| Author: sambuca |
Posted: 8/29/03 @ 11:31 PM |
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| Subject: i think that that guy nick is cute. ... |
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i think that that guy nick is cute.
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| Author: quiet_listener |
Posted: 8/29/03 @ 7:58 AM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: Great Lake Swimmers ...Great...
In Response To: RE: RE: Great Lake Swimmers ... Crap... |
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It is nice to know that that was your last post Ryman, and hopefully you will hold yourself to that. All what I meant by not using profanity, is that there are other ways of critiquing music, other than "they fucking suck" etc. If you are going to state your opinion of the band at least try to make yourself "seem" like you know what you are talking about. I have nothing left to say to you, because clearly everything that was already written to you did not process in your head. It's funny that you can say that everyone else is missing the point. How many people have went against what you said, and how many have actually sided with you?
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| Author: ryman |
Posted: 8/26/03 @ 7:30 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: Great Lake Swimmers ... Crap...
In Response To: RE: Great Lake Swimmers ... Crap... |
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this is the LAST posting I will post here. You people are fucked and miss the point again and again. I was NEVER talking about how the swimmers are on CD, lots of bands can sound good on CD but can't cut it live. I was talking about how they were as a LIVE band. I don't need to see them again to know they SUCK LIVE. I dont. They DO. I wouldn't waste my time or money. I saw enough to form an opinion. If they were a good live band they could have overcome the shit that happens at nxne, lots of other bands did the swimmers did NOT.
As for the other whores band member, you're an awesome band just too bad not everyone in the band is as cool as the guy who posted here before.
"quiet_listener" Your going on about profanity??!!! Why, because you can't come up with a better argument so you have to make some stupid ass comment about swear words????????
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| Author: Whores |
Posted: 8/26/03 @ 12:41 AM |
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Subject: RE: Great Lake Swimmers ... Crap...
In Response To: Great Lake Swimmers ... Crap... |
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I would just like to address the comments made a while back by my dear friend and band mate Johnny. As a member of the Absolute Whores myself I would like to make clear that not everyone in the band holds the same views as Johnny, even though he's our beloved pal. I for one do not agree with the content or execution of his message. But such is life in a band, you don't always agree. So keep on keepin' on Tony and don't let criticisms get you down...........ever!
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| Author: quiet_listener |
Posted: 8/19/03 @ 10:56 AM |
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Subject: is all this profanity necessary? if you ...
In Response To: RE: RE: RE: here's a thought! |
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is all this profanity necessary? if you are going to stand up for yourself, at least do it with dignity.
"With little more accoutrement than an acoustic guitar and a hushed background chorus of crickets, Great Lake Swimmers' Tony Dekker lays a destroyed heart bare on his shirtsleeve for the spurned, the unrequited and the worn down to commiserate with. His uniformly lonely ache is almost numb from his trials ("I can't eat / I can't sleep/ I can't think straight" is a stark confession on "Moving, Shaking") as he leads the way down, down, down to a murky, rocky bottom. Ripe listeners will find their distractions and denials peeling away as Dekker's desolation folk seeps in to imbue a steady drip of empathy, humility and ultimately resolve. GLS is simply a stunning distillation of human frailty."
RW, Eye Magazine
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "This debut from Toronto songwriter and guitarist Tony Dekker is a truly beautiful and captivating thing. After many repeated listens, I have to say that this is by far one of my favourite releases this year. There’s a confessional quality that permeates this release with lyrics that are distinctly personal and elegiac. Dekker also posesses an endearing rural quality to a lot of his songs, like he’s playing on a back porch alone. Not surprisingly the album was recorded at an abandoned farm in Port Colborne, in a grain silo. Ambient crickets sounds are also left in to add to this rural, folky effect. Another element that renders these minimal guitar-based songs so effective is Dekker’s solemn and delicate voice, which is often doubled up. His voice definitely brings to mind other troubled troubadours like Richard Buckner or even Brian Wilson. The album culminates with a song about swimming and how it seems to act as a metaphor for the existential struggle. An incredible debut not to be missed."
Steven Venn (Wavelength)
File next to: Will Oldham, quieter Damien Jurado, Neil Young.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "When I heard that this CD was recorded in a silo on an abandoned farm near Port Colborne (my birthplace!), I couldn't help but feel there was going to be some sort of an attachment. Pensive acoustic ballads that make me want to dash outside to the nearest park and listen to the CD while on a blanket staring up at the sky (with a spliff no doubt). The lyrics are passionate, the music full and compelling. There's this Neil Young unplugged feel, but really, I'm left thinking Neil Young should take some vocal lessons from Tony Dekker. You'll find an array of instruments: piano, accordion, lap steel and even the rustic sounds of nature (yeah, a bunch of crickets can be heard singing backup) accompanying his brilliant voice. Definitely give a listen to 'Moving, Shaking', a riveting and thoughtful song, as well as 'I Will Never See the Sun', a engaging tune for any subway rider (especially to those of you who ride the Bloor/Danforth line in T.O)."
Mary Aquilina, Hive Magazine
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Using one recording trick for an entire album usually grates the listeners’ nerves well before the final note is struck. But placing Toronto’s Tony Dekker inside an abandoned silo, creating a naturally boomy echo chamber, is the perfect environment for his ghostly voice and haunting songs. Dekker’s lyrics paint him as the prototypical wanderer, searching for a sense of security and home wherever it may be: at sea, underground, watching silent movies, in wide open spaces, crippled by urban claustrophobia. His music is a grounding force, a warm blanket, and a whole bunch of other touchy-feelies without having to wallow in the maudlin or the tepidly therapeutic. This will either help lift you out of your winter depression or keep you crying all summer long. Either way, Dekker’s emotional soundscapes make this an unforgettable debut album."
Michael Barclay, Exclaim! Magazine
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| Author: ryman |
Posted: 8/16/03 @ 5:03 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: here's a thought!
In Response To: RE: RE: here's a thought! |
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Oh boohoo, nobody in the great lake swimmers forum likes me !! i could care less. your right Dr. Fuckwad, I didn't like the "bad" they were BAD! it's not compulsive, more like boredom during lull times at work. if people are going to say shit about me, i'll say shit back. so sorry i have an opinion, and so sorry it doesn't go along with yours. that's what happens in public discussions dr fuckwad, not eveyone agrees and some people see the emperors bare ass.
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| Author: Dr. Charles Wood |
Posted: 8/14/03 @ 2:58 AM |
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Subject: RE: RE: here's a thought!
In Response To: RE: here's a thought! |
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Hey Ryman, I think what "audience member" meant is that you should have left the show and then shut the fuck up! So you don't like the bad. Big fucking deal. Nobody seems to like you. You don't see us compulsively writing in to denounce you just because you are an idiot! Fuck off already.
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| Author: ryman |
Posted: 8/13/03 @ 3:26 PM |
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Subject: RE: here's a thought!
In Response To: here's a thought! |
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Uh, I DID "audience member".
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| Author: audience member |
Posted: 8/8/03 @ 10:57 AM |
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| Subject: here's a thought! |
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Perhaps you should have left the show ryman. It only makes sense.
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| Author: ryman |
Posted: 8/7/03 @ 12:18 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: you guys missed the point!
In Response To: RE: RE: RE: you guys missed the point! |
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yeah that's it, i just "get off on winding people up'. Uh sweatheart, the key point in your little rant agianst me is that everyone was TALKING at the back, meaning NONE of those people found the band worthy of shutting up for! If they were so good people would have stopped to listen!
And why the fuck is everyone so hung up on the drummer? As a drummer she was hands down stone cold bad. She had a cute face (too skinny, but still cute face) so like if you want some skinny ass girl with a pretty face in your band who can't play an instrument just for the way she looks then have her do something like making fucking Twiggy poses in cool clothes at the side of the stage or some shit, not sitting behind a fucking kit that she obviously can't play.
Everyone in this town bends over backwards to be all nice and politically correct, if you are going to put yourself out there live in bars prepare to take some heat if you are not up to code. I said it before, but you people "miss the point" every time, I have nothing personal against any of these guys, but it fucking bugs my ass when my time is wasted when I go to see a band. If you play live and want me to sit there and fork out hard earned cash on a cover and over priced drinks then fucking make it worth my while. Being put to sleep in a bar is not my idea of worthy night out.
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| Author: redheather |
Posted: 8/6/03 @ 5:36 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: you guys missed the point!
In Response To: RE: RE: you guys missed the point! |
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Ryman, you are of course entitled to your opinion, I guess I just don't understand why you have to be so nasty about it. Do you get off on winding people up maybe? If the music isn't to your liking, fine, whatever, to each his own. However if you were standing near where I was at the back, that area that was full of talking and almost seemed to be in a separate part of the bar, I don't really get how you could form a fair opinion. But regardless, to make personal attacks on people you don't even know, on the drummer for instance, doesn't add credibility to your opinion, it only detracts from it in fact. I'm all in favour of people expressing their views, but I'm more in favour of being informed and conscious about it instead of just spewing vitriol at a band that you barely saw once, in less than ideal circumstances, for no good reason.
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| Author: ryman |
Posted: 8/6/03 @ 12:05 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: you guys missed the point!
In Response To: RE: you guys missed the point! |
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So here I am, just sitting around fucking the dog at work, decide to check in on citygigs and what do I see, but you people still going on about that fucking band.
Yo people, LISTEN UP! They SUCK! I don't care if they are shy or self involved or play with their head up their ass (now THAT would be a straight edge freakshow, so I might pay to see that), they were BORING! You can make whatever excuses for them you want, they just don't cut it live. PERIOD. They did not grab my attention they did not keep my attention they pissed me off! Go play in some commune where everyone is lying around on hippie mats or some shit.
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| Author: redheather |
Posted: 8/3/03 @ 6:12 PM |
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Subject: RE: you guys missed the point!
In Response To: you guys missed the point! |
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I met Tony last night for the first time and he was a nice shy sweet guy. I've heard only wonderful things about the CD. A well known Toronto music critic highly recommended it to me for instance and I plan to check it out. I was at the NXNE show but I was standing at the back where the talking was very loud and distracting (Ryman, perhaps you were one of these loud distracting people?) So I don't really feel I can comment on the music since I can't honestly say I heard enough of it properly to form an opinion.
But I can say this, that Healey's is kind of an un-nerving room to play because you can see everyone! And the stage is virtually at ground level. I've even heard a seasoned pro tell me he found it unsettling. So if The Swimmers are all quite shy then it can be very un-nerving indeed. Plus NXNE is very rushed, no sound check etc and so the sound can be very hit and miss for that reason. So anyone forming an opinion based on that particular show may be doing the band an injustice. Especially if the band is new to playing live. Check them out in their own gig situation to get a better idea or get the CD.
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| Author: myk freedman |
Posted: 8/2/03 @ 3:29 AM |
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Subject: you guys missed the point!
In Response To: RE: I happened to check out a show with the ... |
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The Great Lake Swimmers are an amazing band. I find them to be a very enjoyable live group. I think that it is beautiful that they are a bunch of shoe gazers that are not interested in winning over audiences with banter and antics. All they have going for them is wonderful music. Personally that is all i need.
PS As for the drummer. I thinks that she ads quiet a bit to the group! Indie Rock is often about beauty and aesthetics. It is about creating a vibe not found in other genres (that's why it called indie). The drummer is there to create a presence not supply "Fat Chunky" beats. The drummer is doing a fantastic job of that. (she's also cute as a button).
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| Author: mj |
Posted: 7/17/03 @ 2:41 AM |
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Subject: RE: I happened to check out a show with the ...
In Response To: I happened to check out a show with the ... |
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I find this whole exchange highly amusing. I suppose I put the truth to the adage "any publicity is good publicity", because while I have never seen or heard these guys, just by virtue of the fact that they are being so violently dissed by some and so passionately defended by others makes me want to check them out!
I am put off by how some have characterized their live shows, (I prefer some spark in a live show) so I am probably more inclined to check out their CD.
So don't sweat it Great Lake Swimmers, all this dialogue only benefits you, ultimately, in my view.
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| Author: audience member |
Posted: 7/16/03 @ 10:02 PM |
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| Subject: I happened to check out a show with the ... |
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I happened to check out a show with the Great Lake Swimmers, a few months ago, I believe it was their cd release. The atmosphere was great, everyone was in an amazing mood, and the show was incredible and very much enjoyable. Now, I came upon this message board and things are starting to get pretty heated here. Keep in mind everyone, every show is different, every crowd is different, therefore alot of opnions will most likely be different. Its great to see a few people get together and create something. It must have been alot of work and soul to give birth to a peice of art like music then share it with people. So taking that into consideration, everyone give yourself a nod and enjoy life and music...don't spend valuable time arguing over it.
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| Author: ryman |
Posted: 7/16/03 @ 4:51 PM |
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Subject: RE: Great Lake Swimmers
In Response To: Great Lake Swimmers |
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okay listen, clearly this has all gotten over blown. but for real, i don't think i can remember seeing such an angry reaction from people in the audience from a shoe gazing band probably ever. True this music is not to my taste, at all, but it wasn't just that. As an audience member I was insulted by a band who didn't look at the audience once, didn't talk to the audience, didn't engage in any way shape or form and all the songs sounded exactly the same, then on top of it had pathetic laughable drumming going on. I felt my time was being wasted. It was the worst live band I have ever seen.
If they are all so quiet and introverted my point was DON'T FUCKING PLAY LIVE, or play in quiet little coffee houses or folk clubs. And when I said just be a studio project, I don't give a shit where they recorded it that wasn't my point. My point was stick to RECORDINGS, not live playing in bars.
I have nothing personal against the guy, I don't know him, but when a band plays for an audience they should respect the audience if THEY want respect FROM the audience.
As for the Whores I saw them and they were one of the best fucking bands I have seen in ages, it was a totally opposite experience, they pulled the audience right in and gave it all, played hard, rocked out and put on a fucking show. THAT is what I look for when I fork out cash to see a band, not a bunch of introverted shoe gazers who act like the audience is there for THEIR benefit. I want to be entertained and engaged not bored and pissed off because the band doesn't acknowlege the audience in any way. The Great Lake Swimmers could take a lot of lessons from the Whores, so could half the fucking bands in this city. Way too many bands in this city that I go to see bore the shit out of me.
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| Author: mirandalvink |
Posted: 7/16/03 @ 4:27 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: t dekker
In Response To: RE: RE: RE: RE: t dekker |
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i fail to understand how any persons' physical appearance could possibly be compared to their drumming. your actual comment was
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| Author: mirandalvink |
Posted: 7/16/03 @ 4:24 PM |
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Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: t dekker
In Response To: RE: RE: RE: RE: t dekker |
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i fail to understand how any persons' physical appearance could possibly be compared to their drumming. your actual comment was
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| Author: jdekker |
Posted: 7/16/03 @ 12:14 PM |
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| Subject: Great Lake Swimmers |
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First of all I would like to ask how you can call a band pretentious and self-involved when the singer/songwriter stands in front of a crowd and pours his heart out through beautiful lyrics. Of course he is going to be shy and nervous. with the music he sings he can't be outgoing and loud and then dive into his warm soft music! However I would replace your words with introverted and withdrawn maybe. Now if you knew Tony Dekker at all you would know that he is the farthest thing from being pretentious and self involved. And as for you "Whores", do you think you know so much about music because you have played in the city for 20 yeras? So what! I know many people who also have, and they would completely disagree with what you are saying. and who says that YOU are even good?!? And about doing well in the studio but not live: if you knew anything about the band you would know that the cd was recorded in an abandoned silo. There was no altering of his voice, etc. So the cd IS him as he sounds live as well. And I do believe you should get new friends if they have the audacity to think about "bouncing a lime off the singer's head." Even if you do not like the music, you give musicians RESPECT. especially if you are a musician yourself. And the LAST thing Tony would do is disrespect another musician. But then again, you like to judge him a lot before you even know him! This is not about how many people think this band is good and how many think its bad, because I could think of many people who absolutely love his music. It's not a contest. If you want to use contructive criticism go ahead, but so far I have seen none of this!
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