 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| |
|
| What's
on Disc by Thomas Schulte |
|
| |
|
DVD
REVIEW *****
Various Artists
A Scottish Christmas featuring Bonnie Rideout
BMG Special Products/Maggie's Music
http://www.maggiesmusic.com
In A Scottish Christmas, veteran Celtic players form in varying
arrangements for festive yuletide celebration and generally uplifting
music. Augmenting this already impressive cast is traditionally
clad Highland dancers and members of The City of Washington Pipe
Band. Charming and talented Scottish fiddle champion Bonnie Rideout
is prevalent through this live concert recording, acting as musical
director and M.C. She provides a full audio commentary track on
the DVD that also includes discographies and biographies for her
and the other talented contributor's. Each of these master musicians
takes his or her turn in the spotlight: singer/guitarist Tony Cuffe,
Uilliann pipe played by Jerry O'Sullivan and the woman behind Maggie's
Music: Maggie Sansone on the hammered dulcimer. The warm, acoustic
sounds, presented with love and skill, are not so overtly a Christmastime
soundtrack that the DVD cannot be enjoyed year-round as a touchstone
of traditional Scottish music making. (4.5)
Buy
it at Amazon.com! |
|
| |
|
| MAY
2002 REVIEWS >>>>>>>>>> |
|
| |
|
 Lou
Christie & The Tammys
Egyptian Shumba: The Singles and Rare
Recordings 1962-1964
RPM Productions
http://www.rpmrecords.co.uk
http://www.geocities.com/antlion7/tannys.htm
They called him 'the Pharaoh of the falsetto' and his piercing,
nasal wail marked a pop vocal style that has generally become, like
hieroglyphics, a 'lost art' since the decade ending in the mid-Sixties.
This excellent overview of Christie's career contains not only singles
and other recordings of the five-octave baritone, but also a half-dozen
rare sides from his girl-group, The Tammys. Revisiting the sharp-edged
harmonies, crisp and clean in some in their first stereo releases,
is like handling a Stone Age hand axe and marveling at a forgotten
talent that may never again emerge. (4.5) |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
 Black
Tape for a Blue Girl
The Scavenger Bride
Projekt
http://www.projekt.com
http://www.thescavengerbride.com
http://www.blacktapeforabluegirl.com
Black Tape for a Blue Girl is the hallmark group in the darkwave
movement and from this leadership position they present a beautiful
concept album of mysterious minimalism and vocal beauty. The great
vocals come from new singer Elysabeth Grant, long part of the Projekt
fold. The ideas come from a fusion of the artwork of Marcel Duchamp
and the writings of Franz Kafka. Besides reaching, and successfully
reaching, thematically, this is the most instrumentally dense of
the Black Tape for a Blue Girl albums. The substrate is still Sam
Rosenthal's layered electronics and piano. Beside Grant, additional
vocalists telling the tale of Prague's tragic 1914 scavenger bride
include Audra's Bret Helm and Spahn Ranch's Athan Maroul. Beside
the usual flute accompaniment a mini-string section of Vicki Richards
(violin), Grant (viola) and Julia Kent (ex-Rasputina, cello) fleshes
out the sound. The dramatic presentation mostly succeeds in this
consistent album setting a new high water mark for the group. This
was well worth the nearly three-year wait since their previous release.
(4) |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
 Jacintha
Lush Life
Groove Note
http://www.groovenote.com
The title of this album, also the name of the excellent Billy Strayhorn
song, Jacintha covers here, suggests the rich, sensual, soft delivery
that characterizes Jacintha's lyric. Showcased in a classic jazz
setting as she is here, these sounds are exquisitely framed in a
full string section the size of a small orchestra. Top-notch sound
quality marks this recording of Jacintha's subtle phrasing and the
interaction with piano, flugelhorn, the strings and more. Lush
Life uses Sony's Direct Stream Digital way of digital-encoding
an analog signal. DSD was developed by Sony's engineers in order
to archive Sony Music's priceless catalog of recordings. Like other
jazz divas in that vault, for instance Billy Holiday or Ella Fitzgerald,
Jacintha produced here a treatment of standards that will itself
rightly be preserved and cherished for years to come. (4.5)
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
Ataraxia
Mon Seul Desir
Cruel Moon/Cold Meat Industry
http://www.coldmeat.se
http://www.ataraxia.net
info@coldmeat.se
Led by neo-period chanteuse Francesca Nicoli, Ataraxia performs
original music (there are only two traditional covers here) in a
medieval style with tone-coloring synthesizer. Sometimes the antique
pomp becomes overwhelmingly ostentatious, but generally their faux-strings,
classical guitar and Enya-styled vocals work very well. Steeped
in the Middle Ages, Ataraxia created Mon Seul Desir as a
concept album based on the "La Dame à la Licorne" cycle of tapestries
and "Song of Solomon." Another key to this unique music is the chitarra
battente, the "renaissance guitar" of Italy used by 17th Century
Calabrian peasants to channel the same muses Ataraxia now communicates
with. (3) |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
 Switchblade
Kittens
Hey Punk! Try Heroine[s]
Switchblade Kittens
POB 93755, LA, CA 90093
http://www.switchbladekittens.com
This peppy female power pop band needs no guitar. Among the two
bassists singer Drama plays on her invention, the guitar-sounding
"bassorama" arrangement of playing through her own effects processing
recipe. This earned them an endorsement from the Aria bass company.
Their punk rock take on "My Heart Will Go On (Love Theme from Titanic)"
earned them an impressive Internet following as an MP3 download.
Their fun-spirited punk-pop music is infectious and driving; energetic
indie rock with a velvet bite. (3) |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
_________________________________
|
|
| |
|
DID
YOU MISS ANY OF TOM SCHULTE'S REVIEWS?
BACK ISSUES:
1999
| JULY |
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER
| OCTOBER | NOVEMBER
| DECEMBER
|
2000
| JANUARY
| FEBRUARY
| MARCH | APRIL
|
MAY | JUNE
|
2000 |
JULY | AUGUST
| SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER
| NOVEMBER | DECEMBER
|
2001 | JANUARY | FEBRUARY
| MARCH | APRIL
| MAY | JUNE
|
2001 | JULY | AUGUST
| SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER
| NOVEMBER | DECEMBER
|
2002 | JANUARY | FEBRUARY
| MARCH | APRIL
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
_________________________________
|
|
| |
|
Outsight
brings to light non-mainstream music, film, books, art, ideas and
opinions.
Published, somewhere, monthly since July 1991. Feel free to re-print
this article.
Ratings are (1) = :(, (5) = :)
"Don't be normal, be natural!"
Visit or Join Outsight's Web ring: http://d.webring.com/hub?ring=music1432
Outsight Radio Hours Webcasts
Sundays 6pm-8pm EST @
http://www.outsight.mu
NEW MAILING ADDRESS:
Tom 'Tearaway' Schulte,
5224 Shoreline Blvd.,
Waterford, MI 48329-1670
E-mail Outsight at: outsight@usa.net |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
_________________________________
|
|
| |
|
Current
reading list:
"Teach Yourself Mathematical Groups"
"Bubblegum Rock" (Kim Cooper)
"Parliament of Whores" (P. J. O'Rourke)
"Cyberselfishness" (Paulina Borsook)
"Anna Karenina" (Tolstoy)
"Small Change: A Life of Tom Waits" (Patrick Humphries)
Get audiobooks through http://www.audible.com.
If you sign up, tell 'em "tearaway" sent you so I get a free book!
|
|
|
