Modern Qualifier 44 – Anna Meredith, Mica Levi, The Kronos Quartet, Gwenifer Raymond

From the Scottish composer/songwriter’s debut EP, 2012’s Black Prince Fury. A Bracket Balancer.
From the soundtrack to 2013’s Under The Skin. Nominated by machotrouts.
From 2009’s concept LP Floodplain, written for the long-running quartet by Azerbaijani composer Said Rustamov. Nominated by Martijn tH.
A 2018 single by the Welsh multi-instrumentalist. Nominated by Matt.

Modern Qualifier 45 – Alela Diane, Scott And Charlene’s Wedding, Karine Polwart, Darren Criss

Modern Qualifier 43 – Magdalena Bay, Nilufer Yanya, Ethel Cain, Alvvays

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Tom

23 May 2023 13:02

In contrast to my comment on “Venom” in the headline group, “Nautilus” is one of the songs I am not allowed to play out loud at home. It also made me the first and last person ever to get their tracks rejected when it was my turn to do 4 songs on the office stereo. “This is going to drive me insane”, “It was making me physically ill” are some of the comments I’ve had on it – I have honestly rarely encountered a track which fits the inside of my head so well. An instant favourite and to think I only bought her EP cos of the sleeve!

Edward Still

24 May 2023 17:59

Reply to Tom

It definitely says something that I had favourited it in Spotify by halfway through and unfavourited it again by the end. I would like to name this a Fools Golden Beat, I have a few each poll.

Last edited 1 year ago by Edward Still

j_e_l

24 May 2023 10:00

Reply to Tom

I enjoyed it, and can’t believe the negative comments from those around you!

Tom

24 May 2023 11:39

Reply to j_e_l

I think she might follow me on Twitter so this is not an opinion I could express there but the ones she sings on are rub, sorry Anna.

j_e_l

24 May 2023 11:59

Reply to Tom

Ah, this is what the new site is for hey? 😉

wmterhaar

24 May 2023 11:34

Reply to j_e_l

I read the comment before I listened to it and I thought I was in for something like Merzbow, late Coltrane or Dillinger Escape Plan at their most abrasive.

koganbot

25 May 2023 13:52

Reply to wmterhaar

Am truly shocked by the opposition. I wonder if it’s to the jauntiness. Or the rhythm. (Rhythms?) The rhythm seems simple enough but I spent 5 minutes not being able to figure it out, which usually results in a vote from me, as in this case.

(But any one of these is worth voting.)

j_e_l

25 May 2023 13:57

Reply to koganbot

I was expecting Aphex Twin style squelchy noises

Tom

24 May 2023 11:38

Reply to wmterhaar

Haha I know! I honestly didn’t feel I was trolling the office putting it on – as idca says she gets radio play and everything. But something about this track seems to really bug some people.
(Re the domestic objection: I have a long-standing agreement that techno or minimal classical music is headphone music at Peoples Pop Towers as the repetition does my wife’s head in but I had thought Meredith was jolly enough to get away with it: not so)

Last edited 1 year ago by Tom

wmterhaar

23 May 2023 13:33

Although my nomination Getme, Getme is from a Kronos Quartet album, it belongs to the singers Alim Qasimov and his daughter Fargana. How many times I listen to this track, it never fails to move me to my core, even though I don’t speak a word Azeri.

wmterhaar

23 May 2023 13:49

Reply to wmterhaar

I really love Nautilus too, with the unbridled happiness from that track a nice contrast with the sadness of Getme, Getme. It sounds like The Muppets band on lsd playing a victory song for the Champion’s League winner.
I know a lot of people love both Under the Skin and Mica Levi’s soundtrack for it, but I think both are just okay. I enjoyed Sexy Beast more and understand Glazer’s new movie based on the late Martin Amis’s novel has buzz in Cannes.
Raymond plays some nice Richard Fahey-style guitar music, but as often with that style, it goes on a bit too long for my taste.

Last edited 1 year ago by wmterhaar

Job

23 May 2023 14:34

There’s an even better version of ‘Nautilus’ on Nuc, the great new album from Ligeti Quartet & Anna Meredith.

rabbitfun

23 May 2023 20:54

A Golden Group! I love “Love”, and “Nautilus” is especially glorious**, (even more so when it segued into “Love” without me being aware that that was what was happening), but my (empathically non-nationalist) Turkish/Turkic affiliations make it impossible for me not to vote for “Getme, Getme”, a traditional folk song that gets the full suite treatment. The singing is fantastic, and, oh, to be have been present at the actual performance – copious amounts of rakı optional.
Here are the (Turkified) lyrics of the original song, with an English translation further down:
http://www.allthelyrics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=108728

**Dear Lord, it’s so fucking glorious!

(Note: The Raymond track isn’t as good as the other three for me, but I still appreciated it a whole lot)

TheHarderLine

24 May 2023 07:48

This Gwenifer Raymond tune is fantastic and I am glad to have heard it

j_e_l

24 May 2023 10:05

I enjoyed this group! Kronos Quartet were pretty good, like a medieval otherworldly acoustic Therion. Nautilus is the kind of music I would make if I was more musically proficient.

j_e_l

24 May 2023 23:16

Reply to j_e_l

Were not was, how awful of me

katstevens

24 May 2023 17:41

Love Anna and her Nautilus evil pixie march. Her live band are excellent – though I agree it can be a Bit Much if you are not in the right vibe (at her Hackney gig a few years ago I wasn’t feeling well at the start and All Of That didn’t help much)

SmoothBrain

25 May 2023 00:26

What a group! Listened first thing this morning and ‘Nautilus’ was like getting hit in the face by an espresso machine.

Hunter Felt

25 May 2023 03:33

“Getme Getme” absolutely floored me.

Matt

26 May 2023 16:54

It’s a belting group (is Nautilus really from 2012? It doesn’t seem nearly that long, still as fresh and odd as it ever was, and Getme Getme is absolutely beguiling), but I’m sticking with my nom, The Three Deaths of Red Spectre; all great, but from about 4 minutes onwards, as it gradually builds back up, I still find it about as exhilarating as one person playing a guitar could possibly be.
Oddly, I used to go to the series of concerts at the Union Chapel that the video is taken from but I must have missed that one; I am retrospectively quite annoyed at myself.

Jeff Worrell

26 May 2023 23:18

Already knew AM and ML. But it’s more than just that which has driven me towards Kronos and Said Rustamov. Loved the pacing on their track. Was impressed by Gwenifer’s playing too but not enough to deflect my vote.

machotrouts

27 May 2023 03:27

‘Love’ nominator here. Because I struggle to relate to lyrics, most of the music I emotionally imprint on is instrumental, with its “meaning” being entirely projected by me. However, because the meaning I project onto music tends to be “I’m an alien who struggles to relate to humans”, I like to think I’m taking this particular composition in the spirit it was intended for the film.

It’s the most obvious highlight from Under the Skin but I love it all, a score where the pitch is “What if fingernails on a blackboard was the most beautiful sound you’ve ever heard in your life?”. A suitably stressful soundtrack to watching it switch back and forth between 2nd and 3rd in this group. (‘Nautilus’ at #1 is a mindblowing discovery for me, no hard feelings there.)

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Modern Qualifier 44 – Anna Meredith, Mica Levi, The Kronos Quartet, Gwenifer Raymond

Modern Qualifier 45 – Alela Diane, Scott And Charlene’s Wedding, Karine Polwart, Darren Criss

Modern Qualifier 43 – Magdalena Bay, Nilufer Yanya, Ethel Cain, Alvvays

The Discourse