Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Vincent Gallo - Honey Bunny CD Single (2001)




Vincent Gallo may be best known as an actor in such cult movies as Buffalo 66 (for which he also served as director and writer), but he's also issued several albums over the years, both as a solo artist and as a member of such obscure outfits as Bohack. Born on April 11, 1962, in Buffalo, NY, Gallo began playing guitar in garage bands during the early '70s, during which time he developed an appreciation of both prog rock and proto-punk bands. Gallo did time in such obscure Buffalo-based outfits as the Blue Mood, Zephyr (no relation to the late-'60s rock band of the same name), and the Plastics, before relocating to New York City at the age of 16, and forming a group with soon-to-be renowned artist Jean Michel Basquiat called Gray. Although the group played regularly at such N.Y.C. hot spots as Max's Kansas City, CBGB's, Hurrahs, and the Mudd Club, the group split up before any recordings could be made. Gallo found himself as part of such further outfits during the early '80s, including the one-man band the Nonsexuals, the rap duo Trouble DeuceUpon the group's split-up shortly thereafter, Gallo turned his back on a musical career, and focused primarily on acting in movies; landing steady work as either an actor, director, or composer. After including several of his own original compositions on 1998's Buffalo 66 soundtrack, Gallo decided to give a musical career another shot, forming the group Bunny with guitarist Lucas Haas. Despite a successful Japanese tour and a debut album completed for Sony (with renowned Yes producer Eddie Offord overseeing the recording), the group split up, resulting in the shelving of the debut's release. After relocating to Los Angeles, Gallo began laying down solo demos at his home recording studio, which attracted the attention of Warp Records. The early 21st century saw the release of such critically acclaimed solo Gallo full-lengths as 2001's When and 2002's Recordings of Music for Film.

Current 93 - Some Soft Black Stars Seen Over London (2002)



The stripped-back Current 93 recorded this super minimal folk-inspired elegy live at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London, April 6 and 7, 2001. Some Soft Black Stars Seen Over Londonconsists of seven tracks composed of little more than David Tibet's spare and pained vocal,Maja Elliott's piano, and splashes of guitar from Michael Cashmore. The mood summons the spirit of the British folk revival's sadder moments in recalling Shirley Collins, Bert Jansch, and the like. The standout track, "The Signs in the Stars," is given two versions, and "A Gothic Love Song" is sufficient evidence that Tibet and company are not entirely humorless. "Whilst the Night Rejoices Profound and Still" alone makes the album worth owning, although the sound can be a little melodramatic at times. (allmusic)

Jacques de Villiers - Sleepsongs (2010)



An album sustaining a consistently hazy and impressionistic mood throughout its various pieces. Originally intended as music to aid one in falling asleep, sleepsongs also rewards more attentive listening. (Last.FM)

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Brian Jonestown Massacre – Who Killed Sgt. Pepper? (A. 2010)



Anton Newcombe's new release will be out on 23/2/2010....
Uneasy electronica, shoegaze, fuzz guitars and traditional instruments will be some of the nice things that this ass-kick album is filled!
This Blog surely loves Anton Newcombe so don't wait a clear (p)reviw into this...
As i written sometimes ago this is the last TRUE ROCK 'N' ROLL band. So love it or hate it... but... can u DIG IT?

Ilyas Ahmed - Goner (Root Strata 2009)



To those well-versed in Ilyas Ahmed’s mysterious, vast, and vigorous discography, the opening guitar phrase of Goner might seem puzzling at first. It’s not puzzling in a “this is strange and bad” sense, but puzzling in a “fresh and right on!” sense. “Earn Your Blood” rips in with heroic guitar-action, summoning the lost Gods of Rock rather than the Esoteric Gods one frequently encounters on journeys through Ahmed’s mythogenic-ontology. "If only," Ahmed must be thinking, "there were some way for these long lost and separated Gods to assemble," and then he unites them. What happens when rock rediscovers its primordial cloak, namely that sole force that can resist the superficiality and banal transparency that would eventually go from being its passing plague to its seemingly immutable second nature? With the opening ofGoner, Ahmed traverses the treacherous space between these two worlds in order to reunite us with the cloak.

The thick electric-action returns throughout the album, but it's especially forceful on the first two tracks. This might seem like a sharp departure from the acoustic journey of Through The Night or Century Of Moonlight’s temple-bound sage-wanderings, but considering Ahmed’s discography as a whole, these heavier elements were always lurking underneath, anticipating the perfect moment for disclosure. On 2008’s The Vertigo of Dawn, he merges a raga-rock feeling on tracks like “Under The Singing Sea” in such a way that a terrifyingly profound darkness rumbles perfectly alongside the most intense meditative and spirit-summoning passages. With Goner, Ahmed has made his best attempt thus far at expressing the struggle between the many forces at work within his thought and aesthetic. The album embodies and exemplifies not just the eternal battle between opposed spiritual forces out in the world, but the battle between the aesthetical worlds that have motivated Ahmed’s music.

The new electricity and production modes, however, do nothing to disrupt the organic feeling that pulses through Ahmed’s worlds. The percussion, a bass drum and tambourine, remain bravely minimal while simultaneously pushing the traveler along with a determined fury. On “Enter A Shadow,” the drum seductively builds up the suicide trance, luring the listener into the shadow-world hidden inside the empirical world of things. The gone-ness might be a death-ness. The ultimate journey Ahmed has invited us on is obscure. The haunted ghost-vocals that narrate the transitions provide us little to hold onto other than some sort of mesmerizing terror that signifies the spiritual and emotive seriousness of the story without providing us the content of the story itself. But Goner calls forth images of a furious sea rather than a dry desert. Our hero seems to be confronting a life-threatening storm, with waves constantly toppling an already insufficient mode of flotation, rather than dragging himself across fiery sands. It’s as if the traveler has already made her way to the end of land, faced the dizziness of night, and must now set out from there to whatever is next, compelled to go further despite the lack of knowledge about where and what. There is danger and a destination, but it is not clear what they are.

With the arrival of “Exit Twilight,” Ahmed’s fleeting whispers vanish, replaced by the angelic, soothing voice of Grouper’s Liz Harris. Harris offers a moment of tranquil completion after the vehemence of Goner’s mission. The fulfillment of this task, however, does not signal the arrival of a celebration. The mood is solemn, perhaps devout, as the world gradually disappears completely. And with the dissolution of one world, Ahmed establishes for himself a new task: to return from total darkness and to construct a new one. Until then, the listener must think of the possibility of the new world.

1. Earn Your Blood
2. Love After Love
3. Some of None
4. Enter a Shadow
5. Out Again
6. As Another
7. Two Breaths
8. Exit Twilight


Download

Συνέντευξη Ηλίας (Sun Of Nothing)

Οι Sun of Nothing είναι μεγάλο ντέρτι. Μεγάλο φετίχ. Εντάξει παιδάκια; Εντάξει θα λέτε. Και επειδή το τελευταίο album που βγάλανε, εκτός από ΜΟΥΣΙΚΑΡΑ, είχε και ένα τίτλο "In the weak and the wounded" και ΣΤΙΧΑΡΕΣ, είπα να ενοχλήσω τον τραγουδιστή/συνονόματο ΗΛΙΑ, με μερικές ερωτησούλες, πρώτα για τη δικιά μου φάση, και μετά για τη δικιά σας. Απολαύστε, διότι ο τύπος λέει ό,τι του βγαίνει χωρίς να τον νοιάζει μία.



1) Πες μου, σαν Ηλίας, ποιες είναι οι αντιδράσεις σου στο οτιδήποτε γενικά, για να γράφεις.
-Για να γράφω. Ό,τι μου δίνει στα νεύρα, ό,τι αισθάνομαι και θεωρω ότι μου τη δίνει και είμαι εναντίων, τότε θα έχει θέση για να το αντιμετωπίσω μέσω κάποιου είδους γραφής. Είτε είναι στίχος είτε κάποιο κέιμενο που θα κρατήσω στο συρτάρι είτε κάτι που θα ζωγραφίσω. Πάντως το πιστεύεις ή όχι μ'αρέσει να γράφω και για τις ωραίες φάσεις της ζωής. Για το φως στην άκρη του τούνελ που υπάρχει και για το ότι κατά βάθος είμαι αισιόδοξος τύπος και δε θέλω να φτάνω στα άκρα με τις καταστάσεις. Βέβαια και αυτοί οι στίχοι της ωδής προς τη ζωή παρουσιάζονται συμβολικά πάντα.

2)Ένας λόγος για τον οποίον αισθανόμουνα respect είναι οι στίχοι. Τα αλκόλια. Το κατανοώ. Πες μου, πόσο βοηθάνε τα αλκόλια σε οτιδήποτε άλλο για στίχους στη μπάντα σας, αδερφέ.
-Κοίτα να δεις γενικότερα το να έχεις πιει μια δυο μπυρίτσες ή κανα δυό ουισκάκια βοηθάει την φάση στην πρόβα ας πούμε. Ζεσταίνεσαι, αντιμετωπίζεις αλλιώς το κομμάτι κάπως
(σημείωση Ηλία από blog: έχει ΜΕΓΑΛΟ ΔΙΚΙΟ ο συνονόματος). Και στα live ισχύει το ίδιο. Πλέον, βέβαια, θέλω να παραμένω σε λογικά πλαίσια γιατί αρκετές μαλακίες έχω κάνει στο παρελθόν και είναι καλό να έχω ένα μέτρο στη ζωή μου. Για μένα, καταλαβαίνεις τι εννοώ. Σίγουρα πάντως, το να πίνεις 2-3 ποτά με φίλους σου, πάνω απ'όλα, δυναμώνει και τις διαπροσωπικές σχέσεις. Χαχαχα!

3)Σαν Sun of Nothing, όταν ξεκινήσατε τι ήλπιζες; Τι είχες στο νου σου;
-Όταν ξεκινήσαμε να παίζουμε δεν ήλπιζα τίποτα. Ήλπιζα να μπορέσω να καταστρέψω αυτό το κόσμο που με πειράζει από τα θεμέλιά του. Να καούν όλοι γιατί όλα ήταν χωρίς νόημα. Ήλπιζα να δημιουργηθεί μια μεγάλη καταστροφική τρύπα, να τα πάρει όλα μέσα. Και να ξαναξεκινήσουν όλα από την αρχή. Πράγμα που, βέβαια, δεν έγινε. Να βγάλουμε τα σκατά που μας ενοχλούν, από το μυαλό μας.

4)Πόσο βοηθάει η ναρκωολο(ή άμα θέτε, αλκοοναρκω)κατάχρηση, στους στίχους σου;
-Δε θα το παίξω My Dying Bride αλλά ως μια ορισμένη φάση βοηθάει λίγο. Βέβαια όταν τη ξεπεράσεις γράφεις μαλακίες που τα διαβάζεις την άλλη μέρα και λες, "τι μαλακίες γράφω, εδώ και εδώ και εδώ, χαχχα!". Πάντως πιστεύω ότι μερικούς από τους στίχους που μου αρέσουν πραγματικά τους έχω γράψει ξεμέθυστος, χωρίς drugs, μόνο με τη ψυχή μου. Γενικά είναι λίγο δίκοπο μαχαίρι το όλο θέμα. Το ότι μπορείς να νιώσεις και να καταλάβεις τη φάση που βρίσκομαι όταν κάνω αυτό που κάνω, πιστεύω ότι είναι το πιο ωραίο, γαμάτο, ικανοποιητικό πράμα που μπορεί να πάρει ένας μουσικός από έναν που ακούει και μαραζώνει μαζί του. Πραγματικά είναι ένα μαγικό πράγμα που δε νομίζω να το κατανοούν πολλοί.

5)Πες μας πώς θεωρείς ότι θα βρίσκεσαι με Sun of Nothing, τα χρόνια που θα'ρθουν; Χωρίς ντροπή.
-Πραγματικά δε ξέρω. Ξέρω σίγουρα ότι η ζωή είναι γεμάτη εκπλήξεις και ποτέ δε μπορείς να είσαι σίγουρος για τίποτα. Ελπίζω να είμαστε όλοι καλά, να έχουμε υγεία και να μπορούμε να παίζουμε μουσική μαζί. Όλα τα άλλα δεν είναι θέμα τόσο πολύ προώθησης μιας μπάντας, όσο του ότι ποτέ δενξέρεις τι σου επιφυλάσσει η μοίρα για το μέλλον. Πρόκειται για ένα παιχνίδι αγνώστων δυνάμεων που κινούνται με βάση το τι θέλουν αυτές. Ελπίζω να κατάλαβες.

6)Κανένα spoiler για το νέο album; Άμα θες;
-Προς το παρόν δεν υπάρχει κάτι έτοιμο ακόμα. Σε φάση vide-άκι με τραγούδι και τέτοια. Θα δείξει. Πάντως είναι στις δυνατότητές μας και άμα θέλουμε να κάνουμε κάτι έχουμε τους κατάλληλους ανθρώπους για να βοηθήσουν


*Εσείς πάντως, άμα γουστάρετε (που γουστάρετε), τσεκάρετε εδώ:
www.myspace.com/sunofnothing

thanks to And the third Angel Farted for posting this

Monday, January 18, 2010

Bush Tetras - Boom in the Night (Reachout International Records 2003)



Twenty years after they were recorded, this release compiles the Tetras studio recording from 1980 to 1983. Everything from previously posted
Rituals & much more.

Year of Release: 2003
Label: ROIR (Reachout International Records) RUSLP 8218
Genre: No-Wave Dance

Tracklist:
Side 1 -
Cowboys in Africa
Things that Go Boom in the Night
You Can't Be Funky
Snakes Crawl
Rituals
Moonlite
Das ah Riot
Side 2 -
You Taste Like the Tropics
Too Many Creeps
Dum Dum
Stand Up & Fight
Who's Gonna Pay
It's so Weird
Funky (Instrumental)

Friday, January 15, 2010

Jack Rose - Luck In The Valley (Thrill Jockey 2010)



A native of Virginia and resident of Philadelphia since 1998, Jack Rose first rose to prominence with the drone/noise/folk unit, Pelt. Pelt can be counted among the early influential new music underground bands such as UN, No Neck Blues Band, Charalambides, Tower Recordings and Six Organs of Admittance. Rose recorded and toured with the band up until 2006. Rose released his first solo LP in 2002, "Red Horse, White Mule", of post-Takoma, American primitive guitar. Along with the influences of John Fahey and Robbie Basho, Rose also incorporated North Indian classical, early American blues, bluegrass and minimalism into his singular style. 2005 saw the release of his fourth LP, "Kensington Blues", which incorporated all of the aforementioned influences and his playing/composing fully flowered. That LP is now considered a classic of contemporary guitar music.

In 2008 and 2009 Rose released "Dr. Ragtime and Pals" and "Jack Rose and the Black Twig Pickers" respectively. Those recordings featured many additional players like Glenn Jones, Micah Smaldone, Harmonica Dan and the Black Twig Pickers. The songs drew heavily on pre-war influences, either written by Rose or were his arrangements of early American classics. "Luck in the Valley " will be the third album in this set of recordings that Rose jokingly refers to as his "Ditch Trilogy". Rose continues his exploration of pre-war American music with a set brand new material featuring the Twigs, Jones, Harmonica Dan and Hans Chew along with a handful of solo pieces. This recording set out to capture the energy and feel of the classic three-track shack recordings by the Wray Brothers and Mordicai Jones. "Luck In The Valley" was written and recorded over a period of nine months off the road, an unusually long time for Rose to be at home and woodshedding. The album finds Rose employing new themes and techniques that haven't appeared on previous releases.

Like all pre-war recordings and all of Rose's releases, this album was recorded live. It was not created using overdubs but rather by recording a few "takes" and selecting the best performance out of those. Rose stated, "I wanted the songs to have an immediacy and spontaneity as they were being recorded. All the musicians chosen for the record know how to play the songs without overworking the material, but at the same time creating memorable accompaniments on the spot." Several of the songs are in fact the first takes like “Blues for Percy Danforth”, “Lick Mountain Ramble” and "Woodpiles on the Side of the Road". Also Included in the set are three covers: “St. Louis Blues”, “Everybody Ought to Pray Sometime” and “West Coast Blues”. All of these pre-war classics are Rose’s unique arrangements.

The album title refers to the old red light section of St. Louis and was a code for procuring the services of a prostitute. Says Rose "I read about it on some liner notes to a reissue of pre-war St. Louis recordings and I liked the ring of it." An avid record collector with an encyclopedic knowledge of pre-war American music, Rose has been acknowledged as a rising star among contemporary guitar players. "Luck in the Valley" finds Rose at his best surrounded by like-minded friends on a recording that is enriched by a sense of history but entirely new, vibrant and warm. (Thrill Jokey)


download

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Συνέντευξη Ηλίας (SUN OF NOTHING)

Οι Sun of Nothing είναι μεγάλο ντέρτι. Μεγάλο φετίχ. Εντάξει παιδάκια; Εντάξει θα λέτε. Και επειδή το τελευταίο album που βγάλανε, εκτός από ΜΟΥΣΙΚΑΡΑ, είχε και ένα τίτλο "In the weak and the wounded" και ΣΤΙΧΑΡΕΣ, είπα να ενοχλήσω τον τραγουδιστή/συνονόματο ΗΛΙΑ, με μερικές ερωτησούλες, πρώτα για τη δικιά μου φάση, και μετά για τη δικιά σας. Απολαύστε, διότι ο τύπος λέει ό,τι του βγαίνει χωρίς να τον νοιάζει μία.



1) Πες μου, σαν Ηλίας, ποιες είναι οι αντιδράσεις σου στο οτιδήποτε γενικά, για να γράφεις.
-Για να γράφω. Ό,τι μου δίνει στα νεύρα, ό,τι αισθάνομαι και θεωρω ότι μου τη δίνει και είμαι εναντίων, τότε θα έχει θέση για να το αντιμετωπίσω μέσω κάποιου είδους γραφής. Είτε είναι στίχος είτε κάποιο κέιμενο που θα κρατήσω στο συρτάρι είτε κάτι που θα ζωγραφίσω. Πάντως το πιστεύεις ή όχι μ'αρέσει να γράφω και για τις ωραίες φάσεις της ζωής. Για το φως στην άκρη του τούνελ που υπάρχει και για το ότι κατά βάθος είμαι αισιόδοξος τύπος και δε θέλω να φτάνω στα άκρα με τις καταστάσεις. Βέβαια και αυτοί οι στίχοι της ωδής προς τη ζωή παρουσιάζονται συμβολικά πάντα.

2)Ένας λόγος για τον οποίον αισθανόμουνα respect είναι οι στίχοι. Τα αλκόλια. Το κατανοώ. Πες μου, πόσο βοηθάνε τα αλκόλια σε οτιδήποτε άλλο για στίχους στη μπάντα σας, αδερφέ.
-Κοίτα να δεις γενικότερα το να έχεις πιει μια δυο μπυρίτσες ή κανα δυό ουισκάκια βοηθάει την φάση στην πρόβα ας πούμε. Ζεσταίνεσαι, αντιμετωπίζεις αλλιώς το κομμάτι κάπως (σημείωση Ηλία από blog: έχει ΜΕΓΑΛΟ ΔΙΚΙΟ ο συνονόματος). Και στα live ισχύει το ίδιο. Πλέον, βέβαια, θέλω να παραμένω σε λογικά πλαίσια γιατί αρκετές μαλακίες έχω κάνει στο παρελθόν και είναι καλό να έχω ένα μέτρο στη ζωή μου. Για μένα, καταλαβαίνεις τι εννοώ. Σίγουρα πάντως, το να πίνεις 2-3 ποτά με φίλους σου, πάνω απ'όλα, δυναμώνει και τις διαπροσωπικές σχέσεις. Χαχαχα!

3)Σαν Sun of Nothing, όταν ξεκινήσατε τι ήλπιζες; Τι είχες στο νου σου;
-Όταν ξεκινήσαμε να παίζουμε δεν ήλπιζα τίποτα. Ήλπιζα να μπορέσω να καταστρέψω αυτό το κόσμο που με πειράζει από τα θεμέλιά του. Να καούν όλοι γιατί όλα ήταν χωρίς νόημα. Ήλπιζα να δημιουργηθεί μια μεγάλη καταστροφική τρύπα, να τα πάρει όλα μέσα. Και να ξαναξεκινήσουν όλα από την αρχή. Πράγμα που, βέβαια, δεν έγινε. Να βγάλουμε τα σκατά που μας ενοχλούν, από το μυαλό μας.

4)Πόσο βοηθάει η ναρκωολο(ή άμα θέτε, αλκοοναρκω)κατάχρηση, στους στίχους σου;
-Δε θα το παίξω My Dying Bride αλλά ως μια ορισμένη φάση βοηθάει λίγο. Βέβαια όταν τη ξεπεράσεις γράφεις μαλακίες που τα διαβάζεις την άλλη μέρα και λες, "τι μαλακίες γράφω, εδώ και εδώ και εδώ, χαχχα!". Πάντως πιστεύω ότι μερικούς από τους στίχους που μου αρέσουν πραγματικά τους έχω γράψει ξεμέθυστος, χωρίς drugs, μόνο με τη ψυχή μου. Γενικά είναι λίγο δίκοπο μαχαίρι το όλο θέμα. Το ότι μπορείς να νιώσεις και να καταλάβεις τη φάση που βρίσκομαι όταν κάνω αυτό που κάνω, πιστεύω ότι είναι το πιο ωραίο, γαμάτο, ικανοποιητικό πράμα που μπορεί να πάρει ένας μουσικός από έναν που ακούει και μαραζώνει μαζί του. Πραγματικά είναι ένα μαγικό πράγμα που δε νομίζω να το κατανοούν πολλοί.

5)Πες μας πώς θεωρείς ότι θα βρίσκεσαι με Sun of Nothing, τα χρόνια που θα'ρθουν; Χωρίς ντροπή.
-Πραγματικά δε ξέρω. Ξέρω σίγουρα ότι η ζωή είναι γεμάτη εκπλήξεις και ποτέ δε μπορείς να είσαι σίγουρος για τίποτα. Ελπίζω να είμαστε όλοι καλά, να έχουμε υγεία και να μπορούμε να παίζουμε μουσική μαζί. Όλα τα άλλα δεν είναι θέμα τόσο πολύ προώθησης μιας μπάντας, όσο του ότι ποτέ δενξέρεις τι σου επιφυλάσσει η μοίρα για το μέλλον. Πρόκειται για ένα παιχνίδι αγνώστων δυνάμεων που κινούνται με βάση το τι θέλουν αυτές. Ελπίζω να κατάλαβες.

6)Κανένα spoiler για το νέο album; Άμα θες;
-Προς το παρόν δεν υπάρχει κάτι έτοιμο ακόμα. Σε φάση vide-άκι με τραγούδι και τέτοια. Θα δείξει. Πάντως είναι στις δυνατότητές μας και άμα θέλουμε να κάνουμε κάτι έχουμε τους κατάλληλους ανθρώπους για να βοηθήσουν


*Εσείς πάντως, άμα γουστάρετε (που γουστάρετε), τσεκάρετε εδώ:
www.myspace.com/sunofnothing

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Anthology Of Dutch Electronic Tape Music Vol.1 (1955-1966)


Followers of the Basta label's releases will know exactly what sort of standard to expect from this first installment of theirAnthology Of Dutch Electronic Tape Music Vol.1 (1955-1966).

From the label that reintroduced the world to the works of
Dick Raijmakers and his fellow pioneers of early Dutch electronic music - not to mention the madcap inventions of Raymond Scott - comes another indispensable piece of musical archeology. The kind of sonic invention here is truly something to be marvelled at, with pieces like Axel Meijer's "Werkstuk 1964" and Ton De Leeuw's "Antiphonie" (1960) leaving a particular impression thanks to their enduringly apparent innovation and timeless compositional elegance.

Just like
OHM (reupped !) - it's a pretty incredible overview of early experimental electronic music. Anyone interested in the various strands of electronic music's history would do well to investigate the material gathered here, because it fills in yet another gap in the increasingly well documented story of electroacoustic music's evolution. Very highly recommended.

Originally released as a limited edition double LP in the late 1970s.

Download

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra - Kollaps Tradixionales (Constellation Records 2010)



Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra (SMZ) returns with its sixth full-length recording and first since the band's line-up change in summer 2008. Following a debut performance as a quintet at All Tomorrow's Parties in upstate NY, the band embarked on an extensive European tour through the fall of 2008 and entered the studio during winter in Montreal. As Kollaps Tradixionalesdemonstrates, the band has lost none of its raw and frazzled anthemic power and continues to forge bold new ground in its search for a unique hybrid of punk, blues, psych, folk and modern orchestral idioms. Driven by the fried electric guitar, plangent voice and devastating lyrical conjurings of Efrim Menuck (previously co-founder of Godspeed You! Black Emperor), Kollaps Tradixionales is one of the band's strongest and most dynamic albums. Songs of complex, desperate and thorny hope.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Om / Lichens / Sun Of Nothing (An Club 7 / 2 / 2010)


so...what is more to say?

Midlake - The Courage Of Others (Bella Union 2010)

thubmnail icon: Midlake The Courage Of Others Revealed

Three years ago, Midlake released The Trials Of Van Occupanther, a sweetly harmonized, intimately rocking sophomore album that took them far away from their native Denton, TX, placing them on big tours and year-end lists and the like. This third album's taken time, by design. As they told Jessica in their Progress Report, "We didn't know exactly what we wanted, but we know we didn't want to make the same album as last time. We could have made 10 albums with the amount of time we've spent, but that doesn't mean they'd be saying anything great." Instead they committed to 40-hour work weeks in order to move away from the last record's "Fleetwood Mac-y America" with a shift toward, at least in part, "British folk scene of late '60s stuff." The set finally has a release date -- 2/2 via Bella Union in the States, and the day before in the UK -- and an official title in The Courage Of Others. That's its art above, here's a tracklist and the first few dates of a tour that will take the quintet well through 2010:

01 "Acts Of Man"
02 "Winter Dies"
03 "Small Mountain"
04 "Core Of Nature"
05 "Fortune"
06 "Rulers, Ruling All Things"
07 "Children Of The Grounds"
08 "Bring Down"
09 "The Horn"
10 "The Courage Of Others"
11 "In The Ground"

On tour:
01/05 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
01/06 Tallahassee, FL @ Engine Room
01/07 Orlando, FL @ The Social
01/08 St. Augustine, FL @ Cafe Eleven
01/09 Mt. Pleasant, SC @ Village Tavern
01/10 Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle
01/11 Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone
01/12 Little Rock, AR @ Rev Room
01/22 Newcastle, England @ The Cluny
01/23 Leicester, England @ The Musician
01/24 Cambridge, England @ Junction2
01/27 Norwich, England @ Arts Centre
01/28 London, England @ Tabernacle

taken from Stereogum


Link removed by request

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Iannis Xenakis - Persepolis + Remixes Edition 1




I found this one somewhere on the web some time ago. This is a 2-CD release with a recording of "Persepolis" on the first disc and the second disk contains remixes (or interpretations) by some of the biggest names and the cream-of-the-crop in contemporary experimental sound art.


Also found on the web are the information and background of "Persepolis":

In 1971, former Iranian dictator Muhammad Reza Shah hosted a lavish and highly choreographed event amidst the ruins of the ancient Persian capital of Persepolis in order to celebrate the 2500th anniversary of Iran's founding by Cyrus The Great. This commemoration of modern Iran's beginnings was part of the Shah's own struggle with the country's increasingly politicized Shi'ite Muslim clerics, led by the late Ayatollah Khomeini, to secularize Iran. Declaring himself to be heir to Cyrus' legacy, the Shah presided over a cast of 6,200 vintage Persian costume-wearing vassals in an outlandish ceremony affirming the Shah's own interpretation of Iranian history, one which paid little deference to Islam.


The third annual Shiraz arts festival was held that same year at Persepolis. In keeping with the 2500th national anniversary celebrations, the Shah commissioned Greek composer and computer music pioneer Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) to write a piece of music exalting ancient Persia's aristocratic pre-Islamic religious culture. Selecting Xenakis to author such a work could not have been more symbolically appropriate. A central figure in the development of computer composition, this half-blind former architect, WWII resistance fighter and associate of Le Corbusier evolved a new approach to music, most notably one that employed mathematical probability functions as a compositional methodology.


Titled Persepolis, in honor of the location in which it was to be performed, Xenakis composed a fifty-six minute, eight-track tape piece of musique concrète for the occasion. A noisy, apocalyptic-sounding work distinguished by rising waves of intensity, Persepolis' debut must have been quite an experience for those lucky enough to be in attendance. Persepolis takes on an even greater significance when listened to as a musical work whose purpose was to serve a failed secularist ideology overtaken less than a decade later by a fundamentalist Islamic revolution.


Tracklisting:


Disc 1


1. Persepolis GRM Mix {60:43}


Disc 2

1. Persepolis (remix by Otomo Yoshihide) {9:21}


2. Persepolis (remix titled Per Se by Ryoji Ikeda) {8:36}


3. Persepolis (remix titled Doing By Not Doing by Zbigniew Karkowski) {15:13}


4. Persepolis (remix by Antimatter) {10:00}


5. Persepolis (remix titled Glitche by Construction Kit) {5:00}


6. Persepolis (remix titled Untitled 113 for Iannis Xenakis by Francisco Lopez) {10:05}


7. Persepolis (remix titled Whorl by Laminar) {7:06}


8. Persepolis (remix by Merzbow) {7:01}


9. Persepolis (remix by Ulf Langheinrich) {7:34}

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Uncredited Artist - Turquie -Turkey


In Turkey, which lies between East and West, the Arab tradition has not only been maintained, but it has also been transformed, enriched, and influenced. This compact disc takes the listener on a journey to the heart of Turkish folk music, ith such instruments as the deblek (single-headed goblet drum), the davul (large double-headed cylindrical drum), the zurna (folk oboe), the ud (Arab lute), the kanun (plucked box zither) and the violin. (from the back cover)

Tracklisting:


1. Chant d'Istanbul {10:55}

violin, clarinet, deblek, ud, tambourine

2. Variations sur un kanun {10:35}

kanun, violin, darbouka

3. Danses villageoises {5:53}

zurna, davul

4. Selection de chants turcs {27:06}
violin, clarinet, deblek, ud, tambourine

Download
violin, clarinet, deblek, ud, tambourine

Radu Malfatti & Klaus Filip - Imaoto (2009)




This is probably the most beautiful Radu Malfatti’s trombone has ever sounded on a recording. It is deep but not heavy, attaining, in Christoph Amann’s studio, a very personal, nearly vocal presence. Klaus Filip works miracles of intuition with his sine tones, seemingly knowing the precise harmonic answer even before the question is asked. The two are exploring a world of hidden contours and curves, quietly, step-by-step; never hurried, never tedious.