Sure, the reason Angus MacLise was kicked out of Velvet Underground was because he was the biggest flake ever, but he made interesting music at least.
He also died in Nepal, because why not.
This is it, my favourite Steve Reich piece.
And as someone who would die for Steve Reich, that’s saying a lot.
Hmm.
I’ve been thinking a lot about my approach to songwriting recently, and I want to be able to develop the ability to write pop songs that are evocative of experiences just through the music alone as opposed to having the lyrics carry out the messages.
This piece is a good example of that, not only the feeling of being on a train on a cross-country journey, but to express the feeling of the build-up to the end of the journey (whether it be to a positive experience or an apprehension to something horrific, as this piece acknowledges by alluding to the trains during the Holocaust). A good counterpart to this piece is Trans-Europe Express (or Autobahn), but those records tend to present just the journey itself. Different Trains admittedly has vocal snippets which help contextualize the work, but it’s done minimally. Same with Trans-Europe Express.
But how can one successfully capture an experience just through sound alone? How much do you have to explain it?
Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead performs Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint.
I knew there was a reason I liked that band.
I am a goddamn IDIOT for not knowing about Meredith Monk sooner.
It’s like if Kate Bush went out of her fucking mind.
While this piece has the insanely provocative title of “Evil Nigger”, I’ve quickly fallen in love with Julius Eastman.
This song should explain why I’m on a huge Glenn Branca kick right now.
It’s one of the prettiest and most terrifying examples of what a conventional “rock band” line up can do.
LISTEN TO ALL 12 MINUTES.
I’m having a really hard time believing this is just modified guitars and one drummer.
This is gorgeous.
