+KHAOS+ EP.21: A BEAUTIFUL CATASTROPHE
+KHAOS+ EP.21: A BEAUTIFUL CATASTROPHE
While Milo and Ed hurry back to their spaceship, they watch the breathtaking sight of disintegrated parts of Ellea heading towards earth, causing irrevocable mass destruction.
+Author’s Comment+
Note: Godspeed You! Black Emperor does not make music fit for formulating opinions quickly. I expect to listen to this record several more times before I feel comfortable with my thoughts on it, and as such, my review will primarily be my immediate reactions to it. This isn’t because I think their music is just that deep; they just make really long, densely arranged music. Also, I thought I would mention that because the song titles are quite long, I’ll be referring to them by their specific movements as done on streaming services. But, anyway, on to the review.
The Canadian music collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor has been making some of the most essential music in the experimental scene for nearly three decades, with multiple classic records under their belt, most famously their 1997 debut F♯ A♯ ∞, and 2000 follow-up Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven. Although they took a break from 2003 to 2010, their more recent output has been quality as well; while I haven’t heard each of the four records they’ve released since returning, their Polaris Music Prize-winning comeback album Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!, is arguably my personal favorite release of theirs. G_d’s Pee at State’s End!, their seventh album, continues their tradition of making sprawling, deeply political music (they announced it with a list of demands, including to empty the prisons, end imperialism, and tax the rich). In a similar format to Allelujah, the album is made up of two longer tracks sequenced around two short ones, though on streaming services the longer tracks are split into four and two songs, respectively.
“Military Alphabet (five eyes all blind) [4521.0kHz 6730.0kHz 4109.09kHz]” is, like most Godspeed album openers, slow and unassuming, building tension with droning sounds and recordings of radio transmissions. After a surprisingly simple, catchy guitar line, it transitions into the next movement, “Job’s Lament”. While not the most interesting piece on the album, mainly due to the ascending melody and static chord progression becoming somewhat stale, the chugging guitar riffs and 3/4 time signature make for an admirable performance, like watching the group jam on a single idea for eight minutes. “First of the Last Glaciers” is much more enjoyable in my mind. With its swaying, hypnotic rhythm and powerful drums, it’s one of the most cinematic parts of the record. And to close out the first song, “where we break how we shine (ROCKETS FOR MARY)” is a short recording simply of birds chirping and what I’m assuming are rockets going off. It’s a bit strange, but I’d expect nothing less.
The first interlude, “Fire at Static Valley”, is a droning track primarily made up of chiming, delay-heavy guitars, eerie strings, and a steady kick drum. It’s a nice moment of calm, giving the listener a moment to breathe before the second longform piece, starting with “”GOVERNMENT CAME” (9980.0kHz 3617.1kHz 4521.0 kHz)”. On first listen, I was pretty surprised by this one. The first few minutes following the vocal snippets are some of the heaviest I’ve heard on a Godspeed album, full of distorted bass and sharp guitars. It sounds sort of gothic, or even metal-inspired. From then on, the track adds strings and some real tight drumming in a lumbering crescendo ending in layers of instrumentation getting tangled with each other. It’s chaotic, and quite impressive. Following this, “Cliffs Gaze / cliffs’ gaze at empty waters’ rise / Ashes to Sea or Nearer to Thee” is a decent movement to close out the piece. The buzzing drone that takes up the first half of the song isn’t bad, but the end is far more engaging. The driving rhythm section and triumphant lead melodies are straightforward and genuinely uplifting, a sound that reminds me of one of the best songs from the group, “We Drift Like Worried Fire”.
The record closes with “OUR SIDE HAS TO WIN (For D.H.)”, a six-minute string piece that completely blew me away. It is my favorite song on the record, and one of my favorites by the group in general. I don’t know how to describe it other than that it is absolutely stunning. The “D.H.” the song is dedicated to is Dirk Hugsam, a tour agent and friend of many Constellation Records artists, who died in late 2018. I think it’s a testament to just how communal and personally involved Godspeed are as a collective that they could have written such a devastating, singular piece to honor someone important in their lives.
Overall, this is a great record. It’s not an entirely unique project for the group at this point in their career, but it’s great simply by virtue of coming from them. The pieces are arranged, produced, and performed well, as with all of their work. If anything, it’s different for their outlook. While they’re not exactly making happy music, it seems as if there’s something bright in the songs amongst all the darkness. Even if they know things are pretty hopeless, it’s comforting to hear them sound so hopeful. As they said in their record announcement, “this record is about all of us waiting for the end… this record is about all of us waiting for the beginning”. This record showed me the nature of Godspeed You! Black Emperor as a collective of people, rather than just a band. It’s more than just the music, it’s what the music represents: human connection, basic rights, an end to capitalism’s destruction of society and the earth. While it might not be their best release, at the very least it affirms there’s something worth sticking around for, despite all the shit going on: each other.
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The group addresses the political and personal sentiments behind the record in a statement accompanying its announcement, which you can read here. I highly recommend checking it out, as it’s actually quite beautifully written.
Hello everyone! This is week 8 of Laying Down the Sound. In this video, I highlight the various constituent guitar, vocal, and percussion parts that comprise the second half of my song “Unraveling.” Most of the video features commentary on recordings present within Ableton, but some segments are instead dedicated to demonstrating how certain guitar parts are played. The entire second half of the song is here covered, meaning that this video marks the last episode of the series focused on “Unraveling.” I did not intend for this video to be so long, but I hope you enjoy the in-depth dive! Thanks for watching!
Davidsbündlertänze is a piece written by Robert Schumann that I’ve been working on lately. I’ll be playing it on my senior recital next year and also using it for graduate school auditions.
Davidsbündlertänze is one of the crown jewels of the romantic piano literature. It’s a work composed of eighteen character pieces divided into two books, each representative of Florestan or Eusebius– Schumann’s characters. Florestan represents the manic, masculine, and passionate side of Schumann while Eusebius represents the dreamy, melancholy, and introverted side. Throughout Schumann’s music and life these characters are used to express his opinions on music (he was a music reviewer for a journal). In fact, these characters are fleshed out in the earlier more well known piece Carnaval. It seems impossible to separate the composer’s life from his music. Music was Schumann’s life. His family had wanted him to study law, yet while doing so, he was irresistibly drawn to making and writing music.
These two characters are different sides of the same coin. Florestan and Eusebius guide use through the eighteen movements which are noted with either or both of their initials at the end of each movement much like a writer would sign his letters.
I’m playing the original version of the piece which is the one more often played. Schumann revised this work but somehow excised the most original and innovative material, as if in rejection of his manic genius. This work is a culmination of Schumann, his personality, his love, and his despair. I want to focus on his love: his love for Clara and his love for music. To understand this all consuming love, we first have to understand his personality and the characterization of Florestan and Eusebius. Florestan is the masculine side of him, the conquering hero of the legend, powerful and fearless. Eusebius is his feminine side, a quiet poet, spinning dreamy and ethereal tales of love and despair.
What in the music indicates these two opposing characters?
The Piece is prefaced with this quote
Alter Spruch
In all und jeder Zeit
Verknüpft sich Lust und Leid:
Bleibt fromm in Lust und seid
Dem Leid mit Mut bereit
Old saying
In each and every age
joy and sorrow are mingled:
Remain pious in joy,
and be ready for sorrow with courage.
Opening
The opening movement is a movement that portrays both F and E. It also incorporates a quote from a Mazurka written by Clara Schumann in the very opening. The “motto von C.W.” is referring to the piece that Clara Wieck (maiden name) wrote. As you can see, it’s a direct quote.
This is a homage to his future wife and is in a way paying respect to her. It’s quite the choice to open with such a strong and masculine opening. It contrasts and balances with the feminine idea of her character. In his eyes, she is the ideal woman that drives his desires and is ultimately the end goal. Clara is a child prodigy, the daughter of his piano teacher, and his future wife. He had to fight to marry her as her father was very opposed to their union.
So why exactly is the representation of Clara in this piece so masculine driving?
Robert felt emasculated by Clara in many ways. She was the hands down the better pianist. She was world famous and would tour Europe on the regular. Robert dreamed of her life and skill at the piano- yet ended up injured and becoming more of a writer and composer instead. Clara was also a working woman- capable of making more money than Robert could.
Perhaps the inclusion of the quote is just to keep Clara on his mind as he wanders through his psyche and the night of music to be held. With this opening movement, he introduces three characters, Clara, Florestan and Eusebius. F and E trade remarks throughout the first page, melding into each other. They use the same phrase and notes, as if they are talking and using the same words but with a completely different meaning and context. The only divergence that indicates either character is the different harmony and dynamic.
2. innig (intimate/heartfelt)
The expressions of his future with his Clara are seen through the lens of each Florestan and Eusebius. With each movement, we see a different future, thought, or feeling that he has on his future marriage.
with 2. Innig, we see his doubts creeping in. A sense of impending loss and despair are in these lines. Eusebius is lost in thought, dreaming of happy future yet unable to realize it or act upon it. He’s not the conquering hero, he’s the damsel in distress here, filled with anxiety and despair of his current situation.
It’s a simple movement with a plain melody. Yet the complexity of his emotions are seen in the repetitions, dark harmonies, and undulating accompanying material.
It’s as if he pines for her but their future together is unknown.
3. Etwas Hahnbüchen (somewhat cockeyed)
As if in direct retaliation and opposition from the previous, Florestan here bursts of bravado and tomfoolery. The large jumps and independence between the hand are quite hard to nail down. To me, it sets the mood for the rest of the character pieces that are under Florestan’s influence. The fiery passion and bouts of naïveté are very typical of a young man. It’s as if Schumann is portraying this ambitious passion as himself yet still failing to convince himself it’s him. It has a strange inflation of dynamic here. It’s always getting louder, getting bigger, yet a performer would strain themselves to follow his markings religiously and continuously get louder and bigger. 
In the first book, (1) 3,4,6,8,(9) are all under Florestan’s name. 1 is under both F and E while 9 is unmarked. Personally, I think that 9 is full of passion and eagerness that is definitely very Florestan. The first book of Davidsbundlertanze is dominated by Florestan and his male energy. The exceptions are the intermittent breaks brought about by 2, 5, and 7.
Eusebius foils Florestan and brings some calm to the overall structure. No. 5: Einfach (simple) brings a childlike joy and melody to all of the passion and seriousness of love. It has a simple feminine nature that cannot be sullied by a performer’s indulgence. I have been scolded several times by my professor to keep it simple and not to dirty it with too much rubato or time.
What makes 5 seem feminine to me?
I think the simpleness and the frankness of the music that just speaks without the frills or bravado is feminine. Its also a movement that sings the most. It sings kindness that is very appealing. It doesn’t have that Seductive Feminine nature but perhaps a hint of coquettishness.
This past Wednesday, I had the pleasure of attending an event called “Shaping Creative Lineage: A Poetry Reading + Writing Workshop with Carlina Duan.” The event, presented by Multi Ethnic Student Affairs (MESA), featured Asian-American poet and educator Carlina Duan. While I hadn’t read one of Ms. Duan’s poems until this past year, it was wonderful to hear her read from her collections I Wore My Blackest Hair (Little A, 2017) and Alien Miss (Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 2021). The event was a great opportunity to learn more about what inspired her poems and have a conversation on writing about our own experiences.
In I Wore My Blackest Hair, Duan’s poems tackle topics related to ancestry, identities, and belonging. They also reflect on themes of racial consciousness and growing up. Duan’s second collection of poems, Alien Miss, reflects on the experience of growing up as a diasporic, bilingual daughter of immigrants, introducing tales of both love and survival. It was exciting to hear from both of these collections, especially since Alien Miss came out just this year.
I promise this blog post isn’t just an advertisement, though my excitement may come off as such. The event made me consider what it means to write about our identities. It also encouraged me to reflect on the power our creative action holds. For artists like Duan, the question of responsibility is raised. What pressures and influences do we have in creating art when existing representation may be limited? For art so language-based, how can we create care and active thinking in the language we use within our communities? These questions raise more questions regarding what we owe to ourselves and our own vulnerability.
While I still enjoy it, early literature of Asian Americans is often wrapped around imagery of chopsticks and white rice. These concepts alone don’t capture the complexity that is the human experience, and people like Duan are disrupting some of these images through their art. I was impressed with how she uses poetry as an expansion of historical archives, infusing her words with other texts and lineages. When it came to “creative lineage,” however, I was a little confused by what she meant. I assumed it must refer to our ancestral line, the history that gave way to who we are today. I learned that creative lineage is not just our ancestors, but the people who inspire you. These individuals could be people who came before you, but it can also be your friends.
To generate discussion on the topic during the event, Duan raised several questions: Who are you accountable to? Who lives in your creative lineage? Who are the thinkers, makers, and people who you carry with you each time you enter a room for solace, support, community? When I sit down to write, I often consider myself alone with my thoughts. But that’s not necessarily true. When I write, there are often a chorus of people in the room with me, hundreds of memories and experiences impacting who I am and what I create. Creative lineage is talking about these people as well as the spaces I live in and am descended from.
I’ve discussed my unfamiliarity with poetry before on Arts, Ink. I generally consider myself a beginner when it comes to interpreting and writing poetry; however, I still hold an appreciation for the medium it provides in exploring the complexities of identity, emotions, and experiences we hold. I also believe the lessons and questions raised in Duan’s workshop—including the concept of creative lineage—can be applied to all kinds of art, not just poetry. Moving forward, I’d like to consider this idea of creative lineage in my own work. Perhaps you will, too.
Happy Friday, arts, ink!
This week I had the pleasure of talking to Feiran Li, President of Thus Spoke Ann Arbor and Director of their upcoming show.
Thus Spoke is a Chinese drama group that typically hosts two shows per year. The winter show is bigger than the fall, usually involving 20-25 people compared to the 10 or so earlier in the year. This year, however, Thus Spoke has opted to perform only one show due to COVID. This show has a staff that is mixed remote and in-person, with weekly testing and masking/distancing policies on the Ann Arbor campus. This testing regimen is something that Feiran is quite proud of, explaining that they asked their members to participate in weekly testing a bit earlier than the university did. The show has also moved from being an in-person event in Mendelssohn to being completely virtual.
Although they have found a successful model to publish the show despite the pandemic, Feiran told me that he misses the in-person audience interaction. This has been a theme across student organizations that I’ve spoken to this year. Just being able to perform together in-person is not quite enough; the audience participation and reaction is half of the performance. The energy of the performers buildsoff of the audiences’ cheers, and comments on Zoom or YouTube are just not the same, especially when the performance has to be recorded prior to the premiere.
Next year, Thus Spoke is looking forward to returning to in-person meetings and performances, hoping that the distance of this year will help them appreciate the benefits of being together even more than before. If you’re interested in getting involved in Thus Spoke, there are many opportunities! They tend to recruit in the Fall and Winter semesters, and you can keep updated with what they’re doing by subscribing to their YouTube channel, liking their Facebook page, or reaching out via their Maize Page. They also incorporate new members into their productions, so you could have the opportunity to be a part of one of their shows your first year in the organization!
That’s all from me this week! Thanks so much for reading.
Stay safe,
Lucy
