Marnie Stern: Playing On Prefix
Nov.11, 2011 in
Music Downloads
Enjoying on Prefix is a feature about KCRW’s Music Blog in which authors from the eclectic music website Prefix hip you to what’s coming out of their particular computer speakers each week.
The big apple guitarist/vocalist Marnie Stern has always been quick to put her raw talent bare, composing dizzying sets of hyperactive and technical math-rock on 2007’s In Introduction of The Broken Arm and also 2008’s This Is It and I Am It and you really are It and So Is That anf the husband Is It and She Is It which is It and That Is That.
On this year’s Marnie Stern, she decided to go fully transparent, emerging with an album in which, while far more tuneful and sentimentally invested, does not skimp for the visceral thrills that playing someone who exercises utter prominence over their instrument offers. In stripping away some of her more obtuse moments, Stern additionally delivers moments of unadorned splendor that jump out with the listener, the way a recently washed windowpane does often with a flying bird.
The most effective example of this comes fairly early in the album, by means of third track “Transparency Is The Brand new Mystery.”
Audio clip: Adobe Thumb Player (version 9 or over) is required to play this music clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript allowed in your browser.
Possibly many indicative of its power is that after repeated performs, different aspects of the song come to light. It’s a good that we as music fans want from those who write songs, and it’s endlessly enjoyable to hear it in practice.
The track revolves around a simple, two-note guitar part that will plays throughout the background of many of the song. During the verses, Stern keeps things reasonably quiet, delivering her words of the tune over a stuttering heartbeat drum part furnished by beat-keeping psychopath Zach Hill (of Hella, Wavves, his own solo work, and countless various other bands).
When the song builds into its pre-chorus section, Strict lets out a hair-raising, wounded yelp which leads into a triumphant re-interpretation of the starting riff. The song ebbs as well as flows like this until it reaches the chorus – and man, such a chorus it is. Over a straightforward three-chord pattern, Stern repeats the phrase “It’s not enough,” which after a few instances through morphs into “I’m not enough.” The actual insistent way she bangs out and about those three chords while delivering those lines is among the most heartbreaking moments of the album, and a presentation of Strict at her most prone and emotionally raw.
During that chorus, Hill lays lower what in others’ hands would be a straightforward beat but here comes out like a love-drunk stumble. It’s almost as if it’s not completely sure what it’s doing and it is very self-conscious about it, mioring Stern’s downcast sentiments. Then, the intro guitar portion comes back in, as if offering Stern some sort of reassuring stableness.
“Transparency Is The New Mystery” could definitely cross over to a wider viewers, and that could lead listeners to the more difficult rides the other songs in Marnie Stern provide, whether it be your spring-loaded guitars of “Gimme” or the bombastic charge that is album opener “For Ashes.” Conversely, it also reveals the warm, human elements of Stern’s music in which some might feel will be lost under her protect of technical prowess. Even with its despondent attitude, it’s an overall total victory of a song.
The big apple guitarist/vocalist Marnie Stern has always been quick to put her raw talent bare, composing dizzying sets of hyperactive and technical math-rock on 2007’s In Introduction of The Broken Arm and also 2008’s This Is It and I Am It and you really are It and So Is That anf the husband Is It and She Is It which is It and That Is That.
On this year’s Marnie Stern, she decided to go fully transparent, emerging with an album in which, while far more tuneful and sentimentally invested, does not skimp for the visceral thrills that playing someone who exercises utter prominence over their instrument offers. In stripping away some of her more obtuse moments, Stern additionally delivers moments of unadorned splendor that jump out with the listener, the way a recently washed windowpane does often with a flying bird.
The most effective example of this comes fairly early in the album, by means of third track “Transparency Is The Brand new Mystery.”
Audio clip: Adobe Thumb Player (version 9 or over) is required to play this music clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript allowed in your browser.
Possibly many indicative of its power is that after repeated performs, different aspects of the song come to light. It’s a good that we as music fans want from those who write songs, and it’s endlessly enjoyable to hear it in practice.
The track revolves around a simple, two-note guitar part that will plays throughout the background of many of the song. During the verses, Stern keeps things reasonably quiet, delivering her words of the tune over a stuttering heartbeat drum part furnished by beat-keeping psychopath Zach Hill (of Hella, Wavves, his own solo work, and countless various other bands).
When the song builds into its pre-chorus section, Strict lets out a hair-raising, wounded yelp which leads into a triumphant re-interpretation of the starting riff. The song ebbs as well as flows like this until it reaches the chorus – and man, such a chorus it is. Over a straightforward three-chord pattern, Stern repeats the phrase “It’s not enough,” which after a few instances through morphs into “I’m not enough.” The actual insistent way she bangs out and about those three chords while delivering those lines is among the most heartbreaking moments of the album, and a presentation of Strict at her most prone and emotionally raw.
During that chorus, Hill lays lower what in others’ hands would be a straightforward beat but here comes out like a love-drunk stumble. It’s almost as if it’s not completely sure what it’s doing and it is very self-conscious about it, mioring Stern’s downcast sentiments. Then, the intro guitar portion comes back in, as if offering Stern some sort of reassuring stableness.
“Transparency Is The New Mystery” could definitely cross over to a wider viewers, and that could lead listeners to the more difficult rides the other songs in Marnie Stern provide, whether it be your spring-loaded guitars of “Gimme” or the bombastic charge that is album opener “For Ashes.” Conversely, it also reveals the warm, human elements of Stern’s music in which some might feel will be lost under her protect of technical prowess. Even with its despondent attitude, it’s an overall total victory of a song.
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