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All ''this'' in an ambiguous spacetime flux, flipping madly between major and minor, switching up tempos, and exploring unseen and inhuman dimensions in between. | All ''this'' in an ambiguous spacetime flux, flipping madly between major and minor, switching up tempos, and exploring unseen and inhuman dimensions in between. | ||
If this is | If this is nuclear holocaust — an atom-age ''rapture''<ref>See what I did there?</ref> — then I ''want'' this sweet apocalyptic disco. | ||
<big>{{smallcaps|Part I: Three blind mice}}</big><br> | <big>{{smallcaps|Part I: Three blind mice}}</big><br>''What''? Why start ''there''? Because it plays a trick. A triumphal ascent, set to a martial, marching cadence to signify their — ''our'' — steady progress to our certain evisceration. ''Did you ever see such a thing in your life''? The beat is mechanical, like a machine beyond mortal control, a crazy escalating upbeat, but in case we have not deduced what the nice found out, ''we are in a minor key''? We can’t say we weren’t warned, warned, but things are beyond our reasonable power to change. At the crescendo — are we happy or sad? — a parade ground drumroll — what is ''coming'', and is this ''it'', or a premature end? An adolescent spurt? A jolt, ''un petit mort'' — sex is death & death is sex, a little cresting wave, a sure-shot snareshot — ''stop'' — | ||
''What''? Why start ''there''? Because it plays a trick. A triumphal ascent, set to a martial, marching cadence to signify their — ''our'' — steady progress to our certain evisceration. ''Did you ever see such a thing in your life''? The beat is mechanical, like a machine beyond mortal control, a crazy escalating upbeat, but in case we have not deduced what the nice found out, ''we are in a minor key''? We can’t say we weren’t warned, warned, but things are beyond our reasonable power to change. At the crescendo — are we happy or sad? — a parade ground drumroll — what is ''coming'', and is this ''it'', or a premature end? An adolescent spurt? A jolt, ''un petit mort'' — sex is death & death is sex, a little cresting wave, a sure-shot snareshot — ''stop'' — | |||
<big>{{smallcaps|Part II: The Vamp: Spaghetti western guitars & an impatient punk drummer}}</big><br> | <big>{{smallcaps|Part II: The Vamp: Spaghetti western guitars & an impatient punk drummer}}</big><br>We open on a wide empty dustbowl, a kerrang of spaghetti western guitars and the rollercoaster clunges down into the abyss. Now the drummer, Burke, sets the pace, pulling frantically at the beat, a brisk four-on-the-floor stomp, hauling the band along at 135 — you ''know'' he’d go 150 if they’d only get a leg on — just two measures in and he’s given up on the quarter notes and is ''impatiently drumming his fingers'' with sarcastic hi-hat triplets as if to say, NO RUSH GUYS JUST WHEN YOU ARE READY. | ||
We open on a wide empty dustbowl, a kerrang of spaghetti western guitars and the rollercoaster clunges down into the abyss. Now the drummer, Burke, sets the pace, pulling frantically at the beat, a brisk four-on-the-floor stomp, hauling the band along at 135 — you ''know'' he’d go 150 if they’d only get a leg on — just two measures in and he’s given up on the quarter notes and is ''impatiently drumming his fingers'' with sarcastic hi-hat triplets as if to say, NO RUSH GUYS JUST WHEN YOU ARE READY. | |||
They cycle around the intro vamp. Second go-round, those hi-hat triplets are louder, the snare-stomp more strident — thje Drummer, Burke, is like come ''on'', man, we haven’t got all ''day'' don’t you know there’s a sweaty cataclysm going down? | They cycle around the intro vamp. Second go-round, those hi-hat triplets are louder, the snare-stomp more strident — thje Drummer, Burke, is like come ''on'', man, we haven’t got all ''day'' don’t you know there’s a sweaty cataclysm going down? | ||
But Stein and Infante and their | But Stein and Infante and their cool-hand Ennio Morricone guitars ''will not be rushed''. Their vibe is dreamy double-tracked twang and you know that this is James Calvin Willsey learned everything he knew, God rest him. | ||
But underneath it all this ''tension''. ''Fast'' against ''slow''. ''Happy'' in the face of ''sad''. ''Lively'', but ''morbid''. Descending dark depths but somehow aspiring to the heavens. Is there a mounting, rising angelic keyboard swell? | But underneath it all this ''tension''. ''Fast'' against ''slow''. ''Happy'' in the face of ''sad''. ''Lively'', but ''morbid''. Descending dark depths but somehow aspiring to the heavens. Is there a mounting, rising angelic keyboard swell? |