fom one of my fave sources, close your eyes.
30 December 2003
I've been dying to have real news from all-mighty Patti Smith.
Patti Smith Gets Rejuvenated
Punk poet's new album due in April
"It covers our particular waterfront," says Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye of the poet-singer's new album, "in that we never shied away from song form, and we've never been bound by it. We can play any kind of music, from the Shirelles to John Coltrane."
The as-yet-untitled record -- Smith's first studio effort since 2000's Gung Ho and her debut for the Columbia label after nearly three decades with Arista -- includes, as Kaye puts it, "pretty songs, hard rock songs and what we call 'feels,' a kind of motif with no easy distinction between verse and chorus. This is a band that enjoys a good hit single, but we also like to move into the strange, unforeseen waters of free improvisation. Basically, once Patti gets the theme of a song, once she finds the vocal or poetic key into it, we start wandering with her and see where it takes us. And we always want to take the road less traveled."
The album -- which will be released in April -- features eleven songs, all new originals, including a piece that features Smith's daughter Jesse at the piano. Kaye describes another number, "Stride of the Mind," as "floating on a sea of Farfisa organ." One of the album's two long, improvised pieces is "a salute to Mahatma Gandhi and his principles of non-violent resistance." And the title of "In My Blakean Year" refers to Smith's lifelong love and study of the poetry of William Blake. The song is, according to Kaye, "a description of her understanding of the realms of the contrary that make up Blake's immortal vision."
Smith, Kaye, guitarist Oliver Ray, bassist Tony Shanahan and drummer Jay Dee Daugherty started rehearsals for the album last February. Although Smith has been recording and touring with that lineup for nearly a decade -- her classic Seventies band with Kaye, Daugherty, Ivan Kral and Richard Sohl lasted only half that long -- Kaye says that those initial sessions were held "to determine whether we had a future. Our heritage is honorable [a reference to Smith's acclaimed Seventies albums, such as Horses and Wave. We didn't want to drag it through the mud.
"But she felt rejuvenated," Kaye says of Smith. "She loves to do new work." By April, the new songs were taking shape. After touring Europe and Japan in the summer, and refining the material in soundchecks, the band went into Looking Glass Studios on New York's Lower East Side with engineer Emery Dobyns and recorded for twenty-three straight days. "We didn't take a break -- we did it bam-bam-bam," Kaye says. Smith then took a ten-day break, after which the group reconvened for another twelve straight days of work. "By then," Kaye says, "the record was essentially done."
Kaye, who has played guitar for Smith since the early Seventies, believes that she hasn't changed that much as a songwriter and record maker. "She leads with her intuition," he claims. "The difference now is, she knows how to get where she's going a lot easier. At one time, we would spend six months playing a song live, like 'Free Money' [on Horses]. It was just three chords endlessly repeated, but a song slowly appeared out of it. Now, we understand how to get the preliminary shaping a lot quicker.
"But I also feel," Kaye adds, "that on this record, Patti's confidence and maturity as a performer are at the forefront. There are vocal performances here -- and this is coming from somebody who has watched her sing for three decades -- that she's never come close to having on record before. Maybe she'd get them on the odd night in some Midwestern town, far from any tape machine. But there are things that happened on this record that raised the hairs on my arm."
DAVID FRICKE
(December 29, 2003)
Source: Rolling Stone.com
Patti Smith Gets Rejuvenated
Punk poet's new album due in April
"It covers our particular waterfront," says Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye of the poet-singer's new album, "in that we never shied away from song form, and we've never been bound by it. We can play any kind of music, from the Shirelles to John Coltrane."
The as-yet-untitled record -- Smith's first studio effort since 2000's Gung Ho and her debut for the Columbia label after nearly three decades with Arista -- includes, as Kaye puts it, "pretty songs, hard rock songs and what we call 'feels,' a kind of motif with no easy distinction between verse and chorus. This is a band that enjoys a good hit single, but we also like to move into the strange, unforeseen waters of free improvisation. Basically, once Patti gets the theme of a song, once she finds the vocal or poetic key into it, we start wandering with her and see where it takes us. And we always want to take the road less traveled."
The album -- which will be released in April -- features eleven songs, all new originals, including a piece that features Smith's daughter Jesse at the piano. Kaye describes another number, "Stride of the Mind," as "floating on a sea of Farfisa organ." One of the album's two long, improvised pieces is "a salute to Mahatma Gandhi and his principles of non-violent resistance." And the title of "In My Blakean Year" refers to Smith's lifelong love and study of the poetry of William Blake. The song is, according to Kaye, "a description of her understanding of the realms of the contrary that make up Blake's immortal vision."
Smith, Kaye, guitarist Oliver Ray, bassist Tony Shanahan and drummer Jay Dee Daugherty started rehearsals for the album last February. Although Smith has been recording and touring with that lineup for nearly a decade -- her classic Seventies band with Kaye, Daugherty, Ivan Kral and Richard Sohl lasted only half that long -- Kaye says that those initial sessions were held "to determine whether we had a future. Our heritage is honorable [a reference to Smith's acclaimed Seventies albums, such as Horses and Wave. We didn't want to drag it through the mud.
"But she felt rejuvenated," Kaye says of Smith. "She loves to do new work." By April, the new songs were taking shape. After touring Europe and Japan in the summer, and refining the material in soundchecks, the band went into Looking Glass Studios on New York's Lower East Side with engineer Emery Dobyns and recorded for twenty-three straight days. "We didn't take a break -- we did it bam-bam-bam," Kaye says. Smith then took a ten-day break, after which the group reconvened for another twelve straight days of work. "By then," Kaye says, "the record was essentially done."
Kaye, who has played guitar for Smith since the early Seventies, believes that she hasn't changed that much as a songwriter and record maker. "She leads with her intuition," he claims. "The difference now is, she knows how to get where she's going a lot easier. At one time, we would spend six months playing a song live, like 'Free Money' [on Horses]. It was just three chords endlessly repeated, but a song slowly appeared out of it. Now, we understand how to get the preliminary shaping a lot quicker.
"But I also feel," Kaye adds, "that on this record, Patti's confidence and maturity as a performer are at the forefront. There are vocal performances here -- and this is coming from somebody who has watched her sing for three decades -- that she's never come close to having on record before. Maybe she'd get them on the odd night in some Midwestern town, far from any tape machine. But there are things that happened on this record that raised the hairs on my arm."
DAVID FRICKE
(December 29, 2003)
Source: Rolling Stone.com
27 December 2003
Someone told me Cat Power's contribution on "My Hoo Ha" sounds like made by the phone. For what I read here, it was slackerer than that:
Chan Marshall's wisp of a contribution on "My Hoo Ha" was recorded in a hotel lobby in Copenhagen. "Her band was outside in the van waiting on her to leave, and I said, 'One more line?' And she said, 'No!' gave me a big hug, and took off. I felt like Alan Lomax, making my little field recordings." (Gelb's quote)
Chan Marshall's wisp of a contribution on "My Hoo Ha" was recorded in a hotel lobby in Copenhagen. "Her band was outside in the van waiting on her to leave, and I said, 'One more line?' And she said, 'No!' gave me a big hug, and took off. I felt like Alan Lomax, making my little field recordings." (Gelb's quote)
New Melissa Auf Der Maur song, "Followed The Waves", available on her official site, plus dates of gigs, as follows:
1/20 Lisbon, Portugal Coliseum
1/22 Madrid, Spain La Rivierra
1/23 Barcelona, Spain Razzmatazz
1/25 Milan, Italy Fila Forum
1/26 Zurich, Switz Volkshaus
1/27 Vienna, Austria Gasometer
1/29 Koln, Germany LMH
1/30 Tilburg, Holland 013
1/31 Paris, France Zenith
2/2 Birmingham, UK Academy
2/3 London, UK Hammersmith
2/4 Cambridge, UK Corn Exchange
2/6 Glasgow, UK SECC
2/7 Manchester, UK Apollo
2/8 Nottingham, UK Rock City
2/9 Southampton, UK Guildhall
1/20 Lisbon, Portugal Coliseum
1/22 Madrid, Spain La Rivierra
1/23 Barcelona, Spain Razzmatazz
1/25 Milan, Italy Fila Forum
1/26 Zurich, Switz Volkshaus
1/27 Vienna, Austria Gasometer
1/29 Koln, Germany LMH
1/30 Tilburg, Holland 013
1/31 Paris, France Zenith
2/2 Birmingham, UK Academy
2/3 London, UK Hammersmith
2/4 Cambridge, UK Corn Exchange
2/6 Glasgow, UK SECC
2/7 Manchester, UK Apollo
2/8 Nottingham, UK Rock City
2/9 Southampton, UK Guildhall
20 December 2003
More Cat Power pics from the gig last sunday. The previous 6 are Sleater-Kinney's.
19 December 2003
I found out the "indie" tiny part on MTV is not completely off after all, but it's really unfair to show PJ Harvey's "A Perfect Day Elise" and Cat Power's "He War" (not that much*) at 2am of a Thursday morning. All in all, I accidentally stumbled on that and what have I seen... Beth Gibbons & Rustin' Man live playing "Funny Time Of Year". My eyes filled with water, happy of seeing that just like the gig I saw, and sad to know that'll probably never happen again. Simply perfect. The world ain't totally lost.
*the video sucks, it's te worst of all videos I've ever seen. Brett Vapnek should try another career. And Chan should try just sit in a chair and tap her feet on the floor, cuz that works. I only watch He War cuz it's one hell of a song and Cat Power is my damn fave band.
*the video sucks, it's te worst of all videos I've ever seen. Brett Vapnek should try another career. And Chan should try just sit in a chair and tap her feet on the floor, cuz that works. I only watch He War cuz it's one hell of a song and Cat Power is my damn fave band.
I keep forgetting this:
Will Fratesi - drums
Coleman Lewis - guitar
Margaret White - violin, bass, keyboards
there's someone else, I believe.
Will Fratesi - drums
Coleman Lewis - guitar
Margaret White - violin, bass, keyboards
there's someone else, I believe.
Cat Power pix from Seattle gig last Sunday.
new stuff I don't have and would kill to:
Bonnie 'Prince' Billie's "Wolf Among Wolves" cover
White Stripes' "I Want to Be the Boy" cover
"Alone Now", which I don't know if it's a cover, but it's one of the songs Cat Power played on WXPN on Dec. 3rd and I bloody missed
Tina Turner's "Private Dancer" (with the charismatic Coleman on vocals), as mentioned here.
And there's M. Ward performance on the same station, from 2 days ago. Where's my mind? Geez..
new stuff I don't have and would kill to:
Bonnie 'Prince' Billie's "Wolf Among Wolves" cover
White Stripes' "I Want to Be the Boy" cover
"Alone Now", which I don't know if it's a cover, but it's one of the songs Cat Power played on WXPN on Dec. 3rd and I bloody missed
Tina Turner's "Private Dancer" (with the charismatic Coleman on vocals), as mentioned here.
And there's M. Ward performance on the same station, from 2 days ago. Where's my mind? Geez..
10 December 2003
This is fun.
Didn't know Chumbawamba and Russel Crowe (yes, the actor) had released albums this year.
Anyone thinks Creed deserves a TRIBUTE?!?!?! A FEMALE tribute!?!?!
Didn't know Chumbawamba and Russel Crowe (yes, the actor) had released albums this year.
Anyone thinks Creed deserves a TRIBUTE?!?!?! A FEMALE tribute!?!?!
If u go way back in the posts (I wanna say 1st week...), u'll see a link for Peta2. They were giving a few posters of Chan Marshall. Kids everywhere applied, none revceived as far as I knkow. Well, I got mine tonite, directly from Sweden. :)
06 December 2003
for the kids who (I think) come check out here from time to time
I'm in serious problems school-wise, so I'm guessing unless a very bombastic news come up, I won't be posting as frequently this month, maybe a bit of January, too.
sorry and thanks.
I'm in serious problems school-wise, so I'm guessing unless a very bombastic news come up, I won't be posting as frequently this month, maybe a bit of January, too.
sorry and thanks.
