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  1. #1
    Forum Regular audiobill's Avatar
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    Lightbulb I'm Back!!!!! (warning: long post)

    As promised I am reporting back to all of my RR buddies about my European Vacation.
    Without boring all of you with how I spent all of my summer holidays, I've taken the liberty of posting some of the highpoints of our month-long adventure in Europe. We just arrived home, last night.


    Musical highlights:
    In Vienna
    ¯ Going out to the Rathaus (centuries old assembly of buildings/ gorgeous city hall backdrop and listening & watching classical music films on huge, 50 metre screen with another couple of thousand or so individuals. Of course, beer or wine from one of the several vendors is de rigueur, as is food from one of the outdoor, international food booths, in honour of the Olympic games. Highlight was Seji Osawa conducting the Berliner Philharmonic playing Gershwin, under the stars in Vienna.

    In Munich
    ¯ Taking our beautiful daughters to see Tchaikovsky's Schwansee (Swan Lake) ballet, as performed by the Russian Kirov ballet troupe. Highlight was the 150 swans/dancers and the venue, itself: the princeregente theatre's outstanding architecture.

    In Zurich
    ¯ Listening to "rave music" what we in North America call "drum'n'bass" with 90,000 other people down by the water, in what is billed as the largest Rave in the world. Dozens of floats of scantily clad revelers are all jumping and dancing to the beats in the heat. Highlight was watching our daughters' minds be blown by the sheer energy and colour of the event. Picked up several (okay, sixteen!!) Drum and Bass Cds that were of the latest, in Europe.

    Other highlights (non-musical):
    ¯ Mt. Titilus’ Swiss summit of 10,000 feet and the view from there. Outstanding!!
    ¯ Geneva's crystal clear lake and river that flows right through downtown.
    ¯ Paris' bridges and nightly view from the third-stage of the Eifel Tower.
    ¯ All of Europe's open-air policy of sipping on a cold, great beer or glass of wine, without incident or second-glances.
    ¯ Salzburg's Augustiner beer - the only one still brewed by monks, in all of Austria & its adjoining Beer Garden nestled under hundreds-year-old chestnut trees (apparently, the shade of the leaves keeps the stored barrels of beer, extral cool -- those monks think of everything!!)
    ¯ Munich's beerhalls & their Weiss (wheat) beer
    ¯ Burgundy's wines and gentile hillside villages
    ¯ Apenzeller's cheeses and great ceramic-capped beers
    ¯ Museums & Art Galleries – finally, got to see Kandinsky & Klee's "Blue Rider" masterpieces.
    ¯ Mad King Ludwig's (unfortunate nick-name -- I prefer, build-it-&-they-will-come-Ludwig) several castles
    ¯ Smoking some very fine Danish cigars
    _ Getting a chance to spend time with my loved ones

    So, with any trip what I missed most was the RR music recs (well, kinda. Well, just a little) I've caught up with the posts/threads since I've been gone.

    Nevertheless, if you were to suggest, just one CD, that I've likely missed (and should miss no longer), what would it be??



    Cheers,
    audiobill
    Last edited by audiobill; 08-26-2004 at 03:37 PM.

  2. #2
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    The new Flower Kings.

    Dave

  3. #3
    Forum Regular audiobill's Avatar
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    Thanks, Dave. The Flower Kings were the first "prog" band that I listened to -- outside of Pink Floyd, et al, -- based upon a RR suggestion a couple of years ago. I'll have to check their new one out.

    Others?? Surely there are some other RaveRec folk who have suggestions -- one CD??

  4. #4
    Stainmaster Finch Platte's Avatar
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    Bzzzzzzzzzzzt.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dave_G
    The new Flower Kings.

    Dave
    Listen to it again, Dave.

    Hey, Bill- thanks for the post. I'm jealous, especially the part about picking up 16-year-olds.

    fp

  5. #5
    Toon Robber tentoze's Avatar
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    Bill,


    Sounds like a GREAT time
    !
    To answer yr ?, Jesse Sykes and The Sweet Hereafter- Oh My Girl.



    Quote Originally Posted by audiobill
    As promised I am reporting back to all of my RR buddies about my European Vacation.
    Without boring all of you with how I spent all of my summer holidays, I've taken the liberty of posting some of the highpoints of our month-long adventure in Europe. We just arrived home, last night.


    Musical highlights:
    In Vienna
    ? Going out to the Rathaus (centuries old assembly of buildings/ gorgeous city hall backdrop and listening & watching classical music films on huge, 50 metre screen with another couple of thousand or so individuals. Of course, beer or wine from one of the several vendors is de rigueur, as is food from one of the outdoor, international food booths, in honour of the Olympic games. Highlight was Seji Osawa conducting the Berliner Philharmonic playing Gershwin, under the stars in Vienna.

    In Munich
    ? Taking our beautiful daughters to see Tchaikovsky's Schwansee (Swan Lake) ballet, as performed by the Russian Kirov ballet troupe. Highlight was the 150 swans/dancers and the venue, itself: the princeregente theatre's outstanding architecture.

    In Zurich
    ? Listening to "rave music" what we in North America call "drum'n'bass" with 90,000 other people down by the water, in what is billed as the largest Rave in the world. Dozens of floats of scantily clad revelers are all jumping and dancing to the beats in the heat. Highlight was watching our daughters' minds be blown by the sheer energy and colour of the event. Picked up several (okay, sixteen!!) Drum and Bass Cds that were of the latest, in Europe.

    Other highlights (non-musical):
    ? Mt. Titilus’ Swiss summit of 10,000 feet and the view from there. Outstanding!!
    ? Geneva's crystal clear lake and river that flows right through downtown.
    ? Paris' bridges and nightly view from the third-stage of the Eifel Tower.
    ? All of Europe's open-air policy of sipping on a cold, great beer or glass of wine, without incident or second-glances.
    ? Salzburg's Augustiner beer - the only one still brewed by monks, in all of Austria & its adjoining Beer Garden nestled under hundreds-year-old chestnut trees (apparently, the shade of the leaves keeps the stored barrels of beer, extral cool -- those monks think of everything!!)
    ? Munich's beerhalls & their Weiss (wheat) beer
    ? Burgundy's wines and gentile hillside villages
    ? Apenzeller's cheeses and great ceramic-capped beers
    ? Museums & Art Galleries – finally, got to see Kandinsky & Klee's "Blue Rider" masterpieces.
    ? Mad King Ludwig's (unfortunate nick-name -- I prefer, build-it-&-they-will-come-Ludwig) several castles
    ? Smoking some very fine Danish cigars
    _ Getting a chance to spend time with my loved ones

    So, with any trip what I missed most was the RR music recs (well, kinda. Well, just a little) I've caught up with the posts/threads since I've been gone.

    Nevertheless, if you were to suggest, just one CD, that I've likely missed (and should miss no longer), what would it be??



    Cheers,
    audiobill
    ----Never Off Topic, Never Rude-----

  6. #6
    Indifferentist Slosh's Avatar
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    Sounds like a fun trip. Personally, I like going to one place and spending my time exploring it. Some of my friends just took a few weeks driving Route 66. They saw a ton of sites but a trip like that gives you no time to really get a feel for any place in particular. I guess traveling for traveling's sake just doesn't appeal to me.

    As for album recs, by now I'm sure you've noticed the attention the Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat has received from Davey, Stone, and myself. Also the new Mastodon album is due out on the 30th.
    Originally Posted by Troy: She has that same kind of cleft-pallet, slightly retarded way of singing that so many other people find endearing.


  7. #7
    very clever with maracas Davey's Avatar
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    Wow, that does sound like you guys had a great time. I got to travel all around Europe for a few months when I was much younger but have always wanted to go again. Some day......

    Hey, like my good buddy Slosh says, Blueberry Boat just may be the album of the year for me. Can't imagine ever tiring of it and it just gets better the more I hear it, which has been a lot. More than just entertainment, it's more like a friend now. I still like all the things on that Half Gone comp I sent out a couple months ago (I think you got one, right?) including Devendra Banhart and Ghost and Honeydogs and the rest. But The Fiery Furnaces have really moved ahead of that whole bunch for me. And in keeping with my silly Fiery Furnaces antics as of late, here's another fun review, this one from the Gimme Some Truth site at http://gimmesometruth.typepad.com/gi...ery_furna.html. I especially agree with the last paragraph.

    The Fiery Furnaces "Blueberry Boat"

    blueberryboat

    My dog was lost but now he's found
    My dog was lost but now he's found

    I bought the Furnaces debut album a few months ago and liked it a lot. It was a garage rock album with a bit of a twist. Odd musical insturments for garage were used often and their lyrics were written in an odd fable like way. Because the band consists of just Mathew Friedberger and his sister Eleanor and the music was a more expiermental style of garage they were often compared to the White Stripes. Personally other then the two member thing I didnt see much of a comparrison, but thats the press for you. I found out they were releasing this album days before it came out and because I enjoyed the first one I decided to fork down some money on it even though I was broke that week. No way in hell did I expect what I got for my money. Never have I seen such a large jump from one album to the next. This is simply one of the most interesting, exciting, inventive and amazing albums I have heard in a long time. It is without a doubt the best thing I have heard so far this year.

    The album is 76 minutes long and every track seems like an epic. Five tracks exceed the seven minute mark. They have expanded upon the orignal sound. Expanded is a bad word. Exploded is better. The piano and garage rock guitar are still there, but now there are keyboards, violins and a lot of computer work. Every song changes in musical direction several times. Take the song Quay Cur for instance. Measuring in at ten minutes and 25 seconds. It starts out with two minutes of synths, haunting piano and odd, futuristic computer sounds in the background. Eleanor finally begins to sing as all this is still swirling around her words of a ship that has lost its course. As a storm swells the instuments themselves change course and take on the role of the storm. As the sun comes out the song breaks down into Mathew's voice with an acoustic guitar for just a moment because quickly Eleanor comes back with an angry electric guitar. It goes back and forth like this as the ship has headed to close to the poles. Finally it breaks down to the lonely sound of the acoustic guitar and one tambourine as Eleanor starts singing in a different language (I have read several places that it is Inuit). As the men begin to die off we are left with the sad cry of a piano which speeds up into the rhythm of the storm again. An organ plays out with the original piano tune as the sailors have finally found land again. The song concludes and this is just the first track off of this album.

    The lyrics are still lyrical and feel like someone reading a fable to a child, but it works. There characters are so well detailed that you feel like you have known them for years. There words sprayed out across their canvas just as wildly as the music. Take the song Chief Inspector Blancheflower for instance. From the title it seems like just a story of a police inspector. Somthing fun and whimsical, but it is so much more then that. Starting with a synth and a lazy beat in the backgound Mathew sings in a talky way about old dreams of the future as he was a young student.

    I wanted to be a typewriter mender when I grew up
    but things didnt work out so. Sleep
    late in the mornng, climb up Mt. Olympia and place a Return:
    but I didnt get enough good grades.
    He speaks one line then doubles his voice in a childish taunting sort of way for the next. Back and forth throught out this first section. The whole thing feels like a bad dream dwelling on all his failed plans. After several jobs are lost to him because of his attention problems he has an idea. Or maybe its just his last option.
    After school I was sitting in the sitting room
    looking out at the pavers in their bright orange vests
    holding up the slow go diamond plastic piece of wood
    and I knew that I would never be good
    and never wear a hard hat and do things like that,
    so I joined the police force
    With that we break into the present with a jumping drum beat, acoustic guitar and lively piano tune. Eleanor breaks in and sings about the Inspectors current case.
    Damp in Dumbarton dip abouth the 14th of May
    The publican dropped me a line thought there had been foul play:
    the farmer up the hill came in with his knife
    he mumbled something darkly about his young wife
    As the tale of the farmer concludes he begins to take a deposition from a witness who then begins to tell him among other things his own sad tale.This involving his younger brother Micahel falling in love with his old flame. The new narrator is being sung once again by Mathew. The songs piano has carried over from the last section, but the drummer has morphed into the steady beat of a drum machine.
    Well I rode up to Springfield on my motorcycle
    and I's gonna stay with my younger brother Michael
    Mom's oxycotins and Amstel Light
    but I noticed I was doing most of the talking that night.
    So I got both remotes and turned off the DVD
    and said Michael is there something that you need to say to me?

    As the story goes on, this new narrator becomes enraged and goes down to confront this ex flame at her job. The music drops out to a single guitar as Mathew sings the part of the new narrator and Eleanor the ex flame. After their argument outside her dad's bakery the music breaks back into the synth for the final two lines:
    --So I drove up to Springfield in my wife's new car
    and went and had a drink at my buddy's old bar
    The last minute and a half is left to the piano and guitar. The solo being something between Neil Young and an old blues rock song. This tale of a chief inspector becomes so much more then just a "tale". It is about the nature of jealousy and our in ability to deal with things that have gone wrong in our past. The loss of dreams and hiding ourselves from new awakenings. Its a breathtaking journey. Amazing.

    It might all sound pretenious, but I promise you it is not. Everything clicks together perfectly. It might sound to wordy (it is), too odd (it is), too different (it is), but these are things you should not be afraid of. Mathewl has always said his heroes are The Who. Here he proves it. Like The Who he writes epic songs with stories to tell, but in the end he doesnt forget to rock. The garage rock guitar may be over shadowed now, but it always has a lurking presence in their songs.

    Clever. Smart. Sad. Beautiful. Epic. Exciting. Brilliant. It is all these things and more. I cannot recommend it enough. Best album of the year as of 7/29/2004 5:35 PM.


  8. #8
    Forum Regular audiobill's Avatar
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    Wow!!

    Slosy and you certainly are captivated by FF's "Blueberry Boat". This is the first I've known of Davey going on a limb and proclaiming "album of the year" so early before year's end. Must be damn good!!
    I did receive your "1/2gone" Dave. I have had "zero" time since getting back for a proper listen. Plan to give it its respectful first listen on the weekend.

    Thanks for the recs,
    Bill

  9. #9
    Forum Regular audiobill's Avatar
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    Wink Jesse Sykes

    Hey, tentoze.

    Jesse Sykes is someone I've been meaning to explore. I'll definitely look out for this one.
    Thanks-a-ton for the rec,
    Bill
    Quote Originally Posted by tentoze
    Bill,


    Sounds like a GREAT time
    !
    To answer yr ?, Jesse Sykes and The Sweet Hereafter- Oh My Girl.

  10. #10
    Forum Regular audiobill's Avatar
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    Hey, Slosh.

    Funny you should mention the upcoming Mastodon release. I ran across a review today that compares this new band to none other than Mastodon. The band is called Rocketface and their new album is "Pack of Lies". In fact the reviewer went on to describe Rocketface as a cross between Bad Company and Mastodon. Go figure.

    Cheers,
    Bill

  11. #11
    Forum Regular audiobill's Avatar
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    My pleasure, Finchy.

    If you're ever interested in crossing over to "drum'n'bass" let be know. I have 16 beauties.
    I think Jim C would really like some of this music.

    If you're reading this, JC, feel free to lmk. I can put together a promo copy for you, or anyone for that matter,

    Cheers,
    Bill

  12. #12
    Indifferentist Slosh's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by audiobill
    In fact the reviewer went on to describe Rocketface as a cross between Bad Company and Mastodon. Go figure.
    That's like describing someone's looks as a cross between Jennifer Connelly and a horseshoe crab

    ?????

    NP: Clinic - Winchester Cathedral
    Originally Posted by Troy: She has that same kind of cleft-pallet, slightly retarded way of singing that so many other people find endearing.


  13. #13
    Stone Stone's Avatar
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    Blueberry Boat

    Get it
    Listen
    Thank us later


    I'll be surprised if it's not my album of the year, come year end.

    Other than that, AC Newman's album is some nice pop stuff, and I bought a new one last night from a band called Beep Beep - they're on Saddle Creek but sound like nothing else on that label. Instead they are more along the lines of Ten Grand or a slightly toned down Racebannon. I'll let you know more what I think once I spend more time with it.
    And the world will turn to flowing pink vapor stew.

  14. #14
    Forum Regular nobody's Avatar
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    Have you heard the new one by The Streets yet?

    It's an English rap concept album....which sound too horrible for words I know. But, surprisingly, it works. That's probably the one I've listened to the most that's come out this year so far.

    There's others, but you did say just one.

  15. #15
    Forum Regular audiobill's Avatar
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    Thanks, nobody.

    The Streets were played on German FM radio tons. I, certainly liked what I heard as I took the rented VW Van on the autobahn. What's funny is to hear the DJs on radio mixing German and English, as they introduced the next couple of songs.

    The Streets it is, then.
    Cheers,
    Bill

  16. #16
    Forum Regular audiobill's Avatar
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    Hey, Stone.

    Blueberries it is, then. I phoned "Soundscapes", our Toronto hipster indie store & they said they have it. The guy I spoke to on the phone was very enthusiastic. I'll be going into TO this weekend and I'll make sure I pick it up.

    Thanks-a-ton,
    Bill

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