If wishes were fishes, Glass’s symphony might not have ended up a fish out of water. It’s hard not to imagine Glass going backwards in time, to Bowie’s 1976 album Station to Station, or forward to the swansong Blackstar (released days before Bowie’s death) to find more appropriate material. From the outset, it’s an uncomfortable fit. Faced with a set of 10 songs to deal with, Glass dropped a few and cut the music from the rest, setting Bowie’s lyrics to-or more aptly against-his own rich, repeating orchestral lines. It makes for an odd conclusion to Glass’s trilogy as well. But it did retain the Bowie / Brian Eno / Tony Visconti team, which is the key. It didn’t follow the instrumental second side concept and was actually recorded between Switzerland and New York City. Lodger made for an odd conclusion to the Bowie’s trilogy. 12 (Lodger) in Los Angeles, on the third anniversary of Bowie’s death. Those two albums are also the first two of what is commonly referred to as Bowie’s “Berlin trilogy.” On January, 10, 2019, Glass completed his trilogy, premiering Symphony No. Both of those LP’s have second sides of atmospheric, largely instrumental tracks that didn’t sound like Glass, but one can see the appeal. 4 (“Heroes”) from 1996 each used themes from the David Bowie albums named in the titles as starting points for orchestral works. Philip Glass’s first and fourth symphonies were slow to grow on me. If you’ve not seen his videos, check them out and see if you agree.ĭavid Bowie dislodged. A Gofundme page (to which I contributed) has raised over $130,000 for his care, well beyond the initial goal. Ren has been under the care of a specialist in Canada trying to reverse the long-term effects of misdiagnosed Lyme disease. So how does he make his money? It’s not clear that he does. I play his videos over and over, but I’m not sure I want a record. But he’s also a ridiculous talent and actually has a lot to say. He has a couple of older albums on Bandcamp but his recent, and stronger, work is filmed and recorded live on set. Ren comes with all the braggadocio of a rapper and the self-importance of a social media influencer. The three-part “The Tale of Jenny and Screech” is a dramatic and powerful story of domestic abuse. “Sick Boi” strikes back more directly at a society that will punish you for not fitting in even while its slowly killing you. Near the end of the 9-minute video for “Hi Ren,” he puts down his guitar (he’s also a remarkable guitarist) and addresses the camera: “When I was 17 years old, I shouted out into an empty room, into a blank canvas, that I would defeat the forces of evil, and for the next 10 years of my life, I suffered the consequences, with auto-immunity, illness and psychosis.” Those 10 years were spent confined to his bedroom, developing a deeply impactful, personal style and a personal philosophy about being stuck in the world. Like Raury, Ren incorporates rap, acoustic guitar and deft songwriting into dizzying pastiches and puts them to cinematic video clips. Are licensing fees enough to live off? I honestly don’t know.Īnother artist with no visible means of support is the British singer/guitarist Ren, who’s been racking up YouTube plays by the millions in recent months. After his first record, he walked away from his contract with Columbia and has since three released self-produced albums as free downloads. His song “God’s Whisper,” truly great on its own, provided an amazing climax to Andrea Arnold’s American Honey and has been used in two other movies and a Netflix series. Take the at least occasionally brilliant singer Raury. It’s not through streaming, that’s well established, but with little for sale it’s hard to see just how the income comes in. The death of the music industry is both often reported and greatly exaggerated, but what mystifies me is how seemingly popular artists are making money.
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