3 posts tagged “glorious 20th century”
Number two was a highway in Russia which connects Moscow with a small town at the farthest edge of the Russian Federation called Yakutsk. If I'm not mistaken. It was the only highway that connects between this two far separated city, and it was not paved. The road can get awfully muddied and traffic jam could last for weeks. I'll try to re-trace back the website where I read the article and post one or more pictures of the highway. The reason why the traffic jam can take that long is because vehicles get trapped in the mud (I think, judging from the picture posted in the article). But I think that highway is kind of beautiful really. Which then rekindled my long lost affection towards Russia. Back then when I was in secondary school, I really liked Russia a lot. I don't why. There's just something about the small villages and towns outside Moscow, covered in snow, looking beautifully solitary. And then there was the Great Russian Railroad. Which is a part of my plan after graduation - I planned to go to Moscow and then take the days-long train ride from Moscow to Vladivostok. Sounds interesting, exciting, and painfully boring also at the same time.
Now, how much do I have to save for a two weeks or more trip to Russia?
Glorious 20th Century is a feature segment that highlights on bands/artists from the 20th century who has made a significant impact on the music scene (or the least on me personally); so with me saying that I might include Micheal Jackson in this segment as well - someday. Soon. Hopefully. Maybe. Uh... whatever.
So, on to the second issue of Glorious 20th Century, presenting: Sonic Youth. Which is pretty neat I reckon because for the first issue I did on The Fall, one of the band that was listed as the source of influence on Sonic Youth. Although my love affair with this band had only started in 2002 with the release of Murray Street (great album that), which then puts me in the unfortunate position of not having the right authority (sort of) to talk about this band since they have been around well before I was born, I had however did some research on the band (thank you, the ever untrusted Wikipedia), just like my other love affair with Pink Floyd, my greatest love of all, way older than Sonic Youth, and only blossomed somewhere in 2001 if I'm not mistaken. Or was it 2000? Borrowed Pa'an's The Wall Live double cassette album bought at bargain price at the now history Tower Records at KL Plaza. (Thanks dude)
I wanted to talk myself on what is so significant about Sonic Youth but well, having only listened to three albums (Daydream Nation, Murray Street and Sonic Nurse), plus A Thousand Leaves borrowed from Pa'an, I guess my knowledge on the earlier stuff are pretty limited. So, here's a thousand words copied and pasted from allmusicguide:
Sonic Youth was one of the most unlikely success stories of underground American rock in the '80s. Where contemporaries R.E.M. and Hüsker Dü were fairly conventional in terms of song structure and melody, Sonic Youth began their career by abandoning any pretense of traditional rock & roll conventions. Borrowing heavily from the free-form noise experimentalism of the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, and melding it with a performance art aesthetic borrowed from the New York post-punk avant-garde, Sonic Youth redefined what noise meant within rock & roll. Sonic Youth rarely rocked, though they were inspired directly by hardcore punk, post-punk, and no wave. Instead, their dissonance, feedback, and alternate tunings created a new sonic landscape, one that redefined what rock guitar could do. Their trio of independent late-'80s records -- EVOL, Sister, Daydream Nation -- became touchstones for a generation of indie rockers who either replicated the noise or reinterpreted it in a more palatable setting. As their career progressed, Sonic Youth grew more palatable as well, as their more free-form songs began to feel like compositions and their shorter works began to rock harder. During the '90s, most American indie bands, and many British underground bands, displayed a heavy debt to Sonic Youth, and the group itself had become a popular cult band, with each of its albums charting in the Top 100.
More to come in later issues of Glorious 20th Century: Pavement, Hawkwind, Joni Mitchell, Flying Saucer Attack, and many others. Note: the two songs featured are from Sonic Youth's 1988 release Daydream Nation.
Since I've been listening to a lot of old indie records for the last two weeks, it was only a matter of time before I come up with another segment (Glorious 20th Century) dedicated especially for bands from the last century that I love and has made a significant impact on the music scene. So, it is with pleasure for me to present, the first band to be covered for this segment, The Fall. Formed in 1976 in Prestwich, Bury, The Fall is best known for its abrasive guitar-driven sound and Mark E. Smith's distinctive vocals and his often cryptic lyrics. The record that I have been listening to is Hex Enduction Hour, recorded in 1981 in Iceland and was released on March 8, 1982; a one hour art rock record which sound can be found similarly copied by the likes of Nirvana and Pavement. Music critics say this album is one of their most accessible for the mainstream market; it could be a joke really. The opener "The Classical" is the very anti-thesis to that statement because if speaking of accesibility in terms of sound then yes, perhaps. But the mainstream market may find Smith's opening line: "Where are the obligatory niggers?/ Hey there f**kface" in that song a bit leftfield. Politically incorrect or not; the song was one of the many great moments that makes up the gem that was Hex Enduction Hour.
Brilliant.
