"O" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | November 9, 2010 | |||
Genre | Absolute music, Experimental | |||
Length | 45:40 | |||
Label | Optical Sounds | |||
Producer | Greg Jarvis | |||
The Flowers of Hell chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
All Music | [1] |
Drowned In Sound | [2] |
Eye Weekly | [3] |
Now. | [4] |
"O" is the third studio album from the orchestral rock group The Flowers of Hell. It consists of one song lasting 46 minutes in its stereo mix and 42 minutes in its surround sound mix. [5] The release's liner notes state that the piece is an exploration of band leader Greg Jarvis's synesthesia and was conceived as a piece of absolute music (music with no specific subject matter). It consists of rehearsed improvisations performed with-in a 12 part fixed song structure, recorded in one take at the end of a 9000 km tour. [6] [7] In a 2010 interview with Spinner, Jarvis said that "O" was also designed to explore music's unique capabilities as an art form that unfolds over time. [8]
The album was produced by Jarvis with recording taking place in Toronto with engineer Jon Drew (Stars, Fucked Up). [9] It was mixed in Manchester by Jarvis and fellow synesthete Tom Knott of The Earlies. [10]
"O" was initially released by Optical Sounds on a double sided CD / DVD disc, coupled with a concert film, Live At The Music Gallery .
The Flowers Of Hell performed "O" live as a seated 12 piece with Jarvis conducting at Toronto's Yonge-Dundas Square as the closing act of the 2011 Intersection Festival of experimental and new classical music. [11] [12]
"O" received favourable ratings from media sources including All Music (4/5), [13] Drowned In Sound (7/10), [14] and Eye Weekly (8/10). [15] ChartAttack declared it, "A tiny step for mankind, but a giant step for orchestral rock." [16] Stooges biographer and former Creem writer Jeffrey Morgan wrote that it rivaled works of Terry Riley, Brian Eno, and Gavin Bryars and, "transport(s) the mind to places records rarely seek to reach these days." [17]
In 2013, Toronto group The Ostrich Tuning released a cover version of "O" titled "Uh", running 46:17. [18]
CD Side
DVD Side
Lycia is an American dark wave band formed in 1988 in Tempe, Arizona. The main personnel of the band are Mike VanPortfleet, Tara VanFlower and David Galas. Although only achieving minor cult success, the band is notable for being one of the ground breaking groups in darkwave and ethereal wave styles. Their 1995 album The Burning Circle and Then Dust received some attention for the power pop hit song "Pray" and "remains a high point of American dark rock", according to AllMusic. Lycia's music is characterized by rich soundscapes and layers of echoed guitars, dark and ethereal keyboards, doomy drum machine beats, VanPortfleet's melancholic, whispered vocals and Vanflower's vivid voice. Trent Reznor and Peter Steele are some of their more well-known fans.
The Globe Sessions is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow, released on September 21, 1998, in the United Kingdom and September 29, 1998, in the United States, then re-released in 1999. It was nominated for Album of the Year, Best Rock Album and Best Engineered Non-Classical Album at the 1999 Grammys, winning the latter two awards. The Globe Sessions reached No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart, while peaking at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart, achieving US sales of two million as of January 2008. The album was recorded at and named for the sessions recorded at Globe Recording Studio in New York owned by Robert FitzSimons and Tracey Loggia.
Gluey Porch Treatments is the debut album by American rock band Melvins, released in 1987 through Alchemy Records. The original release was vinyl only. The album was later released on cassette tape with the Six Songs EP through Boner Records and appears as bonus material on the CD version of Ozma. Tracks 18–29 can only be found on the 1999 Ipecac Recordings re-release; these songs are taken from a boombox demo.
Casanova is the fourth studio album by Northern Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy. It was released in 1996 by Setanta Records, and it happened to be the band's commercial breakthrough. It was certified Gold in the UK in July 1997, aided by the release of the album's first single, "Something for the Weekend", which reached No. 13 on the charts. Two other singles released from the album, "Becoming More Like Alfie" and "The Frog Princess", charted at No. 27 and No. 15, respectively.
Mask is the second studio album by English gothic rock band Bauhaus. It was released on 16 October 1981 by record label Beggars Banquet.
Luke Doucet is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. He has written and performed as a solo artist and as a member of the indie rock band Veal and the folk rock band Whitehorse.
The Flowers of Hell are a transatlantic experimental orchestra made up of a revolving line-up of 16 or so independent musicians based in Toronto and London. Their mostly instrumental sound builds bridges between classical music and post-rock, shoegaze, space rock and drone music, often resulting in their being described as an orchestral extension of the work of The Velvet Underground and Spacemen 3. They are led by synesthete composer Greg Jarvis. Much of their repertoire is an exploration of the timbre-to-shape synesthesia that causes Jarvis to involuntarily perceive all sounds as floating abstract visual forms.
Little Hell is the third album by City and Colour, released on June 7, 2011. Besides Dallas Green who recorded the majority of the instrumentals himself, contributing musicians on the record include Daniel Romano of Attack in Black, Dylan Green and Scott Remila of Raising the Fawn, Nick Skalkos of The Miniatures, Misha Bower of Bruce Peninsula and Anna Jarvis and Jordan Mitchell of The Rest. The album art is an illustration of Allard Schager's photograph "Fields of Gold", taken in a tulip field outside Alkmaar in North Holland.
King Animal is the sixth and final studio album by American rock band Soundgarden—their first in sixteen years. Produced by both the band and Adam Kasper, it was released on November 13, 2012, by Seven Four Entertainment and Republic Records in the United States, and by Vertigo Records in the rest of the world. It was the first of Soundgarden's albums not to be released on A&M Records since 1988's Ultramega OK, though Republic, Vertigo, and A&M are all owned by Universal Music Group. The album was the final studio album released by Soundgarden before the death of frontman Chris Cornell in 2017 and the subsequent dissolution of the band in 2018.
Come Hell or High Water is the second studio album from the experimental rock group The Flowers of Hell. Released in April 2009, the album was recorded in over 40 sessions with 30 musicians in London, Prague, Toronto, Detroit, and Texas. According to an interview in Now magazine and a review in URB, the album was conceived of as a celebration of synaesthesia, and composer Greg Jarvis based the composing, recording, arranging, and preliminary mixing on his synaesthetic visions.
Greg Jarvis is a Toronto born musician and composer best known for his work leading the orchestral rock group the Flowers Of Hell. His various projects as a musician have received acclaim from members of The Velvet Underground, The Patti Smith Group, the Sex Pistols, The Clash, My Bloody Valentine, and Spacemen 3/Spiritualized. Jarvis's compositions are largely informed by timbre-to-shape synesthesia, a neurological trait which causes him to involuntarily see all sounds as layers of three dimensional shapes.
Released in late 2012, Odes is the fourth studio album from The Flowers of Hell. It is a covers record and the first release from the group to feature vocals and verse-chorus-verse song structures. It was premiered by Lou Reed, who opened the twelfth and final episode of his New York Shuffle radio show praising the group and airing three songs in a row, "O Superheroin", "Mr. Tambourine Man", and "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft".
Live At The Music Gallery is a live album and concert film which captures the launch show for Flowers Of Hell’s Come Hell Or High Water LP. It was initially released as a DVD package with the group’s 2010 album, “O”.
The Dancing Marquis is the eighteenth solo studio album by the British singer/songwriter Marc Almond. It was released by Strike Force Entertainment / Cherry Red Records on 16 June 2014.
"Atrocity Exhibition" is a song by English rock band Joy Division. It is the opening track on their second and final album Closer. The song was produced by Martin Hannett and Joy Division. It was recorded at Pink Floyd's Britannia Row Studios in London.
Optical Sounds is a Toronto based record label that was launched in 2008 by brothers Robert and Richard Gibson.
The Flowers Of Hell is the 2006 instrumental self-titled debut album from the experimental rock group The Flowers of Hell. It was largely recorded by Tim Holmes of Death In Vegas at the Contino Rooms in London. Peter ‘Sonic Boom’ Kember of Spacemen 3 mentored the band through its creation, mixed and performed on the track 'Through The F Hole', contributed a liner note poem to the Japanese CD version, and guest deejayed at the record's London release concert. Band leader Greg Jarvis has stated that the goal of the album was to build classical tangents from The Velvet Underground & Nico and the Spacemen 3 / early Spiritualized sound.
Tommy Paxton-Beesley, also known as River Tiber, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He released his debut studio album Indigo in 2016. As a songwriter, Paxton-Beesley has frequently collaborated with producer Frank Dukes and artists including Kaytranada, Daniel Caesar, and BadBadNotGood. He has co-written the charting songs "No Tellin'" by Drake, "Broken Clocks" by SZA, "AstroThunder" by Travis Scott, and "I Keep Calling" by James Blake.
Sydanie is a Canadian hip hop artist from Toronto, Ontario. She was highlighted as one of the new faces of Canadian hip hop, specifically in the Toronto music scene, by CBC and The Globe and Mail. Her album, 999, was long-listed for the 2019 Polaris Music Prize.
Art of Time Ensemble is a Toronto-based musical collective of leading Canadian musicians from the worlds of jazz and classical music.