31.1.12

Ali Jihad Racy - Mystical Legacies



 
1997; 10 tracks
 
This recording features performer, composer, and scholar Ali Jihad Racy accompanied by percussionist Souhail Kaspar performing ten excerpts from a live concert at the 1993 Los Angeles Festival on August 21. Here these two master artists perform at a high level of saltanah, namely the creative state that inspires musicians to evoke tarab, of "musical ecstasy" within the initiated listeners. Performed on a variety of string, wind, and percussion instruments, the content illustrates the traditional textures, timbres, embellishments, and melodic and rhythmic modes of traditional Arab music. It also includes improvisations and interpretations of works by Racy and other composers.

My favorite instrument that they use is called a buzuq, which is a long-necked lute with metallic strings, much like a guitar but with a more resonant sound. I found this a beautiful recording of musicians becoming so involved with the instruments they play it is if they are one.

01 Sufi Medley
02 Taqasim And Sama'i Bayyati Al-'Arayan
03 Moorish Impressions
04 Taqasim And Dama'i Nahawand Racy
05 Themes of Yearning
06 Strumming Magic
07 Enchanting Beauty
08 Taqasim Hiljaz
09 Saba Medley
10 Breeze of Nostalgia


Download.

29.1.12

Camille Saint-Saëns - Music for Violin and Orchestra


 
2000; 8 tracks
Jean-Jacques Kantorow / Tapiola Sinfonietta
 
In an effort to invite some much-needed culture back to my blog, here is Jean-Jacques Kantorow leading the Tapiola Sinfonietta in Camille Saint-Saëns' First Violin Concerto and other works for violin and orchestra.

01 Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 20, I. Allegro
02 Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 20, II. Andante espressivo
03 Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 20, III. Tempo I
04 Introduction et rondo capriccioso in A minor, Op. 28 for violin & orchestra
05 Romance in C major, Op. 48, for violin & orchestra
06 Havanaise in E major, Op. 83, for violin & piano (or orchestra)
07 Sarabande Op. 93, No. 1, for string orchestra
Solo violin: Tero Latvala
08 Morceau de concert in G major, Op. 62, for violin & orchestra

Download.

Sloth - It's Not Our Worst A.K.A. Progression?



2000; 12 tracks


Disregard that last post. I have something worthwhile to share with you people.

Sloth is a doom/stoner metal one-man band (with various others joining in) from Cleveland, Ohio who has been releasing obscure limited releases on 7”, CD, 12”, tape, etc. since the early 2000s, and still continues to today. They've done splits with numerous bands, including Noothgrush, Corrupted, Floor, angry hate, Dot[.], Fistula, Cattlepress, Rwake, Shitstorm, CSMD, and many others.

It's Not Our Worst A.K.A. Progression? is a 2000 compilation of several of the band's splits, 7"'s, and cassettes, along with a few previously unreleased tracks.

I'm in love with it.

01 Pepper Kennan Punches Like A Girl Part 1 (Split w/ Boulder)
02 Untitled (Unreleased) I
03 Getting Ready For Christmas (It's About Malt Liquor)
04 Untitled (Joy is Gone from our Hearts)
05 Bullets (Split w/ Beauty Pageant)
06 Lice Hive (Poverty Level Gutter Swill cassette)
07 Pepper Kennan Punches Like A Girl Part 2
08 Anaconda (Answering Machine Version) (Split w/ Gob)
09 Anaconda (Split w/ Noothgrush)
10 Untitled (Unreleased) II
11 Untitled (Unreleased) III
12 Iron Larry Hogue (Exploder)



Download.

28.1.12

i'm very depressed right now

i tried to make a post earlier but i just couldn't do it

i feel like everything is falling apart

everything i love and all of the things i hoped for myself

something inside is tearing all of that down


i don't really want to read or watch anything
or talk to anyone
or think
or sleep
or go out
or practice piano

also why do i need to pee like every 5 seconds



on second thought i have this strange craving to listen to Rah Bras BITCHIN FISSURE hgngfaugdfn;ag

27.1.12

Duran Duran Duran - Very Pleasure


2005; 10 tracks


Formed in 1999 and based in Philadelphia, Duran Duran Duran is the solo breakcore project of Ed Flis. Very Pleasure was his first album under this name, but he's been making electronic music since as early as 1995 and has been active in various hardcore/punk bands.

This is one of the finest and most intense breakcore/noise albums I've ever heard. Darkness and perversion permeate every corner of this genius' artistic output, but it never gets old. He's just very good at what he does.

i love the sea

25.1.12

window panes & frost flowers



... senselessly wandering along, senselessly wandering through a senselessly obscene world




what could have lured me to this desolate part of the country but a longing to stay here?




the burden of memory




the nameless multitudes fallen between the cracks of the city




the section of a garden cultivated to be wild




the world is more fragile, more tenuous than we could ever know

22.1.12

opalescent knees

I apologize for not posting a lot of new music lately. I think I've lost interest, for the moment, in listening to any more brand new things.

I've been listening to a lot of Electric Wizard, Deadboy & the Elephantmen (If This Is Hell, Then I'm Lucky Demo), and Kids & Explosions. Also Venetian Snares' Affectionate.

I'm in the middle of reading several books at once, and it hasn't stopped raining for two days.



Long after her death I felt her thoughts floating through mine.
Long before we met we had had the same dreams.

14.1.12

Mix. No. 14 - I am your soul in drag



01 Kepler - Box 3, Reel 5
02 Slim Twig - Hidden
03 Wiccans - The Third Estate
04 PJ Harvey - When Under Ether
05 友川かずき - June Rain
06 Gasp - Fluttering Gnome-lette Suite
07 Storm & Stress - Dance 'til the Record Skips like Passengers Shift on Take Off


Download.

13.1.12

Palace Brothers - There is No-One What Will Take Care of You


1993; 12 tracks


There is No-One What Will Take Care of You is the debut solo album of the (amazing) multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Will Oldham (Bonnie Prince Charlie), in this case going under the name Palace Brothers. Playing on this album are also a few members of the band Slint.

A fragile, warbling voice rises above a field of disconsolate folky/lo-fi/post-rock textures, and century-old sadness washes in the refreshing light of dawn breaking over a high snow-tipped mountain. I found it very glorious to witness, the unfurling of this infinitely intimate album.

Download.

10.1.12

Limited Express (has gone?) - Makes You Dance!



 
2004; 13 tracks
 
Groovy and schizophrenic music in the likes of Afrirampo and Melt-Banana (maybe even some DODDODO too). It has some lovely poppy moments and plenty of noise rock elements, which is why I can never be bored listening to Makes You Dance! Limited Express (has gone?) was a Japanese experimental/noise pop duo formed in 1998 who toured worldwide and made three albums and a mini-album. This is their second album.

HOPPING

Spain - The Blue Moods of Spain


1995; 9 tracks


Lonely and forgotten slowcore from Los Angeles.

Download.

5.1.12

Uncle Wiggly - There Was An Elk





1993; 24 tracks


Uncle Wiggly was a New York-based band formed in 1988 by a college student/radio announcer and a few of his friends. They went on to create a number of albums and cassettes throughout the 90s. Their sound is best described as a mixture of their favorite music, which included Pink Floyd and The Minutemen. Full of shimmery, summery music about frogs (and other things) delivered with cleverly-written lyrics, Uncle Wiggly shares some complex but lighthearted indie/soft rock.



i wish to be the space between your back and the wall

Mr. Epp and the Calculations - Ridiculing the Apocalypse




1996; 24 tracks


The self-proclaimed "worst band in the world," Mr. Epp and the Calculations, seem to have been the forerunners of the genre now known as grunge. Formed in the late 70s by a group of teenagers and named after one of their high school math teachers, the still highly unknown band created an EP and several compilations and tapes before disbanding after about 3 years. Ridiculing the Apocalypse, released officially in 1996, is an anthology of the group's work.

I fucking love this band's approach to music. Their music is playful, but darkly so. Many times there is a spoken intro or dialogue, one of my favorite of which is when the lead singer says to the crowd:

"Some people say, 'What good is the message if you can't understand the words?'123GO" (unidentifiable noise ensues).

Pure grunge! Pure noise! Pure shit!

Papaye - La Chaleur


 
2011; 12 tracks
 
French instrumental math rock trio who clearly have a lot of fun making nonsensical noise with their guitars.

Download / Purchase

4.1.12

Psychic Teens - Teen





2011; 7 tracks


I know next to nothing about this band (except that they are from Philadelphia), but I do know that they leave me feeling pleasantly cold inside.

One person says they "ride the 80's goth/darkwave era hard, but with a bit more added noise and distortion that will likely draw mentions of influence from shoegaze, etc. The singer especially seems to really be following the Joy Division line of approach, with cold monotone echoed out vocals."

"The seven-song record channels their communal taste for Sonic Youth's dissonance and Joy Division's brooding new wave/punk."

In an interview, the singer-guitarist Larry Ragone says, "I think if there was a character who was the star of all of the songs, it'd be some angry kid. He's probably wearing a black sweatshirt and kicking rocks while he walks down the street mad at the world, mad at girls. It's sort of dark, but that's OK — it has to match the music."

Hopefully you can gain a sense of what this band is like. I'm reminded of the gothic/psychobilly flair of Calabrese, but that's only because I don't listen to music of this sort as often as I should.


Bandcamp / Purchase

Troy von Balthazar - How to Live on Nothing




 
2010; 14 tracks


Exquisitely sad folk-inspired rock and electronic music by multi-instrumentalist Troy von Balthazar (Chokebore). There are some really powerful songs on here, and some equally enjoyable and beautiful ones, too. It is fine music to listen to in an abandoned train station.

the body is a universe of feeling

1.1.12

on new year's eve i am listening to:

rachmaninoff's preludes
elevator to hell

i am so obsessed with both of them