We Desire Disorder; With This Design We’re All Born Our Own Destroyer
Tuesday. Well, today has been a busy day, that's for sure. Most of that's because I had to leave work after about an hour of being here yesterday morning to go comfort an ailing young one. It was certainly worth it, but coming back in to a stack of stuff pending is not exactly my number one choice of favorite scenarios. None of it has been that bad, it is just a matter of catching up. I'm still a bit behind, but since I didn't post yesterday I'm a bit behind on my blog as well, and of course I have my priorities...
Last week I posted my 56 Reasons Why I Love My Stapler Remover a day late, and as compensation I agreed to Sass's suggestion that I pick an artist or band I am currently unfamiliar with from the list of performers at the Hillside Music Festival to use for an upcoming discussion. Well, faithful readers, that upcoming discussion has come up. I have to admit that the selection was wide open. I only recognized Feist's name on the list, so I could have chosen just about anyone and I would have been ok. However, I wanted to at least get a general feel for the pool of choices. So, I looked up a good many of the bands to find out which ones would be the best candidates for my listening pleasure. My top choice was The Sadies, but unfortunately the music fairy was unable to deliver. The music fairy was able to deliver The Tournament of Hearts by The Constantines, however, so here we go:
The Tournament of Hearts is The Constantines' third album (I believe, feel free to correct me if I am wrong). According to several reviews this album is a departure from their earlier releases, but since I have never heard their earlier releases I have no idea where they are departing from so it didn't make much of a difference. I did learn that The Tournament of Hearts is named after a Canadian ladies' curling championship, which the members of the band watched during hockey's absence due to the strike. Also, according to several websites that I read, the album cover depicting a large jagged rock is some kind of curling joke, but I don't know anything about curling except that one player slides a big weight down the ice (called a "rock" but not the rock in the picture, although I am fairly certain this is where the joke lay) and two other guys run in front of it with brooms trying to change its direction. Wow, I am surprised. I just realized that I know more about curling than I thought, though probably still minuscule in comparison to what people who really follow the sport know. I am pretty sure that a curling iron is not involved, though.
I'm starting to go on crazy tangents here, so I'll try to re-focus. Tournament of Hearts is a tribute of sorts to the working class and society's members that have been left behind. Each song follows this theme from a different aspect. I was personally hoping that the track Lizaveta was a reference to a character in The Brothers Karamazov, but after reading the lyric sheet I don't think that's the case. Of course, some might consider a reference to a character from a 19th century Russian novel in a concept album dealing with 21st century Canadian social classes to be a bit of a stretch, but I think those people are just close-minded and lack imagination.
I think I just went off on another tangent again. Where was I? Oh yeah, Dostoyevsky. Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote several novels that are often considered some of the greatest in classic literature. A few of these novels include Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, The Idiot... wait... sorry, wrong track... backup... start again... The Tournament of Hearts was an enjoyable listen, if not remarkable. I took the liberty of listening to the album the past two mornings, and derived pleasure from both experiences, but I don't know of anything radical and/or new on this release that would make it a landmark recording. I am now curious about what their first two albums sound like so I know where they departed from and possible find out where they may go to next. I recommend listening to this album, but only after reading Notes from Underground first.
Thanks for the suggestion, Sass. I appreciate it.
Last week I posted my 56 Reasons Why I Love My Stapler Remover a day late, and as compensation I agreed to Sass's suggestion that I pick an artist or band I am currently unfamiliar with from the list of performers at the Hillside Music Festival to use for an upcoming discussion. Well, faithful readers, that upcoming discussion has come up. I have to admit that the selection was wide open. I only recognized Feist's name on the list, so I could have chosen just about anyone and I would have been ok. However, I wanted to at least get a general feel for the pool of choices. So, I looked up a good many of the bands to find out which ones would be the best candidates for my listening pleasure. My top choice was The Sadies, but unfortunately the music fairy was unable to deliver. The music fairy was able to deliver The Tournament of Hearts by The Constantines, however, so here we go:
The Tournament of Hearts is The Constantines' third album (I believe, feel free to correct me if I am wrong). According to several reviews this album is a departure from their earlier releases, but since I have never heard their earlier releases I have no idea where they are departing from so it didn't make much of a difference. I did learn that The Tournament of Hearts is named after a Canadian ladies' curling championship, which the members of the band watched during hockey's absence due to the strike. Also, according to several websites that I read, the album cover depicting a large jagged rock is some kind of curling joke, but I don't know anything about curling except that one player slides a big weight down the ice (called a "rock" but not the rock in the picture, although I am fairly certain this is where the joke lay) and two other guys run in front of it with brooms trying to change its direction. Wow, I am surprised. I just realized that I know more about curling than I thought, though probably still minuscule in comparison to what people who really follow the sport know. I am pretty sure that a curling iron is not involved, though.
I'm starting to go on crazy tangents here, so I'll try to re-focus. Tournament of Hearts is a tribute of sorts to the working class and society's members that have been left behind. Each song follows this theme from a different aspect. I was personally hoping that the track Lizaveta was a reference to a character in The Brothers Karamazov, but after reading the lyric sheet I don't think that's the case. Of course, some might consider a reference to a character from a 19th century Russian novel in a concept album dealing with 21st century Canadian social classes to be a bit of a stretch, but I think those people are just close-minded and lack imagination.
I think I just went off on another tangent again. Where was I? Oh yeah, Dostoyevsky. Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote several novels that are often considered some of the greatest in classic literature. A few of these novels include Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, The Idiot... wait... sorry, wrong track... backup... start again... The Tournament of Hearts was an enjoyable listen, if not remarkable. I took the liberty of listening to the album the past two mornings, and derived pleasure from both experiences, but I don't know of anything radical and/or new on this release that would make it a landmark recording. I am now curious about what their first two albums sound like so I know where they departed from and possible find out where they may go to next. I recommend listening to this album, but only after reading Notes from Underground first.
Thanks for the suggestion, Sass. I appreciate it.
posted by john at 4:04 PM
3 Comments:
well, hillside is a true folk festival in that they consider ALL music to be folk.
i saw a guy rapping and playing a garbage bag the same year i saw a fantastic celtic band from vancouver and a choir from trinidad and tobago do bob marley.
keep mining, it's all neat... :)
and if that gets boring look at last year *grin*
also keep it up then i know who to check out this year...
Hmm... I wouldn't consider the Constantines as "folk" though I would say that they exhibited some very folk-like themes in their music. Maybe folk is the sound they departed from?
A guy rapping with a garbage bag??? Seriously? Now that is something I would like to see for sure. Did he include any trash talk in his rhymes? :-)
I'll keep checking out bands on the list for sure. I'm always on the lookout for new tunes.
the best is the workshops... highlight of last year was 'dya singh' who are australian and do um traditional indian music with rocking beats mixed with 'les batinses' who are french from quebec and do sort of traditional francophone ballads with punk influences...
i have NO IDEA how sam comes up with the combinations
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