Comments on Fragments of a Cale Season: Vexations

A-heh-heh-heh, it sounded like "whim of iron" to m...

2008-03-18T18:39:39.253-04:00

A-heh-heh-heh, it sounded like "whim of iron" to me. There's quite a bit of truth in both, though.

The point of the thing may have been to ridicule progressive artistes, but at least Erik Satie got played on network television, and that's a victory for something.

"Thank you, Mr Cale. You have a will of iron."That...

2008-03-18T09:11:57.132-04:00

"Thank you, Mr Cale. You have a will of iron."

That's a tombstone quote, right there—perhaps the best possible summation of the man's maddening pursuit of his own path; certainly the most succinct.

I like how smoothly it loops - until the laughter ...

2008-03-16T02:22:47.084-04:00

I like how smoothly it loops - until the laughter came around again, I wasn't sure if it had started over or what. Not sure if I like it or not - playing it on repeat kind of reminded me of the Buddhamachine.

At first, it sounds like a weird distortion of "Ad...

2008-03-15T14:23:47.904-04:00

At first, it sounds like a weird distortion of "Adeste Fideles," though after a couple of listens it sounds even older, like the skeleton of a baroque fugue with all the interesting counterpoint stripped away. A few repetitions after that it is simply annoying, and the looped burst of laughter from the audience becomes a nails-on-chalkboard stimulus, like the gunshots some joker DJ overdubbed onto "Come As You Are" after Cobain's suicide. After more repetitions than I could count, I believe I referred to this as "demon music"- vexations, indeed.