Listen to the album at Miasmah

Late last  year a friend rang up in the middle of the night (well that’s what it seemed like) and played some music down the phone and asked me “who the hell is this”.

The answer turned out to be Rafael Anton Irisarri’s album “Daydreaming“. I hadn’t heard of him then (that took an hour or two’s research) but I have listened to him a hell of a lot since then.

“Daydreaming” is a mix of piano, electronics and some of the most gorgeous production you are likly to hear for a while. This is one of those works that just go straight for the emotional jugular and will have you transfixed.

OK I can hear you out there going “Piano, electonic, production – been there. What else you got?”

Well as it turns out around seven beautifully executed ideas. Don’t believe me?  Just Click on player just below and see what you think. We’ll wait

This album is all about the piano, all the other stuff surrounding it provide a context for the piano’s notes. In places murky and in others the acoustic palletes used are so stark and stripped back, you will wonder how Rafael is able to eke out such a deep emotional response.

I remember the first time I heard George Winston playing piano on a Windham Hill recording a long, long time ago. The music he created stayed with me, here is another artist and album that will do the same.

Highly Recommended

[UPDATE]
There is some new material over at Soundcloud soundcloud.com/studio-irisarri

Listen to the album at Bandcamp

It’s Saturday night and I have been listening to Crux, Emmalee Crane’s debut album. It seems to inhabit the same sort of place that Rafael Anton Irassari is occupying.  A curious mix of textural washes, real instruments, circuit bent electronics, found sounds and a ton of imagination. It is helping me lose my birthday blues. Or at least move them to a better place,

Emmalee calls her music “drone” but she is kidding herself. There is wonderful melody, clever arrangement and more than a passing nod to analog electronic music pioneers.

Here is the hype from her website

Like most children, Emmalee’s first experience of making music was with a plastic recorder and a number of other ill-advised toy whistles and trumpets. It was from here that she followed a not unpredictable but quite successful progression to the oboe, clarinet, and English and French horns. She studied (and is a great lover of) Romantic and Modern classical music, with a particular fondness for Debussy.

Perhaps the most important twist in this so far dull history involves Emmalee’s other fascination: electronics. Being adept at dismantling all manner of gadgets from an early age, she naturally developed a secondary musical affinity for analog synthesizers and other voltage-driven trinkets of noise making. She is now equally at home with a soldering iron as a woodwind, and is a great believer in circuit-bending*. Today, Emmalee blends woodwinds, horns and analog synthesizers with found sounds and bent circuits to create ambient, orchestral drone music reminiscent of Mark Hollis and Stars Of The Lid. Emmalee Crane was born in Toronto in 1983. She now lives in San Francisco with an unruly collection of instruments and her dog, Bash.

* as long as you don’t mention the time she totally wrecked a Juno 106

I have a soft spot for music like this (big suprise there) and look forward to hearing more from Emmalee (I believe her new one is due shortly). Highly recommended – have a listen here

For more information visit her at www.emmaleecrane.com/ or her Bandcamp site music.emmaleecrane.com/

(gotta love bandcamp)

[UPDATE]

Da Camera

I hadn’t been to Magnatune for a while ( along while as it turns out. But I was looking something baroque-ish (don’t ask) and found Da Camera: Celtic Renaissance/Baroque Ensemble, who as it turns out , were just what I was looking for.

Da Camera is a versatile ensemble, crossing the line between ‘early’, ‘folk’ and ‘contemporary’ music. Their programmes range in repertoire from the passamezzi of the 15th century, via traditional Celtic and English music, through the baroque, to newly-commissioned works. Three new works have been commissioned by them to date. All members of the recorder family feature alongside many different sizes of viol with harpsichord or organ accompaniment.

They have just recorded their first CD on their own Da Camera label of Scottish and Irish Baroque and Traditional music, entitled A Celtic Celebration. The first track of the album is Carolan’s Concerto and it just wonderful, light bright and infectious. I have always loved it since the first time I heard it played ( it was a band I was mixing for, just whistle and guitar)

But the track that really hooked me was The Fairy Queen (it’s track two), it shows the depth of talent that this band has, and this is the track I ended up using on the MP3 player.

The album is a gem and Magnatune have this spiffy little player that will let you hear it all.

A Celtic Celebration by Da Camera

Highly recommended (as is Magnatune – they have a whole bunch of new material to check out)

Website at magnatune.com/artists/da_camera

Two Lone Swordsmen

Two Lone Swordsmen are British DJ and producer Andrew Weatherall and studio engineer Keith Tenniswood. They fired up in the mid Ninetie’s and have over the years have played with a multitude of styles, from electro to post-punk to idm (intelligent dance music?). To give you an idea of just how much stuff they have done have a look at their page at Last.fm.

So with all the myriad bands available for us all  to listen to, why these dudes?

Texture, have a listen to “Born Bad Born Beautiful” or “No Girl In My Plan”. Both are full of just the best bass and drums and guitars that I have had fun with for ages. These are songs full of strut and attitude. It’s not so much a “would you like to have a listen to these tracks? Maybe?” so much a splintering of the door as it is kicked in and  you are grabbed by the lapels. With a voice in your face saying – “Good Innit!”

Here is some hype about a recent album

With elements of garage and rockabilly, but also the more familiar layer of electronica, this double album promises a whole new direction. What is particularly striking is Andrew Weatherall’s growth in stature, not only as a singer and frontman but also as a sharp wordsmith. Here we find tales of love and rejection that rip open a seething underbelly of mistrust, tension, revenge, and redemption along the way. Like Robert Johnson’s appointment with the devil, Two Lone Swordsmen find themselves in a clandestine engagement at Dante’s Inferno, pulling up a stool while St. Nick pours from the bottle and take a hearty swig.

The best thing is that over the years their focus seems to have moved to making music WITH machines, rather making music by machines.

Highly Recommended

Websites at www.myspace.com/twoloneswordsmen and www.twoloneswordsmen.com/

Lindsay Buckland

I first ran into Lindsay Buckland years ago when he was busking here in Melbourne, his music would stop me cold every time and more than once I was late for a meeting or would miss the tram because of him.

Lindsay plays dulcimer and we aren’t talking simple folk accompaniments here (altough I am sure he can do them brilliantly. No siree, we are talking electric, amplified, signal processed, digitally looped and spat out dulcimer. And it’s brilliant.

Here is some hype from his site…

Lindsay Buckland is internationally renown for his legendary street performances around the globe. Undisputed as the worlds foremost electric dulcimer player, Lindsay has successfully crafted a unique original melodic sound emanating from a simple folk instrument, the Appalachian dulcimer.

Merged with the latest electronics he has been at the forefront of contemporary world music & composition over the past decade.

His multi-cultural audiences and mass appeal, to such a diverse age group are testament to the popularity of his infectious style of music. As a result his CD’s have sold in numbers previously unheard of for a totally independent recording artist.

Now that’s all very cool and to hear what he can do head over to www.myspace.com/lindsaybuckland and have a listen to his studio work and then have a look at this video of one of his street performances from YouTube.

I love his music and always seem to have a few of his tracks on the MP3 player. One of my faves is of one of his older albums, “Eclipse Of Common Sense”. Have a listen to “Trans Amazonian Highway

I haven’t seen him in Melbourne for a while but it would seem he is playing all over the world now (our loss – their gain).  If you should see him busking, make sure you stop and have a listen. You won’t regret it.

Highly Recommended

Websites at www.myspace.com/lindsaybuckland and www.lindsaybuckland.com

Low Pressure Productions

So back when I was a lot younger , I used to go and watch movies about  surfing.  There was something about the visuals, the music and the whole “pushing the envelope” attitude the surfers I had thaat was seriously attractive.  This was also back in the days when you could smoke in theatres.

I should add I didn’t surf. I played at windsurfing a lifetime back and that was very cool, I even treid surfing… I am even more in awe of these people now.

Today’s post sort of takes me back to that period with some really interesting music.

I will just rip of the stuff from the website.

Low Pressure Productions

The next release for Low Pressure Productions is the sound track to Life Like Liquid, a film by Dave Rastovich. Available now at Switch-foot.com

Life Like Liquid” is an exploration into the creative realms of surfing, sound and fluidity. This is what happened when a group of sonic surfers came together with no other intention than to ride sound waves, ocean waves and record the thrill of the ride. The plan was to have no plan at all. To allow intuition, chance and circumstance be our compass within every moment. The improvisational aspect shared by these two art forms is the escence of the Life Like Liquid experience.

The soundtrack was played and recorded in a beach house that was converted into a makeshift studio right on the dunes with views over the best waves in the region. The crew that were present just jammed, surfed, ate and slept every day for a two wk period. Heaven.

Life Like Liquid Trailer

Recommended.

There is a website at www.myspace.com/lowpressureproductions

Zero Cult

ZERO CULT is a solo project of Emil Ilyayev, he is from Israel and has been playing downtempo / chill since around 2002. The track that hooked me is titled “Seclusion”, a tad vigoorous for Chill but it has such nice sounds and textures. Layers and layers of ambient noises, string sounds, lush reverb and all in all a lot of fun. I like the way he has the music build and then recede and then build again, it’s very organic in it’s approach. Sort of like watching waves in some respects.

Here is some hype…

ZERO CULT is the project of DJ,Producer and Remixer Emil Ilyayev. Emil first began producing music in 1999 after discovering the new sound of Downtempo and Chillout music in the underground scene. His first tracks was released on compilations “Chill on Ice”,and “Fragile Life”. In june 2006 Cosmicleaf Records released his debut album “Art of Harmony”. The album got very good feedback around the world and was described by the Morpheus Music Awards as one of the best chill albums of the 2006.

Highly Recommended (as is the rest of the stuff over at www.myspace.com/zerocult)

Laura B

I spotted Laura B over at the Guardian – Band Of The Day back in September. The line that caught my attention was

:Laura B (The Fantastic to her friends) is that rarity, a woman who not only writes, sings and performs her own material but also handles all the gadgetry in the studio and does the production

I am pretty sure that Imogen Heap might want to have a chat with Paul Lester about that. But all that not withstanding Laura B is making really interesting music.

From the website…

LAURA B is a french solo artist living in London, who produces a unique style of innovative electronica that Paul Oakenfold, Laurent Garnier and Pete Tong play out and on the radio. She goes solo, sings, plays bass guitar and tweeks electronics live and is one of the main artists of the Big Chill roster. She is remixing for Positiva, Oakenfold and Big Chill Recordings and performs as far as Japan and the caribbean. She co-writes and sings with BJ Cole in the UK and The Verbrilli Sound and Telefuzz in Canada, her music is performed worldwide, from Virgin Atlantic in flight entertainment to The Museum Of Modern Art in San Francisco. Recently interviewed by Chris Coco (BBC Radio1 The Blue Room) for his History of Chillout program on BBC Radio2, she is fast becoming one of the most talked about, up-and-coming artist/DJ/producer in today’s quality-seeking, increasingly eclectic London.

My pick from the three tracks at her MySpace site would have to be “Midi A Minuit “, it’s a really effective piece of chill, that has wonderfully deft production and a remarkable sense of space.

Highly Recommended.

Website at www.myspace.com/fantasticlaurab and www.thefantasticlaurab.com/

Deus

Head over to www.myspace.com/deusking and have a listen to “Game Over” (this is from a more recent album). An even better idea would be to head to Jamendo and check out the whole of the “There’s Nothing Impossible” album, this has been around on my player for ages now.

The sounds and textures are well chosen and rhythmically the music is an absolute joy to listen to. Most of the pieces are hypnotically relaxing, if you wanted an analog, I find that these tracks remind me a bit of Enigma (and vice versa).

Highly Recommended

Website at www.myspace.com/deusking and Jamendo

The music on the other hand is just yummy, over at www.myspace.com/chillcarrier you can hear “Beyond Space”, now yes it has ticks in all the right boxes. A deep rolling bass, nice grove off the drums and a reverb drenched layers of string like textures an almost loonge vibe to it BUT Sebastian has a wicked sense of humour and out on the edges of the mix you feel like there is more going on than there possibly is. Yes, he has left space for your imagination to play with his work and add stuff to it. Creative Commons indeed.

It’s not just this track , next have a listen to “Buena Vista” and it’s spanish feel. The acoustic guitar is really nicely done, as are the strings all sitting over some very modern drum sound. Here is a video that was put up on YouTube…

Still interested? Good, lets head over to Jamendo and have a more detailed look at “Awakening” Their flaky player is below

I like what he is doing, it isn’t ground breaking but it is well done and a lot of it has ideas that will stay with you for a while.

Highly Recommended.