Azita - Enantiodromia

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Anybody heard this, how is it?

― Paula G., Friday, 21 February 2003 20:24 (twenty-three years ago)

Azita is AZ from the Scissor Girls.

― Paula G., Friday, 21 February 2003 20:27 (twenty-three years ago)

Haven't heard it, but I have her first solo rec. It's awesome.

― hstencil, Friday, 21 February 2003 20:34 (twenty-three years ago)

Sweet!

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 21 February 2003 20:38 (twenty-three years ago)

And it's on Drag City!

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 21 February 2003 20:40 (twenty-three years ago)

i like it so far... even though it is a bit different from what i was expecting.

hstencil, what's the score on her first solo work? who put that out?
m.

― msp, Friday, 21 February 2003 20:48 (twenty-three years ago)

David, what's it like? Closer to Scissor Girls or Scattered Brains?

― Paula G., Friday, 21 February 2003 20:49 (twenty-three years ago)

Music for Scattered Brains, CD on Atavistic, LP on SG Records. I've got the LP.

― hstencil, Friday, 21 February 2003 20:50 (twenty-three years ago)

I'll add that Scattered Brains sounds nothing at all like Scissor Girls. It's abstract, collage stuff, quite understated, rough around the edges. I like it.

― Paula G., Friday, 21 February 2003 20:54 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh, I have no idea, Paula - I'm just jazzed that she's releasing a new album. The Drag City propaganda on their site refers to the album as "tuneful", but damned if I know what that means - the Bride of No-No album was pretty tuneful when compared w/ stuff from the Scissor Girls, and it's not like _BONN Appetit_ was striving for pop perfection (except in its own indomitable fashion).

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 21 February 2003 20:59 (twenty-three years ago)

Actually I never heard the Bride of No-No...in fact I forgot about it until you mentioned it. Will definitely seek it out. The All Music Guide entry for B.O.N.N. Appetit has a lot of really interesting information I never knew about Azita Youseffi, like her parents exile from Iran and her nude photo shoot in O'Hare airport.

― Paula G., Friday, 21 February 2003 21:25 (twenty-three years ago)

I've never heard Azita or any of this, but Paula likes it so I like it. Is there somewhere online where I can hear a few related cuts?

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Friday, 21 February 2003 21:27 (twenty-three years ago)

if anything, Azita's new solo sort reminds me of a slightly more rawkus version of Thyme Jones' solo driven, song oriented solo. my judgement is still on the fence though. I will say I was apprehensive about originally buying it when I found out she was being backed by some Tortoises.

― jack cole (jackcole), Friday, 21 February 2003 21:38 (twenty-three years ago)

Yancey my hero! I had a feeling you'd show up here eventually!

But, um, I looked on the drag city website and didn't see any mp3s or whatever. You should at least be able to find some Scissor Girls stuff, which is really great I think, although if it sounds too noisy or Fall-derived for you, don't let that put you off her solo stuff which is something else completely. Here's a Scissor Girls fan site for ya:

http://www.geocities.com/rogerdeforest/scissorgirls/

― Paula G., Friday, 21 February 2003 21:39 (twenty-three years ago)

Tortoises, Jack? Ewwwww, gross.

Who's Thyme Jones?

― Paula G., Friday, 21 February 2003 21:41 (twenty-three years ago)

I will say I was apprehensive about originally buying it when I found out she was being backed by some Tortoises.

Just wait 'til I tell you that, last I heard, she was dating John McEntire. Oh wait, I just did.

Thymme Jones is the drummer in Cheer Accident and has been involved in a number of other things about town. Swell guy, and not a shabby basketball player (tho he's kinda short).

― hstencil, Friday, 21 February 2003 21:43 (twenty-three years ago)

"Just wait 'til I tell you that, last I heard, she was dating John McEntire."

Ye gods.

― Paula G., Friday, 21 February 2003 21:54 (twenty-three years ago)

You people aren't very nice.

― hstencil, Friday, 21 February 2003 21:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Hold on, entrapment your honor, entrapment!

― Paula G., Friday, 21 February 2003 22:07 (twenty-three years ago)

http://www.geocities.com/rogerdeforest/scissorgirls/Sg02.jpg

― Paula G., Wednesday, 26 February 2003 20:42 (twenty-three years ago)

dude... tortoise did have some good shit... and regardless... john m. is a great drummer.

dood,
m.

― msp, Thursday, 27 February 2003 16:20 (twenty-three years ago)

tortoise did have some good shit.

Really? Where?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 27 February 2003 16:23 (twenty-three years ago)

Really? Where?

the first few albums especially. there's some 7 inchers here and there that are pretty great as well.

i suppose it does rest on my opinion vs. others, but i still stand by and say, in the mid-to-late 90's, tortoise had something special.

if you can't/didn't see it, the divide in our taste is not worth gabbing about... you see ketchup, i see sauce.
m.

― msp, Thursday, 27 February 2003 16:41 (twenty-three years ago)

...let's call the whole thing off.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 27 February 2003 17:14 (twenty-three years ago)

...let's call the whole thing off.

it's wise. i respect the hell outta jack cole's taste and know he doesn't like tortoise. same thing goes. no disrespect, we just disagree.

for some reason i just felt the need to defend them... where's my fan-boy merit badge?
m.

― msp, Thursday, 27 February 2003 20:01 (twenty-three years ago)

for some reason i just felt the need to defend them... where's my fan-boy merit badge?

You don't have to be a "fan-boy" to recognize that Tortoise inspires a lot of slander and derogatory comments. Ned and jack cole can articulate why they don't like them - that's fine. People who can't but just slag them off anyway = dud.

― hstencil, Friday, 28 February 2003 15:13 (twenty-three years ago)

"Ned and jack cole can articulate why they don't like Tortoise - that's fine. People who can't but just slag them off anyway = dud."

Gosh, what powerful words. Does this just apply to Tortoise, or are there other artists which one may not enjoy the privilege of slagging without first having articulated one's reasons for disliking them before the Committee on Taste? It seems like glib slagging goes on all the time around here.

― Paula G., Friday, 28 February 2003 19:11 (twenty-three years ago)

Wait, did I just pass a test?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 28 February 2003 19:13 (twenty-three years ago)

gosh, what powerful sarcasm.

― hstencil, Friday, 28 February 2003 19:13 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, perhaps should have waited a minute before pressing Submit. It's just that when I read your post and then looked back through the thread to find my comrades in the "people who can't" category -- only to discover it was a category of one -- I had the probably mistaken feeling that a catfight was being subtly picked. Sorry about that.

― Paula G., Friday, 28 February 2003 19:24 (twenty-three years ago)

It annoys me when anyone can't articulate why they don't like something, for any band - not just Tortoise. It probably annoys me the most when I do it.

― hstencil, Friday, 28 February 2003 19:25 (twenty-three years ago)

There does seem to be something nasty and clique-ish about the tendency, as if one winking at the other members of the in-the-know group and saying "I think we're all in agreement here, band x is self-evidently bad...no need to elaborate." Yeah, a bad tendency, but seems to be so prevalent I'm guilty of it all the time. For the record my prejudice against Tortoise was born in about 1997 when I saw them live and found the performance listless, the facial expressions (band and audience) dour, the compositions interesting but (to my ears) grandiose rather then, for want of a better word, fun. Maybe I felt like if the band was having fun, the atmosphere would have been different in the club. Anyway, when I hear Tortoise on record I feel like I'm back in that club where no one's having a good time even though there's plenty of ingenious playing and composition on display.

― Paula G., Friday, 28 February 2003 19:42 (twenty-three years ago)

one month passes...

I saw Azita last Saturday in a solo piano performance of songs from this album. I hadn't heard the album and was blown away by the songwriting and how different it is from Scissor Girls material ("Enantiodromia" refers to the replacement of something by its opposite). I bought two copies of the record from her.

Sadly, the record is somewhat ruined by its production -- omnipresent lightly-played drums, generic muted cornet, perhaps the world's most anemic guitar solo... I like the Sea And Cake, but I don't like Azita to sound like the Sea And Cake. The accompaniment has all the raw feeling of Steely Dan, combined with the monster chops of a Will Oldham.

This page has an MP3 of one of the more upbeat tracks.

― Paul Eater (eater), Monday, 21 April 2003 18:52 (twenty-three years ago)

So the show was good? It was just Azita alone at a piano? Weird. I'd still like to hear the record cuz, hey, I like the Dan.

― hstencil, Monday, 21 April 2003 18:58 (twenty-three years ago)

whenever those chicago scene types get all singer-songwriterly, i reach for my revolver. maybe this is good, but i'd really have to trust in someone's taste for me to believe it.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:00 (twenty-three years ago)

it's all in the ear of the behearer, I guess.

― hstencil, Monday, 21 April 2003 19:09 (twenty-three years ago)

Time has passed and Azita's new record definitely hasn't stuck to my ribs. The grit and spice just weren't inside her latest dish, which revealed itself to be a bland entrée in the end. Maybe John McEntire infected her with Tortoise-itus, AZ sucked into a world of overthought and unmoving music played like muzak.

― jack cole (jackcole), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:10 (twenty-three years ago)

obv. the rest of the thread hasn't taught jack anything! ; )

― hstencil, Monday, 21 April 2003 19:16 (twenty-three years ago)

i'm just thick headed like that you now. ;-)

maybe some day you'll school me real good.

― jack cole (jackcole), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:23 (twenty-three years ago)

damn straight! Me and a buncha Wicker Park toughs will fly out to your panty-waisted, grunge-addled, flannel-flyin' "Pacific Northwest" and show you how we make bland adult contempo, Chi-town style.

― hstencil, Monday, 21 April 2003 19:27 (twenty-three years ago)

I've got no problem with Steely Dan, as my LP buzzbin (well, floor) will attest, but this style just doesn't do anything for these songs. The songs are kind of heartfelt and imagistic and melodic, and they play around nicely with notions of song form and harmonic movement -- but the wan obvious arrangements tend to minimize the impact of all that.

If I had heard this record first, I doubt I would have checked out the show; as it is, having seen the potential of the songs from the live performance, I am giving the CD a chance and will withhold my final verdict for now.

She's on a mini-solo tour at the moment; I definitely recommend the show.

― Paul Eater (eater), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:29 (twenty-three years ago)

sorry h, but im just interested in making blah, stoner rock with cool metal riffs.

― jack cole (jackcole), Monday, 21 April 2003 19:36 (twenty-three years ago)

three years pass...

so, if i really enjoy Steely Dan and Azita's 'Life On The Fly', would i enjoy 'Enantiodromia'? my local shop has it 50% off, and i am inclined to pick it up, but i still don't want to blow $10 on an album i'll never listen to.

help me, ILM!

― derrick (derrick), Thursday, 29 June 2006 05:48 (nineteen years ago)

Enantiodromia is better than Life On The Fly.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Thursday, 29 June 2006 19:22 (nineteen years ago)

Bingo.

― David R. (popshots75`), Thursday, 29 June 2006 19:39 (nineteen years ago)

Huh, I like Life on the Fly more, to be honest, and if what you like about it is the Steely Dan-isms, you might be disappointed by Enantiodromia, which is a bit more meandering and abstract.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 29 June 2006 19:47 (nineteen years ago)

Interesting, Steely Dan-isms are what attracted me to Enantiodromia.
It could be a classic case of hearing it first. I found Life On The Fly to be a less interesting take on the same formula.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Thursday, 29 June 2006 19:59 (nineteen years ago)

I'm going to have to look into all this. Seeing Bride of No No in 2002 was astounding, not least because of their genius visual presentation. Also Azita sounds really smart and mean in interviews.

― xero (xero), Thursday, 29 June 2006 20:43 (nineteen years ago)

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