Jun 012013
Sounds of the Hall in roughly 33 1/3 minutes!
This mix is a big free-for-all of Japanese bands & bands with Japanese members in an all-star monster rally of epic proportions in an all-out rumble!
[Note: You can add Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your iTunes by clicking here. The Rock Town Hall feed will enable you to easily download Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your digital music player.]
I just started listening and decided to take a quick break to comment on the Godzilla Theme. It clearly owes a debt to Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” which coincidentally just had it’s 100th anniversary of it’s first performance (and accompanied by the Ballet Russe) this week.
I’ve attached a clip from the 1989 restaging by the Joffrey Ballet. This was a big deal at the time: they brought back the original Nijinsky choreography, which you can tell from the clip was a bit surprising to the Paris audiences of the time. They were expecting diaphanous tulle and femininity; they got bear skins, braids and turned in feet. Shocking! Note the similarity of music starting at the 3:00 mark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF1OQkHybEQ
C and I just went to see an amazing exhibit at the Smithsonian on the Ballet Russe. You would have dug it — they had all kinds of original art for costume/set design, multimedia clips of recent performances– it was just marvy.
I’m digging this episode, Slim Jade. I’m about halfway through it and relieved not to hear any jagged “pop” songs with infantile Japanese woman voices…whoops, I typed too soon! The music of this song around the 28-minute mark isn’t bad, but that infantile singing is annoying and unnecessary. It’s like watching Louis Malle’s Pretty Baby on fast-forward, so you can quickly get to the parts with a nude, preteen whateverhernamewas.
The Japanese version of that Link Wray-style song that follows does nothing for me either. I can’t say I really appreciate Link Wray either, so that’s not saying much.
What was the atmospheric piece that occasionally shifted into Beach Boys harmonies? I actually like that, even though I was thinking it must by by that Japanese Mother’s Basement artist a lot of people dig…he has one name…yes, Cornelius, as you just announced. That and the previous songs were more to my liking. I imagined Peta Wilson from USA’s great La Femme Nikita series prancing across my office with that damn, sexy assassin of a lover Michael keeping an eye on her from a darkened corner.
More later on the second half of this show!
Playlist:
Akira Ifukube – Godzilla Main Title
Boris – Introduction
Buffalo Daughter – Brush Your Teeth
DJ Krush with DJ Shadow – Duality
Cornelius – Clash
Deerhoof – Flower
Guitar Wolf – Rumble
Ground Zero – Paraiso 1
Michio Kurihara – Fuzzy Reactor
Acid Mothers Temple – Sweet Juicy Lucy
High Rise – Mira
Musica Transonic – ΛYΓYBPIOYΣ
Keiji Haino, Jim O’Rourke, & Oren Ambarchi – Now While It’s Still Warm Let Us Pour In All the Mystery
bonus: Gojira roar!
Here’s a summary of my reaction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4A8zg0TNQQ
Ooooo! The Ballet Russe provided the repertoire of most “classical” ballet companies. You must have seen some great stuff.
I agree about Cornelius. His album, “Point” is one of my favorites. The album has a variety of great rhythms and references including bossa nova, funk, electronica. Here’s one track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPN3EqB3hlI
And a summary of mine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cVlTeIATBs