A National Classic, an International Surprise, and a Digital Critic
Our favorite things this week include "Studio Rio Presents: The Brazil Connection," The National's Bryce Dessner, and "Every Frame a Painting."
Our favorite things this week include "Studio Rio Presents: The Brazil Connection," The National's Bryce Dessner, and "Every Frame a Painting."
The New Classic: Though Bryce Dessner is best known as a guitarist for indie rock gods The National, he’s also a classical composer. The first half of the recently released album St. Carolyn by the Sea features three of his orchestral compositions performed by the Copenhagen Philharmonic and accompanied on electric guitar by Bryce and his twin brother Aaron, also of The National.
The title track, a haunting double guitar concerto, is reminiscent of Dessner’s work with The National with the quiet unfolding of a song, the lush storytelling, the exactness of its emotional material. Here, however, Dessner is able to take his time. He teases the audience, creating swirling sections that build upon one another and seduce listeners into a brief respite before hurling them back into the open fray. At times, the drama feels less subtle than Dessner is usually capable of, but his sincerity and ambition sell the album. After all, if you’re going for big emotive textures, why not swing for the fences? His three pieces reference the past (he cites 16th Century Renaissance composer John Dowland, early minimalist drone music, and Jack Kerouac as inspiration), but the strange textures of these compositions don’t sound nostalgic. Instead, it seems Dessner is looking towards a future where high and low art, rock ’n’ roll and classical music, garage bands and chamber groups don’t occupy such disparate corners of the music world. (Chen)
One and Done: Musicians hate the way the effort they put into an album’s sequencing is casually undone when it is dumped into an iPod, where songs will come out randomly shuffled instead. Some music benefits from being heard a track here, a track there, and not as a unit. Studio Rio Presents: The Brazil Connection, for example, has a novel idea - give classic jazz and R&B vocals fresh samba and bossa nova backing tracks in honor of the World Cup. But heard as a whole, tracks that are enjoyable individually blur into a collection of novelties - noticed, evaluated in a verse and chorus or so, then you’re ready for the next one. You’re amused by the slightly deceptive arrangement at the top that nods left before it cuts right, but the ideas behind the tracks and not the tracks themselves become the point under discussion. Heard individually, it’s easier to appreciate the vitality of the band, the intelligence and wit in the arrangements, and the warmth the treatments infuse into the songs. It’s not a leap to imagine Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now” as a samba, but Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” is far less predictable. Favorite track: Sly and the Family Stone’s “Family Affair.” (Rawls)
A Friendly Frame: The Internet is full of opinionated movie buffs, but lately Tony Zhou, the creator, editor, and narrator of Every Frame a Painting, has been making waves. His series of short, entertaining videos explain and dissect the creative techniques of films and filmmakers. Zhou himself doesn’t seem to have a large online presence aside from the Vimeo and tumblr accounts where he posts his work, many well-known blogs and film websites have linked to his videos and generated a surprising amount of buzz. By weaving together interviews, his narration, and short clips, Zhou creates quick, enlightening videos that leave you with a little something more to think about next time you go to the movies.
Zhou’s narration is friendly, down to earth, and he’s not afraid to poke a little fun, which makes his videos conversational and easily comprehendible. The effect is like talking to a knowledgeable friend rather than listening to a lecture from a film critic. In a recent video focusing on Martin Scorsese, Zhou discusses the cinematic significance that moments of silence hold when they occur in the sometimes overwhelming noise of soundtracks and sound effects. An even earlier video about the comedic style of writer/director Edgar Wright was actually tweeted about by Simon Pegg—Wright’s creative partner and star in Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz!, and The World’s End—which validated the largely unknown Zhou. Though he only has 10 videos posted to date, Zhou’s online presence is growing, and it’s promising that there are more to come. (Keenan)
