10 years ago
What are you listening to right now ?
10 years ago
You have to listen to Merritt talking about "Andrew in Drag." So dry, so deadpan:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWf54uGWgWA
10 years ago
I wonder if the whole drag thing could be its own genre of song?
I was a teen in the 70's and the song "Lola" was everywhere but as often as I heard it I never really listened to the lyrics. I always thought it was just a happy little pop tune. Fast forward to about 1990. I was driving in rush hour traffic one day and Lola was playing on the oldies station. As I mindlessly sang along it began to dawn on me what the song was about. When I heard the line, "She walks like a woman and talks like a man," I started laughing so hard I nearly caused -seriously- a multi car crash.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixqbc7X2NQY
I was a teen in the 70's and the song "Lola" was everywhere but as often as I heard it I never really listened to the lyrics. I always thought it was just a happy little pop tune. Fast forward to about 1990. I was driving in rush hour traffic one day and Lola was playing on the oldies station. As I mindlessly sang along it began to dawn on me what the song was about. When I heard the line, "She walks like a woman and talks like a man," I started laughing so hard I nearly caused -seriously- a multi car crash.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixqbc7X2NQY
10 years ago
Glad you avoided an accident, Grey. Can you imagine telling that story to a cop? You'd have gotten breathalyzed for sure. 
Do they still call it drag when a girl dresses as a boy? Warning: Sad
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQjgxG9JXLA
Do they still call it drag when a girl dresses as a boy? Warning: Sad
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQjgxG9JXLA
10 years ago
Cryptic:
Do they still call it drag when a girl dresses as a boy? Warning: Sad
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQjgxG9JXLA
Do they still call it drag when a girl dresses as a boy? Warning: Sad
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQjgxG9JXLA
Awww, that was sweet. So, girl lip-synching, I assume?
Merritt is hilarious. I love that list of small stuff he prefers. Ukeleles, Cooper minis, Chihuahuas ...
10 years ago
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYPltK_msVQ
On topic.
I love the way the audience reacts. The writer and singer is actually Karin, the girl watching from afar. The Knife is a brother/sister duo.
On topic.
I love the way the audience reacts. The writer and singer is actually Karin, the girl watching from afar. The Knife is a brother/sister duo.
10 years ago
I finally realized what Merritt's voice remimds me of! It's these Dummies, who were HUGE for five minutes in 90's and I adored them.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=IZdyXjPjbHQ
m.youtube.com/watch?v=PIZd2T1D-YE
m.youtube.com/watch?v=IZdyXjPjbHQ
m.youtube.com/watch?v=PIZd2T1D-YE
10 years ago
Love The Smiths, cItypark .
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Leb_Bwk7NdE
Love The Knife, Scarletting. I was listening to "Heartbeats" last week, I think.
They do sound similar, D.
Something completely different:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Umd7w5cECE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Leb_Bwk7NdE
Love The Knife, Scarletting. I was listening to "Heartbeats" last week, I think.
They do sound similar, D.
Something completely different:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Umd7w5cECE
10 years ago
Cryptic, that recording is brilliant, though unfortunately it suffers from some occasional stuttering. I get a little emotional watching certain recorded sessions as the vibrations in the air that resonate in the chest when listening to a live performance- especially one featuring contrabass- are enthralling to me... I watch and listen to this and can almost make myself feel the sensation out of anticipation!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv94m_S3QDo
I love how his humming along is picked up in the recording. There are youtube videos of the entire piece but I find the transition at the end of Aria painfully jarring.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv94m_S3QDo
I love how his humming along is picked up in the recording. There are youtube videos of the entire piece but I find the transition at the end of Aria painfully jarring.
10 years ago
Maybe you'll enjoy this old video, Scarletting.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vMsbF6FUns
Do I detect a Gould worshipper? I also love that you can hear him humming along on many of his recordings. Personally I prefer the '55 recording of Goldberg, because Gould at breakneck speed always sounded perfectly right to my miswired ADD brain. It's as if they clipped his wings and sedated him on the '81 version. Your mileage may vary.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vMsbF6FUns
Do I detect a Gould worshipper? I also love that you can hear him humming along on many of his recordings. Personally I prefer the '55 recording of Goldberg, because Gould at breakneck speed always sounded perfectly right to my miswired ADD brain. It's as if they clipped his wings and sedated him on the '81 version. Your mileage may vary.
10 years ago
10 years ago
I do love what I know of Gould but I'm by no means knowledgeable when it comes to classical music or modern recitals of it. I just come across certain pieces and fall into them. When I was little I heard Moonlight Sonata for the first time and it was... well, to say it was "moving" would be an understatement. It was on a battered record player, I was entranced. A plastic disc and a pin on an arm somehow producing that? How is that not magic?
I also enjoy contemporary classical. I find it a much more acessible genre. Ludovico Einaudi, for example. His pure instrumentals are perfection. I Giorni is summer rain transformed into sound. Olafur Arnalds just toured here and I was so pained to discover he was already sold out, even though attending it would have been very difficult with my current agoraphobia. If you haven't heard him before I implore you to look him up.
It was on a battered record player, I was entranced. A plastic disc and a pin on an arm somehow producing that? How is that not magic?I also enjoy contemporary classical. I find it a much more acessible genre. Ludovico Einaudi, for example. His pure instrumentals are perfection. I Giorni is summer rain transformed into sound. Olafur Arnalds just toured here and I was so pained to discover he was already sold out, even though attending it would have been very difficult with my current agoraphobia. If you haven't heard him before I implore you to look him up.
10 years ago
10 years ago
Scarletting, maybe you would enjoy Philip Glass?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcyTyLqkvoU
I agree that there's plenty of great modern music out there, but there's also a lot of heinous stuff like this Death Rattle of the Whale or whatever it's called. My apologies to any George Crumb fans, but I found it to be absolutely puke-worthy. No wonder the musicians are wearing masks; they're embarrassed.
curtisperforms.curtis.edu/
Sorry about your condition. (((())))
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcyTyLqkvoU
I agree that there's plenty of great modern music out there, but there's also a lot of heinous stuff like this Death Rattle of the Whale or whatever it's called. My apologies to any George Crumb fans, but I found it to be absolutely puke-worthy. No wonder the musicians are wearing masks; they're embarrassed.
curtisperforms.curtis.edu/
Sorry about your condition. (((())))
10 years ago
m.youtube.com/watch?v=k6UulQUibHM
The opening track of the stunningly gorgeous Armstrong/Ellington collaboration double album, originally released as two on vinyl.
The opening track of the stunningly gorgeous Armstrong/Ellington collaboration double album, originally released as two on vinyl.
10 years ago
I do like Philip Glass, but so far it's only "like". For some reason I rarely get that endorphin rush/hackle lifting pleasure from his music... perhaps it's a little over-saturated? Unsure.
As for the video you posted, the first 3 minutes or so I liked... it reminded me of a middle-eastern sound, almost hurdy-gurdy like.
After that I started laughing and couldn't take it too seriously. I do appreciate experimental pieces so maybe I'll try it again later. "Body Remix" for example I enjoy, I think some people are rather rough on it. Perhaps it makes them feel embarrassed? It is awkward to watch.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2R5Pz4T15U
I think there's an expectation that if something is strange or out of place it has to be amazing to be accepted, that it has to convince us. That's not really the job of the piece though, that's our task when viewing the piece if we wish to appreciate it. If something is strange yet not brilliant, I still generally appreciate it... perhaps because I don't take "art" in general too seriously. Artistic creativity is essential, a cultural yardstick, one of the few completely positive creations of man... but just because someone slaps the word "art" on something, that doesn't mean squat. Some of the people I mix with seem to forget that pinch of salt.
But I ramble.
And I don't mean any of that ramble towards you btw, just riffing on the topic.
And, thanks. It's a bizarre situation... I used to be the fearless, ultra-urbane girl riding public transport until the last train. The contrast is almost ridiculous. But I'm working through it. Perfume helps a lot... another layer of social armour.
As for the video you posted, the first 3 minutes or so I liked... it reminded me of a middle-eastern sound, almost hurdy-gurdy like.
After that I started laughing and couldn't take it too seriously. I do appreciate experimental pieces so maybe I'll try it again later. "Body Remix" for example I enjoy, I think some people are rather rough on it. Perhaps it makes them feel embarrassed? It is awkward to watch.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2R5Pz4T15U
I think there's an expectation that if something is strange or out of place it has to be amazing to be accepted, that it has to convince us. That's not really the job of the piece though, that's our task when viewing the piece if we wish to appreciate it. If something is strange yet not brilliant, I still generally appreciate it... perhaps because I don't take "art" in general too seriously. Artistic creativity is essential, a cultural yardstick, one of the few completely positive creations of man... but just because someone slaps the word "art" on something, that doesn't mean squat. Some of the people I mix with seem to forget that pinch of salt.
But I ramble.
And I don't mean any of that ramble towards you btw, just riffing on the topic.And, thanks. It's a bizarre situation... I used to be the fearless, ultra-urbane girl riding public transport until the last train. The contrast is almost ridiculous.
But I'm working through it. Perfume helps a lot... another layer of social armour.
10 years ago
www.youtube.com/watch?v=T30gt9xAz1g
Have you guys heard of 3? Their band name makes them a bit hard to search for but their album "Wake Pig" is brilliant stuff. The track above is an instrumental and gives an idea of their flavour, though their usual sound is a bit more prog/funk rock.
(I just read the number one comment, lmao! "Joey Eppard fingered a girl once. She died.")
Have you guys heard of 3? Their band name makes them a bit hard to search for but their album "Wake Pig" is brilliant stuff. The track above is an instrumental and gives an idea of their flavour, though their usual sound is a bit more prog/funk rock.
(I just read the number one comment, lmao! "Joey Eppard fingered a girl once. She died.")
10 years ago
I'm not sure it's a matter of having different standards for experimental music. It was actually kind of PAINFUL to listen to, or do you not think so? Lol. But seriously -- gargling into a flute, abusing a piano with a chisel -- it all struck me as simply weird for the sake of being weird. He also threw in a few bars of "Also Sprach Zarathustra," why, I don't know. That sort of interested me, so I Googled furiously for an explanation, but got none. Whatever. "Save the Whales," I guess.
I am intrigued by 3! Thank you for the fresh sounds.
I am intrigued by 3! Thank you for the fresh sounds.
10 years ago
Removed due to duplicate posts. Oops!
Last edited by MRoth on 30.11.2013, 06:31; edited 1 time in total
10 years ago
Removed due to duplicate posts. Oops!
Last edited by MRoth on 30.11.2013, 06:31; edited 1 time in total
10 years ago
Removed due to duplicate posts. Oops!
Last edited by MRoth on 30.11.2013, 06:31; edited 1 time in total
10 years ago
I don't think I got that far in the first time. I got to about 3 mins 30 where the woman started touching the piano in its no-no place. I think it was the eye-rollingly theatrical manner of her doing so that that made me laugh so hard.
Watching again, I actually like the manipulation of the cello almost like a biwa! It's like they picked up their instruments one day and said, hey, can we make these noises? At first it made me cringe that they might be abusing their instruments in the process but I think it pays off. Around 11:30 when the pianist uses the (glass rod?) to make sounds like a hammered dulcimer, well, that's not really "music". But for me the curiosity of it outweighs the dissonance. Some of the high notes between the cello and flute are almost uncomfortably screechy (and not even notes) but again, I see it as, say, the very unpleasant opening of some genuine ouds... the contrast between pain and pleasure, ugly and beautiful, often adds to the favourable aspect when you arrive at it.
Adding in Nietzsche... maybe if you stare too long into the guts of the piano, the angry piano stares back into you?
I do get what you mean about "weird for the sake of weird", to me that's very similar to "art for the sake of art", I respect neither. But on second listen I have to play devil's advocate for this piece... it's like the trio is touring the world, sampling traditional instruments of various cultures. I enjoy live recordings of all three of those instruments I mentioned they seem to be emulating (biwa, hammered dulcimer, the hurdy-gurdy to a lesser extent) so perhaps that helps make the sound less offensive? Hmmm. Each to their own, though! <3
Watching again, I actually like the manipulation of the cello almost like a biwa! It's like they picked up their instruments one day and said, hey, can we make these noises? At first it made me cringe that they might be abusing their instruments in the process but I think it pays off. Around 11:30 when the pianist uses the (glass rod?) to make sounds like a hammered dulcimer, well, that's not really "music". But for me the curiosity of it outweighs the dissonance. Some of the high notes between the cello and flute are almost uncomfortably screechy (and not even notes) but again, I see it as, say, the very unpleasant opening of some genuine ouds... the contrast between pain and pleasure, ugly and beautiful, often adds to the favourable aspect when you arrive at it.
Adding in Nietzsche... maybe if you stare too long into the guts of the piano, the angry piano stares back into you?
I do get what you mean about "weird for the sake of weird", to me that's very similar to "art for the sake of art", I respect neither. But on second listen I have to play devil's advocate for this piece... it's like the trio is touring the world, sampling traditional instruments of various cultures. I enjoy live recordings of all three of those instruments I mentioned they seem to be emulating (biwa, hammered dulcimer, the hurdy-gurdy to a lesser extent) so perhaps that helps make the sound less offensive? Hmmm. Each to their own, though! <3
10 years ago
Greysolon:
I was a teen in the 70's and the song "Lola" was everywhere but as often as I heard it I never really listened to the lyrics. I always thought it was just a happy little pop tune.
I was a teen in the 70's and the song "Lola" was everywhere but as often as I heard it I never really listened to the lyrics. I always thought it was just a happy little pop tune.
Oh Greysolon, that brought back memories! I used to sing and blast that song all the time. I loved the Kinks. Which made me go and look up another favorite of mine...
youtu.be/LrMLt9bMd_I
Lou Reed singing "Sweet Jane". He used to look like this tho back in the day...
10 years ago
Scarletting:
I don't think I got that far in the first time. I got to about 3 mins 30 where the woman started touching the piano in its no-no place. I think it was the eye-rollingly theatrical manner of her doing so that that made me laugh so hard.
Watching again, I actually like the manipulation of the cello almost like a biwa! It's like they picked up their instruments one day and said, hey, can we make these noises? At first it made me cringe that they might be abusing their instruments in the process but I think it pays off. Around 11:30 when the pianist uses the (glass rod?) to make sounds like a hammered dulcimer, well, that's not really "music". But for me the curiosity of it outweighs the dissonance. Some of the high notes between the cello and flute are almost uncomfortably screechy (and not even notes) but again, I see it as, say, the very unpleasant opening of some genuine ouds... the contrast between pain and pleasure, ugly and beautiful, often adds to the favourable aspect when you arrive at it.
Adding in Nietzsche... maybe if you stare too long into the guts of the piano, the angry piano stares back into you?
I do get what you mean about "weird for the sake of weird", to me that's very similar to "art for the sake of art", I respect neither. But on second listen I have to play devil's advocate for this piece... it's like the trio is touring the world, sampling traditional instruments of various cultures. I enjoy live recordings of all three of those instruments I mentioned they seem to be emulating (biwa, hammered dulcimer, the hurdy-gurdy to a lesser extent) so perhaps that helps make the sound less offensive? Hmmm. Each to their own, though! <3
I don't think I got that far in the first time. I got to about 3 mins 30 where the woman started touching the piano in its no-no place. I think it was the eye-rollingly theatrical manner of her doing so that that made me laugh so hard.
Watching again, I actually like the manipulation of the cello almost like a biwa! It's like they picked up their instruments one day and said, hey, can we make these noises? At first it made me cringe that they might be abusing their instruments in the process but I think it pays off. Around 11:30 when the pianist uses the (glass rod?) to make sounds like a hammered dulcimer, well, that's not really "music". But for me the curiosity of it outweighs the dissonance. Some of the high notes between the cello and flute are almost uncomfortably screechy (and not even notes) but again, I see it as, say, the very unpleasant opening of some genuine ouds... the contrast between pain and pleasure, ugly and beautiful, often adds to the favourable aspect when you arrive at it.
Adding in Nietzsche... maybe if you stare too long into the guts of the piano, the angry piano stares back into you?
I do get what you mean about "weird for the sake of weird", to me that's very similar to "art for the sake of art", I respect neither. But on second listen I have to play devil's advocate for this piece... it's like the trio is touring the world, sampling traditional instruments of various cultures. I enjoy live recordings of all three of those instruments I mentioned they seem to be emulating (biwa, hammered dulcimer, the hurdy-gurdy to a lesser extent) so perhaps that helps make the sound less offensive? Hmmm. Each to their own, though! <3
We could probably go back and forth for days about the Crumb piece, which I guess is a complement to the thing. If I assume for the sake of argument that his intent was to mimic the instruments you suggested, then I would want to know why he didn't simply use them in the first place. Seems like a waste of the musicians' talent to torture an innocent piano, etc. that way when there was instrument available that would create the sound he wanted without being assaulted.
Thanks for the interesting discussion, Scarletting. If you're ever in Philadelphia we ought to go to a concert together.
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