New Scott Walker album: 'The Drift'

(The review, meanwhile, strikes me as a perfectly sound way, both humorous and serious, to talk about The Drift for an audience that is interested in music but probably almost totally unfamiliar with his work -- in otherwards, exactly the expected audience of the City Paper readership.)

People need to chill the fuck out. Jess's review was rock solid.

this is a comeback? or a non sequitir?

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/scott-walker/the-drift.htm

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/w/walker_scott/drift.shtml

i dunno, i think the underlying assumption is that a majority of the regular readers of both the citypaper and pitchfork will not be overly-familiar with music that sounds like Scott's. which i think is a very safe starting point.

He didn't say that at all -- what he DID say was that if you had an online-only P&J comment, you wouldn't get paid for it, and if that was an issue, you should let him know ASAP so he could remove your comment from the webpages about to go live.

Somehow, the most incisive writing about this album is the fifth post on this thread.

I really dislike the packaging for this record. So boring and rote compared to the thing itself.

I'm a bit taken aback by how aggressive and just appalled this record seems to be. The disgust that finally seems to spill over in "What's up, Doc?" which is absolutely retched out. Flippin' heck.

I know that SW has said somewhere that he was very conscious of not just "baritoning through it" or something, presumably because that's a bit easy and would set off all the 'wrong' connections in listeners' heads ("ooh, that's a bit like Duchess"), but I'm not sure I even like Scott in this register. I know he's been up there for a while (Dealer onwards?), but can he get down any more?

Other things that spring to mind: is playing Clara this loud going to get me an ASBO? Scott's spoken word stuff reminds me of Harold Budd's poetry. Tilt is now a KC and the Sunshine Band record. Well, same tube compressors on the drums.

but it in no way, shape or form sounds remotely funny. i do not come anywhere close to laughing when listening to it.

which is totally fine.

hey, go ahead and chuckle!

i guess i just feel like there's a little bit of a desire to say it's funny in order to counteract the horrorshow/bleak/gloom consensus, because everyone naturally wants to have their own take

not that i'm doubting the authenticity of your laffs

The album reminds me a bit of how I felt the first time I saw "Full Metal Jacket," when I laughed all the way through the Paris Island scenes only to be rendered totally speechless and horrified when Gomer goes nuts and kills Lee Earmey [sic] and himself. To further a tenuous analogy, (part of) the genius behind "Drift" is that he makes you laugh at the insane murder-suicide climax AND feel horrified at the same time.

The old Reading Someone's Mind in Order to Bring Them Down a Notch and Portray Them as a Buffoon trick. Classy work, stylus; not lazy at all.

On a different note, did anyone else think the end of the BBC Culture Show interview was as hilarious as I thought it was?

"So, will we have to wait another ten years for your next album?" "Gosh, I hope not. [chuckles] I mean, I might not even be alive in ten years. [thoughtfully] Probably no--" [cut to commercial]

But, what a record. Is it just me who sees it as a lost Goth album? I'm sure I saw bands that sounded a bit like this in the late 80s.

I find "Clara" very moving, in its condemnation of the horde's vendetta mentality and, if you like, celebration of a seemingly true love (at least on Petacci's part). the 'controversial' subject matter is a huge plus in my eyes (and, I suspect, too much to bear for the Italian music/cultural scene even to notice - just as it was with the Pasolini-themed "Farmer in the City" on 'Tilt').

My lover loves... :-)

"I can't go on. I go on."
Good old Sam Beckett; he was absolutely OTM about me...

2. (Italian xpost)

Yes, it so happens I've a bit to say about "Clara" from that perspective, my mother's family having been caught up in the thick of it at the time. So that particular song cuts deeper with me than it would with others, you're absolutely right about that.

it's not the unrelenting deathiness itself, as this is quite tolerable in a book which can be put down whenever, and with a film wheere the eyes can wander about the image. and i can happily play the ligeti requiem playing whilst tidying some papers, but having just one voice, that voice, enunciating it, is too much somehow.

How true. And also a little bit sad - I often feel uncomfortable with our current musical scene: with a couple of exceptions (one of these being Giovanni Ferretti), the cultural landscape tends to be quite grey and not really thought-provoking. And etherodox positions are generally banned.
(by the way, its funny to note that another great song about Pasolini was written by Coil).

Max - are you Italian? Musicista?

I've read lots of comments along the lines of how it's "more Tilt than Tilt". I'm not so sure. There's a lot more contrast on Tilt, more different musical and mood strategies at play. What The Drift seems to take as a template is The Cockfighter (as well as Lullabye, the track he wrote for Ute Lemper), but it doesn't much reflect the rest of Tilt to my ears. A lot of enduring Walker tropes are jettisoned here. One is the poignant moment of lush orchestral beauty at the edge of violence/horror (The Electrician, Bouncer See Bouncer). Another is the huge organ sound (Archangel, Fat Mama Kick, Manhattan). He hones down his vocabulary until he's left with menacing glissando, silences and huge crashing noises as his main tropes. Stretched out over a whole album I'm finding it a little hard to take at the moment. I'm also finding his voice a little more difficult to take. He used the swooning tenor to good effect on Tilt, in a way that really did betray terror and maybe a little madness. Here, it seems more controlled, more mannered, almost just another convention, like the honeyed baritone he's trying to escape. I guess it adds to the theatrical quality of the work. But I'm not really feeling the terror of 'I'm the only one left alone' for instance, because he sounds so mannered. He sounds a whole lot madder and more tormented on Manhattan or The Cockfighter, for instance. The lack of melody lines gets a touch wearing too, and it's a relief when he approaches something resembling melody. What he does with his voice reminds me of sung liturgy – and also of those interludes in operas between songs, where two protagonists are addressing each other, spoken dialogue forced into some sort of musical framework.

Anyway, I'm going to have to listen to it a lot more to properly get my head around it…

ps does the 'curare curare curare' refrain remind anyone else of Maria from West Side Story?

Listen to the drift while walking around at night. Initially its scary, then after awhile the combination of the sounds and physical experience of walking the dark streets becomes a more surreal experience, like a film, easy to detach yourself from.

P.S: Do not undertake this experiment if you live in a bad neighbourhood......or anywhere in America for that matter ! Just kidding...you Yanks are alright.

Listen to the drift while walking around at night. Initially its scary, then after awhile the combination of the sounds and physical experience of walking the dark streets becomes a more surreal experience, like a film, easy to detach yourself from.

P.S: Do not undertake this experiment if you live in a bad neighbourhood......or anywhere in America for that matter ! Just kidding...you Yanks are alright.

Marco, I'm a cross between Italian and Croatian = Istrian, but I actually do 'border-hopping' quite often between those two countries.
and yes, I am a musician, but a very latent one at the moment - just sorting psychological baggage out of the window and cleaning that rusty copper pipe attending to the flow, and practising patience (as is often the case).

I concur on the Italian music theme (although I must say I'm currently in awe of Italian house - see Milky's "Just The Way You Are")- although I think most post-C.P.I. artists fare good today (Marco Parente especially). I must say, though, it's since 2001 that I cannot say anything good in Ferretti's (or PGR's) favour. on the other hand, I enjoy Zamboni's album (and books) immensely..

I see you're also a Cope fan - I adore 'Jehovahkill' and am floored by 'Citizen Cained' (especially the two opening songs on either CK disc).

drop me an e-mail if you wish. btw, I hope 'The Drift' will be in my hands in a couple of days' time..

these titles sure make me think I was right never to bother really checkin out j cope

but if you like Scott Walker, you might just like those two albums, I think..