Interactive Poll #88: It Goes On and On

George:  Death Cab for Cutie “I Will Possess Your Heart”  Alt rock world here.  Kind of a swirly key start, then on to bass.  Weather and airport sounds.  Drums kick in and some eerie, sustained guitar notes.  Atmospheric as all heck.  Love the effected reverb-y guitar sound.  Lots of tension building with glistening guitars and keyboard chords.  About halfway in, finally the vocalist begins with confessing his obsessing, and chilling it is (as is the imagery with all of the ice and the forbidden city, etc).  Ends the way it began, with slow fade.  I had heard of them, but never heard them, so thank you for the intro!  Curtis Mayfield “(Don’t Worry) If There Is a Hell Below, We’re All Going To Go”  Begins with some fuzzy bass and a party sort of background, people talking, the woman in the front of the recording, speaking, mentions “The Good Book.”  Some derogatory terms are thrown about with lots of echo and a scream. That signature wah-wah guitar starts up with the disco synths and horns, which one would expect from this.  A song of it’s time, addressing issues of the day.  Sadly, still the issues of today.  

Cristi:  Light Field Reverie “All Roads Lead Home”  Wiggly keys to begin, then synths with percussive sounds, in a minor key.  Ethereal female vocals, very beautiful!  This is very haunting, I think my favourite of anything you’ve ever posted.  Love the mix as well.  There is a male, spoken part, about 2/3rds in, but it suits the piece well.  W.A.S.P. “The Idol”  Here we are metal territory in a more typical way than the previous.  It begins with sounds of a bar or restaurant with a manager arguing with his artist, then a phone dialing and a female voice answering.  Guitar commences, quickly becoming an opening lead.  Vocalist ponders the price of fame, which ends with supreme loneliness instead of true connections with people.  Metal, yet with restraint.  Dave Brubeck & Paul Desmond “All The Things You Are”  Very Brubeckian (what else?) piece, with horn and brushed cymbals, soft keyboards.  Very cool, classy, and upbeat, probably like the person they refer to in the title.   A little interlude of “Deck the Halls,” about halfway in.  Light and airy live track.

Easy Money:  Isaac Hayes “Something”  Piano and guitar open this version, pretty flourishes on the piano, then orchestra comes in, with female chorus and some gypsy violin.  Orchestra again, with male choral, blending into Isaac by himself and orchestral backing for embellishments.  Violin comes in with the backup ladies and Isaac vocal-jamming….and the violin goes cosmic! 

The Anders:  Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen "Je ne me tairai jamais, Jamais" This does begin discordantly, with voices, honking things  and whistles (?).  Finally settles in with some woodwinds, and horns at odd intervals, with a male spoken part.  This one actually got my dog’s attention with the horns honking and the whistles, I kid you not.  The feeling to this piece is very bleak to me. 

suitkees:  Kaboom Karavan “Roadmap”  This begins very subtly, with some low, bass sound repeating and discordant strings, almost making a choral sound.  Some very mild percussive sounds kick in with bell-like sounds and some clangy strings.  I get the feeling of a caravan in the distance very much, like what you might hear across some hills as a strange company makes progress from one place to another.  Washboard sounding chanting near the end.  Truly remarkable.  Makes me think of an aural Henry Darger.

Logan:  Marius Popp “Inscriptie”  Here we go to some avant-jazz, with more recognizable instrumentation.  Piano and guitars, moving from a quicker pace into slower, with some synths.  A female(?) voice, mixed back, joins in for a time.  About halfway in, a sax solo commences, then back to the main theme.  The piece concludes with some synth and guitar improv. Janko Nilovic “Giant Locomotion”  Here we kick right off with drums, then vibes and some horns.  Big city feel to this piece, with full horns and sounds of traffic at times.  Sax solo joins with the full horn sections and big drums.  Flute solo with tambourine and more big horns, then some spiky guitar lead, still with all of the forward motion keeping on.  Surprise cello and violin spar with one another (my favourite part!).  Roland Kirk-style flute and horns move this along with strings toward the destination crescendo. 

Lorenzo:  Dissòi Logòi “Amptruabat Redamptruabat”  In another complete change of pace from the last, this begins with some high flute, solo, treated with mild echo. Joining in at about a minute, it’s underscored by sustained notes on a keyboard, or are they a vocal?  Hand drums and some bells join in with some quiet guitar and meltingly beautiful violin (or is it something like a mizmar?) in a Middle Eastern sort of style.  More flute or ocarina-type instrument, still accompanied by the guitar and some twangy strings as well.  Male vocal and some sustained (backwards?) guitar-type notes.  There are some zils (hand cymbals) way back in the mix. This is fantastic, gotta say.  Gorgeous gypsy-style guitar lead and then some double-picking, with flourishes.  The possibly backwards guitar or violin through effects re-emerges.  Did I say this was fantastic? The flute and guitar double on the same melody and the violin/mizmar thing comes back in an exotic, along with the flute/pipe fluttering about.  Yep, fantastic.