''The Ocean and the Sun'' is the third album by
experimental rock
Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...
band
The Sound of Animals Fighting
The Sound of Animals Fighting is an American rock supergroup founded by Rich Balling of Rx Bandits. In the band's initial run, they released a trilogy of records between 2004 and 2008, and performed only four live shows, following their seco ...
. The album features only the four core members that had appeared on both the first and second albums: the Nightingale, the Walrus, the Lynx and The Skunk.
The first song, "Intro", is the Persian translation of the English poem "
In the Desert
"In the Desert" is the name given to a poem written by Stephen Crane (1871–1900), published in 1895 as a part of his collection, ''The Black Riders and Other Lines
''The Black Riders and Other Lines'' is a book of poetry written by Ame ...
" by
Stephen Crane
Stephen Crane (November 1, 1871 – June 5, 1900) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism an ...
. The original (English) version of this poem is printed on the inside jacket of the album. It is also read in English on the eleventh track.
The title of the final track, "On the Occasion of Wet Snow", is the title of the second section of
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
's ''
Notes from Underground
''Notes from Underground'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform Russian: ; also translated as ''Notes from the Underground'' or ''Letters from the Underworld'') is a novella by Fyodor Dostoevsky, first published in the journal ''Epoch'' in 1864. ...
''. The second song, "The Ocean and the Sun", features a reading from the
CrimethInc.
CrimethInc., also known as CWC, which stands for either "CrimethInc. Ex-Workers Collective" or "CrimethInc Ex-Workers Ex-Collective", is a decentralized anarchist collective of autonomous cells.
*
*
* CrimethInc. emerged in the mid-1990s, initia ...
book ''
Days of War, Nights of Love''.
The title of the seventh track, "The Heraldic Beak of the Manufacturer's Medallion", is taken from
J. G. Ballard
James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass medi ...
's ''
Crash
Crash or CRASH may refer to:
Common meanings
* Collision, an impact between two or more objects
* Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond
* Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating
* Couch su ...
''.
The album peaked at 141 on the
''Billboard'' 200 and number 2 on the
Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new an ...
chart.
Billboard.com
''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...
/ref>
Track listing
Credits
* Rich Balling
Rich Balling (also known as R. Loren or Rich Loren) is an American musician, producer, and curator. He is best known for being a former member of Rx Bandits. He is also known for his work in Pyramids, The Sound of Animals Fighting, and being t ...
- vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
, executive producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...
* Matthew Embree - guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
, bass, vocals, producer, engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
, mixer
* Christopher Tsagakis
Christopher Tsagakis (born July 27, 1979) is one of the founding members and current drummer for the band Rx Bandits. He is also a member of The Sound of Animals Fighting, with former bandmate Rich Balling, and has an electronic side project ...
- drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
* Anthony Green - vocals
* Matthew Kelly
Matthew Kelly (born David Allan Kelly, 9 May 1950) is an English actor and presenter. Having been trained as a theatre actor, he first came to public prominence as a television presenter of ITV light entertainment shows such as ''Game for a L ...
- featured on "On the Occasion of Wet Snow"
* Adrian, Elaina, and Victoria Benson - kids
* Mark Bush - trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
* Lauren Coleman - vocals/spoken word
Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...
* Jessica McWhirter - vocals
* Newsha Mohajeri - Persian poem
* Charlene Rogers - spoken word on "Ahab"
* Edouard Wlodarczyk - French poem
* Wes Irving - assistant engineer
* David Embree - assistant engineer, co-production on "Uzbekistan"
* Austin Johnson - assistant engineer
* Charles Johnson-Nunez - assistant engineer
* Stephanie Villa - mastering
References
External links
Track By Track guide from The Nightingale on Rockmidgets.com
Epitaph Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ocean and the Sun, The
The Sound of Animals Fighting albums
2008 albums
Epitaph Records albums