SOUNDTRACK: GEM CLUB-Tiny Desk Concert #181 (December 16, 2011).
Gem Club is a quiet band. During this set there are three members: Christopher Barnes on keyboards and lead vocals, cellist Kristen Drymala and vocalist Ieva Berberian (who is eerily silent and still for much of the performance).
The first song, “Animal” features Barnes on keyboards, playing a simple melody and Drymala, playing a low and loud cello to accompany (when her first note comes in, it’s really striking). She also sings a wonderful harmony vocal. Barnes’ voice is almost a whisper, but between his voice and the vibrato on the keys, it sounds really big (but still quiet). I really enjoyed the way the only “melody” she played on cello was at the very end of the song–a brief riff to signal the end.
“Breakers” opens with some rough cello playing and then a gentle echoed keyboard. Ieva Berberian didn’t do anything in the first song, she just hovered mysteriously in the background. But for the second song she hits occasional tambourine notes (which sound practically like explosions amid the delicate echoing keyboards). Perhaps the most interesting part of the song is watching Drymala tap on some colorful bells with her foot to create a lovely melody.
For the final song, “252” Barnes says it is kind of a beast, (although it doesn’t sound any more complex than the previous two to me). The piano is echoed and Ieva Berberian finally sings backing vocals. Her voice is a little haunting and it works very nicely with Barnes’ voice. The melody is beautiful.
Incidentally, the blurb says that this is the first time they’ve amplified a singer’s voice (they ran his voice through a chorus pedal to give it that otherworldly echo). I have been listening to a lot of loud music lately, and this was a perfect counterpoint.
[READ: December 20, 2015] History’s Naughty Bits
This is the kind of book that promises to be very funny. And then it turns out to be mostly funny but also rather scholarly. Which is not bad thing, it’s just not as raucous as one might have imagined.
Dolby begins by dismissing the idea that “naughty” things are a recent invention and then proceeds to go through the history of human culture to show examples of things that would certainly be considered naughty today (some are quite shocking).
She starts with Classical Greece where women were expected to remain chaste, except for hetairai, high-class courtesans, who were well-educated and respected. That’s some choice. Adultery was considered less of a sin if was committed with a prostitute. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 