But lately I've been thinking we need open threads around here because by gum I like hearing you guys speak and I like hearing you speak on things that aren't necessarily ON TOPIC to whatever inane thing I've decided to write and publish online that day about ElfQuest or H.G. Wells or the nuances between a Nook and a Sony Reader.
So this is a completely open talk-about-whatever-you-want thread. But because it's an internet law that these have to be about music, here is my "what are you listening to" entry for the week. Are you ready? It's *really* nerdy. Ok, deep breath. Here:
I am listening to Heather Alexander's "King of Elfland's Daughter".
It's filk music, which is new folk music designed around fantasy/scifi works of fiction. This particular song is based on the novel of the same name, which can be bought in paperbook form here
or downloaded in ebook form here. I would have liked this song regardless (I'm a huge fan of Heather Alexander / Alexander James) but it's interesting to me that the YouTube clip has spawned some interesting Twilight comparisons. Would you give up your mortal life to go off with the King of Elfland's daughter? The consensus on the YouTube board is that it pretty much depends. For myself, I like that the song implies that the two have something of a childhood history together -- and knowing how the fae sometimes traditionally operate in literature, it's not 100% clear how much of a choice the young man was given...
I really need to read the book, but I haven't gotten to it yet.
6 comments:
I think you beat me in the geek department. I've been listening to Chameleon Circuit's new album Still Got Legs. They specialise in songs about Doctor Who, with this album mostly focusing on Series 4.5 and 5. (Everything was written pre-6a, so "Silence and the End of All Things" is not about what you probably think it's about.)
I also recommend their self-titled previous/first album, at least for Who fans who know what the songs are about.
(My synesthesia helps, too. Nothing enhances the experience like the dusky purple of "Travelling Man" or the bright sunshine-yellow of "Gallifreyan History 101". It is rather odd that "Count the Shadows" is light blue, though. Shouldn't a song about living shadows be dark?)
Basically the only music I own is The Nameless Mod's soundtrack, which can be listened to track by track online here, and I don't pull that out very often. Usually I have a TV on for background noise and get my music while a passenger in someone else's car. At times, like these, when what's on TV isn't something I want to hear even as background noise and I haven't been in anyone's car for a while that can lead to songs I haven't heard in years popping into my head and sticking around for days.
A while ago Hot Butter's version of Popcorn jumped into my head out of nowhere and wouldn't leave for days. There's nothing wrong with Popcorn, in my opinion, but its not something you want to listen to for days. Finally Beethoven's Ode to Joy popped up, also out of nowhere, and drove Popcorn out.
Popcorn has come back, so at this very moment I'm trying to preform an exorcism lest it stay there for days again. The power of The Ode to Joy compels you.
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Oddly everything I've mentioned here, every one of the 27 songs, is an instrumental. Generally I prefer to hear singing.
Chameleon Circuit for the win.
I've been listening to The Book of Mormon a lot. The musical, not an audio version of the book. I think some of the songs go a little too far, but I think "I Believe" and "Turn It Off" are some of the funniest songs I've heard from Broadway since... hmm... Avenue Q, maybe.
Also, Cameron Mitchell's "Love Can Wait" EP.
I'm not listening to anything at the moment because that would distract me from the serious business of reading the internets. :) But I can tell you what I'm reading outside of the internets. It's a little book I picked up when I was in Budapest in February -- we took the train up when my love was visiting so that she could see the capital. Whenever I go to Budapest, which isn't often, I like to stop at the book seller at the train station, who has very cheap books, many of them possibly used, and some of them quite old, and they cost 100 forints (fifty cents USD) a piece. I try to limit myself to things I will actually read, but sometimes it takes me a while to get to them.
This book is by János Kőbányai and it is titled "The Hungarian Wailing Wall" (Magyar Siratófal). Published in 1989, it seems to be a memoir, or perhaps a collection of essays, (I'm not very far in) about being Hungarian and Jewish "...the search for identity, which in my circumstance is a dual identity: Hungarian and Jewish. This is, if not always easy, a gift from fate, a gift and a task, because I don't experience these two identities as a type of schizophrenia [sic], but as a wealth, even if I live it as a painfully heavy wealth. That is, living in the margins of world history of these two peoples futures and pasts. And the romantic push-pull relationship these two peoples have for each other." Or at least that's my best translation of what the author has to say about his book on the flaps of the cover.
Very cool song. If you haven't already, and are willing to try something heavier, I'd highly recommend Blind Guardian. Their entire career has basically been transforming sci-fi/fantasy works into folk-influenced heavy metal. I cannot recommend 'Nightfall in Middle-Earth' (based on the Silmarillion) enough.
Live footage of the first single from that album: http://youtu.be/bYdd4fMtW_A
If you like AJA, you might be interested in one of his new protegees: Leannan Sidhe. She's got a very lyrical soprano, and it's good stuff.
I am assuming you are already familiar with Tricky Pixie and the awesomeness that is SJ Tucker and Betsy Tinney.
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