Deathsentences of the Polished and Structurally Weak

Last updated
Deathsentences of the Polished and Structurally Weak
Cd DS Deathsentance Negativland.gif
Soundtrack album by
ReleasedOctober 1, 2002
Recorded2002
Genre Experimental
Length45:00
Label Seeland
Producer Negativland
Negativland chronology
These Guys Are from England and Who Gives a Shit
(2001)
Deathsentences of the Polished and Structurally Weak
(2002)
No Business
(2005)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 59/100 [1]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Pitchfork 4.3/10 [3]

Deathsentences of the Polished and Structurally Weak is an album and booklet by Negativland. The band describes the project as "a 6 by 12 inch 64-page full-color book which comes with a 45-minute CD soundtrack." [4]

Contents

CD and Track listing

"The CD is a meticulously-layered, ever-shifting electro-acoustic soundscape created to accompany the book. No bass lines, no melody, no dialogue, no singing, no beat - the sound of Negativland's recording studio being destroyed in a car crash." [4]

All tracks by Negativland:

  1. "Only You Can Rock Me" – 2:37
  2. "Pack It Up" – 3:05
  3. "Arbory Hill" – 3:26
  4. "Ain't No Baby" – 5:29
  5. "Lookin' Out For #1" – 2:51
  6. "Hot & Ready" – 1:39
  7. "Cherry" – 5:40
  8. "Don't Fool Me" – 5:48
  9. "#1 Rep" – 2:59
  10. "One More For The Rodeo" – 4:44
  11. "Born To Loose" – 2:08
  12. "When They Ring The Golden Bells" – 4:10

Booklet

The accompanying booklet is a 6 by 12 inch 64-page full-color book packaged inside of a large die-cut automotive courtesy envelope. The band's website describes the book as "a poignant, voyeuristic, disturbing, and occasionally funny glimpse into lives which may be very different from your own...or eerily similar." [4]

Compiled by band member Richard Lyons, the book comprises photos of smashed-up cars in a junkyard; next to each crumpled car is reprinted the text of a note or letter or list found in the car.

In 1997, long before the book was released, Richard Lyons described the project and read excerpts from selections of the found text for an episode of the Public Radio program This American Life .

Personnel

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Musical ensemble</span> Instrumental and/or vocal music group

A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumentalists, such as the jazz quartet or the orchestra. Other music ensembles consist solely of singers, such as choirs and doo wop groups. In both popular music and classical music, there are ensembles in which both instrumentalists and singers perform, such as the rock band or the Baroque chamber group for basso continuo and one or more singers. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles. Some ensembles blend the sounds of a variety of instrument families, such as the orchestra, which uses a string section, brass instruments, woodwinds and percussion instruments, or the concert band, which uses brass, woodwinds and percussion.

<i>Escape from Noise</i> 1987 studio album by Negativland

Escape from Noise is the fourth studio album by Negativland. It marked the band's first release on an established independent record label, SST Records. On the album, they continued to develop their experimental style, as well as incorporating elements of pop music with shorter tracks and more conventional melodies. "Christianity Is Stupid", a track featuring samples from the propaganda movie If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?, proved to be an enduring signature song: the band and the release gained widespread attention a year later due to a SST press release falsely implying that murderer David Brom had listened to the song before killing his family members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Hodgkinson</span> English experimental music composer and performer

Timothy "Tim" George Hodgkinson is an English experimental music composer and performer, principally on reeds, lap steel guitar, and keyboards. He first became known as one of the core members of the British avant-rock group Henry Cow, which he formed with Fred Frith in 1968. After the demise of Henry Cow, he participated in numerous bands and projects, eventually concentrating on composing contemporary music and performing as an improviser.

James Dillon is a Scottish composer who is often regarded as belonging to the New Complexity school. Dillon studied art and design, linguistics, piano, acoustics, Indian rhythm, mathematics and computer music, but is self-taught in composition.

Merzbox is a box set compilation by the Japanese noise musician Merzbow. It consists of 50 CDs spanning Merzbow's career from 1979 to 1997. 30 discs are taken from long out of print releases, while 20 are composed mainly of unreleased material. The box also contains two CD-ROMs, six CD-sized round cards, six round stickers, a poster, a black long-sleeve T-shirt, a medallion, and the Merzbook, all packaged together in a "fetish" black rubber box. It is limited to 1000 numbered copies. A Merzbox Sampler was released in 1997.

<i>U2</i> (EP) Negativland EP

U2 is a withdrawn EP by the experimental music and sound collage band Negativland, released in 1991. The EP and the band gained notoriety when lawyers representing Island Records, the record label of the band U2, sued over misleading artwork and the use of unauthorized sampling.

Roman Haubenstock - since 1943 Roman Haubenstock-Ramati was a composer and music editor who worked in Kraków, Tel Aviv and Vienna.

<i>Treatise on Instrumentation</i>

Grand traité d’instrumentation et d’orchestration modernes, abbreviated in English as the Treatise on Instrumentation is a technical study of Western musical instruments written by Hector Berlioz. It was first published in 1844 after being serialised in many parts prior to this date and had a chapter added by Berlioz on conducting in 1855.

<i>Negativland</i> (album) 1980 studio album by Negativland

Negativland is Negativland's first album, released in 1980. Each copy of the album has a different cover. The initial pressing was 500 copies. Unlike all other Negativland albums, the album has no titles for the songs, just numbers. It is the rarest Negativland album, next to the misprinted Dispepsi albums and the U2 E.P.

<i>Happy Heroes</i> 1998 EP by Negativland

Happy Heroes is an EP by sound collage and experimental musical group Negativland, released in 1998.

<i>Truth in Advertising</i> (EP) 1997 EP by Negativland

Truth in Advertising is a 1997 EP by Negativland. It was released as a teaser for their up-coming album "Dispepsi". Some of the material on the EP dates as far back as 1987, where it was used on Over the Edge, the radio show masterminded by former Negativland band member Don Joyce.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Włodzimierz Kotoński</span> Polish composer

Włodzimierz Kotoński was a Polish composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Negativland</span> American experimental music group

Negativland is an American experimental music band which originated in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1970s. They took their name from a Neu! track, while their record label is named after another Neu! track. The core of the band consists of Mark Hosler, David Wills, Peter Conheim and Jon Leidecker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernhard Lang</span>

Bernhard Lang is an Austrian composer, improviser and programmer of musical patches and applications. His work can be described as contemporary classical, with roots, however, in various genres such as 20th-century avant-garde, European classical music, jazz, free jazz, rock, punk, techno, EDM, electronica, electronic music, and computer-generated music. His works range from solo pieces and chamber music to large ensemble pieces and works for orchestra and musical theatre. Besides music for concert halls, Lang designs sound and music for theatre, dance, film and sound installations.

Gary Kulesha is a Canadian composer, pianist, conductor, and educator. Since 1995, he has been Composer Advisor to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He has been Composer-in-Residence with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (1988–1992) and the Canadian Opera Company (1993–1995). He was awarded the National Arts Centre Orchestra Composer Award in 2002. He currently teaches on the music faculty at the University of Toronto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trumpet repertoire</span> Set of available musical works for trumpet

The trumpet repertoire consists of solo literature and orchestral or, more commonly, band parts written for the trumpet. Tracings its origins to 1500 BC, the trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wolfgang Mitterer</span> Austrian composer and musician

Wolfgang Mitterer is an Austrian composer and musician.

<i>True False</i> 2019 studio album by Negativland

True False is the thirteenth studio album by American experimental rock band Negativland. It has received positive reception from critics. It is a companion piece to 2020's The World Will Decide.

References

  1. "Deathsentences of the Polished & Structurally Weak by Negativland". Metacritic .
  2. Allmusic review
  3. "Negativland: Deathsentences of the Polished and Structurally Weak". Pitchfork .
  4. 1 2 3 Official Site: Negativland - Deathsentences. Archived 2009-06-01 at the Wayback Machine Accessed: July 07, 2009,