Eyvind Kang: Virginal Coordinates

Eyvind Kang (Composer), Walter Zanetti (Composer), Playground (Performer), Mike Patton (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Playground, Mike Patton
• Composer: Eyvind Kang, Walter Zanetti
• Audio CD (May 4, 2004)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ipecac Recordings
• ASIN: B000228EPE
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #275,818 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars True Beauty, May 13, 2004

By 

Focke Wulf (Kamen, Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eyvind Kang: Virginal Coordinates (Audio CD)

Well, I promised myself never to write anything like this and if, then to keep the pathos out.
But I can't help myself.
Being a fan of Patton's work for several years, I bumped into this record rather by accident than by being a fan of Eyvind Kang.

BUT THIS IS IT. MY TRUE AND ONLY DESERT ISLAND RECORD.

Talking pathos, here we go.
If there is a god, he sounds like this.
If there is any way to hear love: Here it is.
This record takes you on a long journey to places you never dreamed they would exist.

The way Classical Music meets elements of Drum and Bass, Vocals
and especially sporadically but never the less brilliantly used features of Sound FX technology is probably unique and definately outstanding.

But you have to take your time. 73 minutes, a few glasses of wine
and preferably a pair of headphones and this music will make you as happy as you can be. Because you know:
A world that produces such music is worth living in.

At least for 73 minutes.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a bit sterile, June 3, 2005

By 

Gift Card - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eyvind Kang: Virginal Coordinates (Audio CD)

I bought this CD because of the extremely positive reviews I had read on this page, but, after listening to it a few times, I thought I needed to provide some counterpoint. I held many expectations for this album upon reading the reviews, few of which were realized.

I don't know why one reviewer would have listed all those genres and composers, insinuating that Virginal Co Ordinates is some sort of culmination of 500 years of music. It's not. It's not a bad album, but it's no milestone. If you're expecting "Scottish folk and Villa-Lobos and Icelandic post-rock all on the same album," you'll be disappointed.

I'll take you through "Doorway to the Sun," and you can decide for yourself:

-starts off, we're at 3:30 into it, and there's been some pizzicato noodling. a little dissonance. some of pink floyd's "echoes" sound effects in the background, seems like. yeah, this has been going on for a while.

-alright, it's building, a little. we've got some percussion now. we're 7 minutes into it. it's got a good vibe to it, but it feels like the music that would play during a video montage of me making a toothpick structure.

-alright, 9:30. the music has really layered itself to a point of cohesiveness, and that's gratifying. it took a very long time to do so, though, and the song could have equally as effectively started right here. it hasn't been "bending genres" for these past nine minutes, after all, it's been building up within the confines of one, one genre, one tempo, one key.

-now we're at 14:00, and mike patton has been chanting along. the vocals are another instrument, which is always refreshing, especially when patton does it, but is something going to happen? i could fall asleep to this music, but should i be actively listening to it?

-ever play medal of honor, or whatever that wwII videogame is with the trumpet in the beginning? man, this whole album reminds me of that.

-hey, the music is deconstructing itself exactly the way it built up, but backwards.

-now it's over.

So, as you can see, I did not just have a life-altering experience. It's good music to put on while you're sitting in a cubicle or reading an intense book, but otherwise it gets a bit dry, emotionless, repetitive, and predictable.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps his best work, June 8, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Eyvind Kang: Virginal Coordinates (Audio CD)

I agree with the previous reviewer. This is an oustanding work that fuses many disparte musics into a very appealing whole. Kang has never sounded more confident and assured in his writing. This is a little less obviously avant-garde than is his work for the Tzadik label, but I think the music is stronger for its improved focus and melody. I find this to be an "emotional" listen that still has plenty of tricky bits to "think" about as well.