Tinhuviel Artanis

I don't know whether to laugh, vomit, or laugh until I vomit.



Of course, anyone privy to anything knows that the Sith Gym is the Beijing Wushu Academy. And Goddess forbid we ever forget the The Sith Academy!g

Earlier Aunt Tudi and I were on the road when "Procession Toward Learning Land" from XTC's album Mummer came on iGor. Aunt Tudi was all like, "What the hell is that?" And I told her it was one of Andy Partridge's experimental pieces from the early 80s. So we chitchatted about XTC and the Dukes of Stratosphear for a few minutes when Aunt Tudi asks me which I prefer, Barry Andrews' music or Andy Partridge's music.

I told her that I really couldn't compare the two, it's like apples and oranges. But she pressed the issue. Of course, I chose Barry Andrews and, as expected, she said she preferred Andy Partridge's music. It's like I explained to her, though. XTC music is, for the most part, very much on the Jedi side of sound. A lot of their songs, especially from their Pastoral period, are full of hope and religious imagery (Pagan religious, although I don't think Mr. Partridge subscribes to any specific path) and the music itself gives off that groovy, happy, psychedelic vibe. This even more evident in their Dukes of Stratosphear incarnation. Shriekback, on the other hand, touches on a more primal sonic path and, in my opinion, is very Sithly in nature. A lot of the songs tackle darker religious issues, death and transformation, sacrifice, and general bloodymindedness.

I started out with XTC and, as I learned that life is not a giant garden filled with faeries, I converted to Shriekback. So it's weird for me to see Andy and Barry reunited and making music together again. It's like spying Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul at a pub being all chummy and shit. The latest development in all that is unfathomable to me because it's like my happier, less realistic days are merging with my more cynical and darker days, and they're having a party. The mind boggles, or at least mine does.