Green Inferno

Magnet April 2005
"It banishes the cold and coaxes tropical foliage to grow out of the speakers and steam up your living room."

Product Description
Though best known for his work in Town & Country, who have been experimenting in acoustic resonance, minimalist composition and world musics for the past seven years, Ben Vida has been a prominent player in the Chicago music scene, placing himself at the nexus between improvised and acoustic minimalist musics. He has played and recorded with Central Falls, Terminal 4, Pillow and Everyoned. Green Inferno is his second solo recording, a long-in-coming successor to Mpls., which was released on Brent Gutzeit’s Boxmedia label in 1999. Boxmedia described Mpls. as "a record of delicate acoustic guitar compositions, soft melodic songs with hidden teeth." Green Inferno is a different beast, showing its teeth with dense percussive tracks and droning narcotic folk songs. Ben Vida describes it as an attempt to fuse all of his favorite aspects of the groups he has been playing in.

Green Inferno

Green Inferno,Bird Show,Kranky,Experimental,Int'l & World Music,Pop,Rock/Pop

Average customer rating:

Double Feature: Saturday Night Fever/Grease Manufacturer: Madacy Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Movie Scores | Soundtracks | Styles | Music Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music General | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music Classic | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music Tributes | Pop | Styles | Music Classic Vocalists | Broadway & Vocalists | Box Sets | Stores | Music Vocal Pop & Oldies | Pop | Box Sets | Stores | Music 4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 Dance & DJ | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 Pop | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 Soundtracks | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music CDs Under $7 | Vocal Pop | Pop | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Vocal Pop | Pop | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music ASIN: B0009NCQK0 Release Date: 2005-01-04

Tracks:

1. Night Fever
2. Stayin' Alive
3. Disco Inferno
4. How Deep Is You Love
5. You Should Be Dancing
6. More Than a Woman
7. Jive Talkin'
8. Boogie Shoes
9. If I Can't Have You
10. Boogie Child
11. Fifth of Beethoven
12. K-Jee
13. Salsation

Tracks:

1. You're the One That I Want
2. Grease
3. Summer Nights
4. Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee
5. Hopelessly Devoted to You
6. Greased Lightning
7. Beauty School Dropout
8. Blue Moon
9. Love Is Many-Splendored Thing [Instrumental]
10. Sandy
11. Tears on My Pillow
12. We Go Together

Average customer rating: more of a 4.5 on when listened to the way it is supposed to be listened to. Bird Show

Green Inferno Bird Show Manufacturer: Kranky ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | International | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Experimental Music | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music ASIN: B0007N1A0E Release Date: 2005-02-15

Tracks:

1. All Afternoon Part 1
2. Kind Light
3. Green Inferno
4. Always/Never Sleep Part 1
5. Always/Never Sleep Part 2
6. Tracers
7. Morning/Evening
8. Landlovers
9. All Afternoon Part 2 (Dawn of the Dead)

Album Description

Though best known for his work in Town & Country, who have been experimenting in acoustic resonance, minimalist composition and world musics for the past seven years, Ben Vida has been a prominent player in the Chicago music scene, placing himself at the nexus between improvised and acoustic minimalist musics. He has played and recorded with Central Falls, Terminal 4, Pillow and Everyoned. Green Inferno is his second solo recording, a long-in-coming successor to Mpls., which was released on Brent Gutzeit's Boxmedia label in 1999. Boxmedia described Mpls. as "a record of delicate acoustic guitar compositions, soft melodic songs with hidden teeth." Green Inferno is a different beast, showing its teeth with dense percussive tracks and droning narcotic folk songs. Ben Vida describes it as an attempt to fuse all of his favorite aspects of the groups he has been playing in.

Customer Reviews:

more of a 4.5 on when listened to the way it is supposed to be listened to........2006-03-16

When Ben vida travels around the world taking field recordings and meshing them into an extreme version of organic ambient well.... you have an extreme form of organic ambien. this is avery incoherent reocrd in well done. it features cicadas with tribal percussion nameley and faint ambient synthesizers. Although it really could be a crappy album on a bad day or a great album on a good one or vice versa it's very subjective matierial. My favorite track would be number 6 which sounds percisely like a parade of ants clambering up the towers of eucolyptus trees mistakenly placed in the amazon forest several years after a badly executed clear cut. or maybey just old growth rainforest. by the wa this is good music for fans of films like baraka or kyenisquatsi or however you spell it.

Bird Show.......2005-04-27

Bird Show is the solo project of Ben Vida of Town and Country. He is an experimental, improvisational artist who has collected sounds and uses instruments to produce his compositions. He blends animal sounds, vocals, and world beats and sounds to produce an other culturally feel. Green Inferno is a collection of sounds that mesh together with various string instruments. This disc is, once again, not for the faint of heart. It is certainly experimental and certainly grating in places, but there are very beautiful pieces alongside the more intense moments.

"All Afternoon Part 1" begins with an outside feel of birds chirping, then dissonant horns and fuzz overpower the birds and bring a loud sort of world vibe to the beginning of the album. Perhaps Vida wants us to feel as if we are walking through a forest dense with tribal life, thick foliage, and the sounds of nature. "Kind Light" brings a peaceful piece for the listeners. There is a soft vocal and an almost soft animal growl. An acoustic guitar plays in between the sounds and a beautiful ring that hums under all the sounds. "Green Inferno" has reverberating vocals, scissor type sounds and some jungle drums. It is a soothing track that is beautiful and deep. "Always/Never Sleep Part #1" is a beautiful ambient piece ala Stars of the Lid. There is simple, subtle bass and floating keys. This track is soothing and spacious. "Always/Never Sleep Part #2" starts out with a low rumble. This also is a beautiful, brief track that kind of gives a closing remark to "Sleep Part 1" and the center of the disc has a very smooth anchored feel to it.

"Tracers" has some interesting percussion sounds and, perhaps, Vida is making what sounds like insects come alive with instruments. There are sprinkles of birds here and there. Vida's compositions, when not entirely ambient, have a very organic feel to them. He portrays an interesting aesthetic. "Morning/Evening" begins with violin and soft, recessed vocals. The violin pans from left to right and really has an odd feel to it. This continues throughout and I can't help but think that insects were the inspiration for this track as well. About half way through the tracks, the panning violin is replaced by a higher pitch sound that pans as well. There is quiet vox in the background and the track drops instrumentation until it fades out.

"Landlovers" starts with organ and soft, echoing vocals again. There is what seems like a horn sound floating amidst the organs. The vox remind me of Frank Lenz or Justin Bowsher. There is a great, listless feel to this track that is altogether comforting. The disc finishes with "All Afternoon Part 1 (Dawn of the Dead)." This track begins like the first and the bird sounds once again float into the chaos of tribal beats and sounds. After the mid-point of the track, the sounds begin to grate on the nerves with little to no variation in the overall structure or sound. Vida exit to his disc is just as his beginning. He ushers his listener out with the chaos and birds that brought the listener in. The calm moments of the center of the disc have disappeared from the inner sanctuary of Bird Show's world.

My assessment is that this is a good disc. There are incredibly beautiful moments on it, but I am not sure about the amount of dissonant first and last tracks. "Dawn of the Dead" is perhaps too long and over stays it's welcome. Where Vida shines is more towards the middle of the disc, when calm and serene moments hit the listener's ear.

World Music:

1. Gunyal
2. Honoring Singers and Songmakers, Vol. 3 [Live]
3. I Love MPB: Ame [Import]
4. I Love MPB: Tanto Amor [Import]
5. Inexil [Import]
6. Inseguendo l'Aquila [Import]
7. Jezebel
8. Journey Into Nigritia [Import]
9. La Chica Del Viento [Import]
10. Latin Divas

World Music

world music

World Music

Copperopolis

Lev Abeliovich: Piano Sonatas; Fresoes

Piano Cto / Symphony #9: New World

1925-1928

Out of Tune [Import]

Motown Unmixed

Ibiza Meets Africa [Import]

Passion: Music For The Last Temptation Of Christ

More Live in New York [Import] [Live]

Josquin des Prés: Missa Pange Lingua; Missa La Sol Fa Re Mi

Once Upon a Time

Master Serie [Import]

Latin Music: 100% Pal' Terre

Sanctus: Meditation for the Soul

Anthology