S/D Laurie Anderson

I like a few things cumulatively on both albums but I still prefer Strange Angels to either one.

No one's heard "Nothing In My Pockets" (linked above)?

I went to see her at a free outdoor show at Lincoln Ctr last week... Music about what I expected, enjoyed the jaundiced words about how NYC has been replaced by an entirely different city in the last 10 years ("tech conventions and cupcake shops"). Some very timely siren intrusions too.

Also had never heard her Willie Nelson quote, "99% of the world ends up with the wrong person, and that's what keeps the jukebox spinning." (And then she brought out Lou Reed.)

lol

Free show as part of Luminato tonight. All I knew going in was "O Superman" (perplexing), and I think I played a song or two from Strange Angels on the radio years ago. I just figured she'd be worth seeing.

There were a couple of pretty songs, but the one she opened with was excruciating--"Greetings from the Homeland," I think it was called. Went on forever--20 minutes at least.

All I really knew was "O Superman" before I saw her recent collaboration with Kronos Quartet a little while back. Eh, it was ok.

I see she has a new collaboration going:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/15/arts/music/laurie-andersons-wall-to-wall-summer.html?_r=0

“Ai Weiwei asked me to write some songs with him a few months ago,” said

you guys need to listen to 'big science' at least, it's one of the best albums ever. i've never been able to get into the rest of her stuff as much but that one is a classic (it's the one with 'o superman')

otm, big science is beyond essential -- haven't been nearly as knocked out by anything else I've heard her do (though there are good moments), but that one is a universe of its own.

The Ugly One with the Jewels is 100% awesome from start to finish. Anderson in full-on storytelling mode with Eno on synths backing her up.

nevermind, Eno was on Bright Red, not Ugly One with the Jewels... still.

Nah ugly is def eno too i think?

I <3 Laurie. If it came down to a sophies choice between her and wifey Lou I'd pick Anderson in half a heartbeat just for united states, big science & assorted highlights

I saw the Luminato thing as well, about the same reaction as clemenza. Enjoyed the instrumental passages far more than the lengthy attempted Skype collaboration. I did like the occasional sounds of helicopters hovering in the background.

Ugly One is a mixtape-making dream come true.

http://nd03.jxs.cz/553/120/78b5a5bc82_66078638_o2.jpg

http://images.ramonamainstage.com/acts/l/LouieAnderson_465.jpg

http://www.halloffamememorabilia.com/images/products/p-533725-larry-anderson-autographed-hand-signed-mlb-baseball-card-philadelphia-phillies-1986-f-aw-45106.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mRq1xgKykM

Home of the Brave extremely formative for me, hard to imagine anyone not enjoying listening to this

I'm gonna give Big Science another try. I like it but I'm a Strange Angels stan.

I am OK with Big Science but think United States is where it's at

Bunch of bizarre old LA PSAs!

http://networkawesome.com/show/collection-laurie-anderson-psas-1/

my dad always use 2 tok abt hr...... bt a on a vln bow

tape8

*

taebtraeh ym ot netsil

*farts*

from June, on "Hamilton": "It's history lite. It's musical lite. It's just...just horrible."

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/06/laurie-anderson-qa-hamilton-trump-hillary/485054/

Was unaware until recently that she had made a CD-ROM game in the mid 90's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPYOSLqN5Ns

That's so cool, thanks for sharing

"The Big Top" is really doing it for me lately.

Cities with...no basements
No foundations
Cities that could be moved in a minute
Portable cities
Portable towns

Yeah that's top 10

"The Canadians took this very seriously" one of her best punchlines

Some of my favorites.

Great list

No "Blue Lagoon"? It's such a beautiful fever dream.

Or Another Day In America which includes one of Anderson's best lyrics

And you know the reason I really love the stars is that we cannot hurt them
We can't burn them or melt them or make them overflow. We can't flood them or blow them up or turn them out
But we are reaching for them
We are reaching for them

^^^ top-notch lyrics, there she nails it!

Touring :)

she's kind of always touring something around these days, often variations on one show. but is she doing shows with Kronos in support of Landfall?

Looks like she's playing shows in support of her new book all the things I lost in the flood. Seems to have also instantly sold out :-/

Was transfixed by her live show in 1988, how is she now?

I saw her a year or so ago do a "The Language of the Future" show (this is a show that varies a lot apparently) and it was great. Was it as great as Empty Spaces, which was the first thing I saw (probably what you saw in 88)? No, it's much more scaled down. But it was better than that Noah/Whale thing she did in the 90's that I hated.

Still mesmeric.

oh it was moby dick, not noah. whatever.

a coworker of mine did sound for an artist at the Day for Night fest a couple months ago and got to see Laurie Anderson. he said she was great, a lot of telling stories... anyway at some point in the set, his best friend came up to him and asked to leave because he was bored because she "wasn't playing any of the hits" lmao

having said that... does she play O Superman these days?

She didn't when I saw her perform.

My gf fucking hated her lol. She doesn't like spoken word

So do you just sing to her all the time?

no I don't think she's done o superman since United States. .... maybe she did a restrospective show at one point, not sure.

She performed o superman on the post 9-11 live in New York album

_18. It's not the bullet that kills you - it's the hole_

Holy shit

yeah that thing is hard to find.

she's coming to SF again this spring, doing the Let X = X show, which I gather is a bit retrospective, and that song features.

https://x.com/clavendr/status/1736786186813771811?s=46&t=u2ZSlsY3trRV36IPP6jNDQ

O Superman is getting trending use on TikTok and IG but many young-ins don’t know that it’s Laurie Anderson

The New York–based artist and musician Laurie Anderson said she would not take up a visiting professor position at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany, amid scrutiny over her views on Palestine.

Earlier this month, the school announced that Anderson, who has produced such works as the hit 1981 song “O Superman,” had been appointed its Pina Bausch Professor, a position named after a famed dancer. But since that announcement, the school appears to have reneged on its decision, citing the fact that Anderson signed a 2021 open letter that urges support for Palestine.
“To frame this as a war between two equal sides is false and misleading,” the letter reads. “Israel is the colonizing power. Palestine is colonized. This is not a conflict: this is apartheid.”

Moreover, the letter continues, “We have seen how governments in Europe and beyond recently have instated policies of open censorship, and fostered a culture of self-censorship, towards Palestinian solidarity. Conflating legitimate criticism of the State of Israel and its policies towards Palestinians with antisemitism is cynical. Racism, including antisemitism, and all forms of hate, are heinous and not welcome in the Palestinian struggle. It is time to stand up to these tactics of silencing and overcome them.”

She was one of thousands to sign the letter, whose signatories also included artists such as Nan Goldin, Kara Walker, Simone Leigh, and many more.

On Friday, the Folkwang University of the Arts issued a press release saying that Anderson would no longer be taking up the position at the school on April 1. Specifically, the release claimed that the letter “takes up boycott demands from the anti-Israel BDS movement,” even though neither the movement itself nor a boycott of Israel are ever mentioned in the text. (In Germany, BDS has been particularly controversial, with some political figures attempting to render it illegal.)

“For me the question isn’t whether my political opinions have shifted,” Anderson said in a statement. “The real question is this: Why is this question being asked in the first place? Based on this situation I withdraw from the project. My colleagues at the University and the Pina Bausch Foundation have discussed this with me at great length and we have jointly decided this is the best way forward.”

In its release, the university said the decision came amid “the context of the current discourse about freedom of art and freedom of expression.”

It was the latest such development in a country whose art scene has been roiled by the October 7 Hamas attack, with many artists who voice pro-Palestine views facing the prospect of canceled exhibitions and withdrawn opportunities.

Earlier this month, Berlin attempted to implement a funding clause reliant upon a definition of antisemitism that many said would be used to keep pro-Palestine artists from receiving money. After mass protests, the funding clause was ultimately repealed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGgplLF5CWc

Could've used some prep time and/or a better editor.

From Nonesuch:

"Since I was a kid, I was in love with the sky, the beauty of it, the freedom of it, like I could just float up forever," Laurie Anderson tells BBC Radio 4's Front Row presenter Tom Sutcliffe in a conversation about her upcoming album, Amelia, due August 30 on Nonesuch. "I remember as a kid doing that, running into the dark ... the ecstasy. Your arms are out like a plane, and you close your eyes and you run." You can hear their conversation here via Spotify and Apple Podcasts:

Amelia is the 2024 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient's first new album since 2018’s Grammy-winning Landfall. The record comprises twenty-two tracks about renowned female aviator Amelia Earhart’s tragic last flight. Anderson, who Pitchfork says, “sees the future, but she starts by paying attention,” wrote the music and lyrics. On the album, she is joined by Filharmonie Brno, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, and Anohni, Gabriel Cabezas, Rob Moose, Ryan Kelly, Martha Mooke, Marc Ribot, Tony Scherr, Nadia Sirota, and Kenny Wolleson. An exclusive limited-edition print autographed by Anderson is available with Nonesuch Store pre-orders while they last. You can pre-order the album and hear the track "Road to Mandalay" here.

Milwaukee rapper J.P. (of "Bad Bitty" fame) sampled "O Superman":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tndfn6llAc

!!!

https://laurieanderson.bandcamp.com/album/amelia

I keep waiting for the album to start.

Would you say you were waiting for it to … land?

Uh-this is your Captain again.
You know, I've got a funny feeling
I've seen this all before.
Why?

I keep waiting for the album to start.

this is diehard poptimist nonsense btw, I mean you never ever listen to drone or ambient so...

are you being cranky again?

I don't listen to Laurie Anderson like I would Four Tet. I go for storytelling, voice inflections, and the often beguiling music swirling around her, Big Science and Strange Angels chief among my favorites. Heart of a Dog was terrific.

After three listens this thing sounds unfinished.

sounds like a joe frank story tbh

i have never really listened to her music before, does all of it kind of have a joe frank vibe?

You mean a Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds, "Don't Pull Your Love Out" vibe? Well yeah:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUO9SDd9UhU

Sorry I stuck in the comma, so pretentious.

are you being cranky again?

haha no I was serious! You've given this more time than I have, maybe we come to her for different things, her voice alone is usually enough for me.

by which I mean that there isn't much actual "music" on this amorphous dream-like release

I'm not sure what "poptimism" or whatever has to do with appreciating drones and ambient music, but, yeah, in the drones and ambient music I like I want dronier and more ambient music.

idk I think using Four Tet as an example of drone/ambient underscores the divide between us here, go listen to a 15-hour piece by Roland Kayn or the entire 5+ hours of Well-Tuned Piano, that's what I mean.

not trying to be snarky! I will have more relevant responses once I listen to more than 5-6 minutes of random tracks, but I liked what I heard more than you seem to.

But...I would never define Laurie Anderson's music at her best is drone/ambient in the Kayn sense (whom I've heard).

is=as

Not that intentions matter, but I doubt Anderson herself would define herself in those terms either.

agreed, although there is this recent curio

https://www.discogs.com/master/1734668-Brian-Eno-Laurie-Anderson-Ebe-Oke-Dokument-2

your initial comment just seemed like an excessively harsh dismissal of something I'm curious about but haven't had time to process, that's all

Wonder if she's found Metallica contact info in Lou's old jacket? Hope so.

New stage show: ARK United States 5

The title suggests a new chapter to United States Live.

Laurie Anderson says: “For a long time I’ve wanted to make a new large-scale work about the United States—a collection of songs and stories about what has shaped this country in the 21st century. I plan to tell these stories moving through myth, journalism, fable, and TikTok, conjuring alternate realities and stories from my own life. Part ruminations, part long-form poems, ARK will also be a kind of 3D movie.”
In the 1980s, Anderson presented the multimedia epic United States Parts 1–4, which mixed music, photography, film, and drawings to explore contemporary America, first performed as a six-hour live performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1983. In 2024, the year of a momentous US election, she completes this work with a brand new creation which explores how the world might need to be reconfigured in order to be saved.

i think she is making a guest appearance at the summerstage show tonight.