Birdloom (self titled)

What we have here is an imaginative mashup of traditional style folk music with early 2000s electronica, Loop Guru style. It was actually made around then and I think you can tell, from the beats perspective at least, but that isn’t to say it isn’t any good; it is. But some songs do have quite a timeless feel to them, particularly Bold Lamkin.

It’s interesting to note Sharon’s notes on the page which say that despite interest from fRoots magazine and appearances on BBC radio, they couldn’t get a label to release it at the time. Now, of course, with the democratization of music that is the mayhem of internet disruption style, anyone can realease anything (and I do). I read in a recent Cober interview that this might be bad because if music is free everywhere – and it kind of is, isn’t it? – then people will devalue it.

I think there’s a lot of ways of looking at this, and no right one. On the one hand, it means the people left making it will be the people who genuinely have a calling to do it rather than those who think it might be a ticket to fame or adoration – they have social media for that now, and something else probably soon. On the other it does mean you may have to wade through a lot of music you personally don’t like in order to find stuff you do. I don’t have a problem with that but not everyone has my restless quest for new music, and I can see that the retreat of many people into only going out to see covers bands and tribute bands may be related to this. They know what they like and the like what they know, not realising that there was a time when they didn’t know that thing, and also not admitting that something they don’t know now can become known and liked by giving it a chance.

But as long as people like Sharon and Dave (R.I.P) keep the experimental flame alive, the good thing about this democratization is that they have an avenue to share that and inspire people.

Crow Tongue – Ghost: Eye : Seeker

Well, since I linked this on a recent post, and in so doing discovered that it was on bandcamp now, I figured I’d add it to the Soundbergs pantheon. Old classic albums that have been with me for years surface here every now and again. Like those I just linked, this still gets played on the Soundbergs stereo from time to time, and never fails to bring joy.

This is the very definition of trancey, droney, hypnotic, catatonia-inducing music, the first section especially. It’s the sort of album that needs no words to describe it because it cannot be described, which may say more about my limitations in description than it does about the music (or it may say that all other attempts at description you read are in fact superfluous – you choose).

Emanative – The Light Years Of The Darkness

It’s rare I buy an album on one play only though it does happen. This is the most recent example, and the song that did it was Music is the Healing Force of the Universe, which is a Pharoah Sanders tune (I think). And absolutely true.

This album seems to be a collection of standards from the spritual jazz canon rendered in frankly ecstatically joyous fashion. This is a positive vibes album at its most positivest, which is a real word and is described at length in the famous Dictionary of Really Real Words, available from all good book stores. Your book store no got it? It no a good book store…

And if my brain is working properly, this should post on a Saturday. I think this is a perfect Saturday afternoon album, but will undoubtedly work on many other occasions also. Recommendations for times, and places if you also desire, can be put in the always busy* comments section.

*comments section may not actually be always busy.

Cruelle – J’ai remplacé l’amour par l’argent

I’m not gonna lie, I looked at this because of its cover, prominent on the right hand side of the latest releases of Avon Terror Corps whilst listening to the last post (which, because I’m doing this an advance and scheduling it, I can’t hyperlink said post because it ain’t posted yet).

I stayed for the music, however. Really good beats. The first track especially blew me away as I wondered how anyone could conceive of making a beat like that although I realised that if you swapped out all the kicks to an array of toms you’d have something very tribal indeed. And as one of the commentators noted, the drop in the middle of But is absolute genius.

But I think the whole album is. The way the last track finishes the album – the only song in English – is another one where I was skeptical of the song until it got to the end and I realised it was in fact brilliant. It takes a special artist to be able to do that. Whether she was sitting on the loo at the time she thought of it is not made clear.

Dead Space Chamber Music – The Black Hours

This will come as a suprise to literally no-one, but there is an amazing amount of music transmitting through the Bristolian Hub. I’ve recently highlighted some Bokeh Versions releases, and encourage you to dive in to their catalogue if those are your thing. Now it’s time for the Avon Terror Corps. What a fantastic name.

Imagine, if you will, Alison Cotton, Abronia and Haress sharing a room and passing the musical parcel to each other for a spell as well as having moments of all joining in a glorious and harmonious cacophany. That might just about pass as a sign-post pointing the way to what you might expect to hear on The Black Hours.

The record is a reference to a medieval manuscript called ‘The Liturgy of the Hours, or the Office of the Dead.’ I find it interesting that the paragraph where this info is related also draws attention to the parralels between prayer and music creation / crafting. Although I haven’t made the explicit connection myself, I’ve philosophically been down this way for a number of years.

Société Etrange – Chance

Listening to NTS as much as I do, I think I can now confidently say that you don’t very often hear the same songs in a short space of time. At least, the shows I’ve listened to a lot don’t seem to repeat themselves and I frequently just leave it on and the same seems to be true elsewhere on the station as well.

So it’s quite notable when a particular song appears even as much as 3 times! The first one such is one that does my head in but this isn’t a negative review blog. The second tune closes this album – the first time I heard it I noted it as very good and put the album on my wishlist. Having subsequently listened to the album in full, hence it didn’t get deleted from my wishlist, Futur then got played twice more over the next fortnight or so and after the third play I gave in and bought the album.

The whole thing is full of wonderful rhythm and movement though. I noted when I was listening to Harmonia the other night that some of the melodic progressions were ‘very German’ and listening to this again as I type this I’m reminded of that because my thought is that this sounds melodically French. And yet, if you asked me to expand on what I mean by this, I simply wouldn’t be able to. There’s a feel to the progressions maybe? Maybe someone properly tuned in to all the world’s wonderful music would be able to place the origin of any music just based on the melodic progressions.

Octal Industries – Our Seasons

I’ve got a backlog of albums I’ve been meaning to post so I’m going to experiment with scheduling rather than throwing them all at you at once (I’m off work today).

This one is kind of mellow techno music with a soundscape feel though it often put me in mind of Organit despite the latter being more driving.

Reading the blurb is slightly confusing in regards to who this actually is, or maybe I’m feeling dense today. It seems to be Jonas Thor Gudmundsson (aka Ruxpin) doing the music though other names are mentioned but I suspect they are more to do with being labels or something. That may be less important than is often thought, though. I’ve often believed that music channels itself through people rather than people having some individual genius or something (ask me about my spookiest ever creative experience sometime) and the notion of the genius artist as we so often believe it is a misinterpretation based on our hyper-individualistic worldview stemming from the illusion of separation that undergirds our entire culture.

Here endeth todays sermon.

Abu Ama – Arabxo Ishara

More Bokeh Versions goodness for you here. I love the story told on this page, of how the artist sent the label almost 500 tunes and said ‘pick some.’ If only choosing album running orders was so easy!

Reference points for me here are like a mashup of Muslimgauze, Saint Abdullah and Hamza El Din being brought together in righteous dub-groove harmony.

Smote – Genog

What even is a Genog?

Well, duh, Mr supposedly univer sity-educated Flipdog, it’s the name of the new album by Smote. What else need it be?

I have an earlier one of theirs also on my wishlist. Maybe I should buy one of them, they is clearly amongst the Gods of music. Said wishlist has gone beyond the realms of ridiculous into new levels though.

SO yet another collection of music where there are no words – I mean that descriptively not in the instrumental sense. There are words, and they are chanted, in a manner that puts me in mind of the wonderful Crow Tongue album, Ghost Eye Seeker.

Trancey, meditative with a definite sense of journey. One with a heavy end.

Annelies Monseré – Mares

I think this one went on to my ‘things to check out’ list as a result of my Bandcamp feed but can’t be certain because there are many sources to me checking things out and the gap between getting onto said list and me actually listening to the full work can be really quite long indeed.

Anywho, this comes at you from the experimental end of things because I bet you’re all really fed up with all the mainstream stuff I keep posting, right?

As it’s me, it’s from the angle of catatonia inducing mong-trance, which is totally a genre in its own right, with it’s own rite and everything, and probably a section in HMV. Assuming HMV is still going, I heard a rumour it actually still is. Probably my favourite genre these days.

I note that she has an upcoming collaboration with the also very wonderful Jessica Bailiff, which I am very intrigued to hear.