popwreckoning

When one thinks of rock opera, they usually think of a concept album like The Who‘s Tommy or even some might argue more recently My Chemical Romance‘s The Black Parade. None of these so called rock operas even come close to East Village Opera Company‘s interpretation on their latest release. EVOC is giving you opera olde school style. Olde School is a collection of popular operatic pieces. The classics are there with George Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and even the more modern romantics with Richard Wagner, Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini. EVOC offers these and more with an electronic kick.

“The Ride” originally from Richard Wagner’s Die Walkure starts this album. A wise choice considering this is probably the most recognizable tune to non-opera buffs because I think many can still hear Elmer Fudd singing, “Kill the Wabbit, Kill the Wabbit,” while hunting the clever Bugs Bunny. Wagner’s style is over the top bombastic and he relies heavily on the brass section to carry his main theme. EVOC passes the melody into the electric guitar, keeping Wagner’s edge.

On past albums, EVOC relied more heavily on a string quartet, which is still present on this album. But even more noticeable are the brass and woodwinds. When vocalist Anna Marie Milazzo sings, “the clarinet plays the tune” in “Help Me (Jove, In Pity)”, a clarinet rises with the melody. A muted trumpet shines in the jazzy rendition of “Brindisi Libera (Pop the Cork)”. Although with all these instrumental flourishes, my favorite song on the album are the instrumentally simple ones like the folksy “As You Were Then” that mostly uses guitar slides.

“Soldiers” is a song you cannot miss: a children’s choir sings of ”glorious heroes” and asks them to “give us the courage to do the same.” A radio announcer style voice gives a social commentary condemning the greediness and gluttony of the people. As the militant snare drum roll builds with the full choir singing “eye for an eye, only the blind will survive” a child’s solo voice eventually emerges to repeat the line a final time. This song is fitting not just for the era in which Faust was written, but also in today’s modern society.

The problem with a novelty album like this, is that while it is amusing to listen once through, I really only see musical theater buffs and music teachers getting into this enough to listen repeatedly. If you do find yourself in the one time only listener category, hopefully EVOC will at least inspire you to check out these operas in their full glory. These composers are worthy of imitation for reason, so I suggest experiencing another genre of music.

Tracklisting:
01. “The Ride” from Die Walkure – Richard Wagner
02. “King of the Night” from Die Zauberflote – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
03. “Help Me (Jove, In Pity)” from Semele – George Fredric Handel
04. “Brindisi Libera (Pop the Cork)” from La Traviata – Giuseppe Verdi
05. ”Gloria” from Griselda- Giovanni Bonocini
06. “Walk” from Semele – George Fredric Handel
07. “As You Were Then” from Norma- Vincenzo Bellini
08. “Soldiers” from Faust – Charles Gounod
09. “You’re Not Alone” from Cantata BWV 208 Was Mir Behagt, Ist Nur Die Muntre Jaged – Johann Sebastian Bach
10. “Va Tosca” from Tosca – Giacomo Puccini
11. “Butterfly Duet” from Madama Butterfly – Giacomo Puccini

East Village Opera Company: website | myspace

Written by: Bethany

I doubt that even if Johann Sebastian Bach were alive today that he could have done as good a job adapting classical harpsichord pieces for dance clubs as rock electronica group Ratatat does on LP3.

The mostly instrumental LP3 is an album where classical meets modern day electronica as is demonstrated in the opening song “Shiller” where synthesizer and harpsichord play against each other.

Mike Stroud sticks to a more classical guitar style, fittingly giving songs like “Mi Viejo” and “Mirando” a a flamenco twist. Stroud’s cohort Evan Mast jumps around from grand piano to synthesizer to harpsichord. Despite the nods to the early 18th century, there is no question that this music is a welcome pleasure for the 21st century.

The first half of the album seems to have more of a Spanish guitar focus, but the video game sounding beeps on “Mirando” serve to remind listeners that this is an electronica album. The latter half of the album does get a little more experimental with its sound effects. Sizzles and snaps on “Brulee” and bongos on “Mumtaz Khan” give the second half of the album a more tropical vibe.

The more classical sounding pieces were my favorites. “Dura” reminded me of that ubiquitous Zales’ commerical that played “Palladio.” Much like that song, it is just as easy to get “Dura” stuck in your head.

There is very little about this album that I didn’t like. “Flynn” seems a little out of place after the Spanish guitar riffs in the songs that precede it, making it one of the few tracks I could skip. Another out of place song is “Mumtaz Khan,” which has a grittiness to it that seems inappropriate when surrounded by so many other cleaner sounding songs. However, neither of these tracks are bad, they are just out of place.

Ratatat is a band you’ll most likely be seeing more of in the future, so I strongly suggest jumping on the band wagon now and checking out LP3.

Tracklisting:
01. Shiller
02. Falcon Jab
03. Mi Viejo
04. Mirando
05. Flynn
06. Bird Priest
07. Shempi
08. Imperials
09. Dura
10. Brulee
11. Mumtaz Khan
12. Gipsy Threat
13. Black Heroes

Ratatat: website | myspace

Written by: Bethany