Jubilate Deo portrays the global aspect of the traditional Psalm 100 text, “O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands,” by setting it in seven different languages and drawing from a wide spectrum of musical influences. Each movement combines some characteristics of its language-group’s musical culture with the composer’s own musical language. The opening movement sets the ancient liturgical Latin translation of the Psalm in a rather American musical idiom and introduces key musical motives for the work. The second movement sets the “from age to age” portion of the text in Hebrew and Arabic, evoking ancient cultures from the Middle East. The music intentionally intertwines the two languages in a symbolic gesture of unity between these cultures. Movement three, in Mandarin Chinese, is a tranquil setting of the shepherd-sheep metaphor from Psalm 100 and quotes “the Lord is my shepherd” from Psalm 23. The orchestra evokes the sounds of traditional Asian instruments. The fourth movement sets celebratory portions of the text in Zulu and draws from African vocal and drumming traditions. Movement five represents Latin America, setting Spanish text to a folk-song style melody and blending traditional folk instrumental sounds with imitative textures. The sixth movement, “Song of the Earth,” portrays the Earth itself singing—first wordlessly, but eventually finding its own voice— and leads seamlessly into the final movement. The finale unites many of the key themes and cultures from previous movements with other material, both old and new, as all the earth sings as one, “omnis terra, jubilate!”
I have officially retired this account. My new account is Virtuoso.
My quick Arcade Fire review of the albums I've listened to
Funeral - practically every song is brilliant, with a few slightly weaker tracks (7 Kettles, Une Annee Sans Lumiere) which are still pretty good. The vocals are decent but the standout factor is really in the backing and the instrumental hooks and riffs which are powerful and catchy. Each track stands out from the others in its own way and the variety is good.
Neon Bible - opening two tracks are good, closing three tracks are fantastic. The middle of the album is mid-tier; nothing wrong with it and perfectly listenable, but a little dull and nothing really stands out. The vocal work is better though - particularly on the closing track.
The Suburbs - my view on the entire album is like the middle of Neon Bible, except even more dull. Everything is nice to listen to but the hooks (particularly the instrumental ones which were so fantastic on the first album) are virtually non-existent, the mood is barely there when even the weaker tracks on Neon Bible had a strong sense of mood, and there's just nothing really that grabbing about any songs. Deep Blue is the only track I enjoy a fair amount.
In post 262, Majiffy wrote:Recorded in a digital or analog studio, though?
I can't find a source that talks of anything beyond Ringo producing it himself and doing part of the mixing.
Having a digitally sourced, vinyl mixed record is still a good release. I like quietness in my music because it adds emphasis. Modern music/digital is exhausting. Records physically limiting loudness is what makes it my preferred medium, not any sense of analog purity.
I'm eyeing a digital receiver at the moment. Not all digital is bad. It's convenient. Which is good.
In post 268, Lycanfire wrote:
Having a digitally sourced, vinyl mixed record is still a good release. I like quietness in my music because it adds emphasis. Modern music/digital is exhausting. Records physically limiting loudness is what makes it my preferred medium, not any sense of analog purity.
I'm eyeing a digital receiver at the moment. Not all digital is bad. It's convenient. Which is good.
Meh, records don't need to be mixed that way for CD - there's actually a greater range for dynamics on CD than for vinyl. Unfortunately those won't be utilized widespread until regular consumers start loudly protesting "loud" music.
And, well, I doubt that'll ever happen. Even Tool has gotten more squashed over releases.
Only playing in games at personal moderator and/or 50%+ playerlist request.