Helium - The Magic City

1997; 14 tracks

"After Helium hit indie paydirt with '95s blustery feedback-drenched The Dirt Of Luck – a sonic corruption bewitched by subversively fragile sentiments, Boston-based Timony resolved her post-teen uncertainties and decided to trade in the droning cacophonies of yesterday for a cosmic experiment.

Brilliantly derived from Baroque, Gaelic folk, and neo-Classical styles, The Magic City takes a surrealistic journey forward (the artful 'Aging Astronauts' and the astral 'Leon's Space Song') and backward (the harpsichord-laden 'Medieval People' and the shadowy 'Ancient Cryme') in time."

Mary Timony (guitar, vocals, keyboards) ((whom I adore)) shares her thoughts on the band's 2nd and last full-length album:

"The sentiments were angrier on The Dirt Of Luck’s songs. They were more aggressive and agitated, but there were some nicer songs on that record. Since the production was lo-fi, they came out sounding more distorted and noise-oriented. I think the themes were more urban and about inner turmoil and gender gaps. Now I feel the themes on the first album were overdone and so 'over' now. There are so many cheesy women musicians around because of the whole Alanis Morissette fake feminism thing. I got tired of it. I had huge writer’s block and couldn’t produce new music for a while. But then I realized the music I like is soothing and has balance. I didn’t want to use my music as just a tool. That’s why The Magic City is quieter and more mellow. I decided I wanted to make music and not deal with the bullshit anymore."

As fantastic as The Dirt of Luck is, The Magic City showcases not as much of a "softer" side to Helium but a more... reflective one. It is amazing to listen to.

Will we go on until the end?
I know it's coming, but I just don't know when.

Brainbombs - Genius and Brutality... Taste and Power

1994; 9 tracks

This is the second album of Swedish noise/punk rock band Brainbombs. It's one of the most disturbing and brutal albums ever, but I am so mesmerized by it. I tend to like extremes. Everything in middle just doesn't cut it. Genius and Brutality..., if you play it loud, is so abrasive it hurts... but I really like that. Even if you're not really into necrophilia I swear this album fucking kills.

You have blood on your body
Blood on your mind
Blood in your dreams
Screams in your dreams
And a leg sticking out under your bed

You can't remember
You can't forget
Sweat from your skin
When you put the needle in
And a leg sticking out under your bed

Five in the morning
You're staring at the wall
Insects coming out
Angels crawling over your floor
And a leg sticking out under your bed

You have blood on your body
Blood on your mind
Blood in your dreams
Screams in your dreams
And a leg sticking out under your bed

You can't remember
You can't forget
Sweat from your skin
When you put the needle in
And a leg sticking out under your bed

Throbbing, minimal, repetitive face punches.

Dmitri Shostakovich - 15 Symphonies + 15 String Quartets

 Recorded: 1965-1975
Released: 2006; 11 discs
Kirill Kondrashin / Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra
Russian State Choral Choir

"This is visceral stuff (e.g., nos 4, 8 and 11), so far removed from the polished interpretations of the more recent 'sophisticated' recorded cycles by various Western orchestras and their conductors, like Haitink, Jansons, and Jarvi. Even Rostropovich suffers, if only along the fringes, from too much sophistication. All offer their own qualities - but not that primeval, gut-wrenching, uniquely Russian sound, not European, but perhaps from somewhere on the Asian steppes.

Shostakovich composed with the sound of the Russian orchestras of his day - and here you get that sound. It is raw, with the woodwinds, brass and percussion, prominent, not always steady, sometimes ugly, most often hitting you where it really counts.

Here you have a collection of one of the most brilliant symphonists of the Twentieth Century, unadulterated, and disturbing. Play it loud."

This boxset features Shostakovich's Symphonies 1-15, October (Symphonic poem, Op. 131), The Sun Shines on Our Motherland (Cantata, Op. 90), The Execution of Stepan Razin (Poem, Op. 119), and the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 2, Op. 129 in C-sharp minor.


Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3
Disc 4
Disc 5
Disc 6
Disc 7
Disc 8
Disc 9
Disc 11  1998; 6 discs
Fitzwilliam String Quartet

I have posted the first 13 quartets done by the Borodin Quartet some time in the past, but these recordings have a grim totality about them, particularly the 8th and 15th Quartet. String Quartets, formed originally by the great Austrian composer Joseph Haydn, can be just as immensely powerful as unbearably intimate. This medium often holds some of the strongest music of a composer, i.e. those of Bartók, Haydn, and, of course, Shostakovich.

"The Fitzwilliam Quartet is English by birth but shows a lot of Russian soul in these works, which were recorded in consultation with the composer. Their technique is flawless, their immersion in the music total, their interaction with one another and with the music spontaneous and intense. Priced competitively with the Borodin Quartet, they do not have any added attraction to match the Piano Quintet in that set, but this close-up stereo recording is significantly better. Highlights of the set include the relaxed, folk-flavored No. 1; the tense, autobiographical No. 8, which recalls the terrors of World War II, quotes a lot of Shostakovich's earlier works, and mourns for the "victims of fascism and war"; the contrasts of quiet beauty and fierce intensity in No. 10; and the bold structure of No. 15, Shostakovich's last quartet, in which he looks at death - steadily and without blinking."


Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3
Disc 4
Disc 5
Disc 6