Just to piss some people off...

[vickie@pilot.njin.net (Vickie Mapes)]

** RE-PRINTED FROM ECTO **


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Ok, I admit it. I'm a lazy girl, with a lazy mind. I've been
meaning to post about some of the wonderful music that
Klaus and Claudia brought with them, and it got put into the
vague, ectoish place where everything else I've been meaning
to post about has gone. But, in another spring cleaning (oops,
well, it's spring in Australia, isn't it?) sweep of my files
I found this. I knew I kept it because I would someday want
to refer to it, and now I'm just going to re-post it and agree
with it all over the place.

Klaus, your turn:

Subject: Barbara Gosza & Peacock Palace
From: klaus@inphobos.w.open.de (Cosmic Vagabond)

I wanted to talk about some artists, I've discovered recently,
and I've finally found some time to do it.

--- Barbara Gosza, "Beckett & Buddha", 1992

This 26 year old singer/songwriter with czechoslovakian parents grew
up in Chicago, Athens and Muenchen, places which will sound familiar
to some ectophiles :), and is now living in Berlin, where she was
discovered playing guitar and singing in underground stations and
pubs.

Her husky voice and the melancholic quality of the songs (all in
english) remind me a lot of Tanita Tikaram. Instrumentation is quite
sparse. Main instrument is acustic guitar, supported by violin,
mandolin, banjo, bass, drums and percussion. And although Tikaram's
"Ancient Heart" is better, B&B shows a lot of talent and much more
imagination than the following releases by Tanita.

Unfortunately the CD came in a digipak which didn't include the
lyrics. :(

Anyway, I've listened to this album a lot in the last weeks, and I
can recommend it. It's her 2nd album, but finding the 1st was
unsuccessful so far.

(Vickie here. Yes! It's a true thing that Klaus writes about. I've
listened to this quite a few times and I like it better each time.
I wouldn't put her in with Tanita so much as that fuzzy genre that
holds people such as Shawn Colvin, Robin Holcomb, Ana Christanson-
spelling may be wrong, I can't seem to find my cassette-and anyone
se you can think of who would fit there. I *may* like this slightly
better than Tanita's _Ancient Heart_, but that could possibly be
bacause Barbara shows enourmous potential, while Tanita never did
make a follow up as good as AH.

Her voice reminds me somewhat of (gasp!) Melanie. Not the little girl
innocent Melanie, but the soulful and belting 'em out Melanie. I
like her voice (and Melanie's) quite a bit. I haven't gotten around
to listening for all the lyrics yet, but she's definitely not an
"ohhh baby" kind of gal. I recommend it too, but I don't know how
easy it will be to find :-( so if anyone sees it in a store outside
of Eurpoe, even if you don't buy it, please post a note. Thanks!)

Klaus again:
--- Peacock Palace, "Adding Wings", 1991

Peacock Palace is another Band from Berlin. The story how I found
them is quite interesting. In de.music.misc, a german newsgroup, was
a small discussion about female voices, and I asked people for
recommendations of female singers. I dropped a couple of names of my
favourites (yes, Happy was leading the list :), and a guy suggested
to look out for Peacock Palace which he said, are a lot like Rainbirds
with mouth-organ.

This monday Bayern 3 aired a concert by "Petra Jansen and Band" which
turned out to be Peacock Palace. The first song took us by surprise.
We knew it! "Like a snake" was on the radio a couple of times, and we
were always wondering if this was something new from Katharina Franck
or Rainbirds.

They are certainly coming close. Petra's voice sounds a lot like
Katharina's, although she doesn't quite have the power, and the music
is mainly guitar based as well.

The next day I was lucky to find their album "Adding Wings", and the
songs were not that surprising, as I've just hear most of them live.

Has one of you heard of one of them? Karl? Dirk?

(Vickie here. I like most of the songs on this, even though I'm
generally not that interested in guitar-based rock. Klaus is right,
she does sound a lot like Katharina in places. Obviously (to me)
Rainbirds are much better. The best song on here doesn't equal
the worst song on _Two Faces_, but I still like this group.)

Thank you Klaus!

Vickie here, from now on. Another thing K&C brought that has just
blown my mind and the minds of everyone I've played it to is a
group called Zap Mama. If you can imagine somewhat of a cross
between En Vogue and Ladysmith Black Mombazo, leaning more towards
the LBM side, you have an idea of what Zap Mama sound like.

All the songs have a story behind it, and the songs are sung in many
different languages. The first song, "Mupepe," is from a central
African Pygmy chant, "Ndje Mukanie" is a mix of 3 songs: A nursery
rhyme from Rwanda, a chant by young Zairean women celebrating
procreation and a Tanzanian song. There are songs based on Syrian
music, songs from the Zulu and Manzalegba tribes, a cover of a
16th Century Spanish song and even a "Tradional chant from the
Pygmies of Central Africa (different from Mupepe) that sounds
*very* much like the Pygmy chant from the film _Until the End
of the World_, though it isn't the same one.

Zap Mama consists of 5 women, headed by a woman named Marie Daulne.
She writes in the liner notes:

"Most of the songs on this album were inspired by traditional
African and European melodies.. thanks to my dual cultural
background: Walloon and Bantu, Belgian and Zairean, I discovered
and would like others to discover by listening to this record,
the richness and diversity of the musics that are the foundation
to our African and European repertoire.

Returning to the musical roots, essentially vocal, of the people
most underrated by the modern world, I became aware of the greatness
and strength of the human musical scope of expression. Through the
body, the breath, the respiration, the vibration of the vocal
chords, and without the support of elaborated instruments, the
pygmies keep on conveying to those willing to approach and listen
the beauty and purity of one of the most ancient African cultures.

One of my dearest wishes, through these recordings, is to participate
in bringing the people closer through understanding and respect of
each culture. With, of course, a special attention to the people
threatened by the triumphant materialism of the modern world."

                                             Marie Daulne

Well, it took me a couple of times reading through too, but in any case,
it's a *great* album! It's all acapella. (It occurs to me that I
can't imagine what would happen if you got Zap Mama, En Vogue and
Sweet Honey In the Rock (I *did* see that post, see!) in the same
room together. Oh, and throw in Miranda Sex Garden. The world would
never be the same again!

The album is called Zap Mama and it's on Crammed Discs, I think.
Klaus, you'll have to come in with specifics, because I didn't
photocopy that part of the booklet.

Rose Records on Wabash had 2 copies and friends snatched them up
(hey, *I* told them about it ...pout...) but the buyer will
probably be getting more. That's not going to help those not in
Chicago, but it's a sign that the CD is making it's way to
America.

The other albums will have to wait (but I should say that the Carmel
album that Klaus brought has almost become my favorite) but I did
want to throw out a few names and see if anyone has heard of any
of these groups. My friend Scott came over the other day and
lent them to me. He's coming to get them tomorrow, so I have to
say something about them tonight.

Dark Orange-woj, you posted about this group didn't you? I tried
to find it (I always keep your posts when you're talking about
music I haven't heard) but couldn't so either I'm completely gone
or else i just accidentally deleted it.

I like most, not all of the songs on here. I *love* the singer's
voice. She reminds me of someone else who is very obscure but
since you never know, I'll mention her. Helen McCookerybook,(!) who
was in a band called Helen and the Horns. I have 2 vinyl EPs by
them and i just love 'em! She's so much fun (especially her
cover version of "Surrey With the Fringe on the Top") and I
always wondered what happened to her. Now I think she might have
revealed her real name and joined Dark Orange.  The similarity is
as uncanny as Julianne (?) from All ABout Eve and Heidi Berry.

The singer's name is Katrin Wegener, and the album (Dark Orange, not
Helen & the Horns) was recorded in Hamburg in 1991. Right now I would
recommend it, but I'm not sure that I would pay full price import for it.

Lida Husik-IMHO, better than PJ Harvey, if you like that sort of music.

Fourwaycross-the singer can't sing worth a darn, but I like quite a few
of the songs. It's trivial female alternative, but "Sister" alone will
prompt me to buy this if I see it at a good price. It looks like the
band is from Los Angeles, but this is a Belgian import CD.

Love Spirals Downward-Yowie!! Does *anyone* have an entire album by
these people? I have here a compilation called _From Across This
Grey Land #3_ and it has lotsa sensitive, ethereal types on it, such
as Black Tape For A Blue Girl (Stoooopid name, wonderful music) and
others I haven't really listened to yet. The CD starts off with Love
Spirals Downward and I'm in ethereal heaven! They are _beautiful_!
It's like the Cocteau Twins and Bel Canto and Julee Cruise all
rolled into one. Yummy. I just want to know if the rest of the
album (assuming they have one) is as gorgeous. The songs on here
are "Mediterranea" and "Forgo" and there's no other information
except that they are from Los Angeles.
Good stuff for anyone who worships at the ethereal alter (like me!)

Last is a group called Love Is Colder Than Death (I take it back, Black
Tape... do not have the stoooopidest name in etheral-land) and the
album is called _Teignmouth_ (and yes, I'm sure it's not supposed to
be the other way around.)

There are about 4 songs on here to die for, but the rest is blech. It's
one of those maddening (to me) groups that has an exquisite female
singer, but a guy singer who just grunts and says "fuck" a lot hogs
almost the entire CD. However, the songs "Structure" and "Questo
Mostrarsi" would tempt me to pay full import price for it. (Not that
I'm saying anyone else should.) Those songs should be sung in cathedrals
around the world. Yummy, again.

They are from Germany. Well, at least there's a German address on it.
It also has one of those really annoying arty CD booklets that believes
the world will end if they put any actual information in it or something.
No mention of the woman's name anywhere. (Argh!)
(Same thing with Love Spirals Downward, btw. Argh! again)

That's it, goodnight.

Vickie