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Sufjan Stevens: BQE

Posted by dave c (A) on October 25, 2009 at 02:33:52

This is a 40 minute piece of music which might properly be called orchestral.
It was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy Of Music and is an overdubbed live recording by a 26 piece group of musicians.
In the highly Japanese influenced, digital psychedelica meets flat urbanism package come both a CD and a DVD of film directed by SS which is a good way into the music.
The film is a split screen journey along the Brooklyn Queens Expressway interspersed with sequences of 3 hoola hoop dancers.
The music moves from kind of Guys And Dolls era New York street jazz to romantic classical to Philip Glass (think any one of the Qaatsi films) parts especially those with geometric patterns of traffic erupting across the screen.
But through it all are easily recognised SS melodic devices.
Gone are the camp-fire Zappa-esque constructions.
In comes a bigger vision.
This I think is a total triumph.

The form(s) of the music aren't totally "NEW", but the content is totally validated.
Perhaps my favourite new music of the year, it's certainly on the shortlist.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Atma-Sphere Music Systems, Inc.

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