New Scott Walker album: 'The Drift'

dadmomsis
driving in
the black car

dadmomsis
sighting on
the white line

long come something
in a blinding
light

long gone something
in a blinding
light

dead all dead
ooh all dead

dead all dead
ooh all dead

bloody foot
bloody head

eat the nose
for christmas

eat the toes
for lent

eat the car
for eat-a-car

send the bones
to kent

Robert Nedelkoff did an incredible interpretation of Tilt's lyrics in the zine Nestful of Ninnies I believe, I hope he posts his readings on this album somewhere. Hearing Scott Walker croon "pee-pee my pants" has to be one of the most bizarre musical moments of the year.

Been listening to this a whole lot over the last week. On first listen it sounded kind of flat and, well, slightly disappointing. As noted upthread, very monotonous melody lines. Took me about 6 plays to really warm up to it - but, I am now LOVING this record.

Put 'Tilt' on this evening, and it sounded lush and wondrous like a Burt Bacharach album.

blank mumble
blat babble
song babble

song foaming
at the mouth

won ton
soupie

spit gargle
retch easter
bunny juke

puke

family zoo
me and
you moo

moo moo

the beast
is loose
least
is best

pee pee maw maw

It is very funny how pretty and accessible Tilt sounds next to this!

Tilt is still his best album for me. But this is close.

I thought he might be using the slabs of pork on " Clara" to simulate the crowd's beating of the strung up corpses of Clara Pettaci and Mussollini. Can anyone hear the African/Arabic wailing on " Hands me Up", it adds a nice touch of chaos to the sonic clash and clang. There are more " external" vocal elements (very subtle) on The Drift... as is in the case of " Buzzers".. that sound " Gidda, Gidda, Gidda" after the " stick the fork in him line".

He repeats a lot of animal imagery here as he did on Tilt... with sparrows (Another Pasolini reference), Donkey's, Horses, Crocodiles, and of course ducks. The sexual imagery is more overt with references in " Cue" to clit and Hepatitus... that fine line between animalistic savagery/auto erotic restraint.

"Er, well, you know. I haven't done it in so long and I've been trying to work up to it. I'm trying to make an album now which I should go back on the road with. I never loved performing, you know. It's so daunting. I work with such large forces that it's daunting and very expensive. Because it's such a large organisation it's too nerve-wracking for me I'm afraid." The Guardian 2000.

Maybe a one-off show at a special location for later dvd release? I'd love to hear this music live.

He seems to be creating a general image of disease and decay on "Cue"... the theme of genocide might be popping up again as well as with the allusion to the Ivory Coast and a " Crocodile on the black sandbar" ... maybe Charles Taylor. In similar way to Burroughs and addiction, he presents a narrtative that is linear through disjunction

If you want to discuss The Drift more

my e-mail is [email protected].

crashing thunder and lightning and helicopters and planes and other...wild stuff

like, as an arranged event, maybe. I didn't do anything too funny, yesterday, even

after hearing 'the drift' and then going back to 'tilt' i found the latter, despite having the shorter tracks to be a bit more...flabby. maybe the link wd be 'pola x' soundtrack - its that impulse to concentrate paticular sounds to particular types of scenes etc but i've not seen the movie.

(disagree on the 'glissandos' = must be listening to X, far too composers use aggressive string sounds to be tied-in to any particular classical source - and where is the Ligeti? the links with classical music aren't as strong as w/ Diamanda Galas, her "plague mass" might be a comparison, in the limited-at-times instrumentation/un-wavering vocals, but its way more bleak as she actually has a clear theme she wants to put across)

*i'm a bit sceptical of this but i'll go along for now..

I hear Ligeti in the offkilter strings, in the privileging of textures and in the general horror show feel that is similar to stuff like Ramifications (I think this is the name of the piece I'm reminded of)

Also, Cossacks Are seems to interleave found quotes from world politics with ones from book/music reviews, including one about Ligeti, compare

"A noble debut tackling vertiginous demands" (Cossacks Are)

with

"An impressive debut on disc tackles Ligeti's vertiginous demands"

From a review of an album of Ligeti etudes

Walker has namechecked Ligeti in interviews as well

"priveleging of textures" isn't something that's exclusively Ligeti. I know there is a Dada-esque horror dimension to his work (Aventures, Poeme Symphonique..) but again its not something that just Ligeti.

i think what chuck says re "unvarying pace" gives it a classical dimension - its easier to think of it as a 70 minute song with 12 movements (or 11 + 1 extra track - which isn't as classical a number as 12).

You're right, but in a rather truistic way, in that you're never going to pin down one trope to one artist. Of the contemporary composers who do privilege textures, evoke horror atmospheres etc., Ligeti is probably the best known. And Walker adapting a quote from a Ligeti review can hardly be random, he must be seeing some connection himself...

I will say that thus far, Tilt seems like a more immediately appealing record to me. The sameyness that Julio mentions above also applies to Walker's vocal range, and when the songs are formed from pretty broad sections, it emphasizes the sameyness I think. Tilt to me, though it also used similar forms, seems a little more compact to me, and the sounds themselves a little more varied.

Tilt has already been described as a cantata, with some commentators claiming it is more of a neo-classical choral work than a pop alum. “It might be, to a degree” mused Scott. “But people who ultimately describe it in those terms obviously have a limited knowledge of classical music. Because, if they heard the real thing they’d realise it isn’t like that at all. It’s more of a hybrid. And many people have said that if you really listen to all my records, going back to the beginning, there always is a sense of a rock musician there. My work really does, as I say, very much reflect a rock sensibility, as shaped in the 50s then developed in the 60s, 70s right up to the 09s. All that stuff is in my blood.”

Geri

I guess this must've been before XFM got fucked over by Capital...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/The-Drift-Scott-Walker_W0QQitemZ4865079780QQcategoryZ91486QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Eight pounds is rather reasonable. I was expecting to see it for $250 or something.

Just Kidding.

Dominique i never thought of Feldman but now you mention it and w/the general slow-ness at which this rec moves at...although i get the impression that its more like an engagement w/modern classical that allowed him to 'move on' in certain ways.

Have you heard much Mauricio Kagel? What is your opnion of his work. Iam curious as Iam just approaching it for the first time.

(search the archives and you'll find threads on all composers mentioned so far.)

Scott brought his own records..... played:

Johnny Ace Pledging My Love
He told how Johnny Ace comitted suicide on the road, while playing Russian Roulette before going onstage.

Played the first record he ever bought and the reason why he wanted to be a singer..Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers Why do Fools Fall In Love

Bought a lot of Doo wop records, thought the best of the bands was The Flamingos, but forgot to bring the record along

Loved the young Elvis in the Sun/RCA days everything he did before going into the army.

Played PJ Harvey To Bring You My Love, said he had seen her on tv and really liked this album.. "This one really appealed to me" "I like it, its got a thing running through it, its consistent and its got enough space in it".

Went on to discuss blues/doowop bands namechecked John Lee Hooker, BB King, Robert Johnston, Howling Wolf.

Played Gyorgy Ligeti's violin concerto next saying it was almost in the style of John Tavener, which he didn't always like, but to listen for the occarinas.. went on to say they were "magical" , and "what an idea!"

Next discussed classical music of course loves Beethoven, "an obsession of mine" Boulez, Stockhausen, mentioned Frank Zappa and the French composer he had been influenced by.
Like John Cage, but was not influenced by him as much.

Said he usually works to a blueprint, but the musicians have to come up with sounds too, and it could change everything. Said his lyrics are not like poetry as much as Lou Reed's are. He said "I'm going for the lyric" "There's a basic blueprint, but when you're working with musicians, I like to work with them live.... things change .......sometimes it will be radically altered by a sound someone comes up with that says it better" Said " we are all struggling for lyric now there's not a lot left to say with language now".

Next played The Drifters, Let The Music Play... stressed this was the original Drifters, not one of the touring bands. The "interesting Drifters with singers like Rudy Lewis and Ben E. King".

Discussed the songwriters like Bacharach/David and Pomus/Schuman, said "it worked fantastically well." Touched on Brel's connection/translations by Schuman knew him through his management, with Eric Blau the French composer.

Talked about Phil Spector, said he "had been through that period, liked "barer records" now. but loved the Spector stuff.

Was asked about touring, and talked about the Walker Bros tour with Jimi Hendrix/Engelbert/Cat Stevens.......( I saw that one!)...and about the 60's saying "it was really really bizarre,........it it was so crazy, and we were all a bit out of and I don't remember so much of the 60's like .. people often say , its a cliche.. if you remember it you weren't really there.. I really wasn't!"

Played The Long Hot Summer, Jimmie Rodgers.

The djs tried to get him to talk about his album,,, and the length of some of the tracks, said he tries to get "space" and to let things "breathe" Compared it to European movies ie Three Colours Red,, said it just unfolds.

Said he is "always changing my mind" about what movies/music he likes, When he lived in Scandinavia, he couldn't understand that the people over there "didn't give a damn about Bergman".

Last track played was 9 Inch Nails,,, end of the interview tape failed so no track name.

its a 50 minute interview, just picked out the relevant bits of interest.

Geri

First time I listened to this record was in the pitch dark with a double scotch. It seemed fitting for the mood, somehow.