A week of ambling around

It has been one of those weeks beset with a heap of work. In the midst of it all, I have waded through a range of music and a bit of poetry.

On the music front, I’m still listening with interest to () by Sigur Ros which reveals new depths each time I listen to it. I’ve also read the write up on this album at www.sigur-ros.com which really helps with an understanding of what is going on. The fact that the packaging is so beautiful and so totally without words, is explained thus. Apparently the songs have no titles, and the words to the songs are in a made up language, so the CD booklet has no words, the pages are beautifully textured and designed, with space for the listener to write their own interpretation of what the music is all about. A marvellous idea!

Earlier in the week, I dipped into The Beatles ‘White Album’ which has some real gems on it. The high point, and there are a number of peaks, has to be the long experimental track ‘Revolution 9’ which has stood the test of time really well. It’s a great example of studio experimentation meets avant-garde. Other listening includes a couple of free-to-download CDs from www.stasisfield.com which are beautiful ambient and avant sounds. One is by Thanos Chrysakis and the other by Hinterlandt.

I travelled by train to and from London earlier this week and took the recently acquired copy of ‘The Vein’ by Tom Raworth. I really like some of the lines in this book, but as a free flow ‘cut-up’ poem I failed to get the complete point of it. I think the failing is probably mine rather than the poem’s, but would like to find something which helps to explain what is going on with this text, and how to find a point of access to it.

I’ve read a review of ‘Collected Poems’ by Raworth on the www.shearsman.com website which helps a little, but there is only a passing reference to ‘The Vein’ – more help needed in this area. I’ve also found Raworth’s own site, but that didn’t really throw any more light on things. Help.