Loading
Oren Ambarchi is commonly associated with experimental guitar-music. He has worked with Fennesz, John Zorn, Keith Rowe and Otomo Yoshihide to name but a few. If you pick up his latest project, Sun, you’re in for a surprise...
After a serie of recordings on which he acted as a (re-)interpreter, Ekkehard Ehlers releases an album full of his own compositions. Intriguing and demanding, Politik braucht keinen Feind is not easy to grasp.
Birds are usually beautiful, majestuous, light and they fly with much grace. Pelicans are birds (more precisely: large web-footed fish-eating birds with a very large bill and distensible gular pouch) but ain’t very graceful and look kinda odd. However they fly. The band certainly don’t. They will more likely fall from a seven storey building and crush anything that is below than taking off. But that is the way I like them.
Ah, what a long and evolving history one can find behind hardcore... From the primitive rawness of Black Flag or Minor Threat to the more sophisticated aspects of some of the bands belonging to the current class. The people behind White Circle Crime Club have taken a similar path, having all started in old-school bands before moving on to a much more melodic music.
At first an instrumental band, Giardini di Mirò have little by little incorporated more and more vocals in their music. Punk ... not diet, their 2nd full-length is a real masterpiece of beautifully written pop songs. But do not mistake pop with easy...
For months, I stayed far far away from French music. In the last couple of weeks, I caught up with a few of the musicians from the country of cheese and wine that as a thief as president (second only to the presidente del consiglio Silvio Berlusconi). Davide Balula and M83 released great albums, it is less the case with BOULDER dDASH, although it remains quite enjoyable.
This galaxy is sometimes called the "Southern Pinwheel". It forms a small physical group with the peculiar radio galaxy Centaurus A (NGC 5128) and the unusual galaxy NGC 5253 in Centaurus. R. Brent Tully also lists the following smaller and fainter presumable (or possible) members of this group: NGC 4945, NGC 5102, NGC 5164, NGC 5408, ESO 381-20 (MCG-6-28-017; 1243-33), ESO 324-24 (MCG-6-30-003; 1324-41), ESO 444-84 (MCG-5-32-000; 1334-27), ESO 325-11 (1342-41), and ESO 383-87 (MCG-6-30-025; 1346-35).
After being schooled as a classical piano player, keyboardplayer Rob Burger studied improvisation with jazz-giants like Max Roach and Archie Shepp. He got interested in Hammond organ and accordion and the traditions coming with those instruments.
About 15 years ago there was a worldmusic program on Dutch radio that I listened to each week. I recorded it and selected the good stuff on tapes. I was not always aware of what I recorded because not all songs were announced. Even if it was, a Dutch presenter trying to pronounce the titles in whatever exotic language didn’t make things easier and there was no internet to publish a playlist on. When I heard an mp3 from the Dengue Fever CD a little bell rang in my head.
Some people might think of Buckethead as some oddball that makes ‘comedymusic’. This album might come as surprise to these people because the masked guitarist shows a sensitive and romantic side of himself, never been on display as extensively as on his latest offering Electric Tears.
Thine were formed in '95 by singer Alan Gaunt and guitarist Paul Groundwell and after a couple of succesfull demo's the band signed in '97 with 'local' label Peaceville. Their first album on the label was called A Town Like This and in 2002 they released the underrated In Therapy.
The attention Tomahawk got after the release of their self-titled debut album (reviewed here) was amazing. I went to see them live in Amsterdam and the place was packed.
Blur is my latest musical obession, after obtaining most of their back-catalogue in the last three months, they also released a brilliant new album: Think Tank. I've never really gotten into Blur because frankly, I never knew much about their music. I had the impression they've been doing the same thing as Oasis: releasing crap album after crap album. But obviously I was very wrong.
A couple of years ago I sold my old Therapy? albums, the classics Troublegum and Infernal Love. I still don't really know what I was thinking, I didn't need the money and the albums certainly weren't bad. Actually, over the years I've been thinking a lot about them.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome in the ever-growing electronic scene a new-born genre : Folktronic. Yeah! Or at least that’s what we’re told Davide Balula plays, a mix of folk ballads and electronic music.
«First Kranky release aimed at your ass as well as your head ». So claims the press release of Out Hud first LP. Though, as a general rule, you never should trust those texts, it has to be said that this time, they got it right. Out Hud is really a band that makes intelligent, danceable music. But they are not IDM...
This is something different from our Japanese friends. Cowboy Bebop is a popular anime show in Japan and currently is being released on DVD in the rest of the world. The music is one of the things that makes this show quite unique.
One year of silence for Tha Blue Herb. Way too long if you ask me. Of course, in the meantime we had records from their other projects, Herbest Moon, Shigam and O.N.O (all reviewed or to be reviewed here). But it was high time that the great TBH released some new material. Mirai wa oira no te no naka (the future is in our hands) is their latest single.
In 2003, every couple of month sees the release of a new Nobukazu Takemura album. Songbook is the third. Or not really... It’s actually an American re-issue of an album which was released in Japan in 2001. Being the snob that I am, I favoured the original version. What’s the difference? Three songs are only available on this one...
Spy stories, spacey music, highly respected players. In a nutshell, the ingredients of Culper Ring. Released on Neurot, one of the few essential labels of this time, 355 is a great moody album.
King Crimson has been around, on and off, since 1969. They represent ‘prog-rock’, something which makes many serious (punk)-rockers shudder. Which is fine by me, they go shudder and listen to the White Stripes while I enjoy the second full length album by King Crimson ‘level five’.
A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed an album by DoF, an excellent example of what not to do when you try to mix acoustic instruments and leftfield electronica. Japanese duo Fonica shows the world how to do it right when mixing such ingredients, and they do it with class.
Some play it nice and acoustic, other favour electric settings and faster than bullet riffs. There is also gentle poppy playing or distorted heaviness. You can even combine 2, 3 or more way of playing. Some people have decided to use their guitars in unconventional ways. Texture showcases one of those ways.
There is a lot of great music out there for those who are not contented by what the hype feeds them with (be it mainstream or in the so-called independent niche). Chance served me well and made me encounter Matt Borghi’s music. Borghi comes from Detroit, USA and defines himself as a “multimedia artist and performer”. I don’t know about his other activities, but his music certainly is damn fine.