ROOTS & SPROUTS

In a satisfying stylistic experiment, Lebanese composer and oud player Rabih Abou-Khalil has decided to put together an album of jazz numbers with no Western instruments other than Glen Moore's stand-up bass. There is Yassin El-Achek on violin, but the violin is almost as much a Middle Eastern instrument as a Western one. El-Achek usually remains in the Middle Eastern style of playing, but occasionally, as on "Wordless" he double-stops and trills like Paganini.

The tracks are nicely constructed, and the improvisations are not allowed to run amuck or become shapeless. The tunes are, as usual with Abou-Khalil, Middle Eastern melodies with phrases and turns that nod at Western notions of what "Oriental" music sounds like. This conceit paves the way for the extremely rare event of Abou-Khalil covering someone else's song. And which did he choose? Duke Ellington's "Caravan," the all-time most famous faux-Arabic jazz number! The song turns into a duet between El-Achek's violin and Selim Kusur's nay (Arabic flute). It's fun but lightweight compared to the album's originals.

All the instrumentalists are in fine form, particularly Glen Velez, who really shakes his tambourine as well as pulling out his snare drums for several numbers.

Abou-Khalil has never been better as a performer, especially on the opening of "Remembering Machgara," where he makes his oud sound like an electric guitar. It helps that the album is unusually well-arranged, even for Abou-Khalil, and well-recorded, even for Enja, everything sounding wonderfully present and defined. This album represents the expatriate Lebanese composer-musician in his prime

(manand)

we are all pan's people

(manand)

CIRCULADO

In "Fora da Ordem," the opening cut on Caetano Veloso's Circuladô, the great Brazilian singer-songwriter reflects on a world in which "something has gone out of order." Brooding on a fractious urban environment where children bite "the barrel of the pistol," he concludes: "I don't wait for the day when all men will agree/I only know several beautiful harmonies without a final judgment." "Fora da Ordem," with its twangy funk groove, is the most American-sounding song on Veloso's third album (of twenty-three total) to be released in the United States. Musically as well as politically, it evokes Veloso's pluralistic vision of a diverse world culture composed of "several beautiful harmonies."

If you blended Stevie Wonder's mysticism and social consciousness, Cole Porter's romantic sophistication and the hushed intensity of the Brazilian singer-guitarist João Gilberto, you might begin to have some idea of the range of inflections in Veloso's music, which is written and performed in Portuguese.

What sets Veloso apart is the fact that he is a true poet as well as a brilliant pop musician; his lithe, guitar-based melodies carry lyrics that make astounding leaps to grasp the essences of things. Those lyrics can be ecstatic, as in "Itapuã," a gorgeous ballad arranged for guitar, voices and string quartet that evokes a Bahian childhood idyll in language that is both religious and sexual. Almost as lovely is "Lindeza," a quiet ode to joy that acknowledges how "humanity grows" from an apprehension of beauty. The delicate "Boas Vindas" may be the most beautiful song about the birth of a child since Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely." "There is the fear and there is the rose," he intones softly. "I say it's delicious."

These celebrations of life are balanced by harsh reflections of social discord. The most searing, "O Cu do Mundo" (which means "asshole of the world"), describes "the saddest nation," torn with theft, rape, kidnapping and lynch mobs. Although Veloso's singing rarely rises in volume above the level of an intimate conversation, the emotional crosscurrents that ripple through his intense murmur convey feelings that include even the staunchest outrage.

(manand)

LOVE SONGS

Qawwali : Music of the Sufis

Where: India and Pakistan
What's it about: Spiritual Islamic song of the esoteric Sufis sect, highly improvisatory and hypnotically repetitive

Qawwali is a form of music practiced by Sufis to inspire religious devotion and instruction. Sufism is a mystical school of Islamic thought where truth and divine love are achieved through personal experience. Sufis are synonymous with the 'Whirling Dervishes' found in many parts of North Africa and the Middle East. Unlike Muslims, Sufis believe that one can reach God during your own lifetime and one of qawwali's formal names means "royal court of saints". The Qawwali form of Islamic song is practiced in India and Pakistan.

Buried Deep: History of Qawwali

The roots of Qawwali began in the 11th Century with the tradition of sama, spiritual concerts which predate the birth of Muhammad. Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya, a follower of the Christi school of Sufism used music extensively in his prayer gatherings, creating tension with the orthodox Islamics in Delhi. However, the godfather of Qawwali is said to be Amir Khusru from the 13th century, a legendary musician, politician and philosopher who mixed elements from Turkey, Persia and India in the creation of a new music.

In Qawwali, Persian moqquams meet Indian ragas (similar to scales in western music). Not all people were a fan of this new music. Qawwali alongside Sufism suffered a decline and repression during certain periods of Islamic history when fundamentalists attacked the liberalism of the Sufis and their 'depraved' experimental music. One opponent was Aurangzeb - when the musicians held a 'funeral' with their instruments wrapped up in corpses to signify the death of their music under his rule, the cruel emperor was reported to have said: "Good! Bury it so deep that never a sound should be heard again."

Qawwali in the Modern Age

Qawwali achieved a recent wave of popularity in film music, where it forms one of the key components of Hindi films. Without a live audience, these pre-recorded qawwali soundtracks have a more muted and detached character, with virtuosity pumped up and devotionalism played down. Secular qawwali is often seen by its true exponents as being commercial and shallow. The rich, sensual and spiritual words are often twisted in the context of more earthly romantic cinema.

At the Qawwali Concert

Qawwali concerts are a musical gathering, containing a lead singer, second singer, harmonium and tabla and a small choir of other singers all sitting on the floor. It is a communal experience, with the audience being participators and no single person is considered to be more important, in fact, one of qawwali's formal names means "gathering for listening". The traditions of Persian poetry which influences qawwali have similarities here; in the 13th Century Persian poet Attar's epic poem "conference of the birds", a group of birds and a leader go a transformative journey. During the journey the birds realise they do not need a leader as they contain within themselves the inherent powers which the leader showed. The collective experience of Sufism and qawwali is like this, but one can only truly understand the power of qawwali if one experiences the holiness and spirituality of the form.

Qawwali players must be extremely talented musicians and poets, able to adapt to different moods of ceremonies and able to improvise in several languages in different poetic traditions. Often, qawwals are part of historic families who pass down this 'trade' to their offspring. Praise of saints and martyrs of Sufism as well as direct address to the Prophet are common themes in the qawwali.

During the concert, one singer will recite poetry, hand gestures and religious phrases and the second singer will create improvised call and response variations. The main singer then commands the chorus to sing a hypnotic refrain. The variation, improvisation and repetition are carried out to such an extent that the music become hypnotic and meditive, rather like the whirling of the dervishes, leading to a trance-like state. Similarities are seen here with many kind of communal music and shamanistic traditions, from voodoo to African drumming to House and Techno and the minimalist music of composers like Steve Reich. In this heightened state, the participants can achieve fana - spiritual enlightenment. The structure of each song is usually the same - it starts off with a slow ambient opening, then becomes more rhythmical and driving as the music becomes faster pulsed and more intense. It is not uncommon for members of the audience to become extremely ecstatic and throw money at the musicians. Audiences in the States even bang their heads against the wall until unconscious in more extreme manifestations of this ecstatic ritual. One legendary star of qawwal said that "the violence of the ecstasy depends on each person's pain of seperation from his homeland".

Qawwali Guru - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

The speaker was the biggest ever Qawwal star, known as 'Pakistan's Pavarotti', Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Khan said: "When I sing for God, I feel myself in accord with God, and the house of God, Mecca, is right in front of me".

Khan was from a family of qawwal, although he claims he only decided to follow the tradition when he had recurring dreams that he was singing where no other qawwal had sang before - in the shine of Muinuddin Christi, a founding saint of Sufism. His prophecy was later fulfilled and a glorious career ensued. Posssibly the most famous ever name in world music, Khan was one of the truly great cross over artists who was able to bridge geographical, religious and cultural divides with his powerful voice and traditions. Projects included a collaboration with Massive Attack, Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam and Peter Gabriel. Some of his great albums were originally released on Gabriel's Real World record label.

Khan was a huge legend, not just physically, but in his stature, he was worshipped by his fans. Unlike many singers of today, he was admired purely on his amazing vocal skills and also the passion and spirituality he displayed in his amazing improvisations. He was not afraid to mix the sacred with the profane, the popular with the niche, and a meeting of the East with the West, which has lead to his popularity and longevity. Khan died in 1997 aged just 49.

(manand)

An album designed to shake the Empire probably shouldn't be characterized as "charming," but the Deviants' Ptooff!, an artifact from England's freak underground circa 1967, is nothing if not beguiling. After all, most people today are afraid to shake the state much, lest it get an upset stomach and spit up. Or, worse yet, it could fall down on top of them. But then! Then! Well, a group of "anarchist art student teenage asshole[s]" could really put the ol' scare into the fattened-for-slaughter ruling class by combining elements of the Fugs, Charles Mingus, and John Cage into something unfathomably artistic, couldn't they? Well, no. But as Mick Farren's sage bio notes: "You live and learn, don't you?"

ptooff!

(manand)

If only for its sublime evocation of bagpipe tunes of glory and its redemptive use of synthesizer – still an expensive plaything in the hands of most jazz musicians – saxophonist Joseph Jarman's "Prayer for Jimbo Kwesi" is the most striking cut on The Third Decade, the Art Ensemble of Chicago's first studio album since 1980. But, as you might expect from the band that gave eclecticism a good name, there is a little bit of everything here, all of it dazzling: a chiming sonic meditation by saxophonist Roscoe E. Mitchell; an affectionate sendup of a moony 1930s ballad written by Mitchell's amateur-songwriter father; a taut bop line by trumpeter Lester Bowie that would do the Jazz Messengers proud; the requisite pots-and-pans percussion rampage, which leads up to an all-out collective improvisation; even some wicked in-the-pocket funk, with bassist Malachi Favors Maghostut and drummer Famoudou Don Moye showing the way.

The Art Ensemble's five members play more than three score musical instruments and noisemakers. Their versatility, together with the band's respect for textural and dynamic nuance, ensures surprises not only from track to track but from measure to measure. The tranquil interludes that grace even The Third Decade's harsher and more dour selections make it the Art Ensemble of Chicago album to recommend to listeners who categorically reject most avant-garde jazz. Few bands have exerted as decisive or as salubrious an influence on jazz over the last two decades, and on the evidence presented here, it looks as though the Art Ensemble's third decade as a performing unit is off to a promising start.

the third decade

(manand)

sings about flying & rainbows & love & other groovy things

(manand)

gold day ep

(manand)

MELODIC ENERGY COMMISSION was formed many centuries ago to investigate and experiment with the energy caused by melodies, portrayed through sound patterns often classified as music.
Their original sound patterns were inscribed into clay cylinders and later, vinyl platters then distributed throughout the galaxies. Eventually, the investigations expanded to rhythmic and atonal pattern interpretation. So, more recordings have been created during these investigations and began appearing around planet earth.
On their recent plastic discs the Commissioners have placed advanced communications, disguised as songs and elaborate soundscapes

melody is energy 7"

(manand)

For The Darkness


Riots, as heard from our 4th floor apartment, one week after the murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos / '
Reading of T.S. Eliot's East Coker [1944]

Recorded and mixed on 13.12.08 in Exarchia, Athens


Danae: voice
Yannis: mixing / processing


acte vide is the project of two young artists from Athens,Greece performing experimental music without a pause...
for other works visit them here:ACTE VIDE


STRGGZRRR

Ακουστικά και ηλεκτρικά όργανα αναμειγνύονται με sound effects και θόρυβο, σε ένα moody, ατμοσφαιρικό rock με folk στοιχεία. Παραδοσιακοί, αλλά και spaghetti western ήχοι, κινούνται από το σκληρό στο light, από το ήρεμο στο παραμορφωμένο. Κάθε σύνθεση αναπτύσσεται υπομονετικά και το hammond, μαζί με το ακκορντεόν ενισχύουν μελωδικά και σε μελαγχολία τις κιθάρες, όσο ο βαρύτονος frontman Abel Hernandez επεμβαίνει -μόνο για να ενισχύσει το δραματικό χαρακτήρα.

restos de un incendio

(manand)

Julian's Treatment is yet another forgotten and obscure gem of progressive and psychedelic rock. Not very often does a sci-fi author involve himself with music. Michael Moorcock's involvement with Hawkwind is one of the best examples. And Julian Jay Savarin is another author who involved himself in music, with this band Julian's Treatment. Savarin played the organ and he had an Australian named Cathy Pruden to handle the vocals, with some other guys to handle the guitar, bass, drums, and flute (no liner notes were included, unfortunately).

A Time Before This, released in 1970, was the one and only album by this band (Savarin released an album under his own name called Waiters on the Dance, which varying sources say was released in 1969, 1971, or 1973). Unsurprising, the album is a sci-fi concept album, a bit difficult for me to follow when a lyric sheet wasn't even included, but it seems to involve the destuction of the Earth in which a Terran ends up on a planet inhabited by strange, blue-skinned people, and an evil megalomaniac. Musically, it's late '60s sounding psychedelic with progressive rock with great spacy organ and a cosmic feel to the whole album. Great female vocals as well with the occasional spoken dialog. Highlights include "Phantom City", "The Black Tower", "Altarra, Princess of the Blue Women", "Twin Suns of Centauri", "Alkon, Planet of Centauri", "The Terran", "Fourth From the Sun", and "Strange Things".

All the music sounds like it should belong on some campy sci-fi film from the late 1960s, but that should not come as any surprise. One band that Julian's Treatment gets compared to is The United States of America, the American band that released an self-entitled album in 1968 that featured Joe Byrd and Dorothy Moskowitz. Also comparisons to such prog rock bands lead by female vocalists like Analogy, Sandrose, and Holland's Earth & Fire are pretty common as well. Which is safe to say, if you're a fan of any of these groups, chances are you'll like Julian's Treatment, a great lost gem that sure to grow on you. It's been reissued on CD twice, first by See For Miles which included bonus tracks from Julian Jay Savarin's album Waiters on the Dance, and by Akarma, with no bonus tracks, but excellent, miniaturized LP-style packaging. The original LP (released in Britain by Young Blood and in the U.S. on Decca) isn't exactly easy to come by, but regardless, this album is another excellent obscure gem to add to your collection.

a time before this

(manand)

Really gorgeous eastern psychedelic kraut (related) improv in the mood of Siloah, Parson Sound, Lamp of the Universe, Dom…Some sections contain primitive, blues damaged folk jams. The result is astonishing, highly mysterious and luminous. “Naerby Shiras” is an acoustic, repetitive, dreamy and druggy little piece, dominated by simplistic but efficient guitars motifs, some dancing flute lines and discreet narrations at the end. Really warm & acid stuff. “Jaceline” is a percussive, floating ballad within a forest ambience, accompanied by voices and words, violin contrasts and vibraphone. The “pastoral” acoustic guitar parts always prevail. “Raga no 11” features an intense, chanting like raga improvisation with rhythms and “mantra” sonorities. “September full moon” contain folkish strings and rhythms for a rather light, bucolic composition. “Arapaho's dancing dance” is bluesy like tune with circular rhythms, evasive guitar parts and kinda folky harmonica arrangements. A charming artefact with some tripped out moments!

crawling to lhasa

(manand)

...χωρις να τη γνωριζω οφειλω ενα πολυ μεγαλο ευχαριστω στην Emma που "αφησε" τον Bon Iver και αυτος για να ξεχασει το πονο του χωρισμου πηγε και εκανε αυτο το αριστουργημα!!

An Alzheimer’s waltz, a journey into a kind of Alaska, an elegant exploration of the romance of entropy, Persistent Repetition of Phrases is a distillation of The Caretaker’s art...
...Persistent Repetition is a work whose hazy prettiness is coloured by sadness and loss

link

(manand)

Los Angeles is an album best listened to as a whole, rather than a set of isolated tracks. It’s the soundtrack to a greater picture without the faintest inkling of cliché or resorting to condescension. Los Angeles is highly accessible, but wonderfully complicated and with its myriad of angles, atmospheres and faces, it is at once profound and enduring...

Karl Hector and the Malcouns take stylistic biochemistry to a breathtaking and invigorating level. With roots in both the Sahara and Germany, Karl Hector and the Malcouns combine Afrobeat, Krautrock, jazz and funk in a mixture that yields some of the most innovative and aurally stimulating music to have arrived in recorded form in some time. And given that the band's influences are firmly entrenched in the culture of the experimental '70s, there's a deep and rich analog sound that bathes these mesmerizing tracks. Had I not been supplied with any information surrounding this release, I almost would have assumed it was a lost masterpiece from 30 years ago, and quite frankly, it might as well be.
...Given the sounds and techniques that get stirred about therein, Sahara Swing could be a genre unto itself. It's a truly impressive feat when an album can sound vintage and truly innovative, yet this does both. Karl Hector and the Malcouns are true innovators, both visionaries and classicists in a time where neither seems to exist anymore

An Audience of Art Deco Eyes has been planned as a magical evening of music, at first subtle and sophisticated, rising through a crescendo of hot blooded rhythm and settling down to soft and tender tunes for the eerie after hours...

This is your opportunity to discover for yourself the magic of music played the Moon Wiring Club way- experience the pleasure of their many melodic worlds.

Begin the evening with music to break the ice, ‘Dumpley’s Acrostics’ and the modern classic ‘Ghost Radio’. The evening begins to swing when you put on ‘You have no Gifts’ and ‘Mademoiselle Marionette’. Then it’s time for shoes off and chairs away with ‘Living Furniture’ and ‘Wool Book’, the sound that made the Moon Wiring Club famous around the kingdom.

These melodies could even conjure up a party- are people actually there laughing and singing along with you?

For the perfect finish to evening, when the lights are low and the air is thin, the Moon Wiring Club perform ‘Some Cobwebbed Limbo’ to transport you to another time and place altogether...

Once you have a Moon Wiring Club long playing record in your collection it’s like hearing music in colour after years of black and white! You just won’t be able to entertain without them.

απο αργεντινη...πιανο με electronic minimal sounds...ΚΑΤΑΠΛΗΚΤΙΚΟ!!!

los dias

(manand)

’It's not a secret that I'm king without a land / I'm a captain without sea / So let me pretend / To find my home again. All we've got is ourselves - and one another. We're home. Get Well Soon’’

Darkroom Dubs is a label run by respected electro/house producers Silicone Soul, and this album from Mirror Music aka Soma's Dave Donaldson enters the seedy world of Euro-Disco-house with an eleven track trip into the darkroom. The tracks veer between synth interludes to set the Darkroom mood, to floor dedicated Euro-disco with elements of house and and a generally pervasive feeling of sleazy unease with non-country specific European undertones for those that like that sort of gear

Kuniyuki Takahashi is a producer and sound designer from Sapporo, Japan. In 1997 he started his own record label BSC (Bacteria Sound Commune) but this compilation of remixes on Mule Musiq is likely to get him the most exposure he’s had to-date; because its awesome!

At times Glasvegas teeters precipitously towards the ham-fisted. The original rockabilly arrangement for “Stabbed” is abandoned in favor of a nearly ludicrous spoken word piece backed by Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata. “Ice Cream Van” takes heavy-handedness to a new level ("Bring back the glory days / Active citizenship and pure community"), but the album never wavers, even though that tightrope walk is sometimes far from graceful. While a band like the Raveonettes takes a considerably more nuanced and savvy approach to a similar formula, on this record, James Allan’s blunt, sensitive tough-guy act manages to pack an emotional wallop that will catch many folks off-guard. The album’s a bit of a fluke, no question, but it’s also an absolute gem.

''...in the same vein as artists like Tipper or Trentemoeller, HOL Baumann pictures his sonic universe, melancholic and sharp, woody and urban, a stunning album conceived as an electronic ballad lulled by breakbeat influences. An artist with an innate sense of composition and haunting themes, glitchy acoustic play, mixing fragility and strength. Unique.''

''...Erring on the side of experimental is often a dangerous thing, all style over substance and groove and rhythms lost to the expense of weirdness. Mary’s Spring however, manages to combine a double bass, hands splashing in baths, ringing telephones and bleeps from a galaxy far far away into an album so charming, enchanting and good I want to leave my wife and dedicate myself to a life of sonic experimentation.''

All at once the album can sound deadly, harrowing, ambient, subdued, rough and refined. The two primary band members, Dan (ex-In Pieces) and Tim, wear their influences well, combining shoegaze, industrial, black metal, post-rock, dark ambient, and alternative to make a paradoxical, intriguing sound.

...θυμασαι ρε στο γυμνασιο που ειχες μακρυ μαλλι με ανταυγειες και εκλεβες το
eyeliner της αδερφης σου?θυμασαι που ακουγαμε το Runaway του John(τι θα πει ποιου john?) και υμνουσες τα leads του Richie Sambora...θυμασαι οταν ειχαν βγαλει το πρωτο
τους οι Firehouse που εκλεγες απο συγκινηση(?) στην αγκαλια του Μπαμπη?
..και τωρα την ''ειδες'' ψαγμενος και μου ακους Distance και Belbury Poly,και μου βαζεις χερι
για τον δισκο των Η.Ε.Α.Τ και το παρωχημενο μελωδικο hard rock τους....
ε,οχι κυριε M.Hulot!!.....για μενα ο δισκος της χρονιας..περιοδος.

London Zoo is a remarkable tour de force, an album that truly feels like a statement of the times and further proof that Kevin Martin is a sonic warrior unlike many other...

GANYMEDE

''After four years in the studio tweaking every blip and bleep, Ganymede returns with its first album of original electropop since 2003's highly acclaimed Space and Time. This time, Patrick Runkle and David Friede invite the listener to join them on Operation Ganymede, a retro-electro voyage into deep space and back. The beats are solid, the basslines are sub-atomic, and the synth leads are sumptuous as the boys tell the story of a doomed U.S.-Soviet joint mission to Jupiter. Coming along for the ride is Bay Area disco legend Paul Parker, whose #1 Billboard dance smashes "Right on Target" and "One Look Was Enough" are as fresh today as ever. Paul contributes lead vocals to an instant Ganymede classic, the Italo disco-flavored "Perfect Target." Other standout tracks on the album include the pulse-pounding "Deeds Not Words," the epic closing track "The Final Mission" and the ballad "Love Is Not the End."

.....in case you might have wondered what's this post about(no link or comments about it)
i must inform you that(drum roll please...)the Greek blog Gone4Sure has started a vote
for a list of the 20 best albums of the year.52 bloggers from Greece participate in that list
and post an album a day starting from number 20..after all lists are posted until 20 December
the albums that gathered the most of the points will make it to the all(participant)bloggers
final top 20 list....all discs will be followed by comments justifying their place in the list

NIGHTMARES ON WAX

''Listening to Thought So..., it’s clear that Evelyn has been recharged by moving to the Balears, but he’s got a better recording of these surroundings in him. “Da Feelin”, the first and best song on the album, is a perfect jam for sunny beaches, with organs and funky handclaps and lyrics that are simple –- “the feeling is real and there’s love” –- but no less enjoyable. It’s a promising sign of where the next output from Nightmares on Wax is likely to go, once Evelyn’s eyes adjust to the sun. In the mean time, there’s some summertime gold spaced out here. ''