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| Cardiacs https://www.stickist.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=4940 |
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| Author: | mad_monk [ Sat Mar 03, 2012 1:56 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Cardiacs |
I've never been a big pop fan and my prog days are mostly behind me, but lately I've been listening to Tim Smith's band Cardiacs, fascinated by his musical creativity. Founded near London by 15-year-old Smith and his brother in 1977, this DIY band put out its uniquely energetic music for 30 years, influencing many who were to become famous, while they themselves remain obscure. The interesting thing is that Smith wanted to write catchy tunes in a pop/punk idiom, but refused to rely on pop rhythms and harmonies, frequently using odd meters and hyperactive key changes that went far beyond what most prog bands were doing. Add surreal lyrics and a comic stage act evoking Python and Eraserhead, and you can see why Cardiacs are despised by most of the relatively few people who've even heard them, yet loved obsessively by their fans. You either "get" them or you don't: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-dd4fMUhAY[/youtube] Mad Monk. |
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| Author: | w8ing4thewindshield [ Sat Mar 03, 2012 3:08 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cardiacs |
mad monk, thanks for posting these guys. i think they're a talented lot. i "get" them. =o) jimi |
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| Author: | Per Boysen [ Sat Mar 03, 2012 3:14 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cardiacs |
Wow, I really like that. Thank you for the excellent tip! Now off to YouTube for more and checking what bio material is at Spotify and Allmusic.com. |
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| Author: | robmartino [ Sat Mar 03, 2012 4:09 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cardiacs |
Good stuff, really like the unusual chord progressions throughout the tune. |
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| Author: | JHammondC [ Sat Mar 03, 2012 4:15 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cardiacs |
I like it- off to explore. |
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| Author: | mad_monk [ Wed Mar 13, 2013 11:39 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cardiacs |
Insane “pronkapella” covers of very complex pieces. Mad Monk. |
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| Author: | BSharp [ Wed Mar 13, 2013 1:34 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cardiacs |
Cover art portraiture: Must be an algorhythm. Enlarge the eyes sunken into Gothic dark orbs and twist the lips into a left sided evil smirk. All four faces take on an malefic power that not even the best Madison Ave. publicist could dream up. The music: It's all about arbitrary harmonic progressions. A major innovation of Western music was the tempered scale that enabled modulations to any key center (you give a little you take a little). OTOH, these chord changes seem (at least to my ears) to exploit Western harmony with abrupt transitions of scattershot chords, and somehow it all fits together because the melody line forces it. No gentle leading or integrity of resolution here. I make this criticism, opening myself to criticism, because I've always been in search of harmonic directions, even as a kid playing guitar and accordion and coming up with unfamiliar chords to back a melody. Chords and progressions are the most important musical element to me. Schoenberg lost me, so did Coltrane post "Love Supreme" (his pinnacle IMO). So do the Cardiacs with all their jumping around. |
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| Author: | mad_monk [ Wed Mar 13, 2013 2:36 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cardiacs |
Hi B Sharp, This band belongs to the English tradition of elaborate silliness that once had a home in prog rock (to undercut perceived pretensions, I suppose). Bands used to sing about giant hogweeds and flying teapots and such but now every recording is a grand summing up of the human condition.... Cardiacs' lyrics are deliberately incomprehensible and the humor comes from the musical surprises--in this case, a sequence which modulates many times and a never-ending last note for the vocalists which becomes a pedal point. Every song is willfully strange in a different way (but still melodic!), and the effects come from careful arrangement , requiring real chops to pull off (didn't Gentle Giant do this sometimes...?). Having listened to a lot of prog over the years, I find that little of it stays with me; the pleasure was in the novelty, the new combinations of sounds and textures. That's what this band has in spades--constant inventiveness. You've got to give them that. And now for something completely different: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVjSycDJatc[/youtube] Mad Monk. |
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| Author: | grozoeil [ Wed Mar 13, 2013 3:07 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cardiacs |
Thank you for sharing this tune, I didn't about that band at all. Great discover, I've to go deeper into their career. Any album to recommend? |
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| Author: | mad_monk [ Wed Mar 13, 2013 3:40 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cardiacs |
Hi Grozoeil, All of the albums are different but all are interesting; some fans prefer the Sing to God double album...songs from it are covered a cappella in the link above. Personally, I'd recommend a random sampling on YouTube, where they are well-represented. The albums are unavailable on CD for some legal reason, but they are available on iTunes. Here is Steven Wilson doing a deadpan cover of one of their tunes: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPszC-lYHT4[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLoe4DGT3hk[/youtube] Mad Monk. |
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