The as always fantastic Polish prog band Riverside recently released their fifth studio album Shrine of New Generation Slaves. The artwork for this album, as with all their previous albums, was done by Travis Smith. For anyone who may have been slightly disappointed in their last album Anno Domini High Definition, this completely blows that out of the water.* With each listen to S.O.N.G.S. it grows on me, and I love it even more. I wouldn't be surprised if this remains one of my favorite albums of 2013.
*I enjoyed their last album, but I have read that there were a decent amount of people who were disappointed when comparing it to the Reality Dream Trilogy that was their first three albums (Out of Myself, Second Life Syndrome, and Rapid Eye Movement). Yes that is a tough thing to follow, but Anno Domini High Definition is still a really good album. Riverside can do no wrong for me. /rant
The album consists of eight tracks; "New Generation Slave", "The Depth of Self-Delusion", "Celebrity Touch", "We Got Used to Us", "Feel Like Falling", "Deprived (Irretrievably Lost Imagination)", "Escalator Shrine", and "Coda". Also included on the two disc and vinyl editions were "Night Sessions" parts one and two. From this there has been one single off of the album, "Celebrity Touch" (seen below at the bottom of the review), which the video was directed by Mateusz Winkiel.
As far as the whole concept of the album, Mariusz Duda describes that as follows (x);
The
lyrics on the new album deal with different situations we face in our
modern times and how we sometimes become enslaved by them and by the
style of life they dictate. For instance, we are dominated and
bombarded by increasingly stupefying media. The media, in turn, is
dominated by more and more people who are known for their well-knownness
- Celebrities, the modern representatives of a need
which lies deep within us all and is rarely satisfied - the feeling of
importance. This feeling, and some of the dilemmas and complications
connected with it, is the subject of our newest single - "Celebrity
Touch". Musically, we still try to extend the bridge to connect the new
music to the old. In this track I think we achieved some kind of
original mixture and I hope you will enjoy this piece of new album.
Now this makes me want to draw similarities between S.O.N.G.S. and Porcupine Tree's Fear of a Blank Planet and Nill Recurring as far as lyrical themes, but musically they are completely different (both absolutely fantastic none the less though).
The first song that starts off the album is "New Generation Slave" bringing to the listener some of the themes that will be presented throughout the album. The lyric "The truth is, I am a free man, / but I can't enjoy my life" really goes with the concept of how the current generation is so dependent on social media outlets that while they're free they can not really enjoy the life that they could be having out in the 'real world'.
"The Depth of Self-Delusion" reminds me most of the Reality Dream Trilogy era, both lyrically and the construction of the song. This is one of my favorite songs off the album, just the atmosphere and combining of all the parts to this song with the lyrics are just beautiful. "I could be foreign forever / To your otherland / I could be foreign forevermore / To your promiseland"
"Celebrity Touch" is probably one of the 'heavier' songs on the album, that has a memorable riff in both the bass and guitar. It is really nice, and a solid song for a single filled with the elements that allow the listener to loose themselves in the music.
"We Got Used to Us" is another one of my favorites off of the album, between the lyrics, instrumentation, and the overall mood of the song it just really gets to me every time I listen to it. The repeated chorus that to me connects with how easily people can fall into a life style that they may not light but can't seem to get themselves out of. But with the final lyric "So walk away with me" giving a hope to get out of this cycle of a life.
I know we got used to new us,
and I don't want to be there
I don't want to be there where we are
I know we got used to new life,
and I don't want to be there
No, I don't want to be there where we are
"Feel Like Falling" has a similar sound to "Celebrity Touch" and what was on Anno Domini High Definition, but definitely in a way which has grown and developed since that album. "Deprived" features a soprano sax solo by Marcin Odyniec which really adds a nice jazz element on top of the groove of the song. This song also has Mariusz Duda singing in falsetto which is a nice change as he does does not often do that within Riverside (or what I have heard of Lunatic Soul's albums and his guest vocals in Indukti's S.U.S.A.R.).
"Escalator Shrine" is the longest song on the album (with a time of 12:41), and you can hear how it draws influence from many other prog bands while still maintaining the tone of the album and Riverside's core sound. "Coda" is a simple but excellent way to end the album and all that's happened within it. It leaves Shrine of New Generation Slaves to end with the lyric "I won't collapse / I am set to rise".
"Night Sessions (Part One)" takes on more of an electronic feel than some of Riverside's other songs, in a way which creates an interesting atmosphere one can just relax to. "Night Sessions (Part Two)" features Marcin Odyniec once again, but this time on alto sax. Bringing back the jazz elements with his solo that work so well when combined with Riverside's sound. This song does include some vocals,
but they are without lyrics focusing more on using the voice as another
texture in the sound. Once again creating a wonderful atmosphere to just listen to, reminding me more of Lunatic Soul than Riverside, but still proving to be an excellent addition to go along with S.O.N.G.S.. Overall this was an excellent album, and I hope to be able to see them live on their mini North American tour.
For music, 2012 was a very good year for new albums, releases, and live albums. This makes picking only ten albums difficult, and a bit more so in making the order of them up to what I think of as the best of the past year. No matter whose list you look at for 2012, they're all going to be different since there was just so much good music released (like I feel depending on the day my order here could change), which is just fantastic! Well, here we go.. 10. Baroness - Yellow and Green
The third release from Baroness, which is presented as a double album of the first disc Yellow and the second Green. Between the two parts of the album Yellow for me is a bit stronger than Green, but that doesn't mean Green still doesn't sound fantastic and great. They go absolutely excellent together (and stand alone), just overall Yellow has more to it.
Each part to this double album is filled with memorable songs
The first half of the album was "Yellow Theme", "Take My Bones Away", "March to the Sea", "Little Things", "Twinkler", "Cocainium", "Back Where I Belong", "Sea Lungs", and "Eula". Now for the second part was "Green Theme", "Board Up the House", "Mtns. (The Crown & Anchor)", "Foolsong", "Collapse", "Psalms Alive", "Stretchmarker", "The Line Between", and "If I Forget Thee, Lowcountry".
9. Alcest -Les Voyages de l'Âme
The third full length album from French shoegaze post-rock/metal band Alcest whose consists only of Neige and Winterhalter for studio recordings. There is just something about Alcest that makes me think of a fantasy world filled with creatures like elves and faries, all within an intricate forest. Les Voyages de l'Âme, or "The Soul's Journeys"
The songs of this album are "Autre Temps", "Là où Naissent les Couleurs Nouvelles", "Les Voyages de l'Âme",
"Nous Sommes l'Émeraude", "Beings of Light",
"Faiseurs de Mondes",
"Havens", and "Summer's Glory".
8. Diablo Swing Orchestra -Pandora’s Piñata
The third album from Swedish avant-garde symphonic progressive swing metal band D.S.O.This album really explores a variety of styles, but I think it's their strongest album (even with how fantastic their last album Sing-Along Songs for the Damned & Delirious was).
With going through all the different styles presented in this album, it still flows very coherently. This album also really displays the quality of musicianship for the members for being able to successfully pull all of that off. The songs range from swing, funk, opera, electronic, metal, and a lot in between. Now you may think how can this album possibly flow with all that jumping around between genres, well they found a way to really have it work.
Take the song "Aurora", this has to be the least likely song to hear from a metal band. The orchestration, the vocals, almost everything about this, it's the type of song that you would picture in an opera. The remaining tracks on the album are "Voodoo Mon Amour", "Guerrilla Laments", "Kevlar Sweethearts", "How to Organize a Lynch Mob", "Black Box Messiah", "Exit Strategy of a Wrecking Ball", "Mass Rapture", "Honey Trap Aftermath", "Of Kali ma Calibre", and
"Justice for Saint Mary".
7. Ne Obliviscars - Portal of I
The
first full length album from this Australian metal band, really is a
great debut album which makes me eager to hear what this band will have
for later releases.
This album consists of of the songs
"Tapestry Of The Starless Abstract", "Xenoflux", "Of The Leper
Butterflies", "Forgot Not", "And Plague Flowers The Kaleido", "As
Icicles Fall", and "Of Petrichor Weaves Black Noise".
6. Hypno5e - Acid Mist Tomorrow
If you're familiar with Hypno5e, then you have an idea of the atmosphere presented within their music. Acid Mist Tomorrow takes some of that feeling from their previous album Des Deux L'unes Est L'autre and really takes it a lot further.
This
band I think is highly underrated in general, they combine ambient with
experimental metal in just a fantastic way with both of their
albums.When I had first heard Des Deux L'unes Est L'autre I wasn't sure how they would top such a great debut album, but they managed to and then some with Acid Mist Tomorrow.
Without
dividing the songs into parts as is done with the track listing, this
album consists of "Acid Mist Tomorrow", "Six Fingers In One Hand She
Holds The Dawn", "Story Of The Eye", "Gehenne", and "Brume Unique
Obscurité".
5. BTBAM - The Parallax Now before I talk about The Parallax II: Future Sequence, I think it is only fitting to first discuss the previous release The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues.The two most recent releases from progressive death metal band Between the Buried and Me are both part of a two part concept album suite, which include it is most appropriate to listen to together. As to expect from these two releases, there is a high level of technicality, layering of multiple parts that are not typically seen in the "popular" music scene (I say that for in general).
First, Hypersleep Dialogues.This EP starts out with a dramatic opening of piano, brass, and pizzicato strings, followed by a suspended dissonance to introduce what is to follow. This is then followed by the standard instrumentation known for BTBAM, with Tommy's harsh vocals on top of it all. The whole thing consists of three tracks, "Specular Reflection", "Augment of Rebirth", and "Lunar Wilderness".
Of course some of the initial themes introduced in the orchestral opening are brought back within a different instrumentation, in order to bring a different tone to the original idea and to expand upon it. The three songs work with the detailed parts to also later on reference past aspects of the different sections presented. The same is done with Future Sequence, which also brings in some elements from the EP. Now the lyrics of this release set up the character development and concept of what appears to be a minds journey through space.
ForFuture Sequence is now taking the concept of bringing back ideas in a new way. The song "Extremophile Elite" takes part of on of the concepts in "Specular Reflection", but now has it with different lyrics and a slightly different voicing. Now I've read that some people were disappointed with this record, but for myself I loved it. Give it a listen after Hypersleep Dialogues to decide if this is for you, since I have also seen people list this as one of their favorite releases of the year.
Overall this second part consists of the songs "Goodbye to Everything", "Astral Body", "Lay Your Ghost to Rest", "Autumn", "Extremophile Elite", "Parallax", "The Black Box", "Telos", "Bloom", "Melting City", "Silent Flight Parliament", and "Goodbye to Everything Reprise".
4. Rush - Clockwork Angels The nineteenth album from Canadian prog rock superstars, which won the Album of the Year at the 2012 Prog Awards (that took place in September).
The songs on the album are "Caravan", "BU2B",
"Clockwork Angels",
"The Anarchist",
"Carnies",
"Halo Effect",
"Seven Cities of Gold",
"The Wreckers", "Headlong Flight", "BU2B2", "Wish Them Well", and
"The Garden".
In a young man’s quest to follow his dreams, he is caught between the
grandiose forces of order and chaos. He travels across a lavish and
colorful world of steampunk and alchemy with lost cities, pirates,
anarchists, exotic carnivals, and a rigid Watchmaker who imposes
precision on every aspect of daily life.
There was also a book released to accompany and expand upon the story told in the album, which was also titled Clockwork Angels. This sci-fi novel was written by Kevin J. Anderson, and while I have not read it yet myself I do plan on changing that.
3.Katatonia - Dead End Kings
In their ninth studio album, Katatonia has just as much doom, gloom, and
melancholy as ever, and really diving into the core of their sound.
Though also continuing with a more progressive sound as seen in their
previous album Night Is The New Day.
"Dead End Kings is about the corridors of our mind from where there is no return. Be a king or queen in your own right in these hallways, even at the dead end. Carry your burden with pride. That’s what we are doing, twenty years and counting. Kings, because we believe in what we are creating, in our own disturbing faith." ~ Jonas Renkse
This album I just love, and every song just flows so smoothly together really creating a solid atmosphere for the album. The special edition of Dead End Kings came with two bonus tracks; "Second" and "The Act of Darkening". These two tracks really are strong enough to have been on the album, but even without them the whole work is still wonderful.
The songs "The Parting", "The One You Are Looking For Is Not Here", "Hypnone", "The Racing Heart", "Buildings", "Leech", "Ambitions", "Undo You", "Lethean", "First Prayer", and "Dead Letters".
The album was reviewed by Danny Cavanagh of Anathema in an issue of Metal Hammer (x):
Certain bands, have just got 'it'. It is sometimes difficult to identify just what 'it' is; it's too deep to be called musical quality, and too abstract to be simply put down to good songwriting. It's timeless, and it's not to be either labeled or conceptualized. It's something magical, natural.. like the depth of love, and loss, like the feeling you can't describe - something intangible and beautiful that hangs on the music like an invisible, ethereal perfume. Whatever 'it' is, it's a sure sign of greatness, in any art form, and with Dead End Kings, Katatonia have proved again that they've got it. And they have got it in fucking spades.
2. Anathema - Weather Systems
The perfect soundtrack for an oncoming storm, which brings the listener through nothing less than an emotional journey. This is the ninth album from Anathema, and I really think their strongest one yet. Each song is filled with emotion, as you can expect from them, but such that can just overtake whomever is listening.
This album was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2012 Prog Awards, which while they were beat by Rush, Anathema did however win the award for the best Live Event. I've only seen them live once, in 2011 when it was just Vincent and Danny playing acoustically to open for Blackfield, but just that they put their set together like that after the rest of the band not being able to make it over to the U.S. really says something about their musicianship. Plus they put on such a fantastic performance, they are a band whom I need to see (in full) at some point in my life at least once more.
There's feeling that I can't describe,
a reason that I cannot hide.
I've never seen a light that's so bright,
the light that shines behind your eyes.
I can see this life and what you mean to me
and when I dreamed, I dreamed of you.
Then I wake, tell me what I do.
Songs such as "The Gathering of the Clouds", exhibit several vocal parts layering on top of each other creating a really great blend over the other instruments. Even with how the album opens, with the two part "Untouchable"
The remaining songs on the album are "Lightning Song", "Sunlight", "The Storm Before the Calm", "The Beginning and the End", "The Lost Child", and "Internal Landscapes".
1. Wintersun - Time I
The second album from the Finish folk metal band, brings the first part in an epic tale. Each song on this album is memorable and adds to this journey they are presenting. The music of the whole thing really fits wonderfully with the lyrics (a lot of which I think are just beautiful).
The release of this album suffered many delays, as their first (self-titled) album came out in 2004.
The whole album is five tracks; "When Time Fades Away", "Sons of Winter and Stars", "Land of Snow and Sorrow", "Darkness and Frost", and "Time". Each of these songs just flow from one to the other, where you just don't want the album to end (which is where Time II will come in hopefully this year).
Time will go on and we are drifting away in the night.
I've been searching so long, but I will find you even if it takes my whole life.
But tonight I feel so alone and I know that you are forever gone.
Oh time, don't fade away when I need you here, oh please don't leave me now.
In an interview on Noisecreep, bassist Jukka Koskinen said about their overall sound; "The Wintersun sound is like a movie soundtrack but no one has taken to
the level we have. We have a softer side, a very progressive side, and a
very brutal side to what we do." With how Time I is set up and orchestrated, I really have to agree with this since it really describes it well. There is a certain epic-ness to their sound, but presented in a way that's not 'over the top', but instead just the right way.
Picking only ten albums from this year was difficult, as there was just a vast amount of great music released this past year. The other albums I have listened to from 2012 are as follows, and really the majority of these I would highly recommend listening to anyway. There are a few in here I have not gotten to listen to as much due to just either not having the chance or giving them their first listen more recently and not fully digested them. Which could also maybe in time give a slightly different list than what is above, but those albums really I could not stop listening to (and still feel the same way).
Circa Survive - Violent Waves | Children of Nova - Impossible Landscapes** | Coheed and Cambria - The Afterman: Ascension | Cynic - The Portal Tales | Dark Empire - From Refuge to Ruin| Deftones - Koi No Yokan |Devin Townsend Project - Epicloud | Flying Colors - Flying Colors | Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!| Gojira - L'Enfant Sauvage** | HTDA - An Omen EP | The Human Abstract - Moonlight Sonata |Isis -Temporal| Kayo Dot - Gamma Knife** | Linkin Park - Living Things | Marilyn Manson - Born Villain | The Mars Volta - Noctourniquet**| Meshuggah - Koloss | Metric - Synthetica | Muse - The 2nd Law*| Neurosis - Honor Found in Decay** | No-Man - Love and Endings | Paradise Lost - Tragic Idol | The Pineapple Thief - All The Wars** | Placebo - B3 EP | Porcupine Tree - Octane Twisted| Sigur Rós - Valtari | Silversun Pickups - Neck of the Woods | The Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania | Soen - Cognitive | Soundgarden - King Animal | Storm Corrosion - Storm Corrosion*/** | Swans - The Seer | Serj Tankian - Harakiri | Testament - Dark Roots of Earth | T.R.A.M. - Lingua Franca | Trioscapes - Separate Realities | Steven Wilson - Get All You Deserve
* These albums I have already written a review of in previous posts (specifically in 2nd Law of Muse and "..and how prog is that? (-;"). ** Close runner ups to the "top 10" that easily could have been included.
Even with those two lists, there are still many albums I have not gotten the chance to listen to. Ones I have been meaning to, and will eventually when I have access to them, are the following:
Absent Hearts - August Earth | Agalloch - Faustian Echoes| Art By Numbers - Reticence: The Musical | Atoma - Skylight | Be'lakor - Of Breath and Bone | Beardfish - The Void | Being As An Ocean - Dear G-d… | The Big Pink - Future This | Bilocate - Summoning the Bygones | The Birthday Massacre - Hide and Seek | Car Bomb - w^w^^w^w | Cloudkicker - Fade | The Contortionist - Intrinsic | Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind | De Profundis - The Emptiness Within | Deathspell Omega - Drought | Dissona - Dissona | Eluveitie - Helvetios | Ensigerum - Unsung Heroes | Enslaved - RIITIIR | Epica - Requiem for the Indifferent | Eths - III | The Faceless - Autotheism | The Flower Kings - Banks of Eden | Gavin Harrison & 05Ric - The Man Who Sold Himself | Gazpacho - March of Ghosts | Grizzly Bear - Shields | Steve Hackett - Genesis Revisited II | Headspace - I Am Anonymous | Ian Anderson - Thick as a Brick 2 | In the Silence - A Fair Dream Gone Mad | Ihsahn -Eremita | Jon Durant and Colin Edwin - Burnt Belief | Kamelot - Silverthorn | Lamb of God - Resolution | Les Discrets - Ariettes oubliées | Marillion - Sounds That Can't Be Made | Paul McCartney - Kisses on the Bottom | Mestis - Basal Ganglia | Mothlite - Dark Age | My Dying Bride - A Map of All Our Failures | Napalm Death - Utilitarian | Nile - At the Gate of Sethu | Nifty Breed - Keep Quiet | No Doubt - Push and Shove | North Atlantic Oscillation - Fog Electric | Nosound - At the Pier | Old Man Gloom - No | OSI - Fire Make Thunder | Periphery - Periphery II | Pig Destroyer - Book Burner | Sonata Arctica - Stones Grow Her Name | Stolen Babies - Naught | Tenacious D - Rize of the Fenix | Vaura - Selenion | Ulver - Childhood's End | Jack White - Blunderbuss
Well I hope you have enjoyed my top ten list, there were just so many fantastic albums that came out in 2012, and I expect so many more to be released this year. Hopefully not forgetting some, I believe some groups that have albums set to release (or at least a likely possibility) are; Atoms for Peace, Black Sabbath, Cult of Luna, Cynic, Dir en Grey, Dream Theater, Ghost, How to Destroy Angels, Kill Hannah, Mastodon, Nine Inch Nails, Riverside, Steven Wilson, and Wintersun. I'm sure I'm missing some here, but I know as time goes on that will change. Any way, I look forward to all the new music that has yet to be released.
Note: I may edit this slightly later on, but only with additional comments for the albums I have in the top ten. I wouldn't be changing the order or anything, I just know me and that I will probably not get as much time to get to that immediately since my semester begins tomorrow. And if I do not change anything from what I have now, I hope you enjoy it either way.
Symphony of the Goddesses is essentially heaven for anyone familiar with The Legend of Zelda series. This concept was put together for the 25th anniversary of the series, which began in 2011 with only three concerts under the title of "The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Symphony"; Tokyo, Los Angeles, and London. Following this there was a CD released consisting of recordings of pieces some of which were performed at these concerts, which was released with the special edition of Skyward Sword.
Possibly the most notable aspect of this concert is the centerpiece which in a way derives from the title of the whole tour, Symphony of the Goddesses. This would be the multi-movement work that is put together, which tells the audience the story of the goddesses, how they have impacted the land of Hyrule, and our lovely hero Link. But this whole work, which has four main movements, is a tribute to the mythology which is presented throughout the series, of the goddesses Din, Nayru, and Farore whom also make up the iconic triforce.
The typical program of the concerts in the tour is the following, which can also be found on the official Zelda Symphony website;
~ACT I~
Overture
~INTERLUDES~
Dungeons of Hyrule
Kakariko Village ~ Hope and Calm
Songs of the Hero
~THE SYMPHONY~
Prelude ~ The Creation of Hyrule
Movement I ~ Ocarina of Time
Movement II ~ The Wind Waker
~ACT II~
Intermezzo ~ Great Fairy's Fountain
Movement III ~ Twilight Princess
Movement IV ~ A Link To The Past
Finale
This is the basic template for the tour, however each city is gong to
get a different encore. Each orchestra however is going to be different,
as they are composed of local musicians from that city. Which to me
really makes this performance all the more special and meaningful, and
gives me hope as a musician if they continue these sorts of tours to one
day be a part of playing the music to my favorite game series.
The
conductor remains the same, and she was the fantastic Eímear Noone, who
has done numerous conduction for video game orchestrations in both
concert and the studio including notable works such as World of Wardcraft, Starcraft II, and Diablo III.
She has also worked outside of the video game realm into the
"classical" world where in 2007 she conducted the Los Angeles Ballet's
production of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.
In case you
can't tell, I find all of this fascinating and love getting to look into
the details of the performers, conductor, and all of that information
especially as the focus of the show is Zelda. The performance of video
game music in an orchestral concert setting seems to be becoming more
common with this tour, as well as the popular concert series Video Games
Live (plus the upcoming Distant Worlds concert to feature music from Final Fantasy). I love every aspect of these shows, and really hope that this is
the sort of thing that grows to being more common.
My only
complaint I could have with this is not with the concert and performers,
but the audience. From Symphony of the Goddesses and when I saw Video
Game Live, I noticed the audience members are not really familiar with
the proper concert educate in regards to orchestras. I know that yes
these shows are predominantly catering towards the gaming crowd, but
still some things like not clapping between movements or making comments
during a piece should be common knowledge. But anyway, aside from that
little detour the whole performance is just fantastic.
The concert of this tour that I saw was the performance in the Theater
at Madison Square Garden, on November 28, 2012. For this performance,
the performers were the Orchestra of St. Luke's and the Dessoff Choirs.
Before the orchestra began the second movement of the main Symphony, Eímear Noone went to take out a very special baton. Specifically one that was a replica of what Link uses in The Wind Waker, fitting for how the second movement is for that game. Just the details like that really add to the whole experience.
One thing particularly special about the show I saw at the Garden was that they did three encores. The first two, were "Ballad of the Windfish" and "Gerudo Valley". Now before the third and final piece, Jeron Moore the producer of Symphony of the Goddesses began with “The number three resonates a lot in the Zelda series.” Saying that basically made everyone completely cheer with joy knowing that we would be getting to hear more of such lovely music, and the show closed with a medley for "Majora's Mask" (which the video above is for).
The whole performance was just amazing, from the performers musicianship, the fantastic arrangements of the music from the series, and the videos which accompanied the pieces. Like one part I just loved was when the brass came in during the section for the "Dawn of the Final Day" of the Majora's Mask medley changing the whole tone of the piece. But anyway.. if you love Zelda, or just have an appreciation for music, go out and see this concert as it is just a great experience.
This past weekend was the New York Comic Con, which was located at the Javits Center in Manhattan. This four day event is huge, as far as the guests who are there and the mass amount of people that show up to it. Some of the guests that were there this year included Adam West, Stan Lee, Carrie Fisher, Christopher Lloyd, Peter Davidson, Sean Astin, Tom Felton, and Robert Kirkman (as well as many others). This was my first time attending after many years of wanting to go, I finally got to with a one day pass for Saturday.
One thing to expect is enormous crowds with at least 2/3 of the people there in cosplay. There is a whole floor set to the various venders selling merchandise, an area for all the artists who are either signing, displaying, or selling their work, a bunch of spots for panels or screenings to occur, an area for certain guests to be signing autographs, and just a whole mass of booths set up where I would not be able to list them all. The whole experience is really fantastic though, seeing so many people in costume of their favorite characters, and just the wide variety of people who attend the convention all with common interests.
A major guest and panel for this year was various cast members from The Walking Dead. Outside the Javits Center they had the van set up with the actual zombies from the show, who were interacting with the crowd outside. Not once did they break character, and the detail of their makeup was amazing. It was really cool, they even would post for photos as you can see with me being attacked by them. This was so much fun, which made it really hard to hide my smile here since it was just so cool. Props to all the people involved with putting this all together, and really adding to the whole convention.
In addition to the zombies there was also Jeffrey DeMunn, who was Dale in the show outside taking pictures with people. All of this was occurring while people were waiting outside to get in (or back inside) during the afternoon. Now the reason for this major amount of dead at the convention was due to the panel for the show, and that the season premier was the following day. The panel however I did not get to see due to the vast amount of people who had just attended earlier panels and sat through them to make sure they would be in for The Walking Dead. So that is one of the downsides to the day, but I had a great time and I found an upload on YouTube that I shall watch later on, so not all is lost. But I am just so thrilled that I got to meet with some of the cast, and interact with the zombies as they poked and sniffed the various people around them.
Meeting Jeffrey DeMunn
There were a few people that I really wanted to meet, and two of which I did get to were the artists Yoshitaka Amano and Ben Templesmith. I was just so excited to meet them since I love their art, and they each signed some of my books (Amano signed Vampire Hunter D: Vol. 1 and Templesmith signed 30 Days of Night: Omnibus). If you are unfamiliar with either of them, go and check out some of their work since it's really amazing.
Another panel that I really wanted to see was the Firefly 10th Anniversary one, and that one I did not due to a similar situation with The Walking Dead. Basically some cast members from the show (Jewel Straite and Sean Maher) were just there to discuss Firefly and it's movie Serenity, while also answering questions from the fans. Knowing that Nathan Fillion made a surprise appearance makes me wish even more that I could have been there.
Though I shall watch through any uploads on YouTube (I believe I saw the whole thing up even if it was in parts), and later do a write up on it as well as The Walking Dead one. Now this little write up can't really describe the whole comic con experience, and I only have a few photos up here. The only way to fully grasp the whole experience is to go to one of these conventions yourself one day (if that's what interests you). I hope that maybe you will, as it is a ton of fun on top of being a tad tiring. And as of right now, I plan on attending again next year.
Now a little off topic from the whole music theme I have going here (and a little less formal)..
Since the New York Comic Con/Anime Festival is coming up, I thought I should take the time to discuss a similar type of event that I went to. Back in the spring, April 1st, I went to my first convention I-CON31 located at Stony Brook University. For those who are unaware, I-CON is a sci-fi/fantasy convention that takes place every year.
For me my two main reasons for going was that I had never been to any
sort of convention before, and that Paul McGann who played the Eighth
Doctor was going to be there. Since this was really last minute deciding to go, I didn't really get to prepare a cosplay. So I just did a quick Dib (from Invader Zim) cosplay with stuff I had lying around, since I already owned a shirt like the one he wears in the show and the rest is just all black. Anyway, like you would expect at a convention there were tons of people all in fantastic cosplays.
The whole convention was all across the campus of Stony Brook
University. The main focus of all the panels was really science fiction
related, but also a lot for anime. As from what I understand to be standard for cons, there was a whole floor dedicated to venders/dealers selling various merchandise. For any fandom, it is like a candy shop of almost anything and everything you can think of. There were even some tables, not relating to any fandom or series, that were just selling their work (some of which was of obvious fantasy as well as medieval/renaissance influence).
During the day there was a Doctor Who mega-panel, and the end of the panel I actually got to meet Paul McGann (which as you can see from the photo above I was completely thrilled about). I've loved Doctor Who since I was in middle school, and watched all of the Eighth Doctor through the present, with some old series episodes here and there. So I was just so psyched about this whole thing, and still can't believe I got to meet one of the Doctor's!
Earlier I had gotten to meet him when he was doing autographs, were I got a photo from the 1996 TV movie signed. But here he was just so friendly to all the fans, taking pictures with people, and even suggested for everyone to come together for a group picture (that is below). I didn't get to meet many people, but with really only meeting one of the guests I am just glad it was him. So also, if you haven't watched the 1996 movie, you are missing out (as I am still with the audio drama's, but that shall be fixed at some point).
The Doctor Who mega-panel consisted Paul McGann (obviously), Daphne
Ashbrook, Frazer Hines, and Colin Spaull. This was where they just
talked about their involvement with Doctor Who, as well as answering
some questions from fans, which was hosted by Ken Deep. It lasted for
Now here we have what was really completely wonderful, of Paul McGann reading the speech that the First Doctor originally said in the episode "The Dalek Invasion of Earth". This is just so touching and fantastic, seriously watch it now.
Aside from meeting the Eighth Doctor and going to view the Doctor Who mega-panel, I also attended what was about the last 30 min of “Doctor Who Lives On”, part of a discussion on The Lord of the Rings, as well as a bunch of time checking out the dealers floor. There was also a bit of time walking around the campus to the different buildings where things were being held, which takes time but also allowed me to see more of peoples costumes and what was occurring outside. Even though I only went to one day, and not even a full day at that due to it being last minute, I am eagerly awaiting the upcoming I-CON 32.
While I'm at it here is another paper that was an assignment, but this time from a little further back. This was for my IB Music musical investigation my senior year of high school, where you have to compare two pieces of music from different styles and time periods. Yes some of what is stated may seem obvious, but for the exam you really had to demonstrate that you know even what seems like the most basic of musical concepts. Well, I hope that you find this comparison and investigation to be of some interest..
The Native American piece “Qimmiruluapik” and “Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict” from Pink Floyd have many similarities between each other. One significant connection between these two pieces is that they both use the human voice in ways that are not usually heard. Pink Floyd's piece “Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict” uses electronic manipulations of the human voice to produce sounds that resemble that of animals, various sounds of nature, and even to an extent, throat singing. The piece “Qimmiruluapik” is a piece that uses a throat-singing technique throughout the whole piece to imitate the sounds of nature, and daily life.
“Qimmiruluapik” is a Native American piece from Eastern North America, specifically the Inuit tribe of Canada with it's use of throat-singing, which is currently reappearing in a tradition which uses katajjaq[1]. To produce the sound of throat-singing with the katajjaq language, it is typical for two women facing each other, where one begins a rhythmic pattern, followed by the other then filling in the gaps with their own rhythmic pattern in response to the initial starting pattern.
Throat singing pieces tend to focus on rhythms, syllables, inhalation and exhalation, as well as any contrast between the sounds made by each person's voice. When singing these patterns, the fact that the two women face each other making the transitions between sections easier for them both to hear.[2] In addition to this, the throat-singing is also accompanied by another rhythm of shuffling their feet. “Qimmiruluapik” starts with a slower pulse, with an accelerando starting within the first five seconds, and then staying relatively close to the new tempo, with just a little bit of an accelerando later on in the piece.
The words they are singing can either be actual words, or nonsense that the singer creates while exhaling. These throat singing pieces are generally intended to imitate the sounds that would be heard in every day life. Such sounds that tend to be imitated in throat-singing pieces are a river, puppy, motor boat, mosquito, or even the polishing of sled runners.
The piece “Qimmiruluapik” has a consistent creepy mood to it. This type of piece had originated as a form of entertainment for the women who were left home when the men left to go hunting. It sometimes would be considered more of a game, but in a musical throat-singing piece, there are phrases marked by repeated notes at the ends of phrases. “Qimmiruluapik” is actually focusing on a well known story about a small puppy who his in the entrance of an igloo. The two women in the piece described their performance as imitating the puppy's hunger cries. While another version of the story the piece is based on tells of a little girl who made the piece so the runt of the litter will grow to become stronger, and eventually the leader of the dogsled pack.
“Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict” from Pink Floyd takes various statements that the band says, which they wither speed up or slow down the recordings of to produce what sounds like a bunch of small animals in nature. Later on the piece you can hear spoken lyrics over the distorted sounds starting at 3:44 and going on until the very end of the piece.
While the lyrics are not distorted through being speed up or slowed down, they are spoken in an overly exaggerated Scottish brogue, or an accent and dialect, making it hard to make out what exactly is being said. At around 4:34 you can hear spoken words of “That was pretty avant-garde, wasn't it?” if you play it at half speed. Small sayings and noises like that add up to create “Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict” from speeding up and slowing down all the recordings of the band members voices, none of which were reversed or played backwards. The sounds produced from this speeding up and down of the recordings of their voice produced sounds that resemble animals, such as birds, monkeys, and chipmunks. At times the piece even has some sections where the vocals are resembling that of throat singing. This is most noticeable with the loud inhalations and exhalations being part of the rhythm in the particular section between 1:12 and around 3:40 in the piece.
This piece also does not seem to have a constant rhythmic pulse to determine a time signature, but have more of a musique concrète feel to it. In an interview with the University of Regina Carillon in October of 1970, Roger Waters was asked about the point of “Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict”.
He responded saying “It's not actually anything, it's a bit of concrete poetry. Those were sounds that I made, the voice and the hand slapping were all human generated - no musical instruments.”
Musique concrète is a specific type of electronic music, started by Pierre Schaeffer. It became popular after World War II, when people were looking into electronics as a new type of music. In the beginning of musique concrète, the composing of it consisted primarily of recordings of ordinary sounds and noises, such as railroads, eating, or walking.
“Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict” takes this musique concrète concept of using ordinary noises, such as voices and the tapping on a microphone. The piece also uses these noises to imitate the sounds of nature, as well as various small animals as the title suggests. The usage of ordinary sounds and noises, or imitating the noises of every day life, can also relate to “Qimmiruluapik”. With that piece, and with throat-singing in general, the piece is imitating the sounds of nature and everyday life.
Since the Pink Floyd piece, “Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict” does not have a constant rhythm or metric pulse, it would be in free meter. Typically a “pop” song by a band would be in common time, but with the experimental qualities of this piece, it also has no rhythmic pulse to determine a meter. For a piece to have a meter, it must be able to be recorded in measures which must have a specific number of “beats”, or pulses to them. “Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict” does not include pulses to count to determine a measure, but instead has no constant rhythm and just follows a musique concrète form.
“Qimmiruluapik” does have noticeable pulses, but due to the various accelerando's within the piece, it is hard to determine a meter for the piece. So for the throat-singing within “Qimmiruluapik”, it does have pulses, but they are not presented in a way in which you can determine a meter for the piece. So therefore, both “Qimmiruluapik” and Pink Floyd's piece are non-metric.
Both the pieces “Qimmiruluapik” and “Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict” have many similarities. Both of these pieces incorporate the human voice, but present it in a way that one might not recognize immediately, with neither of them really being pitched. One using electronic equipment, and the other using throat-singing. These two pieces also both are using the human voice to mimic sounds heard within daily life and nature. To a point the vocal techniques in the pieces make it difficult to immediately distinguish that they are only the human voice.
[1] Katajjaq is one of the names for throat-singing in the Inuit language, Inuktitut. Other names for throat-singing within the language are pirkusirtuk and nipaquhiit, which depends on the region for which would be used.
[2] Transitions and changes in throat singing music, are known as sanquagusiit. They can be transitions between patterns in the piece, or in the sounds being made in general.
[3] Inuit tribe is located within Canada, and is well known for their unique vocal techniques, such as throat singing which is only in a few cultures in the world.
[4] Pict was a tribe of people from northern Britain around the 9th century AD. The Pict's had co-founded with the Scots, the kingdom of Scotland.
Pink Floyd. "Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict." Ummagumma. 1969. CD.
Amaroalik, Lucy. "Qimmiruluapik." Native American Music in Eastern North America. OXFORD World Music. 2008. CD.
Diamond, Beverley. "Musical and Historical Encounter: Inuit Communities." OXFORD Native American Music in North America. New York: Oxford UP, 2008. 35-59. Print. Diamond, Beverley. "Musical and Historical Encounter: Inuit Communities." OXFORD Native American Music in North America. New York, N.Y.: Oxford UP, 2008. 35-59. Print.
Russcol, Herbert. The Liberation of Sound: An Introduction to Electronic Music. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1972. Print.
Sadie, Stanley, ed. The New GROVE Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol. 12. Macnillan Limited, 1980. Print.
"Pink Floyd - Behind The Wall." The Pink Floyd Fan Club. University of Regina Carillon Interview. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://www.pink-floyd.org/artint/urc101970.htm>.
"Inuit Throat Singing: Encyclopedia II - Inuit Throat Singing - Inuit Throat Singing." Enlightenment - The Experience Festival. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Inuit_throat_singing_-_Inuit_Throat_Singing/id/5202815>.
"Backward Satanic Messages- Reader Comments -The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com." The Skeptic's Dictionary. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://skepdic.com/comments/backcom.html>
"Throat Singing: Encyclopedia II - Throat Singing - Traditional Styles." Enlightenment - The Experience Festival. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Throat_singing_-_Traditional_Styles/id/2062003>.
"Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict by Pink Floyd Songfacts." Song Meanings at Songfacts. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=6593>.
"Simple Meter Simplified." Learn Piano Online at the Key-notes Virtual Piano Studio by Albert Frantz. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://www.key-notes.com/simple-meter.html>.
Keeping in theme of music related posts, I have this little update to post. Here we have what was a paper for one of my classes last semester on the scandalous musical figure, Carlo Gesualdo. For those who are unaware, well, here is some brief knowledge on the Renaissance composer. I figured that I am starting to work on a paper for a related class this semester, I could post this in the mean time. Now there is a lot that can be added, but as I said, this is just some brief information that I hope to prove useful for whomever comes across it. I've also included my citations, which I would highly recommend reading if you find this interesting (or you yourself have a paper to write)..
Carlo Gesualdo was an infamous Italian composer from the Renaissance period. He is most notable for the murder of his wife and her lover, as well as the excessive use of chromaticism in his music.
Gesualdo was an aristocrat and had published his music, both of these aspects were out or the ordinary for composers of the time. Part of the reason behind that was his music was one of the earliest examples of a complete printed score. But from his childhood, Gesualdo was involved in music through the lute,harpsichord, and singing.
A notable aspect of his life, was that he was the only major composer of the time who did not have to write for and please a patron. He wrote both sacred and secular music, and most notably his madrigals.
For two years,Gesualdo's wife Donna Maria d'Avalos was having a affair with Don Fabrizio Carafa, who was the Duke of Andria. During that time Donna Marie and Don Fabrizio would allegedly bribe the servants to keep their actions secret.
After hearing rumors of his wife having an affair, Gesualdo had barged in on Donna Maria and her lover to whom he had then murdered. The murder of the two is believed to have been part of a trap Gesualdo set up, where they would meet when they believed it to be safe. He killed them both when catching them in the act by stabbing them multiple times followed by him ordering the public display of their naked bodies
Due to the nature of the murders, there were multiple rumors that were formed around Gesualdo. A lot of these rumors dramatize his crime, as well as his actions after the fact. He became a sort of legend due to the nature of his crimes. Even to this day the nature of his crimes, and the music he composed, remains an interest to scholars.
While he is most well known for his madrigals, Gesualdo did also write a fair amount of sacred music. He had four books of his sacred music published, which included Sacrae Cantiones I, for five voices (1603), Tenebrae Responsories for Maundy Thursday, for six voices (1611), Tenebrae Responsories for Good Friday, for six voices (1611), and Tenebrae Responsories for Holy Saturday, for six voices (1611).
Throughout his life, Gesualdo wrote many madrigals which were originally compiled into six different books. These books included Book I (Madrigali libro primo), for five voices (1594), Book II (Madrigili libro secondo), for five voices (1594), Book III (Madrigali libro terzo), for five voices (1595), Book IV (Madrigali libro quarto), for five voices, (1596), Book V (Madrigali libro quinto), for five voices (1611), and Book VI (Madrigali libro sesto), for five voices (1611). Books I-IV were written in the town of Ferrara, while books V-VI were written in the town of Gesualdo.
Even with the use of chromaticism, Gesualdo manages to avoid using jumps in intervals of the tritone, diminished sixths, and sevenths. In addition to this and the complexity of his music, he does not have many large jumps within individual lines.
Igor Stravinsky was fascinated with Gesualdo's madrigals, l lot of which was because of the unconventional chromaticism. When talking about Gesualdo's music, Stravinsky has said the following:
"... as Gesualdo’s mode of expression is dramatic, highly intimate, and very much in earnest, he weights the traditional madrigal of poised sentiments and conceits, of amorous delicacies and indelicacies, with a heavy load."
Much of the text of his madrigals had very a sensual theme to the text. Although often times madrigals in general would have this sort of theme for their text. Some people link the sort of text used for his works, to his own actions within his life. Specifically after the murder of his cousin who was also his first wife, during his second marriage he would apparently often cheat on his wife with others. This would then draw a connection between his life and the sensual theme of some of his madrigals.
A distinct aspect of Gesualdo's works, a his use of chromaticism. He would typically use chromaticism in order to highlight certain words or phrases within a piece. As example of this is within his work “Io Parto”, which was written for five voices. This composition uses unexpected chromaticism as well as some unusual rhythms for the time period that it was written
Within the Sacrae Cantiones the texts were chosen that often have a first person narrative, which tend to be asking God for forgiveness. This could be interpreted as a representation of his own inner discontent.
Gesualdo was not the only composer who used chromaticism at the time, but his use was far more extensive than other composers. He also made use of rhythms uncommon for the time, as well as using word painting through his chromaticism to accent and bring out certain words of a piece.
Rowland, Daniel B. Mannerism: Style and mood : An anatomy of four works in three art forms. New Haven: Elliots Books, 1964.
Borowitz, Albert. Musical mysteries: From Mozart to John Lennon. Kent, OH: Kent State UP, 2010.
"Don Carlo Gesualdo." Don Carlo Gesualdo - Principe dei musica. <http://www.gesualdo.co.uk/>.
"Biography - Carlo Gesualdo (Bio 1952)." Teploff's Music Collection. <http://www.mymusicbase.ru/PPB/ppb19/Bio_1952.htm>.
"Don Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, Count of Conza (1561 - 1613)." Classical CD Reviews.<http://www.musicweb-international.com/gesualdo.htm>.
Estrella, Espie. "Carlo Gesualdo: A Look Into a Brilliant Yet Troubled Mind." Music Education.<http://musiced.about.com/od/famousmusicians1/a/cgesualdo.htm>.
.png)
