SOUNDTRACK: THE BLOW-“Make It Up” (2013).
This song from The Blow is what Bob Boilen played the other day on NPR. He had just seen them live and liked the show so much that he listened to the whole album three times in a row on the way home. He said the live show was amazing—Khaela Maricich is on stage singing and talking to the audience all by herself. He thought that the music was all backing tapes, but then he realized that her partner was back at the soundboard—creating the music and doing the lights at the same time.
Yesterday I said that The Blow’s “Parentheses” was the perfect pop confection. “Make It Up” is far more complicated anc more challenging. It has many elements of pop perfection but it is nowhere near as immediate as “Parentheses.”
The song, despite its simplicity, has many complicated elements—the opening drum sequence is elaborate with all kinds of rhythms and sounds. But when the verse starts, the vocals are delicate and simple and the keyboards are single notes. Until the chorus when the complexity jumps in again—in addition to the drums, we get several versions of Maricich‘s voice doing background vocals, singing leads, making sound effects and then they disappearing again. The third part introduces a new, simple, very pretty melody with beautiful voices playing counterpoint to each other.
The song feels so busy but it is really just a few simple elements piled on top of each other. It’s simultaneously pretty and mind-boggling. More pop songs should do that.
[READ: September 25, 2013] If Only
You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but sometimes a cover grabs you. I have no idea what it was about this cover that made me look at this book twice, but I did. And when I investigated the author, I discovered that Edgar is a prolific playwright and that this play is a contemporary political story set in current and future England.
What struck me immediately was this disclaimer at the bottom of the character page: “The second half of the play concerns the future of the coalition government. This text went to press before the end of rehearsals and so may differ considerably from the play as performed.” How interesting is that? First that they would do that and second that it might actually be a different play that I have read.
The opening of the play takes place in the spring of 2010, right after the eruption of the Icelandic volcano which grounded European air traffic to a halt. In the airport are three politicos: Peter, who works for the Conservatives, Jo, who works for the Liberal Democrats and Sam, who works for Labour. They are all fairly high up in the party (but not name recognized). They are stuck because of the volcano and are seeking any way to get back home as the general election is but a few weeks away. I really enjoyed the continual jokes about charges for their phones and devices.
Most of the first act concerns their attempts to get back home and their discussions about the upcoming election. Thy can’t get back home despite their various clever ideas, until they learn that they can by a car for a few hundred pounds and can all drive together back home.
The political discussion is far more complicated—and it certainly helps if you know more about British politics than I did [I had no idea what UKID was or who Clegg was, for instance]. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 