Quote:
Originally Posted by Urban Hatemonger
Psychic TV - N.Y. Scum
This album consists of two songs both of approx 15 minutes each. Here's a brief description of each song.
N.Y. Scum - For the first 5 minutes some guy rips as much feedback out of his guitar as he can manage while being backed by a bunch of Hare Krishna's on percussion, all the while a drunk couple has a domestic argument.
Haters - What remnants of a song there is here is quickly forgotten about after just a couple of minutes as the song decends into some random shouting & howling feedback.
In a word ... Brilliant.
Boo Boo would shit himself listening to this
Rating 5/5 Soiled Pants
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Well, Urban, I did it: as promised, I listened to both songs. Your descriptions of them are really right on the mark, I felt. Here are a few of my minute-by-minute reactions to "N.Y. Scum" and "Haters," proof that I *did* actually listen to them. Didn't even need to be pinned down.
N.Y. Scum
0:54, 1:06, and 1:17 - sounds like several space ships taking off while an iron worker hits an anvil surrounded by drummers.
1:47 - I stare down at the snarl of electric chords beneath the computer desk and think I really should organize them better.
2:04 - A Primal Scream! I didn't expect that.
2:15 - And more screaming
2:53 -A sobbing woman. I think it is a domestic dispute.
3:04 - Did I hear actual notes?! I think I did!! That got me kind of excited.
3:22 - Apparently the woman didn't like them much, because she's sobbing again.
7:29 - Holy chanting. Nice harmony. Now *this* is music. Peaceful. I'm starting to relax.
8:14 - Drat. Some sort of fight among people. And a dog is snarling. It doesn't sound friendly. I smile, thinking perhaps it is snarling at the musicians because of the high-pitched, piercing noises they are making.
10:19 - Gets kind of kinky. I perk up. Singer sings: "This is the place where the skin meets the skin and the skin goes in." Hmmm. Rhyming *and* sexual. Maybe this music isn't so bad after all!
15:55 - More shrieking, "Twisted! Very twisted!"
Haters
00:51 - Lyrics: "Sunny morning, bring the dawning bulls
hit," and "Where do you keep your dreams. In your pocket?"
I guess this is the deepest part of the song, where it shows the contrast between humanity's lofty psychological yearnings and awareness of the gritty reality as represented by fecal matter and sex.
3:07 - Sounds like the screeching of subway train wheels on tracks. A pleasant background beat continues.
4:00 - Uh oh. More screaming. Did my jukebox switch to the first song? Nope. Nope, this *is* the new one.
9:11 - I adjust myself because I worry I might get a blood clot sitting so still with my legs crossed in one direction.
11:15 - The rest of the song starts sounding like drunken and frenzied people shouting in a sports stadium. Maybe they are football or rugby fans.
12:19 - "Oh whoa whoa whoa," warbles the singer. I'm pleasantly reminded of what it's like when you go hiking in the mountains and get to a canyon where you notice an echo. So then everyone stands still and starts screaming weird stuff and listening to the echos. I daydream about mountains and pine trees.
12:56 - I think a heard a flute trilling briefly! That was nice.
13:21 - Guy starts to give the credits to the musicians. I check the time and am disappointed. More than a minute left! I thought this meant the song was almost over.
14:11 - Singer refers to himself as "stupid arrogant bastard on the microphone." At least he has a sense of humor! Over one more minute to go! Sigh.
14:54 - Singer says goodnight. There is scattered applause. I can see why the applause would be so thin.
DONE! Hah!
The songs made me think three things:
(1) I feel much better about my own guitar playing.
(2) Maybe this is music people like to listen to when they're high?
(3) I wondered why the singers go through the motions of shrieking when they don't really sound so upset. Yesterday I watched a documentary in which a man talked about what happened when his wife died in a car accident while he was driving. He said that when he saw a truck coming into their lane, he screamed, "Oh My God." The narrator asked him how he really said it. So then the man *really* screamed, at the top of his lungs, "OH MY GOD!!!" Now, THAT is screaming. I could feel his pain and I started to cry along with him. My main fault with the Psychic TV songs is that they seem empty of intent and emotion. I did like the growling dog, though.