8.26.2011

"Velvet Cacoon" - "How The Last Day Came And Stayed Then Faded Into Simulated Rain" 2005





This, as you should know, is actually most of an album called Shipwrecks & Russian Roulette, by Korouva. Below are the VC titles, which are made up. After Atropine and P aa opal 'came out', Josh and Angela started Clair Cassis; I'll let you know how it is (update: well, i made it 13 seconds in before turning winterglow back on; maybe tomorrow). The picture they had originally used as cover art was also stolen, but I can't seem to find the one they used, so here's an alternative.



more info



The reasons I'm posting this, and the reasons I'm posting it as Velvet Cacoon, are a little muddy at the moment. But it's really nice, and there's no reason everyone shouldn't hear it. I'm looking for the original, which obviously has all of the tracks and as they should be (you'll hear how they are supposed to flow together).



I wanted to believe that this was actually them for fucking years. This one, more in contrast with the also-stolen "dizzy from eternity", was pretty believable. Both of them made up one of the first CDs I burned for Sanchez ('Big Mioco And The Chairs' was the first, and I think this was the 4th, of about 160 that ended with Sanchezes engine block immersed in acid. Thanks Obama).



Christ the flow itself is...otherworldly. Impeccable. The way the songs shift, both fluidly between individual tracks and the intra-play between the layers themselves is absurd. Listen to the tape hiss bass pulses. It sounds like there's a completely separate album of sleepy noise drone occurring simultaneously, occupying the same dimensions...



She has two more albums, je pense.





"Annndd I fffound a little sheet music store, that I love, and I went in and I just wanted to curl up on the ground and fall asleep....amidst all the, all the piles of music because, I don't know, I haven't played music in so long..."



again, this interview is highly recommended









Keep in mind, especially if you are familiar with Velvet Cacoon, that this is NOT Velvet Cacoon, despite years of wishing. Like the dieselharp, live shows, DXM overdoses on a frozen lake, and Josh's suicide, the claimed reality is highly unlikely.



Which, of course, in turn lends a new level of credibility and authenticity to it for me. A pretentious statement, to be sure, but...how much of the notes I like to play are stolen? Not an excuse, but there really are several reasons why the absurdity and nihilism of stealing just fits the tone (of the actual Velvet Cacoon) so well. Again, not me excusing them. If I had found this in 2005/6 as Korouva, my opinion of the music would be largely unchanged. Maybe it's just VC seducing me in the way that some people are obsessed with Crystal Castles.



Je ne sais pas. I feel like...I wanted to believe so absolutely that the people behind the black metal, etc that I trusted weren't as despairing and misanthropic as I felt, and that maybe we didn't live in a world consumed by liars and thieves, and that anyone could be capable of such transcendent beauty and form simultaneously, but I guess we were all young once.





Update: oh my god the original is just....like....the most horrifically perfect thing I have ever heard. Infinitely superior, and the two are, + or -, the same goddamn album. So, not really + or - at all. Oddly enough, the 'interlude' tracks on How The Last Day are not Korouva, and are thus VC's contribution to the album (? maybe?), and they have actually remained more resonant in my mind. So the interludes are either Angela talking, or clips from something, or possibly the two songs from myspace mentioned in the article. Let me know if you recognize them, please.



Goddamnit just listen to the fucker, it's short. The original, proper version is here. Fucking christ the original is something else. I'm not surprised that VC chose not to include 'dne eht ton', it's pretty upbeat, relatively. Think...Cat Power playing in a bookstore on a stormy afternoon.







  1. Chesapeake Tide 3:38
  2. Tidal Dub 0:52
  3. Lavender (Interlude) 0:51
  4. Frost & Ash In My Bed 2:15
  5. Laudanumb (Interlude) 0:22
  6. Candlelit Constellations 2:13
  7. Phantasievolle 0:21
  8. Lilac Wine, Black Leaves And Me 2:47
  9. Un Jour Comme Un Autre (Outro) 0:29


http://www.mediafire.com/?zzmlz2mjxwy

7 comments:

'arsson said...

Jesus. For both. Especially Korouva. But Velvet cacoon too. + and -, as you said. Or not.

'arsson said...

Korouva.

P.S. word verification is "droll".

Dr. Mantis Toboggan, M.D. said...

am I tripping, or are you?

all I gathered was you...liked it?

Ehren Osterman said...

i love what you wrote about this, encapsulated the feelings/stigma surrounding this perfectly.

i still listen to this as if it were VC


i've yet to listen to the original...will sooooooooooooon

Dr. Mantis Toboggan, M.D. said...

dont wait. seriously. 'how the last day' is just...a glimpse of what it was supposed to be. but keep both full versions. i cant really gauge the extent of VC's influence but both are spectacular.

Ehren Osterman said...

do your id3 tags still say

"All vocals, piano, harmonica, violin, viola, electronics & ambience by LVG. Recorded in monotone sound for monotone hearts on the rainy night of January 24th, 2005." ?

Dr. Mantis Toboggan, M.D. said...

absolutely. this is one of those albums that has survived a series of computers, cars, cds, OSes, and lives.

just wait. mixing genevieve, clair cassis, and korouva works so much better.