Wednesday, November 09, 2005


ecco espresso in the cafetiére & aerial

even when andrew b's ecco espresso is a bit too old for a really great shot, it is fantastic in the cafetiére. and in that press pot it still displayed a massive bloom.

based in his usual gorgeous super-premium brazils, it's just a fine cup of coffee, even at 16 days old. yummy.

please notice that despite email requests, i'm ignorning the evil nestle's "coffee beer." they're desperate to find any way to trick innocent human beings into drinking that junk they peddle.

in completely off-topic news, i will say that yesterday i acquired kate bush's new "aerial." i think the reviews here and here capture it accurately overall.

when i lived in d.c. my then-publisher -- here's a challenge: i'll personally send a pound of gillies to the first 2 people who can tell me what the isbn was -- was a huge kate bush fan and he had acquired somehow a really bad bootleg video of one of her famed performances.

i recall grainy images of an anoretic waif with huge hair in what looked like black leather writhing prone on a set floor in purple light screaming in a gilbert-and-sullivan falsetto about her period. no wonder she gave up touring.

this caused a bit of a disconnect with me -- i was thrown back to an evil memory of a writing workshop at the jack kerouac school when alan ginsberg totally took apart another skirt next to me in that nasty way he had when she had dared to mention that topic -- but i did learn to appreciate a lot of things about kate bush's music. even tho' many of her lyrics and production hystrionics made my skin crawl.

this new 2-disc set removes many of her more melodramatic quirks, making it easier to appreciate what a truly lovely voice she has and the uniqueness of her song structures. every time i hear her work i do think that if she were only less self-indulgent her huge talent would make her a dominating global artist.

fortunately the first disc is quiet, and by kate bush's standards, restrained. however, some of her lyrics are still too self-conscious and precious -- at least there's less of that than before.

the music contains many references to those she's worked with in the past, like peter gabriel, plus a little light leftfield influence. and one or two of the songs have beatle-esque touches.

the second disc is a concept album, but the concept isn't overly twee, thank god, tho' some too-cute stuff still lurks about. while all this sounds like heavy criticism, i actually like this album quite a bit.

which surprised me. . . btw, before this, i'd say my favorite of her albums tended to be the dreaming and the sensual world, if that gives you reference point as to where i'm coming from.

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