SOUNDTRACK: SARAH NEUFELD-Hero Brother [CST095] (2013).
Sarah Neufeld is best known as the violinist for Arcade Fire. I wanted to like this disc more than I did. There’s a lot of really good music and ideas, but the whole album felt a little lacking in excitement.
This solo album was recorded in Berlin by pianist and producer Nils Frahm, with Neufeld’s performances captured in a number of locations with site-specific acoustics, including an abandoned geodesic dome, an underground parking garage, and the legendary Studio P4 orchestral recording hall at the broadcast complex of the former GDR.
On track with a * you can hear the echo of the surroundings (although I’m not sure which is which).
*”Tower” is a repeat of three notes quickly bowed with an echoed ghostly voice floating over the top of the melody. Its lasts but 2 minutes and then disappears. “Hero Brother” has repeated low notes flanked by high notes until the main fast riff spirals out. About a minute in, a stomping drum comes in and her playing sounds a bit more folksy. It’s an interesting twist on the more formal earlier style. I love that it ends almost starkly in the middle, allowing those last notes to resonate.
*”Dirt” begins with high pitches notes that seem to echo and resonate forever. And then she switches to a spritely somewhat upbeat melody of quick notes. The third part of the song luxuriates in slow bowing—long notes that linger. “You are the Field” begins slowly with some bending notes that descend and then ascend. It’s interesting to hear her slide up and down the neck while some of the main notes remain the same.
*”Breathing Black Ground” has slow echoed note, but about mid way through a low note anchors the pieces as the high notes play a melancholy melody while Nils Frahm plays the harmonium. “They Live On” is primarily plucked strings until her echoed voice sails over the top. This piece is more pretty than the others but is still rather stark.
“Wrong Thought” has a kind of sci-fi sound as it opens. A kind of piercing high note is resolved into some lowers notes and then a cool melody. The ending few notes are a pretty series that rise from the darkness of the main piece. “Right Through” is a series of three notes played in different location on the fret. It is lonely sounding until some higher notes begin to appear as well. And then Sarah’s ghostly voice emerges from the background with a kind of haunted phrasing. It’s quite lovely and then things become quite raucous with some very fast fiddling.
“Forcelessness” opens with a series of three high pitches notes that are quite breathtaking. The notes descend slowly through the melody as a piano plays long held notes to accent the descent. It’s by far my favorite on the disc. The disc ends with *”Below” which is slow and melancholy with her voice echoing in.
I guess I was expecting there to be more virtuoso pieces rather than a kind of moody ambient record. Most of the melodies are pretty, but there’s not a lot of diversity.
[READ: February 12, 2016] Rollergirl
Oh boy, did I love this story. And not just because it’ about roller derby (although that is quite a lot of it). I loved it because it had a protagonist who felt she didn’t have a personality or a “thing” and managed to not only get one, but to get an unsuaul one–and to make friends doing it
This story is a bout Astrid Vazquez (an unlikely name if ever there was). Astrid’s mom always wants her and her best friend, Nicole, to do cultural things. So they go to museums, to the opera, poetry readings, that sort of thing. It’s not always fun. But on this night she takes them to a warehouse where the see a roller derby match!
Astrid (who loves to wear black and is the tomboy of the two) is hooked immediately. Nicole, who is more prissy and does ballet, is interested but a little freaked out. And when they discover that there is a roller derby camp for the summer. Astrid assumes they will both sign up and become derby superstars like their new heroine Rainbow Bite (is there anything better than roller derby names?).
But Nicole quietly informs her that she is not doing that. Not only doesn’t she want to but she actually wants to go to ballet camp this summer. So there.
And that’s when the opening scene where Nicole is with the horrible, awful, super mean Rachel. Rachel is the one who came up with the nickname Ass-turd (which maybe makes this not so much a children’s book, but it’s the only bad part). (more…)
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SOUNDTRACK: BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG-“I Think We’re Alone Now” (2020).
This quarantine has already brought out a ton of creative work from musicians. If not new items, exactly, then certainly a lot of home concerts. And also a lot of cover songs.
SOUNDTRACK: ALICE SMITH-Tiny Desk Concert #700 (January 31, 2018).
I had never heard of Alice Smith before, which I guess isn’t totally unsurprising given the blurb:
I Just Read About That... 