Monk

In her 40 year career, Meredith Monk has influenced music, theatre, and film, and is especially known for her interdisciplinary performance. Dolmen Music is primarily music, but many of the works contain echoes of theatrical performance. Ms. Monk’s music has an astonishing ability to communicate an expanse of diverse emotions by using such little material. She eases us into her world of timelessness during the progression of this album. Her music is generally viewed as minimalist in nature, and Monk places a focus on her extended vocal techniques, a field which she is considered one of the few pioneers in. The first piece “Gotham Lullaby” is an unconventionally simple but soothing piece. The piano’s arpeggiated chords are not unfamiliar, and Monk’s vocals project tranquility without any lyrics.

In “Travelling,” the vocals become more innovative, often resembling exotic calls. The music is quicker, but again led by the piano. Repetition and exploration is the basis of this song.

Some of Monk’s few lyrics are heard in “The Tale,” a piece where Monk’s interdisciplinary affinities are clearly present. The piece describes a character, maybe a story, through a combination of Monk’s laughing vocals and basic short lines: “I still have my telephone …/… I still have my philosophy.” Additional theatricality is found in the harsh bows from strings creating an effect reminiscent of car horns and by an abrupt interlude of breaking glass.

A piano beautifully opens “Biography” and Monk’s deep vocal line quickly follows. She manipulates the tone of her voice on a seemingly meaningless syllable to express significant emotion. As the piece progresses Monk’s voice shifts from erratic sobbing, back into her standard exploration of a syllable, and into something I can only describe as speaking in tongues.

The title track, “Dolmen Music,” is the focus of this album; it’s an epic suite for six voices, cello, and percussion, longer than all the other tracks combined. The piece is the apex of Monk’s minimalist desire “to express a sense of timelessness; of time as a reoccurring cycle.” The sound is everchanging, but rarely at a conscious level, and the repetition within the piece creates overwhelming tension. The piece contains interludes to break up the repetition or start a new direction, easing the ability to listen. “Dolmen Music” clearly sounds similar to archaic chant, reinforced by the title; a dolmen is an ancient megalithic tomb. The music begins slowly. Long notes are played on a solitary string, which fades away to allow the voices to enter the chant one by one.

Dolmen Music is a strong album, but the title track is easily the focal point, leaving us to question if a three minute minimalist work such as “The Tale” is actually effective.

Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck Meet Sadistic French Writing

The Kronos Quartet sounds as amazing as ever on their album Short Stories, a compilation of works by nine composers. John Zorn, the composer of the piece 'Cat O' Nine Tails,' has has experience in numerous genres and styles, but this foray into the classical world of string quartets is a large step outside his normal scene of experimental hardcore punk, independent film scores, and jazz interpretation.
'Cat O' Nine Tails' is a creative title that may hold some underlying meaning, but the work's subtitle 'Tex Avery Directs the Marquis de Sade' gives us the real picture: the interaction between Warner Brothers' primary animator and the sadistic French writer, the piece is a pastiche of classic cartoon melodies and Zorn's idea of sadistic noise.
The work opens with a wall of noise which quickly dissipates and leaves behind quiet separate lines searching for a melody. Adding technique to the often burlesque music Zorn explores myriad string sounds within the variety of melodies he explores in short bursts of tonal sounds. Eventually a stereotypical western ho-down theme prevails. Though for better or worse, the strings are unable to hold onto it, and they play through atonal variations and attempt to return to the west once more. Through the second half of the twelve minute work Zorn turns away from the full sounds heard in the beginning and the parts slowly deteriorate into fragments of the previous sounds. Slowly but surely the music fades out into barely audible open chords. It is an interesting piece, and fits well within this compilation of new music, but it will be nice to hear what Zorn brings to us next.

More work on reviews

I’ve decided four-line CD reviews are something I despise. The most interesting of these are the ones that introduce the artist, but it is a relief to know that this is the critics’ choice list and the reviews are probably heartfelt. I wish all these four-liners had links to complete reviews, like a few did. Overall, I would still choose these discs by how much I wanted to have the material available and not much by the performances.

After the Review

It is difficult to read this review as anything but a nostalgic glance back in time at Bruce Springsteen’s career. Born to Run was his earliest real success though, so maybe it is the review that finally brought him fame; I’m not enough of a fan to know. Ironically, I know a few who do fly 3000 miles or more to catch his shows, but they were also the same teens who bought this LP when it first hit the radio. Greil Marcus’ review is decent. He covers Springsteen’s earlier albums quite a bit, but goes on a while without actually covering all the songs. Hopefully Greil’s hope for Springsteen has been met in the last 30 years, so I might just put on some Bruce later.