Suspended In Gaffa 1
(Internet version)
I always started every show off with Kate Bush's song "Suspended In Gaffa," so here it is, separate from the shows themselves so it doesn't take up room in every show. It's better this way anyway. In my real show I used to talk all over it during the intro to the show.
Kate Bush - Suspended In Gaffa (from her album The Dreaming)This is my playlist for SIG 01. These songs aren't supposed to be linked thematically (something I sometimes do), but it turns out that some are. It wasn't intentional, the songs just jumped out at me when I was trying to decide what to play.
Here's the show as a whole (with no talking, I'm not set up to do that) in mp3 form. It wouldn't stream for me, using Winamp, but did for a friend who used Windows Media Player, so you might have to download the whole thing. Some of the songs are cut a bit short during fade out because I wanted to get it under 60 minutes.
MP3 file:
Size: 56,901kb
Length: 59:11
SIG01 Suspended In Gaffa 1, Full "show"
These are the artists and their songs in netSIG #1
Next to each artist's name is a (note) which will take you down to more information. I'm not a writer so I don't consider this a "music blog" but I at least want to tell you where the music is from.
Next to each artist's name is a link to a 15-20 second sample of the song, so you can get a taste of the music. It might also come in handy to identify one or more of the middle artists if you liked something but can't remember how many songs in it was.
01. Happy Rhodes - The Chariot (note/sample)
02. Noe Venable - Is The Spirit Here? (note/sample)
03. Catherine Lara - Aral (note/sample)
04. Ashley Maher - The Flow (note/sample)
05. Katell Keineg - Franklin (note/sample)
06. Lili Haydn - Mama (note/sample)
07. Le Mystere des voix Bulgares - Svatba (note/sample)
08. Cocteau Twins - Cicely (note/sample)
09. Cranes - Everywhere (note/sample)
10. Eleni Mandell - Snake Song (note/sample)
11. Márta Sebestyén - Szerelem Szerelem (note/sample)
12. Anne Pigalle - The 1000 Colours Waltz (note/sample)
13. Grace Darling - Teardrops (note/sample)
14. Nan Vernon - Elvis Waits (note/sample)
01. Happy Rhodes - The Chariot
This is a hauntingly sad and dream-like song from Happy's album Many Worlds Are Born Tonight. The song is from the point of view of a child from an abusive broken home. The non-custodial parent comes to visit once in a while to take the child out for the day, and to the child, the parent coming down the street in their big car is like god in a chariot. The day out is wonderful, but when the time comes to go back home, the child pleads with their parent not to take them back to their horrible situation.
I loved this song before I knew what it was about, but when Happy told the story at a live concert I cried. The song is so sad and beautiful my eyes fill every time I hear it. Cheery start to my first Internet "show" yeah? It deserves to be heard though. The lyrics to the song can be found here at the Ecto Home Page.
I've been a Happy Rhodes fan since 1988, and she just keeps getting better. She has 10 albums, and an 11th coming later this year. I keep a Happy Rhodes Song Samples page at http://wretchawry.com if you'd like to hear more of Happy's music.
Happy's official web site, auntiesocialmusic.com (Accessible!)
02. Noe Venable - Is The Spirit Here?
This is from Noe's brillant album The World Is Bound By Secret Knots. I first heard of Noe Venable on the Ecto mailing list, an Internet listserv started in 1991 to discuss Happy Rhodes and other female artists such as Kate Bush and Jane Siberry. It's still going strong and subscribers are often the first to clue in to interesting female artists. The Ectophile's Guide To Good Music is an amazing offshoot of the mailing list.
Anyway, Noe is incredible, and this album deserves FAR more recognition than it's gotten.
03. Catherine Lara - Aral
This is from Lara's album also called Aral. I don't know much about her, but this song grabbed me right away and I play it over and over.
I searched for an official site but I couldn't find a specific one.
This looks close.
Here's Amazon's page on Catherine.
Both are accessible.
04. Ashley Maher - The Flow
This is from Ashley's 2nd album Pomegranite. I also discovered her through the Ecto mailing list (thank you Andrew!) and fell in love with this song. You'll be hearing more of Ashley from me.
Ashley's (accessible) web site which I see is hosted by the wonderful folks at Harmony Ridge Music.
05. Katell Keineg - Franklin
This is from Katell's album O Seasons O Castle.
Another Ecto discovery. I saw her once at a small venue in Chicago, Schubas. I love about half of her music but this song always gets me in the gut. I've never been in that situation but have known women who were. It's great to listen as guys like that get told off.
Here's her inaccessible web page: http://www.katellkeineg.com/
Unfortunately, it's one of those nasty "Fuck You Fans!" sites that looks cool but is designed to slam the
door in the face of any fan who doesn't want to or can't use Flash/javascript. We all know that cool-looking
web pages are more important than the fans who can't get in, of course. It's all about the web designer,
not the artist or the fans, don't you know. Not that I think Katell has any inkling about the bouncer at
the door. Artists never do. They're kept in the dark as much as possible. God I hate FYF sites. (/rant over)
Here's a friendlier fan site.
06. Lili Haydn - Mama
This is from her first album, Lili. I can't remember where I discovered her. Probably Ecto. This song ties in very well thematically with "Franklin" but it was entirely unintentional. I'm not nearly as good as I wish I were at such thing.
Another Fuck You Fans site: http://www.lilihaydn.com/
Here's a page with actual information
07. Le Mystere des voix Bulgares - Svatba
That song is from their first 4AD release, which I bought on vinyl in 1988 when it first came out. It's still my favorite release of theirs.I played this song on my very first Suspended In Gaffa show in 1988.
A web page with some information.
08. Cocteau Twins - Cicely
From their album Treasure, the first CT album I bought, and still my favorite, no matter how much the band hates it. It might not work as a whole as well as some of the others, but enough individual songs are favorites to make the album the favorite too.
I'm an old-time Cocteau Twins fan. The main reason I played this song is because I played it right after "Svatba" on my very first Suspended In Gaffa oh so many years ago. Nostalgia for mixes. Weird.
The official site. (Accessible too!)
09. Cranes - Everywhere
From the album Forever. I haven't kept up with Cranes and it's all my loss. I need to fix that. I was listening to this and it got under my skin, I had to play it.
Official Cranes web site. Accessible!
Another good site with tons of information
10. Eleni Mandell - Snake Song
Another discovery from Ecto. This is from her 1998 album Wishbone.
Here's her web page: http://www.elenimandell.com/
Yet another nasty Fuck You Fans! site. It's a freaking epidemic!
11. Márta Sebestyén - Szerelem Szerelem
This is from Hungarian-born Marta's solo album Kismet. I discovered Marta through a friend, and her voice just floors me, always. The first time my husband and I saw her and Muzsikás in concert, in 1990 I think, it was at a little club in Chicago. It was upstairs from a punk club and I've never seen a more interesting mix of people at a concert. There were guys with blue mohawks standing next to little old Hungarian women next to NPR yuppies who were definitely out of their element, and just plain folk (like, well, us). The train tracks ran right behind the club and Marta made it part of her act, looking at her watch while she was singing, then making faces (yep, on time! or it's late *frown*). It was hilarious.
I couldn't find an official site. Here's Rycodisc's page.
12. Anne Pigalle - The 1000 Colours Waltz
This is from the Japanese CD of Everything Could Be So Perfect.
Anne Pigalle has a web page! If you could hear me you'd hear a breathy, disbelieving eyes-popped-out, shaking-my-head tone of voice. I've never forgotten about her, but I thought she...well, I don't know what I thought. For all I knew she could have retired to a tiny village in Europe to have babies. I didn't know what became of her. I've often searched the net for tidbits and nothing came up. I just did a search hoping to find some reviews, and this came up! The site's pretty sparse, but there are some great photos there. AND it's accessible...JOY!
13. Grace Darling - Teardrops
This is a web-only track, from the founder's web site.
I got this group's first album when it was released, first on Sardonic, then I bought it again when it was released on C'est La Mort Records. I bought both copies because each has songs the other doesn't. I love Gregory Simpson's music and Val Martino's vocals.
Here's Gregory Simpson's web site, with information and some mp3 downloads. It's a Fuck You site, sigh. http://www.ultrasomething.com/
Ectophile's Guide's Grace Darling page
14. Nan Vernon - Elvis Waits
I found this amazing album, Manta Ray (the only one she's released), in a used record store and was floored by how good it was. I can't imagine how she could have progressed had she been able to make more albums. I wish I were rich. I'd build a studio complex just so these many women could just make albums.
Here's my fan site, with some pictures of Manta Ray and a mirror I made of another fan's site (there were
a bazillion pop-ups there and I couldn't stand it, so I got cheeky).
Vickie's Nan Vernon page
Pictured, from the top: Kate Bush, Happy Rhodes, Tori Amos, Bjork, Jane Siberry, Mary Margaret O'Hara (sadly no longer recording), Sarah McLachlan, Victoria Williams, Milla (sadly no longer recording), Nan Vernon (sadly no longer recording), Sheila Chandra.