You can probably guess which pretentious forum member is going to post about their own music in this thread.
Queens of Shiva - Queens of Shiva
Track Listing:
1. Release 16:48
2. Incantations 11:20
3. The Reptilian 06:22
4. QOFS (feat. Chinese Man in the Sky) 15:04
5. Leopard Eyes 07:34
6. Negative Space 09:56
7. The Noose (Regret) 06:42
This is one of my favourite albums that I've been on so far for the first two tracks alone. QOFS is myself and a classmate, Bradley Pate, as we pretty much terrorized our campus with free jazz. Release, Incantations, QOFS (feat. Chinese Man in the Sky), Negative Space, and The Noose (Regret) were all recorded in a big hall with a grand that we prepared, trumpet, sax, drums, and guitar. The Reptilian and Leopard Eyes were recorded using a clarinet and percussion on a bench when the hall was occupied. Chinese Man in the Sky is Jesse, who I ended up collaborating with more in the future. The track that he's featured on was his first ever musical venture.
The opener, Release, is the longest track and like most of the album is an entirely improvised duet. Brad is on the piano, which is prepared with a sawblade set on the strings, giving it a cymbal-esque sound. He plays a pretty straightforward melody in comparison to a lot of my work without losing the morose atmosphere that we decided to build the track on. I'm on saxophone and deliver some of my best screechy sax so far on this track. I remember doing this recording and just being drenched in sweat afterwards. We technically had an audience since there was an event that was being set up outside of the building with people rolling in, but I have no idea what their reactions were. I'd say it's one of my five most accessible songs. See for yourself.
10/10
The next track, Incantations, is more of the vein of what you'd expect from me: spastic free jazz with a modern classical bent. It kicks off with me still on sax and Brad on trumpet. Then I begin to play the prepared piano as the track descends into some Sergey Kuryokhin, John Cage, and Alexander von Schlippenbach inspired improvisations on my end as Brad carries on with some trumpet variations. You can hear a guy walk in during a really intense part and talk to Brad for a moment before we continue. After a while, Brad goes onto drums and we take the track to through one of many essentially indescribable free improvisation songs. Check it out
https://queensofshiva.bandcamp.com/releases.
10/10
The next song, The Reptilian, has Brad on drums and me on clarinet. Brad slams out a few beats and I tongue out as many different clarinet textures as I can.
8/10
QOFS is next, with myself on prepared piano, Brad on trumpet, vocals, and guitars, and Jesse on drums and acid. This is some of the most difficult and dense material on the album and at some points it does retread a few phrases and ideas from Incantations. It goes on for a little bit too long imo, but if it didn't some of my favourite parts of the track wouldn't be included. Extremely chaotic and a lot to chew on.
7.5/10
Leopard Eyes is just another drum/clarinet track that I usually skip on the album tbh.
6.5/10
Negative Space has myself on drums and Brad on trumpet and it's a bombastic conversation between the two instruments. We were ****ing wasted and had we performed this one as a show, it would've stuck with that audience for sure. The first reason is because the music is really awesome and dramatic (duh). The second is because I kept losing my drums when they'd fall off of the table I was playing them on and I decided to just start throwing them around the room while playing them partway throughout the song. See Han Bennink for further antics.
9/10
The Noose (Regret) has a very lame title and isn't my favourite on the record, but that doesn't mean I don't love the interplay between Brad on trumpet and myself on piano (notice that's not prepared piano). The album ends abruptly as we die from marijuana overdoses. I had a stroke, Brad had a heart attack.
7/10
I hope you guys enjoyed reading that and checked out the album if you haven't already.
