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The language of the lyrics haunt with a fierceness that doesn't leave for hours, indeed days. There is funereal sadness in the delivery of those lyrics.Whether sung by Elysabeth Grant with her wonderfully poignant voice or sung by several male contributers providing the touches of aural darkness so vividly etched into the soundscape of this work. Every musical sound emanating from this disc is so necessary to the dissemination of the stories, from the artistic merging of strings provided by Grant's viola, from Julia Kent's cello and from Vicki Richards' evocative violin to the misty and eternal flute of Lisa Feuer. Sam Rosenthal's command of the project and his outstanding atmospheric electronic work seals the glory. With each hanging note, a mood becomes set that whisks the listener into a world not their own, into a world of love filled with pain and deceit, a world of desire that is never fully realized but deeply yearned for.
This world could never be visualized if not for the expertise of black tape. The ability to make you slip into the fog of lonely pain and believe in it must be delicately produced by people who have deep understanding. This is the hallmark of black tape. In every one of their releases, they have given us the capability to watch the heart of love slowly freeze into an unmoving organ, barely beating...just barely beating, seeing its cracked and heavily frosted components glow with life but choked with cold death.
With each successive release by black tape, I become more and more elated by the perfection that becomes these pieces. They are vital collections in my library, like classics of old that never wear thin with time but progressingly become a life form of their own, standing out amidst all the works ever created. Black Tape is a band that demands to be heard for they have something to say that is timeless and is felt in every one whether we hear its voice or not.
I recommend not only this disc, although this disc is an absolute diamond, but the entire body of work by black tape. Many of the releases are accompanied by beautiful slip covers showcasing eerie imagery although lately, the stunningly beautiful Lisa Feuer adorns the covers. Lyrics are provided in a gracious booklet of sturdy paper unlike the usual glossy garbage we get with all other CDs that are not Projekt releases. The booklet details not only the lyrics but also performer information and more of that eerie imagery.
Thanks to black tape for a blue girl for allowing us to hear such exquisiteness and to share in the depths of their dreams and providing us opportunity to make the dreams our own.
A 2nd review from chaindlk.net | Can we expect anything but brilliance from this group? I was wondering the effect that the marriage of Sam Rosenthal and Lisa Feuer would have on the band, given it's themes of isolation and love betrayed. It seems to have given a new strength and edge to the group rather than staying in the same course. While not the tour de force of As One Aflame Laid Bare By Desire, it is a force to be reckoned with, a guiding light for an often redundant ethereal scene. Elizabeth is the songbird of deepest winter, with a raw sensuality to her vocals that may well siren call you into the stereo. Sam's piano/synth lines flow over his elegant poetry, painting the lost heroine and her tragic tale like a pained sculptor of emotion. Lisa's flutes are like hearing the voice of a lost lover in your mind, filled to the brim with melancholy and crushing emotion at the same time. My favorite is "Floats in the Updrafts" which is also the shortest. I could have standed for this to be alot longer. And a guest appearance from Spahn Ranch on this one?!The guys vocals are actually quite elegant. Also I reccomend the aforementioned As One Aflame, which is too powerful to even start describing. But where is our old buddy Oscar Herrera?!? Rating:10 - KlingKlangBedlam
Solemn-though-lovely stringstreams arc through an instrumental doorway, the scavenger bride. Threaded through with elysabeth's sinuous vocal strands, ephemeral/orchestral kinski's lyrics remain somewhat unattainable within drifting veils of sound. shadow of a doubt is unrecognizable as a Sonic Youth tune, dancing in soft piano tones amid whispers, wails and light beats. Acoustic tinkling/bowed melancholy and bittersweet surreality grace short tale, the doorkeeper (1:17). Droningly electronic forces brood beneath writhing violin currents in the first (of three) parts of like a dog/ letter to brod (10:27); bret helm's croaky vocalizations over dramatic orchestration are swallowed by a spaciously thrumming void (a highlight for the ambient-minded among us!) which eventually exudes murky faux piano melodiousness. Exotic Easternism briefly meets some softly-delivered S&M imagery in the whipper.
Skillfully wrought, the scavenger bride further broadens (in 51 minutes) whatever preconceptions one might have as to what "Goth" is or isn't... black tape for a blue girl renders the question moot by doing what it does best, weaving art and angst into seductively refined scenes. The pallid-yet-passionate pastiche incorporates impressions of Klaus Kinski, Franz Kafka, Marcel Duchamp and others into lusciously dreary electro/symphonic/vocal tapestries woven in earnest neoclassical motifs. As always, gorgeously packaged with Lisa modeling and Sam providing photo and design
While the lineup has changed a bit over the years, the solid backbone of Sam's talents combined with the other four current artists make up this astounding combination of talents. Currently (2002), the lineup consists of Elysabeth Grant (vocals & viola), Lisa Feuer (Flute), Julia Kent (Cello), Vicki Richards (Violin) and Sam Rosenthal (Electronics). Past members have been a large contributing factor to the success of each of these albums. Oscar Herrera has been one of my favorite vocalists whom you'll hear on many other BTFBG albums. You will always be able to find many of the tracks, old and new, from these wonderful artists on my radio shows. Be sure to check them out, and if you're a newcomer to this fabulous sound, then be sure to pick up the entire back-catalog of releases, you won't be disappointed!
The Scavenger Bride - Review
After nearly four long years of waiting for this release, it has finally arrived. Released in stores on April 23, 2002, this album is a continuation of all the talent, emotion, powerful lyrics and ethereal content that we have grown accustomed to with BTFBG. Sam Rosenthal received a lot of help besides the four core members for this album. Yet each track comes together as a masterpiece of art and not easily compared. This album, as with many albums from this group, is not just placed in a CD player and listened to as background music. While that is an enjoyable experience in itself, you will not fully enjoy this album unless you visually take in the art on the box and insert, read through the prose and lyrics and then, if you have a little more time, research some of the influences to this work. When you've done all of that, then all the music, lyrics and vocals all pull together to make a thematic and artistic piece.
There are many players in this theatre of music, including guests such as Michael Laird from Unto Ashes, Bret Helm from Audra, Athan Maroulis of Spahn Ranch, Christopher David from Judith and Martin Bowes of Attrition. With this combination of talent, it's only apparent the quality of music that is a result. After the beautiful introductory title track, Lisa takes a turn at the lyrics with Elysabeth's awesomely beautiful vocals on "Kinski", a dedication to Klaus Kinski. This is an excellent, dreamy-sounding track with a bit of echo overshadowing the vocals and the classic flute being the main solo instrument.
"All my lovers" is one of my favorite tracks on this album, with a bit of a danceable beat with the more notable percussion and a middle eastern taste to it. This is probably due to the addition of Michael Laird's percussion and mandolin talents added in. In fact, you could even compare this track to some of the tracks from Unto Ashes. "A livery of bachelors" is another track that exhibits more of this percussion, but without the strong middle eastern influence. More of a classic BTFBG piece in my opinion, brought out more by the fronting male vocals that Athan Maroulis contributes.
There are many more highlights to this album, and for me each track is wonderful and could easily my favorite. I enjoy this music so much that I really couldn't find much of a flaw, though there may be small ones that aren't easily noticed. The entire project seems to blend together well. Suffice it to say that anyone who enjoys past BTFBG albums will enjoy this as much or more. Be sure to give it a listen when you get a chance!
The Scavenger Bride is a concept album set in Prague in the early twentieth century. It tells the story of a bride about to be married and her previous lovers, for whom she is now lost. There is a darkly romantic feeling to the music, enhanced by the sad and evocative lyrics. The music consists mainly of flute, strings, piano and layers of lush, atmospheric electronics. On several songs the instrumentation is enriched further by the addition of for example dulcimer, mandolin or guitar.
One of the great strengths about this album is the variation of the music. There is a lot of work and effort put into the composition, arrangement and production of the songs and this results in a very dynamic and rich sound full of subtle details. The vocals are yet another strength. Both female and male vocals are excellently performed, though I must say that Bret Helm is the one who impress me the most. His cold, deep voice is perfect for dark and powerful songs like "Like a Dog/Letter to Brod". Also, the female vocalist Elysabeth Grant (who also plays viola) impress me greatly on for instance "Shadow of a Doubt", which is in fact a Sonic Youth cover, believe it or not.
The only negative thing I have to say about this album is that, due to the fact that it is a concept album, some songs become somewhat pointless if you listen to them separately. There are a few very short tracks on the album that seems more important for their part in the story than for their musical contribution. If you listen to the entire album this is not a problem, but I would have liked it even better if all songs were more independent of each other. Still, this does not change the fact that The Scavenger Bride is a stunningly beautiful album and Sam Rosenthal keeps convincing with his amazing compositions and his poetic lyrical touch. It is simply great, and I don't think there is much more to say about it. - Anders Eklund
Even the lyrics are often very poetical and I can really dive into the words of the poem (not a song!)"Nothing I Can Say" for example, it is very familiar to me.
BLACK TAPE FOR A BLUE GIRL use some influences of writer Franz Kafka and Marcel Duchamp and also produced a tribute to actor Klaus Kinski, so they created bot, a very personal and a very many-sided album, a classic!
And, as always, this CD has a very special, beautiful artwork, in fact it is the most wonderful, I saw in the last couple of years, maybe one of the finest ever!. What else can I say to convince you, getting this release? It is simply a "must"! (A.P.)
The songs with vocals are works of dramatic theater; some of which theater is a bit dark, and thats quite appropriate for a CD with the notation, "in appreciation of Franz Kafka" at the end of the accompanying booklet. You might be wondering, "When is this guy going to comment on individual songs?" That seems unnecessary because this disc is such a quilt of spacey and emotionally stirring music, with various textures from beginning to end. It sounds like an ambient film score with some dramatic moments along the way, like a calm night with intermittent thunderstorms. I highly recommend this disc. Black Tape has several back records and theyre an experimental, underground crew so its not a case of if youve heard one youve heard them all. I urge you to see and hear for yourself . - David Lilly
The Scavenger Bride is the band's eighth release. Predictably, the album is filled with intellectual pursuits, and is dedicated to that lovable corporate cog Franz Kafka. It is a varied musical excursion, full of sweet little songs and the first to be an actual "concept album" which follows the loveliness of a young bride and her would-be suitors in Prague 1913. As such, it's a different concept album than Andrew W.K.'s latest exploration into the party scene and there probably won't be much of a crossover. But while W.K.'s people are trashing the penthouse, Black Tape's solemn crowd will be politely nodding in the basement with the incense burning. The lush textures have nothing to do with modern music's addiction to the quick, catchy pop hook or the cathartic pummeling of nu-metal. Instead, the music creates a dream-like transcendence, escapism, a world without parking tickets or home improvement shows, where emotion is centered on the desires of the flesh. - Rob O'Connor
The minimalist title track consists of little more than distant chords stretched to quarter-mile notes layer upon layer. Something of an opening credit sedative from the turtle monks of the Dark Crystal. In "Kinski," chanteuse Elysabeth Grant professes her devotion Klaus poetically, You who are perfection made flesh, your light is so intense, so bright. It does not blind me, but rather bathes me in a sensual warmth. That's quite a dreamy tribute to the Polish equivalent of Rutger Hauer. Lofty flute overseers the tickled dulcimer as the run-on sentences pile on flattery. The first sign of percussion comes in "All My Loves." Light bongos and shakers pepper the renaissance campfire of a tune. Sing-song vocals add to the hypnotic mandolin and rubbery bass. The whispered confession of Sonic Youth's "Shadow Of A Doubt" spills into a pleading nightmare. Piano clanks through the fray, which sounds a bit like Swing Out Sister. The simple keyboard on "The Doorkeeper" is so familiar and welcome, that it's almost a shame when the cello steps out. The matronly vocals bring the angelic to earth. Songs like this and "Floats In Updrafts" end far too soon, giving just a glimpse before disappearing. "A Livery Of Bachelors" has a more present beat, with tinkling sparkles floating above. Spahn Ranch's Athan Maroulis delivers the melodrama on this one like a sadder, more serious Marc Almond. The Gelfling cello reappears for, "Das Lislottenbett." The gorgeous, swelling fluted instrumental virtually begs for a soundtrack deal. Where's Wim Wenders when you need him?
Hearing Brett Helm croak out the Murphy-esque "The Lie Which Refuses To Die" has me scrambling to find work by his band Aura. Not only is the voice beautifully gravelly, the lyrics are amusingly pedestrian: I'm the stain that won't come out, the toilet backed up, the ticket on their car, the overdue bills. This sort of underplayed demon is very refreshing. Attrition's Martin Bowe narrates "The Scavenger's Daughter." The graphic description of a torture device is then granted release in Grant's sweet lilt. Plaintive strings allow distance from the horror and don't look back until escape is certain. With its eastern feel and near didgeridoo waves, "Like A Dog" flows into "Letters To Brod." Helm delivers a pipe-stretching message to the friend who betrayed Franz' wishes by publishing his work. The lush Pink Dots package is a genital rumbling, sinister one. The lingering echoed keyboards give you plenty of time to think about it, where you're going. "The Whipper" offers attractively disturbing images in the pristine confusion. As well as confirming that chicks dig the bad boys. The whipper was proud and stood over two men I once loved. Takemetakeme Grant presents all the Jarboe theatrics without the turning into Satan bit. Her duet with the piano on "Bastille Day" ends out like b-side Felt. (The good side.) The sort of song you never hear the end of because you've been in after-sex R.E.M. for 20 minutes.
On a scale of compatible bands inserted into movies: one being This Mortal Kombat, and ten being Sex In The City Solution, The Scavenger Bride comes in at nine - Dead Can Wear Plaid. - Ewan Wadharmi
Although the album is something of a continuation of the stylings of 1999's As One Aflame Laid Bare By Desire, there are pleasant differences to note. In particular, varied tempos and the use of percussive elements are more prevalent, as are departures from the lilting and ethereal vocals. "All My Lovers" in particular could be called a medieval pop song complete with standard verse-chorus elements and hooks. Likewise, the light percussion and whispered vocals on "Shadow of a Doubt" morph to a thundering beat and screams of "It must have been a dream!", providing contrast and tension between the songs. The melding of synth and instruments in "A Livery of Bachelors" with the strong male lead vocals make comparisons to Dead Can Dance's finer moments a given, but the very next track ("Das Liselottenbett") plunges into a dark instrumental filled with flute and an atmospheric dirge. The variation between the tracks is the true differentiator from past Black Tape releases.
The lyrical content is quite poetic in nature, befitting the music. The album as a whole is something new for Black Tape in that it is actually one cohesive story throughout. The basic storyline involves the many suitors to a potential bride, as told by a storyteller to a group of listeners. While certainly sensual, as well as dark at times, there is little that could be considered patently offensive. There is a sense of spirituality conveyed but really only a sense and nothing too overt. Rosenthal continues to maintain that he has no spiritual or philosophical agenda that he wishes to put forth. One can easily imagine why it took three years to craft this album. Each track stands on its own as a thing of dark beauty and taken as a whole these tracks support each other perfectly. The variation makes this a much easier listen in one sitting than past Black Tape albums. Black Tape has refined to the point of near-perfection in its genre. - Jeff Edwards
I am not one for "concept" albums. It's not that I don't like them. It's just that normally, when done within the gothic genre, they are often pretentious and self-satisfying attempts at being "musicians with grand ideas" than it is with creating throughout an album a story, feelings and emotions well and beautifully. More than a normal album, a concept album is supposed to (in my opinion) transport you. Whether to another time, place, emotional place or all of the above. This is not easy.
black tape for a blue girl has done it.
This concept album, tells the dark and romantic tale of a bride-to-be and her emotional roller coaster as well as the stories of her former lovers. Set in one of the most magical cities, Prague in 1913 and inspired partly by the writings of Franz Kafka and the artwork of Marcel Duchamp, this concept album exemplifies the beauty and the tragedy of these works.
From the first strains of the scavenger bride you are being brought somewhere. Like the first strains of a magnificent opera, you are transported to another place and time where you can suspend your claim on "reality" and lose yourself in someone else's story.
The talent Sam Rosenthal has decided to put together and utilize for this project is amazing. Elysabeth Grant's voice floats and hovers and soars through the second offering of "kinski" which tells the story of a woman's unrequited love of Klaus. Softly and yet with some sort of inner pressure, you hear the pleading of the bride for Klaus to love her in return. To be part of her. In addition to the lovely voice is the added surprise and wonder of sound which comes from the playing of a dulcimer, played by Michael Laird from Unto Ashes. An underused instrument (I know of only one band, Seventh harmonic, which uses it to any extent), it gives a new edge and layer to the sound.
"all my lovers" is a gorgeous song which is deceptive in how the lyrics never, to me, specify to whom she is singing to... the lovers or the fiancé. Perhaps that is how it is to be, as the schavager tells how "she is ill-defined."
"shadow of doubt" starts with a softly pulsating electronic background and the whispering voice of Elysabeth. Completely, slowly, and deceptively engulfing you and drawing you in. A change encounter, perhaps an indiscretion on a train with a stranger. Perhaps this, the confession to her lover. In and of itself, a gorgeous offering, but since you are feeling almost safe with her whispers, the flailing of voice as she cries out that "must'a been a dream. It's just a dream I had. Swear" as she tries to deny to herself her own indiscretion. Was it a dream? Or was she unfaithful?
"the doorkeeper" is a sad tale of getting so close, knowing some one so well, yet still, still being unable to really connect. The singsong approach makes it even more tragic as it has the sound a child's song, kind of the sadder "Ring Around the Rosy" again, the haunting voice of Elysabeth gives so much to the song.
"floats in the updrafts" would serve as the song before and perhaps after the intermission. The voice of Atham Maroulis from Spahn Ranch gives us an insight into how the schavager is feeling as he reveals the story of the bride to us.The groom to be finally emerges in "a livery of bachelors" as he tells of his feelings of emptiness(?), loss(?), confusion (?) at seeing and knowing of his beloved's former lovers. He knows how they still love and adore her, want her to remain with them, perhaps a free spirit. But there is hope in that "I still see her before me" she does not leave. She remains with him.With no vocal within the piece itself, yet within the liner notes, "das liselottenbett" is an interesting inclusion. I am not personally a fan of pieces which give you one but yet not the other. I am not sure that this works exceptionally well. "Lyrically" it did forward the storyline and I therefore question why a melody with the lyrics was not included. The music itself is gorgeous and completely reflects the lyrics . . . so why not included?Brett Helm of Audra has his chance at the mike with the next offering (having done backing vocals on earlier songs). And I must say that it is the only vocal wrongly cast. This piece would have been perfect for one person on the Projekt label and would have been such a challenge and a refreshing surprise. Voltaire. The lyrics are so perfect for him:I'm the one who made them this way.I'm the one the caused all of this to happen to them.I'm the one who's rightly to blame for everything.But as he would have had to deliver this in such a different style, not the sarcastic, ironic style to which we are all accustomed to and some of us love, I think it would have been amazing to hear him actually attempt this very serious and emotional offering. Brett Helm's voice, although quality, somehow was not up to the challenge of the emotional lyrics.It is after this song which has one of the most powerful and, in so many ways, timeless pieces of poetry/prose which is scattered throughout the liner notes. I say timeless in that in 1913 Prague, a woman purposely loses herself to please the man in her life. She changes, shifts, remoulds, represses and recreates to keep that which she must have satisfied. This, as we all know, happens to this very second, let alone day. And so eloquently expressed. It is a slice from within someone's diary, journal, played out for us.One of the many pieces interspersed throughout the liner notes, these are perhaps the "scenes" for the actors if this concept album were to ever be a live performance. And it is within these that the listener (or is it reader? or is it audience?) gets more detail into the story line. The jealousy of the groom. The sheer insecurity and fear of them both. These pieces, as most stories do, begin wonderfully, all perfect and filled with joy and love, as the bride speaks of her unending, complete and total love for her groom, her intended, but as the songs continue, as the prose continues, the cracks in their relationship begin to become evident. His jealousy at her past in "your jealousy is slavery" clearly expresses his insecurity at a woman, his woman, having a past, a world that existed before him which not only did he not take part in, but cannot approve of. And in "my controlling angel", the bride tries so valiantly to explain that she is not the crippled woman which he first met and saved, but has grown, healed and now, needs him to accept that. It is obvious from what they both say that he is one who cannot handle a woman who is independent and has her own thought and strength, what I would assume was the general idea and practice in 1913 Prague. Well, 1913 anywhere. Perhaps 2002 as well.And we realize through "the little monkeys" that she trapped and that for all her strength and intelligence, she is trapped and cannot escape from the world that she is part of. From his world. Oh, how masterfully Sam Rosenthal and Lisa Feuer have crafted this. I have an entire production in my head, I have details of why she cannot leave, what are the ties and bondage that keeps her within. Although I know that I should be thinking Kafka, I get feelings of Miss Julie in Strindberg's play of the same name. Caught in the birdcage, unable to leave."nothing I can say" is the second last of prose pieces within the liner notes and it is the most, as earlier written, poignant, as it truly expresses that which the bride has decided to subject herself to.Returning to the music, "the scavenger's daughter" puzzles me as I try to figure out who is being referred to. As we are later asked by the schavager why this is the story of the scavenger bride and not the scavenger's bride, I take the leap of faith that the bride and this daughter are one in the same. She is not marrying the scavenger, for that is not how the groom's character feels to me. But perhaps she is of a scavenger and therefore that is all that she knows to scavenge for life and existence and perhaps, even, happiness. What also points me to this being about the bride is the lyrics so gracefully presented by Elysabeth, "from everything comes something, I can dissolve, reform, return, dissolve, redefine, return." This continual redefining of oneself seems like a pivotal part of the character of the bride. She recreates herself within the environment to survive within it.There is something unnerving about "like a dog/letter to brod." Something sinister and dangerous. It is as if we are seeing into some depth of soul that is tortured beyond that which we can easily understand. Is this part 2 from one of the lovers that bride leaves behind? Is he tortured by the fact that he will never possess her but can be confined by her, controlled by her. Is this some masochism? And as it continues to unnerve musically, lyrically, we are sent to question again all that we have come to understand. Is the bride just a metaphor for something more? If there is a bride, why do we presume there be but one groom? Is there just "the one" that we are destined to be with? And in thinking that, do we set ourselves up to be victims of an elaborate and unconscious trap?"the whipper" solidifies the questions of whether there is a fetish edge to some of the former "crimes" of the bride that the groom cannot forgive, as she goes into the clerk's desk to find two of her former lovers being whipped. There she says her goodbyes. Has the bride accepted her fate?And we close musically with "bastille day 1961" and as the bride dies we are left to wonder whether she accepted the marriage or, is leaving a world that she made what must have been a spectacular decision and lived as she wanted. Does she have regrets? Some. But I sense from the beauty of Elysabeth's voice (yes, I love this woman's voice) that she was happy in the end. And that whomever she decided to be with, she loved wholly and fully and completely.Our last prose offering is that of the schavager, with his captive audience, leaving them with questioning what exactly the bride was and is, as she herself did as she reinvented herself according to the experiences around her. Tragically, she never does find that which is her true self, as perhaps one can't if continually changing.There is no doubt that what Sam Rosenthal and Lisa Feuer have created is nothing short of a masterpiece in music, song and drama. This album takes you into a world and gives you the tools and materials to create Prague 1913, with full characters and storyline. As someone who spent too many years getting her degree in drama, I have completely staged this in my mind, the costumes, including the richness of the bride's blue dress... midnight blue. Lighting which spotlights different parts of the stage for each song or piece of prose. "bastille day 1961" I especially have lit. A brass four poster bed, A stand-in for the bride in the bed, her hand being held, and yet, because of the dim lighting, we do not know who it is being held by, leaving the audience wondering and questioning as they leave the theatre.There are few, if any, cracks in this gorgeously painted musical picture. The music itself is deep with layers upon layers of brilliant crafted melodies. The lyrics capture emotions and details of characters better than any spoken word could. The level of talent that has been gathered, including those mentioned above, as well as Julia Kent (ex-Rasputina), Christopher David (Judith), Martin Bowes (Attrition), Steve Roach and of course, the gorgeous flute renderings of Lisa Feuer and Vicki Richards on violin.And of course, unsurprisingly, the quality of production, musically and concerning liner notes, packaging, is right spot on the money. Nothing, nothing is left to chance. Nothing is done halfway. You get the feeling that if Sam couldn't do this completely how he wanted it, he wouldn't have. 100% of his vision went into this production, and we get every last drop of it.I would love to see this actually produced, actually staged so that they beauty and subtlety of the music, lyrics and prose can be brought to life and enrapture an audience in yet another way.As I stated earlier, concept albums I am not a fan of. They are difficult mountains to climb and most who attempt it either don't bring enough equipment as they feel they are almost too good for the mountain, or bring too much, daunted by the sheer magnitude of the mountain. Black tape for blue girl has done neither. They climbed the mountain with respect for the beauty of it and with the right equipment.Black tape for a blue girl has forged, yet again, new ground, and definitely have broken through and evolved. I don't think anyone else can or should attempt what they have, but need to learn from this CD (and the band as a whole) about true mastery of lyric, music and character. - Jezebel A review from: goodtimesmag.com | 3 out of 4 stars | If you pay attention to the lyrics as intently as the music they're set to you'll discover The Scavenger Bride is likened to an epic story of forbidden romance, loss and despair much more than simply an album. The dark gothic music is a fitting soundtrack to the emotions the songwriters work toward putting across on record. This album revolves around a concept set in Europe in the early twentieth century (Prague in the year 1913 to be precise), based heavily on the writings of Franz Kafka and the art of French impressionist Marcel Duchamp. Kafkas conceptual work is often quoted in lyrics arranged like short poems reflecting the authors private thoughts written in notebooks or personal journals forever kept hidden from the outside world. Quite a few of these short poems are included in the liner notes as pieces not set to any music, possibly to provide additional insight as to how the story is progressing. The idea behind the story by my gathering is an ascension, agonizing decline and rebirth of a womans inner soul through deep love and deeper loss. In some ways this parallels the life of Duchamp because around the same time as the album is set in the artist was forced to abandon his lifes work due to the great intellectual crisis that arose from a vast gap between his inspiration and how successfully or unsuccessfully he was able to translate it into his art. The piano and atmospheric keyboards accompanying the profound vocal style of Elysabeth Grant recapture this sense of decline in creativity and the frustration in finding oneself unable to stop it. A review from: Abyss Magazine, Portugal This is really a thrilling release. Sam Rosenthal (main lyricist and composer) has managed to develop an intensely sensual and romantic (yet metaphoric) tale set in 1913 Prague, mainly inspired by the extravagant art-works of Marchel Duchamp and the writings of Franz Kafka; introducing the first conceptual album for Black Tape For a Blue Girl and for sure their most enchanting and spellbinding release to date. It's deadly impressing to hear how neo-classical music has the power to dig deeper into ones inner feelings and depth enriching not only this genre & the subsequent culture allied with it, as well as keeping up with a contemporary edge of delicate melodies which all together are amazingly emotional and further develop a classic richness in instrumentation and vocal-wise. Elysabeth & Lisa are the wonderful singers that together with Sam have recreated this remarkably crafted album, which is the eight hof this band in sixteen years (!), and again a luxurious beauty of unique & incomparable music. Listening to Black Tape For a Blur Girl is a one of a kind experience, it's much more than just the ethereal and exotic textures of cello, violin, flute and other memorable orchestrations employed by the traditional instruments (yes, it brings to my mind Dead Can Dance), this is more like an introspective journey through an epoch, a mind, a haunting narrative which combines the dark elements of electronics with the fragile and intimate moments of chamber music. The Scavenger Bride is discreetly tragic, rather melancholic and sad, but at the same time sweet and with a blissful ambience. If you're still a stranger to this sonority all I can say is that Black Tape For a Blue Girl produce an extraordinary blend of passionate music and truly deserve to be recognised for their fine talent and imagination, they're a highly recommend outlet for anyone out there seeking a more peaceful escape and subtle contemplation. - Nuno M. A review from The Guardian Newspaper, England Midsummer wife's dream | Five Stars (out of five) | Imagine walking through a foreign city in a twilight world between sleep and wakefulness, writes Stuart Moses. That's the feeling I get from this latest album by New York-based Black Tape For A Blue Girl. Each of these songs could be half-witnessed episodes in the lives of the people you pass on the street. It's cinematic in scope, though these films are more likely to be art-house productions than Hollywood blockbusters. The narrative is told in fragments and will take time to understand fully, yet in each take the scenery is beautifully realised. If you listen closely then you will discover that The Scavenger Bride is the story of a bride-to-be's decomposition, together with accounts of the bachelors who have wooed and lost her. Inspired by Kafka and Marcel Duchamp it is easy to imagine walking past an open window in 1910s Prague and hearing songs like the piano-led 'The Doorkeeper' playing inside. The layered electronics and piano mix with strings and flutes to be as hallucinatory as absinthe. While the subject matter and influences suggest that this might make for depressing listening that is certainly not the case. There are certainly more suitable situations to best appreciate this work of art, such as by candlelight and under the influence of red wine, but the intoxicating blend of male and female vocals means that the music should be accessible to all. A review from: seaoftranquility.org it's not often you can believe record-label hype, but when the powers that be at projekt records call the scavenger bride, the eighth album by black tape for a blue girl, "like nothing you've ever heard before," they're probably right - even though the label's founder, sam rosenthal, is also the group's guiding force. contemporary chamber music that's cinematic in scope slow dances with warm, intimate and ethereal arrangements that incorporate soundscapes ranging from middle-eastern textures to neoclassical goth. the scavenger bride is the 16-year-old band's first concept album, and it presents a darkly romantic tale set in 1913 Prague of a bride-to-be and her various suitors from the past. inspired in part by the writings of franz kafka and the artwork of marcel duchamp, these songs boast such tempting titles as "all my lovers," "a livery of bachelors" and "the lie which refuses to die." black tape for a blue girl features four women on vocals, viola, flute, cello and violin. other instrumentation includes dulcimer and mandolin, and bret helm (audra) lends his baritone to a couple tracks while athan maroulis (spahn ranch) spins his crooning tenor on another. rosenthal creates all of the lush keyboard arrangements electronically, and few actual guitars and drums were used during this recording. the scavenger bride is an album that requires a listener's undivided attention and more than a cursory perusal of the detailed booklet that overflows with surreal imagery and an esoteric narrative. this is sensual, evocative and sad music that somehow still manages to lift the spirit. - michael popke A review from The Campus Voice, at Westfield State College While any album from Sam Rosenthal's Black Tape For a Blue Girl stands as an intense singular entity from start to finish, this year's the scavenger bride is the first written to tell a literal story. Rosenthal executes his opera with refined delicateness. It is set in 1913 Prague, telling of the Schavager (a street sweeper), observing other residents that he is estranged from, a polyamorous woman and many suitors who desire her (each of whom she exhausts, as an exercise in growing closer to the truth). Besides the lyrics, Sam delineates the story through digitally edited photography (subdued imagery that captures the tone of the album perfectly) and lovely fragments of narration, both featured in the accompanying booklet. Besides guest musicians, Sam's ensemble players are his wife, Lisa Feuer (flute), Julia Kent (cello), Vicki Richards (violin), and Elysabeth Grant (vocals, new to Black Tape recordings). For the first time on a Black Tape album, completely absent are the powerful, belting operatic vocals of Oscar Herrera, now too involved with his own project. As with any Black Tape album, Sam is credited with performing "electronics." While this implies techno or industrial, he actually creates strongly resonant symphonic palettes of interweaving sustained tones played on fuzzy, primitive keyboard settings (this is his trademark sound). On this album's ambient-neoclassical tracks, he effectively integrates additional layers of processed violin. "Kinski" finds Elysabeth's anguished voice wavering amongst the churning vacuum of sound. "All My Lovers" is absolutely irresistible. Snaky flute and vocal melodies are applied to an entrancing groove devised by Michael Laird (of Unto Ashes), via an Eastern-flavored rhythm section of mandolin and percussion. This is followed by a cover of Sonic Youth's "Shadow of a Doubt," very appropriately adapted by Sam in correspondence with the album's themes. It closely follows but is more subtly dynamic than the original. Rather than guitar, he arranged it on piano to match the album's hazy melancholy, complemented by nervously impending percussion. Rather than merely singing, Elysabeth's voice becomes the song's frantic emotion. In the middle of the album, the story unfolds through a theatrical sequence of brief, endearing pieces Sam strived to render "absurdist." Often built upon his piano work, each is melodically delivered from the viewpoint of either the bride, one of her suitors, or the Schavager. Standing out the most of these is the completely enrapturing "The Lie That Refuses to Die," richly sung by Bret Helm (of Audra). Deep within the album, it peaks with a pair of epic several-minute songs, "The Scavenger's Daughter" and "Like a Dog/Letter to Broad," each divided into three movements. The former is a euphoric, gently flowing wall of somberly rich harmony, with unexpected but quiet transitions. The latter is the dark, scathing, gut-wrenching song that's a staple component to most Black Tape albums. Prolific ambient composer Steve Roach assisted with its sound processing. The first movement features a bleeding, off-center violin solo from Richards. Added to the backdrop of Sam's menacing drone for the second movement are high-pitched wailing metallic noises, snarling and hissing sounds, and sporadic percussion samples played by Michael Laird. Bret performs intoxicating vocal work that evokes the impression of a defeated, broken, and subsequently hardened man. The lingering drones left in the aftermath give way to the final movement, a harsh, muffled piano piece. It is a completely staggering work. After sixteen years as the mastermind behind Black Tape For a Blue Girl, Sam Rosenthal is, if anything, even more gifted at creating passionate, beautiful, vital art. - Ryan Wynns A review from: ink19.comStrap on those corsets and slip on the velvet gloves kids, for one of America's foremost goth mainstays have returned with enough melodrama and tranquil beauty to upstage Merchant & Ivory. Black Tape's main songwriter, Sam Rosenthal is never one for musical modesty, and The Scavenger Bride harnesses Celtic dabbling under the grandiose trappings of Dead Can Dance mysticism and new age undertones. Main chanteuse Elysabeth Grant lends her symphonic, somber vocals to the majority of tracks, with the exception of the rest of the band handling backing vocal duties, as well as guest stars like Spahn Ranch's Athan Maroulis on the all-too-brief "Floats in the Updraft." Perhaps most surprising, rock deities Sonic Youth are paid homage to with the spoken word interpretation of "Shadow of a Doubt." As to be expected from this group, the overtones are cavernous, dark tapestries, making Black Tape one of the few bands left who truly signify Gothic music. They wear their hearts on their laced sleeves, creating ancient music for modern times, updated with technology, but still making one feel as if they were moonlighting with Vlad Drac in some Transylvanian twist. Drift away to this on your melancholy Sundays, but use discretion in any other circumstance, especially when driving. - Kiran Aditham A review from: womanrock.com Black Tape for a Blue Girl is the hallmark group in the darkwave movement and from this leadership position they present a beautiful concept album of mysterious minimalism and vocal beauty. The great vocals come from new singer Elysabeth Grant, long part of the Projekt fold. The ideas come from a fusion of the artwork of Marcel Duchamp and the writings of Franz Kafka. Besides reaching, and successfully reaching, thematically, this is the most instrumentally dense of the Black Tape for a Blue Girl albums. The substrate is still Sam Rosenthal's layered electronics and piano. Beside Grant, additional vocalists telling the tale of Prague's tragic 1913 scavenger bride include Audra's Bret Helm and Spahn Ranch's Athan Maroul. Beside the usual flute accompaniment a mini-string section of Vicki Richards (violin), Grant (viola) and Julia Kent (ex-Rasputina, cello) fleshes out the sound. The dramatic presentation mostly succeeds in this consistent album setting a new high water mark for the group. This was well worth the nearly three-year wait since their previous release. (4 of 5) A review from splendidezine.com Sam Rosenthal's team of gloom-miners has produced an impressive disc that also happens to be that most tormented of beasts, the concept album. Duchamp and Kafka are the album's main components, but Sonic Youth, Klaus Kinski and others get mentions, too. Slightly over-the-top? Indeed. But when you're talking about one of the longest-established goth soundtrack groups still releasing credible work today, that's pretty much par for the course. A reasonable amount of the album sounds fairly mid-Cure in its approach -- not that this is a bad thing. "A Livery Of Bachelors" is a great example: synth-heavy, vaguely Eastern melody lines and subtle percussion dominate. Occasionally-histrionic vocals aside -- and there is a fair bit of doubletracking here -- it's a curiously enfolding sound that sweeps the listener along. Indeed, tunes like "The Lie Which Refuses To Die" are at once more masterful and more affecting than anything Robert Smith has knocked out for the better part of a decade. The more classically-influenced side of the album is revealed on tracks like "Das Liselottenbett", a simple instrumental piece that brings to mind the slow, elegiac stylings of David Darling's solo cello work, or Gavin Bryars's compositions. It's here that the ensemble's strength comes through: although BTFABG have long been channelling sadness into their music, it's never more successful than when manipulated into simple, direct themes like this. There's no embellishment, no woe-is-me bullshit. There's a rawness here that overrides the echoes and waves of bass-heavy noise -- and it's highly immersive. It's still fairly dark, but there's much less pretension than expected -- another boon! BTFABG have produced what may be their strongest album. It's certainly cohesive, and though I don't think the concept behind the disc completely works, the effort involved in translating the concept to reality has come together in a delightful way. If you've ever written BTFABG off as dodgy goth soundscaping, this is the album that'll change your mind. - Luke Martin A review from: Satan Stole My Teddy BearAs with essentially every Black Tape release since their inception quite a few years ago, The Scavenger Brideis an album that I've played many times and never quite knew what to say about it. The most notable thing about Project Records' founder Sam Rosenthal's band is that they have been consistently touching, moving and beautiful throughout their entire existence and no matter who was contributing to the effort. On The Scavenger Bride, the outfit sticks to their darkwave base and simply works wonders within their forged style. Longtime vocalist Oscar Herrera is absent but Black Tape receives a little vocal assistance from various other names associated with Projekt: Audra, Attrition, Unto Ashes and others. It would seem that the focal point of the singing on The Scavenger Bride lays quite a bit on Elysabeth Grant. Throughout the album, Black Tape weaves piano, viola and electronics to create their lush sound, captivating and sobering. The thing about Black Tape's music is that you always feel as though you shouldn't quite be so gosh-darned happy about anything going on around you. The album also tends to be slightly more ambient and spacy than other releases. For anyone who has enjoyed at least one record from Black Tape in the past, The Scavenger Bride is a gimme. The outfit's consistency from album to album is marvelous and their ability to create such passionate, quietly intense music is remarkable. - John Chedsey A review from: dvsrecords.com The Scavenger Bride is the latest album by Sam Rosenthal's collaborative ensemble, Black Tape For a Blue Girl. While still drifting around in a blue ethereal haze for much of the album's duration, there is a definite pull in the direction of proper songs. Not rock songs mind you, but something more akin to musical theatre and vaudeville. This is certainly a welcome change, for though Black Tape excels at navigating the dark seas of ethereal ambient, there is definitely a point where mere ambiance becomes redundant. Sometimes you need form. The Scavenger Bride is something of a Prague concept album, with Kafka tributes, absinthe and everything else you'd expect from a goth consort performing songs about the Czech city. Some songs, "Kinski" and the cover of Sonic Youth's "Shadow of a Doubt" being prominent examples, stay clear of the main theme. Being a huge fan of Werner Herzog's films, I have to announce that "Kinski" is a love song of sorts directed at that late great lunatic thespian, Klaus Kinski! Both veterans of Black Tape and newcomers provide vocals. Elysabeth Grant is the main star of the show, but perhaps my favorite singing voice belongs to Athan, who at his absolute best is a dramatic dead ringer for David Bowie. The ethereal tracks are more of the same and the theatrical songs are far too short for my tastes. But it is promising to see so talented a composer as Rosenthal heading in a direction comparable to Lacrimosa and Angizia, abandoning his reliance on texture for a stronger show of songwriting. While I still hold Remnants of a Deeper Purity as their greatest album, I am more inclined to recommend The Scavenger Bride to newcomers. It is a more diverse and accessible work. (JS)
The groom to be finally emerges in "a livery of bachelors" as he tells of his feelings of emptiness(?), loss(?), confusion (?) at seeing and knowing of his beloved's former lovers. He knows how they still love and adore her, want her to remain with them, perhaps a free spirit. But there is hope in that "I still see her before me" she does not leave. She remains with him.
With no vocal within the piece itself, yet within the liner notes, "das liselottenbett" is an interesting inclusion. I am not personally a fan of pieces which give you one but yet not the other. I am not sure that this works exceptionally well. "Lyrically" it did forward the storyline and I therefore question why a melody with the lyrics was not included. The music itself is gorgeous and completely reflects the lyrics . . . so why not included?
Brett Helm of Audra has his chance at the mike with the next offering (having done backing vocals on earlier songs). And I must say that it is the only vocal wrongly cast. This piece would have been perfect for one person on the Projekt label and would have been such a challenge and a refreshing surprise. Voltaire. The lyrics are so perfect for him:
I'm the one who made them this way.I'm the one the caused all of this to happen to them.I'm the one who's rightly to blame for everything.
But as he would have had to deliver this in such a different style, not the sarcastic, ironic style to which we are all accustomed to and some of us love, I think it would have been amazing to hear him actually attempt this very serious and emotional offering. Brett Helm's voice, although quality, somehow was not up to the challenge of the emotional lyrics.
It is after this song which has one of the most powerful and, in so many ways, timeless pieces of poetry/prose which is scattered throughout the liner notes. I say timeless in that in 1913 Prague, a woman purposely loses herself to please the man in her life. She changes, shifts, remoulds, represses and recreates to keep that which she must have satisfied. This, as we all know, happens to this very second, let alone day. And so eloquently expressed. It is a slice from within someone's diary, journal, played out for us.
One of the many pieces interspersed throughout the liner notes, these are perhaps the "scenes" for the actors if this concept album were to ever be a live performance. And it is within these that the listener (or is it reader? or is it audience?) gets more detail into the story line. The jealousy of the groom. The sheer insecurity and fear of them both. These pieces, as most stories do, begin wonderfully, all perfect and filled with joy and love, as the bride speaks of her unending, complete and total love for her groom, her intended, but as the songs continue, as the prose continues, the cracks in their relationship begin to become evident. His jealousy at her past in "your jealousy is slavery" clearly expresses his insecurity at a woman, his woman, having a past, a world that existed before him which not only did he not take part in, but cannot approve of. And in "my controlling angel", the bride tries so valiantly to explain that she is not the crippled woman which he first met and saved, but has grown, healed and now, needs him to accept that. It is obvious from what they both say that he is one who cannot handle a woman who is independent and has her own thought and strength, what I would assume was the general idea and practice in 1913 Prague. Well, 1913 anywhere. Perhaps 2002 as well.
And we realize through "the little monkeys" that she trapped and that for all her strength and intelligence, she is trapped and cannot escape from the world that she is part of. From his world. Oh, how masterfully Sam Rosenthal and Lisa Feuer have crafted this. I have an entire production in my head, I have details of why she cannot leave, what are the ties and bondage that keeps her within. Although I know that I should be thinking Kafka, I get feelings of Miss Julie in Strindberg's play of the same name. Caught in the birdcage, unable to leave.
"nothing I can say" is the second last of prose pieces within the liner notes and it is the most, as earlier written, poignant, as it truly expresses that which the bride has decided to subject herself to.
Returning to the music, "the scavenger's daughter" puzzles me as I try to figure out who is being referred to. As we are later asked by the schavager why this is the story of the scavenger bride and not the scavenger's bride, I take the leap of faith that the bride and this daughter are one in the same. She is not marrying the scavenger, for that is not how the groom's character feels to me. But perhaps she is of a scavenger and therefore that is all that she knows to scavenge for life and existence and perhaps, even, happiness. What also points me to this being about the bride is the lyrics so gracefully presented by Elysabeth, "from everything comes something, I can dissolve, reform, return, dissolve, redefine, return." This continual redefining of oneself seems like a pivotal part of the character of the bride. She recreates herself within the environment to survive within it.
There is something unnerving about "like a dog/letter to brod." Something sinister and dangerous. It is as if we are seeing into some depth of soul that is tortured beyond that which we can easily understand. Is this part 2 from one of the lovers that bride leaves behind? Is he tortured by the fact that he will never possess her but can be confined by her, controlled by her. Is this some masochism? And as it continues to unnerve musically, lyrically, we are sent to question again all that we have come to understand. Is the bride just a metaphor for something more? If there is a bride, why do we presume there be but one groom? Is there just "the one" that we are destined to be with? And in thinking that, do we set ourselves up to be victims of an elaborate and unconscious trap?
"the whipper" solidifies the questions of whether there is a fetish edge to some of the former "crimes" of the bride that the groom cannot forgive, as she goes into the clerk's desk to find two of her former lovers being whipped. There she says her goodbyes. Has the bride accepted her fate?
And we close musically with "bastille day 1961" and as the bride dies we are left to wonder whether she accepted the marriage or, is leaving a world that she made what must have been a spectacular decision and lived as she wanted. Does she have regrets? Some. But I sense from the beauty of Elysabeth's voice (yes, I love this woman's voice) that she was happy in the end. And that whomever she decided to be with, she loved wholly and fully and completely.
Our last prose offering is that of the schavager, with his captive audience, leaving them with questioning what exactly the bride was and is, as she herself did as she reinvented herself according to the experiences around her. Tragically, she never does find that which is her true self, as perhaps one can't if continually changing.
There is no doubt that what Sam Rosenthal and Lisa Feuer have created is nothing short of a masterpiece in music, song and drama. This album takes you into a world and gives you the tools and materials to create Prague 1913, with full characters and storyline. As someone who spent too many years getting her degree in drama, I have completely staged this in my mind, the costumes, including the richness of the bride's blue dress... midnight blue. Lighting which spotlights different parts of the stage for each song or piece of prose. "bastille day 1961" I especially have lit. A brass four poster bed, A stand-in for the bride in the bed, her hand being held, and yet, because of the dim lighting, we do not know who it is being held by, leaving the audience wondering and questioning as they leave the theatre.
There are few, if any, cracks in this gorgeously painted musical picture. The music itself is deep with layers upon layers of brilliant crafted melodies. The lyrics capture emotions and details of characters better than any spoken word could. The level of talent that has been gathered, including those mentioned above, as well as Julia Kent (ex-Rasputina), Christopher David (Judith), Martin Bowes (Attrition), Steve Roach and of course, the gorgeous flute renderings of Lisa Feuer and Vicki Richards on violin.
And of course, unsurprisingly, the quality of production, musically and concerning liner notes, packaging, is right spot on the money. Nothing, nothing is left to chance. Nothing is done halfway. You get the feeling that if Sam couldn't do this completely how he wanted it, he wouldn't have. 100% of his vision went into this production, and we get every last drop of it.
I would love to see this actually produced, actually staged so that they beauty and subtlety of the music, lyrics and prose can be brought to life and enrapture an audience in yet another way.
As I stated earlier, concept albums I am not a fan of. They are difficult mountains to climb and most who attempt it either don't bring enough equipment as they feel they are almost too good for the mountain, or bring too much, daunted by the sheer magnitude of the mountain. Black tape for blue girl has done neither. They climbed the mountain with respect for the beauty of it and with the right equipment.
Black tape for a blue girl has forged, yet again, new ground, and definitely have broken through and evolved. I don't think anyone else can or should attempt what they have, but need to learn from this CD (and the band as a whole) about true mastery of lyric, music and character. - Jezebel
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