Taking their name from the assassinated San Franciscan politician, Harvey Milk are Creston Spiers, Steven Tanner and Paul Trudeau. Their first two albums My Love is Higher Than Your Assessment of What My Love Could Be and Courtesy and Goodwill Toward Men mixed massive sludgy riffs with classical music, Kiss, and everything in between. The songs were given an extra dimension with Spiers' powerful, heartwrenching (and sometimes gutwrenching) vocals.The particular tune I want to share with ya this afternoon displays some exceptional and groundbreaking work in the field of (mis-)appropriation and recontextualisation of existing work as incorporated into new work. Or as it is colloquially known, musical quotation.
Harvey Milk - The Anvil Will Fall (5MB mp3: right-click and Save As to download; or play using player below)The middle passage where the orchestra appears out of nowhere and plays the old, instantly recognisable British hymn Ummm by Shit, It's On the Tip of My Tongue (help? anyone? put me out of my misery and tell me what it is) -- while the vocalist mumbles and croons some obscure lyric over the top of it, even slipping into a boyish falsetto -- is incredibly affecting.
No word anywhere on whether the section is a "sample" of some recording, or newly recorded at the behest of the band. My best guess at this point tis that it's Hubert Parry's Jerusalem but I have a feeling I'm wrong and I can't find a recording of it to check.
Here are some varied reviews which help to create a nicely rounded impression of the My Love is Higher Than Your Assessment of What My Love Could Be album, and indeed the enigma that is Harvey Milk:
While its title may read like the wall art ramblings of a straitjacketed emo kid in solitary confinement, the record itself is—I shit you not—more tormented and knife-turning than half of your kvlt-as-fuck black metal collection. Basically, think of how unnerving Sunn O))) can be from time to time and switch the overall vibe from pure, self-conscious evil to complete insanity. Nothing makes sense on this album, from Paul Trudeau’s lumbering, gut-punch percussion patterns to Creston Spiers’ unpredictable (and seemingly nonsensical) use of wrecking ball riffs, mealy-mouthed shouting and staggered white space.
-- Andrew Parks, Decibel
Harvey Milk's first album My Love Is... is probably their least accessible and most versatile record. The sound varies from rude and obnoxious doomy, to fragile and lovely supported at times by a real orchestra (see The Anvil Will Fall). Creston Speirs' characteristic "Whiskey and too much smoke"-voice dominates the record, as well as the never logical rythm-section. File under intelligent noisy metal. With a twist, that is because one should not make the mistake of overlooking this band's self-humoristic aspect. If you can handle your depressed noise getting rudely disturbed by an army of happy violins and Eels-like vocals, this is a true must-have. People without a sense of humor or adventure should better stay away.
Another classic Milk track is The Anvil Will Fall, a moody drifting whispery ballad, peppered by huge bursts of downtuned pummel, when out of nowhere, in come the strings, some patriotic hymn, an almost recognizable tune that Creston sings along too in his warbly raspy croon, even kicking it up into a wicked falsetto, before petering back out into the original hushed crawl, eventually launching into a super moving moody goddamned ANTHEM. The sort of song that should have sludge fans teary eyed with hat in hand, and hand over heart.
This is a bit of a weird one. Thick, slow, drunken blasts of grunge kind of come and go without much form or structure, and occasionally a moaning voice -- like the ghost of Marley haunting Scrooge -- kind of rumbles and belches its way in the background. I repeat, what is this? 2/5
-- Jack Rabid, Allmusic.com
As for letting you down, well... I'll try not to do it again.
1 comment:
And the answer is .....
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