I just added more stuff to my Evernote shared notebook https://www.evernote.com/shard/s16/sh/4b17a5fa-239f-46d1-a3ff-fb93df8113da/8b59c21a15fa7759aa6ce90f4ddf0163
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Thursday, 26 September 2013
Monday, 19 July 2010
Pretentious! Overblown! Self-indulgent!
Truth in advertising. I love prog rock. Which is frequently, as in the title, pretentious, overblown and self-indulgent. And most of the time that is fine with me. ELP, Yes, King Crimson, Van der Graaf Generator (cue fans of at least two of those bands saying they were never prog). Great! Can't get enough!
So at the weekend I went along to the doubledotbash in Reading. Lots of people I had never heard of, ranging from a guitar and drum noise duo (it's more fun for you than anyone else, guys) to the wonderful The Hand (acoustic, thus labelled "folk", but they are not really). Francois and the Atlas Mountains - solo Frenchman doing electronics, guitar and trumpet (!). First couple of songs not so sure, but he definitely grew on me.
Then there was Max Tundra. Pretentious! Overblown! Self-indulgent! And crap. Max, dear boy, sampling Keith Emerson does not give you his talent. You went on for too long, you were far too pleased with yourself and your undoubted instrumental and vocal abilities. I got the impression there was some good stuff fighting desperately to get out, but it was drowned in the smoothie maker of everything else going on.If you throw everything in, it doesn't sound more clever, it just gets to be monotonous, a bit like when you played with plasticine as a kid and what you ended up with was always that brown stuff when you mixed all the colours together.
Maybe what you need is a damn good editor / producer.
So at the weekend I went along to the doubledotbash in Reading. Lots of people I had never heard of, ranging from a guitar and drum noise duo (it's more fun for you than anyone else, guys) to the wonderful The Hand (acoustic, thus labelled "folk", but they are not really). Francois and the Atlas Mountains - solo Frenchman doing electronics, guitar and trumpet (!). First couple of songs not so sure, but he definitely grew on me.
Then there was Max Tundra. Pretentious! Overblown! Self-indulgent! And crap. Max, dear boy, sampling Keith Emerson does not give you his talent. You went on for too long, you were far too pleased with yourself and your undoubted instrumental and vocal abilities. I got the impression there was some good stuff fighting desperately to get out, but it was drowned in the smoothie maker of everything else going on.If you throw everything in, it doesn't sound more clever, it just gets to be monotonous, a bit like when you played with plasticine as a kid and what you ended up with was always that brown stuff when you mixed all the colours together.
Maybe what you need is a damn good editor / producer.
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Linda Perhacs - Parallelograms
I read about Linda Perhacs in the Rough Guide book "The Best Music You've Never Heard" (which turned out to be true for only about a third of the artists in the book, but then I do have, umm, an interesting taste in music). The mention there was intriguing, so I sought her out and heard a few tracks online. If you are looking for comparisons, the closest you would get would be Joni Mitchell or perhaps Tori Amos, but those are misleading. Linda is a true original. Her music is soothing and thought-provoking, relaxing and challenging, sometimes by turns and sometimes at the same time. I defy anyone not to have the melody for Chimacum Rain stuck in their heads after just one listen. And Parallelograms is like a mathematical hug (I know what I mean - you'll just have to listen to find out).
Ah, what the heck, just buy it. If you don't love it, I guarantee you will find someone that does. And that person will be (no false modesty here) very special.
Ah, what the heck, just buy it. If you don't love it, I guarantee you will find someone that does. And that person will be (no false modesty here) very special.
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Monday, 1 December 2008
Incredible String Band
This next is a bit of a rant.
While on the subject of "forgotten classics" or "cult" records, I recently bought The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter" by The Incredible String Band, appropriately in a charity shop.
Now I love weird music. The stranger the better. But this goes way past weird all the way back to - well, what exactly? They say there's a thin line between genius and madness, this record shows that there is a thin line between genius and not very good at all. I have read reviews praising the singers use of non-Western tones. I'm sorry, but to me it just sounds like me singing. Which, as anyone who has heard it will tell you, isn't singing at all. I can't listen to The Minotaur's Song without thinking of Monty Python's Lumberjack Song.
I'm sure there are people who will disagree, and point me at the stunning instrumental abilities (no arguments there) or the originality (well, maybe, but not every original idea is a good one). But the fact remains that this is just not a very good record.
Having said that, if I had to choose between this and the latest hillbilly backwoods boy maundering on about his life and how he has only one pair of dungarees for the road (Hayes Carll, you are guilty), I'd choose this one.
While on the subject of "forgotten classics" or "cult" records, I recently bought The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter" by The Incredible String Band, appropriately in a charity shop.
Now I love weird music. The stranger the better. But this goes way past weird all the way back to - well, what exactly? They say there's a thin line between genius and madness, this record shows that there is a thin line between genius and not very good at all. I have read reviews praising the singers use of non-Western tones. I'm sorry, but to me it just sounds like me singing. Which, as anyone who has heard it will tell you, isn't singing at all. I can't listen to The Minotaur's Song without thinking of Monty Python's Lumberjack Song.
I'm sure there are people who will disagree, and point me at the stunning instrumental abilities (no arguments there) or the originality (well, maybe, but not every original idea is a good one). But the fact remains that this is just not a very good record.
Having said that, if I had to choose between this and the latest hillbilly backwoods boy maundering on about his life and how he has only one pair of dungarees for the road (Hayes Carll, you are guilty), I'd choose this one.
It's a Beautiful Day
On a whim, I looked up the US group It's a Beautiful Day on eMusic. I remember one of my school friends having one of their albums back in the early 70s. WOW! How have I managed to not have anything by this band all this time? Simply stunning. I only had vague memories of their classic song White Bird, but the rest of it is amazing as well. Suffice to say I ended up downloading everything that emusic had by them. And it is all brilliant. Sorry if this all sounds a bit gushing, but it isn't often that one makes a discovery (or, more accurately, re-discovery) like this.
And, yes, the introduction to Bombay does sound very like Deep Purple's Child in Time. Which, I believe, came later.
And, yes, the introduction to Bombay does sound very like Deep Purple's Child in Time. Which, I believe, came later.
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