This is "Allelujah", from the album subHuman by the "band" Recoil (Alan Wilder of Depeche Mode fame, with whoever he rounded up). The video was fan-made by Russian fans with Alan's permission, the Russian fans also rounded up the money to actually record and do the first pressing of the album itself. That was Alan's work-around to the problem that he can't find anybody willing to publish his music.
This seems like it's going back to an earlier model of the music industry, the patron model, which was the case up until the music industry was invented in the 19th century. Which perhaps is appropriate, since we're devolving back to a feudal economy (and Russia is our future -- they're already there) where a few filthy rich oligarchs are our noblemen and the rest of us... peasants. Or servants. Whatever. The problem with the patron model is that in the 18th century no petty nobleman or prince of the Church would have dared not have a court composer to compose tunes for the enjoyment of the court, but today's lords of the universe seem to have a singular disinterest in cultural matters. They're too busy snarling at each other for the last meat on the bones of nations to think about petty things like music. In Alan's case, the children of those oligarchs became interested in his plight and swooped in on a lark to make him a project. But that's hardly a real solution to the future of music, there are only so many children of oligarchs, and they tend to have singularly short attention spans.
-- Badtux the Music Penguin
Just started the tune. Slow getting going. Is the camera work supposed to look like it was done by Fritz Arno Wagner?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I was quite taken with your 2nd paragraph. I often have those same bleak thoughts. I spent the Bush administration trying to figure out if their model was 12th century Europe or some quasi-contemporary So. American Banana Republic. Finally decided, if you can't tell, it doesn't matter.
Now the Dems might lose Ted Kennedy's seat. We'll know in about 24 hours.
We are so fucked!
JzB
The feudal system had to establish a modus vivendi before they could have patrons. All that snarling from the MUA is just their way of working out the details of the Novus Ordo Fuckuallum.
ReplyDeleteCould be. When the Mongols took over China they were smelly horse barbarians, but within three generations were as effete and arts-loving as any Chinaman ever was. Now we have our new Mongols kicking over the walls to set up their own order where they're on top and everybody else is their property. What happens three generations from now?
ReplyDeleteWell, I won't be around, so I guess I don't care.
- Badtux the Elderly Penguin
Jazz, yes, slow ambient tune, not intended to get you dancing. Interesting textures though as you listen to the various threads weaving their way through it. As for the camera work, it was done by the children of oligarchs playing auteur. No idea whether they know who Fritz Arno Wagner was or not. It could be they did, the Internet makes a lot of information available and if these privileged urchins got a bee up their bonnet there's a lot of resources at their fingertips now.
ReplyDelete- Badtux the Unhelpful Penguin