30.7.10

Fovea Hex - Neither Speak Nor Remain Silent Trilogy

Fovea Hex is an experimental/avant-folk project. Brian and Roger Eno, as well as Steven Wilson, have contributed to this wonderful music. I love these EPs!

Neither Speak Nor Remain Silent is a trilogy of 3 EPs released together in 2007. These EPs are:

Bloom - 2005, 3 tracks
Huge - 2006, 3 tracks
Allure - 2007, 3 tracks

More info here. (Allure is definitely my favorite xD)

These three EPs are absolutely amazing. There is no great word to describe them, but listening to their music is like listening to the music of another world. At times it sounds totally alien and tribal, at others, very underwater-like, reminiscent of Carbon Based Lifeforms. Their music is scary, but also extremely beautiful. I listened to this last night while it was raining and I couldn't imagine anything more perfect than Fovea Hex.





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Michael Gira - Drainland


1995; 10 tracks


Amazing, otherworldy album. This version of "Blind" is just so so good.

Michael Gira:

"Drainland is a 1995 obscure solo album by me, co-produced by the lovely Bill Rieflin and myself, with musical contributions from Bill and Jarboe. Spare arrangements (recorded in Bill's living room) with the focus on words.

"You See Through Me" features a surreptitious recording by Jarboe of a drunken rant by me. I think I discovered the cassette one day in a drawer in her desk and decided to use it for a song dedicated to her ("you see through me"). Of course it's incredibly embarrassing to include on an album made for public consumption, but I thought it a legitimately good recording - a good "performance" in a way, despite the fact it was of slovenly, spiteful me. It could have been anyone. Well, maybe not. Prescient, it's subject was money. Anyway, it was just "material" and everything's fair game. In the end, it was an honest homage to Jarboe, though most people failed to notice that. "Fan Letter" and "Unreal" are seen from the perspective of a crazed fan's inverted worship of Madonna. " I See Them All Lined Up" (later re-recorded for Swans) is a naked hate/revenge diatribe, some of the most vile words I ever wrote. I apologize to all concerned. Thank god it’s not too obvious who the subject of my hatred was..."



Download.

29.7.10

Atari Teenage Riot - Delete Yourself!


1995; 12 tracks


My friend told me about Atari Teenage Riot today and I didn't think anything of it - I actually thought it was like a Japanese punk band or something. But I got this album and found it to be very well put-together and highly enjoyable.

Atari Teenage Riot is a "digital hardcore"/punk-inspired breakcore from Berlin, formed in 1992. They remind me of a mix of Blood Freak, Venetian Snares, Rancid... maybe even Katharsis. There is plenty of amazing breakbeats, power electronics, funny samples, cute female vocals, punk male vocals, fast-paced punk riffs, and more... This is just a really fucking cool album that I think I'm addicted to now. w00t for anarchy.

I would die for peanut butter.


Life is like a video game with no chance to win.

28.7.10

Tōru Takemitsu (武満 徹) - In An Autumn Garden


1983; 6 tracks
The Tokyo Gakuso Orchestra


Tōru Takemitsu was a Modern Japanese composer of avant-garde music. In An Autumn Garden draws from Western styles much of the time, but Takemitsu still maintains a fairly consistent style of traditional Japanese music. There are many different influences to classical music present in this album, such as jazz, the avant-garde, and even some Impressionist harmonies similar to those of Debussy and others. In the end, this is a really beautiful, cererbral album of magnificent Japanese classical music, and and I suck at writing these things!

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Nature and Organisation - Beauty Reaps the Blood of Solitude


1994; 11 tracks


Beauty Reaps the Blood of Solitude is most likely my new favorite album of all time. Every time I listen to it I am increasingly amazed at how EVERY SINGLE thing about this is album is so godverdomme perfect.

Nature and Organisation is Michael Cashmore, a long time member of Current 93, as well as a very nice array of other artists including David Tibet of Current 93 (of course), Douglas Pierce of Death in June, and Rose McDowall of Strawberry Switchblade (also of The Spell and Rosa Mundi). So yeah, this album from the very start was predestined to be amazing. My favorite tracks are "Tears for an Eastern Girl" and "Bonewhiteglory." The lyrics are also a huge part of why this album has become a favorite of mine - they are similar to Current 93's in that they are a continuous flow of mental pictures, sensations, images, visions... and they can totally sweep you away if you listen carefully. The music is also achingly beautiful and tender - a neo/apocalyptic folk masterpiece.

Download.

Alexander Scriabin - Piano Sonatas



The great Vladimir Ashkenazy plays the most amazing schizophrenic music you'll ever hear for solo piano. Scriabin's Chopin-like Sonatas are considered among his masterworks (if he even had any), and this 1997 recording is one of the most efficient and lovely to date.

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21.7.10

Klaus Nomi - Klaus Nomi


1981; 10 tracks


This is the debut album of German vocalist and performer Klaus Nomi and it is beyond words. I heard it about 2 years ago but upon revisiting it I think I've fallen in love. It is a new wave/experimental masterpiece that was WAY ahead of it's time, I think.

Link

20.7.10

Koenjihyakkei - Angherr Shisspa



Can you seriously look at that album cover and NOT want to listen to it? Didn't think so.
It's hard for me to describe what this sounds like if you've never heard any Zeuhl bands before.
Just know that it sounds really, really good.

Download.

16.7.10

Le Le - Le Classics


2010; 10 tracks


Le Le is a Dutch lo-fi techno funk/house group featuring Parra, Serge Fabergé of DJVT, and Rimer London (Electro Duo Comtron). This album is a combination of their greatest music, and I suggest getting this to hear the best of Le Le. I really love this album!

"Le Le combines graphic art with dirty electronic funk... inspired by Nu-Wave Disco, Italo, 90ies Pop clichés and 60s Glamour magazines... with a big pop appeal and a good sense of irony. Using a new language: a combination of English, Dutch, German, French and fantasy words.

Inspired by Nu-Wave Disco, Italo Disco, Pop clichés and 60s Glamour magazines: Le Le is a unique force. The music, the vocals, the sense of humour, the ironic take on current mainstream glam pop, the art background and their attitude. A straightforward progression for the current disco/house movement."


Bitch, you breakfast.

Hooray for Earth - Momo EP


2010; 6 tracks


This EP is like a cross between Animal Collective and Why? and I have come to really appreciate it.

"... This six-song EP from the Boston/New York four-piece Hooray for Earth further smudges the meaningless lines between rock and electronic. Gritty distortion and the filtering of the beautiful through a wall of fuzz has always been the primary attack in the perpetually burgeoning band’s diverse arsenal, but this bundle of washed-out synth euphoria largely writes Hooray for Earth’s bygone guitar shredding out of the picture. Instead the bright noise comes in heavily affected group vocal harmonies and cresting waves of keyboard rapture. Opener “Surrounded by Your Friends" crystalizes the ethos at work here; it’s like a 1960s folk band tripping through space and time. If it hasn’t already been licensed for a half dozen commercial spots yet, don’t be surprised to hear it in some hip car company’s pitch, like tomorrow. “Comfortable, Comparable" works the climactic 1980s teen film montage uplift that bands like Yeasayer have popularized of late, while “Get Home" deals a grimmer, dark-wave austerity. The band, which has just embarked on a high-profile national tour, has been threatening to break out for years. This should do the trick."

P.S. Rolling Nectarine is the greatest song of 2010.

Download.

Humming Urban Stereo - Baby Love


2007; 15 tracks


Nice South Korean lounge/electropop music.

Download.

15.7.10

Clair Cassis - Clair Cassis


2010; 7 tracks


Two of the members of Clair Cassis are also in Velvet Cacoon, if that is of any interest. This album reminded me a lot of Sleeping Peonies' debut, Rose Curl, Sea Swirl. It had the similar Victorian, sleepy and ornate style of black metal that is so very interesting. The vocals here might take some getting used to, but there aren't any really boring songs here. In an interview, a member of the band called Clair Cassis the "pop version" of Velvet Cacoon. "Luxurious black metal, inspired by drugs and fine perfume..." (wtf?)

Download (Not my link)

De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig - Parels Voor De Zwijnen


 
2005; 20 tracks
 
As gross and demeaning as the cover is, this album is really amazing. De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig means "Kids These Days" in Dutch, and "Parels Voor De Zwijnen" means "Pearls Before Swine". This is the 1st full-length album from this popular hip-hop group, who admittedly doesn't take themselves (or their music) all that seriously.

Download.

9.7.10

Judith Juillerat - Soliloquy


2005; 13 tracks


I got this album after seeing Judith Juillerat's name in some random person's charts, and then I viewed her page and saw that she only had one album. She was French, she was an experimental/ambient/electronic artist, and she just seemed interesting. After listening to Soliloquy all the way through for the first time, I immediately thought that I MUST listen to it again. So I did. And I did again. I honestly can't get enough of this album, and the complexity of it brings so many new aspects every time I listen.

"What's interesting about Juillerat is her choice of technology in creating her work. Instead of putting everything together on a computer (which is what I would have guessed after hearing the album), she slowly layers everything together in a multi-track recorder with a variety of analogue and digital synths, mini samples, effects machines, and other toys. The result doesn't sound hugely different, but offers a bit of insight as to her process (which seems a little less tied-in with current trends).

Soliloquy isn't afraid to touch on lots of different sounds, which is good considering it runs almost an hour in length. Considering the definition of the album title and the way in which the vocals are delivered on the release, the title Soliloquy seems to fit pretty well with the somewhat detached style of delivery (and the occasionally disorienting sounds). An excellent and ambitious debut."


Download.

8.7.10

Arnold Schönberg - Piano Music



Maurizio Pollini is one of my favorite interpretors when it comes to solo piano music. He played Beethoven masterfully; Chopin, he played with a tender sentimentality; Rachmaninoff, Bach, Debussy - all with the deliberate and magnificent skill that comes natural to masters of the art.

Here, he plays Schönberg's complete solo piano music with amazing form. I love these pieces of Modern amazingness and you surely will too.

" The first great pianist to record all of Schoenberg's piano music was Glenn Gould, and if you grew up with Gould's interpretations, then you're in for a shock. In the first place, Pollini actually plays what Schoenberg wrote--Gould freely altered the text in ways that would have driven the composer insane. And then there's the humming--yes, believe it or not, Gould did manage to sing along as he played. Pollini's quieter, less vocal approach conveys much more of what Schoenberg actually wrote, with no sacrifice of expressiveness. And although most of the pieces on this disc are quite short, they are nonetheless important. It was in his piano works that Schoenberg worked out his theories of free atonality and 12-tone composition. So for anyone interested in these critical musical developments, this disc is essential listening. "

Oh yeah... As great of a pianist as he is, I don't recommmend Glenn Gould interpretations of music, he normally adds too much of his own flair to the music and rarely plays pieces as well as, say, Pollini does.

Download.

Geirr Tveitt - Piano Concerto No. 4, "Aurora Borealis" / Variations on a Folksong from Hardanger



Gierr Tveitt was a Norwegian composer of modern classical music, inspired by composers such as Bartók, Debussy, Stravinsky, Ravel, Grieg, etc. Here is his one of his more popular works, the 4th Piano Concerto (nicknamed "Aurora Borealis", as well as Variations on a Folksong from Hardanger, for two pianos and orchestra.

Havard Gimse and Gunilla Süssmann are the pianists. Bjarte Engeset conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.


Download.

Dmitri Shostakovich - String Quartets 1-13




Shostakovich's String Quartets are among some of the most mature of his works. I personally LOVE them, I once heard a few of them played live at the local Symphony in my area. They are unrivalled in their technicality and beauty... The Borodin Quartet has long been known to produce wonderful interpretations of classics, and this is no exception.

Download.

Béla Bartók - Mikrokosmos (Complete)



Here we have György Sandor, a great friend and pupil of the composer's, playing the complete Mikrokosmos cycle in the traditional style. Mikrokosmos is a set of 6 volumes of solo piano music, with Volume I being the easiest and Volume VI being the most challenging. Bartók himself believed that if someone had no classical training at all, he or she could begin with Mikrokosmos, Volume I, and work through the books - eventually being able to play Volume VI. Well, Volume VI is a very difficult book to play through (I'm in the middle of learning it right now), so I don't know the truth about the composer's theory... Anyways. This is a historic recording of Hungarian music by a Hungarian, and I highly recommend it to diehard Bartók fans.

Download.

Alkan, Bach, Beethoven

Charles-Valentin Alkan, 1813-1888, French

Concerto for Solo Piano / Troisième recueil de chants
Marc-André Hamelin


Download.



Symphony for Solo Piano / Trois Morceaux dans la genre pathéthique
Marc-André Hamelin


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Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685-1750, German


Mass in B minor
(Masaaki Suzuki / Bach Collegium Japan)


Download.



Johannes-Passion (St. John Passion)
Nikolaus Harnoncourt / Concentus Musicus Wien / Arnold Schönberg Choir


Download.



The Complete Organ Works
Wolfgang Rübsam


Part 1.
Part 2.



The Art of Fugue
Davitt Moroney


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Cantatas Vol. 15: BWV 40, 60, 70, 90
Masaaki Suzuki / Bach Collegium Japan


Download.



Matthäus-Passion (St Matthew Passion)
Philippe Herreweghe - Choer et orchestre du Collegium Vocale Gent


Download.



Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin
Arthur Grumiaux


Download.


Weihnachtsoratorium
Nikolaus Harnoncourt / Concentus Musicus Wien / Arnold Schönberg Choir


Download.


Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827, German


Diabelli Variations
Friedrich Gulda


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The 9 Symphonies
Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts the Chamber Orchestra of Europe


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The 9 Symphonies
René Leibowitz - Royal Philharmonic Orchestra


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Symphony No. 9
Ferenc Fricsay / Berliner Philharmoniker


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Symphony No. 5, Live - June, 2007
Nikolaus Harnoncourt - Chamber Orchestra of Europe


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Beethoven: The 5 Piano Concertos / Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 25
Leon Fleisher / George Szell / Cleveland Orchestra


Download.

5.7.10

Death in June - But, What Ends When the Symbols Shatter?


1992; 12 tracks


Taken from a special place somewhere in the universe:

"I started to listened Death in June's But, What Ends When the Symbols Shatter? this morning, on the way to the university for piano classes. I haven't thoroughly listened to this album, ever. I meant to like a year ago, but I never got around to it. I don't know one person in my life that would have the patience to try to listen to something like Di6 - It just seems way too intellectual and "weird" for most of the people I know. I have now listened to it about 6 times through.


But, What Ends When the Symbols Shatter? is an amazing album for me, especially the because of the lyrics. Throughout the entire album, Pierce continues to remind us, sometimes subtly, that "This is Not Paradise." The idea that this world is fleeting, something that passes, seems to be prevalent throughout the album... I am amazed by this, by the dreams that can so easily become reality... it leaves me speechless. Also, the instrumentation here is a little more simplistic than on other albums, I guess - every song has the acoustic guitar strumming away forever. The lyrics, however, are spectacular.

My favorite song was 'Daedalus Rising.' It might be one of the most amazing songs I've ever heard in my life."

Download.

Secede - Tryshasla


2005; 11 tracks


Love this album by Dutch artist Secede. It's exactly what I was looking for - a mix between Carbon Based Lifeforms and Hammock, maybe. I really could listen to this album forever.

Listening to Secede's new album 'Tryshalsa' is a bit like watching an episode of Twin Peaks through some bobbly bathroom glass. On your own. In the dark. Oh, and it's raining outside.


Download.

3.7.10

Ef - I Am Responsible


2008; 6 tracks


This is Ef's 2nd full-length album, and, personally, their best. I Am Responsible is 6 tracks of post-rock perfection, of heartbreaking tenderness, and of achingly beautiful climaxes. I am not the hugest post-rock fan, but this album is really one of my favorites in the genre...

My favorite track is "Bear," but I also really love "Thrills." "Bear" is a melancholy masterpiece, and I love listening to it over and over again. I once listened to it sitting on a rock near the lake during a family get together, and it started raining. My childhood cat, my best friend, had died only a few days before, and I laid out and watched the sky with an empty head. I didn't know what to think about. I didn't have anything left. I didn't want it to be silent, so I put on music, whatever music I had. I had just gotten this album the day before and decided to listen to it right then and there... and I was frozen the entire 58 minutes it ran. I couldn't believe anything could possibly be so beautiful. I especially loved "Bear"... I remember hearing that song for the first time and seeing the sky and thinking of Death in June's words: The golden, golden copper sun / old, eldest, dead / over a blue milky-sea sky...

Download.

2.7.10

Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks & Fire Walk With Me OST

Music From Twin Peaks


1990; 11 tracks
Download.


Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me OST



1992; 12 tracks
Download.


I love Angelo Badalamenti... His music for the series and the final film is mesmerizingly beautiful. If you have not yet seen the show, the premise for it is very haunting - and this music fits it perfectly. The movie is by far one of the strangest I've seen, but the music made it one of the greatest. I love Badalamenti and composing for Twin Peaks is probably one of his greatest accomplishments.

I really love "Twin Peaks Theme" and "Laura Palmer's Theme."

Bohren & Der Club of Gore - Mitleid Lady EP


2009; 1 track


This track by Bohren is utterly breathtaking. It is the sound of trains whistling off into the night under an indifferent moon - a watchful face in the dark infinity. I love every Bohren anything, but this track is irresistable!

Download.