I don’t know a lot about this album, except that I remember hearing O Superman years ago. Lately, it’s become one of those recurring references. Even before I heard that it was being rereleased, it seems like I kept hearing and reading he
r name and especially O Superman. The song seems to have been given new significance since the September 11 attacks. (It’s Sept 11 as I write this and that had nothing to do with my choosing Big Science. But interesting anyway.) Laurie Anderson herself seems like quite a piece of work.
“One of her most-cited performances, Duets on Ice, which she conducted in New York and other cities around the world, involved her playing violin along with a recording while wearing ice skates with the blades frozen into a block of ice; the performance ended only when the ice had melted away.”
Not bad. I guess before Big Science she was known mainly for her performance art. According to wiki, Big Science is musical segments from an 8-hour performance piece called United States Live. Hmm…, I think I’ll stick to the 60 minute album.
I searched for her on you tube, but didn’t find anything I wanted to post here. O Superman might be the best song you’ve ever heard. I hope the rest of this is just as good.
4 responses so far ↓
Kels // September 15, 2007 at 9:06 am |
I chose a great week to join killerbuds! I totally loved this album. I don’t know how he does it, that Dust. He will sit at home and make me listen to some serious hell-crap, and then it turns out he actually has great taste!
I don’t advise you to listen to this album when you go jogging. Especially if it is the first time you have gone jogging in like a year. I was surprised that an asthma attack could sound so cool, but even the coolest asthma attack sounds a bit alarmning as you run past the ducks at liberty park. Her songs made me feel like it was possible that I was actually running for my life. Like in that one bad dream where you can’t go any faster.
Laurie manages to alarm and soothe you repeatedly, which makes the times that you laugh out loud all the more interesting. I did laugh out loud and that is important when you are at the park in a crowd of strangers.
I think that this random poster on a discussion board about Laurie sums it all up when he says: “I remember how stunning i was, when i first heard laurie. I am not the fan-type, but it was a selection for life time. Laurie is an older Lady now, like i am older man, but in the heard we are even younger than then.” (Dust said he thought those were my typing errors. They weren’t. Great quote, that’s why I included it.)
brian // September 15, 2007 at 1:58 pm |
i liked the quote, especially the remember how stunning i was. i also like the record. especially big science and the superman song. it’s really cool and minimal and funny. and i like the (lack of) drum(machine)s. it’s really a confusing listen.
dust // September 17, 2007 at 10:14 am |
Heh. It is important to laugh when you are with strangers.
Oh boy. Right… again. The percussion is pretty cool on this. lots of handclaps. There are a couple of songs that are almost annoying, but even those seem to fit pretty well in the length of the album. It’s a nervous breakdown, right? In that sense, it reminds me quite a bit of OK Computer.
..//..//..../.././////////////.......... // March 7, 2008 at 9:36 pm |
THAT IS REALLY RTED,HE LLOKS RTED
OK IM BORED I LIKE COMENTING