7.05.2004
fennesz, venice
my favorite "reading on the train" music of the moment is venice, the new record by fennesz. it's a subtle and engaging piece of work, and manages to keep me well entertained for an album consisting of static and bleeps and things of that sort. i'm far more low brow and conventional when it comes to music-- as oppossed to film and visual art-- and i'm ashamed to admit that i can lose interest pretty quickly when denied my drum tracks and pop hooks and so forth.
**but i'm working on it-- i hate having these petty pre-dispositions, even though they're totally human and neccessary and inevitable**
and i'm glad to say venice gets better and better with each listen. it's secret is that it's a diverse album. for all its understatement and abstract flourishes, the tracks are quite distinct from one and other, and it has, in general, the sort of movements and mood swings that make for a good "album" album. the sort of thing you can put on and leave on, rather than hop around skipping tracks.
the album shifts gracefully from sculpted noise arrangements to laid back rhythmical oddities (not altogether unlike the quieter moments of autechre, for example) in a manner similar to his previous record, endless summer. but in addition, there are these recurring, shoegaze-y guitar flourishes, giving the album a more grounded, earthly feeling than its predecessor. it's slightly less "sublime," let's say, and more evocative. the experience is, at certain moments, akin to an evening in a campground beneath the bug zapper; and at other times it feels like the fucking apocalypse.
the latter evocation is front and center on the track "transit," a collaboration with david sylvian. "transit" is that rare album track, not unlike throbbing gristle's "persuasion" (or hank williams' "i can't escape from you," while i'm at it), that can chill you to the bone. nasty little plucks and pinches, scratching away at sylvian's croony, spooky and unexpected (for a fennesz album) voice. the arrangement is pretty intense, as are sylvain's pleas to "say your goodbyes to europe" (yikes). it's all a bit pretentious, in a way, but i'll be damned if it doesn't make my hair stand up on end. i guess visceral music, more often than not, runs the risk of silliness or embarrassment, and it's that threshold that makes it what it is in the first place. at any rate, this song gets my vote for coming out on top. pretty serious business.
the music of fennesz makes me wonder what i might be missing out on in the world of "electro" and such (don't make me type that awfulest-of-awful genre designation: "IDM"-- yeeach!!!). i'm a little out of the loop with this sort of thing. abstraction in music is useful, too (for better or worse). i can read with this record on my headphones and not get distracted. plus, it drowns out the all night complain-a-thon that engulfs me as i return home from work.
**but i'm working on it-- i hate having these petty pre-dispositions, even though they're totally human and neccessary and inevitable**
and i'm glad to say venice gets better and better with each listen. it's secret is that it's a diverse album. for all its understatement and abstract flourishes, the tracks are quite distinct from one and other, and it has, in general, the sort of movements and mood swings that make for a good "album" album. the sort of thing you can put on and leave on, rather than hop around skipping tracks.
the album shifts gracefully from sculpted noise arrangements to laid back rhythmical oddities (not altogether unlike the quieter moments of autechre, for example) in a manner similar to his previous record, endless summer. but in addition, there are these recurring, shoegaze-y guitar flourishes, giving the album a more grounded, earthly feeling than its predecessor. it's slightly less "sublime," let's say, and more evocative. the experience is, at certain moments, akin to an evening in a campground beneath the bug zapper; and at other times it feels like the fucking apocalypse.
the latter evocation is front and center on the track "transit," a collaboration with david sylvian. "transit" is that rare album track, not unlike throbbing gristle's "persuasion" (or hank williams' "i can't escape from you," while i'm at it), that can chill you to the bone. nasty little plucks and pinches, scratching away at sylvian's croony, spooky and unexpected (for a fennesz album) voice. the arrangement is pretty intense, as are sylvain's pleas to "say your goodbyes to europe" (yikes). it's all a bit pretentious, in a way, but i'll be damned if it doesn't make my hair stand up on end. i guess visceral music, more often than not, runs the risk of silliness or embarrassment, and it's that threshold that makes it what it is in the first place. at any rate, this song gets my vote for coming out on top. pretty serious business.
the music of fennesz makes me wonder what i might be missing out on in the world of "electro" and such (don't make me type that awfulest-of-awful genre designation: "IDM"-- yeeach!!!). i'm a little out of the loop with this sort of thing. abstraction in music is useful, too (for better or worse). i can read with this record on my headphones and not get distracted. plus, it drowns out the all night complain-a-thon that engulfs me as i return home from work.
