Episode 490: SomethingALaMode & Mark Ravenhill

I'm into classical crossover stuff like bond and Maksim, so it's not so surprising that my latest earworm is 'RondoParisiano' by SomethingALaMode. To be fair though, labelling them classical crossover is being reductive. (Their MySpace page describes their music as electro/classical.) Although they're playing string instruments like bond, SomethingALaMode exude more sophistication, right down to the drum loops they employ in their tracks. If you want to be a snob about it, they're making classical music cool without it descending into cheesy club-friendly stuff. Plus Karl Lagerfeld lends his voice to 'RondoParisiano', saying something in French about how fashion and music are alike because they both express the spirit of their times. How much classier can you get than French? Had some time between my Kidz Klub administrative work and practice, so I sat in the Library and read some plays. Yeah, I'm aware of how sad that makes me sound to some people, but hey, it was Mark Ravenhill, so I get some street cred, right? I've basically read every play of his that the Library has. So that's Shopping And Fucking, Faust Is Dead, Handbag, Some Explicit Polaroids, Mother Clap's Molly House, Citizenship, Product, The Cut and Pool (No Water). That's too many to talk about in one post, so I'll just say that on the whole, I really like his work. I'm surprised that Beatrice Chia was actually allowed to stage Shopping And Fucking in Singapore! Handbag shows that Stoppard and myself aren't the only ones who've been thieving from The Importance Of Being Earnest, and does it in a clever way, to my mind at least. Pool (No Water) should be required reading for everyone on my course, just because it's such a searing commentary on the jealousy that success can breed among fellow practitioners.