Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 09:31:41 -0400 From: Michael Borum Subject: Hooverphonic: "a new stereophonic sound spectacular" I didn't save the original message from a couple of days ago, but to whomever was raving about Hooverphonic's new LP "a new stereophonic sound spectacular" -- you were RIGHT ON! I'd had a friend recommend it to me last week and so I bought it yesterday and it is AMAZING. I would agree that it is not much like Portishead at all, save perhaps for the track "2 Wicky", which I originally thought to _be_ Portishead for some reason when I'd heard it on the radio once. Contrary to what you'd reported, "2 Wicky" _was_ featured on the "Stealing Beauty" soundtrack, but the band was named "Hoover" instead of "Hooverphonic". It's my guess that this is a trademark sort of thing, since Hooverphonic are a Belgian band, and there's probably already an American or UK band named "Hoover". For those who have no clue what I'm talking about, try to imagine the whole Portishead/sampled/trip-hop sort of sound, watered down with a bit of 4AD-style influences (including the female vocalist), and you've got something quite lovely. Being the Cocteau Twins disciple that I am, I detected two songs on this record that -- although they aren't samples -- are practically borrowed off CT. One features guitar that's a cross between "Whales Tails" and "Carolyn's Fingers", and another has the delayed strummings of "Pink Orange Red" run through an additional delay that chops it up. Sounds fantastic, especially when mixed with all that bass and beat. The vocalist is great, although her voice is usually heavily effected with reverb and echo. One of the best records so far this year IMO. Mike iceblink@tiac.net Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 06:29:44 -0400 From: vegetable with huge leaves Subject: Hooverphonic Jeremy...Orr Astro-Jeremy? wrote: >Add my name to those who have been totally captivated by Hooverphonic's >_A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular_. Great stuff...definitely not >unlike Portishead at times, but a lot more varied. "2Wicky" and "Plus >Profond" are my favorites so far. I've been listening to a promo copy, >which has no credits - is there just one singer? I think so. >Does anyone happen to know where the band is from? Belgium (didn't we have a thread a while ago about how there are no good bands from Belgium?) Larry Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 15:37:30 +0100 From: David Thorpe Subject: Re: Hooverphonic & Curve Jeremy Orr also said: >Add my name to those who have been totally captivated by Hooverphonic's >_A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular_. Great stuff...definitely not >unlike Portishead at times, but a lot more varied. I'd like to provide a dissenting voice here. If you don't like criticism I suggest you skip ahead to the next message now. I've listened to the Hoover/Hooverphonic album several times in the last year. It's a very easy album to listen to on first hearing, and it's true there are a number of catchy songs there. But somehow it's not an album which lasts very long, there don't seem to be very many ideas of their own which flesh out the sound. Personally I like to be challenged with music, to have to put in a certain amount of effort of my own. The wonderful thing about, say, Portishead's "Dummy" is that it's very easy to like on first hearing AND there's so many fresh ideas that it keeps you captivated. This is partly why it's popular amongst those seem to like the difficult music, and also amongst those who prefer catchy stuff. In contrast I'm pretty sure I'll only be playing "A new stereophonic sound spectacular" when I'm in company. I'll probably also tape bits of it for my friends to wow them with my musical tastes. And don't you find that song with the CB radio at the beginning TOTALLY AND UTTERLY annoying? Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 21:43:44 -0600 From: Jeremy L Orr Subject: Re: Hooverphonic (was: Thievery Corporation:opinions?) This is a couple days behind, but...hey, that's me. ---from Kevin Fuller: > i am curious what this list thinks of hooverphonic... > i absolutely love this music! I really like their first album, _A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular_. It's not ground-breaking, and they display their influences in a fairly obvious manner...but for the most part, the songs are really good. However, their more recent album, _Blue Wonder Power Milk_, doesn't do anything for me. I don't think the new singer's vocals hold a candle to those of the girl who sang on the first album, and the songs seem a lot more straightforward and uninteresting, like they're going for a more polished, Lilith-oriented sound this time around. *yawn* By the way, if any of your Hooverphonic diehards out there are interested, the store where I work got in an interesting promo version of _BWPM_. It comes in a plain blue plastic sleeve, which is round on the bottom and square on the top, and made of that same flexible material as those little coin purses that so many of us American kids took with us to our first day of kindergarten. It didn't come with a booklet, so there's no information on it, except for the band's name and the album title on the front, the track listing for the CD on the back, and whatever other credits are found on the disc itself. My boss keeps acting like he wants to keep it, but it hasn't come out from the pile behind the counter in months...so if anyone wants me to make him an offer for it, contact me off-list.