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Minor Notes - the blog of ESTROGENIUS internet radio [Archive]

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Hom e Tuesday, March 29, 2005, 13:18

Contact Me Wow , I've suddenly been sw amped w ith Things To Do from all directions, and being a methodical,
About This Weblog automaton-like drone, I had to finish each Thing in turn before I could come back here and take care of
estrogenius dot net some important business.
Estrogenius Live365 Station Page
The NEW Minor Notes blog I promised Chastity from Outlett that I'd give her band a w ell-deserved plug. Outlett is a Hard Rock
band out of L.A. that has infused the genre w ith some much-needed originality. The most obvious
Login contributing factor is that they have a female vocalist.

Archives

« March 2005 »
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Outlett
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
I don't know w hy, but I think that people have convinced themselves that there are far more female-
27 28 29 30 31 fronted rock bands than actually exist, and thus there is nothing inherently special about them. Or
conversely, many rock fans still have the dated, chauvanistic view that a female rock vocalist is a
"novelty", in the w orst sense of the w ord (in other w ords, nothing to be taken seriously). Both points of
view are hopelessly w rong, of course.
Categories
Anyw ay, not only does Outlett have a female vocalist, but what a vocalist. Tonally, she reminds me of
Music
Cher, a comparison she has admittedly "come to grips w ith" after having heard it a few times. Of
Misc
course, I mean it as a compliment, but I understand w hy Chastity may not w ant to be pigeonholed in any
w ay (and no, she is not Cher's daughter Chastity Bono; the names are just a crazy coincidence). So let
me make another comparison: Chastity can w ail like Chris Cornell, but unlike the
Search: Soundgarden/Audioslave singer, she keeps firm control of her vocals even w hen they're dialed back. In
other w ords, she doesn't get all shaky during the quieter bits. If I had any vocal experience, I could
Go explain that better, but you get the picture.

Finally, she plays the djembe, w hich is just freaking cool.

Most Recent Check out Outlett -- or check Outlett out -- at their w ebsite, w w w .outlett.net, and look for their CD
http://arhythmius.com/pblog/index.php?y=05&m=03
coming soon. Go OCT FEB MAR Close
Brynne Johnson
Thursday, January 19, 2006,
hey!! My name is brynne
21:05
4 captures
too!!05 - 12 Feb 06
12
While I'm on the subject of female rockers, you might have heard a Hard Rock/Goth band called
Help
10 Apr Of Infinity played on ESTROGENIUS. They w ere the first band of their type2005 that I added
2006 to the playlist,
2007
and the very positive response to their music w as one of the factors that made my decision to add
David Lech
Outlett an easy one. Yes, it looks like people are digging the rocker chicks. Well, good for them! If you're
Monday, January 16, 2006, 02:11
one of those people, then do your part to support these bands by purchasing their CD's w hen they
Your not Kidding Jenae is Great ,and...
become available!
RED
Monday, October 17, 2005, 15:06 There are a lot more Recent Additions to talk about, but I'll have to continue that in a later post...
Aw w w w w w w ! That w as so sappy
and sw eet,...
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Arhythm ius
Tuesday, August 23, 2005, 16:03
...w hile it may seem to the dedicated... *Blush*
RED Friday, March 25, 2005, 10:12
Tuesday, August 23, 2005, 12:42
In a magnanimous and supremely ego-boosting gesture, singer Ari-Up has sent me an email thanking

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1/26/2011
I haven't been avoiding...
Most Recent
The Minor Notes Archive
VERY New Artist: Sara Oliveira
New to the Playlist: Sarah
Cracknell
Squeaky F-w ord Gets the Grease
Here's A Cogent Thought: Fuck!
New Pick!
Plus & Minus
Handling Shipping
Dow n With Irony
Jenae: Flow er in the Frost
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Minor Notes - the blog of ESTROGENIU…
me for my tribute to The Slits! (See the Special Artists page on my main site.)
The backstory is, after I posted the tribute, I emailed Ari's assistant Megan to tell her about it, and to
generally say "Thanks for being aw esome". Megan w as kind enough to w rite back and tell me that,
w hile Ari-Up is a bit of a Luddite, she w ould try to coax her into looking at the site, w hich is more than I
w ould've dared ask. Megan apparently succeeded, because today I received a short email from Ari-Up
saying she liked the site, and thanking me for the tribute.
Aren't cool people cool? Yeah, it stands to reason, but still...
Also finally added to the Special Artists page is a little tribute to the late and truly great John Peel. Hats
off now , people.
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And the Aw ard goes to: Probably som eone w ho w as nom inated
Thursday, March 24, 2005, 11:08
Well, the official nominations for the Live365 2005 Broadcaster Aw ards have been announced, and...
sadly, lightning did not strike tw ice. (That's a metaphorical reference to the fact that ESTROGENIUS w as
not nominated for an aw ard, as w e w ere honored to be in 2004.)
This only serves to remind me w hat a w onderful fluke last year's nomination w as. I w as completely
gobsmacked w hen I found out, and "honored" w ould be a very accurate description of my feelings on
being nominated. So, I know firsthand that most nominees are not BS-ing w hen they use that w ord.
Xavier may be, but c'mon -- that guy's a special case.
So here's w hat you can do if you're a Live365 Preferred/VIP Member or Broadcaster: Vote for The
Estrogen Zone and The Flossing of Am erica, Techno Prisoners, and The Glitter Box, in their
respective categories. As for the other categories, I've got a lot of listening to do, just like you.
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Lovers, Bright Eyes and Wayne New ton: There IS a point to this post.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005, 16:47
One of the independent artists I play is a band called Lovers, fronted by singer/songw riter Carolyn
Berk. They're from the creatively fertile tow n of Athens, GA, if I recall correctly (see the full review of
their second album in my Picks of the Past section), and they've been steadily gaining a nice, grass-
roots sort of interest. Upon listening to their material, Ms Berk instantly became one of my favorite
lyricists, and I can't understand w hy their tracks don't get stacks of "thumbs ups" on my station.
Cut to about a w eek ago, w hen I finally heard a song by Bright Eyes on Sirius radio. Now , I've been
hearing buzz about Bright Eyes -- and specifically, frontman Conor Oberst -- for w hat seems like a
couple of years now . The music w as usually described as Emo, and the local press has been cagily
supportive. I say "cagily", because one article I read mentioned the preponderence of young ladies in
Bright Eyes' fanbase. My original impression could (and bear w ith me, 'cause this is good) be summed-
up by a line from the early 90's Andrew Dice Clay flop "The Adventures of Ford Fairlane".*
In that movie, Wayne New ton plays the heavy -- a slimy record company exec w ith the w onderful
name of Julian Grendel. When exposed in a graft coverup involving a talentless but hunky new singer,
Mr Grendel explains the enormous pressure he's under: "I've gotta ship 2 million copies, so that teenage
girls w ill have an album cover they can get w et over. Who cares if he can't sing?!"
Back to the Bright Eyes song, and that band w ith the great lyricist you w ere w ondering if I'd forgotten
about: The Bright Eyes song sounded EXACTLY like a Lovers song -- only w ith w ay too many refrains,
and not enough instruments. Conor Oberst's voice is a male version of Carolyn Berk's voice. I realize
that the similarities are obviously a coincidence; I know that Bright Eyes didn't set out to mimic Lovers'
sound, nor the other w ay around. Both bands developed simultaneously in different parts of the
country. Nor am I making a direct comparison betw een Bright Eyes and the vapid vocalist in "Ford
Fairlane". But considering the hype, I w as singularly unimpressed w ith the Bright Eyes song; maybe
because it w as a solo acoustic number, or maybe not.
Far be it from me to paint any band w ith a broad brush, after hearing just one song. And I do not
begrudge Bright Eyes any success, w hether apart from, or as a result of, their hype. My point is, if
music w ere the sole criterion, then w hy isn't there a similar level of hype for Lovers? Would their
popularity be exponentially higher if Caroly Berk w ere a man? (Although if Carolyn Berk were a man,
she'd be...Conor Oberst. Vocally, anyw ay.) It's the same problem almost every independent female
artist faces, at least most of the ones I play.
True, they're not in it for the bling-bling or the hype, but if all things w ere equal, they'd at least get their
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fair share of the audience.

*This film gets a bit of a bad rap due to the automatic assumption that if it stars Andrew Dice Clay, it
must be crap. But it is actually a pretty pointed jab at the music industry, from the w riter of "Heathers". I
dig it.

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In Which I Write About Music (im agine that!)

Friday, March 18, 2005, 17:03

So far in 2005, I've bought (or been sent) more music than ever before, w hich is almost as much music
as I w ould have liked to obtain. Since I can't do a full Pick of the Moment-style review for each one, I
figured this blog w ould be a good place to mention some of them in passing. And this time, I'm actually
going to do it! So, let's just jump right in (in no particular order).

Auf der M aur by Melissa Auf der Maur:

Yeah, I finally got this one, and w ouldn't you know it -- it's probably my favorite of the bunch. Auf der
Maur has officially been in more bands than Eric Clapton, but she stuck w ith a solid formula for her first
solo release: Good songs. Sure, they're mostly stereo typical (get it?), but that's the point. Every track
has a catchy hook and big-sounding rock & roll production values. There are some cool guest
appearances, and Auf der Maur's voice is fine for the material. I dig it.

Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi by Puffy Am iYum i:

...To w hich you say, WTF?! Look, I don't even w atch the Cartoon Netw ork, so I'm not up on all of these
hip, LSD-inspired animated show s -- one of w hich is "Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi". Which is based on a real J-
Pop band called Puffy AmiYumi, w hich has its ow n hit show in Japan, and had previously done the
theme song for "Teen Titans" on the Cartoon Netw ork. *Phew*. Ami and Yumi are the vocalists, and
they are indeed adorable young w omen. But I bought the album because it w as produced and co-
w ritten by Andy Sturmer of Jellyfish, and includes a cover of "Joining a Fan Club", w hich is my favorite
track on the Jellyfish album Spilt Milk. And here I thought Jason Falkner w as the one responsible for
that sound! Anyw ay, the cover version has a w ay faster tempo, and a blatant ripoff of No Doubt's "Just
a Girl" intro, but then again, Gw en's vocals in that song w ere a blatant ripoff of Lene Lovich, so there
you go. And I just found out that Puffy AmiYumi had done a Japanese cover version on an earlier
album! Wonder if I'd like that one better...? The rest of Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi is a fun, Monkees-esque pop
confection, w ith half the songs in English, and half in Japanese. It's decent ear candy, but I'm
disappointed that it w asn't more catchy.

Worst Enemy by Go Betty Go

And now that I've w asted so much time on Puffy AmiYumi, I've gotta rush through Go Betty Go! They
deserve better. This EP rulez. Representin' tha G-L-D (Glendale, CA), these Latina rockers just bring it
home. I love their sound, and I hope they become hugely successful.

Dammit, out of time! To Be Continued...

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