(no subject)

[thejunipertree]

Fuck.

Diamanda Galas' "Vena Cava" is probably NOT the thing I should be listening to right now.

I never realized what it was actually about, before.

This hurts.

Bad.

The funny thing is, I brought all of my Diamanda CDs into work today as a celebration of the fact that my ex-husband, the Cheshire Cat, bought me a ticket for my birthday to see Galas at the TLA on October 11th. Every other time she's performed in Philadelphia, I've missed her and that fact has always made me extremely petulant.

So, I carted up all my CDs by her and brought them into work. Due to the nature of her work, I couldn't play them very loud because I know it would have bothered my boss (my office adjoins hers). The music loses a lot of its power when it's turned down low and you miss quite a bit, especially when she gets into her practically subsonic whispering.

I'd been saving "Vena Cava" for the end of the day, when Miss Angel had left. Now, sitting here alone and attempting to get some work done, I can play it as loud as I like.

And truly listen to what's being broadcast.

Pain. Brutality. Truth. Anger. Sadness. Joy. Denial. Regret. Isolation. Disorientation. Beauty. Insanity. Vulnerability.

I'm only on track #4 (none of them have names). I don't think I can handle the rest of this album right now.

Comments

[edwards.livejournal.com]

I was snarking at myself with the uneducated peasant remark, but when googling I hadn't read that many favourable reviews of "The Sporting Life" - not that I'd particularly base my opinion on reviews, but it seemed to be quite weighted towards people considering it a poor album - though I couldn't get the context they were reviewing it in, whether they'd bought it as jazz fans and hated Diamanda's voice (Amazon has "like a cat being beaten to death with another cat" in one review) or if they were Diamanda fans and found it too tame (in which case I'd suspect they were just fans for the sake of liking someone extreme).

Extreme Music. The latest Pepsi-Max inspired sport - listen to Diamanda on a 5000W stereo then switch to Salt 'n' Pepa's Greatest Hits before finishing with Isao Tomita, backwards, mixed with R Kelly.

Like everything, I'll try it. "Less activism" isn't actually that important to me in the music as long as it's good.