city opera is the new crystal castles.

I had the pleasure of attending the final New York City Opera performance of King Arthur, directed and choreographed by Mark Morris. If you're familiar with Mr. Morris (I'm totally uncultured and wasn't at all until Saturday), you could gather that this wasn't a "traditional" performance. John Dryden's libretto was entirely omitted, leaving nothing but the Henry Purcell score. As a result, the typically four hour-long production lasted less than half the amount of time.

If you expected a plot, you were out of luck. There were no actual "characters", no actual story. It can easily be explained by this quote from Morris himself-- "The setting is the stage. The time is now. The performers are themselves." And by easily, I mean that I probably need to do more explaining. Morris organized King Arthur as a pageant, a trail of tiny numbers that would be quite disorienting if you weren't familiar with the original story. There was a sense of something missing at times, but the sense didn't get any stronger than when you realized that one seemingly important element was completely absent-- the title character. King Arthur himself was represented by a large prop crown.

Not weird enough for you? Well maybe you'd get a kick out of the simulated sex on stage, which provoked one audience member to yelp out a hearty "BOO". Or maybe you'd prefer the random presence of a giraffe, duck, cheetah, and flamingo? When asked about their presence, Morris replied, "They're there for no reason whatsoever". I admittedly love this quote, but leaned towards liking the idea of the production a lot more than the actual experience of watching it. I enjoyed it... but had I entered the theater knowing what to expect, I think I would have been able to separate myself from my expectations attached to the idea of "opera".

The upcoming productions by City Opera shouldn't bring up such issues as this. If you'd like to pretend to be cultured and classy like me, I strongly recommend visiting their site for more details and to purchase tickets! Upcoming productions include:

• Madama Butterfly, Giacomo Puccini: March 6-April 6 (details)
• Falstaff, Giuseppe Verdi: March 19-April 6 (details)
• Tosca, Giacomo Puccini: March 22-April 5 (details)
• Candide, Leonard Bernstein: April 8-April 20 (details)
  

And for no other reason than the fact that they were included in the title of this post, I present a remix of Crystal Castles by LingLing, featuring vocals by ITMS!! fave gidgetsparks. It's a repeat, but a goodie.

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dl: CRYSTAL CASTLES f/ GIDGETSPARKS - Air War (LingLing remix) (YSI)
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BLOGGER NOTE: The above doodle is a stylization of a photograph of Mhairi Lawson appearing on the playbill for this production of King Arthur.

lingling: kudu/crystal castles remixes.

LINGLING is a duo that makes quite splendid remixes.

By coincidence, they have remixed two ITMS faves-- gidgetsparks and kudu. They've also done remixes of songs from 50 Cent's debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin', but those don't really matter as much for this post.

Gidgetsparks is also featured on one of two remixes they have done of Crystal Castles' "Air War". I am a big fan of one of her opening lines-- "Sand in my crotch doesn't bother me a notch". However, I totally think that sand in your crotch is uncomfortable.

dl: CRYSTAL CASTLES f/ GIDGETSPARKS - Air War (LingLing remix) (YSI)
dl: KUDU - Playing House (LingLing remix) (YSI)
(Remixes of hot tunes)
- site it - space it - space it - space it - space it -

gidgetsparks: top friends.

GIDGETSPARKS may have been shown some love four posts down, but I am inclined to say that she deserves a bit more.

With the help of producer machinedrum, she has joined the ranks of musicians that have made songs about the space. Before I go on about this song, may I highly recommend visiting her space and streaming it? The animated graphic in the back of her page creates an entirely hypnotic effect when paired with the song. For a few seconds, I was compelled to put this Brooklyn white-girl rapper in my top friends. Then I realized, I don't even KNOW this chick. It's creepy enough to blog about her twice within a short period of time, but I think putting her in my top friends would be even creepier. And then I thought to myself: Why am I such a tool for thinking about my top friends on the space? That is lame city. Plus, this song is half a joke, right? I can't even tell.

The lyrics of this tune aren't quite as mind-blowing as "rubberband handz" and "guffawguffaw", consisting merely of...

• "Put me in your top friends. I'm not in your top friends. I thought that we were best friends. So put me in your top friends. Take me off your top friends. Don't want to be on your top friends. We were never best friends. So take me off your top friends."

Clearly not her best work, but they kind of shine some light onto the weirdness of the "Top Friends" feature on the space. I mean, think about it. How many tweens (and sadly adults too) have expressed these concerns? In fact, I was just on a friend's page and saw word for word a comment that read: "WHY AM I NOT IN YOUR TOP 8???" Seriously. Are you kidding me? Is that really such an important part of your life? Yes. Apparently it is for them.

In any case, the lack of words in this jam showcase machinedrum's awesomeness. I am hoping that I will be in attendance at the August 23rd show so I can be too scared to say hello to either of these people.

I am awkward.

dl: GIDGETSPARKS w/ MACHINEDRUM - top friends (YSI)
dl: GIDGETSPARKS - rubberband handz (YSI)
(electro/hip-hop)
- space it - space it -

gidgetsparks: rubberband handz.

GIDGETSPARKS will be performing at the CA$$ETTE NYC party (Thursday, August 23rd). I think she is awesome. Not only does she make beautiful art, but she also makes amazing music about dinosaurs, lobsters, and her awesomeness (which was very convincing given that I think that she is awesome).

"Invertebrate, let's go out on a date. Sweet to meet you, but now I gots to eat you."

Am I the only person who thinks that is amazing? Because I do. Coincidentally, I've also been co-writing a song about lobsters. Strange coincidence? Maybe, but I have a feeling that people are so tired with the current state of hip-hop that they want to rap about new things-- like lobsters. And why not? Shooting bitches and dealing drugs is so 1990s.

d/l: GIDGETSPARKS- rubberband handz (YSI)
d/l: GIDGETPARKS- guffawguffaw (YSI)
(Brooklyn electro-hop)
- space it -