Place in pets.
Night town.
Night town a glass.
Color mahogany.
Color mahogany center.
Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.
Loveliness extreme.
Extra gaiters.
Loveliness extreme.
Sweetest ice-cream.
Page ages page ages page ages.
Wiped Wiped wire wire.
Sweeter than peaches
and pears and cream.Wiped wire wiped wire.
Extra extreme.
Put measure treasure.
Measure treasure.
Tables track.
Nursed.
Dough.
That will do.
Gertrude Stein: ‘Sacred Emily’
Did you know Pablo Picasso once did a painting of Gertrude Stein?? That’s some real multiverse of madness shit. I understand that, back in 1906, Picasso was some 25 year old loser that wasn’t much of a draw at all – if you’ll excuse the pun – and Gertrude Stein was just some rich American who was shamelessly culturally appropriating the European art scene, so such a collaboration wasn’t exactly putting butts in seats back then. But Pablo Picasso and Gertrude Stein doing a team up in 2024?? That’s doing business! Box office numbers, and they doing outstanding! Running outta space in their damn bandwagon! Shame that Picasso died from pulmonary edema in 1973. That seems late for Pablo fucking Picasso, doesn’t it? He would have watched the 1970 World Cup. He wasn’t just alive to remember The Beatles, he saw their entire career! He was alive for seven James Bond movies! He only missed the eight, ‘Live and Let Die’, by a couple of months, so never got to experience Roger Moore’s take on the character, which I think we can all agree is the saddest thing about his death. Gertrude Stein though, died in the 1940’s, which seems like a very appropriate era for someone like Gertrude Stein to die. I know what you’re thinking: 1940’s? An extremely notable Jewish figure? I’m pretty sure I know what this is going to be in relation to!
But no! Gertrude lived until 1946 when she died after complications after surgery for stomach cancer! Imagining surviving the Second World War as an extremely notable Jewish person living in occupied France, and then dying the year after due to something as boring as cancer. Ah well, I guess when you collaborate with a Nazi regime that sends 75’000 people to the death camps, karma has to get you somehow.
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
And Mourners to and fro
Kept treading – treading – till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through –
And when they all were seated,
A Service, like a Drum –
Kept beating – beating – till I thought
My mind was going numb –
Got gonna NGL, I’m so poetically illiterate that when I heard the lyric “I felt a funeral in my brain” on Like a Drum, I thought it was really weird how Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion were referencing that Andrew Bird and Phoebe Bridgers collaboration that was the 153rd best song on 2022. But no! It’s an Emily Dickinson joint! I know very little about Dickinson, but I know enough about her to know that they’re my Queer Goth Queen: they lived most of their life in isolation, rarely left their bedroom, tended to avoid human interaction, and much like me was a revolutionary artistic genius whose true importance to the art wasn’t appreciated until after her death. Emily wrote almost 1’800 poems, but only ten were published during her lifetime. Similarly, I’ve published 751 posts on this website, and the only ones anyone ever reads are the ten or so that I’ve written about the Manics. How do I know that I’ll be so celebrated after my death? Dude, have you read this blog?? It’s wall to wall fucking bangers! The only reason that I’m not already huge is probably something to do with Capitalism. Or perhaps fascism. One and the same, really. I can’t help it that only Manic Street Preachers fans fucking read anymore! Seriously, Emily and I? Kindred spirits. Though she strikes me more as a Mansun fan.
‘Rectangles and Circumstance’ is either the third or second album by Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion, depending on how you’re counting, and contains numerous references to and quotes from mostly female poets such as Dickinson and Stein (plus Christina Rosetti and William “Token Bloke” Blake). Why? What are these “rectangles and circumstances” that the title references? What does it all mean? I haven’t the shiniest shit of a clue. I can sometimes make links between the quotations, title, lyrics, and the poet’s circumstances, but then I lose it on the next line. I’m not sure that there even is a literal meaning, and I’m not sure that matters. ‘Rectangles and Circumstances’ is an astonishing work that both exhibits the group’s near total chemistry and musical understanding,
And the music is boundary pushing, it constantly plays with the accepted rules of song structure, composition and delivery. It’s, to quote Gertude Stein themselves, “Avant garde as fuck, boyeeeee”. And yet, while it consistently challenges the artform, it’s never at all a challenging listen. Shaw and Sō continue to be at the very forefront of musical explorations, and yet continue to prove how such artistic expression doesn’t necessarily need to come at the expense of beauty. It’s a huge improvement on anything they’ve done together before.
(Caroline Shaw, Sō Percussion)
(Sō Percussion, Dawn Upshaw, and Gil Kalish)
(Caroline Shaw, Sō Percussion)
I think that’s all of them…
The Album Title As AI Image:
Necessary Evil 