Sufjan Stevens' albums of Christmas music all started off as literal presents for his friends and family. Releasing them to the general public was initially something he never even planned on (see: most of Songs for Christmas), only later rising to the level of distinctly secondary concern (see: all the material on Silver & Gold).
Anyway, for reasons that aren't entirely clear (as best I can tell, a mix of runaway perfectionism and anger over one of the CDs leaking to the internet), Sufjan sorta pulled a George Lucas with Silver & Gold. The five CDs he released to the general public are not the same material he left in his friends' and family's stockings. For some songs he just remastered them, or dubbed a few extra instruments in. Other songs he just threw away and re-recorded them from scratch, sometimes wildly changing the arrangements in the process. Volume 8: Christmas Infinity Voyage was the most affected by this.
I told you all that so I could tell you this: Remember when I mentioned that one of those gift CDs leaked to the internet? Christmas Infinity Voyage was the one. Just this winter, I tracked down a download of the leaked version: Astral Inter Planet Space Captain Christmas Infinity Voyage, as it was originally known. It's a real eye-opener.
How is it different? It's got fewer song, for one: "Particle Physics" and the cover of "Alphabet St." were recorded specifically for the special edition, apparently. Of the remaining songs, only "Christmas in the Room" is recognizably the same recording. The other songs are very, very electronic in both versions, but different electronic arrangements. The original version was recorded a few years before The Age of Adz so it sounds like Sufjan was still getting a handle on that electropop style. And the later version was definitely recorded after, and heavily influenced by, The Age of Adz—one of the songs samples from "Impossible Soul" for crying out loud. The most striking difference is between the two versions of "The Child with the Star on His Head". Instead of an extended guitar solo and an even more extended, abstract synth part, the original version ends with the full band jamming together and simultaneous guitar and trumpet solos.
Which version is better? I'll leave that one for the philosophers to decide.
The Big Gundown is a really good album but it's got so much stuff going on that it's not something that you're ever "in the mood for" if it makes any sense
The Rolling Stone review by Steve Futterman was less impressed stating "Despite high-spirited contributions from a first rate cast, Zorn's tentative and analytical remakes tend to bleed Morricone's high drama and joyous kitschiness dry".
Rolling Stone continues to impress via its sheer badness
I really love when rock musicians who have never been widely critically acclaimed (or even that popular) act like they're veteran rockstars and huge authorities on all music, universally.
it's a very specific trope you see in those kinds of magazines a lot.
It sounds like they're pandering to a specific crowd, specifically people about my age or a little older who were total grungeheads in high school or college, and totally don't get modern pop music and wonder where their idols went blah blah blah.
i think dave grohls output with foo fighters may in fact be a highly complex experiment to create music which is the precise aural equivalent of cardboard
My favorite David Grohl moment was when he and the Foo Fighters spent their award speech at the grammys talking about standing for REAL ROCK AND ROLL and then got played out by Party Rock Anthem
I'm listening to the Swallowed album that came out in October and it is certifiably 100% sick, murky 'n psychedelic doomy death metal which just kinda lurks until it POUNCES and then it sings back and does it again and it's all just a boatload of fun
I didn't get to pick up much new music this year, so i think that I'll be going on a bandcamp binge when i get back home
Man is a most complex simple creature: see what he weaves, and how base his reasons for doing so.
'Tiny Glowing Screens': a two-part song about how technology is great, but at the same time taking stabs at westernization, capitalism, techno-libertarianism, materialism, and masking vulnerability with public perception?
Do you ever listen to Talking Heads' "Seen and Not Seen" and think, "Man I wish they had done more songs like this. I want a whole album of David Byrne giving surreal monologues over repetitive music!"
If so, then The Knee Plays is the album for you, my friends.
i was reading on toby drivers facebook that kayo dot need somewhere to crash in Philadelphia on their tour so idk if vash has space to host a bunch of kayo dots, but i would if i could. js
I have a strong sympathy with Shakespeare because it seems to me that strong similarities can be established between a jazz performance and the production of a Shakespeare play—similarities between the producers, the artists, and the audiences. Basically, both groups face comparable problems in the reluctance of some participants to expose themselves and join the audience. Their hesitance is due, in both cases, to a misconception that the major supporters of both these artistic manifestations—Shakespeare and jazz—are the people who have invested time and money in becoming experts.
Many people feel this way about chamber music, too; they fear that as members of an audience, whether for Shakespeare, jazz, or chamber music, their reaction will reveal themselves as insufficiently informed, or possibly unaware of the sensitivities one must acquire to savor completely the subtleties of a performance. In the case of a jazz listener, he may be caught sitting next to an enthusiast and will be ashamed to admit his lack of familiarity with the names of the exponents. In all cases, the newcomer is afraid he will be looked upon as a square. (Nobody knows what a square is—it’s just that nobody wants to be one.)
Anybody who listens to a beautifully performed symphony for the first time gains something from it. The next time he hears it, he gains more; when he hears the symphony for the hundredth time, he is benefitted to the hundredth power. So it is with Shakespeare. The spectator can’t get it all the first time; repeated viewings multiply the satisfaction.
There is a perfect parallel with jazz, where repeated listening makes for enjoyment. ... In the final analysis, whether it be Shakespeare or jazz, the only thing that counts is the emotional effect on the listener. ... When it sounds good, it is good.
i was reading on toby drivers facebook that kayo dot need somewhere to crash in Philadelphia on their tour so idk if vash has space to host a bunch of kayo dots, but i would if i could. js
Comments
http://shittyartwork.tumblr.com/post/93551051768
That sounds like an insult, but it isn't.
it's a very demanding listen
Rolling Stone continues to impress via its sheer badness
the middle school teacher who wants to be cool but misses the mark a lot of music publications
Minaj > Grohl tbh, nobody likes the foo fighters and that probot album was lame #shotsfired
so, so good
incredible
it is the sex
i'm partial to the E Reels from Flatfish, myself
I didn't get to pick up much new music this year, so i think that I'll be going on a bandcamp binge when i get back home
If so, then The Knee Plays is the album for you, my friends.
I wish. Seriously.