Espers – “Sightings”
III
While I doubt Espers will ever again attain the heights they reached with their debut album, tracks like this one at least keep me occupied while I hope against hope. Most of this album seems to show too much of how the band works, like a magician explaining his tricks, but a few tracks, like “Sightings,” manage to be as mysterious and beautiful as any they’ve ever made. (insound)
Kircher’s Tower of Babel (view large)
Four Tet – “Angel Echoes”
There Is Love In You
Four Tet has moved away from the magical, Fridge-esque organic electronica and towards a more beat-oriented sound, but that’s not all bad. And of course we’ll always have Pause. And there’s something about the disjointed sampling on this and other tracks from this album that catches my ear. There’s a lot of variety, but early Manitoba is the best reference point I can think of.
Blind fury, or error, or rashness, or what it is that eggs them, I know not; I am sure many times, which Austin perceived long since, tempestate contentionis, serenitas caritatis obnubilatur [with this tempest of contention the serenity of charity is overclouded], and there be too many spirits conjured up already in this kind in all sciences, and more than we can tell how to lay, which do so furiously rage, and keep such a racket, that as Fabius said, “It had been much better for some of them to have been born dumb, and altogether illiterate, than so far to dote to their own destruction.”
Benny Goodman – “Sing Sing Sing (With A Swing)”
Live At Carnegie Hall
I came across this track completely by accident while looking for the more conventional dance hall version of this song, but after putting it on, sat in shocked rapture for the entire 12 minutes. The breakdowns and rebuilds, the departures and returns to the original melodies, the unbelievable playing. I wish I could hear what he says that makes the audience laugh nine minutes in, though. And man do I wish I was there that night in 1938.
Have I so much leisure, or little business of my own, as to look after other men’s matters which concern me not?
Crime in Choir – “Cincinnati”
Crime in Choir
Two. Two. Two songs in one. The first half is a triumphant anthem with unbelievably tight percussion; the second half, a gorgeous guitar soundscape with clattering drums and voice loops. Just an absolutely brilliant piece of music all the way through. (insound)
Royksopp – The Drug
Congratulations to Mike, Stefan, and Noel on a job well done. Truly weird, guys.
stentorian: uncommonly powerful in sound (after Stentor, a legendarily loud Greek herald)
pleonasm: the use of more words than necessary to express an idea; a redundancy
chorographical: a description or map of a region, or the technique of creating one
fleer: to mock or coarsely express mockery; a jeer or fleering action
maltster: a person who makes or sells malt (obvious in retrospect)
parasang: an ancient Persian unit of distance equal to ~3.5mi
wearish: withered and shrunken; tasteless; insipid
quacksalver: a charlatan; origin of “quack”
contemn: to treat with contempt; to scorn
chirurgeon: archaic term for surgeon
I said unto the fools, ‘deal not so madly’
If that severe doom of Synesius be true, “It is a greater offense to steal men’s labours than their clothes,” what shall become of most writers?
Bedhead – “The Present”
Transaction De Novo
Bedhead’s understated songwriting makes for such incredibly solid albums, but so few truly standout songs, that it’s hard to pick a track. I’ve always loved the slow grow and sudden end of “The Present.” It’s not exactly representative of this excellent album, but it’s a great song nonetheless. Great being around the house music.
ludeful: no definition. It appears to have appeared only once in history. (poss. lewdful)
mediatized: to annex a state or territory while preserving some of its ruler’s rights
franked: marked in such a way as to secure transmission or passage
gobonated: in heraldry, equal divisions forming squares (gobbets)
foliot: a mischevious woodland creature in Italian folklore
exornation: ornamentation or embellishment
chiromancy: palmistry and fortune-telling
sithence: archaic version of “since”
cit: 17th century slang for citizen
pelf: a scornful term for wealth
antbear: an aardvark
avaunt: begone
Thou may’st be searched for polish’d words and verse
By flippant spouter, emptiest of praters:
Tell him to seek them in some mawkish verse:
My periods are all rough as nutmeg graters.
JMW Turner, Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus, 1848
Mr. Gammon marked the progress of the Earl’s feelings with the greatest interest, perceiving the increasing extent to which respect for him—Gammon—was mingling with his lordship’s sublime self-satisfaction; and, watching his opportunity, struck a spark into the dry tinder of his vain imagination, blew it gently—and saw that it caught, and spread.
Silent Kids – “Sgt. Dexter Pt. II”
Take Us Home
This is the last track on this album, which to be honest wasn’t that impressive. But if the rest of it were the quality of this track, they’d really have something amazing. The first part is more like the rest of their songs, but the brilliant extended instrumental outro and quiet coda (after about 30 seconds of silence) really shows that they’ve got a lot at their disposal. I love the amp’s cool-off “ahhh” noise in the breaks! You can get the whole album here.
…those visitors to forlorn houses, about whom you may not be familiar, who make “strange noises in the night, howl sometimes pitifully, and then laugh again, cause great flame and sudden lights, fling stones, rattle chains,” and if you wake to find your beard shaved and your chin smooth, they will be the impish cause.
Transmission
UVB-76 Aug.23.2010 9.32AM PST
9 3 8 8 2 na imina 74 14 35 74
