high monkey monk

[ethereal]

simon, if you are still here, can you shed some light as to when the high monkey monk was written? the sound is so unlike any other ep or album. i know it was released in 1989 (i think?) but it doesn't really sound like something that would have come from blue bell knoll. was it recorded with the other BBK tracks? or was it from some time that you just were in the studio writing and recording separately from BBK? it is very middle eastern sounding to me.

[watchlar]

I'd like to know the background behind HMM as well...It's such an amazing track. Everything about it is amazing...the percussion, guitar, Liz's vocals are absolutely amazing. I also get the Middle Easter/Asian feeling as well...like when I'm watching Namaste television on Saturday mornings.....

wAtChY

[Lucibelle]

I love HMM, and I share the opinion that it is truly and amazing track, but I'm afraid I'm not getting the Middle Eastern/Asian referrence at all. What is it in this song that is making that connection? The only thing I can remotely guess at would be Liz's vocals. Please explain....?:confused:

[watchlar]

Originally posted by Lucibelle
I love HMM, and I share the opinion that it is truly and amazing track, but I'm afraid I'm not getting the Middle Eastern/Asian referrence at all. What is it in this song that is making that connection? The only thing I can remotely guess at would be Liz's vocals. Please explain....?:confused:


the phrasing of LIz's vocals ....phrasing probably isn't the right term...i'm not musically inclined with the vocabulary so...pardon me...haven't you ever watched an Indian or Middle Eastern video show on cable before? ;)

OFRA HAZA comes to mind


HAHAHA

W

[Lucibelle]

No, I'm a frayed knot. :rolleyes:
But really, I haven't.
OFRA HAZA comes to mind Yeah, I went to a taping of her show here in Chicago. Oh no, wait..... that was Oprah Winfrey!

My mistake!:D

But I guess that it was the vocals, then.



(you'll have to excuse me. I appear to be in rare form tonight. I think I may be suffering from Crisco withdrawal, combined with the apprehension of getting back on an airplane....)

[watchlar]

YOu went on Oprah Lucibelle?

W

[Lucibelle]

Yup!

It already aired. You couldn't see me. There was a woman sitting near us who had fell asleep, so they pretty much kept the camera away from our section.

My thread 'Greetings from the windy city' goes into more detail on the show that we saw.

[Lucibelle]

You know what bites??? If you caught my thread before I left for Chi-town, I had mentioned the receiving of free loot on Oprah's show(keeps trying to type 'Oopry'). We went to the morning taping and it was a very heavy, somber show. The afternoon taping was all fun and games and brew-ha-ha, and sure enough, the bitch gave away free stuff! I guess the universe had read my thread before I had left, too.:rolleyes::D

[ScottL]

Yeah, I think the Asian influence is in the vocals. As Phil had mentioned her use of quarter-tones in her melodies...I think it sounds more Indian myself, but strictly for the vocals...
this is one of my all time favorites indeed, the fluid vocals amaze me every time...

[Phil Lawton]

Scott

You beat me to it.

Liz sings in quarter tones on HMM, which is, usually, a singularly Asian talent. Ketamine once said (on the .com site) that the idea may have stemmed from Eastern tapes, brought back by Bauhaus's Pete Murphy.

[ScottL]

Yeah...I had the timezone advantage ;)

I was thinking more about the CT era this song sounds like...I think it DOES sound like BBK era...I don't go on style...Robin and Simon's approach was so experimental..going by composition style can be misleading...now going by sound of equipment is much more reliable...esp. the drums...that considered, I think HMM does sound BBK era, but not earlier...it sounds like it was at the new studio...recall BBK was the first album recorded in that studio....right?

[Baddy2shoos]

I thought Liz got all her inspiration from that female bulgarian choir yonks ago - im not even going to attempt to spell them

[someotherian]

baddy... i'm guessing you're thinking of the Trio Bulgarka. they're probably the most famous of the groups who do that kind of singing, due to collaborations with high profile western musicians like kate bush, who has incorporated them into a lot of her stuff. but they've done a lot of good stuff in their own right too.

as for whether liz has been influenced by them.. i don't know. though i have to say listening to THMM doesn't really bring them to mind as an influence. i tend to think the vocals do indeed sound more indian asian than anything else, mainly due to the deep vibrato style. though i still don't think the vocals on THMM share the musical scales so prevalent in 'indian' music.

but whatever you say, it's still a great song! :)

[ScottL]

here here....a great song indeed...I agree with ya Ian, I think the the majority of the vocal melody is anchored in a western diatonic scale, but has hints of Indian style of singing and all that...brilliant

[zed]

......simon....for you if you care to have a stab at it.

in many of the old songs, am i imagining things when i hear
strangely enough echos of the modern jazz quartet or dave brubecks group? something in the timeing and melodys..maybe?

the high monkey monk being one, pale clouded white,(one of my all time favs) being another ...... just wondering.

:) Z.

[simon raymonde]

well that's funny. No, dave brubeck and modern jazz quartet did not/does not feature in my or robin's record collection i can safely say. i am still a bit funny about jazz, i only really love thelonius monk, miles, john coltrane and a couple of specific records like the soundtrack to Round Midnight, so no, it is your wild imagination. MIght sound stoopid but we used to deliberately not listen to anything much when we were writing. it was only on tour, in the boredom that we would seek out new and old for the tour bus/walkmans etc to fend off insanity,.

[zed]

....simon......thanks.

listen to time farther out by brubeck.....it's strange how the arts all seem to cross pollinate..... wild indeed.

Z.

[mmmender]

*bump*

[willy]

Originally posted by Baddy2shoes
I thought Liz got all her inspiration from that female bulgarian choir yonks ago - im not even going to attempt to spell them

Les Mysteres de Voix Bulgares. Their 2 albums on 4AD are geet lush man.

Trio Bulgarka were a spin-off.

[Baddy2shoos]

thats the one! got one of the albums but it's hardly easy to get into!!

[andylama]

Originally posted by willy
Les Mysteres de Voix Bulgares. Their 2 albums on 4AD are geet lush man.

God, they are great. I saw them live (Pasadena, California) around 1996. Powerful, beautiful dissonant harmonies. Impressive costumes, too.

The only awkward part is where they pander to the American audience by singing their bizarre arrangements of early folk shite like "Oh Susanna".

It may be out of print now, but L.M.D.V.B. Volume III is wonderful, and better production quality than the original 4AD releases.

Avoid their "pop" album (From Bulgaria with Love) - it is a lame collaboration with some Italian dance hacks. Urgh!

[Phil Lawton]

Was Uncle Bulgaria part of the line-up?

[Baddy2shoos]

you have to go and spoil it don't you Phil :)

[Phil Lawton]

Originally posted by Baddy2shoes
you have to go and spoil it don't you Phil :)

Is that a "yes" or a "no"?

[Baddy2shoos]

hmmmm

[Phil Lawton]

Originally posted by Baddy2shoes
hmmmm

OK, Beth obviously knows nothing of the band's biog - does anyone else have any information?

[E-Lo]

Ohh, I love that shoe pic cover!

[Kanomalta]

Not me... Honestly, CT's album art does close to nothing for me. Some of them look like bad complilation covers. Too much photoshop is a no-no in my book.

[Pale Clouded]

Originally posted by Kanomalta
Not me... Honestly, CT's album art does close to nothing for me. Some of them look like bad complilation covers. Too much photoshop is a no-no in my book.

There was no Photoshop back in the 80's.

[mmmender]

Originally posted by Kanomalta
Not me... Honestly, CT's album art does close to nothing for me. Some of them look like bad complilation covers. Too much photoshop is a no-no in my book.

interesting view kanomalta.....i don't think i've ever encountered anyone who wasn't keen on the v23 design. personally i love the artwork.......it's lush, obscure, dense, and organic.....just like the music!

[Kanomalta]

Pale Clouded, you are right... I was merely referring to the layered, effected look. It's not exactly straight forward photography. Personal taste, nothing else. For that reason, of all their album covers, I like Aikea-Guinea best; clean, simple, beautiful type. And as someone who only owned ALL CT music digitally until recently, maybe I should hold my tongue until I get that glorious album "Four Calendar CafŽ" with that hideous cover.

Mmmender, I agree... but the music speaks for itself; it doesn't need to fortify itself with those visuals.... I visualize something simpler for such complex sounds. Obscurity doesn't have to be blurred photos, it could just be... smoke... colored ink dissolving in water (amazing Wolfgang Tillmans photography, that would go great with this music)... and such.

Or maybe it's the script type. Then again, it was the eighties.

[icesore]

the covers are just nice n suit Ct music...dreamy and mysterious...ya the music speaks for itself, but the visual emphasize it . hehe...you definately wont put them onto britney spears album, right.