Comments | snowgrouse: Lisa Gerrard, Dead Can Dance, how we express ourselves

snowgrouse

Lisa Gerrard, Dead Can Dance, how we express ourselves

Aug 07, 2009 02:19

-Watched the Lisa Gerrard docu and it was very interesting. I've been listening to some Dead Can Dance afterwards, naturally. I hadn't listened to Summoning Of The Muse in ages, but I lay there on my bed with my headphones on with tears rolling down my face because the beauty of the music is... gah, words aren't enough to describe it. Speaking of ( Read more... )

lisa gerrard, dead can dance, bloodbath, muzak, hippie crap, life the universe & everything, anthropology

Comments 5

reasonabsurd August 7 2009, 00:16:00 UTC

I'm glad you're feeling relaxed and well. *hug*
Thanks for sharing the music.
I wonder about expression, in my more arty farty moments. A problem I often encounter is tending toward frivolity at the risk of sounding too intense or frightening.

No More made me cry

snowgrouse August 7 2009, 12:27:45 UTC

If you can get a hold of DCD's earlier stuff (Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun is probably my favourite album ever), I can't recommend it enough. Gerrard's voice is just something phenomenal. It sounds much weirder if she sings in an existing language, because her own is so harmonious.

And yeah, I've got the same problem with frivolity. I bet I sound really scary and bitchy so much of the time, when I've actually got a heavy ironic streak in my bitchery most of the time. That, and Finnish humour can be very understated, slow to build and completely and utterly deadpan, so when I'm not being cracky or making appalling knob jokes, I'm sure it misfires half the time (so I'm either cracky/porny and bouncy or spewing vitriol at everything). For what it's worth, I haven't found you too intense or frightening or frivolous, ever, just smart and interesting and funny:). *squishage*

harrisaa August 7 2009, 14:22:42 UTC

My one chance to see Dead Can Dance live coincided with a falling-apart unhealthy relationship I was in so I didn't end up seeing them. This really bit because I'd been into them since almost from the beginning -- I bought all their stuff when it was still being released on vinyl. And I no longer have the records, all I have is one cd of "greatest hits" which I nicked from my ex-boyfriend. Grrr. I agree about Lisa Gerrard's phenomenal voice -- she's like a Liz Frazier with an edge.

I have the same problem with taking refuge in frivolity and flippancy when it comes to writing. I have a hard time with serious scenes. I think one reason is fear of exposure -- being jokey and unserious keeps people at a distance. That's really bad for writing, however. I also have been told my sense of humor is very dry, or maybe it's just that I can't tell jokes.

snowgrouse August 7 2009, 14:41:13 UTC

I've still got Within The Realm... as a vinyl! It took me ages to get it in CD format.

And I'd say the flippancy and jokeyness can be a good thing. It just depends on how it's used, really. I'm under the impression that most comedians started developing a comic persona as a response to difficult situations, being bullied at school and such. And that sort of insecurity has led to some of the best comedy ever. And not everyone can tell jokes, anyway. Forced or poor humour is much worse and off-putting than seriousness, IMHO--but then I really don't find most "funny" stuff all that funny, like macros or metaquotes--it has to be really witty or really absurd for me to laugh. There's a great sketch Catherine Tate has of this couple who find all this mundane stuff they do absolutely rip-roaringly funny ("I left the keys in the car! ROTFL!" "AHAHAHAHA! YOU ARE HYSTERICAL!" while the audience goes "...") and that's how I feel at most popular types of Internet humour if it's just someone pointing out the obvious.

harrisaa August 7 2009, 16:53:03 UTC

The thing about being on the receiving end of bullying and other difficult life situation is it gives you a good "the human race can be such shits" perspective. Of course if you don't have the necessary intelligence and ability to detach then this can merely make you bitter without being funny... it's a fine line. I'm lucky in that I didn't get very much bullying at all in school, but I did feel out of place and that what I was being made to do with my life was sort of useless and pointless, and it was the Seventies -- a time that was not as wonderful culturally in the States as it apparently was in the UK, or at least in my part of the US ( ... )