Said the Guests: Irina Troitskaya
by Sean
Please note: MP3s are only kept online for a short time, and if this entry is from more than a couple of weeks ago, the music probably won't be available to download any more.
If I lived in Russia, I would probably be a thief. Only - and I do mean this, only - because if I were sitting beside Irina Troitskaya on the Moscow subway, I suspect I would be unable to halt my compulsion to "borrow" one of her moleskine notebooks. For more than a year I've been watching them fill up on her flickr stream, and today the Russia I imagine is inhabited with her creations: full of feathers, light, animals and melancholy. The only thing that would stop me from nicking her creations is the knowledge that I'm already carrying them around with me, rolling like marbles in my head, or pressed into the back of my eyes like block-cuts.
I invited Irina to choose three favourite songs, and to make pictures for them. Here they are. I think you'll be as smitten as I was. Please tell her what you think.
Antony and the Johnsons - "Bird Gurl"
Irina Troitskaya - "Bird Gurl" (click for full size)
(buy I Am A Bird Now)
The Decemberists - "The Crane Wife 1 and 2"
Irina Troitskaya - "The Crane Wife" (click for full size)
(buy the Decemberists' Crane Wife)
Leonid Fedorov - "The Lamp"
Irina Troitskaya - "Red Lamp" (click for full size)
(more Fedorov)
[Irina Troitskaya was born and raised in Izhevsk, Russia - city of dead ends, sad electronic music and Finno-Ugric cultural roots. Her love of drawing led her to the Udmurt State University, where she studied arts for about five years. But it gave her nothing but weariness. For the first time in her life, drawing became an abhorrence. On graduating from university Irina quit drawing and worked for a couple of years as a TV journalist. She was a presenter of TV programs about artists and the culture of her native city. In the summer of 2003 she decided it was time for a change, packed up, and took a chance in Moscow. Since then she works and resides in the capital of Russia. She is a free-lance illustrator by day and an artist by night. "Life's too short to be someone you don't want to." (homepage, flickr)]
(Previous guest-blogs: artist Eleanor Meredith, artist Keith Greiman, artist Matthew Feyld, The Weakerthans, Parenthetical Girls, artist Daria Tessler, Clem Snide, Marcello Carlin, Beirut, Jonathan Lethem, Will Butler (Arcade Fire), Al Kratina, Eugene Mirman, artist Dave Bailey, Agent Simple, artist Keith Andrew Shore, Owen Ashworth (Casiotone for the Painfully Alone), artist Kit Malo with Alden Penner (The Unicorns) 1 2, artist Rachell Sumpter, artist Katy Horan 1 2, David Barclay (The Diskettes), artist Drew Heffron, Carl Wilson, artist Tim Moore, Michael Nau (Page France), Devin Davis, Will Sheff (Okkervil River), Edward Droste (Grizzly Bear), Hello Saferide, Damon Krukowski (Damon & Naomi), Brian Michael Roff, Howard Bilerman (producer: Silver Mt. Zion, Arcade Fire, etc.). There are many more to come.)
Posted by Sean at March 21, 2007 8:24 AM
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about said the gramophone
This is a daily sampler of really good songs. All tracks are posted out of love. Please go out and buy the records.
To hear a song in your browser, click the and it will begin playing. All songs are also available to download: just right-click the link and choose 'Save as...'
All songs are removed within a few weeks of posting.
Said the Gramophone launched in March 2003, and added songs in November of that year. It was one of the world's first mp3blogs.
If you would like to say hello, find out our mailing addresses or invite us to shows, please get in touch:
Montreal, Canada: Sean
Toronto, Canada: Emma
Montreal, Canada: Jeff
Montreal, Canada: Mitz
Please don't send us emails with tons of huge attachments; if emailing a bunch of mp3s etc, send us a link to download them. We are not interested in streaming widgets like soundcloud: Said the Gramophone posts are always accompanied by MP3s.
If you are the copyright holder of any song posted here, please contact us if you would like the song taken down early. Please do not direct link to any of these tracks. Please love and wonder.
"And I shall watch the ferry-boats / and they'll get high on a bluer ocean / against tomorrow's sky / and I will never grow so old again."
about the authors
Sean Michaels is the founder of Said the Gramophone. He is a writer, critic and author of the theremin novel Us Conductors. Follow him on Twitter or reach him by email here. Click here to browse his posts.
Emma Healey writes poems and essays in Toronto. She joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. This is her website and email her here.
Jeff Miller is a Montreal-based writer and zinemaker. He is the author of Ghost Pine: All Stories True and a bunch of other stories. He joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. Say hello on Twitter or email.
Mitz Takahashi is originally from Osaka, Japan who now lives and works as a furniture designer/maker in Montreal. English is not his first language so please forgive his glamour grammar mistakes. He is trying. He joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. Reach him by email here.
Site design and header typography by Neale McDavitt-Van Fleet. The header graphic is randomized: this one is by Neale McDavitt-Van Fleet.
PAST AUTHORS
Dan Beirne wrote regularly for Said the Gramophone from August 2004 to December 2014. He is an actor and writer living in Toronto. Any claim he makes about his life on here is probably untrue. Click here to browse his posts. Email him here.
Jordan Himelfarb wrote for Said the Gramophone from November 2004 to March 2012. He lives in Toronto. He is an opinion editor at the Toronto Star. Click here to browse his posts. Email him here.
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