SOUNDTRACK: HRSTA–Stem Stem in Electro [CST036] (2005).
I really like this album a lot. It has all of the trappings of post rock (long songs which are rather epic in nature with lots of building and no standard verse chord structure), but it also feels doggedly commercial–super catchy in the way the elements combine and the choruses swell.
“…and we climb” is a simple four chord song that builds over the course of 6 minutes. It seems like it will be just instrumental, but after almost 3 minutes a gang begins chanting about how “we climb to the light.” The songs builds in intensity and then fades out to just voices. “Blood on the Sun” is a guitar-based song with female vocals–echoing and pretty while the guitar plays on. The song doesn’t vary much, but the combination of the voices and the chord changes is a really good one. “Une infinite de trous en forme d’homme” is a swirling instrumental with a circular guitar pattern and washes of chords in the background. “Folkways Orange” starts with strong vibrato guitars and compelling wavery vocals. There’s some interesting chord changes but mostly the song is just a solid song that stays strong for 5 minutes.
“Swallow’s Tail” is one of my favorite songs on the disc. It begins with a screechy noise that acts as a rhythm. Then the great guitar melody follows along. It’s not complex, but it is intertwining and intriguing. At around 2 minutes a guitar chord motif begins. It has a sort or tension in it, like it’s expecting something to come along. And then the whispering vocals begin. The guitars roar to life for a few bars and then settle down as the vocals count out what is the Swallows Tail. Then the music rages back in. This is followed by “Heaven Is Yours,” a series of random noises and spacey sounds, as if resting from the catharsis of track 5. “Gently Gently” is a short angsty song full of washes of chords. The final track, “Quelque chose a propos des raquetteurs” opens with more great sounding guitars. You can feel that it is going to be epic. The violins come in after a minute to really build the song. When the vocals come in around 5 minutes, it reminds me of the chords structure and build up at the end of Pink Floyd’s “Atom Heart Mother,” which is quite alright with me.
It’s a fabulous example of post-rock.
[READ: May 11, 2014] “The Academies of Siam”
Joaquim Maria Macahado de Assis was alive from 1839-1908, so this is not a current story by any means. It comes from a new collection called Stories which was translated from the Portuguese by Rhett McNeil. I don’t know the first thing about the author.
This story is a strange one. It sets up the hypothetical question asking if you know about the academies of Siam. It follows this question with “I am well aware that there have never been any academies in Siam, but suppose that there were…” Huh. He asks us to imagine that there were four of them and then gives this tale in four parts.
In the first, there is a question posed as to whether souls have a gender–is a man more feminine because he has a feminine soul? This is asked because the king is considered quite a feminine man. He doesn’t like war or any kind of fighting, he has honeyed eyes and a silvery voice. Indeed, Kalaphangko is “practically a lady.”
The academics form two camps on this issue. Those who say that souls are gendered and those who do not. And soon enough violence breaks out over the issue. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 