Nobody Wants To Hear You Sing In The Hallway...Make An Album Or Something (ISYMIYSMY W/O)
Written: May 09 '05 (Updated May 16 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: helps me find my inner-love for pretentious high school theatre chicks.
Cons: some of it is irritating.
The Bottom Line: :o)
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| crypticcradle's Full Review: Residue - Amy X Neuburg Movies |
Walking down the hallways in high school, you see so much homogenization, it's no wonder why we grow up to create comfy little suburban developments where every house is painted the same, every garage is on the same side and holds the same number of cars, and we all peer at each other over the same ol' white picket fence. There's the jock group (high-fiving) and "freak" group (black nail polish 'n all); the burn-outs (duuuude, heh) and prisses (like, oh my god!). And there's plenty more where that came from. These groups take the place of individuality and conform each member (at least to an extent). Everyone gets filed away somewhere, or ends up a loner and probably kills themselves before they turn 18. It's the somber and sobering life of a high schooler.
I liked whoever, but loathed whoever even more. Yet, I had friends or people I at least associated with in every group, except one: the theatre people. The pretentious, nose-in-the-air (but nobody likes you except your own (who mostly don't even like you becaue they're jealous of you and/or always talking sh*t about you behind your back) and the f*cking administration), snotty, typically barely-talented theatre people. The ones who never stopped acting, even as they roamed the hallways and answered questions in class. The ones who would run up to their friend in the hallway and show-off their loud and irritating singing after rehearsal, when the rest of us aren't trying to hear that sh*t. The ones who, in my school, were exempt from punishment no matter what they did, because one assistant princple had kids in the God-foresaken music program.
Why oh why, then, do I have to like Amy X Neuburg? She seems so much like "them".
In participating in the 2005, Matt-hosted, "I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Your's" write-off (aka: the best damn annual write-off period), I got together with my undercover lover, Liz, and traded Atmosphere's "Lucy Ford" for Amy X's indie electronic/rock/opera "Residue". And now I'm upset, because liking "Residue" is contradicting my anti-theatre people philosophies. Especially in a time when I just got over bearing the high schoolish halls of Alexander (EMU's music building) to go to my pointless "Music for Elementary Teachers" class, I don't need this.
Then again, I probably did. No use harboring retardulous stereotypes forever.
As you should have figured by now, "Residue" is heavy on theatrics that trigger these irritating high school flashbacks in my mind. It could be the soundtrack to a Broadway play, where Amy X is the only star, and her nemesis--which also appears to be her saving grace--is the monotny of reality. Amy X sings so damned beautifully throughout "Residue" (and probably the rest of her catalog), it's like the opposite of Wes Andersons's dead-pan screenplays; she adds brightness to a dull and tedious day-to-day reality, where he adds a dull delivery to rich dialogue and events. In both cases, the effect is incredibly affecting.
The artistic reach of Ms. Neuburg is more-than commendable, as the ordinary turns to the extraordinary. Anyone of a lesser ambition would have failed, and failed miserably, with this project. This is apparent from the opener, a seven and a half minute sunrise on "Residue" entitled "The Tattoo Song". It utilizes two musical sections that alternate, going from the stark 'n tense atmospheric coohs and slight synthesizer chord to a hyperkinetic atmosphere full of karate-esque grunts and oddly manipulated vocal samples. In this, we have Amy going on about a variety of topics ranging from the snake tattoo she will get one day, eventually linking it to the higher power. She also prattles on about her home decor as if it were an object of obsessive thinking for the past hour. Yet, we also get nuggets of more somber sentiments, which lend themselves to the bigger picture of what's going on inside Ms. Neuburg:
"I'm putting my hair up with glue
I'm bathing in red dye number two
All of those pictures I never drew
I left them there for you"
Vocal layering and manipulation appear to be favorite sounds of Ms. Neuburg, and she uses them well to express the humanity of this project behind her broadway voice and wondrous eccentricities. "Atten-tion" is straight invention in the vocal manipulation realm, as stream-of-consciousness lyrics are mimicked by multiple vocal layers, ironically making it harder for you to pay attention to the words, yet maintaining a very surreal effect at the same time. "My God" utilizes awe-inspring, church-like vocal harmonies to add a holy air to sit behind Amy X's supposed prayers of seemingly menial troubles, until roaring guitars come in and break it up as Amy X appears to condemn God for such tedium.
"My God is drowning in the bath
My God is cracklin' in the bowl
My God is purple around the edges
My God is...hiding in a foxhole"
Such things make you wonder if this God in the sky had planned on us having these simple-simon routines to run through to pass time on this supposed gift of life that he's given us.
While Amy X seems happy to take on "pretentious" label for "Residue", the total product bucks any sort of purposely divisive quality by reaching out and touching the listener with a common touch. Then again, invention is usually wrongly slapped with the "pretentious" label anyhow. Regardless, a song like "Each Little Stain" will touch every listener who has felt past loves were like little stains; the emotions that remain are sloppily embedded in them and do not leave without a little work. Musically, it's Amy X building from grounded to completely oscentatious in her vocals until it bursts into a bunch of different layers. If you can get into the music, though, the lyrical intrigue and magical singing are easy to get into and impossible to get out of.
Unfortunately for this listener, Amy X can't help but to get irritating at various moments on "Residue", detracting from more of the pure joys on the disc. "Stone" could have done without the Barnum & Bailey circus backdrop that comes out of some pretty electric synthesizer work, which the song begins and ends with. And with the overwhelming music, Amy X's outbursts add a grating effect, like hearing the musical's all-star hit a high note in the hallway at 8am. Blech. "Insomniac" is also irritating, not for what it is, but for what it isn't. Where Amy X seems to invent many different interesting ways to layer and manipulate vocals and sounds on "Residue", "Insomniac" remains out of place because of how simple-minded its composition is. With cheap synthesizers making the majority of the unfulfilling production, not even the cute sections of layered vocal chirping can save the this bore.
While such cons grate the patience of your's truly, "Residue" ends with such a bang, the wrongs can be forgotten, just not quite forgiven.
"Life Stepped In" comes with the substance that the previous two middle-tracks ("Insomniac" and "Just A Sound") didn't provide in their light-hearted and fleeting feel. Deep piano keys and downbeat percussion sit behind Amy X's frustrated chorus and intriguing telephone calls that express all of the frustrations in life that can beat the heck out of one's psyche. It closes with Amy X's answering machine announcement that begs for a meeting in the next life, a parallel universe, ground zero, etc.; whatever will provide an escape from the walls of trite normalcy. In the ground zero sentiments, perhaps it is apt that the next song, "Finally Black" begins with the noise of airplanes flying above. Something about me doubts that this was loaded with any political implications, but it's still a whopper of a coincidence if that's indeed what it is. Either way, a lone synthesizer chord, full of despair, highlights Amy X's tortured death fantasy in dark blue and melancholy ways.
Rising from the ashes of "Finally Black" in a hurry, we have the second-to-last song, "These Heavy Gaps". Here we find Ms. Neuburg's death fantasy was, indeed, a reality, as she sings of her afterlife in Heaven so gracefully over the most sublime piece of production with glittering synth sounds floating among her now-heavenly vocals. Her retrospective on her life is sobering, pleasing, regretful, and ultimately satisfied with a touch of apathy now that she's dead.
"Someone painted my house the color of the sky
I meant to make it mostly black
I meant to prick my finger, I meant to poke my eye
But I'll take the tender torture of being permanently high"
The title track plays as our epilogue, and you can just imagine Amy X sitting on a sofa in the middle of the stage in nothing but black with a mere spotlight on her, and the chorus in the background chanting to her closing sentiments. I don't know what it all means, but it's so damn powerful, emotive, and heart-felt, I'll just leave you with one line:
"...the dust of you is in every room"
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That's "Residue". The magnitude of this project never really dawns upon you until you start trying to explain it. In my case, this is the first time I've really told anyone about it, and the wonders of this work resonate in your brain as you try to piece it all together for people to read about.
The total story is quite profound for a world in denial of how dull it can be some times. It's about routines. It makes us seem like the hamsters in cages that we are, going about our daily schedule of survival, which includes eating, cleaning, various mental issues, being suspect of most faces we see, and going through ways to pay the bills (and the list goes on).
"Residue" is almost like liberation from such tasks, as Amy X wonderfully sings us through what is normally bland and seemingly soulless daily interactions. To go back to "My God", we have Amy X telling the Lord a ton of different little life tidbits, all of a varying degree of importance to her and to the external world. "Everyone got cancer, and everyone else moved to Europe." "Some idiots blew up the world...whoops!" "I forgot to buy milk...I forgot to buy crackers...I forgot to have children."
In this, God is also a big part of "Residue". Whether it's sort of a cynical/sarcastic remark in, "one tattoo is not enough for God", or ending up in Heaven by what Amy X swears must have been a mistake, the higher power is very prevalent in "Residue". One might wonder...why? Is it just because God is such a big force in Amy X's life? To me, she sounds like someone trying to find their form of faith, going from blaming God in round-about ways for the nuisances that plague her existance, to talking with him when it seems nobody else is around to talk. Perhaps, though, it is just nice to believe that a fluffy cloud in the sky is waiting for us, no matter how we wasted or screwed-up our lives, because after all, that's what we're destined to do anyways. None of us live perfect, and probably very few of us do that well at all. In this, "Residue" connects.
My final grade is really inconclusive, though. Of the choices Liz gave me in this write-off, I surely picked project impossible. But I'm happy with that. Amy X Neuburg's "Residue" is one of the more stimulating, challenging, fun, and intriguing listens I've had lately. And as it is big, it's equally inviting, never once alienating me, just aggravating me a little bit. It could end up being the greatest album I'll hear in my lifetime. It could end up collecting dust on my shelf for years to come. But as for right now, it's just a pleasure to have around.
Three cheers for the only theatre chick I'll ever need, Amy X Neuburg.
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Amy X Neuburg
"Residue"
Other Minds: 2004
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12 Tracks
54 mins. & 22 secs.
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For more information about Cryptic Cradle and his reviews, please click here.
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Written by Cryptic Cradle for Spike-A-Delic Productions
Recommended:
Yes
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crypticcradle
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Member: Eric
Location: San Luis, AZ
Reviews written: 72
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lord if you've got lungs, c'mon and shout me out!
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