An excellent analysis. May your principles find a wide acceptance.
I'm only familiar with Magma from the cover of "De Futura" on The Flying Luttenbachers album "Infection and Decline"; I really should listen to the source. As to wordless vocals, another (and very, very different) group which have perfected the approach is Cocteau Twins. At their peak (1983-1988) they were one of the most innovative bands working in short, song-based structures. They are absolutely nothing like prog, though—I don't really know what I would call them (art goth? Cerebral dream pop?) If you are familiar with them I would love to hear your thoughts.
Your thoughts about a band's politics / messaging overwhelming the music makes me think of Godspeed You Black Emperor; in their case, the packaging and other extra-musical paraphernalia attempts to push a strong message, but in my opinion the music exists absolutely independent of that message.
Thanks, man. As far as Cocteau Twins go, I really haven't listened much. I get the sense that their vocals are sort of in the bebop scatting territory, which is all good with me, but it's different from how Magma's constructed language hovers around the periphery between purely improvisatory/instinctive and propositionally communicative. I associate Cocteau Twins with bands like Strawberry Switchblade and like 80s goth stuff such as the Cure and Joy Division and everything. Some friends of mine are way into this sort of thing. I think it's fine when someone is playing it at a party or in a bar or whatever, I've got nothing against it.
As far as GY!BE, they're one of those bands I listened to random songs from way back during the Kazaa/Limewire days. I thought they were OK, but they never really held my attention. I'm not big on the "post-rock" stuff, it feels minimalistic to me in a way that punishes rather than rewards intense concentration. I actually had no idea about their politics -- I figured they were on the left because of that song they did where it's accompanied by some libertarian guy who does an interview about how he's stockpiling guns or something to prepare for an economic collapse. The music seemed to be saying something like, "Yes, he's a confused bumpkin, but he's the proletariat, and we have to fight for him anyway." I don't know, not really my thing.
As far as the Luttenbachers go, they're great!! And in fact, the Infection and Decline lineup was my favorite of theirs, the song "Elfmeros" on that album might be my favorite of theirs ever. That whole period from around like 2002-2006 where they were writing tight, richly-composed "brutal prog" compositions was an excellent time for them.
An excellent analysis. May your principles find a wide acceptance.
I'm only familiar with Magma from the cover of "De Futura" on The Flying Luttenbachers album "Infection and Decline"; I really should listen to the source. As to wordless vocals, another (and very, very different) group which have perfected the approach is Cocteau Twins. At their peak (1983-1988) they were one of the most innovative bands working in short, song-based structures. They are absolutely nothing like prog, though—I don't really know what I would call them (art goth? Cerebral dream pop?) If you are familiar with them I would love to hear your thoughts.
Your thoughts about a band's politics / messaging overwhelming the music makes me think of Godspeed You Black Emperor; in their case, the packaging and other extra-musical paraphernalia attempts to push a strong message, but in my opinion the music exists absolutely independent of that message.
Thanks, man. As far as Cocteau Twins go, I really haven't listened much. I get the sense that their vocals are sort of in the bebop scatting territory, which is all good with me, but it's different from how Magma's constructed language hovers around the periphery between purely improvisatory/instinctive and propositionally communicative. I associate Cocteau Twins with bands like Strawberry Switchblade and like 80s goth stuff such as the Cure and Joy Division and everything. Some friends of mine are way into this sort of thing. I think it's fine when someone is playing it at a party or in a bar or whatever, I've got nothing against it.
As far as GY!BE, they're one of those bands I listened to random songs from way back during the Kazaa/Limewire days. I thought they were OK, but they never really held my attention. I'm not big on the "post-rock" stuff, it feels minimalistic to me in a way that punishes rather than rewards intense concentration. I actually had no idea about their politics -- I figured they were on the left because of that song they did where it's accompanied by some libertarian guy who does an interview about how he's stockpiling guns or something to prepare for an economic collapse. The music seemed to be saying something like, "Yes, he's a confused bumpkin, but he's the proletariat, and we have to fight for him anyway." I don't know, not really my thing.
As far as the Luttenbachers go, they're great!! And in fact, the Infection and Decline lineup was my favorite of theirs, the song "Elfmeros" on that album might be my favorite of theirs ever. That whole period from around like 2002-2006 where they were writing tight, richly-composed "brutal prog" compositions was an excellent time for them.