Tangled Mind

It's that time of year again! And also time for my Christmas / Yuletide / Solstice / end of year compilation, which is < 25% Christmas by weight, and almost certainly < 100% enjoyable for everyone except me.

I hope you find something you like, and maybe something that's a pleasant surprise. Comments, feedback et cetera very welcome. Also please let me know if the links don't work.

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Jing-A-Ling / Harbour Lights
Cheery cover version of the Andrews Sisters’ original from 1950, with a pleasingly artificial faux-antique flavour.
Skeletons / Brothers Osborne
First heard on the soundtrack of Netflix’s Sandman series: I wasn’t optimistic about the adaptation, but was (mostly) pleasantly surprised. And it did introduce me to this band, who I find I rather like.
Baby Don’t You Know / Ciel
This has shown up on several ‘best of indie rock/pop 2022’ lists, but I first heard it while driving to the Eastbourne Air Show back in the summer, a day of which I have fond memories. The sound reminds me of 90s favourites like the Cranberries and Lush.
The Lightning I, II / Arcade Fire
I don’t think I’ve loved recent Arcade Fire albums as much as 2004’s Funeral, but this year’s We has some good tracks: I especially like the tempo/melody modulation into the second half of this two-part song. (See also: ‘Here Comes the Nighttime’ from Reflector, 2013.) And the exuberance of that second half is uplifting every time I hear it.
Kentucky Fried Christmas / Anne Wilson
There is something about Christmas country music that clicks for me, when typical country music emphatically does not. I first heard this on a Spotify playlist and instantly bought it. NB: My friend Anne Wilson claims that this is not her side gig.
Picturesque / Editors
Super-intense (‘bludgeoning’ according to the NME) song about blinkered nostalgia and sunlit uplands. Or so it seems to me. Probably not about Brexit, given that it’s from 2013.
Hard Times / Paramore
A bouncy pop song about depression, which turned out to be what I needed. (The song, that is.)
Why Not / Unloved
A gothy pop song about depression. Strongly reminiscent of Siouxsie and the Banshees at times, mostly because of the vocal timbre.
I Belong to You/Mon Coeur S'Ouvre a Ta Voix / Muse
This is from 2009 but is highly relevant this year, as my sole opera experience was the utterly splendid Royal Opera production of Saint-Saens’ Samson et Delilah, which Muse quote here. My prog-rock tendencies are largely due to the blend of classical and rock, and this track does it brilliantly: it flows.
Ghost From Christmas Past / Christone "Kingfish" Ingram
There are a lot of ‘Christmas Blues’ but they are mostly about being alone on Christmas Day, which does not appall me as much as it’s supposed to. I like the guitar on this.
The Chain / Fleetwood Mac
I’d added this to my handwritten list of ‘Xmas CD Maybe?’ quite a while back, because it’s the soundtrack to one of the most compelling (and beautifully filmed) scenes in Our Flag Means Death, my fandom crush this year. (Coming to BBC in 2023! No piracy necessary!). … Then Christine McVie died, which I was sad about: Fleetwood Mac, and especially Rumours, brought joy to my childhood.
Kick the Balls (Of Patriarchy) / Goldstein
Sometimes you just want a short feminist transformative work. Especially when the next track starts ‘I’m not stupid: I’m a man’.
Only Losers Take the Bus (I'm Not Stupid) / The Fatima Mansions
RIP lead singer Cathal Coughlan. I played this track on repeat when I first heard it back in the 1990s, and made tapes of the album Against Nature for several friends. Never got to see Fatima Mansions live, sadly, though I’m fairly sure I saw Microdisney, who he also fronted.
Rocket Ship / Kathy McCarty
Another soundtrack discovery, this time from the rotoscoped space-age film Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood. The soundtrack was mostly contemporary music from the 60s and the 70s, but this song fitted very nicely.
Winternight Whisperings / Valentine Wolfe
Gothtastic wintery song.
I Want Bad Moon Diamonds / Dan Mei
A mashup featuring Creedence Clearwater Revival’s ‘Bad Moon Rising’ — a song I like, though slightly less than I did before seeing Travelin' Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall, which featured at least three renditions. Though the mashup phenomenon seems to be dying out (I blame the government recording companies), there are some good ones out there, and this is especially well-edited.
Breathing / Kate Bush
An Eighties favourite from the Cold War and the years of fearing nuclear war: resurrected for this CD in homage to one of the best books I read this year, The Half-Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley, set at a nuclear research facility in Soviet Russia in the 1960s. Honourable mention, too, for An Evening Without Kate Bush, one of the highlights of my Edinburgh Festival trip this year.
A Distant Light / Blaqk Audio
Winter nights, not nuclear winter. Probably.
Groovy Xmas / The Linda Lindas
Light and cheery Christmas song from all-female, all-teenage LA punk-pop band who appeared in the film Moxie).
How Valencia Stole Christmas / Valencia
Less-light, less-cheery but great fun: (mostly) anti-Christmas song riffing on old seasonal classics. ‘You should see the lyrics on the cutting room floor,’ they told Prelude Press.

The Humbling River -- Puscifer (to whom I have been listening a lot, lately)

Berlin Philharmonic (cond Simon Rattle), Royal Festival Hall, 23rd February 2011
London Symphony Chorus, Anke Hermann, Nathalie Stutzmann
Brahms - "Es tönt ein voller Harfenklang"
Wolf - Elfenlied
Mahler - Symphony #3

Long-awaited concert -- we bought the tickets this time last year -- which did not disappoint.

The Brahms is small and sweet; the Wolf was beautifully played, with fearsome quantities of brass and percussion (including a final, receding martial tattoo) but didn't engage me. I may not have been alone in this; the applause was somewhat half-hearted.

But the Mahler, oh, the Mahler. I am not a fervent Mahler fan, but last night's performance very nearly converted me. The Third Symphony is massive, in decibels / length / complexity / number of movements / size of orchestra / geographical range of orchestra (off-stage post-horn). There's so much texture in it, and so much variety. I was mesmerised by the fourth movement -- Nathalie Stutzmann's voice is fantastically deep and resonant, and Rattle had her back with the woodwind instead of at the front of the stage, reinforcing the sense of voice-as-instrument. The oboe glissandos were an eerie counterfoil. And the final movement felt like spring -- celebratory, joyous, resonant with bells but not religious.

Will look out for more Stutzmann and maybe have another go at getting into Mahler.

Notes on the actual concert: we were sitting near the back of the balcony instead of in our usual seats in the choir (which was Occupied). The sound was very clear and balanced, but I was reminded that there was a capacity audience between me and the orchestra, all apparently suffering from advanced respiratory disease. They did recover sufficiently for a long, mostly-standing ovation, though.

Other reviews:
Telegraph
Guardian
The Independent's isn't up yet.

Last night saw much hilarity chez fishlifter as we watched YouTube miscellany, including the very fabulous Complete History Of The Soviet Union, Arranged To The Melody Of Tetris -- which, astoundingly, is still funny now that we are sober. pingopark has been scarred for life agrees.

Off to Kent soon!

Barbican listing
Guardian review

Two countertenors -- one German, one French -- plus one French early music ensemble (Jaroussky's band Ensemble Artaserse, on genuine period instruments if the frequent retuning was anything to go by) singing Purcell's quintessentially English songs, nicely arranged to flow into one another. The two singers have very different voices. Jaroussky, who I hadn't heard sing live before, has an incredibly agile voice and a vast range: Scholl's is deeper, darker, smoother and was considerably harder to make out from our nosebleed seats. (This may have been due to the Barbican's acoustics: I've been spoilt at the Festival Hall.) Some duets, some solos and a very funny reprise -- countertenor versus countertenor -- of 'Now the Night' as their final encore.

I could have done with some of the livelier Purcell numbers: there seemed to be rather too many plaints and not enough vivacity. But the music was lovely and the voices delightful.

I went home wanting to watch Farinelli again, just for the Baroque splendour of the costumes after Scholl and Jaroussky's staid grey suits and (sometimes rather cliched) gestures.

And could whoever was kicking the heating vent during the most restful moments please not.

Via bugshaw
1)Reply to this post and I'll assign you a letter.
2)List (and upload, if you feel like it) 5 songs that start with that letter.
3)Post them to your journal with these instructions.

bugshaw gave me a 'K', and because I am anal organised I put them in chronological order:

Kyrie -- Biber (Missa Salisbergensis) Missa Salisbergensis (written to celebrate one thousand years of Christianity in Salzburg: 1683 I think) is one of my very favourite choral works.

Kashmir -- Ofra Haza (cover of Led Zep classic) I'd have linked the Led Zep version but all the videos are frightful. And I love Ofra Haza's voice, which makes this an interesting cover (also, rather shorter than the original).

Knock on Wood -- Amii Stewart with all the subtlety of a Seventies disco classic. I adore this song. I think I first acquired it on one of the Top Of The Pops compilation albums (cassette) pretty soon after Amii Stewart's version was released.

Kiss - Age of Chance Ooooh that Eighties vibe! The prehistory of the mashup. I remember introducing this on student TV at university, and not really getting it until I'd listened a few times (after which I was hooked on the whole cover/mash thing).

King of the Rodeo -- Kings of Leon The first minute of this vid is rather vexing but then it gets good. And this song will always remind me of driving south to Christchurch, NZ, with my darling co-author (who is an excellent source of music).

Just heard this on Radio 3 and it is ... I don't know. I have to Listen Again. It features the ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument similar to theremin but earlier and odder, of which I'd never heard.

Michel Redolfi, 'Mare Teno' (46 minutes in)

review of the album from which this came and which I have just ordered from Amazon. (Yay Naxos!)

Corelli: Concerto Grosso | Locatelli: Christmas Concerto | Geminiani: La Folia | Vivaldi: Bassoon Concerto in C | Vivaldi: "Dresden" Concerto | Albinoni: Concerto for Two Oboes in C
The Geminiani was (despite the name) rather too solemn for me; but otherwise this was a joyous and uplifting concert.
Observations:
1) it's impossible to look calm and ecstatic whilst playing the bassoon (but, despite it being so obviously effortful, Inga Maria Klaucke played beautifully)
2) there's something timeless and iconic about woodwind soloists: they might've come off a Greek vase.
3) such evident pleasure, especially on the part of the director: not smugness or pride but simple pleasure in the music.

Kodaly / Tchaikovsky / Mussorgsky: Philharmonia @ RFH 03.12.09
Cond: Maazel: Piano Simon Trpceski
Kodaly - Dances of Galanta
Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto #1
Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition
( Read more... )

belated concert review #2 ...
Mussorgsky / Grieg / Shostakovich: RFH 12.11.09
Cond Petrenko: Piano Boris Giltburg
Mussorgsky - Night on a Bare Mountain
Grieg - Piano Concerto #1
Shostakovich - Symphony #5 'Classical'
( Read more... )