Books, Movies, Music & Entertainment - Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band...new record out soon!

I know some of you guys dig Godspeed You Black Emperor!/A Silver Mt. Zion/Hangedup/Fly Pan Am/etc...well, a couple nights ago I downloaded a leak of the new Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band (fifth name change!) 2xLP/CD, Horses in the Sky. It's their best work yet...simply amazing. I'll call it right now -- best album of 2005.

Anyway, it'll be out on 180 gramme double LP March 21st in the US, earlier in Europe. I don't know then the CD version is coming out (because it's INFERIOR!), but I think it's sometime in April for the US. Here's the tracklisting:

01.) God Bless Our Dead Marines (11:44)
02.) Mountains Made of Steam (9:28)
03.) Horses in the Sky (6:39)
04.) Teddy Roosevelt's Guns (9:45)
05.) Hang On to Each Other (6:38)
06.) Ring them Bells (Freedom Has Come and Gone) (13:58)

These recordings are completely different from anything they've done before. Much more vocal presence on Efrim's part, as well as a lot of support from the six other members of the group. The lyrics have lost a lot of the pretentiousness that they had on the previous albums. They actually make some sort of sense, but maintain a very obtuse nature. The music is much less orchestra-based...much more guitar/acoustic guitar here, and less focus on dynamic, pulsing movements and the like. It's different from their previous recordings, but it's just as good, if not better.

I'm totally adding onto my Silver Mt. Zion tattoo design with some lyrics from this!

I'm really excited. I'm going to wait until it comes out though

awesome info...thanks snickersnicker

I'm really excited. I'm going to wait until it comes out though

I reeeeeeeeally tried to wait it out; I did. But I couldn't stand it anymore. If anyone here does want to download it, I recommend getting it from SoulSeek user engine number 9. That's not me, but it's who I got it from...I've got 56K, so I'm sure no one wants to spend weeks getting it from me.

For those of you who aren't familiar with A Silver Mt. Zion/The(e) Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band (with Choir)/Thee Silver Mountain Reveries...their work covers a lot of ground. Anything from sparse, melancholy twenty-five minute instrumental pieces, to noisy, jumbled...erm, twenty-two!... minute vocalised fests of hope and joy. No matter what material of theirs you listen to, it's guaranteed to be weird, improvisational, and always very Punk Rock, at least in spirit and motivation. If you like orchestral music, Folk, Punk, Rock; anything like that, they're worth checking out. My suggestions are the first album, He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Somtimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms, the second album, Born Into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward, and the upcoming album. The third record, "This is Our Punk Rock:" Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing, shows a somewhat sophomoric side...they were just trying out fully vocalised recordings, and they had a choir...it was all a big mess. It's not a horrible album; in fact, the last song is one of my favourites of theirs; but it's very hard to get into if you've never heard the earlier stuff. The 12" EP/CD they recorded around the same time, Pretty Little Lightning Paw, is quite good, but I don't recommend it as the first thing you should check into by them.

just saw the thread, but have been listening regularly for a while
now (thanks [165] )
I'm going to have to figure out where in Dullass I can find the LP,
prefer vinyl over cd's anyday.

Marty

You won't be able to find it since it's not out yet. But their first LP and the 2x10" are both very good, and I recommend picking them up.

It may be easier to order them, at least in smaller towns. I'm able to find Godspeed albums in the super huge stores, but none of the side projects....