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Dead Can Dance
Apr. 7th, 2005 09:44 amObviously by sleeping I've missed being current, so there's every danger this entry will sound in parts like a poor shadow of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
s0b. Perhaps if I take a leaf out of last-nights-designated driver and exaggerate.
Firstly it was surprising to me how much of London I knew - I don't drive through there if I can help it, but it appeals to my inner-neat (not that it gets out much) to be able to see the roads that link the tube stations.
Anyway, getting to the Barbican was easy - getting to the Barbican was not so easy, but more so than getting around it, which itself was easier than getting something decent to eat. Still - food is for the weak.
Thanks toashenkat I had a great seat, and settled down with seconds to go to see what the evening had in store.
I'd better come clean at this point and say that I am a casual rather than dedicated fan of DCD, I certainly don't recongnise many of the tracks (with some obvious exceptions such as Saltarello). So, all strapped in I was optimistic about the evening - and wasn't disappointed.
I certainly didn't get really drawn in as some said to me, but it's impossible not to be impressed by what they do - definitely appealing to my love of percussion. A good length and reasonably varied set meant I didn't see a disappointed face on the audience during the way out. A couple of observations came to mind on the way back.
The first is the obvious parallel with Neubatuen, and then a parallel with Tolkein. I did find myself musing on the nature of "made up history/culture". To me DCD have created a rich mythology and draw on this with their music. I wouldn't consider accusing it of being filk, but in the same way as Tolkein created wrote an "epic for a world that didn't have one", DCD come close to writing "world music for a world that doesn't exist".
The next parallel is with Neubauten. DCD draw upon history and tradition, and the sounds of days gone past. Neubauten draw upon the sounds of a different day - one where the world is sharp rusty metal, rubbish cans and machinery. There's strong parallels in having music drawing on the fabric of the world around - whether it be "an imagined patchwork of reality and fantasy" or "industrial society". Or at least I thought so.
On the downside there was the astonishing rudeness of people who kept coming in and out of their seats, and a pox on flash (see rants passim).
Oh, and apparently Gerrard sings "Glossolalia". Sounds painful.
And waves to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
nearly_everyone who were in the audience.
s0b. Perhaps if I take a leaf out of last-nights-designated driver and exaggerate.Firstly it was surprising to me how much of London I knew - I don't drive through there if I can help it, but it appeals to my inner-neat (not that it gets out much) to be able to see the roads that link the tube stations.
Anyway, getting to the Barbican was easy - getting to the Barbican was not so easy, but more so than getting around it, which itself was easier than getting something decent to eat. Still - food is for the weak.
Thanks to
ashenkat I had a great seat, and settled down with seconds to go to see what the evening had in store. I'd better come clean at this point and say that I am a casual rather than dedicated fan of DCD, I certainly don't recongnise many of the tracks (with some obvious exceptions such as Saltarello). So, all strapped in I was optimistic about the evening - and wasn't disappointed.
I certainly didn't get really drawn in as some said to me, but it's impossible not to be impressed by what they do - definitely appealing to my love of percussion. A good length and reasonably varied set meant I didn't see a disappointed face on the audience during the way out. A couple of observations came to mind on the way back.
The first is the obvious parallel with Neubatuen, and then a parallel with Tolkein. I did find myself musing on the nature of "made up history/culture". To me DCD have created a rich mythology and draw on this with their music. I wouldn't consider accusing it of being filk, but in the same way as Tolkein created wrote an "epic for a world that didn't have one", DCD come close to writing "world music for a world that doesn't exist".
The next parallel is with Neubauten. DCD draw upon history and tradition, and the sounds of days gone past. Neubauten draw upon the sounds of a different day - one where the world is sharp rusty metal, rubbish cans and machinery. There's strong parallels in having music drawing on the fabric of the world around - whether it be "an imagined patchwork of reality and fantasy" or "industrial society". Or at least I thought so.
On the downside there was the astonishing rudeness of people who kept coming in and out of their seats, and a pox on flash (see rants passim).
Oh, and apparently Gerrard sings "Glossolalia". Sounds painful.
And waves to
nearly_everyone who were in the audience.
