ABC Limelight Interview (September 14, 2011)

For Deutsche Grammophon to approach me as a woman and say, ‘with our blessing, go mess with the masters, make it great’, was an opportunity to say we’re going to tell a story about a woman, and her psychological process, and we’re going to use the ingredients to form a marriage between male and female as well. I’m taking some of their DNA and making a new being.

In this interview for the Australian arts and entertainment magazine Limelight, Tori chats with Melissa Lesnie about the genesis and inspiration for Night of Hunters, tying together her time at the Peabody, Irish mythology and “the compositions of dead white males.” The article also includes a list of the classical pieces that each song from the album is a variation of.

Thanks to Jill for the link!

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Pop Matters On Tori's 10 Best Songs

Over at Pop Matters, writer Enio Chiola (who sounds like a frustrated Toriphile if there ever was one) revisits Tori’s catalog and offers what he calls Tori’s 10 best songs of all time. You might agree or disagree with his roundup, but he offers pretty solid arguments for why these tracks are his picks.

Tori In The Times Of Oman

Hailed as the world’s most original woman singer/songwriter in pop, Tori and her sound engineer husband Mark Hawley have lived in remote north Cornwall since 1998. Now their daughter Natashya goes to the local school. “I take her and pick her up like any other mum,” Tori says. “No one thinks it’s any big deal.”

The Times of Oman ran an article this week on Tori, her family life, and her work. Much of it is pretty remedial for those of us familiar with her story, but folks in Oman might be reading about her for the first time. Thanks to Stoff for pointing us to it!

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Piecing A Potion: The Music of Tori Amos

Alex Ramon, current writer for Wears the Trousers and Pop Matters and erstwhile writer for the fanzine Little Blue World, has posted an epic overview of Tori’s career and oeuvre on his blog, Boycotting Trends. As he says in the introduction to the piece, “with the release of her eagerly anticipated new album, Night of Hunters, imminent, now seems an apt moment to take a wander through Amos’s voluminous catalogue, to (re)assess what’s worked and what hasn’t, and to celebrate some of her achievements, which, frankly, could use a little celebrating these days.” Excellent reading for a Sunday afternoon (with apologies to those on the other side of the International Dateline).

Also, keep an eye on Wears the Trousers as Alex’s review of Night of Hunters should be popping up there sooner or later…

Guardian Sings Choirgirl's Praises

Sometimes when musicians have a new album on the way, it’s fun to go back and revisit their older work, just to see how far they’ve come. The UK newspaper Guardian is running a series of articles by its music critics, asking them to write about their favorite albums. Today, Alex Macpherson unveiled My favourite album: Tori Amos – From the Choirgirl Hotel. Reading his treatment of the album might put you in a nostalgic mood, particularly for songs like “Playboy Mommy” and “Hotel.” Cheers to Mario, Stoff, and Brian for this tip.

The New York Times Profiles The Artists Den

The New York Times ran a piece in the July 4th edition of the newspaper on the upcoming second season of Live From the Artists Den. While ostensibly a piece about the program, touching on its history and evolution and discussing the artists and venues lined up in the second season, it also features quotes from Tori and her manager, John Witherspoon about the nature of the show and performing on it.

Thanks to Lindsay for the link!

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Joe Jackson's Spirit Walk With Tori

In advance of Tori’s upcoming show at Iveagh Gardens in Dublin, The Independent has run a retrospective by celebrity interviewer Joe Jackson where he ruminates on the several times he interviewed Tori in the past and it their relationship has impacted his life.

Perhaps most interestingly, he discusses the behind-the-scenes details about his 1994 Hot Press piece in which Tori most directly addressed her rape and sexual assault that kept it out of the Irish Times and lead to it being published in Hot Press. Additionally, if you go to his website, you can find PDF downloads of the banned Irish Times interview as well as the rewritten article for Hot Press.

Thanks to Stoff for the tip!

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Weiner Interview (May 2009)

I never make records alone, I make them with teams of people. But I compose alone. And that’s a very lonely process, although the songs are rich and depend on themselves. But in order to conjure them, I have to go through something in order to translate them. It can be excruciating.

Back in May of last year, Tori spoke to Weiner Magazine during the promotional period ahead of the album release. While the published interview does not appear to be available on their website, the interviewer has kindly posted a transcript of their conversation her blog. while the topics covered were the usual ones from that period — erotic spirituality, places of power, politics, family, composition— the detail and length that these topics are addressed is much greater in this unedited discussion than what filtered down to the published interviews from the time.

Additionally, a new photograph of Tori was also posted by the author. Several other shots from that session can also be found at her website.

Thanks to Hank for the tip!

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Tori Graces Spring 2010 Issue Of What?! Magazine

Tori graces the cover of the fourth issue of What?!, a magazine edited and published by none other than Karen Binns, Tori’s long-time stylist and friend.

In the editorial, Karen writes:

On the cover of this issue we have my long-time friend and sista Tori Amos, which I guess speaks for itself. She is one of the most insanely attractive people of our time: singer, songwriter, producer and a true Goddess. Knowing and hanging out with Tori is like flying on a silver carpet with candied apples and red wine. She has been an inspiration to my creative being for the last 17 years. Tori is the true channeler of our times, her success is not from the size of her wardrobe but from the spirit of her blood. Her Goddess is always on tap. She was born with that ‘thing’ you just can’t purchase, manipulate or steal – it’s orginial without a price. Not forgetting to mention her dedication to her charity/hotline RAINN – Rape, Absue, and Incest National Network (www.rainn.org).

You can also check out this behind-the-scenes perspective on the shoot from StyleCanteen.net’s Nora Nonah.

Tori looks amazing, doesn’t she? See giant versions of the other pics from the recent shoot here and here.

Thanks to Robert Schrader for letting us know about this.

Guardian Interview (January 4, 2010)

Sure I [care about fame]. The “if anyone else likes my music, it’s a bonus” line is bullshit. If I was writing songs just for me I’d only play them in my living room, alone.

This brief article, a part of The Guardian’s Portrait of the Artist series, appeared in that newspapaer’s January 4th edition.

Thanks to Mark-Alexis for catching it and sending it our way!

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