I’m quite fond of strings, their reverberations and sustains I find have a soothing effect. I’m not immensely huge on classical compositions though, which leads me to listen to a lot of different modernist instrumental groups like the aforementioned Bell Orchestre (”anew #25″), Rachel’s, Freight Elevator Quartet and Clogs, a cousin to one of my favourite bands, the National, sharing a few members between them.
Invariably, though, I find modernist instrumental albums to be disappointing, because they don’t engage me on any active level. I can pay attention throughout most of the first track, maybe even the first two, but inevitably my attention will wander elsewhere. Clogs makes great background music, nice film score type songs, but with maybe one noteable exception, “5/4″, few of the tracks stick with me. Perhaps its the curse of the instrumental band, but their music just isn’t as memorable (which I would submit as bull, since I fondly remember the bulk of the Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet catalogue, or even Balanescu Quartet’s avant garde string music).
I find having artists such as Clogs in my collection good for diversity and excellent for mixtape compilations, but at the same time, they’re some of the rarest of listening, given a few plays after purchase and tucked away and ignored thereafter.
A new direct-to-video production from New Line and Marvel finds the Hulk engaging two of superherodom’s heaviest hitters: Thor and Wolverine. Of course, Hulk is the heaviest hitter of them all when it comes right down to it, so without some heavy deus ex machina they’re really two no-contest bouts. So, then, how do they fill the time? How do they justify the video’s existence? By focusing not on Hulk but on the opponent. This is typically how Hulk gets the short shaft, because often all he’s deemed good for is, well, smashing shit up. 