Now playing: Christopher Young - The Fly II
via FoxyTunes
I finally got off my butt and finished out Episode 3! It's about 10 minutes longer than the previous two episodes, as I had a lot to cover on the current topic.
I apologize in advance for slaughtering many of the composers names, I wasn't able to find any pronunciation help online, so you've got my best guesses.
Anyway, here's the link. Track list is included, as per usual:
Track Bits, Episode 3: Hans Zimmer and Media Ventures.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TR6ED1DD
Enjoy!
Enough, More Later.
- James
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Newest Project: Track Bits
Now playing: Basil Poledouris - Theme from Les Misérables
via FoxyTunes
It all started a few weeks ago, when Preston sent me a link to an article concerning audio fidelity in the digital age, and how, due to the prevalence of Mp3's and those crappy iPod ear-buds, people in general have come to accept sub-par sound quality as the norm. As audiophiles, both Preston and I had an inkling that there was more to be had than simple 128kpbs of sound, so I did some research and put together a little audio demo of the various commonly used file formats and how they stack up on the quality meter.
To do so, I dusted off my old microphone from my KNSL Days (A spoof radio show my high school friends and I did, which ran for about 3 episodes until we graduated) and opened my ancient copy of CoolEdit (now Adobe Audition). Working with the old multi-track editor (and still only using about 10% of the extensive features offered by CoolEdit) got my creative juices flowing, and for kicks I started scripting, recording, and editing a little show about my favorite hobby, soundtracks.
At the end, I had about a 17 minute long show and plenty of ideas for future episodes, so I sent it out to the usual suspects and recieved lots of positive feedback. As I'm working two bare-minimum part-time jobs, I have a lot of time on my hands, and over the past week or two have produced a second episode and currently working on a third. I have no illusions that this'll reach beyond a handful of people, but I enjoy the process and the satisfaction of having produced something entirely my own (and hey, the positive feedback is darn awesome too).
Anywho, I figure I should give a heads up to the 5 or 6 people who still read my blog and who I might not have sent my little show to yet. For those of you already in the know, the following links have at least one new thing you haven't seen yet, tracklists for the episodes. At Preston's suggestion, I've compiled complete lists of all that you have (or will) hear in each episode, however, you'll probably notice that two things are missing: the intro music and the outro music.
This is purposful. Because I'm a fan of mysteries, I've left them un-cited, but name-check the track names in my opening and closing phrase. I know that's not too much to go on, but there are two things in your favor. The first is that both tracks will be from the same score, by the same composer. And the second is that you have a wonderful little invention called the Internet, which should make your search fairly easy. I enjoy leaving something for folks to puzzle over, and this is my way of giving you something to do if you happen to like what you hear in the opening and closing statements.
In any case, here are the links to copies of the show and their respective tracklists.
Episode 1:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4B8FQRA8
Episode 2:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ITHK12AW
As always, if you like what you hear, please pass them on. I'll posting more episodes as I get them completed: the schedule is likely to be erratic depending on my free time and how often I can brainstorm ideas for shows. If you have any soundtrack related topic you'd like me to cover, please comment here or drop me an e-mail. I'm always open to new ideas, so if you've got anything, please let me know.
Enough, More Later.
- James
via FoxyTunes
It all started a few weeks ago, when Preston sent me a link to an article concerning audio fidelity in the digital age, and how, due to the prevalence of Mp3's and those crappy iPod ear-buds, people in general have come to accept sub-par sound quality as the norm. As audiophiles, both Preston and I had an inkling that there was more to be had than simple 128kpbs of sound, so I did some research and put together a little audio demo of the various commonly used file formats and how they stack up on the quality meter.
To do so, I dusted off my old microphone from my KNSL Days (A spoof radio show my high school friends and I did, which ran for about 3 episodes until we graduated) and opened my ancient copy of CoolEdit (now Adobe Audition). Working with the old multi-track editor (and still only using about 10% of the extensive features offered by CoolEdit) got my creative juices flowing, and for kicks I started scripting, recording, and editing a little show about my favorite hobby, soundtracks.
At the end, I had about a 17 minute long show and plenty of ideas for future episodes, so I sent it out to the usual suspects and recieved lots of positive feedback. As I'm working two bare-minimum part-time jobs, I have a lot of time on my hands, and over the past week or two have produced a second episode and currently working on a third. I have no illusions that this'll reach beyond a handful of people, but I enjoy the process and the satisfaction of having produced something entirely my own (and hey, the positive feedback is darn awesome too).
Anywho, I figure I should give a heads up to the 5 or 6 people who still read my blog and who I might not have sent my little show to yet. For those of you already in the know, the following links have at least one new thing you haven't seen yet, tracklists for the episodes. At Preston's suggestion, I've compiled complete lists of all that you have (or will) hear in each episode, however, you'll probably notice that two things are missing: the intro music and the outro music.
This is purposful. Because I'm a fan of mysteries, I've left them un-cited, but name-check the track names in my opening and closing phrase. I know that's not too much to go on, but there are two things in your favor. The first is that both tracks will be from the same score, by the same composer. And the second is that you have a wonderful little invention called the Internet, which should make your search fairly easy. I enjoy leaving something for folks to puzzle over, and this is my way of giving you something to do if you happen to like what you hear in the opening and closing statements.
In any case, here are the links to copies of the show and their respective tracklists.
Episode 1:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4B8FQRA8
Episode 2:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ITHK12AW
As always, if you like what you hear, please pass them on. I'll posting more episodes as I get them completed: the schedule is likely to be erratic depending on my free time and how often I can brainstorm ideas for shows. If you have any soundtrack related topic you'd like me to cover, please comment here or drop me an e-mail. I'm always open to new ideas, so if you've got anything, please let me know.
Enough, More Later.
- James
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Dear Mother Nature
Now playing: Howard Shore - Plasma Pool
via FoxyTunes
Dear Mother Nature -
Hey, I just wanted to check in with you, make sure everything was okay. I got a little worried when you left the party so abruptly like that, and truth be told, it just wasn't the same without you.
I have to admit, I was stoked when the invitation came through a few days ago. It sounded like you were really going to pull out all the stops and just let the clouds rip. It had been so long since you last graced us with pleasing precipitation that my friends and I started talking about it with gusto. "Here comes a storm!" we thought, "Man, we're really in for a treat!" We even didn't mind that the invitation suggested that things could get a little rough: We'd been without such revelry for so long that we didn't care.
And man, when this morning came, you really started to deliver. It was a non-stop event, the water flowed freely, the wind gusted merrily, and fun was had by all (who were inside and dry, but hey, everyone got the invite, so they knew what was coming). It really felt like a return to form, like a herald of a wonderful rainy season to come. The plants perked up and rocked out, and so did we.
It even went on for a number of hours unabated, which was a thing of beauty. You seemed to regain some of the rainy splendor that had been missing from our little corner of California for some time now, delivering an honest-to-goodness rainy streak that lasted for more than an hour or two in between months of dryness.
But, sometime during the early afternoon, you turned the clouds off and sort of wandered away. "Oh, it shouldn't be a problem," we assured ourselves, "The water was getting low, and someone needed to go on a rain run anyway, these things happen, she should be back in no time." But then a weird thing happened, you didn't come back. Oh sure, you kept the sky pleasantly overcast, as if you turned around before you left and said "I'll be right back!", but we waited for a long time. You didn't come back.
Then people started wandering away, the ground started to dry up, and people began to wonder what happened to you. "What could be keeping her?" we thought, "Why did she get up and leave so suddenly?" We did get a hastily scrawled note in your hand, saying something vague about how if Father Sky was in a good mood, you'd come back, but that didn't really convince anyone.
It pains me to admit that I am a bit of the jealous type, and I hope you won't be angry with me when I tell you that I used the local Doppler Radar to find out where you went. But, Mother Nature, I can't tell you how sad I was to see that you'd moved the party over to the Central Valley, leaving us folks here in the Bay high and dry. You're still there right now, whooping it up with Modesto and Stockton with some really heavy precipitation. But it hurts me, even after the fun time we had today, to see you just up and leave without so much as a fare-thee-well, and no promise of any rain in the near future, for me or my friends.
But the Radar, I also admit, is providing me with a bit of schadenfreude: I see that you're slowly backing away from the Central Valley, too, and that soon they'll be just as confused as lonely as I and my friends are right now. I know it's your nature to be wild and unpredictable at times, but it seemed like we really had a good thing going. Sure, Belmont said that they got a little bit flooded and had some traffic jams, and I overheard some of the hill regions muttering about mudslides, but we were ready for that sort of thing.
So, come back, Mother Nature. We're sorry if we said or did anything to upset you. If you'd just come back with more rain and fresh wind, all will be forgiven. If you over-indulged and went and hailed in an alley somewhere, we understand and don't think badly of you for it. Just come back and grace us with your presence again. The party just isn't the same without you.
Sincerely -
San Leandro
Enough, More Later.
- James
via FoxyTunes
Dear Mother Nature -
Hey, I just wanted to check in with you, make sure everything was okay. I got a little worried when you left the party so abruptly like that, and truth be told, it just wasn't the same without you.
I have to admit, I was stoked when the invitation came through a few days ago. It sounded like you were really going to pull out all the stops and just let the clouds rip. It had been so long since you last graced us with pleasing precipitation that my friends and I started talking about it with gusto. "Here comes a storm!" we thought, "Man, we're really in for a treat!" We even didn't mind that the invitation suggested that things could get a little rough: We'd been without such revelry for so long that we didn't care.
And man, when this morning came, you really started to deliver. It was a non-stop event, the water flowed freely, the wind gusted merrily, and fun was had by all (who were inside and dry, but hey, everyone got the invite, so they knew what was coming). It really felt like a return to form, like a herald of a wonderful rainy season to come. The plants perked up and rocked out, and so did we.
It even went on for a number of hours unabated, which was a thing of beauty. You seemed to regain some of the rainy splendor that had been missing from our little corner of California for some time now, delivering an honest-to-goodness rainy streak that lasted for more than an hour or two in between months of dryness.
But, sometime during the early afternoon, you turned the clouds off and sort of wandered away. "Oh, it shouldn't be a problem," we assured ourselves, "The water was getting low, and someone needed to go on a rain run anyway, these things happen, she should be back in no time." But then a weird thing happened, you didn't come back. Oh sure, you kept the sky pleasantly overcast, as if you turned around before you left and said "I'll be right back!", but we waited for a long time. You didn't come back.
Then people started wandering away, the ground started to dry up, and people began to wonder what happened to you. "What could be keeping her?" we thought, "Why did she get up and leave so suddenly?" We did get a hastily scrawled note in your hand, saying something vague about how if Father Sky was in a good mood, you'd come back, but that didn't really convince anyone.
It pains me to admit that I am a bit of the jealous type, and I hope you won't be angry with me when I tell you that I used the local Doppler Radar to find out where you went. But, Mother Nature, I can't tell you how sad I was to see that you'd moved the party over to the Central Valley, leaving us folks here in the Bay high and dry. You're still there right now, whooping it up with Modesto and Stockton with some really heavy precipitation. But it hurts me, even after the fun time we had today, to see you just up and leave without so much as a fare-thee-well, and no promise of any rain in the near future, for me or my friends.
But the Radar, I also admit, is providing me with a bit of schadenfreude: I see that you're slowly backing away from the Central Valley, too, and that soon they'll be just as confused as lonely as I and my friends are right now. I know it's your nature to be wild and unpredictable at times, but it seemed like we really had a good thing going. Sure, Belmont said that they got a little bit flooded and had some traffic jams, and I overheard some of the hill regions muttering about mudslides, but we were ready for that sort of thing.
So, come back, Mother Nature. We're sorry if we said or did anything to upset you. If you'd just come back with more rain and fresh wind, all will be forgiven. If you over-indulged and went and hailed in an alley somewhere, we understand and don't think badly of you for it. Just come back and grace us with your presence again. The party just isn't the same without you.
Sincerely -
San Leandro
Enough, More Later.
- James
Friday, October 02, 2009
Review: Calling All Dawns
Currently in Earphones: should be obvious, given the subject.
It's now been well over 3 years since I first heard whispers that Christopher Tin, the composer behind the immensely popular "Baba Yetu", was coming out with a solo album titled Calling All Dawns. I got my first taste of what was to come when Corner Stone Cues (purveyor of the popular "Requiem for a Tower") released a cover of "Mado Kara Mieru," easily one of the highlights of Tin's then upcoming album and a fantastic (and, arguably, better) interpretation.
Everything has finally come together and Calling All Dawns is now available for public consumption, and I must say: I am very, very impressed with what Mr. Tin has cooked up. The main sticking point for me was the thematic cohesiveness of it all. It's been said that the 12 pieces are supposed to represent the cyclical events of life, death, and rebirth (or Day, Night, and Dawn), and musically they accomplish this very well. I'm to go on a track by track analysis from here because there is a lot to point out.
1. Baba Yetu: My initial impression upon hearing that Baba Yetu was going to open the album was, I admit, somewhat scornful. Make no mistake, it's a fantastic piece and deserves every bit of praise that it gets. But, as it's been highly overplayed and hyped to the heavens, I was definitely feeling like Mr. Tin had been resting on these laurels a tad long. These feelings were immediately put to rest when I took a listen to this new, re-arranged version of Baba Yetu.
Not only is it the piece that you know and love, but Tin smartly incorporates motivic elements from the other pieces from Calling All Dawns into it (something we'll see a lot in the coming pieces). Right at the beginning the male solo hums the first few bars from "Kia Hora Te Marino," a fact well documented by other reviewers as giving a great circularity to the album. The song then heads into familiar territory, the Soweto Gospel Choir giving a wonderful rendition of this now classic piece. Things get interesting around 2 minutes in, after the main body of Baba Yetu has sung. At 2:03 a solo flute pipes out the 5-note motif to "Lux Aeterna," followed immediately by a solo oboe playing the "Yomei..." stanza from "Mado Kara Mieru." The orchestra then slowly builds into a full bodied da capo, but overlapped with a horn, then a string rendition of the motif from "Kia Hora Te Marino." It's all these little touches and references that really made this track shine for me, and brought a fresh take on this old piece.
2. Mado Kara Mieru: Easily the biggest powerhouse of the album, Corner Stone Cues chose wisely in picking it for a balls-out, trailer music cover. While Tin has access to some more high profile signers, this rendition has a reduced chorus and different drumming group. It's very much it's own piece, containing little to no references to any other on the album, but that doesn't stop it from being a stand out cue. I find that I like the percussive variations better in this version than the cover, though the small group of singers can't compare with a 100 voice trailer music choir belting out the main chorus at the end of the piece. Each version has it's merits, and I fully suggest listening to both versions to determine for yourself which version you like better. Churning, powerful, and majestic.
3. Dao Zai Fan Ye: Calming down from the previous cue with a more quiet and contemplative tone, this is another one of my favorites. There's some wonderful counterpoint in the duet, and I love the elegant grace and occasional melancholy the melodic lines entail. Once again, a stand alone piece, with no references to any other, and once again, still a fine addition.
4. Se E Pra Vir Que Venha: This and the following piece I like to refer to as "E.S. Posthumous filler." It's all very pleasant sounding, and the soloist does the sort of melodic wandering I associate with adapting a somewhat free-form poem into music, but it doesn't really go anywhere. Sure, there's dynamics and some nice orchestral range, but it very much feels like a low key piece that occasionally peppers some of E.S. Posthumous' albums (or in the case of Cartographer, all of it). Pleasant, but easily forgettable. Also, I'm not sure if this is a cultural thing, but Dulce Pontes comes across as really nasally to me.
5. Rassemblons-Nous: The second of the "E.S. Posthumous Filler" pieces (and commonly pointed out that it's the only piece to have electronic backup), an equally "ehh" cue, at least for me. I can't help wondering if Tin is friends with/owed a favor to Jon Goldman, the lyricist: it's easily the most wordy of all the pieces and suffers the same kind of melodic (though once again, pleasant) wandering that "Se E Pra Vir Que Venha" fell victim to. There's some nice swelling of the chorus and orchestra here and there, but once again, didn't really do anything for me.
6. Lux Aeterna: I will admit that my predisposition to the Latin tongue is responsible for some of my enjoyment of this piece, but it makes a nice contrast the big, swelling pieces that come before. Musically spare, it starts off with harp and voice, eventually segueing into more full bodied orchestral statements culminating in a string and horn statement of the 5-note motif introduced by the female voice. After being inundated with orchestra richness for the past 5 cues, it can be a little jarring to hear such a spare and quiet piece, but I find it a nice change of pace.
7. Caoineadh: Once again, I'm very fond of the stylings of Anonymous 4, which is probably colored my enjoyment of this piece. It expectedly wavers between medieval sounding chords and lonely Celtic lament from the ladies in question, and halfway through the orchestra joins in for some underscore and a finally a swelling re-statement of the secondary theme (which shows up around the halfway point as well).
8. Hymn do Trojcy Swietej: Clocking in at over 6 minutes, this is the longest and slowest piece on the album, which is fitting considering it's the end of the "Death/Night" part of the album. Interestingly, we finally get a reference to a previous piece again: a solo flute comes in at 4:04 and at 6:08 with the figure that appears at 3:19 in "Mado Kara Mieru." Both solo voice and choir come to prominence, and despite having considerable volume in places, it's probably the quietest piece of them all.
9. Hayom Kadosh: Here's where things get really interesting. This starts of the "Dawn/Rebirth" segment of the album, and from here on out each piece flows into the other without break. This makes for a wonderfully cohesive listening experience and is easily the most enjoyable aspect of Calling All Dawns. This is also the shortest piece on the album, but that doesn't stop it from being chock-full of other references to previous cues, played underneath the main song. At 38 seconds in a solo flute pipes the "Kia Hora Te Marino" motif, echoed by an oboe, which at 58 seconds returns with"Lux Aeterna." Two flutes very faintly come in with "Dao Zai Fan Ye" at 1:05, and at 1:11 it's the oboe again with the "Yomei..." stanza from "Mado Kara Mieru." Finally, at 1:27 the strings play the previously mentioned 3:19 figure again from "Mado Kara Mieru." I am deeply impressed with how rich this piece is, despite only clocking in at 1:45, it easily outshines the end of the "Day" segment.
10. Hamsafar: The resounding cymbal crash that ends "Hayom Kadosh" begins this piece, a wonderfully melodic blend of soloist and chorus. No references to other pieces here (Tin seems to have used them up for the moment), just the piece itself. If I have one problem, it's that the chorus to this piece (despite being in Farsi), sounds entirely too similar to "Baba Yetu." My beef being that it sounds like it's sung by the same handful of blond, college-age sopranos that so defined Tin's first piece. Surprise surprise, a quick look at the liner notes reveal that it's Talisman, the Stanford A capella group Tin's been involved in. While it worked for "Baba Yetu," the lack of any other vocal range rubs me the wrong way here, the melodic construction in addition to this sounding too similar for my ears.
11. Sukla-Krsna. Whoa! All my complaints about samey-ness just flew out the window. Roopa Mahadevan and Misha Chowdhury provide a breath of fresh air with their traditional stylings and must have given some pointers to the Talisman singers. Also, I definitely giggled when Tin decided to go full-blown trailer cue ending on this piece. I totally expected some grim title drop for an action film after the tam-tam crash at the end. :)
12. Kia Hora Te Marino. I would almost describe this as an extension of Baba Yetu, indeed, the two pieces are warm, uplifting and in the same key. Hearing the Maroi Chant in the background was really awesome, including the solo chant starting at 1:35 (though I will say, it sounds eerily similar to the slightly mush-mouthed singspiel that the main singer of Kila employs, despite the fact that one is in Maori and the other in Gaelic!). There is one last call-back, with a full orchestral rendition of "Hamsafar" at 1:17, but aside from that, the piece is by and large it's own thing. Once again, as this piece is very similar to "Baba Yetu:" If Tin is making any references to one within the other, I can't tell.
So, aside from some minor gripes with a few songs, I very much like this album. If there is anything that I might have missed (i.e. "Rassemblons-Nous totally has a theme, you hater, and it's referenced in etc. etc.") please let me know. Aside from that, I give it a hearty recommendation to one and all. Well done, Mr. Tin!
Enough, More Later.
- James
It's now been well over 3 years since I first heard whispers that Christopher Tin, the composer behind the immensely popular "Baba Yetu", was coming out with a solo album titled Calling All Dawns. I got my first taste of what was to come when Corner Stone Cues (purveyor of the popular "Requiem for a Tower") released a cover of "Mado Kara Mieru," easily one of the highlights of Tin's then upcoming album and a fantastic (and, arguably, better) interpretation.
Everything has finally come together and Calling All Dawns is now available for public consumption, and I must say: I am very, very impressed with what Mr. Tin has cooked up. The main sticking point for me was the thematic cohesiveness of it all. It's been said that the 12 pieces are supposed to represent the cyclical events of life, death, and rebirth (or Day, Night, and Dawn), and musically they accomplish this very well. I'm to go on a track by track analysis from here because there is a lot to point out.
1. Baba Yetu: My initial impression upon hearing that Baba Yetu was going to open the album was, I admit, somewhat scornful. Make no mistake, it's a fantastic piece and deserves every bit of praise that it gets. But, as it's been highly overplayed and hyped to the heavens, I was definitely feeling like Mr. Tin had been resting on these laurels a tad long. These feelings were immediately put to rest when I took a listen to this new, re-arranged version of Baba Yetu.
Not only is it the piece that you know and love, but Tin smartly incorporates motivic elements from the other pieces from Calling All Dawns into it (something we'll see a lot in the coming pieces). Right at the beginning the male solo hums the first few bars from "Kia Hora Te Marino," a fact well documented by other reviewers as giving a great circularity to the album. The song then heads into familiar territory, the Soweto Gospel Choir giving a wonderful rendition of this now classic piece. Things get interesting around 2 minutes in, after the main body of Baba Yetu has sung. At 2:03 a solo flute pipes out the 5-note motif to "Lux Aeterna," followed immediately by a solo oboe playing the "Yomei..." stanza from "Mado Kara Mieru." The orchestra then slowly builds into a full bodied da capo, but overlapped with a horn, then a string rendition of the motif from "Kia Hora Te Marino." It's all these little touches and references that really made this track shine for me, and brought a fresh take on this old piece.
2. Mado Kara Mieru: Easily the biggest powerhouse of the album, Corner Stone Cues chose wisely in picking it for a balls-out, trailer music cover. While Tin has access to some more high profile signers, this rendition has a reduced chorus and different drumming group. It's very much it's own piece, containing little to no references to any other on the album, but that doesn't stop it from being a stand out cue. I find that I like the percussive variations better in this version than the cover, though the small group of singers can't compare with a 100 voice trailer music choir belting out the main chorus at the end of the piece. Each version has it's merits, and I fully suggest listening to both versions to determine for yourself which version you like better. Churning, powerful, and majestic.
3. Dao Zai Fan Ye: Calming down from the previous cue with a more quiet and contemplative tone, this is another one of my favorites. There's some wonderful counterpoint in the duet, and I love the elegant grace and occasional melancholy the melodic lines entail. Once again, a stand alone piece, with no references to any other, and once again, still a fine addition.
4. Se E Pra Vir Que Venha: This and the following piece I like to refer to as "E.S. Posthumous filler." It's all very pleasant sounding, and the soloist does the sort of melodic wandering I associate with adapting a somewhat free-form poem into music, but it doesn't really go anywhere. Sure, there's dynamics and some nice orchestral range, but it very much feels like a low key piece that occasionally peppers some of E.S. Posthumous' albums (or in the case of Cartographer, all of it). Pleasant, but easily forgettable. Also, I'm not sure if this is a cultural thing, but Dulce Pontes comes across as really nasally to me.
5. Rassemblons-Nous: The second of the "E.S. Posthumous Filler" pieces (and commonly pointed out that it's the only piece to have electronic backup), an equally "ehh" cue, at least for me. I can't help wondering if Tin is friends with/owed a favor to Jon Goldman, the lyricist: it's easily the most wordy of all the pieces and suffers the same kind of melodic (though once again, pleasant) wandering that "Se E Pra Vir Que Venha" fell victim to. There's some nice swelling of the chorus and orchestra here and there, but once again, didn't really do anything for me.
6. Lux Aeterna: I will admit that my predisposition to the Latin tongue is responsible for some of my enjoyment of this piece, but it makes a nice contrast the big, swelling pieces that come before. Musically spare, it starts off with harp and voice, eventually segueing into more full bodied orchestral statements culminating in a string and horn statement of the 5-note motif introduced by the female voice. After being inundated with orchestra richness for the past 5 cues, it can be a little jarring to hear such a spare and quiet piece, but I find it a nice change of pace.
7. Caoineadh: Once again, I'm very fond of the stylings of Anonymous 4, which is probably colored my enjoyment of this piece. It expectedly wavers between medieval sounding chords and lonely Celtic lament from the ladies in question, and halfway through the orchestra joins in for some underscore and a finally a swelling re-statement of the secondary theme (which shows up around the halfway point as well).
8. Hymn do Trojcy Swietej: Clocking in at over 6 minutes, this is the longest and slowest piece on the album, which is fitting considering it's the end of the "Death/Night" part of the album. Interestingly, we finally get a reference to a previous piece again: a solo flute comes in at 4:04 and at 6:08 with the figure that appears at 3:19 in "Mado Kara Mieru." Both solo voice and choir come to prominence, and despite having considerable volume in places, it's probably the quietest piece of them all.
9. Hayom Kadosh: Here's where things get really interesting. This starts of the "Dawn/Rebirth" segment of the album, and from here on out each piece flows into the other without break. This makes for a wonderfully cohesive listening experience and is easily the most enjoyable aspect of Calling All Dawns. This is also the shortest piece on the album, but that doesn't stop it from being chock-full of other references to previous cues, played underneath the main song. At 38 seconds in a solo flute pipes the "Kia Hora Te Marino" motif, echoed by an oboe, which at 58 seconds returns with"Lux Aeterna." Two flutes very faintly come in with "Dao Zai Fan Ye" at 1:05, and at 1:11 it's the oboe again with the "Yomei..." stanza from "Mado Kara Mieru." Finally, at 1:27 the strings play the previously mentioned 3:19 figure again from "Mado Kara Mieru." I am deeply impressed with how rich this piece is, despite only clocking in at 1:45, it easily outshines the end of the "Day" segment.
10. Hamsafar: The resounding cymbal crash that ends "Hayom Kadosh" begins this piece, a wonderfully melodic blend of soloist and chorus. No references to other pieces here (Tin seems to have used them up for the moment), just the piece itself. If I have one problem, it's that the chorus to this piece (despite being in Farsi), sounds entirely too similar to "Baba Yetu." My beef being that it sounds like it's sung by the same handful of blond, college-age sopranos that so defined Tin's first piece. Surprise surprise, a quick look at the liner notes reveal that it's Talisman, the Stanford A capella group Tin's been involved in. While it worked for "Baba Yetu," the lack of any other vocal range rubs me the wrong way here, the melodic construction in addition to this sounding too similar for my ears.
11. Sukla-Krsna. Whoa! All my complaints about samey-ness just flew out the window. Roopa Mahadevan and Misha Chowdhury provide a breath of fresh air with their traditional stylings and must have given some pointers to the Talisman singers. Also, I definitely giggled when Tin decided to go full-blown trailer cue ending on this piece. I totally expected some grim title drop for an action film after the tam-tam crash at the end. :)
12. Kia Hora Te Marino. I would almost describe this as an extension of Baba Yetu, indeed, the two pieces are warm, uplifting and in the same key. Hearing the Maroi Chant in the background was really awesome, including the solo chant starting at 1:35 (though I will say, it sounds eerily similar to the slightly mush-mouthed singspiel that the main singer of Kila employs, despite the fact that one is in Maori and the other in Gaelic!). There is one last call-back, with a full orchestral rendition of "Hamsafar" at 1:17, but aside from that, the piece is by and large it's own thing. Once again, as this piece is very similar to "Baba Yetu:" If Tin is making any references to one within the other, I can't tell.
So, aside from some minor gripes with a few songs, I very much like this album. If there is anything that I might have missed (i.e. "Rassemblons-Nous totally has a theme, you hater, and it's referenced in etc. etc.") please let me know. Aside from that, I give it a hearty recommendation to one and all. Well done, Mr. Tin!
Enough, More Later.
- James
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