This week brings a certain appropriateness to writing about elements of culture passing from ancestor to descendant. Monday Sheila and I had a sneak-peek at the next generation of our family. An ultrasound gave us our first look at our baby-to-be, who we’ve taken to calling Bean. We are now completely overcome with anticipation; we can’t wait to meet it, and cuddle it, and find out its gender, and choose a name, and do all of those other impossibly important things. Everyone tells us the next five months will fly by, but I can tell you with no reservation that they can’t pass fast enough.
So it also seems appropriate to post a song loaded with joyful anticipation, and pair it with a slide show of ultrasound pictures. The song is Kylä Vuotti Uutta Kuuta (The Village Awaits the New Moon) by Värttinä, a group from Finland. I’ll confess the story within the song is a little less amazing than waiting for a baby…
The village waited for the new moon.
They said my brother would return
empty handed when he was off hunting.
They were wrong. The eagle caught
the duck.
…but the power in their voices gets the point across.
Sheila and I have spent much of the past several years’ worth of CD money collecting a good stock of music from most of the Scandinavian nations in honour of her Norse ancestry. Finnish is the most unique of the languages, and to my ears, the most ancient sounding. Sheila’s roots are Danish, but there is a common cultural and linguistic history to all the Northern countries, and the music illustrates this commonality. Then of course those crazy Vikings traded and raided their way through Ireland, Scotland, England, France, heck even Russia. It’s cool to listen to the music and compare and contrast it to Celtic or other European music. Which influences are modern, and which go back a thousand years? Who knows?
In the past month or so this collecting bug has developed into a desire to track down lullabies in culturally appropriate languages. Attribute it to nesting, but I want to have some traditional Danish, French, Gaelic, and English songs to sing when the time comes. What did my Great-Grandmother sing to my Grandfather? What did Olemor sing to Mormor? Somehow I feel like I could express the love passed down by a thousand generations, if only I could sing it in their words.
N
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Continuity of Culture 1
So a couple of years ago I read the book Vroom with a View, written by Australian journalist Peter Moore, who went to Italy to buy a classic Vespa and find the country’s Dolce Vida. Along the way some other Vespa devotees take Peter to a bar in Livorno called the Civili.
“The Civili has been open for over 100 years, a self-proclaimed ‘bar, meeting place, institution and temple to continuity’.”
In other words the bar is something of a touchstone for local culture. The kind of place the locals go to see and be seen, flirt, carouse, quite possibly while sitting in the very seats their great grandparents sat in when they met.
This same concept of cultural continuity is something I’ve become aware of in the music I listen to. There are certain songs I’ve come across that for me epitomise this concept. Something in the lyrics, arrangement, or instrumentation evoke both an ancientness and timelessness. Much of this music could be classified as folk, roots, or traditional, while some of it is genuinely modern. The universality of the themes involved, combined with the adoption and adaptation of older musical styles are what make these click for me.
None of us will ever hear truly ancient music. Audio recordings haven’t been around long enough, but we do have sheet music, and the occasional mechanical device (music boxes, chime clocks, etc). Even these don’t go back all that far, so all we are left with are the living traditions, but we can’t pretend that these haven’t changed in the hundreds or thousands of years. Perhaps that isn’t the point though. There’s a quotation I wish I could find, that was something along the lines of “Don’t try to retrace the steps of those who have gone before, travel instead in the direction they were going.”
It’s this approach that to my mind, creates the most powerful folk music. This is why songs like Incantata by Fiamma Fumana (suitably Italian, like the Civli) are moving to me. In this case the style is primarily modern with only a few traditional accents, but the lyrics reveal a historical sensitivity bottled up inside a modern young urbanite.
Fortunately for us, Fiamma Fumana include translations of their lyrics in their liner notes.
Shining clear sky
Quiet river between the banks
Pontoon bridge on the gleaming water
Silently we stand here
Inside you is light
Inside you is new intensity
Spellbound
April breeze on us
Warm sun on the paths
You gaze on, spellbound, one with the valley
Young, ancient, spellbound
Inside you is light…
I couldn’t find a video online, and don’t really have any suitable images for a slide show, so while you listen you can gaze at my dream Vespa … what was I saying about being modern, yet classic?
Over the next little while I hope to post more such songs. I’d love to hear your comments as I go. Happy listening.
“The Civili has been open for over 100 years, a self-proclaimed ‘bar, meeting place, institution and temple to continuity’.”
In other words the bar is something of a touchstone for local culture. The kind of place the locals go to see and be seen, flirt, carouse, quite possibly while sitting in the very seats their great grandparents sat in when they met.
This same concept of cultural continuity is something I’ve become aware of in the music I listen to. There are certain songs I’ve come across that for me epitomise this concept. Something in the lyrics, arrangement, or instrumentation evoke both an ancientness and timelessness. Much of this music could be classified as folk, roots, or traditional, while some of it is genuinely modern. The universality of the themes involved, combined with the adoption and adaptation of older musical styles are what make these click for me.
None of us will ever hear truly ancient music. Audio recordings haven’t been around long enough, but we do have sheet music, and the occasional mechanical device (music boxes, chime clocks, etc). Even these don’t go back all that far, so all we are left with are the living traditions, but we can’t pretend that these haven’t changed in the hundreds or thousands of years. Perhaps that isn’t the point though. There’s a quotation I wish I could find, that was something along the lines of “Don’t try to retrace the steps of those who have gone before, travel instead in the direction they were going.”
It’s this approach that to my mind, creates the most powerful folk music. This is why songs like Incantata by Fiamma Fumana (suitably Italian, like the Civli) are moving to me. In this case the style is primarily modern with only a few traditional accents, but the lyrics reveal a historical sensitivity bottled up inside a modern young urbanite.
Fortunately for us, Fiamma Fumana include translations of their lyrics in their liner notes.
Shining clear sky
Quiet river between the banks
Pontoon bridge on the gleaming water
Silently we stand here
Inside you is light
Inside you is new intensity
Spellbound
April breeze on us
Warm sun on the paths
You gaze on, spellbound, one with the valley
Young, ancient, spellbound
Inside you is light…
I couldn’t find a video online, and don’t really have any suitable images for a slide show, so while you listen you can gaze at my dream Vespa … what was I saying about being modern, yet classic?
Over the next little while I hope to post more such songs. I’d love to hear your comments as I go. Happy listening.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
What do you give the millionaire rock-star fencer who has everything?
My boss David came to me today with a challenge. His brother-in-law, John, is a long-time fan of Iron Maiden. The lead singer of Iron Maiden is a guy named Bruce Dickinson. Aside from being a rock-star, Bruce is a competitive fencer. He also owns his own line of fencing equipment (Duellist), and has a pilot's licence.
John is going to an Iron Maiden concert somewhere in Europe this summer, and has somehow scored a seat on a flight to be piloted by Bruce. If I understand correctly, Bruce's birthday is around the same time, so John wants to get his hero a gift.
Through David, I have been asked to come up with a cool fencing-related gift for Bruce. But what do you give the millionaire rock-star fencer who has everything?
David, who has a knack for tracking down impossible to find books, was thinking some extra-special fencing book would be good, and asked for my recommendations. The problem is, there aren't really any nice gifty fencing books out there. So I've been wracking my brains trying to come up with suitable ideas. Here is what I have so far:
Running with Swords:The Adventures and Misadventures of an Irrepressible Canadian Fencing Champion by Sherain MacKay
The title is self apparent, and the book is lots of fun. I don't know if Bruce would have it, as I don't know how much hype there was on the international circuit about the book, and it was released by a Canadian publisher.
Fencing - Competitive Training and Practice: The Foil, The Epee, The Sabre by Bac Tau
This is an enormous technical book about fencing. Not a light read, but very impressive. The author runs a club in Vancouver, and self published this. Not only does the book contain tons of information, it is physically huge, and looks like a big dictionary.
A signed, first edition copy of On Fencing by Aldo Nadi
Love him or hate him, he was arguably the most famous fencer of the last century, and about the closest thing to super-star there has been in our sport. He was hugely influential to foil technique as well, and as that is Bruce's chosen weapon, he might have a special appreciation for this book. That said, if he's interested in such things, he might already have a signed copy, and personally, I can think of other things I'd rather spend $300 on.
Of course, books aren't the only option...
A set of Canadian Fencing Federation patches, plus an Alberta Fencing Association patch. The CFF patches are worn by Canadian fencers competing internationally. Some of us wannabees have them too, although thus far I've been a little too self-conscious to sew mine onto my fencing gear. I have, however, given them to fencers from other countries as a gift. I don't have a picture of the AFA patch, but it is nice too.
Chevalier D'Auvergne has this very nice gift set of a half-sized bottle of champagne, boxed with a miniature sabre like those traditionally used to open bottles of champagne. They sell a full sized set as well, in case you are extra thirsty. I don't know how easy this would be to mail-order, but you can pick these sets up at the Prieur store in Paris if you have nothing better to do.
If anyone else has any brilliant suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
See you on the piste!
John is going to an Iron Maiden concert somewhere in Europe this summer, and has somehow scored a seat on a flight to be piloted by Bruce. If I understand correctly, Bruce's birthday is around the same time, so John wants to get his hero a gift.
Through David, I have been asked to come up with a cool fencing-related gift for Bruce. But what do you give the millionaire rock-star fencer who has everything?
David, who has a knack for tracking down impossible to find books, was thinking some extra-special fencing book would be good, and asked for my recommendations. The problem is, there aren't really any nice gifty fencing books out there. So I've been wracking my brains trying to come up with suitable ideas. Here is what I have so far:
Running with Swords:The Adventures and Misadventures of an Irrepressible Canadian Fencing Champion by Sherain MacKayThe title is self apparent, and the book is lots of fun. I don't know if Bruce would have it, as I don't know how much hype there was on the international circuit about the book, and it was released by a Canadian publisher.
Fencing - Competitive Training and Practice: The Foil, The Epee, The Sabre by Bac Tau
This is an enormous technical book about fencing. Not a light read, but very impressive. The author runs a club in Vancouver, and self published this. Not only does the book contain tons of information, it is physically huge, and looks like a big dictionary.
A signed, first edition copy of On Fencing by Aldo Nadi
Love him or hate him, he was arguably the most famous fencer of the last century, and about the closest thing to super-star there has been in our sport. He was hugely influential to foil technique as well, and as that is Bruce's chosen weapon, he might have a special appreciation for this book. That said, if he's interested in such things, he might already have a signed copy, and personally, I can think of other things I'd rather spend $300 on.
Of course, books aren't the only option...
A set of Canadian Fencing Federation patches, plus an Alberta Fencing Association patch. The CFF patches are worn by Canadian fencers competing internationally. Some of us wannabees have them too, although thus far I've been a little too self-conscious to sew mine onto my fencing gear. I have, however, given them to fencers from other countries as a gift. I don't have a picture of the AFA patch, but it is nice too.
Chevalier D'Auvergne has this very nice gift set of a half-sized bottle of champagne, boxed with a miniature sabre like those traditionally used to open bottles of champagne. They sell a full sized set as well, in case you are extra thirsty. I don't know how easy this would be to mail-order, but you can pick these sets up at the Prieur store in Paris if you have nothing better to do.If anyone else has any brilliant suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
See you on the piste!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Working on the Railroad
I’m sure you’ve all been wondering if I’m still alive, or maybe you’ve just given up checking for updates. All I can say is my mind has been elsewhere, and my free time has been devoted to pursuits away from the computer.
Most of my “me time” over the past few months has been spent in research, development, purchasing, and general fiddling with the various aspects of the garden railway. . . and I don’t even have track laid down yet. The track plan is pretty much finalised, and the blueprints for the trestle are almost done. The goal for this summer is to get trains running, and Sheila and I will spend next winter in the basement making buildings and other such things to beautify the miniature world.
The past month has been a bit frustrating, thanks to my temperamental locomotive. It used to be that trains were powered through the track, and speed was controlled by cranking more or less electricity through the rails. You can still use these systems, but they have their limits. I’ve gone with a newer type of control system called Digital Command Control. The trains still get their power through the rails, but there is a signal encoded in the current. Each locomotive has a decoder inside with a specific address, so your control unit can communicate independently with each locomotive. What this means is, you can control multiple locomotives on the same bit of track, giving each independent instructions. The other thing it does, is allow you to control a whole bunch of accessory effects like lights and sounds. This allows you to run your models more like real trains. It makes them way more fun to operate, because you literally have all the bells and whistles to play with.
The problem is that on a lot of locomotives, you still have to install this sort of thing yourself. Up till now, the most complicated thing I’d ever rewired was a floor lamp, so trying to figure out how all of this stuff goes in has been a real challenge. It’s been complicated by a short circuit caused by a loose wire (the manufacturer’s fault) that was making things behave in strange ways. I finally tracked down the problem last week, and am now ready to start hooking things back up. Once my loco is running with lights and sound and smoke (intentionally mind you), I’ll see if Sheila can show me how to post a video.
Now if you’re like me, you’ve probably glazed over at this point, cause you really don’t give a rip about the technical aspects of someone else’s hobby. But this is what I’m up to these days, just in case you wondered. Thankfully, all of this electronic mumbo-jumbo should be over with soon, and then, THEN Sheila and I can focus on creating our miniature world in the back yard!
Our little railway is what they call “freelanced”, as opposed to modelled after an actual bit of a real railway. They say if you’re going to freelance, you should still try to have some purpose or theme for the railway to make its existence plausible. So this is our railway’s story.
The Asgård Railway
The Asgård Railway is a modern heritage railway linking the secluded Midgard Valley to the rest of the world somewhere in the Valhalla Mountain Range* of southern BC.
After over 100 years of operation, the AR continues to provide essential freight service for the Midgard Growers Co-Operative, allowing them to ship their fruit, wine, cider, honey, and mead to the rest of the world. As access to the town of Asgård is limited to one winding road, the AR also provides passenger service for commuters and day-trippers in and out of town.
The AR runs both freight and passenger service with vintage rolling stock and locomotives, and thus has become a favourite of railfans everywhere. The summer calendar is full of steam excursions** and photo-freights***, but the real work comes in the late summer and early fall with the autumn fruit rush.
The town of Asgård was settled by folks with a variety of Scandinavian backgrounds, and thus many of the local business and geological features sport names from Norse mythology. There is “Iduna’s Apple Orchard”, “Sleipnir’s Barn” the “Niflheim Ice Plant”, and the “Muspelheim Blacksmith’s Shop”. “Mt. Jötunheim” looms to the north of the town, and a mountain spring, “The Well of Mímir” emerges from beneath the ancient tree “Yggdrasil”.
So, back to the basement to wire my little diesel, and dream of the world we get to build.
*The Valhalla Mountain Range is a real place, and there is even a Valhalla Provincial Park.
**Once I actually acquire a steam loco.
***Freight trains using vintage locos and rolling stock, staged for the cameras of rail history fans. Yes people actually do this!
Most of my “me time” over the past few months has been spent in research, development, purchasing, and general fiddling with the various aspects of the garden railway. . . and I don’t even have track laid down yet. The track plan is pretty much finalised, and the blueprints for the trestle are almost done. The goal for this summer is to get trains running, and Sheila and I will spend next winter in the basement making buildings and other such things to beautify the miniature world.
The past month has been a bit frustrating, thanks to my temperamental locomotive. It used to be that trains were powered through the track, and speed was controlled by cranking more or less electricity through the rails. You can still use these systems, but they have their limits. I’ve gone with a newer type of control system called Digital Command Control. The trains still get their power through the rails, but there is a signal encoded in the current. Each locomotive has a decoder inside with a specific address, so your control unit can communicate independently with each locomotive. What this means is, you can control multiple locomotives on the same bit of track, giving each independent instructions. The other thing it does, is allow you to control a whole bunch of accessory effects like lights and sounds. This allows you to run your models more like real trains. It makes them way more fun to operate, because you literally have all the bells and whistles to play with.
The problem is that on a lot of locomotives, you still have to install this sort of thing yourself. Up till now, the most complicated thing I’d ever rewired was a floor lamp, so trying to figure out how all of this stuff goes in has been a real challenge. It’s been complicated by a short circuit caused by a loose wire (the manufacturer’s fault) that was making things behave in strange ways. I finally tracked down the problem last week, and am now ready to start hooking things back up. Once my loco is running with lights and sound and smoke (intentionally mind you), I’ll see if Sheila can show me how to post a video.
Now if you’re like me, you’ve probably glazed over at this point, cause you really don’t give a rip about the technical aspects of someone else’s hobby. But this is what I’m up to these days, just in case you wondered. Thankfully, all of this electronic mumbo-jumbo should be over with soon, and then, THEN Sheila and I can focus on creating our miniature world in the back yard!
Our little railway is what they call “freelanced”, as opposed to modelled after an actual bit of a real railway. They say if you’re going to freelance, you should still try to have some purpose or theme for the railway to make its existence plausible. So this is our railway’s story.
The Asgård Railway
The Asgård Railway is a modern heritage railway linking the secluded Midgard Valley to the rest of the world somewhere in the Valhalla Mountain Range* of southern BC.
After over 100 years of operation, the AR continues to provide essential freight service for the Midgard Growers Co-Operative, allowing them to ship their fruit, wine, cider, honey, and mead to the rest of the world. As access to the town of Asgård is limited to one winding road, the AR also provides passenger service for commuters and day-trippers in and out of town.
The AR runs both freight and passenger service with vintage rolling stock and locomotives, and thus has become a favourite of railfans everywhere. The summer calendar is full of steam excursions** and photo-freights***, but the real work comes in the late summer and early fall with the autumn fruit rush.
The town of Asgård was settled by folks with a variety of Scandinavian backgrounds, and thus many of the local business and geological features sport names from Norse mythology. There is “Iduna’s Apple Orchard”, “Sleipnir’s Barn” the “Niflheim Ice Plant”, and the “Muspelheim Blacksmith’s Shop”. “Mt. Jötunheim” looms to the north of the town, and a mountain spring, “The Well of Mímir” emerges from beneath the ancient tree “Yggdrasil”.
So, back to the basement to wire my little diesel, and dream of the world we get to build.
*The Valhalla Mountain Range is a real place, and there is even a Valhalla Provincial Park.
**Once I actually acquire a steam loco.
***Freight trains using vintage locos and rolling stock, staged for the cameras of rail history fans. Yes people actually do this!
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Sick days
I've been home from work the past day and a half, with a dribbly nose and a scratchy throat. I'm by no means terribly ill, but I'm fortunate in that I work somewhere that, if you're at all infectious, they don't want to see you.
I spent this morning watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on the telly with my sister, who is in town visiting. Traditionally in my family, if you stay home sick, you're supposed to watch The Price is Right. Sheila's family has this same tradition, but after her last cold she informed me that Bob Barker had retired, and Drew Carey has replaced him. I like Drew Carey, but it just ain't the same!
Anyway, I've received several jabs from friends lately about not posting, and while I defend myself that I've never been a chatty person, and this is precisely the level of communication (or lack there of) that you should expect from me, I figure I'm home doing nothing, so I don't have an excuse not to post.
So what's new? Christmas preparations have kept me busy at the store. This week we put up and decorated our upside-down, rotating Christmas tree. I'll post a picture as soon as I remember to take one. This was the last big thing that needed doing, so now things will slow down a bit, and my days will consist of selling stuff, and placing orders for January and February.
I haven't been competing in fencing this season. I needed a rest from it. I'm still coaching 2 nights a week, and fencing for my own fun once a week.
Sheila and I finally put the gates up in our back yard. I've been spending spare moments researching supplies for the garden railway. I hope to start ordering stuff after Christmas so I have time to tinker with the locomotives and control systems before we lay track in the spring. If all goes well I hope to have trains running on my birthday.
Aside from this we've done a few other little improvements around the house. I recently hung two weapon shelves in the spare room, along with four classic fencing images.
The framed images are a reproduction poster from the Exposition Universelle de 1900, and three pieces of sheet music, published between 1902 and 1904, each by a different composer, but each titled "The Fencing Girl" This is what years of carefully scouring eBay will do for you. My sister is staying in this room, and I've nick-named it the Swashbuckler Suite.
If anyone could recommend a pianist willing to record these three pieces for me, I'd be much obliged.
Snifflingly yours,
Nathan
I spent this morning watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on the telly with my sister, who is in town visiting. Traditionally in my family, if you stay home sick, you're supposed to watch The Price is Right. Sheila's family has this same tradition, but after her last cold she informed me that Bob Barker had retired, and Drew Carey has replaced him. I like Drew Carey, but it just ain't the same!
Anyway, I've received several jabs from friends lately about not posting, and while I defend myself that I've never been a chatty person, and this is precisely the level of communication (or lack there of) that you should expect from me, I figure I'm home doing nothing, so I don't have an excuse not to post.
So what's new? Christmas preparations have kept me busy at the store. This week we put up and decorated our upside-down, rotating Christmas tree. I'll post a picture as soon as I remember to take one. This was the last big thing that needed doing, so now things will slow down a bit, and my days will consist of selling stuff, and placing orders for January and February.
I haven't been competing in fencing this season. I needed a rest from it. I'm still coaching 2 nights a week, and fencing for my own fun once a week.
Sheila and I finally put the gates up in our back yard. I've been spending spare moments researching supplies for the garden railway. I hope to start ordering stuff after Christmas so I have time to tinker with the locomotives and control systems before we lay track in the spring. If all goes well I hope to have trains running on my birthday.
Aside from this we've done a few other little improvements around the house. I recently hung two weapon shelves in the spare room, along with four classic fencing images.
The framed images are a reproduction poster from the Exposition Universelle de 1900, and three pieces of sheet music, published between 1902 and 1904, each by a different composer, but each titled "The Fencing Girl" This is what years of carefully scouring eBay will do for you. My sister is staying in this room, and I've nick-named it the Swashbuckler Suite.
If anyone could recommend a pianist willing to record these three pieces for me, I'd be much obliged.
Snifflingly yours,
Nathan
Monday, October 15, 2007
New Pets
My dear wife recently inherited a herd of 8 cows, who live in a painting in a nice guilt frame. The cows are tended by a farmer, and kept company by a rooster and chickens, and some ducks that live down the road a ways. We’ve hung the cows above our mantel, where they can watch us when we’re in the living room, or look out the window when we’re not their. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard them gently mooooing from the living room when I’m mucking around in the kitchen, and I enjoy their quiet company immensely.
Since settling into their new home, the cows have been trying to spot a field of hay bales they noticed when they were on their way to our house. We’ve wisely decided to hang this painting around the corner, out of the bovine line of site, as we feared we might come downstairs one day to find the cows looking fatter, and the hay bales mysteriously missing.
We have yet to figure out how we might get some milk from our new pets, but it has occurred to me that we might be able to enlist the help of the two girls with a bucket who live in a painting my mother has in her dining room.
Since settling into their new home, the cows have been trying to spot a field of hay bales they noticed when they were on their way to our house. We’ve wisely decided to hang this painting around the corner, out of the bovine line of site, as we feared we might come downstairs one day to find the cows looking fatter, and the hay bales mysteriously missing.
We have yet to figure out how we might get some milk from our new pets, but it has occurred to me that we might be able to enlist the help of the two girls with a bucket who live in a painting my mother has in her dining room.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Labelling Music
So, initially I had planned to tell you all of the amazing CDs I picked up at the Calgary Folk Fest a few weeks back, but I've gotten hung up on how to describe the music.
The CD I've been listening to the most ("constantly, unending, I'm going to smack him if he plays it one more time" Sheila thinks to herself) is Blacklisted by Neko Case. Eons ago I heard a track from this CD on the CBC, and wrote down Neko's name and the CD title. I had since forgotten what she even sounded like, but the CD was still on my "to buy list" and as she was to perform at the Folk Fest, I picked up the CD there. Her performance was fantastic, and I wasn't sorry I bought the CD.
The Folk Fest program described her music as "twang-noir" which I think is a brilliant description, and applies to a lot of other artists I'm into right now. I'd been trying to come up with other ways to describe Neko's sound, so that I could inform you all of her awesomeness, and I decided that if Patsy Cline, and Nick Cave had a fling, Neko Case would be the love child.
Now, most of you reading this know who Patsy Cline is, and probably know what she sounds like, but only a few of you will have heard Nick Cave and know what you heard.
So then I was trying to figure out how one would classify Nick Cave... The best I could come up with was that he was equal parts Emo and Goth, but the problem is that he predates both styles.
Most of you can identify a goth-type person on sight (black clothes, severe make-up, and an attitude that says "Someday I'll slit my wrists for Jesus"). Emo is a bit dodgier, and I'll confess after I first heard the term tossed about, I was so out of touch I had to google it to find a definition. Since then I've come to recognise emo as lots of piercings, lots of tattoos, and the geekiest eye-glasses money can buy.
I digress...
I'm wondering if I need to start reading music magazines to find out what the descriptive terms are, who the key figures of comparison are, and why, when I walk into HMV, I never find the CDs I'm looking for in the sections I'd expect.
So yah, um, Neko Case is cool, check her out.
For interest's sake, if you feel like responding, answer these 3 questions:
1. Are you listening to anything obsessively right now (and what)?
2. How would you describe the style?
3. What is the most bizarre, or most brilliant description of a musical style you've ever heard?
The CD I've been listening to the most ("constantly, unending, I'm going to smack him if he plays it one more time" Sheila thinks to herself) is Blacklisted by Neko Case. Eons ago I heard a track from this CD on the CBC, and wrote down Neko's name and the CD title. I had since forgotten what she even sounded like, but the CD was still on my "to buy list" and as she was to perform at the Folk Fest, I picked up the CD there. Her performance was fantastic, and I wasn't sorry I bought the CD.
The Folk Fest program described her music as "twang-noir" which I think is a brilliant description, and applies to a lot of other artists I'm into right now. I'd been trying to come up with other ways to describe Neko's sound, so that I could inform you all of her awesomeness, and I decided that if Patsy Cline, and Nick Cave had a fling, Neko Case would be the love child.
Now, most of you reading this know who Patsy Cline is, and probably know what she sounds like, but only a few of you will have heard Nick Cave and know what you heard.
So then I was trying to figure out how one would classify Nick Cave... The best I could come up with was that he was equal parts Emo and Goth, but the problem is that he predates both styles.
Most of you can identify a goth-type person on sight (black clothes, severe make-up, and an attitude that says "Someday I'll slit my wrists for Jesus"). Emo is a bit dodgier, and I'll confess after I first heard the term tossed about, I was so out of touch I had to google it to find a definition. Since then I've come to recognise emo as lots of piercings, lots of tattoos, and the geekiest eye-glasses money can buy.
I digress...
I'm wondering if I need to start reading music magazines to find out what the descriptive terms are, who the key figures of comparison are, and why, when I walk into HMV, I never find the CDs I'm looking for in the sections I'd expect.
So yah, um, Neko Case is cool, check her out.
For interest's sake, if you feel like responding, answer these 3 questions:
1. Are you listening to anything obsessively right now (and what)?
2. How would you describe the style?
3. What is the most bizarre, or most brilliant description of a musical style you've ever heard?
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