...twee is the music that touches the ear... * the good *

1. laika - silver apples of the moon. spacey cooing and percussion from my favourite female in music...
2. nine inch nails - the downward spiral. say what you will about trent, but i think he's great. look past the somewhat mediocre lyrics and just let this seep into your soul. by the time i get to the end, i'm exhausted & drained...
3. various - of these reminders. projekt is, by far, my favourite label. virtually all the groups on the label are a treasure. with that said, this is a delightful collection of various groups {not necessarily projekt's} performing black tape for a blue girl songs. i have the very spiff box set, which is lovely....just the right size...sturdy...all the things a box set should be. :)
4. grenadine - the christiansen ep. grenadine are everything kool in indie cocktail music. the only group that mark robinson truly shines in {ie., his attitude isn't seeping through all the time}...this is a groovie defeverized 3-song slab o'vinyl and worth every cent. i'm sure the cd is just as good...i just got it in the mail after the delay of a lifetime. i think my friend james is the one who filled my order, though..looks like his writing on the package... :ramble:
5. stereolab - mars audiac quintet. another recording i've heard but do not actually own {laika being in the same category}, i happily danced to this during AVAM show numba 3 and i can't help getting all giddy with glee when i hear 'ping pong'...
6. love spirals downwards - ardor. i only heard this once, but it's beautiful. buy it and love it and sleep with it under your pillow so you know it's safe at night... i would.
7. v23 - this rimy river exhibit book. the holy trinity's artwork, bookbound and lovely. indulge and pick one up and don't slobber on the hnia pages...

1. various - all virgos are mad. really, this only gets the so-so spot because of hnia & lisa germano. i'm not at all pleased with the selection of music or the artwork...ugly is not attractive this time around. i can dig on dcd, rhp, twp, and even air miami...but the rest is really dull or stupid or whatever else. just blah.
2. dcd - towards the within. sometimes i love this, and sometimes i don't. with all of the self-indulgence of 'cantara', it's still a powerful version.. though i think the highlights of this release are brendan's songs. he's a wealth of talent and ability and i don't think he gets half the respect he deserves.

1. veruca salt. i smell a rat. a big indie rat. something's not right with this group..i can't put my twee fingers on it, but it's more than just questionable musical influences.
2. rem. mikey stipey bugs me, and this is just my petty dislike for him that puts rem in this category.
3. various - all virgos are mad video. another cheap sellout of a compilation for us american folk. the excuse for the videos and packaging is that all of this *was* marketed for the US and that they basically figured people who bought the 13yi stuff wouldn't clamor for the AVAM goodies. yeah....right. overpriced, some of poor quality... this just plain s*cks.

1. karin oliver's doc martins @ AVAM. *WHAT* was she thinking?
2. hnia's wardrobe during the entire week of AVAM. so...4ad can't spring for a laundry service? do they not pay enough so that warren can buy real shoes? what about ian masters? he needs pants! and a nutritionist. po wiwl ian..
3. AVAM. all told, i was disappointed. only got to meet lord purge out of all the listies {sorry brant, i met you before..so you don't count}. then again, i'm not much of a social twee so i would have avoided you folk like the plague anyway. :) at least i was graced with defever's presence over 3 1/2 days of avaming. :swoon: laugh if you will, but i think he's da grooviest...

1. *Hector Zazou*, Sahara Blue i know this came out a long time ago (1992) but i just bought it this year and wonder how i lived without it. Anneli, Brendan, and Lisa appearances are icing on the already sweet arrangements to the poetry of Rimbaud.
2. *Love Spirals Downwards*, Ardor I just bought this a week or two ago but i'm willing to say it's BETTER than their previous album.
3. *Loreena McKennitt*, The Mask and the Mirror She was brilliant in concert, the albums just keep getting better. Eastern and Celtic influences abound and she still likes lyrics from Shakespear (what more could you ask for?)
4. *Heavenly Voices*, (various artists compiled by Hyperium) If you can't tell from this list, i like female voices--and these two discs give 'em to me.
5. *Love Is Colder Than Death*, Oxeia With a name like LICTD it couldn't get more gothic or longer without them forever being referred to only by an acronym. Nevertheless this album surprised me because i was expecting only slightly more than mediocrity (i got much more).
6. *Mazzy Star*, So Tonight That I Might See I always loved Opal but was severely dissappointed by MS's first album. This second one turns the country annoyance of the first album into sultry bliss. Now stop overplaying them on the radio!!!! (no-one who is serious about their music deserves to be overplayed to death)
7. *The Moon Seven Times*,7=49 Nice to see Lynn, Henry and company still producing the stuff dreams are made of.
8. *Stina Nordenstam*, And She Closed Her Eyes This has already begun to creep up on me slowly until i AM Stina (hmmm). Mellowly delicious.

1. *Dead Can Dance*, Toward The Within I guess i expected too much. This captures brilliance now and again but the brilliance to length ratio is less than i'd expect from them.
2. *Sheila Chandra*, The Zen Kiss With a programmable CD player this is a great disk. Classical Indian meets Celtic meets blissed out female vocalist extraordinaire.
3. *Graeme Revell*, Musique Brut Collection i've ranted and raved too much about this already.
4. *Breathless*,Heartburst I don't normally get compilations but i bought this one. I still don't know if it represents the band well but it's nice to listen to.
5. *Sky Cries Mary*, This Timeless Turning I know now that none of their work will compare to the brilliant psychedelia of "Exit at the Axis" but this is better than their last album.
6. *A. R. Kane*, New Clear Child funky sometimes insipid lyrics with a pop sensibility that i never knew AR Kane were capable of.

1. SoulWhirlingSomewhere(EatingTheSea)
2. Single Gun Theory(Flow, River of My Soul)
3. AVAM

1. *spoonfed hybrid* i hoped for quirky but got boring instead.
2. *Sinead O'Connor*, Universal Mother all around weak album (what happened to her?)