SOUNDTRACK: DUNGEN-Tio Bitar (2007).
This record, released in 2007, was uncovered in a vault dating back to 1970. Or so it sounds. In fact, this is a fascinating release from a Scandinavian band, or more precisely, guy, Gustav Ejstes. He has meticulously worked to make this record sound as if it was recorded in the early 1970s.
And not just with the recording techniques, but the sound and style of the songs is very psychedelic 70s. It is frankly astonishing and even more astonishing, is that it is really really good.
The album starts out with a screaming rock and roll instrumental jam that seems like it’s about 7 minutes long but is really only 3 and change (not to make it sound like it’s too long, it just compresses so much into it that it seems longer than it is).
All kinds of instrumentation appear on this record, from wailing guitar solos to flutes and mellotrons. There are folkie ballads, and beautiful melodies. It’s like compressing all of psychedelia and folk into a brilliant sampler. I can’t say enough about this album. It is truly fascinating.
Oh, and here’s the thing, when there are lyrics, they are sung in Swedish. I have no idea what any of the songs are about, and I don’t care. It makes me feel like those Japanese kids from the 80’s who loved American heavy metal and probably got 1/2 of the words.
The crazy thing is that you can’t even pretend to sing along because the Swedish words don’t really even sound like they might be English words (the way you can fake your way through some foreign bands song). But none of that matters when the music is this good. I fully intend to put a track or two on future compilation mixes for unsuspecting xenophobes out there!
[READ: November 2007] Um.
As I mentioned previously, I was really excited about this book. It sounded terrifically geeky, and for a geek like myself, terrifically fun. I am fascinated by language, and, having suffered through Public Speaking classes, and now actually teaching classes to library patrons, I feel like I have progressed very far in my speaking prowess. Therefore, discovering the keys to why we make “disfluencies” like um, and uh in our speech sounded like a wonderfully fun topic. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 