Do the Mystery: Song/Dance of the Day
Menomena "Flour" from Under an Hour (Film Guerrero)
When I was just a lad, like most children and all Asian children, I was forced to learn piano. Today, at my most virtuosic, I can play like slapping a row of low fives. With anything more complicated than that, I fumble, clumsy like like nerd approaching second base. I like to think that I was better then, mainly because of the pushing of my mom. Before every recital, we watched Milos Forman's Amadeus as if it was gonna inspire something great in me, unleashing my inner Mozart. Looking back now, Stephen Hawking could have watched Rocky and had more of a chance at following through.
A couple weeks ago, after a night of not so serious drinking, I wandered into my dimly lit apartment to find my flatmate Kimberley (aka Panther) watching Amadeus. Full of nostalgia and Tecate, I plopped down on the sofa and took it all in. In the scene, Mozart, played by the over the top Tom Hulce, is trying to sell the idea of "The Marriage of Figaro" to the Emperor/King by describing a musical situation where person is singing. One by one, another person joins, and another, and another and so on, until more than a dozen are all singing different lines in harmony. He argues that only in opera and music can that many voices be heard without being a completely noisy mess. Then he does that intolerable girlish giggle and I cringe.
This theory is put to work in Menomena's "Flour" with amazing results (end completely exhausting and semi-pointless intro). Leading up from a sparse plinking piano (glockenspiel? xylophone?), an intense, staccato sax riff enters the scene and takes a position that won't be unseated. It stabs back and forth in an almost Hitchockian manner; it's dark and shadowy, and it stalks like an unknown villain's heavy footsteps. With two in the picture, three is no crowd, and an elegant rolling piano glides in effortlessly. The suspense builds immensely until past the third minute, when the enigma is slightly revealed and illuminated with the crashing brass heavy drums. The villain is unmasked and a sinister but swaying sax melody weaves through the harsh rhythmic chopping. It then remasks itself, giving a hazy glimpse of the future, a thrilling preview of things to come and flees back into the shadows of the night.
"Flour" all but stops at the five minute mark. It reinvents itself in the minor chords of simplistic piano stylings, occasionally revisiting that ominous sax in various forms. Drum rolls and heavy bass litter much of "Act II" and Menomena cleverly sub in and out the signature cymbal-driven drum line and the elegant rolling piano. There are only traces and clues of this mysterious entity until they start building the tension once again 2/3 of the way through, culminating into a full exposition of what we have on our hands: a gloriously dark and melodic, texturally complex masterpiece. And shit, it only took 19 minutes to figure it out.
Well, sophisticates like moi, embraced its genius at around minute four, but it didn't stop me from listening to it 6-7 times in row completely wiping out my schudule for saturday afternoon ("What? Did nothing cancel?"). I knew what was getting into. I just didn't know I was gonna like it this damn much.
With all this meddling about, trying to figure out what's going on, the Nancy Drew in all of us have to ask why? As Sherlock would have it: what's the motive? (Or in Chief Wiggum speak, mo-tyve?) Why would a smashing, up and coming Portland experimental-electro-rock pop group make a 19 minute instrumental song? Menomena wrote the aptly named Under an Hour (pictured here) for a modern dance piece by the troupe Monster Squad. Seperated into three performances, of "Water" (17:52), "Flour" (18:42) and "Light" (17:29), Menomena performed these songss live with Monster Squad at some artsy-fartsy dance festival. But the real mystery lies in why the hell Under an Hour has a Parental Advisory label on it. Sheesh. Talk about artsy fartsy. Hipply ironic? Or ironically hip?
The beauty of these epic instrumental pieces is Menomena's unmistakable attention to melody. They retain a listenable and poppy sound throughout all their experimentation, and admirably chose a path less worn in presenting their pop ideas and expressions. In the 54 minutes, they incorporate touches of Yann Tiersen, Jon Brion, Clint Mansell's work with the Kronos Quartet (for Requeim for a Dream) and even The Books. Yes, those are all the soundtrack artists I know but it really holds true.
So with Amadeus in recent memory and Menomena for kick-in-the-pants inspiration, I might finally go somewhere. I might finally be able to get past "Chopsticks" and an abridged version of "Waltz of the Flowers" to tackle the real cutting edge stuff. I see the dusty, simple piano arrangement sheet music of "Everything I Do, I Do It For You" taunting me, and there's nothing in the this goddamn world that can stop me.
Ain't like any hipster dance you've ever done: Monster Squad performing "Flour"
Check out the live video clips that my quicktime plug-in refused to play, then describe them to me, move by move as you watch them. It's more fun that way.
Under an Hour (Menomena and Monster Squad): http://www.menomena.com/uah/uah-index.html
When I was just a lad, like most children and all Asian children, I was forced to learn piano. Today, at my most virtuosic, I can play like slapping a row of low fives. With anything more complicated than that, I fumble, clumsy like like nerd approaching second base. I like to think that I was better then, mainly because of the pushing of my mom. Before every recital, we watched Milos Forman's Amadeus as if it was gonna inspire something great in me, unleashing my inner Mozart. Looking back now, Stephen Hawking could have watched Rocky and had more of a chance at following through.
A couple weeks ago, after a night of not so serious drinking, I wandered into my dimly lit apartment to find my flatmate Kimberley (aka Panther) watching Amadeus. Full of nostalgia and Tecate, I plopped down on the sofa and took it all in. In the scene, Mozart, played by the over the top Tom Hulce, is trying to sell the idea of "The Marriage of Figaro" to the Emperor/King by describing a musical situation where person is singing. One by one, another person joins, and another, and another and so on, until more than a dozen are all singing different lines in harmony. He argues that only in opera and music can that many voices be heard without being a completely noisy mess. Then he does that intolerable girlish giggle and I cringe.
This theory is put to work in Menomena's "Flour" with amazing results (end completely exhausting and semi-pointless intro). Leading up from a sparse plinking piano (glockenspiel? xylophone?), an intense, staccato sax riff enters the scene and takes a position that won't be unseated. It stabs back and forth in an almost Hitchockian manner; it's dark and shadowy, and it stalks like an unknown villain's heavy footsteps. With two in the picture, three is no crowd, and an elegant rolling piano glides in effortlessly. The suspense builds immensely until past the third minute, when the enigma is slightly revealed and illuminated with the crashing brass heavy drums. The villain is unmasked and a sinister but swaying sax melody weaves through the harsh rhythmic chopping. It then remasks itself, giving a hazy glimpse of the future, a thrilling preview of things to come and flees back into the shadows of the night.
"Flour" all but stops at the five minute mark. It reinvents itself in the minor chords of simplistic piano stylings, occasionally revisiting that ominous sax in various forms. Drum rolls and heavy bass litter much of "Act II" and Menomena cleverly sub in and out the signature cymbal-driven drum line and the elegant rolling piano. There are only traces and clues of this mysterious entity until they start building the tension once again 2/3 of the way through, culminating into a full exposition of what we have on our hands: a gloriously dark and melodic, texturally complex masterpiece. And shit, it only took 19 minutes to figure it out.
Well, sophisticates like moi, embraced its genius at around minute four, but it didn't stop me from listening to it 6-7 times in row completely wiping out my schudule for saturday afternoon ("What? Did nothing cancel?"). I knew what was getting into. I just didn't know I was gonna like it this damn much.
With all this meddling about, trying to figure out what's going on, the Nancy Drew in all of us have to ask why? As Sherlock would have it: what's the motive? (Or in Chief Wiggum speak, mo-tyve?) Why would a smashing, up and coming Portland experimental-electro-rock pop group make a 19 minute instrumental song? Menomena wrote the aptly named Under an Hour (pictured here) for a modern dance piece by the troupe Monster Squad. Seperated into three performances, of "Water" (17:52), "Flour" (18:42) and "Light" (17:29), Menomena performed these songss live with Monster Squad at some artsy-fartsy dance festival. But the real mystery lies in why the hell Under an Hour has a Parental Advisory label on it. Sheesh. Talk about artsy fartsy. Hipply ironic? Or ironically hip?The beauty of these epic instrumental pieces is Menomena's unmistakable attention to melody. They retain a listenable and poppy sound throughout all their experimentation, and admirably chose a path less worn in presenting their pop ideas and expressions. In the 54 minutes, they incorporate touches of Yann Tiersen, Jon Brion, Clint Mansell's work with the Kronos Quartet (for Requeim for a Dream) and even The Books. Yes, those are all the soundtrack artists I know but it really holds true.
So with Amadeus in recent memory and Menomena for kick-in-the-pants inspiration, I might finally go somewhere. I might finally be able to get past "Chopsticks" and an abridged version of "Waltz of the Flowers" to tackle the real cutting edge stuff. I see the dusty, simple piano arrangement sheet music of "Everything I Do, I Do It For You" taunting me, and there's nothing in the this goddamn world that can stop me.
Ain't like any hipster dance you've ever done: Monster Squad performing "Flour"
Check out the live video clips that my quicktime plug-in refused to play, then describe them to me, move by move as you watch them. It's more fun that way.
Under an Hour (Menomena and Monster Squad): http://www.menomena.com/uah/uah-index.html
1 Comments:
What a coincidence! Mine refused, too, on both Windows and Mac. Should someone tell them...?
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