crass
make no difference
"... But after another hour of marching, that very happiness of which he had once half dreamt was suddenly discovered.
It was a pure, blue lake, with and unusual expression of its water. In the middle, a large cloud was reflected in its entirety. On the other side, on a hill thickly covered with verdure (and the darker the verdure, the more poetic it is), towered, arising from dactyl to dactyl, an ancient black castle. Of course, there are plenty of such views in Central Europe, but just this one - in the inexpressible and unique harmoniousness of its three principal parts, in its smile, in some mysterious innocence it had, my love! my obedient one! - was something so unique, and so familiar, and so long-promised; and it so understood the beholder that Vasiliy Ivanovich even pressed his hand to his heart, as if to see whether his heart was there in order to give it away..."
Vladimir Nabokov "Cloud, castle, lake" (1937, originally in Russian, translated to English by author), taken without permission from Vladimir Nabokov - Collected Stories, Penguin Classics edition
goes together with the song called "Road, river and rail" by Cocteau Twins, because of the sound of them titles. they sound so poetic together.
cloud, castle and lake
road, river and rail
It was a pure, blue lake, with and unusual expression of its water. In the middle, a large cloud was reflected in its entirety. On the other side, on a hill thickly covered with verdure (and the darker the verdure, the more poetic it is), towered, arising from dactyl to dactyl, an ancient black castle. Of course, there are plenty of such views in Central Europe, but just this one - in the inexpressible and unique harmoniousness of its three principal parts, in its smile, in some mysterious innocence it had, my love! my obedient one! - was something so unique, and so familiar, and so long-promised; and it so understood the beholder that Vasiliy Ivanovich even pressed his hand to his heart, as if to see whether his heart was there in order to give it away..."
Vladimir Nabokov "Cloud, castle, lake" (1937, originally in Russian, translated to English by author), taken without permission from Vladimir Nabokov - Collected Stories, Penguin Classics edition
goes together with the song called "Road, river and rail" by Cocteau Twins, because of the sound of them titles. they sound so poetic together.
cloud, castle and lake
road, river and rail
downtown music / yoko
i was tempted at last to read something about the New York No Wave movement (taken there by turns from reading something about the history of punk movement (term first used in Britain for music, but existing approximately as a loose cultural direction in America too at the time (see Ramones), although a bit differently, i think)
and discovered that Yoko Ono was a prominent figure in New York's cultural scene years before she met Lennon - i mean i am ashamed to confess that i kind of always dismissed her, because of Lennon, and such simplistic remarks as that she had a hand in dissolving the Beatles - and then there was this "walking on thin ice", which was a delightful song, and she is the woman John Lennon dedicated his "Woman" song to (i guess). but that's all i would know about her
No Wave article on wikipedia had a link to "downtown music" as a genre, or loose movement/style, closely related to experimental and noise music, encompassing also videoart concepts etc.
here's a piece by Nam June Paik, a Korean considered the first video artist, based around (and featuring) Ruyichi Sakamoto's piece of music (i guess)
and here's Yoko Ono's performance act known as "Cut Piece", which is described in Wikipedia's article on Yoko like this:
i mean if you think about it, it is really strong, as a concept...
and discovered that Yoko Ono was a prominent figure in New York's cultural scene years before she met Lennon - i mean i am ashamed to confess that i kind of always dismissed her, because of Lennon, and such simplistic remarks as that she had a hand in dissolving the Beatles - and then there was this "walking on thin ice", which was a delightful song, and she is the woman John Lennon dedicated his "Woman" song to (i guess). but that's all i would know about her
No Wave article on wikipedia had a link to "downtown music" as a genre, or loose movement/style, closely related to experimental and noise music, encompassing also videoart concepts etc.
The scene the term describes began in 1960, when Yoko Ono—one of the Fluxus artists, at that time still seven years away from meeting John Lennon—opened her loft at 112 Chambers Street to be used as a noise music performance space for a series curated by La Monte Young and Richard Maxfield.
here's a piece by Nam June Paik, a Korean considered the first video artist, based around (and featuring) Ruyichi Sakamoto's piece of music (i guess)
and here's Yoko Ono's performance act known as "Cut Piece", which is described in Wikipedia's article on Yoko like this:
Ono was an explorer of conceptual art and performance art. An example of her performance art is "Cut Piece" (this instance of performance art is also known as a "happening"), first performed in 1964 at the Sogetsu Art Center in Tokyo. Cut Piece had one destructive verb as its instruction: "Cut." Ono executed the performance in Tokyo by walking on stage and casually kneeling on the floor in a draped garment. Audience members were requested to come on stage and begin cutting until she was naked. Cut Piece was one of Ono’s many opportunities to outwardly communicate her internal suffering through her art. Ono had originally been exposed to Jean-Paul Sartre's theories of existentialism in college, and in order to appease her own human suffering, Ono enlisted her viewers to complete her works of art in order to complete her identity as well. Besides a commentary on identity, Cut Piece was a commentary on the need for social unity and love. It was also a piece that touched on issues of gender and sexism as well as the greater, universal affliction of human suffering and loneliness.
i mean if you think about it, it is really strong, as a concept...
brought back flowers
well ehm i just somehow remembered again how dark and twisted and very strong those very early songs of cocteau twins were.. talking about around-Garlands era with their first bassist. and really, one of the interesting things about the band is that they also made lots of EPs, apart from the full-lengths, the majority of which contains original stuff not on the aforementioned full-lengths. although i knew CT since school, and know more or less all their albums (my favourite being Head Over Heels, of course), never heard "Peppermint Pig", which is a superb piece, on par with their best, very playful. and this one also blows my mind at the moment. i mean this combination of that voice, that driving nocturnal bass and the Guthrie's trademark layered guitars are really really good..
man, this Garlands sound is a killer...
well, and - i mean - somehow i remembered The Gathering (the vocal style at fault, perhaps, especially on Cocteau Twins' "Hitherto") and the charismatic singer that drew a lot of attention to them, finally in 1995 - talking about Anneke. went to youtube and have been browsing their videos, and it's a long long time since i listened to them, and well, felt like shedding a tear. my first encounter with gathering was while in school, along with many other melodic/atmospheric metal bands - but i can't say i'm a fan or anything like that - in fact i only listened to a couple of their albums, although they (i hear) put out a lot of worthwile albums later on - i can't even say that i adore these couple of albums (Mandylion & Nighttime Birds) - but certainly i can't find anything i would be able to compare the gathering of those two albums with. they create this special feeling and atmosphere - they have this passion and power lots of metal bands have, and anneke's voice gives much to that power and strength - and it's a really moving experience to watch her sing - because she smiles all the time, she smiles as if she was giving you the love and the passion that is in her voice. it's really moving... watch leaves' official video somewhere on youtube.
man, this Garlands sound is a killer...
well, and - i mean - somehow i remembered The Gathering (the vocal style at fault, perhaps, especially on Cocteau Twins' "Hitherto") and the charismatic singer that drew a lot of attention to them, finally in 1995 - talking about Anneke. went to youtube and have been browsing their videos, and it's a long long time since i listened to them, and well, felt like shedding a tear. my first encounter with gathering was while in school, along with many other melodic/atmospheric metal bands - but i can't say i'm a fan or anything like that - in fact i only listened to a couple of their albums, although they (i hear) put out a lot of worthwile albums later on - i can't even say that i adore these couple of albums (Mandylion & Nighttime Birds) - but certainly i can't find anything i would be able to compare the gathering of those two albums with. they create this special feeling and atmosphere - they have this passion and power lots of metal bands have, and anneke's voice gives much to that power and strength - and it's a really moving experience to watch her sing - because she smiles all the time, she smiles as if she was giving you the love and the passion that is in her voice. it's really moving... watch leaves' official video somewhere on youtube.
κονιάκ - παρανιάκ
actually i came upon a very very good compilation - don't agree with the choice of the name (dark side of disco vol.3) - it comprises mostly of early 80's tracks from the fringes of disco (somebody might call it post-disco) with a certain funky feel, certainly danceable and really entertaining and interesting, and most of all, not overplayed or hypish (not that the tracks that are overplayed or hypish are at fault by themselves, but it's one of the points that makes a compilation really interesting)
caribou
i look with wonderment at how 60's/garagey/psych yet very tight sounds the 2007 Caribou's album, called "Andorra". i only knew Caribou because of "Odessa", of course, a very evokative n atmospheric piece in itself.. but whole of his 2007 and 2010 output which i sample (taste and make click sounds with my tongue) now is just delightful. Caribou was Manitoba too, but that's long ago and i haven't gone there yet.
just some other pieces i remembered.. zobies because of that breathy Colin Blunstone way of singing, and Pink Floyd's see saw because of the psychedelic faerytale flowery proper escapist feel and those old synth psych violin sounds. oh well....
this one's got killer vinyl scratches i can't help but adore :P
i listen to the following song again now after a long time, and feel how i love it :) um. it's gorgeous. never knew what it was about :) just like swinging on a see-saw, among psychedelic patterns, green grass and.. whatever :P
[edit: - ] no, what is truly reminiscent of Caribou's Melody Day is of course "See Emily Play"......................
just some other pieces i remembered.. zobies because of that breathy Colin Blunstone way of singing, and Pink Floyd's see saw because of the psychedelic faerytale flowery proper escapist feel and those old synth psych violin sounds. oh well....
this one's got killer vinyl scratches i can't help but adore :P
i listen to the following song again now after a long time, and feel how i love it :) um. it's gorgeous. never knew what it was about :) just like swinging on a see-saw, among psychedelic patterns, green grass and.. whatever :P
[edit: - ] no, what is truly reminiscent of Caribou's Melody Day is of course "See Emily Play"......................
eektrope
picasaweb took the liberty of google-translating a writing under one of my hosted photos, and it went gloriously like.. exactly like "...hangout on the beach near the port - and many do not swim ekeipera - and to wash and saw two horses there (fraction mints .. because the horse was a little fright and went back and forth - with the difficulty of controlling them kavalarides)..."
didn't that sound curiously funnily clumsily poetic? perhaps i won't have to spend time writing senseless stuff for these here posts and employ google-translator on random text..
anyway, the main thing (that should make sense) that i wanted to say is that i discovered another feature article line in pitchfork.com, called "guest lists":
- where they call some of their favourite (and hot) artists, one per week, or so, and ask them a dozen questions, about their favorite modern music at the moment, the book they liked most lately etc. etc. - and actually it's a good good source of gathering and poking at curious stuff - i mean.. maybe it's all a part of the trendsetting.. for example many artists there like say that their fav band lately are these and these, who are actually good mates of ours.. but anyway.. why not?
artists..
anyway.
so one of the first things i stumbled upon (apart from the fact that Zola Jesus (should i say that the name feels campy as hell :P) adores reading Philip K. Dick) is that one of OMD members (McClu..something - sorry i forget [such] a name) talked and talked about his preference of Robyn.. (me, i adore Robyn's "Cobrastyle", its gorgeous hipness (and hip-hopness, r'n'b-style rap etc.) and specifically Bloody Beetroots' remix which is much more dirty, punchy and dark - it actually blows up my mind!!!!)
so here's today's back 2 back thing. could never be more proper, although maybe musically two clips don't quite fit into each other (mostly due to the fact that putting this particular Kate's song near something else is like breaking some sacrament - it's really much more complex and deep then Robyn's take on "mine/not mine"), but i personally find many influences of Kate in Robyn's style anyway.
whatever.
didn't that sound curiously funnily clumsily poetic? perhaps i won't have to spend time writing senseless stuff for these here posts and employ google-translator on random text..
anyway, the main thing (that should make sense) that i wanted to say is that i discovered another feature article line in pitchfork.com, called "guest lists":
- where they call some of their favourite (and hot) artists, one per week, or so, and ask them a dozen questions, about their favorite modern music at the moment, the book they liked most lately etc. etc. - and actually it's a good good source of gathering and poking at curious stuff - i mean.. maybe it's all a part of the trendsetting.. for example many artists there like say that their fav band lately are these and these, who are actually good mates of ours.. but anyway.. why not?
artists..
anyway.
so one of the first things i stumbled upon (apart from the fact that Zola Jesus (should i say that the name feels campy as hell :P) adores reading Philip K. Dick) is that one of OMD members (McClu..something - sorry i forget [such] a name) talked and talked about his preference of Robyn.. (me, i adore Robyn's "Cobrastyle", its gorgeous hipness (and hip-hopness, r'n'b-style rap etc.) and specifically Bloody Beetroots' remix which is much more dirty, punchy and dark - it actually blows up my mind!!!!)
so here's today's back 2 back thing. could never be more proper, although maybe musically two clips don't quite fit into each other (mostly due to the fact that putting this particular Kate's song near something else is like breaking some sacrament - it's really much more complex and deep then Robyn's take on "mine/not mine"), but i personally find many influences of Kate in Robyn's style anyway.
whatever.
they come in three's #2 almost
was listening to bel canto again today, somehow. if i could find all the pieces, i would make it one of "they come in three's" posts, but i'm not sure if i can. anyway, this bel canto's agassiz piece is.. it reminds me so much of something natively and naturally greek, or, at least, balkan, should i say? not sure which is which. but it made me search among Hatzidakis tracks I have - i didn't find something very much close to bel canto's piece, but i don't know - maybe you can understand what these pieces have in common.. maybe.. or well, i remembered some Kyriakos Sfetsas' tracks from the soundtrack of that intense and memorable "Paraggelia" movie. i can't quite identify why. maybe you can't too :) and i am at a loss here.
(i don't know for how much the above video will stay online, because it was identified as copyrighted) but well, anyway, bel canto are from somewhere in Scandinavia, i think, and they are kind of.. like Dead Can Dance, with those neo-classical/new-age/ethnic elements, but with more cheer and playfulness at times. yeah, i'd say they are less sombre, and that's why i like them, perhaps, but again, maybe not. agassiz reminded me of ubiqutous Cantara, Dead Can Dance's staple on-the-forehead piece - the second part of it
another piece i remembered was the one we heard on the 11th Jazz Festival in Technopolis, Athens, Greece, by some guys called Nils Berg Cinemascope (or a guy called Nils Berg, obviously) who employed some videos from youtube, allegedly, having cut, hacked and remixed them (both sound and video) - and playing along on sax (er, some kind of clarinet as a friend corrected me), contrabass and drums. actually they were interesting, and the last piece featured santouri (on video) - and it was such a delightful tune, and the video was edited in such a delightful way that you couldn't.. :) help smiling and watching and clapping in the end etc. - but i still can't find it on youtube. so be it...
another thing i remembered... is Hood's "Rural colours" and iLiKETRAiNS' "A rook house for Bobby" will be into my top 5 indie/alt/rather moody pieces with killer intense endings, if i were to make one (remembering High Fidelity :P)
hip hop
it's like fifteen minutes now that i put myself to determine why exactly i can't get to grips with that Fujiya & Miyagi "knickerbocker" song. i mean. hell. i can't say that i really hate it. or that, as the greek saying goes, βγάζει μαλλιά η γλώσσα μου. but it's surely in the category of those songs many people seem to like, and i am at a loss to understand why exactly :P so here it goes, probably i found a reason. huh, well, who said we shouldn't overanalyze and think about things [a lot]? therefore, it's not really the song that is at fault, but its hipness, its pretty, sexy nonsense, whispered sexily again and again... and i don't know what else which lead to.. myself having those stupid words in my mind, vanilla, strawb'erry (yeeees, with the stress on the wrong syllable, which - now that i think about, makes it neither English, nor French :P), nickerbokerglory.. baaaaad, bad song. hip video :P
no, these are nits, but i don't know, i somehow remembered them. no, not because of ultimate non-hipness (probably they just were unlucky - as you never know when you become hip) - but because of this particular picture, which in the end of the day doesn't bear VERY BIG resemblance to the above shoot. but anyway :P just remembered it.
and well, i remembered knickerbocker in the first place because i fell by chance upon this song, by another band - which is SO much alike, in the way they sing this nonsense. but well, it's not 'bout knickers, vanilla strawberry whatever, but about sabrina - aspirina (WTF? :P) and ok, there's not just male sexy whisper, but male - female thing, which adds another measure of nonsense (because the two voices say different things, one reciting days of week (i think), the other telling stuff about aspirina) anyway. i like this one more. heh, maybe because it's not unjustly hip in my world, YET.
well. i should analyze all that. think about.. kind of.. what's my kraken problem? :P anyway.
and it was a nice day. did some work, had some inspiration, started to listen to some music, my interest gradually shifting more and more into the daydreaming phase. SO. ok. gone to do some wrok.
no, these are nits, but i don't know, i somehow remembered them. no, not because of ultimate non-hipness (probably they just were unlucky - as you never know when you become hip) - but because of this particular picture, which in the end of the day doesn't bear VERY BIG resemblance to the above shoot. but anyway :P just remembered it.
and well, i remembered knickerbocker in the first place because i fell by chance upon this song, by another band - which is SO much alike, in the way they sing this nonsense. but well, it's not 'bout knickers, vanilla strawberry whatever, but about sabrina - aspirina (WTF? :P) and ok, there's not just male sexy whisper, but male - female thing, which adds another measure of nonsense (because the two voices say different things, one reciting days of week (i think), the other telling stuff about aspirina) anyway. i like this one more. heh, maybe because it's not unjustly hip in my world, YET.
well. i should analyze all that. think about.. kind of.. what's my kraken problem? :P anyway.
and it was a nice day. did some work, had some inspiration, started to listen to some music, my interest gradually shifting more and more into the daydreaming phase. SO. ok. gone to do some wrok.
come in three's
i don't know exactly why, but these three pieces go together (they just went) in my mind. the first reminds me very much of musical experiments of those musique concrete pioneers, those who did first ever sampling etc. by cutting and splicing and sticking back together tapes, acquiring that peculiar theatrical and maybe otherworldly mystical effect. the following somehow, structurally, i think, is build on the same philosophy of sampling to gain an atmospheric theatrical effect, rather than something musically beautiful (which happens anyway).. i somehow love this piece, with warm naive wording like "uncle albert plays the sax" ending abruptly, as if disappearing from the picture, and then appearing again, and that slightly detuned yellowish piano melody.. and that notorious french accent the majority of people find attractive makes "sax" sound like "sex", and "destruction" like "stretching", and you end up thinking that a song that makes reference to world war II (at least as far sax and destruction take you..), is about having a good time, i.e. having sex and streching :P (irrelevant, anyway)
which reminded me of the following - can't explain exactly why - there's the same note somewhere lingering, and the same disconnected voice sampling, but slightly darker (makes me think of resignation rather than soft nostalgia of the previous piece)
and finally this.. which is bouncy and not like the previous two pieces, but somehow the words that are said somewhere in between, towards the end, glue in with the rest of my thoughts and my feelings
which reminded me of the following - can't explain exactly why - there's the same note somewhere lingering, and the same disconnected voice sampling, but slightly darker (makes me think of resignation rather than soft nostalgia of the previous piece)
and finally this.. which is bouncy and not like the previous two pieces, but somehow the words that are said somewhere in between, towards the end, glue in with the rest of my thoughts and my feelings
chance
prin apo merikes meres...
mou irthe mia eikona apo, it seems, recurrent dream - mia geitonia pou den thn kserw, mia stroggylh plateia apo thn opoia pernaei ena leoforeio, h trigwnikh plateia.. lefkes, psyla dentra, neoklassikh arxitektonikh, kitrinwpa kthria me psila parathyra
was thinking about different mutilating mutations of my surname, thought of "zhekav" - isn't it slightly aramaic, heh? also reminds me of russian words like "zek", which refers to an imprisoned person, or a person who has spent several times in prison, and "zhek" which is an abbreviation of the committee that handles the affairs of a large apartment block, or blocks.
blowfish stomp rogueness. outright nonsense.
akolouthei skinh apo tainia.
perigrafei ton eayto tou san mia dixasmenh prosopikothta (laughs in background)
re malaka, kai poios se exei dixasei paidi mou?
(a muffled answer heard from somewhere)
(more laughs)
the usual setting.
now a different setting.
grime.
plot subdued.
malady.
mou irthe mia eikona apo, it seems, recurrent dream - mia geitonia pou den thn kserw, mia stroggylh plateia apo thn opoia pernaei ena leoforeio, h trigwnikh plateia.. lefkes, psyla dentra, neoklassikh arxitektonikh, kitrinwpa kthria me psila parathyra
was thinking about different mutilating mutations of my surname, thought of "zhekav" - isn't it slightly aramaic, heh? also reminds me of russian words like "zek", which refers to an imprisoned person, or a person who has spent several times in prison, and "zhek" which is an abbreviation of the committee that handles the affairs of a large apartment block, or blocks.
blowfish stomp rogueness. outright nonsense.
akolouthei skinh apo tainia.
perigrafei ton eayto tou san mia dixasmenh prosopikothta (laughs in background)
re malaka, kai poios se exei dixasei paidi mou?
(a muffled answer heard from somewhere)
(more laughs)
the usual setting.
now a different setting.
grime.
plot subdued.
malady.
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