Day 5: March 22 - Does All This Day Drinking Make Me A Lush?
THIS PLAYLIST BEGINS LOUD! WATCH YOUR VOLUME LEVEL!
Today, we look at some tracks with super lush production or orchestration!
Gojira - Mouth of Kala
French metal band Gojira first got widespread attention for a concept album about whales. Mouth of Kala comes from their 2012 album L’Enfant Sauvage, based on the true story of a feral child from the late 18th-century. This track is here because, mostly, Opeth’s tracks were too long. Also, beyond the obvious metal layering the crash cymbal drummer Mario Duplantier uses is basically and the ghost note in the opening riff are basically white noise. These give the track a spectral lushness, an incredibly unfocused, but not gritty or abrasive sound with low and high materials fused by these white noise elements. Also, just bangs.
Kaija Saariaho - Notes On Light: III. Awakening
Saariaho’s cello concerto, Notes on Light, was one of my earliest loves. Saariaho has discussed how her particular musical language came from her time at IRCAM studying the timbre of the cello. This work showcases both her love of the instrument and her ability to fill out a spectrum. Saariaho shares a commonality with Gojira before: they both fuse and/or catalyze the gaps in their spectrum with noise elements. Gojira with distortion and cymbals and Saariaho here in the articulation of the cello. More than just a one-trick spectral pony, Saariaho brings out her full lyricism and that harmonic sense which is like trying to hold water in your hands. Played here by Anssi Karttunnen and the Orchestre de Paris under Christophe Eschenbach.
Alvin Lucier - Silver Streetcar for the Orchestra
Amazingly beautiful things come from the simplest sources. In Silver Streetcar for the Orchestra, French-Canadian composer Alvin Lucier wrangles prismatic light out a simple triangle. The score instructs the musician to strike an amplified triangle and change one parameter of their technique (where they strike, how muted, where they mute, etc…) over 30 seconds. The result is a flood of bright, rich, overtone content. An absolutely stunning piece. Played here by Hakon Stene.
Robert Carver - O Bone Jesu a 19
16th-century Scottish composer Robert Carver was almost lost to us. A Catholic during the Reformation, his music was destroyed, cut up, and burned by religious zealots. There is a tall tale that a fragment of this piece, O Bone Jesu for 19 voices, was found centuries later as the inner lining of a book in a library and inspired someone to seek all these out and assemble them. The truth of that story may be in question, but the beauty of the music is not. Carver clearly understood voices, so even in the richest moments (which are many and glorious!), the moving inner voices ring out of the texture. A crystalline statement of profound, persecuted faith. Performed here by The Sixteen.
Buddy Rich - Nutville
Oh man, what a tune! I’ve included it because those brass voicings are TASTY. Also, it slaps. Buddy Rich was one of the few drummers whose name was so known he could front a band. From his 1973 album, Roar of ‘74.