I'll have to wait to figure out who you even are before I form a more nuanced opinion.

Let me know when you're there.

Zhanteimi, it's normal to disagree, but I don't want this kinda bickering to dominate. I'll blow the Judgement Horn and call this forum's arbiters of justice from beyond the heights of Mt. Olympus to my aid if need be. :)

You summoned me.

Shut up, Mord.

Unsummon, unsummon!

bye

I suppose what this can be best classified as is high-speed "cantillation", aka Jewish liturgical chanting accompanying texts like the Torah and the Tanakh/Mikra (usually performed at services). Of course, Madeleine Lipszyc's completely improvisational so I'm almost certain that little literary reference is being made here but it's not like it really matters anyway.

Magdalith mainly consists of Lipszyc warbling over at most a single sparse instrument (electric organ, miscellaneous percussion, etc.), varying simply between a lower and higher register often very quickly. Her diction is, for the most part, extremely fast, unintelligible and manic in the most uncomfortable way possible. Kind of like this. But I mean that is the point of avant-garde music, right? To disorient. Sure, but if you ask me this feels like one of those performances that you're told is super serious beforehand, and you end up sitting through a 39 minute performance of a woman running around on stage cooing like a bird. You laugh inwardly despite prior warnings, but after 15 minutes of it you just get annoyed and have the urge to walk out. Granted I did have the ability to shut this one off at that time but out of respect for my peers in the a̶u̶d̶i̶e̶n̶c̶e̶ album club I sat through the whole thing.

Absurdity aside there's just little meat on these bones to bite onto. I admire Lipszyc's objective vocal talents, but how she uses them does little to impress me.

3

:laughing:

Because of my cultural connection to more "mystical" religious tradition (radical Christian sects of a hyper-Charismatic variety), I am actually quite fond of music that feels ritualistic. "Spiritual" sounds of any genre usually sit well with me, and this album is no exception, though the religion informing it has never been my own.

The primitive, ecstatic vocal inflections that the singer (whatever their name is) used across the record were fascinating and not unlikable. The way they flew around and across the repetitive instruments like a swarm of bees was amazing.

All that said, there was a certain "something" that was missing for me, and I'm not sure what that was. It could be that the ritual dragged on too long, or maybe it was just my state of mind- after all, one has to be actively participating in a ritual in order to accept its demands- either way, by the time it ended, I just wasn't feeling it any more.

This was not, by any means, a bad album. Magdalith was worth listening to. I don't know if I would listen to it again any time soon, but I'm glad I did at least once.

6/10

I got the vinyl off eBay the other day. So exciting! :)