What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested? (Vol.VIII)

Vinyl

Got this LP for a couple of quid today from Oxfam - produced by the great David Byrne

As far as I'm concerned, he should pull a Fischer-Dieskau and record them all! But most importantly, I hope he gets around to a new Winterreise, soon.

Cheers,

EJ

Just played this in the car on the way home from a music shopping expedition, very good indeed,

This is excellent ambient, electronic, soundscapes - Nils Frahm and Olafur Arnalds - Stare

Vinyl

Has a Woolworth sticker just inside the sleeve dated 15th June 1982, my 14th birthday. I must have blown my birthday money on this one...

Mozart: Clara Haskil with Ferenc Fricsay from 1959 and the F major and B-flat major Piano Concertos.  180g Vinyl from Speaker Corner.

A pre-breakfast treat earlier this morning.

Schubert: Piano Quintet in A major

Clifford Curzon with Willi Boskovsky, Günther Breitenbach, Nikolaus Hübner, Johann Krump (all members of The Vienna Octet).  180g Vinyl from Speakers Corner and released on Decca ffss in 1958.

Nice find, Adrian - I wish I'd snared that one for myself. Have you heard Olafur Arnalds' ...And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness from a couple of years ago? (I haven't, though I've heard it's excellent.)

I downloaded his last ep/album, Living Room Songs, from his website a few months back, but I've only played it once or twice and it hasn't made much of an impression on me.

(Oh, and while I remember, Greg Haines' Digressions gets two thumbs up here - had it on almost every day for the last week, so thanks for that one.)

Chief,

This was released for Record Store Day, 300 vinyl copies only which have all sold out. But I think they kept 200 for their website, so check Erased Tapes Shop for the vinyl, if that is your cup of tea, if not available for download from same place. I think you will like this one, definitely a good collaboration that is not like either of them solo.

Glad you like Greg. I need to play it again myself. 

I bought a load more Erased Tapes stuff today on vinyl, so that is my evening sorted :-) (except I will be breaking to watch The Bridge on BBC4).

PS, Olafur is recording his new album. Love this pic on his Facebook page. Took him 12 hours to get the microphones into a position he was happy with!

Very good album, great musicians and sound, her voice reminds of someone ,but for the life of me i can't think who it is.

If you don't know Max Richter, then this is well worth checking out.

From the BBC

Max Richter’s debut album Memoryhouse was originally recorded with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in 2002 for the BBC’s Late Junction classical music label. A masterpiece in neoclassical composition, the album has languished in out-of-print obscurity since the dissolution of Late Junction as a label. Indeed, inquisitive listeners might now know Richter better for his earlier collaborations with electronic pioneersThe Future Sound of London and Roni Size, as well as his elegiac score to Ari Folman’s 2008 animated documentary Waltz with Bashir.

But Fat Cat Records has plucked Memoryhouse from the doldrums to introduce a new audience to Richter’s first major solo work, and give old fans an excuse to fall under its spell all over again. And what an intoxicating spell it is. A 65-minute journey through the beauty and tragedy of 20th century Europe, Memoryhouse is like an immaculately observed postcard journal, albeit one informed more by imagination than documentary accuracy.

Opening track Europe, After the Rain sets the template for the album’s elegant aesthetic, with a breathy whisper and a crooning violin melody. The track’s central refrain is repeated throughout the album, whether to the toy box electronica of Untitled (Figures) or the baroque harpsichord of Garden (1973)/Interior. The repetition of musical themes set to diverse soundscapes helps to shape the album’s feel as a repository of scattered memories, like a muddled stack of old photographs.   

And this vagueness proves to be Memoryhouse’s greatest asset. Whilst some tracks have clearly identifiable reference points, most are left pleasingly open, allowing the listener to fill in the blanks. The thumping, apocalyptic bombast of Last Days might conjure up the sight of WW2 tanks rolling across the French countryside; Sarajevo’s swirling strings might send listeners sprinting down the backstreets of a war-torn city.      

Despite the album’s grounding in orchestral music, there’s much for the modern music fan to love here. Richter’s epic, cinematic exploration of sound has echoes in post-rock’s more restrained moments (Mono and Sigur Rós are good touchstones), and even inBeirut’s Eurocentric indie folk.

This collection of evocative vignettes demonstrates why many filmmakers would happily donate a limb to have Richter scoring their movie, but the happy fact is that Memoryhouse will play infinitely better to the stories in your head.

Jesse Sykes?

Sorry, missed your question. I bought it today and it is in the pile for listening tonight!

Lontano, Thankyou ! 

I always like to be helpful whenever I can. My pleasure to be at your service........

Cold and rain of the day are keeping the Naims in overdrive.

On CD:-

Feist - Let it Die

Lots of rain here Haim, so a musical weekend rather than a photographic one for me. Enjoying it so far......

On vinyl.....from the best group of recent times. Flawless music....

Following the posthumous release of Leucocyte in 2008, only months after the untimely death of pianist Esbjörn Svensson, it seemed as though that album would represent e.s.t.’s final studio statement. Now, nearly four years later, 301 has emerged. It was recorded during the same sessions, whilst the Swedish trio were touring around Asia and Australia. The disc is named after the 301 Studios in Sydney.

This is no sweeping-up of studio off-cuts. This is one of e.s.t.’s greatest albums, and even arguably their ultimate work, in every sense of the word. It represents a colossal achievement, as they take their final bow. The 2007 material might be extremely varied in tone and approach, partly out of necessity, doubtless governed by the available recordings, but this circumstance works to the album’s advantage. It’s a summation of where the trio had been, and also of where these perpetually evolving players were heading next.

Before his death, Svensson was actually involved in the editing down of the sessions into what might have been a double album. In the end, surviving members Magnus Öström and Dan Berglund elected to delay the release of 301. Regular sound engineer Åke Linton was also a key presence in the recording, editing and mixing process.

A sombre, portentous opener, Behind the Stars, has lone piano, merging into the extended Inner City, City Lights, one of the album’s two staggering epics. Delicately haunting bass enters almost unnoticed, Berglund bowing sparse traces as Öström’s drum brushes follow. It’s a stalking, brooding slow-builder, hovering at length, as Svensson’s piano becomes increasingly flecked with distortion effects, a sinuous bassline unthreading. The drums slink, and a massed choir-like effect develops, adding to the sustained tone of urgency.

The Left Lane operates with a more conventional jazz pianism, all the more striking when it follows on from its scuzzed predecessor. Svensson’s spirited, bluesy virtuosity is buoyed by springily tensed bass and drums. Suddenly, the threesome is venturing into the industrial loading bay, as Houston, the 5th heads towards electro-acoustic abstraction, bathed with sonic distress.

Once more, there’s a cut to pure piano grace with Part I of Three Falling Free. The lengthy Part II is the album’s other sheer classic ripper, amassing a percussive density that approaches an Afro-Latin feel, the bass distortion growing, a driving rhythm set up for Svensson’s epic gestures, propelling towards a gargantuan climax. Not surprisingly, this is followed by the tender ballad of The Childhood Dream, as all facets of e.s.t. are continually revealed.

On Vinyl 

Cheers, After my woeful Record Store Day shopping last year (saw queue, sighed, walked home) I didn't bother this time. Looks like Erased Tapes still have it, so thanks for that. It's a sexy-looking record, for sure...

...and I have bought one or two of late, so I'm tempted. Let me know what Olafur's album is like some time (and maybe the Oliveray Nils Frahm / Peter Broderick collab, if you got it?) and I might have to splash out.

For now....

Tks : )