Photo by Mykola Ivanov. Model: Eugene Purpurovsky in antique traditional Ukrainian Hutsul clothing. Brovary, Ukraine. 2004
This edition of our playlist could be called cathartic! Listen to all ten brilliant tracks that were curated with a lot of care.
1. Phillip Glass - Koyaanisqatsi
2. Runa de Luna & tAngerinecAt - Anti-Lullaby
New single!
3. Lorn - Acid Rain
4. Saint Martyn - Aubrey Plaza Smile
5. Xiu Xiu - Laura Palmer's Theme
6. Sergey Kuryokhin - Донна Анна (Donna Anna)
Sergey Kuryokhin (16 June 1954 – 9 July 1996) was a Russian composer, pianist, music director, experimental artist, film actor and writer, based in Leningrad (St Petersburg) that was one of tAngerinecAt's influence. He was known as a legend of the St Petersburg underground and a pioneer of Soviet-era experimental music. This song is part of the brilliant soundtrack to the neo-noir Soviet horror film Mister Designer that we almost know by heart and highly recommend you check out. This film is full of symbols and imagery that refer to class inequality, capitalism and revolution although the plot centers around the relationship between a St Petersburg designer and his model - a poor young girl Maria, fatally ill with tuberculosis, who died after he drew her in a cold bath. He made a mannequin in her image that was ordered by a rich jeweler to model his goods that were sold for huge money but Maria died and got nothing. But there is a significant twist in the plot (read the poem below for a hint!) that we won't spoil for you...
It's a very unique and dark film full of mystical, gothic, witchcraft and mythical imagery. It also contains scenes using modern Japanese dance theatre Butoh.
You can watch it here for free with English, Italian or Portugues subtitles: https://sovietmoviesonline.com/drama/gospodin-oformitel
The song Donna Anna refers to Alexander Blok’s spine-chillingly powerful poem The Strides of the Commendatore which is also recited at the end of the film.
The Strides of the Commendatore
Past the casement pane the mist curls pale. Heavy drapes the doorway shade. So what’s now to you your liberty so stale, Don Juan, who’s been afraid? Cold and empty is the chamber’s splendour. Servants sleep; the night is dead to all. Out of a land unknown, distant, blissful, tender, A cock faintly sings its call. What are blissful sounds to traitors tossing? Your life’s hours now are finite. Donna Anna sleeps, over her heart hands crossing. Donna Anna dreams tonight. Who is it whose cruel face is doubled In the mirror’s reflected gleams? Anna, Anna, is sleep in the grave untroubled? Are they sweet, unearthly dreams? Life is mad, and boundless and deflated! Come and sally forth, old doom! In reply, victorious and infatuated, A horn sings from snowy gloom. Spraying light, an engine passes gliding, Black and quiet as an owl’s wing. Quietly, with the weight of stone striding, The Commander’s coming in. Like the night clock’s chime from rasping gear, The door open, out of frozen air, Chimes the clock: “You invited me to dinner here. I have come. Are you prepared?” There’s no answer to the cruel query. There’s no answer. Silence reigns. Servants sleep, and in the chamber’s splendour all is eerie. Night is pale beyond the panes. At dawn’s hour, strange and cold the air. At dawn’s hour, the night is dim. Maid of Light! Where are you, Donna Anna, where? Anna! Anna! — Only silence grim. Only in the dawn mist dread and dour The clocks strike and strike their last: Donna Anna’s waking comes at your death hour. Anna’ll rise when your life’s past.
Alexander Blok, 1910-1912; translation by Tamara Vardomskaya, August 2016.
7. Mario Batkovic, Woody Jackson - Revenge is a Dish Best Eaten
8. Paris Alexander, Eirene - Druids
These amazing artists also run the Brighton-based creative hub Blue Door Music Productions - a recording studio that offers online creative music production, mixing and mastering with a personal touch.
9. Coil - Going Up
It was a huge compliment for us when a friend of Coil approached tAngerinecAt after our show at Green Door Store in Brighton and said that he felt like he had been at a Coil show. "The music is different but it has the same atmosphere".
10. Nicholas Lens, Nick Cave - Litany of Divine Absence
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