tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34448083343132834232024-03-05T01:23:30.176-08:00Sonic MapsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger94125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-74487728099095235732020-04-08T00:55:00.001-07:002020-04-08T00:55:32.127-07:00Brothers Christ -- Too LateTook a deep dive into my old YouTube playlists because a friend of mine was curious what I used to listen to... and I found... THIS.<br />
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This is still me. I am still this!<br />
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While her music really comes with a "goth-girl aesthetic"that's not to everyone's taste (certainly not to mine) there's something so magical about her voice, that vibrato she has which with several vocal layers sounds truly mesmeric.. And the lyrics of tracks like "Trapeze" and "Carousel" are so heartbreaking, in that distinctly autumnal way (although I know we are in winter now --gosh, who would believe it?).<br />
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My advice to listeners though -- don't watch the videos or look at the graphics unless you're a fan of this aesthetic (which I hope no one reading this blog is. No offence). The artwork for <i>Subterfuge</i> is pretty cool though, and it's probably my favourite album of hers.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-30609763478554416762019-10-21T09:38:00.001-07:002019-10-21T09:38:30.341-07:00ColleenNew me found old me. Finally, I think I'm whole again! Thank you, Cécile Schott AKA Colleen...<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-55724441413422213052018-08-25T14:01:00.001-07:002018-08-25T14:01:10.498-07:00Alan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
I live in a town which is closely linked to Alan Turing's life. One of the first pieces of public art commemorating him is just a few miles from where I live. His work has always fascinated me, and I even spent my last birthday at Bletchley Park - I still have the annual ticket. I must remember to give the place another visit in the next two months!</div>
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Anyway -- I heard this lovely song on a French radio programme dedicated to Alan Turing this evening. I can't believe I've never heard it before. I'm a big fan of the chorus vocals, and the outro makes me remember being 16 and playing with my first synth in a sunlit room for the first time in my life (oh to go back there) ...I'm convinced that if it wasn't for Alan, synthesizers and computer music would not have developed as fast as they have. </div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-72205143180764665762018-02-01T07:04:00.002-08:002018-02-06T05:09:20.806-08:00Angel humans<div style="text-align: center;">
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I don't really know what to say about this...</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-2744263681222338562018-01-21T12:34:00.002-08:002018-01-22T00:13:57.085-08:00I Went Too Far<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Aurora -- I Went Too Far<br />
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It's very helpful to see someone my age having things so together but in such a vulnerable way. Honestly, who last wrote a lyric as vulnerable as <b>'I went too far and kissed the ground beneath your feet'? </b><br />
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I actually get a weird angry feeling when I watch the first minute of this video, because the audience laughs at something that really cannot be laughed at. I don't know, maybe the "bag of something that's not so sad" just makes all too much sense to me.<br />
That's one of my pet peeves: when people laugh at things that are profound, or even sacred. I think sense of humour is actually a really interesting way of telling if you and someone else have similar souls. If you laugh and cry at the same things, then you're probably compatible. I don't think I'd be very compatible with the people who laughed.<br />
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When she starts singing, I feel as though her greatest merit (apart from that colossal voice) is that she seems to be terrified of something greater than her, while simultaneously being in control of it. I always hark back on that in this blog, like I did <a href="http://sonicmaps.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/unusual-voices-2-esma-redzepova.html">here</a> for example (although it's not explicitly stated). I guess I just like the idea that creativity is about being at the mercy of exterior energies. Being completely out of control in a controlled way.<br />
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Anyway, enough ramblings -- listen!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-34562594847940786232018-01-19T09:57:00.000-08:002018-01-19T09:57:41.451-08:00Trembling Blue Stars<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
January is hard so far. But maybe a good kind of hard?</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-29387421295939514242018-01-03T06:37:00.000-08:002018-01-03T10:26:48.773-08:00An homage to Curd Lake -- the only Russian post<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Большинство людей удивляется, когда я им говорю, что не слушаю альбомов от начала до конца. Они возмущяются, спрашивают "Как же так?", настаивают, что я еще изменюсь. Я отвечаю им: "Я люблю выбирать самое лучшее, колекционировать. Собираю по лоскуткам шедевры и создаю таким образом свою собственную музыкальную картину. Польностью хороших альбомов не бывает. И я вообще никого не знаю, кто бы написал более шести песен, которые мне нравятся."<br />
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Они качают головой: "Этого не может быть. У всех без исключения найдется группа, музыкант, или проект который им полностью по душе.<br />
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Во мне вдруг просыпается какой-то голос, который мне говорит. "Не ври ты. Лучше пораскинь мозгами. Ты же помнишь ТО."<br />
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Я переключаюсь на разговор со внутренним голосом:<br />
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"Какое еще ТО?' Ты о чем?"<br />
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"ТО! И не надо пожалуйста притворства. Все ты знаешь. И месяца не проходит, как ты опять слушаешь ТО."<br />
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И тут я все понимаю. Вспоминаю про ТО. Про <b>Творожное Озеро</b>.<br />
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Странно -- даже абревиатура польностья передает все, что я чувствую. Потому что я всегда возвращаюсь к ТОМУ, всегда буду любить ТО. То что настолько слилось со мной и настолько необходимо для меня, что не требует даже определение или описания. То что всегда остается почему-то недосягаемым, и в то же время вездесущим - ТО.<br />
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Я сейчас пишу немного как Деррида, который постаянно придирается к обыкновенным словам и извлекает из них абстрактные и, временами, даже противоречивые значения -- за это прошу прощение. Просто хочется для себя понять и осмыслить, почему на меня так подействовало ТО.<br />
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Не помню, какую именно запись я услышал(а) сначала. (Я видимо переслушал(а) тут же все, что только мог(ла) найти .) Помню только, что это было три года назад, в январе.<br />
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В то время мне хотелось укрепить свой русский голос. Его все чаще и чаще перебивал английский. Меня еще часто спрашивали (и все еще спрашивают) --"говоришь по-русски и никогда в России не был(а)?! Это еще как?"<br />
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А так. Побывал(а). Но не совсем в той России, которую вы себе представляете. Я посещаю Россию через музыку, литературу, исскуство...<br />
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Но все же, со стороны музыки, чего-то не хватало. Русские барды были каким-то слишком старыми. Они пели о вещах, которые я не совсем мог(ла) осмыслить. К тому же, мне хотелось слышать не чистый голос, подпевающий гитаре, а странные, неопределенные звуки, вращающиеся одновременно и в настоящем мире, и в фантастическом.<br />
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И вот это "что-то" вдруг появилось. Какая-то неопределенная тоска, тут же заменяющаяся счастьем; какая-то непонятная ностальгия по местам, людям и временам, мне неизветсным.<br />
Гитары, мирно сосуществующие с электронными звуками, со звуками улицы, воды, собак, чашек, людей... И в добавок к этому слова -- русские слова, да такие глубокие, которые и во сне не приснятся. "Все что казалось нам сном окажется радужней сна..."<br />
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Утренний Вальс. Послушав его, чувствуешь себя согретым, и в то же время тебя пробирает холодок. Закрываешь глаза, и тут же выресовывается абстрактная но очень яркая картина, как во время болезни или в бреду. Кажется, будто ты сидишь, закутавшись полностья в одеяло, и кто-то сидит напротив тебя, играет на гитаре и поет. Как-будто ты болеешь и утопаешь в грусти, и тебя пришел навестить друг, которому самому не лучше. Утренний Вальс для тех, кто думали, что не смогут ни встать, ни тем более танцевать. Но каким-то невероятным образом, они встают, танцуют, улыбаются...<br />
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Юные Волны, это - разноцветный ковер, который висит у твоей бабушке в комнате на даче. Цвет воды в быстро-бегущей реке. Песня человека влюбленного в мир. Под нее ты танцуешь с друзьями летом, когда все наконец-то собираются вместе после долгой разлуки.<br />
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"Прогулка," преривается паузой, перед возварещением к главному мотиву. Паузу заполняют мысли, ожидание, удивление. Мне это напоминает острое ощущение того, что ты будешь по ком-то скучать когда вы еще даже не расстались. Вот ваш разговор преривается, и ты уже заранее представляешь, как близкий человек встанет, проститься с тобой, уйдет...<br />
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***</div>
Проект "ТО" закончился уже давно. Но я по нему все еще скучаю, всегда жду его продолжения, зная что продолжения быть не может.<br />
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Правда, теперь есть Тальник. Вы можете подписаться на него <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4gPXp6YmojS6O7mtn3TXQw">здесь</a>.<br />
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Оставляю за собой право говорить здесь то, что думаю. Откровенно говоря, Тальник - не для меня. Но пусть мое личное мнение не станет помехой тем, кому нравиться ТО и кто жаждет продолжения. Тальник так же уникален, и так же не поддается обьяснению, как и Творожное Озеро.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-20307085788685946032017-10-24T08:22:00.002-07:002018-01-17T10:03:00.948-08:00Lives of Angels - Elevator to Eden<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Like most things I've posted here in the last 6 months or so, this is an album that seems to have enormous potential which is never completely unlocked. Still -- it's a fun slice of post-punk with some weird and wonderful sounds.</div>
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I like the last track 'Meltdown' particularly...</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-47405611683134319512017-08-20T12:12:00.000-07:002018-01-17T10:03:27.020-08:00Future World Music -- Aqua VitaeReminds me of Vangelis. And of my ice skating days.<br />
Gosh, imagine ice skating to this and actually nailing it; landing a quadruple jump or something. Getting top marks at the Olympics or something. <i>Flying... </i><br />
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Update: The more I listen to this, the less OK I am.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-76245947636261858082017-08-15T09:37:00.003-07:002018-01-17T10:03:36.716-08:00Giselle - MossOn my desperate search for multitracks to practise with, I found <a href="http://discussion.cambridge-mt.com/showthread.php?tid=3238">this link</a>-- a remix of a project with 54 tracks (trust me, it's a BEAST). It's called Moss, by an artist called Giselle.<br />
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...And I loved it. Admittedly, I did think (as I usually do in cases like this) -- 'OH MY GOD WHERE IS THIS GOING OH MY GOD IT'S AMAZING WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN' and then it didn't quite live up to my expectations (as usual) but there's still something frisson-inducing there. And it made me feel small. Always a good sign.</div>
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That picture is from the Soviet film adaptation of the Little Mermaid. The vocal on this reminded me of it....</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-61117425616455918552017-07-07T14:07:00.000-07:002017-07-07T14:14:27.358-07:00Blue bird (1976)<i>Blue bird</i> from 1976 taught me that 'the blue bird was at home' (a variation on 'the grass is always greener on the other side', I guess). Having acted with that lesson in mind only a week ago, I rewatched bits of this film today and overall found it to be no different than when I was little --still magical, well-shot, sort of eerie in places.. But one thing I really didn't think twice about before and which is really bothering me now is the racial stereotyping -- Cecily Tyson cast in the role of a double-dealing black cat, the familiar of the queen of darkness. It's times like these I wonder if almost everything I watched as a kid was problematic in some way. But a part of time really wants to say it's still OK and that I can still enjoy all the wonderful costumes in this. I mean, <i>come on</i>, just look at this scene:<br />
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This reminds me of Surrender by Suicide, and I don't particularly know why -- I think it might be the repetition at the beginning of the chorus in both songs that does it. Either way, it made me think that it'd be pretty amazing if there was some kind of synthy cover of this song. I'm sad to say it, but I often dream of synthy covers of songs. Maybe because in all these older acoustic records the sound design and arrangement is really limited and with most electronic music it's much fuller.<br />
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I also object somewhat to Roy Orbison's singing in this. A few times he skips into apathetic territory (IMO), sounding almost like he's singing along to himself while out picking berries in a forest or something. Doesn't particularly sound like he is heartbroken. But I know a lot of people won't agree with me on that...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-51811293951947973572017-06-28T11:25:00.000-07:002017-06-28T11:25:15.334-07:00Decisions and Harry SmithI made some massive decisions today.<br />
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But I am going to forget that and watch a lovely animation by Harry Smith (that I discovered via the Edge of Frame Alice Cohen interview -- evidently I am on a roll).<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-76195833731796177382017-06-26T10:27:00.002-07:002017-06-26T10:27:55.643-07:00Alice CohenI just discovered the work of musician and artist Alice Cohen (through <a href="http://www.edgeofframe.co.uk/">Edge of Frame</a>, which is a great source for finding interesting video-related stuff)<br />
Her video work incorporates collage, which as I understand was the first medium she worked in. If you can call collage a 'medium.'<br />
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<a href="https://vimeo.com/10052560">"white woman" music video for broken deer</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/alicecohen">alice cohen</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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This music video she did for another artist reminds me of an animation called "Transformation" that I grew up with (I wrote about it here) and maybe that's why I like it. It gives me that feeling that collage really is inexhaustible. Collage is always interesting not just to look at but also to think about in theoretical terms; since it is often created through intersections of different materials, different contexts and different cultural references, it is interesting to read the collaged whole through the contradictions that exist within it. If you take just one section of a collage and ask the question 'where has this piece been taken from?' and then keep doing that for other sections, and then think about the answers in relation to each other, you can come out with a really curious result. And of course in moving image all of that is complicated still further by the narrative/ sequential element involved in the presentation of the collages.<br />
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... And then there's Alice's music. Pink Keys is a wonderful album - the soundtrack to an adventurous and sun-soaked summer road trip. The first track reminds me somewhat of The Wake, probably because of the vocals. It sounds like Carolyn Allen sang on Pale Spectre and this track in the same day, it's that same register of singing about doom and gloom through a paradoxical veneer of optimism and playfulness.<br />
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1434665534/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://alicecohen.bandcamp.com/album/pink-keys-3">Pink Keys by alice cohen</a></iframe><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-16231229842739572182017-06-22T13:01:00.002-07:002017-06-22T13:26:17.551-07:00Two things<br />
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<b>1) <a href="http://www.google.com/">Oskar Fischinger Google doodle</a></b><br />
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At times like these, I almost forget how bad Google is as a corporation, because the Oskar Fischinger Doodle is sort of great. It actually reminds me very much of the days when I used to use MIDI and input every note by hand onto MIDI 'sheetmusic' because I didn't have a keyboard (never again, both to the method and to VST instruments).<br />
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Anyway...it's a bit of fun!<br />
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<b>2) Com Truise's new album (Iteration)...</b><br />
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... blew my mind! I literally just found it via a friend today. I feel like it's one of those things I wouldn't appreciate as much if I hadn't been through sound design hell and sound design purgatory myself, but hey, maybe my horizons are broadening?<br />
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I do kind of wonder if I'll stop liking this within a week (seems to happen to a lot of stuff that I can appreciate without connecting all that much on an emotional level). I guess the important thing is I like it now?...<br />
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Update: only just noticed now how colour coordinated the doodle and the Iteration album visuals are... weird coincidence. And I like how the visuals are also coordinated with what's going on sound-wise (seems inspired by Oskar Fischinger in that respect too).<br />
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(Gosh, I use so many brackets in posts. I think if I was a punctuation mark I would be a bracket).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-27013119643257344822017-06-16T02:46:00.002-07:002017-06-16T02:46:42.642-07:00Again...<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
I am not on a Rybnikov/Soviet sci-fi spree (against all the evidence that suggests otherwise)</div>
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There's this one lyric which is really haunting, when the theremin comes in:</div>
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'Night is troubling us with almost magical dreams'. </div>
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It's so contradictory but there's something so accurate in it...</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-55668924909215340692017-06-14T14:18:00.001-07:002017-06-14T14:18:29.593-07:00Per Aspera Ad Astra (1981)One day I might find it in my heart to write a bit more about this film, but not quite yet...<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-61646076093725221632017-05-31T01:02:00.004-07:002017-05-31T01:09:38.675-07:00The Space Lady in another (Christian) life -- Sister Irene O'ConnorSister Irene O'Connor belongs retrospectively to that very niche genre of 'Catholic psychedelic synth folk.' She reminds me so much of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSscfU_09r0">The Space Lady</a>, and I think they'd make a great duet.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-30342392401124959512017-05-25T14:17:00.000-07:002017-05-25T14:17:24.977-07:00Unusual voices 3: Cindy Lee<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Ok, I'm cheating slightly with this one because with Cindy Lee it's not necessarily about an unusual voice so much as unusual vocals/effects.</div>
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Cindy Lee is one of the best lo-fi projects that I know of. It was started fairly recently by the former guitarist of the band Women, Patrick Flegel. I think it's him singing on the records, but I'm not entirely sure... Either way, the voice is sort of jarring at times and on some songs heavily distorted (on What I Need for example). It sounds sort of like someone has hidden in the attic for a century to avoid human contact and has forgotten how to speak/sing.<br />
Act of Tenderness as an album has not had the recognition it deserves, in my opinion. It sets its own standards and is truly like nothing I've ever heard before. And it's sad (well obviously, why would I love it so much if it wasn't?)<br />
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Anyway... I want to hear more from Cindy Lee.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-71430642464597205252017-05-21T07:29:00.002-07:002017-05-24T13:16:42.815-07:00The Lake<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Sometimes, a song can sit in the deepest recesses of your mind for years, before surfacing at exactly the right moment to hit you with its full force.</div>
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That's what happened to me with The Lake.</div>
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***</div>
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A lot of the best things are subconscious, spontaneous, unintended; such was mine and my sister's trip to The Lake. Because we didn't even know that we were going to The Lake, (we were headed elsewhere) and indeed we could easily have driven past it in blissful ignorance if my sister hadn't spotted something between the trees and if I hadn't pulled over.</div>
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The Lake was only 40 minutes away from where I live, and I'd never heard of it or seen it in all the years I've lived here. It's tucked away from the main road behind dense woodland, and around it is a stone quarry. The lake is probably manmade. But that's beside the point. Everything is beside the point; everything is extremely mundane and mortal beside The Lake.</div>
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Mortality: such was the theme of that very strange day. Before we left on our trip, my sister saw that a neighbour of ours was moving out, and that he'd put out a load of stuff in his front yard, including a human-sized skeleton. </div>
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She wanted to check that our neighbour was definitely getting rid of all that stuff in his yard, because she really wanted the skeleton (two cupboards were labelled 'TO GO' but everything else was unmarked.) So we knocked on his door to check, and it transpired that he wasn't getting rid of any of those things at all and that he'd just laid them all out there for the time being.</div>
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'But you can keep Bone Jovi,' he added hastily, pointing at the skeleton. <br />
So we took Bone Jovi home.</div>
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Bone Jovi didn't last very long in our superstitious household, and returned very quickly to our neighbour -- that same day. Which was just as well, because he probably didn't want to give it away and just ceded to us out of that awful plight which is British politeness.</div>
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And so, with these thoughts of life-sized skeletons, we drove past The Lake, which we didn't know was The Lake because it was hidden by forest, as I mentioned above. My sister pointed out what she thought was a ravine full of chalk, and we parked up nearby to have a look.<br />
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It was one of those views which does not reveal itself immediately, one which is almost purposefully hidden away and must be approached slowly, with the sense that a mystery is about to unravel.<br />
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The moment when I saw The Lake was like that moment in films where a character receives some unexpected news from another character and the latter keeps on talking but his/her speech is edited out and music starts up instead -- a 'steely melody.'<br />
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I didn't immediately make the connection with Antony and the Johnsons' <i>Lake</i>. It was a slow association that gradually grew in my mind and which was fully formed by the time we got home. And as these two experiences gradually became aligned, both were illuminated with a new and unutterable meaning.<br />
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A few days later, I still could not fathom why, in the night,<br />
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<i>'My infant spirit would awake</i><br />
<i>To the terror of the lone lake'</i><br />
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...The infant spirit being not necessarily ignorance or lack of knowledge, but just a blinding, sickening vulnerability to the things out there -- to time, to spirits, to the world.<br />
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<span style="font-family: , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>'Yet that terror was not fright</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>But a tremulous delight</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>And a feeling undefined</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>Springing from a darkened mind</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>Death was in that poisoned wave</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>And in its gulf a fitting grave</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>For him who thence could solace bring</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>To his dark imagining</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: , "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>Whose wildering thought could even make</i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: , "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>An Eden of that dim lake'</i></span></span></span></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-63345421573646443162017-05-16T13:16:00.001-07:002017-05-16T13:17:40.021-07:00Duets (and heteronormativity?)<div>
Ok, it's time to admit I've always had a soft spot for duets and duos. Weirdly, they've always been male-female duets -- and whether I like it or not, that might well be a result of the pervasiveness of heteronormativity. But of course that's not really a reason to discount good music. So ... here are three duets that I like/used to like:</div>
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1) Clemence and Jean Baptiste -- Concerto pour deux voix</div>
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This one I used to be crazy about. I used to listen on repeat. Looking back, I find it quite cheesy, particularly the way the directing/editing of the video makes Clemence and Jean-Baptiste into a couple when they are both really young and the whole thing is really unnecessary. Why not just focus on the music and not make it part of some kind of forced heteronormative model? It's unfortunate that that's what the video puts forward to me now, after all these years. But I can hardly ignore it.</div>
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Nonetheless, without the video it's almost the same for me as it was before. Because in a vocalise for two voices, through the absence of words, something really vital emerges.</div>
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2) ASSA - Idu na ty</div>
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One of my favourite movies, ASSA, has a deliberately awkward and very memorable duo scene. It was this scene that got me into synths; I looked up the Yamaha RX5 and then ended up on a Vintage Synth Explorer spree that changed my life. In fact, ASSA changed almost every aspect of my life, and still continues to do so four years after I first saw it. (tomorrow it's four years since I saw it -- THAT is how important it is to me. I have an ASSA anniversary.)</div>
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3) Liz & Laszlo, Rien <span style="background-color: white; font-family: "source sans pro" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">à</span> Paris</div>
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This is the latest duo I've come across, and it's probably my favorite, because both Liz and Laszlo/ Xavier's voices are just crazy good. (Xavier's main project is Automelodi, which I posted about <a href="http://sonicmaps.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/metropole-sous-la-pluie.html">here</a>. I still can't believe it took me that long to find his music!)</div>
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It also works really well as a soundtrack to this (a short film by Claude Lelouch in which he attached a camera and drove through Paris in the early hours):</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-91590439729920255182017-05-13T13:29:00.000-07:002017-05-13T13:37:14.210-07:00Тальник @Powerhouse 18.10.14<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_Av5ShBYQsA?start=520" width="560"></iframe>
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There's still a special something about Curd Lake/Talnik that I just can't get over. This song (@8:25 something) is called 'Colour of Hope.'<br />
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One thing that S does that I used to dislike is the way he sometimes stops a song midway and goes back, apparently preventing it from developing naturally. But the conceptual comment behind doing that eventually dawned on me -- aren't things always cut abruptly short just when they start to get good?<br />
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Of course, we don't usually like the conceptual in music (I certainly don't always) but it just works so well when the music is actually heartfelt rather than just 'coolly conceptual.'<br />
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An earlier EP by Curd Lake was made up of complete songs, but one track was essentially just a recording with S making an existentialist comment along the lines of 'your life is no more precious than the life of this fly. You've made up the idea that it is. You've completely made it up.'<br />
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There's something really intense about that, and it got me thinking hard about how spoken word can be incorporated into an album. In fact I'm surprised that no one has done it properly, in a non-cheesy way. It also got me thinking about how the album format, that of a live concert, and the whole structure of the music industry, are almost entirely arbitrary and open to rethinking (for those who have the time and energy for it).<br />
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...Food for thought...<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-35885793039758756292017-05-03T14:09:00.001-07:002017-05-03T14:09:31.424-07:00The saddest chord progression from the otherworldA recent article I came across takes apart '<a href="http://flypaper.soundfly.com/produce/what-is-the-saddest-chord-progression-in-the-world/">the saddest chord progression in the world</a>.'<br />
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This is the kind of stuff I used to pounce on, because I've always been pretty sad and I like to know what the limits of musical sadness are. But <i>chose étrange:</i> these limits always seem to me to be, well, <i>limited</i>. As though even in music there is some kind of ceiling effect on the permissible emotional spectrum that no one even seems to perceive. Which means that I am never satisfied with what other people classify under that rather abstract word, 'sadness.'<br />
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All I can say is, if that's really the saddest chord progression in the world, then I would like to hear the saddest chord progression from the <i>otherworld</i>, please.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL5CoQ_QcPFwuhTSrnD2x7iGFbzj2kPEVOo72K9BDZIoJTjRP9wdtFVEFIoxN-gWO9eUJcryEQrz4aGNHv1a1V_gJOvQsUfZzoIkVzelgJ1N1OJh2zWP88r4ERsF5ymUJQDJ1xD1KBCugj/s1600/pierrot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL5CoQ_QcPFwuhTSrnD2x7iGFbzj2kPEVOo72K9BDZIoJTjRP9wdtFVEFIoxN-gWO9eUJcryEQrz4aGNHv1a1V_gJOvQsUfZzoIkVzelgJ1N1OJh2zWP88r4ERsF5ymUJQDJ1xD1KBCugj/s400/pierrot.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444808334313283423.post-12359659120331113172017-04-29T04:46:00.001-07:002017-04-29T04:46:16.999-07:00Unusual voices 2: Esma Redžepova<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Esma Redžepova's voice has made many incisions in people's hearts, including mine. Yet it has also healed; I can think of few things more cathartic than this song, despite not understanding any of the lyrics.</div>
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It makes me think of the theorist Cathy Caruth's article on 'the wound and the voice', which is sort of too long and convoluted to summarise here, but her description of the way in which the voice seems to erupt from traumatic wounds seems particularly relevant here. I've thought over the years that maybe my perception on instrumental and particularly vocal performance is quite sadistic -- I really think that performance should be suffered, not really enjoyed. Redžepova doesn't sound like she <i>loves the sound of her own voice. </i>Whereas the prerequisite for a 'great singer', particularly in the popular Western tradition, is often that they must sound as though they love the sound of their own voice. </div>
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Personally I much prefer Redžepova and her cutting, pain-ridden delivery.</div>
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