SOUNDTRACK: THEE SILVER MT. ZION ORCHESTRA & TRA-LA-LA BAND-Thirteen Blues for Thirteen Moons [CST051] (2008).
I’ve enjoyed most of the output by (A/Thee) Silver Mt. Zion (Orchestra (& Tra-La-La Band)) over the years. So, I naturally picked up this one when it came out. And I’m torn by the record.
This disc contains 4 lengthy tracks. But unlike fellow Constellation label mates Godspeed you Black Emperor, they are not orchestral pieces that ebb and flow until they reach a climax. Rather, they are almost punk-orchestral pieces. They have different sounds throughout the disc, sounds that are powerful, tender, angry and very raw.
And musically I think the album is pretty great. The problem I have, which I hadn’t noticed on previous releases, was how much I don’t like singer Efrim’s voice. He simply doesn’t have a very good or strong voice. It sounds weak and exposed, and, given the content of what he’s singing about, that is either perfectly appropriate or wildly off base. It seems to work well on “1,000,000 Died to Make This Sound” and yet for “blindblindblind” I just want him to be quiet and let the gorgeous backing choir take over.
And that’s the thing about SMZ, the backing vocal chantings are sublime: whether they are beautifully supportive or disconcertingly discordant, they are perfectly apt to the songs.
I guess when I think of SMZ I think of them as a collective band, an orchestra who works together to create their sound, and in many instances on Thirteen… Efrim just stands out too much. And who knows, maybe that’s the point, maybe that’s the punk aesthetic they wanted to bring to the album, I just think it takes a little something away from the beautiful noise they make.
[READ: March 4, 2009] “The Daughters of the Moon”
This is the first piece I have read by Italo Calvino. Calvino’s name has been around for ages, but I honestly didn’t know a thing about him.
This story was written in 1968 (and was just translated into English) and as soon as I began reading it, I knew that it was a dated piece. Not because of things like mentioning Life magazine, but because the naked women that populate the story were all referred to as “girls.” And there was something about it that made my pop culture references hit upon Woody Allen’s early 1970s movie where he calls all the women that he’s interested in “girls.” It seems strange that that stood out to me so much, but it just came across as something that a writer wouldn’t write anymore, or even pre 1960s. At least as far as naked women were concerned.
And, about the naked women…
The story concerns the disintegration, capture and removal of the moon. It is told by Qfwfq, who fills in the details of this extraordinary event. Despite the fact that the narrator is named Qfwfq and it concerns the destruction of the moon, the story is set in Manhattan.
The moon is off course, it is wobbly and disconsolate. And so are the residents of Earth. One night, when Qfwfq is passing Central Park, he sees a naked woman in the park; she has removed all of her clothes and is lying prostrate to the moon. She climbs on to his car and they race across the city to a large junkyard, where she and many other naked women support the moon with their power.
But soon a crane comes and tries to add the moon to the junkyard’s pile of old, discarded materials.
The story is a thinly veiled allegory of consumerism and disposable culture. And I suppose that the allegory is so thinly veiled that I found it a little too obvious. Maybe, it’s because the story is nearly 40 years old, and the topic is always in discussion now, but it seemed very obvious to me.
SOUNDTRACK: THAT METAL SHOW (VH1 Classics) (2008-2009).
TiVo taped 120 Minutes on VH1 Classics as a suggested title (thanks TiVo), and while we were watching it, there was an ad for That Metal Show. So, I made sure to record that as well.
30,000 views may not be a milestone for many blogs. But, for a blog like this which was intended mostly as a record of what I’ve read, the fact that I’ve had 30,000 views is pretty exciting. And it seems appropriate to let you, the readers know what you the other readers have been reading here. So, here is the top ten most read posts on I Just Read About That… with a director’s commentary tacked on.
Sigur Rós are nothing if not ethereal. Their music is constantly floating up in outer space somewhere. So imagine the surprise when the first song of this disc opens with some thudding drums. And, there are acoustic instruments aplenty this time around. Their previous disc Hvarf/Heim had them playing a number of acoustic pieces in various unexpected settings. And clearly the experience must have been a good one.
SOUNDTRACK: MORPHINE-Like Swimming (1997).
Morphine was always a pretty weird band. They were very different even in a climate when alternative was the norm.
SOUNDTRACK: JUNO Soundtrack (2007).
Late on the bandwagon with this soundtrack. But then, I only really watch movies on TV these days, so I’m often late to the bandwagon.
SOUNDTRACK: ELBOW-Leaders of the Free World (2005).
So this is where Peter Gabriel has been!
SOUNDTRACK: SUPERGRASS-Diamond Hoo Ha (2008).
I’ve enjoyed Supergrass since they were young whipper-snappers on their first album I Should Coco. It was a mix of fast catchy pop about being young and foolish. I was even more impressed with the expanded sounds on their follow-up In It for the Money.
SOUNDTRACK: LOVE-Da Capo (1967).
A few years ago, my friend John gave me Love’s Forever Changes. I’ve enjoyed that disc very much and decided to get some other Love music. I chose Da Capo (their second album, and the one just prior to Forever Changes) for two reasons. One: Rush did a cover of “Seven and Seven Is” on their Flashback CD and two: there’s an 18 minute song on it, and I love me an eighteen minute song.
SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2003).
How do you follow up the fantastic Soft Bulletin? If you’re The Flaming Lips, you simultaneously pull back and push forward. I often thing of Yoshimi as Bulletin part 2 but that’s really not right or fair. Yoshimi has a more Pink Floyd vibe: it’s quite mellow and folky. But nothing the Lips do can be completely commercial, so you get things in every song that add immensely to the sound, yet prevent it from complete accessibility.
I Just Read About That... 