GARY NOLAND
ROYAL OILWORKS MUSIC
INSURRECTION OF THE OFFICE SLAVES
SERIAL LULLABY
& other Boobus Amerikana
Notes by Gary Noland
* * *
1. Prelude in E Minor for harpsichord (Op. 34) (1979, rev. 1993)
I composed this piece while an undergraduate at U.C. Berkeley at a time when it was illegal and immoral to write music in keys.
2. Serial Lullaby (Op. 80, No. 1) (2005)
This piece, on the other hand, is more zeitgeisty than the prelude. It is an example of the type of crude cacophony with which the majority of today’s parents lull their children to sleep. It is recommended listening for your napping infants if you want to raise them to become serial killers. If you don’t, then play them Brahms instead!
3. Spray Taint (Op. 80, No. 2) (2005)
Golden Arches at Taj Mahal … Graffiti in the Sistine Chapel … Mustaches on the Mona Lisa … and so on. It’s that time of the year to clean out the snobwebs and do a little spray-tainting!
4. Dog Duo (Op. 66) (2002)
This work is scored for clarinet & bassoon as well as for viola & cello. The current version, however, features alien robo-dogs from the planet Zorchgevunk.
5. Ragbones for piano (Op. 11) (1977, rev. 1988)
This is an undergraduate work that underwent significant structural renovations in its revised version. It is dedicated to pianist Mark Lutton, who premiered it at Harvard’s Paine Hall in 1988.
6. Grey Malignant Banks (Op. 80, No. 3) (2005)
A reference to the river Styx. Also, the title of the fifty-second chapter of my chamber novel Venge Art, in which a shady emissary called Percival Platypus discovers, to his alarm, that he is unable to retrace his footsteps out of a labyrinthine sewer system. Wading ever deeper into stinking cesspools in the hopes of finding an exit, he eventually drowns. More topically, the title alludes to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
7. My Babe’s Gone Down to Do Her Glue (Op. 80, No. 4) (2005)
This work is based on a poem of mine from the eighth fascicle of Venge Art. The setting is Pimpleton, New “Joysey,†which has been “grimmortalized†in a “slopular ditty†(a “rap schlong of snortsâ€), the text of which follows:
The billy goats are stalkin’ past the curfew
For laced-mutton, floozies ‘n’ fast-fannies.
Nanny goats are talkin’ bombastic. Holy Barbecue:
Spewing pungent fumes of black-eyed peas
‘N’ hamhocks, hawkin’ vast green balls of cheese-
Like phlegm, spumes of ammoniac insecticide,
Blotting out the bumble-bees ‘n’ blood-suckin’ skeeters,
Drawing burly divas an’ horny hotdog queens
Track List:
1. Prelude in E Minor for harpsichord (Op. 34)
2. Serial Lullaby (Op. 80, No. 1)
3. Spray Taint (Op. 80, No. 2)
4. Dog Duo (Op. 66)
5. Ragbones for piano (Op. 11)
6. Grey Malignant Banks (Op. 80, No. 3)
7. My Babe's Gone Down to Do Her Glue (Op. 80, No. 4)
8. Royal Oilworks Music (Op. 80, No. 5)
9. Prelude & Zootrot for piano (Op. 22)
10. Something Rotten (Op. 80, No. 6)
11. Music is Dead for SATB (Op. 53)
12. Dreadmill (Op. 37)
13. Deformed Fugue for harpsichord (Op. 17)
14. Insurrection of the Office Slaves (Op. 80, No. 7)
15. Psycho-Bacchanal (Op. 80, No. 8)
Other Genres:
ROYAL OILWORKS MUSIC
INSURRECTION OF THE OFFICE SLAVES
SERIAL LULLABY
& other Boobus Amerikana
Notes by Gary Noland
* * *
1. Prelude in E Minor for harpsichord (Op. 34) (1979, rev. 1993)
I composed this piece while an undergraduate at U.C. Berkeley at a time when it was illegal and immoral to write music in keys.
2. Serial Lullaby (Op. 80, No. 1) (2005)
This piece, on the other hand, is more zeitgeisty than the prelude. It is an example of the type of crude cacophony with which the majority of today’s parents lull their children to sleep. It is recommended listening for your napping infants if you want to raise them to become serial killers. If you don’t, then play them Brahms instead!
3. Spray Taint (Op. 80, No. 2) (2005)
Golden Arches at Taj Mahal … Graffiti in the Sistine Chapel … Mustaches on the Mona Lisa … and so on. It’s that time of the year to clean out the snobwebs and do a little spray-tainting!
4. Dog Duo (Op. 66) (2002)
This work is scored for clarinet & bassoon as well as for viola & cello. The current version, however, features alien robo-dogs from the planet Zorchgevunk.
5. Ragbones for piano (Op. 11) (1977, rev. 1988)
This is an undergraduate work that underwent significant structural renovations in its revised version. It is dedicated to pianist Mark Lutton, who premiered it at Harvard’s Paine Hall in 1988.
6. Grey Malignant Banks (Op. 80, No. 3) (2005)
A reference to the river Styx. Also, the title of the fifty-second chapter of my chamber novel Venge Art, in which a shady emissary called Percival Platypus discovers, to his alarm, that he is unable to retrace his footsteps out of a labyrinthine sewer system. Wading ever deeper into stinking cesspools in the hopes of finding an exit, he eventually drowns. More topically, the title alludes to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
7. My Babe’s Gone Down to Do Her Glue (Op. 80, No. 4) (2005)
This work is based on a poem of mine from the eighth fascicle of Venge Art. The setting is Pimpleton, New “Joysey,†which has been “grimmortalized†in a “slopular ditty†(a “rap schlong of snortsâ€), the text of which follows:
The billy goats are stalkin’ past the curfew
For laced-mutton, floozies ‘n’ fast-fannies.
Nanny goats are talkin’ bombastic. Holy Barbecue:
Spewing pungent fumes of black-eyed peas
‘N’ hamhocks, hawkin’ vast green balls of cheese-
Like phlegm, spumes of ammoniac insecticide,
Blotting out the bumble-bees ‘n’ blood-suckin’ skeeters,
Drawing burly divas an’ horny hotdog queens
Track List:
1. Prelude in E Minor for harpsichord (Op. 34)
2. Serial Lullaby (Op. 80, No. 1)
3. Spray Taint (Op. 80, No. 2)
4. Dog Duo (Op. 66)
5. Ragbones for piano (Op. 11)
6. Grey Malignant Banks (Op. 80, No. 3)
7. My Babe's Gone Down to Do Her Glue (Op. 80, No. 4)
8. Royal Oilworks Music (Op. 80, No. 5)
9. Prelude & Zootrot for piano (Op. 22)
10. Something Rotten (Op. 80, No. 6)
11. Music is Dead for SATB (Op. 53)
12. Dreadmill (Op. 37)
13. Deformed Fugue for harpsichord (Op. 17)
14. Insurrection of the Office Slaves (Op. 80, No. 7)
15. Psycho-Bacchanal (Op. 80, No. 8)
Other Genres:
- CLASSICAL: Contemporary
- JAZZ: Weird Jazz
- TYPE: EXPERIMENTAL