No text, just music, Part 5
Today I got a fair bit of work done (for which I am rather proud, considering I only had about 4 hours after work to review a bunch of Levinas texts and organize my thoughts). After that, I went out with a friend from work for drinks, then dinner, then more drinks. Good times were had, but I stumbled home rather...um...non-productive. I slept well, though.
"Requiem of a Dream" by Johnny D
Woo! I managed to get Beatport to create an embeddable player. If I can manage to duplicate this feat, I might go back an insert a player for the track I posted on Tuesday, which didn't have anything on iMeem.
Anyway, this track is rather interesting, from a perspective of affect / emotion. On the one hand, it has a stream of clicks that have the same upbeat, swing effect as a "hi-hat ride" might have for dance-band/jazz drummers. On the other hand, you've got a string quartet playing a series of slowly-shifting chords that approximate the orchestral score for the gut-wrenching film, Requiem for a Dream. As it turns out, the main title track from the soundtrack, "Lux Aeterna," has had its own history of re-use.
So I'm fascinated by this mixture of depressive affect, serious contemplation and "party time!" music. It works as a minimal techno track, although I haven't seen it deployed on a dancefloor yet. I wonder what this does to the mood of a club. It's been listed as one of the top 50 listed tracks of October on Resident Advisor, so it's obviously working for some people...
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2 commentaires:
Hmmm. I have to confess that I'm really really tired of "Lux Aeterna." It's become the new "Carmina Burana" -- a staple at spectacular sporting events. But I can never get those harrowing scenes from Aronofsky's film out of my head when I hear those plaintive strains.
The excerpt here perhaps does not give a sense, tho, of how Johnny D transforms it. So I'll reserve judgment. Just wanted to kvetch.
I hear what you mean about the overuse of that Lux Aeterna track. Also, I resent the title, as it sullies my favourite moment of Gabriel Fauré's Requiem ("lux aeterna, luceat eis").
Anyway, as far as I can tell, this track doesn't directly quote the lux aeterna theme at all, it just references the slow-moving strings, the repeating harmonic cycles, and the passing dissonances. You could even argue that there's no direct link to the movie's soundtrack, were it not for the title of the track.
Sorry I haven't been leaving my sassy traces on your blog recently! As you can see, I'm up to my teats in dissertation-writing.
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