Mary Timony

what ever happened to her?? what made her lose the finely crafted 'dirty Helium' and go into 'rainbow land Helium'?

my guess, the meds.
too much. too much. too much.

i dont know if you've noticed the trend of hipsters going folky, but i think mary was ahead of the game on this one. now she's back to rocking more, so i have a feeling in 2-3 years, indie rock will "rock" once more.

also, i never liked her D&D turn originally but in listening to a lot of the helium b-sides & whatnot, its not an especially new concept with her. you may even consider the sluts & whores of her pirate prude days to be symbolic princesses & witches.

Yes, I think she's attractive too, but this picture bugs me. What the hell is she doing with the headphones there? Cause she's twiddling the bass knob on a Silvertone Twin Twelve amp head. That's not some vintage hi-fi, it's a damn tube guitar amp, and it doesn't have a headphone output... So what the hell is she doing?!

To the majority of people looking at that photo, it's a cute girl listening to music on headphones.

i http://ctomag.com/may16cto/timony1.gif

i http://www.iheartny.com/yourenotthere/waspsnests/6timony.GIF

Yeah yeah I get it. But remember how ridiculous it was in Independence Day when a Mac was used to hack into a non-human-designed computer system? Well, it's silly like that.

I agree with Maria too re: less actual departure from original content when Mary shifted from seamy to sorcery.

And I'll be eyeist if I want to be--just because the anti-eyeism mafia has ILM in its iron, wonky-eyed grip doesn't mean that I'm not free to express my (carefully thought-out) opinions.

New MP3 from EX-HEX over here

Any album with a song called "Return to Pirates" is an album I'd like to own. This also reminds me, I should go download "Ghost Car," the "Pat's Trick" B-side which never came out on CD and is one of my favorite Helium songs ever..

the magic city is actually quite good -- its new wavey!

Just wait... there's a Scout Niblett album a'coming.*

there is such a thing floating around slsk--someone's compiled them

Two spins so far. Not sure how I rate Ex Hex. On the one hand it sounds so different from MT's recent efforts -- just deeper and more showy in a good way (i.e. I thought The Golden Dove was her reaching the end of the sound she was doing then -- it's my least favorite of any of her efforts, despite the indisputable greatness of "Blood Tree" and a few other okay tracks I can't make myself listen to the while thing) -- but it hasn't got me flippin' my shit just yet. A grower, maybe. It's like when I first heard Pig Lib and thought "Whoa, what's happening here, this is UGLY" and then the next day it all made sense and I was in love.

First date of the tour tonight in Baltimore. Sweet, short set, heavy on the new album with two Helium cuts. There were some nerves and a missed lyric cue or two, but a really strong band, having fun up there. Timony’s solos on “The Guest” were especially on fire.

See ‘em when they come to your town

I was there too. I liked Anna on the pedal steel, but must confess to get bored at times by Timony and Betsy leisurely jamming on so many songs . Felt like circa 1972 rock with not enough energy and rhythm. I liked Timony vocals and how songs started but some just didn’t hold my attention. Maybe I am not the ideal audience member for this tour.

getting bored

Yeah, the jamming was definitely the point to a large degree - the vocals acting as a starting point/tee for glassine guitar riffs and extended vamps. Not for everyone, but it’s possible that this will change as the tour proceeds and she gets more comfortable in the role of singer/bandleader/guitarist - with Hammered Hulls she just had to be the bassist, which was probably a relief.

The openers were OK but I was kinda patiently waiting for the main event - it’s always been that way but even more so as I age.

I get that. I had seen them before and kinda liked them, so was fine with seeing em again even on a midweek work night. But yeah, was glad there weren’t too many delays.

Birthday Girl are a good band but as I was texting some friends during that set:

“They make me a little nostalgic for a time when I listened to a lot of music like this (in a different century, mostly)”

I hear Birthday Girl DC as a throwback to one style from the last century, and Mary Timony’s current live approach a musical throwback to an even earlier style ( even if both of them are using lyrics that relate to their own 21 century issues)

I like the Mary Timony album better than I liked the live show. The guitar vamps don't go on as long.

At one point, Mabel Canty (before I knew her full name) announced their parents were actually accompanying them on tour, and I was like "aw, that's so sweet - every parent should be like that" and then someone informed me who their parents were - had no idea!

wau

lol her bassist is Isabella MacKaye

That is Alec Mackaye's daughter. Mabel Canty is 16 . Mary Timony gave Mabel Canty some lessons and produced their music