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Saturday, February 14, 2004

Musicians Are Cowards

Silver Mt. Zion, or to give them their full title, Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band With Choir are fast becoming my favourite band. Since mid December my most played records has been theirs. I got their newest album 'This Is Our Punk Rock' just before Xmas and because I liked that so much, couldn't resist picking up their 2nd album shortly afterwards (I've had the first for a while now).

They are the musical equivalent of a good whiskey session with your best friend, when nothing is held sacred, your best moments are relived and enjoyed again and all to a soundtrack of the tunes you love (Nursey will know what I mean?)

The band are critically pigeon-holed as Post Rock (I love that title) which is still a new genre for me - in a way it?s a familiar genre and one I want to live in and explore before it becomes post-post rock and pastiches itself to death with comedy orchestrations and pretensions.

ASMZ are an offshoot of Godspeed You Black Emperor. They are Canadian. They make music which is classical, timeless, atmospheric and heartfelt - it is filled with political anarchy and constantly makes me want to curl up with oblivion.

Given their anarchistic / anti-capitalist leanings they do a good job in making you covert their records. The Canadian label they are on, Constellation, is truly indie and truly unique. All their packaging is hand made by local artisans. It fells good to hold and looks great. You should buy two of every album and lock-one up for the future as these will be collectors items in a decades time. I want to buy their entire back catalogue.

Anyway, a quick review of the their albums #2 and #3 - I did album # 1 a while back here. Feel free to click on the links and purchase the discs, earning me a few sheckles towards buying some more handsome Constellation releases?

Born Into Trouble As The Sparks Fly Upwards

A lot less minimal than the breathy first album - sparks veers from quiet repetition to intense noise, intercut with found sounds like the beautiful childish rant for joy at the beginning of 'Built Then Burnt (Hurrah, Hurrah!)' which goes:
"Lets promenade down the boulevards, with terrific pride, twelve foot tall and staggering, sick with joy", to almost dead air filled with birds chirping in the air. This record is engaging from first to last.

Up until now, as Mr Chicky knows, the one song I want played at my funeral is 'Black Angels Death Song' by The Velvet Underground. As I haven't seen him recently, that has changed to the two songs I want played at my funeral, the second being ASMZ's 'BY The Triumph Of Our Tired Eyes', one of the few pieces of music to actually reduce me to tears. "There's beauty in this land, but I don't often see it?" Simply unique.

This Is Our Punk Rock Thee Rusted Satellites Gather And Sing

Throw in an amateur choir, some more reverb drenched found sounds and strip back the orchestration to feature a whole load more creaky-arsed singing and ASMZ have done it again.

I've often been quoted as ripping-off somebody else's quote which goes 'all my favourite singers couldn't sing'. Efrim of ASMZ and GSYBE certainly falls into this category, and just to make his non-singing voice sound better than ever he has enlisted the aid of a non-singing choir.

Only 4 tracks, each schizophrenic and yearning and utterly compelling. What have I done to deserve such goodness? Come on now everybody sing along - "And everybody, gets, a little lost sometimes..."

Posted by Dio Bach at 00:40  

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