human soul engineer

lately i have discovered this singer, angel olsen, and her music has really changed my outlook on life

it's inspired me, and made me happier

here is the song "acrobat" from her latest album, half way home



if you watch it, you'll notice the quality of her voice and how it sounds so rich and full of longing. she's closely associated with artists such as will oldham/bonnie 'prince' billy, who describes his feelings upon hearing her voice: "It's almost like I get hollowed out and then filled, but I don't know what it's with. It's a mixture of apprehension and satisfaction at the same time."

 my favorite song she's done is "if it's alive, it will." here is angel olsen performing it in a videostore in NYC a few years ago. it's just a beautiful piece of music to me, very simple and folk-like and meaningful.

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in other news, i am thoroughly engrossed in the 'shostakovich' debate for a research paper. was he a loyal Communist as he outwardly appeared (fay/taruskin) or did he harbor dissenting sentiments (wilson/macdonald)? i'm gonna have to say i side with macdonald on most points. he himself was an incredibly interesting character. a musician who wrote a comprehensive history of The Beatles, borrowing things from art historians, as well as his book on Shostakovich, he set himself apart from those such as fay, taruskin, volkov, and others who had their own agendas for writing their studies on the composer. despite not being as 'scholarly' or 'musicologist-y' as tarsukin or fay or wilson, macdonald really did try to understand what most people thought facts alone could explain, and that was what he assumed logic itself would be enough...

"Shostakovich was indisputably a tragic-satiric observer, not an introspective or bewildered Hamlet figure." (source, where he argues for a contextual approach to understanding the man who was shostakovich).

macdonald ended up killing himself in 2003 after suffering from depression for years, but his book The New Shostakovich is a beautifully written account of the events leading up to and during and after shostakovich's life, each chapter sectioned off as if a scene in a movie. no one on earth can imagine what life could have possibly been during those times, for composers or for anyone, when the USSR really was the most militant and violent and all-powerful regime in history.

here is the gorgeous first movement of his piano trio no. 2, op. 62

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i am completely OBSESSED with the san francisco-based post-hardcore/noise rock band Lowercase, namely their third album The Going Away Present. i just listen to the entire album from beginning to end on repeat, over and over again.

here is the opener. it is fucking incredible.


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i also have discovered a swiss painter named Félix Vallotton whose paintings are really something. i have no art history background, but it's said that he was associated with Les Nabis, a group of "post-impressionist avant-garde" artists in France during the 1890s who sort of got things going into the great and wonderful 20th century, where art became full of symbolism and the abstract. however, it's said that compared to others who were also doing more modern things, these artists were considered conservative with their impressionist-inspired use of colors and figures.

the definition of painting, to a member of Les Nabis ("the prophets"): "a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order." well, whatever.

here are some paintings i like. aren't they just amazingly beautiful?


i want to be made out of love 
i want to be made into life

uSSSy - Karpet Birch

bandcampfree last.fm dl
Noise-rock with a hella tribal vibe. (src)

This is the greatest thing I have heard in FOR. FUCKING. EVER. uSSSy is a noise rock duo from Moscow, Russia with intense folk and traditional music influences. As far as I can tell, through my amazing researching skills,  they use quite a number of folk instruments to create their sound. Posted on their facebook is evidence of instruments such as the tanbur, a long plucked instrument originating in Persia, as well as the daf drum, also used in Persian music. Check out their tumblr (link below) if you're so inclined, they post almost exclusively old/ancient instruments from Central Asia/the Middle East, which might tell you a little bit about how interesting they are as musicians. So, if you have a good ears, maybe you'll pick up on these sounds and more in the album. Who knows, it's all incredibly cool.

My favorite track is currently the first, "oi tam na gori," but I've been loving every song on here. This isn't the most informative write-up, but the music really speaks for itself. I encourage you all to give to this band whatever you have or are willing to, especially through their bandcamp, as well as partake in their wonderful music-making.

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m b v

Guys, this album is bloody brilliant. The first album in 22 years, and My Bloody Valentine has managed to make something wholly unique and of it own, utilizing their characteristic dissonant and noisy sparkle, AND that is completely unlike anything being made today. It honestly sounds like Loveless, extended (though with differences). It's incredibly dreamlike and harshly noisy, which as you might guess are two total opposites, but they work to create the aesthetic that captured so many's attention over the course of 20 years. There might not be as many catchy, songlike songs as on its predecessor, but M B V certainly has enough pure beauty to go around. I was in awe at some of the things I heard on this. I mean, like I said, it's fucking brilliant. The closer will more than likely leave you transfixed, if not speechless. It's that wonderful...

"She Found Now" and "In Another Way" are my favorite tracks.

So, buy it, download it, whatever you have to do to listen to it, then never stop.

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