This was my first show at the relatively new Fillmore Philadelphia. The venue is really nice. There’s a balcony with bleacher seats and a very large floor area. It’s also reasonably easy to get to (although kind of hard to leave–bottleneck city!).
I was there to see Explosions in the Sky, but I had given a listen to a few songs by this opening band and was certainly looking forward to seeing them.
I was intrigued that their sounds was described as a mix of shoegaze, krautrock and garage rock. Three things which don’t really seem to go together. The tracks I listened to were really rather dissonant, which I found interesting. It also seems that each album is a little different, with the earlier stuff being a bit more garage-y.
I was also intrigued to read that Steve Shelley, drummer from Sonic Youth, played with them for an album and a couple of tours. But he was not with them now, having been replaced by Noah Leger. I’m not sure what Shelley did with the band, but Leger was really amazing to watch. More on him later.
The rest of the band is Brian Case on guitar and lead vocals with second guitarist Jonathan Van Herik and bassist Damon Carruesco. (more…)
Back in February, Tabitha and I went to the Montgomery High School’s production of The Little Mermaid. I was pretty sure they did two performances a year, so I was surprised to see them advertising The Wizard of Oz already.
This turned out to be not the high school actors but a group of semi- and non-professional adults. Best of all, the entire cast was made up of teachers and faculty from the Montgomery School System.
All four of us were going to go, but Clark had a sleepover the night before, which meant no sleeping, so he crashed while we went to the play.
This production was for something called Music from the Heart. As the blurb noted:
The Montgomery Township Education Association and Montgomery High School Band Parents Association present the musical The Wizard of Oz for the fifteenth production of Music from the Heart! The fully volunteer cast and crew are assembled from an eager group of district teachers, support staff, administrators, and students. Proceeds from the production fund the graduating senior class scholarships awarded by both the MTEA and MHS Band Parents Association.
I’m all for helping out band and education associations, and since their Theater is amazing, I figured it would be a good show.
SOUNDTRACK: A SILVER MT. ZION-He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms… [CST009] (2000).
While working with Godspeed You Black Emperor, Efrim decided to start another band. Ostensibly this was an attempt to “learn music” and to be able to communicate better with his fellow musicians. Apparently, this didn’t work. So rather he created another band A Silver Mt. Zion (whose name has changed on nearly every album). Strangely enough, he took two other members from Godspeed with him Thierry Amar (bass and more) and Sophie Trudeau (violins).
So how different can this band sound, then?
Well, quite different, actually. Efrim’s main instrument for this album is piano (there was no piano in Godspeed as far as I can recall). And virtually the entire album plays like a slow modern classical piano album.
This album being made by the folks from GYBE, there’s bound to be some differences between the vinyl and the CD. The vinyl lists two songs, while the CD breaks those two songs into four parts each.
“Lonely as the Sound of Lying on the Ground of an Airplane Going Down” is the first song. It has four parts.
“Broken Chords Can Sing a Little” opens with some piano chords, slowly meandering through a slightly dark melody. The song is 8 minutes long and about 3 minutes in, there’s some staticky recorded voices that speak over the melody. A slow mournful violin comes in about 4 minutes in. Another voice fights for dominance during the song (they may both be religious speakers, although it’s not always clear). The last minute or so of the song is simply the two voices speaking over each other.
“Sit in the Middle of Three Galloping Dogs” introduces some drums into the mix. It’s the only song with drums–provided by GYBE member Aidan Girt. Those voices continue into this song. The drums give the song momentum as they play under an echoing guitar and some cool overdubbed violin parts. The song seems like it will continue the same, but about half way in, the music drops off except for a fast bowing violin and then it shifts tone completely, with a more intricate drumbeat and new layers of violin.
The end of the song merges with the next track’s opening piano notes. “Stumble Then Rise on Some Awkward Morning” returns to the sound of the first track–spare piano and plaintive violin. The song slowly builds, but in a very different way from GYBE. The pianos grow more insistent, but don’t seem to be heading towards a cathartic conclusion, just toward a new location. And the song ends with a series of descending piano notes.
“Movie (Never Made)”is only three minutes long and it marks yet another departure from the GYBE/SMtZ instrumental world. Efrim sings! His singing voice is whispered and quiet (occasionally anguished) and works pretty well in this quiet song. The beginning lyrics: “A Silver Mt. Zion / all buried in ruins / we was dancing the hora / until we vomited blood.” (Efrim described recording the album as a “Jewish experience”). The music is spare piano and a rather jazzy contrabass until the end when a violin is added. But it is primarily a spare piano and vocal song.
Disc/Side Two is called “The World Is SickSICK; (So Kiss Me Quick)!” and also has four parts.
“13 Angels Standing Guard ’round the Side of Your Bed” opens with what sounds like distant voices fading in and out amid washes of guitar chords. The bass and violin anchor the song to a melody. The “voices” might actually be guitars, although they sound almost like angels singing amid the ambient waves.
“Long March Rocket or Doomed Airliner” is listed as being only five seconds long and is all silence. The CD suggests that all of the songs are timed as round numbers (9:00, 3:00) which isn’t true according to the CD.
“Blown-Out Joy from Heaven’s Mercied Hole” begins with a slow jazzy bass and Efrim singing gently. Harmony vocals (from Sophie) can be heard as well. The song is nearly ten minutes–the longest on the disc. And the vocals stop pretty quickly. The rest of the song is violin over the bass with a sprinkling of piano notes as well (sometimes playing a lengthy riff or run). This song also features two guests: Gordon Krieger on bass clarinet and Sam Shalabi on guitar (both of which come in around 8 minutes, I believe).
“For Wanda” is apparently the inspiration for the disc. The album was born out of Efrim’s desire to record something for his dog Wanda, who died while GYBE were on tour. This song is a slow melancholy piano with ambient sounds in the background (unclear what they are although they sound like fireworks). Eventually, the violin comes in as well and continues the melancholia. The song fades only to be followed by a quiet coda on the organ.
So yes, this is quite a different sound and feel from GYBE. And, perhaps surprisingly, this would prove to be Efrim’s main musical outlet, releasing several albums and couple of EPs before GYBE would reunite.
[READ: January 19, 2016] “‘We’ve Only Just Begun'”
I was sure I had finished off all the older Harper’s stories, but here’s one that I missed. And it is pretty peculiar.
The story is elliptical. not really having an opening and not really having an ending.
And as such, a review has to be somewhat elliptical as well. The story opens:
“They got into our car at a stoplight. It was cold. We never lock the doors in back. There were two of them. At the apartment they terrorized us.”
SOUNDTRACK: GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR-‘Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress’ [CST111] (2015).
In 2015, GY!BE released their so far last record. And it lasts a mere 40 minutes.
As with the previous record, there are two longer songs and two somewhat shorter ones. The album’s four tracks are based on “Behemoth,” played live numerous times since 2012 and previously recorded onstage for the concert series We Have Signal. (Absolutely worth a viewing if you like the band–this is a good recording).
“Peasantry or ‘Light! Inside of Light!'” has perhaps my favorite opening from any GY!BE album. After a series of drum beats, the big monolithic riff kicks in. It begins as two notes but slowly grows and morphs into something bigger. The bands rocks the riff for about 3 minutes, when there’s a brief guitar solo and a change in direction (with lots of chaos and noise). And then the song turns pretty and strangely uplifting–the violin riffs that punctuate the middle of the song are quite beautiful. For the last two or so minutes, the song really slows down, keeping that same basic melody but adding a slow guitar playing the riff. It’s capped off with more of those soaring violin riffs. At ten minutes total, it’s one of their shorter “epic” pieces, but I think it’s a great one.
“Lambs’ Breath” (almost ten minutes) begins as a seamless continuation of the previous part, opening with noisy static guitar sounds and droney chords. This track is almost ten minutes long and it goes through many different waves of noise. There’s some echoed sound effects and static that more or less drop out into a quieter drone about 3 minutes in. The quiet (very quiet) drone is accompanied by electronic sounds. The last nearly 3 minutes are all one note, oscillating somewhat, but feeling like it never stops. On the vinyl, this track ends in a locked groove, so it actually does go forever.
“Asunder, Sweet” (6 minutes) continues with that same note until it is punctuated by echoed guitar notes and buzzing sounds. Around three minutes in, more sounds start rising out of the murky noise. It feels like a beast slowly waking. There’s some pretty feedback as the drone grows louder….
“Piss Crowns Are Trebled” is nearly 14 minutes long. It continues of the growing drones of the previous song but immediately adds a violin.
For this album there is one minor change:
Thierry Amar – bass guitar, double bass
David Bryant – electric guitar, Portasound, organ, drones
Aidan Girt – drums
Karl Lemieux – 16mm frames artwork, photography
Efrim Menuck – electric guitar
Mike Moya – electric guitar,
Mauro Pezzente – bass guitar
Sophie Trudeau – violin, drones
Timothy Herzog drums, drone [replacing Bruce Cawdron]
[READ: April 11, 2016] “Witness”
I really enjoyed this story and the wonderful direction it went at the end (I’ve been worried about The Walrus’ dark stories as of late).
The story is about an older woman (she is over 70), Harriet. Harriet is a painter. She lives alone by the lake, despite her son’s protestations. And as the story opens, we see her attacked by someone in her home.
What was so interesting about the way the story was constructed was that Harriet remained wonderfully calm through the whole ordeal. She remembered to turn her head while the man (who smelled of Juicy Fruit) put his arms around her throat (this prevents you from losing oxygen). She could tell that the boy was one of the local kids who hung out down by the 7-Eleven.
But instead of freaking out, she remains calm through it all. She talks to him in a friendly manner. When he asks for the money, she says it’s in the bedroom. But he forces her down the hall to the room. As they are about to head in, she tells him that there’s a mirror in there. She doesn’t want to see is face or know who he is (such good thinking).
He pauses, thinks this over, then throws her to the floor and proceeds to take her money. (So I didn’t love that part of the story). (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR-‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! [CST081] (2012).
After ten years, GY!BE came back with a new album. It fits on one CD, but, just to be different, the band released the vinyl as one 12″ and one 7″ record. The 12″ contains the two longer songs and the 7″ contains the two shorter ones.
“Mladic” (20 minutes) opens with sampled voices: “with his arms outstretched.” Then comes a hurdy-gurdy and violins and droning sounds with incidental guitar notes. This goes on for about 4 minutes before the drums and ringing chords slowly enter the song. By about 6 and a half minutes, a buzzy guitar starts playing a feedback-squalling riff, while a second guitar follows along (in the other ear). And by 7 and a half minutes, the drums begin and the song really takes off. At around 9 minutes a new riff begins, slightly Middle Eastern sounding. The whole band joins in, including some fierce drumming and the song gets bigger and bigger. Then around 11 minutes, everything drops off except for bass and drums. And that’s when the noisy chaotic guitar solos begin. Things slow down, but don’t great less intense. And then at 14 and a half minutes, everything pretty much drops out save a cello and feedback. But that’s only a precursor to the big riff that follows. Things slow down one more time, although it’s more of a quiet rumble with the drums going throughout. And then they launch into the final cascade of music, saving the last 2 minutes for echoes, feedback and a rackety percussion section. It’ fantastic.
“We Drift Like Worried Fire” (20 minutes) opens slowly with pizzicato violin notes and other sounds in the background. A guitar riff starts at around 3 minutes which leads the song in a very different direction. A slow violin plays over the top of the guitar riff. The violin and drums grow more complex and at 6 minutes, the ringing guitar overtakes the rest of the music. At around 8 minutes a series of ringing guitar “solos” enter the song. Combined with the percussive noise and the bass, it’s surprisingly catchy. When everything drops out and there’s simply a violin playing, it seems like the song will end, but no. Guitars play around the violin and then at 12 minutes, a new section develops around a two-note motif and complex percussion. I love the ominous direction the song takes those two notes, and when the steady beat kicks in at 15 minutes, it makes the whole thing that much more intense. It resolves itself into a wonderfully catchy melody. At 17 minutes everything drops away except for a ringing guitar and strings. It seems like it might be an ending coda, but soon enough the drums come back and the song picks up again heading towards a proper climax, complete with crazed drumming that takes us until nearly the end of the song. Another really satisfying conclusion.
The two shorter pieces are on the 7″ disc. “Their Helicopters’ Sing” begins with a droning sound in the background. And nearly all of its 6 minutes sound like screechy violins trying to break through the rumbling drone. It more or less resolves itself by the end of the song into something a bit more tuneful.
“Strung Like Lights at Thee Printemps Erable” is the final 6 minute song. Like “Helicopters” it is primarily a drone song. This one is a little prettier at the beginning, with some delicate notes punctuating the noise, but it’s the screeching violin and feedbacking guitar that really create the noise. By four and a half minutes that all drops away into a gentle, but still disconcerting, drone.
I don’t really love the droney stuff compared to the longer songs. I find the two long songs to be some of their best work. Perhaps if the droney parts were actually a part of the whole piece they would work better.
Thierry Amar – bass guitar, double bass, cello
David Bryant – electric guitar, dulcimer, Portasound, kemençe
Bruce Cawdron – drums, vibraphone, marimba, glockenspiel
Aidan Girt – drums
Karl Lemieux – 16mm frames artwork, photography [new]
Efrim Menuck – guitar, hurdy-gurdy
Mauro Pezzente – bass guitar
Mike Moya – guitar [replaced Roger Tellier-Craig]
Mauro Pezzente – bass guitar [new]
Sophie Trudeau – violin, Casio SK-5
[exit Norsola Johnson – cello]
[READ: April 10, 2016] “Hackles”
This issue of The Walrus was pretty bleak and this story is similarly bleak (what’s going on in Canada?).
The story is about a woman (told in first person) and her reflections back on a summer when she was fifteen, living in Enniskillen. Her memories revolve around two dogs: Mort and Julie. When she first encountered them they were guarding a farm house. They saw her and snarled and growled at her causing her to trip and fall, but they would not cross their property line. She says the thing that amazed her was their self-restraint–they never put one paw onto the road.
She began stopping by, looking at the dogs, for six or seven visits when the farmer’s son happened by. He had come to tell the dogs to stop barking and then her saw her. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR!-Yanqui U.X.O. [CST024] (2002).
Yanqui UXO is a single CD/double vinyl release coming in at about 80 minutes. The lineup stayed the same, but there were a few changes. First the band’s exclamation point moved from the end to after the “You.” And second, this album was produced by Steve Albini. Albini seems like an odd choice given his stripped down style and often brutal recording sound. The album still sounds a lot like GYBE, but they have stripped out all of the field recordings and interstitial parts making a much smoother album.
The recording was described by the band as “just raw, angry, dissonant, epic instrumental rock.” It’s hard to argue with that.
There are four or five songs on the record depending on if you have the LP or CD. The first two songs “09-15-00, Part 1” and “09-15-00, Part 2” are merged into one on the LP. “Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls.” And then “Motherfucker=Redeemer, Part 1” and “Motherfucker=Redeemer, Part 2” (the LP removes the “parts” from the title, and just has the song “continued” on side 4—it’s also 5 minutes longer on the LP, primarily from ambient sounds that begin the song. The LP also contains a hidden track called “George Bush Cut Up While Talking.”
“09-15-00, Part 1” is 16 minutes long. It opens slowly with what sounds like a harpsichord playing a rhythm while an echoed guitar plays a slow melody. More instruments are slowly added as the song grows more intense. At around 4 and half minutes a new melody enters from the bass. It is complex but doesn’t alter the general tone of the song. The song goes almost entirely silent at 6 and a half minutes, but a new melody starts—soft one note strings start as guitars creep into the sound. Then a violin begins a melody that the guitar soon echoes. The full band plays along with this melody at around 9 minutes and it gets more intense as the drums pick up speed. This all drops away once more except for a martial beat and a bass line. A guitar plays a melody over this simple section and then it builds and builds until the last few violin notes squeak out.
“09-15-00, Part 2” is six minutes long and is probably the simplest and most beautiful piece they have recorded. There’s no build up, no drama, it’s just a pretty song full of strings and guitars.
“Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls” opens with a simple three note guitar melody and violins playing over the top. The strings get bigger and more prominent and the rest of the band starts filling in. Around three and half minutes in, the song gets really raucous…until it settles down again. The song builds again, with the violins taking prominence. At about seven-minutes, the song changes drastically with a lengthy descending series of notes (on horns) leading to a spare drum beat which lasts over a minute before the horns come back in. After a minute or so of solitary horn notes, some guitars start playing in the background. By around 13 minutes ominous chords have developed, overshadowing nearly everything else—and that steady drumbeat certainly causes some tension. By 16:30 the tension has been released and the chords are welcoming and bright. The song seems like it ends around nineteen minutes in, but there’s a gentle string section coda tacked on at the end.
“Motherfucker=Redeemer, Part 1” opens with gentle ringing sounds like a child’s toy. After about 2 minutes, guitars start coming in—one playing staccato notes another playing chords and a bass playing as simple pattern. At 3 and a half minutes the main riff comes it. It is played on the violin and has vaguely Jewish feel to it. There aren’t a ton of changes in this song, which more or less just builds around the same riff. By 7 minutes there’s a soaring violin solo which screams over the top of the song. There are moments when the song gets louder and quieter but it definitely feels like all one song until about 10 minutes when it more or less slows to a halt. There’s some slow violin sounds an a simple guitar. This second part of the song is similar to the first in that it is a regular guitar riff playing as the rest of the band fills in around it. At around 13 minutes, a bigger fuzzier guitar takes over the riff. The song continues in various forms until the end, when it is just a bass line.
“Part 2” is only ten minutes long (15 on vinyl). It opens with the strings providing washes of music. A new, fairly complex bassline opens the song. The band builds the track with fast drumming and louder and louder strings. It shifts tone at around 4 minutes. And for the next 3 minutes it gets more intense until it seems to fade out, introducing a new guitar riff that works almost like a coda to the whole thing. The drums are insane for this ending part and the band seems like they are just going nuts as the song comes crashing to an end. The extra five minutes on vinyl come at the beginning of the song. It starts with voices singing some basic “ahhhs” and then a guitar playing a ringing note. It does add to the tension that builds up before the music begins properly and really should be checked out if you’ve only heard the CD version.
“George Bush Cut Up While Talking” is 3 minutes of a George Bush address cut up (it sounds like it is a skipping CD) interspersed with clapping that sounds like static and a voice saying “it is the predominant question, why am I here and what can I do to make it better how can I do what is right.” (There’s a disconcerting video of this here.)
I think this album is really fantastic. And while I enjoy their found sounds, I prefer that they’re just playing music.
After making this album the band would go on hiatus for…ten years. Here’s the line up for Yanqui.
Thierry Amar – bass guitar
David Bryant – electric guitar
Bruce Cawdron – drums
Aidan Girt – drums
Norsola Johnson – cello
Efrim Menuck – guitar
Mauro Pezzente – bass guitar
Roger Tellier-Craig – guitar [replaced Mike Moya]
Sophie Trudeau – violin
[READ: April 11, 2016] “”Where the Yazoo Cross the Yellow Dog””
This is an except from a story about Jimbo and Rob. The opening details Jimbo’s (James) parents, which I rather enjoyed. Particularly the details about his father–his daily “three and three-quarter minute boiled egg served in a brightly coloured egg cup” and this statement:
‘I view hot toast,’ he said in one of his rare communications, pointing to the solitary Hovie slice lodged cold in the silver toast rack, ‘as offensively American.’
I also loved the dogmatic qualities of his father
‘What?’ said the Major. ‘What?”
Which was his usual response top any reply short of complete agreement or grovelling.
And
“Don’t say ‘haven’t got,'” said the Major. “It is both redundant and ill-bred. ‘Haven’t’ will suffice.”
But the story is really about Jimbo and his friend Rob Forde (that cannot be a coincidence). Jimbo was a teenager affecting sophistication (he wanted a smoking jacket) and he and Rob looked through junk shops for cigarette cases and art books. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR!-“lift yr. skinny fists like antennas to heaven!” [CST012] (2000).
So far GYBE had released an album and an EP, so why not follow up with a double album/double CD. This collection has either 4 songs with multiple parts or many many songs. (The CD release suggests 4 songs–two per disc each over 20 minutes).
Although on the accompanying sheet, there’s a diagram in which Efrim has mapped out each of the four tracks and indicated where each part (with its own title) begins.
The first song “Storm” opens slowly. Part one “Lift Yr. Skinny Fists, Like Antennas to Heaven…” has strings and simple, quiet guitar riff which build for about three minutes. Then the guitars kick in and the song soars to majestic heights. The guitar riff continues through this section and then horns add to the music to make it feel even bigger. It’s an amazing start to a disc.
“Gathering Storm/Il Pleut à Mourir [+Clatters Like Worry]” slows things down as the last cymbal crashes fade and a violin remains the sole sound. Then a new guitar riff begins, slow and sweet, once again with a kind of nod to “Amazing Grace” in the melody. Then the strings swell and take over. When the bass line begins, it heralds the arrival of the drums and the song rocks along. After a few minutes, the strings bring in the real tension of the storm. The drums really come to the fore with lots of pounding and cymbal crashes. The intensity begins to slow down until it thuds to silence.
“‘Welcome to Barco AM/PM…’ [ L.A.X.; 5/14/00]” opens with a staticky voice welcoming you to Barco and then lets you know not to associate with people washing windows or soliciting. This track is about a minute before the piano begins indicating the start of the final part “Cancer Towers on Holy Road Hi-Way.” Behind the piano are simple mournful chords, although the staticky voices continue until the end of the song.
Track two “Static” opens with “Terrible Canyons of Static.” There are truck horns and train noises followed by ominous chords. The noise and static continues through “Atomic Clock,” and the recording “at the tone 3 hours, 21 minutes according to universal time.” This merges into “Chart #3” which contains a clear speaking preacher (who says ‘penetrate’ a lot) with a very sad violin melody. A guitar starts playing a different melody which indicates the beginning of “World Police and Friendly Fire.” A bass line takes over and is accompanied by a violin and guitar. There’s tension in the music as it builds and builds. But the drum beat means the start of a new violin melody complete with glockenspiel. This staccato rhythms keep up for a time until it is replaced by a loud feedbacking guitar solo. It’s followed by a fairly conventional section of drums and bass complimented with strings. This section feels like it is building to something and it all coalesces in the cathartic crashing of the start of “[…+The Buildings They Are Sleeping Now]” (this particular release is outstanding as they really drag out the climax). The riff for this is fast and heavy with more screaming guitar. It only lasts for a minute or so, but it’s fantastic. The rest of this section is primarily feedback and silence. There’s some percussive sounds and moments of louder noises, but at over 5 minutes this section is a little too long.
Disc Two, track 3 “Sleep” has only three parts. “Murray Ostril: ‘…They Don’t Sleep Anymore on the Beach…'” is a one-minute opening with a man (Murray?) talking about how Coney Island used to be so amazing. “Monheim” opens with some slow guitar and mournful strings playing over the top. When the violin fades, a new guitar melody, more upbeat, begins. The song stays pretty quiet until about 7 minutes in when the drums enter and an interesting guitar section continues to build in waves, but stays fairly mellow and upbeat. Around 8 minutes the same motif grows to supersize. And the wavery guitar? violin? that runs through this whole section grows louder and louder as the music swells and swells until a martial beat takes over and the melody is repeated (albeit much faster) which acts as an unexpected and satisfying conclusion to all that tension. This section starts to deconstruct, leaving only a siren like guitar and lots of static which indicates the beginning of the third part, “Broken Windows, Locks of Love Pt. III.” Out of the noise comes a simple two note pattern. The song grows more complex with as the rhythm is kept by a single chime. When the drums kick in (all of a sudden) the song gains momentum. And the cool bass line that propels the rest oft he song (complete with horns) is great. At about 18 minutes the song quiets down with just the guitar and drums keeping things afloat for a bit until it settles down into a very pretty string melody. Soon enough, the rest of the band kicks in and the song starts to build again. But rather than reaching a huge crescendo, it begins to fade out, leaving just a hi-hat and some feedback to fill out the last minute.
“Antennas to Heaven” is the shortest piece at only 18 minutes. It opens with “Moya Sings ‘Baby-O’…” which is (I assume) Mike Moya (who is not credited on the record, I don’t think) singing “Baby-O” and playing the acoustic guitar. As that fades, waves of noise swell as the 58 seconds of “Edgyswingsetacid” rumbles through. It is then replaced by the 47 seconds of “[Glockenspiel Duet Recorded on a Campsite In Rhinebeck, N.Y.]” which sounds otherworldly. The final short section is “‘Attention…Mon Ami…Fa-Lala-Lala-La-La…’ [55-St. Laurent]” which is one minute long and consists primarily of children chatting ion French.
The main body of this track is the nearly ten minute “She Dreamt She Was a Bulldozer, She Dreamt She Was Alone in an Empty Field.” It begins with gentle waves of music pulsing in and out. After about 90 seconds of this, the song bursts into a rocking section–drums and electric guitar playing a propulsive beat. This doesn’t last long though as the sound of wind howling takes over the song and an ominous almost metallic ticking sound rings out. This resolves into a two note motif with strings. It turns onto more of a song proper with all of the instruments supporting a pretty guitar solo. As the song fades to just violins, “Deathkamp Drone” picks up with various unsettling washes of sounds. The final section “[Antennas to Heaven…]” is a strange screechy-sounding guitar solo that echoes through to the end.
This disc is very big and very long, but aside from a few moments where the noise or drones lingers a bit too long, there’s just so much going on that the music never gets dull. It’s quite an achievement.
Godspeed You Black Emperor has had a few lineup changes over the years. For this double LP, they added a new guitarist (and a lot of supporting musicians), they changed violinists and lost the french horn.
Thierry Amar – bass guitar
David Bryant – electric guitar
Bruce Cawdron – drums
Aidan Girt – drums
Norsola Johnson – cello
Efrim Menuck – guitar
Mauro Pezzente – bass guitar
Roger Tellier-Craig – guitar [replaced Mike Moya]
Sophie Trudeau – violin
[READ: January 26, 2016] “The Shomer and the Boreal Owl”
I find that Stephen Marche likes to really push boundaries. And I find that some of his stories I like and others I simply do not.
And this one I did not.
The whole premise is weirdly unsettling. Ephraim wakes up one day and finds that he gets really turned on by wild animals. He gets an erection when he sees a deer running through the woods. What the fuck?
We meet this man who has had many troubled events in his life–the death of his daughter, his divorce soon after, the loss of his job and livelihood. And now this. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR!-Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada [CST006] (1999).
After the success of their debut album, GYBE released an EP. Being ever cryptic, the EP cover is a series of letters in Hebrew, with no mention of the band. The Hebrew says: “Tohu va bohu” (formless and empty)
There are two tracks on this disc. The first is called “Moya” and is something of a reworking of Gorecki’s third symphony. The second is “BBF3” which refers “Blaise Bailey Finnegan III” the man who rants through much of the song.
“Moya” is ten minutes long (on vinyl it is played at 45 RPM). Ominous strings open the song. Indeed, much of the song is made of violin and cello passages intertwining. Until about 4 minutes when the guitar starts playing. Drums bring drama to the song about half way in. And that’s when the guitars and strings intertwine to make a huge sound. By around 7 minutes the song has built to a huge crescendo, but the addition of pounding bass makes everything even more intense. It resolves with a great fast riff from the strings which the band plays for a few minutes until it settles down with just a cello and violin playing the end.
“BBF3” is a nearly 18 minute piece (on vinyl it is played at 33 RPM) with waves of music behind Finnegan being interviewed. He tells about the American government and then about his speeding ticket (and what he told the judge–“shut your fucking mouth and listen”). After about 3 minutes, the music changes to a new chord, a brighter sound. As BBF3 declares that America is a “third world, third rate, third class slum,” the drums get very loud and then drop away to near silence. The guitar pokes around quietly for a bit until it turns into a big song–drums and strings and guitars that only grows bigger as it progresses. It builds more and more and then drops away again as BBF3 begins talking again, this time about his gun collection. And then he reads his “poem” (which is actually the lyrics to an Iron Maiden song, “Virus”). And then the song builds once again. This time faster and more intensely. It more or less grinds to a halt at around 15 minutes and then resumes after a few second of silence with some strings resuming a mournful melody until the end.
This is a pretty intense collection of music. And according to Wikipedia, Users of the website Rate Your Music rate it as the greatest EP of all time.
Godspeed You Black Emperor! has had a few lineup changes over the years. For this EP, they changed violinists and lost the french horn.
Thierry Amar — bass guitar, double bass
David Bryant — guitar, tapes
Bruce Cawdron — drums, percussion, keyboards
Aidan Girt — drums, percussion
Norsola Johnson — cello
Efrim Menuck — guitar, keyboards
Mike Moya — guitar
Mauro Pezzente — bass guitar
Sophie Trudeau — violin [replaced Christophe – violin]
no longer with the band: Thea Pratt – French horn
[READ: January 26, 2016] “How to Become a Mascot”
This story is indeed a how-to account of becoming a mascot.
It is even told in a technical manual type of style. Although the beginning is pretty unexpected: “First, quit you day job and go back to school, even though you’re thirty-two already. Do this because your boyfriend is dead and you will never get to run your fingers trough his curls again.”
But aside from this rather dark opening, the rest of the story is kind of funny.
The narrator is aware of a gingerbread man costume at the local outdoor shopping centre–her aunt works administration there. No one knows how the costume got there, but she thinks it would be a good idea to take it on as a job–$15 an hour.
The first few paragraphs describe fitting it and getting used to wearing it. “Burn 700 calories trying to undo the zipper.” Then you must learn routines and dances. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR!-F♯ A♯ ∞ [CST003] (1997).
GYBE is more or less the flagship band for the Constellation label. Their band has spawned many other bands, and nearly every member has played on someone else’s record or released a solo album. Which is why it’s surprising to realize just how few albums they have released.
This first album caused quite a stir. It was released on vinyl and then released (with an extra 29 minute song) on CD. Few bands sounded like this before, and a whole new genre was created around their brand of multi-piece, sorta orchestral post-rock.
There are three songs on this record, but based on some information given in the CD, the songs have been informally broken into parts.
The Dead Flag Blues. The song opens with “The Dead Flag Blues (Intro).” It features a rough-voiced man speaking what I have recently learned is a script by Efrim Menuck. Backed by a string melody, the speaker describes a derelict city, where the government is corrupt and the inhabitants are drunks. After the strings fade, two guitars play a repeating motif with occasional string fills and then a slow solo violin section which fade to silence
For part 2 “Slow Moving Trains” / “The Cowboy…” the sound of a train whistle interrupts the quiet. It’s followed by a series of slow descending notes on a guitar. After a few minutes a twangy guitar comes in to play a Western-ish motif. The rest of the band slowly comes in and creates what sounds like the first real Godspeed sound—a full band making beautiful orchestral instrumental music. It’s all too brief though as it melds into part 3.
Part 3 is known as “The Dead Flag Blues (Outro). It opens with violin and glockenspiel playing a much more upbeat tune. It lingers for around 2 minutes and then the songs ends.
“East Hastings” has three parts as well “…Nothing’s Alrite in Our Life…” / “The Dead Flag Blues (Reprise)” opens with bagpipes and a man ranting. It’s only 1 minute and a half before “The Sad Mafioso” kicks in. This part builds slowly with spare guitars and waves of sound. The guitar reconciles itself to a riff, slow and quiet, with a neat minor note in the middle. It sounds like the kind of thing that is just building to something bigger, slightly more ominous. And as the band kicks in again, the riff becomes much more meaty, but before it can totally take over, it gives way to strings and drums–playing a simple melody that continues the feeling of the guitars. When this ends, far in the distance you can hear a voice singing the melody although it is quickly replaced by two guitars playing the riffs while the strings keep jumping in. And then they start working together, growing bigger and louder and faster. Until it reaches its end with squealing feedback and a man saying “they had a large barge…” which opens up part three, “Drugs in Tokyo” / “Black Helicopter.” This last part opens with a guitar playing harmonic notes along with washes of noise and feedback. Some of the noise sounds, yes, like helicopters (and this is where the band makes some use of the coolness of headphones). It’s a brief section that ends what is technically side one (although I see that the vinyl had about one minute extra at the end of the song).
Track three, “Providence,” is 29-minutes long and has five or six parts, depending on if you include the 3 minutes of silence. “Divorce & Fever…” opens with a lengthy spoken piece by “Blaise Bailey Finnegan III”, who will have his own track dedicated to him on the next GYBE release. The music opens with distorted and backwards sounding guitars. Organs add to the mix and then this short section morphs into part 2. “Dead Metheny…” begins with some quiet guitar notes with the violins playing some mournful notes. But the glockenspiel jumps into play a pretty, fast melody. And then the drums start pounding away while harmonic chords are played over the top. There are simultaneous guitar solos in each ear while the drums continue to play loud and fast.
Kicking Horse on Brokenhill” has a staticy/echoey/distorted voice singing lyrics that are really hard to hear to a melody that is similar to “Amazing Grace.” After that fairly unsettling intro, the band begins a great section with multiple guitars and other instruments playing the same melody (this is the “Godspeed sound” in a nutshell. By the middle of this, it has built to something enormous–full of guitar lines and drums with the support of what feels like the rest of the band.
“String Loop Manufactured During Downpour…” has a distant voice (I assume from a record based on the static) begins singing “where are you going” in a rather haunted echo). The rest of the track is primarily washes of notes and stat icy noise until the 3 minutes of silence which precede the final proper track, “J.L.H. Outro” (stands for John Lee Hooker). It begins with guitars and washes of sound. The guitars begin exploring the main riff in different ways. When the song finally builds to a full band, there are different drum beats in each ear, creating a big cacophony of sound while the guitar wails away.
It’s a pretty great album, with many different elements–weird spoken word and fantastic instrumentals sections.
Godspeed You Black Emperor has had a few lineup changes over the years. They began with some 15 members and ultimately settled on these ten for F♯ A♯ ∞.
Aidan Girt – drums
Bruce Cawdron – percussion
Christophe – violin
David Bryant – guitar
Efrim Menuck – electric guitar
Mauro Pezzente – bass guitar
Mike Moya – guitar, banjo
Norsola Johnson – cello
Thea Pratt – French horn
Thierry Amar – bass guitar
[READ: January 26, 2106] “Cowan”
The previous Walrus story that Bertin wrote (back in 2013) was very dark. And so is this one. But whereas I found “The Eviction Process” compelling, this one I just didn’t like and couldn’t wait for it to be over.
This strikes me a kind of redemption story–the word guilt is mentioned once or twice. And it seems like perhaps this was the author’s attempt to make amends for being a shit heel. Except there is no real sense of redemption or apology or anything of the sort.
The end even seems like the narrator is simply lying. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: MARIA VOLONTE-Tiny Desk Concert #183 (December 27, 2011).
One of my plans for this calendar year was to write about all of the Tiny Desk concerts from 2016 and from 2011 (to play some catch up). This is the final tiny Desk from 2011! Huzzah.
Maria Volonte is an Argentine singer who interprets tango music in her own way. She also plays folk, Latin blues as well as more traditional music. She plays three songs here and is accompanied by the fantastic harmonica player, Kevin Carrel Footer.
“El Beso Azul” (The Blue Kiss) is a pop-folk ballad expressing menacing sadness. Volonte’s voice is beautiful–full of longing and desire, heartache and sorrow. She plays a very rich and full sounding acoustic guitar and is accompanied by a wonderful bluesy harmonica which plays some amazing lines and riffs.
“Oh Viejo Tren” (Oh, Old Train) is based on a long train ride from the outskirts into the city proper of Buenos Aires. She says, “This is about people chasing their dreams in the city and then falling into reality.” This song is slower and sadder and her voice changes appropriately, even if there is still an air of sultriness about it. The harmonica in addition to playing great “train” sounds, keeps a perfect bluesy accompaniment.
“SF Tango” is an ode to San Francisco and to tango. The song is in English. I like the way she picks her guitar at the beginning and the cool strumming rhythm that the rest of the song has.
Typically, when there’s an interesting quote from the blurb, I post it here, but Jasmine Garsd’s write up is quite lengthy, and it tells an interesting history of the tango as well as some details about Volonte. It also says she can barely listen to “SF Tango” as she finds it so moving. I didn’t find it so, but I did enjoy what she wrote. Read it here.
[READ: January 2, 2016] Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour
I also wanted to make sure I finished all of the posts I started in 2015. This is the last one (although maybe I finished the book in 2016?). So it’s nice to have that burden lifted as well!
I read Warner’s The Sopranos in 1998. I loved it. It was very funny, very raunchy and a delightful way to see girls having wild fun.
Of course, it’s nearly 20 years later and I have a daughter of my own and I can’t help but think that the girls’ behavior is so unsafe, so unwise, so irresponsible!
This play also seems (if memory is any guide) to take the wildness of the girls and condense it. Since there is no narrator to slow things down they are just wild from the get go.
So this play is about six girls. The girls are the only ones in the play–they wind up doing different characters (including men) which sounds like it would be very funny to see). All of the girls are in the choir of Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour Catholic school. And they are all heading to a competition in Edinburgh
The six girls are:
Fionnula (lives in a council house bought with the money from her grandad)
Manda (Mum fucked off, lives with her da, never shuts up about her sister)
Chell (lives up the complex, has had a lot of tragedy in her family)
Orla (diagnosed with cancer but recently returned from Lourdes)
Kylah (parents own their house and she sings in a band)
Kay (stuck-up goody-two shoes, off to university)
The girls are hardened and cynical–they say there have been several pregnancies this year already in their class and they call their headmistress Sister Condom. They are excited to go to the city for this competition not to sing but to get shitfaced and hook up with guys.
Their language is fairly shocking from the starts. It’s one of the girls who says Manda’s mum “fucked off.” And this being Scotland, the word “cunt” is thrown around all over the place.
The girls plan to separate when the get to the city. But first they get started by going to the bar (the girls are afraid to bend over to pick up their cigarettes for fear of flashing the entire bar). They drink. A lot. Even though they are underage. And they get hit on by all sorts of men. One even has the pick up line “Do you know you have 206 bones in your body? Would you like another one in ya?”
And then the girls separate.
Two go home with a guy who is divorced and very sad about it (which leads to a very wild scene–including a moment in which one of the girls portrays a man with an erection–wonder how they did that).
By the end of the night at least one girls has thrown up, at least one girl has hooked up and it sure looks like they have no chance of winning their competition.
Unlike a Hollywood production though, this story is not destined to end with them winning everything (this is no Pitch Perfect). The girls are going back to their hum drum lives after this and they will also have to deal with the realities that a night of debauchery can reveal.
So despite the fact that this play is laugh out loud funny, by the end, it’s not really a comedy. Thanks, Scotland.
This was my first show at the relatively new Fillmore Philadelphia. The venue is really nice. There’s a balcony with bleacher seats and a very large floor area. It’s also reasonably easy to get to (although kind of hard to leave–bottleneck city!).
I Just Read About That... 