Strange, but nice, kind of mysterious is this brand new album by Prefuse 73. Trip Hop textures, distant and soft noises, kind of familiar obscurity floating around through this 18 tracks that been tied together by the words “The Only…” which at the beginning of every title from the songs. Sometimes it reminds me of Dead Can Dance, but Prefuse 73 strip down everything to the bone, they are much more electronic and minimalist. Their spacy and atmospheric music have something warm, friendly, intimate, peaceful. And it’s quit charming. It’s kind of release or even caress. On the other hand there’s always some hidden tension in the background which keep our attention focused. It may be a tricky game, but Prefuse 73 play it well. You can leave this one on repeat and it will flows and floats around like the smoke. And once again, this is nice. Read more Prefuse 73 – The Only She Chapters (2011)
Kodjabashia And Foltin – Penelope X (2011)
Nikola Kodjabashia is a London based Macedonian composer, audio artist, producer, electronic wizard, conductor, pianist and virtual instrumentalist. He studied with Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Anatol Vieru, György Kurtág, and Rolf Gehlhaar and he’s the composer of two critically acclaimed albums “The Most of Now” from 2008 and “Reveries of the Solitary Walker” released in 2004. He has scored and conducted music for numerous plays, TV productions & films, and he is a Musical Director and co-founder of The Diesel Orchestra and Meta4 ensemble. Foltin, far as I know, is one of the most important Macedonian bands. Additional contribution for this release comes from the drummer Goce Stevkovsk. Well, “Penelope X” is an exciting, colorful material where jazz and ethno (world) elements grows together and blooming into a powerful, expressive musical experience. Macedonian, gypsy and Klezmer reflexions are merged into jazz and contemporary music constructions, the result once again something particular and very alive. Read more Kodjabashia And Foltin – Penelope X (2011)
John Zorn – Nova Express (2011)
Zorn’s first release for 2011, another piece of the puzzle from his colorful, restless, dynamic and sometimes moody musical world. “Nova Express” is a very intense work where most of Zorn’s previous explorations comes to unite. It contains the depths of the Interzone conspiracy, the lyricism of Zorn’s classical works, the clear-obscure notes of Naked City and the virtuosity showed on the Masada songbooks. It’s an avant-garde journey where jazz and contemporary music collide in the most intense and vibrating way its possible. Dark, gloomy passages are nicely colored with subtle jazz interventions or expressive explosions of improvisations. “Nova Express” is a groovy and exciting collection of modern chamber music filled with beautiful details and dramatic passions, another borderless intercourse in the mystical and vibrating world of Zorn where every single note is worth at least a picture and together opens the window to another universe of deep shadows and bright lights, its the pure dancing poetry of a forgotten ancient world or just the shapes of things to come. This record have an incredible groove, the abstract trips and the sharp cuts of intense passages are overlapping and shifting each other incredibly fluently in a perfect balance and tempo. Read more John Zorn – Nova Express (2011)
Triptych – Physical Fitness for Better Tyranny (2011)
Best things in life comes for free! At least that’s what a buddy of mine used to say. And the best beer I ever drink was for free, the best whiskey was also for free, not to mention the best fuck. Well, sometimes free means that somebody else pay for it, that’s quit true, but what the hell?! life is full of shit enough to get lost in that kind of small details! 😀 “Physical Fitness for Better Tyranny” actually it’s for free for real. And it’s quit a nice piece of work. Well, definitively it doesn’t sound like a super sophisticated production, but it sounds very alive, absolutely honest and their music is balancing fluently from post rock experiments to jazz like solutions and turns, heavy and noise moments followed by jazzy improvisations or quiet breathes, their music swimming around in nice and colorful circles, raving and pumping without any annoying barriers. Complex and exciting journey into a very alive music.
I didn’t manage to dig out anything about this band, probably from San Antonio, Texas, but listening their 5 track material was a really nice surprise. Read more Triptych – Physical Fitness for Better Tyranny (2011)
Signo Rojo – Promo Album (2011)
Jonas Nilsson – bass and vocals, Hampus Henningsson and Elias Mellberg – guitars and drummer Pontus Svensson from Sweden deliver us a heavy material with roots anchored both in the deep sludge of southern USA and the other planted in the deep crevices of doom-metal. Signo Rojo’s promo album can be listen and download at their Bandcamp page and “name your price” means you actually can download their album even for free, but I believe any artistic effort deserves to be rewarded. (Giving one dollar for example it makes no sense, PayPal and Bandcamp having 40 revenue from any transaction and by transferring from PayPal to the current bank account the money the artist loose a few more percents, so, in the end to the band will not attain more than half of the original amount.) Read more Signo Rojo – Promo Album (2011)
Mathias Eick – Skala (2011)
Mathias Eick is a Norwegian jazz musician, his main instrument is the trumpet, but he also plays double bass, vibraphone, piano and guitar. He has performed with several famous music groups and musicians, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Jaga Jazzist, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, Jacob Young, Iro Haarla, Motif, Trygve Seim, Jan Gunnar Hoff Group, Audun Kleive, Morten Abel, Bertine Zetlitz, Thomas Dybdahl, Julius Winger, Manu Katché and Lars Horntveths, etc.
Eick has a long and colorful list of influences: Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, Kenny Wheeler, Thomasz Stanko, Chet Baker, Arve Henriksen, Nils Petter Molv..r, Jon Hassel, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Bill Frisell, Jan Garbarek, Jon Christensen, Jaco Pastorius, Joni Mitchell, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Keith Jarret, J.S. Bach, Police, Sting, ECM, Chick Corea, Elvis Costello, Burt Bacharach, Metallica, Flaming Lips, Steely Dan, Rufus Wainwright and his music sounds like a nice blending of Miles Davis and Jan Garbarek. Read more Mathias Eick – Skala (2011)
Battles – Gloss Drops (2011)
Imagine the living room of a mental hospital where some guys left from the seventies high on some unknown substances are jamming with some drunk, but friendly aliens. Or anyway, something like that. It’s spooky, but controversially, it’s kind of exciting. And quit surprisingly, the guys from the band called Battles managed to control all that crazy sound battles. This is an experiment which sometimes sounds like the Nintendo games, but somehow simultaneously it’s goddamn serious. The band’s current line-up comprises guitarists and keyboard player Ian Williams (formerly of Don Caballero and Storm & Stress), bassist and guitarist Dave Konopka (formerly of Lynx), and drummer John Stanier (formerly of Helmet), and their benefit from the guest featuring of Matias Aguayo, Gary Numan, Kazu Makino and Yamantaka Eye. I think a permanent vocalist would do no harm, their music is kind of dense and more singing may bring some release and add a human touch. Read more Battles – Gloss Drops (2011)
Believer – Transhuman (2011)
What the hell is “transhuman”? Transhuman is “the study of the ramifications, promises, and potential dangers of technologies that will enable us to overcome fundamental human limitations, and the related study of the ethical matters involved in developing and using such technologies.” Shit, this are heavy stuffs. Believer is an American band formed in the late 80s and early 90s and from their thrash metal roots they grow into a post metal, progressive metal area and this “Transhuman” is their fifth full-length album which is set to be released on April 11, 2011 on Metal Blade Records. They put together 12 complex and intense songs, solid and strong thrash like guitar riffs and constructions are placed into a much wider progressive/post metal area, the technical elements are built in into a gloomy and atmospheric universe. Dream Theater back in 2003 on their album “Train of Thoughts” were kind of close to this sound and approach. Read more Believer – Transhuman (2011)
Paul Simon – So Beautiful or So What (2011)
In reference to the new album, Simon says “It’s the best work I’ve done in 20 years”. Most artist declare things like that about their latest release, but I guess Mr. Simon this time is right. Anyway, in a beautiful springtime morning like that, a few weeks before Eastern, it’s pretty strange to star my day listening “Getting Ready for Christmas Day”… 😆 “So Beautiful or So What” is due for release on the Concord Music Group label on April 12, 2011 and contains 10 brand new songs, 38 minutes of music. Since April 5, the material it’s fully-streamable on its own site.
This is the 11 solo album by Paul Simon, best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair’s songs and in 1970, at the height of their popularity, the duo split, and Simon began a successful solo career, recording three highly-acclaimed albums over the next five years.Songs like “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” haunting me since my childhood… Read more Paul Simon – So Beautiful or So What (2011)
The Dark Sides of the Moon
“The Dark Side of the Moon” was a milestone, not only in the career of Pink Floyd, but in the history of the music and not at least, source for inspiration for many musicians since its release. There’s many tribute, cover and reinterpretations of “The Dark Side of the Moon” and I gathered here a few of the most intriguing and interesting of these releases.
Released on 10 March 1973, “The Dark Side of the Moon” is the eighth studio album by Pink Floyd and it was the record that moved, back or forward – it’s a matter of point of view – the English band from the closed circle of fans to the mainstream. “The Dark Side of the Moon” is a concept album that explore the themes of conflict, greed, the passage of time and mental illness, the latter partly inspired by Syd Barrett’s deteriorating mental state, but it lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterized their work following the departure in 1968 of founding member, principal composer and lyricist Barrett. The album was recorded in two sessions in 1972 and 1973 at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London. The group used some of the most advanced recording techniques of the time, including multitrack recording and tape loops. Analogue synthesizers were given prominence in several tracks, and a series of recorded interviews with staff and band personnel provided the source material for a range of philosophical quotations used throughout. Engineer Alan Parsons was directly responsible for some of the most notable sonic aspects of the album, including the non-lexical performance of Clare Torry. Read more The Dark Sides of the Moon
