V/A - Song of the silent land

Today I spent a good thirty minutes reading the confrontation between a music journalist and constellation records on the constellation records website. Afterwards I surfed the website of the named publication, and what can I say, this very recommended reading sums up a lot of what I hate about journalism (not only music journalism), about the marketing business and the people involved way better than I ever could. Believe me, as soon as publishing of any kind is involved, those goodie-packs, invitations and free rides start to roll like no tomorrow. Ever wonder who pays for that four-day-trip to Los Angeles to listen to three tracks of the new REM-CD (which could be down via email faster and cheaper), why this should take four days and who gets to fly there? Mostly I hate those music journalist types, who get all new CDs for free and pride themselves when they finally come down and buy a record themselves. True, I do get quite a few promotional copies as well, but I never asked for them. Usually, the labels who send them to me or the artists who give them to me, know me and trust me. But this is not about me, but about Constellation Records and its bout with a local Canadian music rag which is enlightening on how the business works.

Also, the whole piece quite clearly shows the claim of Constellation Records of trying to build an alternative way of dealing with music. A real alternative, not the watered-down, second mainstream that is usually associated with the term. The political side of what once was Indie (the term only loosely hints at the independence it came from), post-rock (which lost its ideological side for useless instrumental pseudo-jazz faster than Ayrton Senna hit the curves) and alternative. A true alternative, that puts the main focus on the art / music, on using sustainable good, which acts on a local basis. Of course, it is impossible to forget about business all together, people want to live decently (and the levels of what is considered good living do tend to get higher with income), but it should never be the main focus.[1] Everyone who knows Constellation and the music it releases will agree that there is some incredible, new music going on there. Everyone who doesn’t can check out this label compilation and it will set him off for good.

This record contains one track each by all of the current artists on the label. I usually hate lists of name like these, but in this case I am willing to make an exception, because each and everyone of these artists is unique and great and I don’t want to forget one of them. Even though I will highlight some of them later on. Okay, here we go: 1-Speed Bike, Black Ox Orkestar, Do Make Say Think, Exhaust, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Hangedup, Le Fly Pan Am, Polmo Polpo, Re:, Sackville, Silver Mt. Zion, Sofa, Frankie Sparo, Elizabeth Anka Vajagic.

The last one is already the first great discovery for me. A stripped-down, acoustic love song filled with dark emotions and a voice so tender and powerful at the same time, it rips me apart quite literally every time I hear it. If you were looking for a woman to stand up to William Elliot Whitmore, here she is. But a lot more modern than the old man. Together with Sackville, who deliver a beautiful Leonard Cohen-meets-Hugo Race track, and Frankie Sparo, this is the singer / songwriter / folk part of the Constellation roster. Better known are the classical music goes avantgarde rock bands or collectives forming Godspeed, Do Make Say Think, Fly Pan Am or Exhaust – the latter one with the biggest dub and noiserock influence. It is the sole influence of Constellation and Godspeed that a whole generation of indie-rock-listeners (yeah, call them geeks) has found not only Ennio Morricone but also Bruckner and Brahms (listen to his trio-concertos if you want to know what a melancholic violin is) as classical composers.

Fittingly, the record ends with the applause given to Godspeed which hangs on to the live recorded unreleased track. Deservedly.

[1] A claim it shares with Cracked, I’d like to add. Since I work for a living and do these pages as a “hobby” it should be clear that there is no reward in it for me, except for promotional copies of CDs and a (rather questionable) fame. Actually, it is all about this: I like true music, that comes from the heart and the mind.

The non-monetary side of the way of doing business is also shown in little things such as keeping pressings with elaborate design in print, to destroy the ebay-market for “collector’s items” or by having the same mailorder price in Euros or Dollars for international orders.

VARIOUS ARTISTS

CD, Constellation

VARIOUS ARTISTS Song of the silent land CD, Constellation

Constellation is an exceptional label with an exceptional roster of artists making exceptional music. From noise drones to epic avantgarde to dark songwriter – every track has something special to say, to add or to comment on. And every piece of music released on the label has come to live on its own terms. To the newcomers “song of the silent land” is a unique and wonderful introduction into a new world of music. To the completists this CD is mandatory for its great unreleased tracks.
Today I spent a good thirty minutes reading the confrontation between a music journalist and constellation records on the constellation records website. Afterwards I surfed the website of the named publication, and what can I say, this very recommended reading sums up a lot of what I hate about journalism (not only music journalism), about the marketing business and the people involved way better than I ever could. Believe me, as soon as publishing of any kind is involved, those goodie-packs, invitations and free rides start to roll like no tomorrow. Ever wonder who pays for that four-day-trip to Los Angeles to listen to three tracks of the new REM-CD (which could be down via email faster and cheaper), why this should take four days and who gets to fly there? Mostly I hate those music journalist types, who get all new CDs for free and pride themselves when they finally come down and buy a record themselves. True, I do get quite a few promotional copies as well, but I never asked for them. Usually, the labels who send them to me or the artists who give them to me, know me and trust me. But this is not about me, but about Constellation Records and its bout with a local Canadian music rag which is enlightening on how the business works. Also, the whole piece quite clearly shows the claim of Constellation Records of trying to build an alternative way of dealing with music. A real alternative, not the watered-down, second mainstream that is usually associated with the term. The political side of what once was Indie (the term only loosely hints at the independence it came from), post-rock (which lost its ideological side for useless instrumental pseudo-jazz faster than Ayrton Senna hit the curves) and alternative. A true alternative, that puts the main focus on the art / music, on using sustainable good, which acts on a local basis. Of course, it is impossible to forget about business all together, people want to live decently (and the levels of what is considered good living do tend to get higher with income), but it should never be the main focus.[1] Everyone who knows Constellation and the music it releases will agree that there is some incredible, new music going on there. Everyone who doesn’t can check out this label compilation and it will set him off for good. This record contains one track each by all of the current artists on the label. I usually hate lists of name like these, but in this case I am willing to make an exception, because each and everyone of these artists is unique and great and I don’t want to forget one of them. Even though I will highlight some of them later on. Okay, here we go: 1-Speed Bike, Black Ox Orkestar, Do Make Say Think, Exhaust, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Hangedup, Le Fly Pan Am, Polmo Polpo, Re:, Sackville, Silver Mt. Zion, Sofa, Frankie Sparo, Elizabeth Anka Vajagic. The last one is already the first great discovery for me. A stripped-down, acoustic love song filled with dark emotions and a voice so tender and powerful at the same time, it rips me apart quite literally every time I hear it. If you were looking for a woman to stand up to William Elliot Whitmore, here she is. But a lot more modern than the old man. Together with Sackville, who deliver a beautiful Leonard Cohen-meets-Hugo Race track, and Frankie Sparo, this is the singer / songwriter / folk part of the Constellation roster. Better known are the classical music goes avantgarde rock bands or collectives forming Godspeed, Do Make Say Think, Fly Pan Am or Exhaust – the latter one with the biggest dub and noiserock influence. It is the sole influence of Constellation and Godspeed that a whole generation of indie-rock-listeners (yeah, call them geeks) has found not only Ennio Morricone but also Bruckner and Brahms (listen to his trio-concertos if you want to know what a melancholic violin is) as classical composers. Fittingly, the record ends with the applause given to Godspeed which hangs on to the live recorded unreleased track. Deservedly. P.S.: The printing and the cover is really neat as well. [1] A claim it shares with Cracked, I’d like to add. Since I work for a living and do these pages as a “hobby” it should be clear that there is no reward in it for me, except for promotional copies of CDs and a (rather questionable) fame. Actually, it is all about this: I like true music, that comes from the heart and the mind. The non-monetary side of the way of doing business is also shown in little things such as keeping pressings with elaborate design in print, to destroy the ebay-market for “collector’s items” or by having the same mailorder price in Euros or Dollars for international orders.