Your browser does not support iframes. Our heroes age. After the passing of Yukihiro Takahashi last month, it got me thinking about how long we have Sakamoto-san and Hosono-san with us. Both are due a tribute album of some sort. Thankfully, Milan Records has done a sterling job bringing together Sakamoto collaborators, friends, and those […]
Category: Qobuz
Skáld – Huldufólk
Your browser does not support iframes. The French collective Skáld come as a revelation to me. These are Frenchmen who expertly perform Nordic music and imbue it with everything from folk music to metal. From the band’s press release: “As the heirs of the ancient poets known as skalds, the SKÁLD group, with one […]
Heiner Goebbels – A House of Call, My Imaginary Notebook
Your browser does not support iframes. As a fan of Heiner Goebbels‘ work as far back as the Recommended / RèR Records days, it’s been a joy to hear his music become more full, more dense, and on occasion, more foreboding. ECM seems to be the perfect home for his works, and the Ensemble […]
The Hilliard Ensemble – Codex Speciálník
Your browser does not support iframes. According to Wikipedia, “…the Speciálník Codex (CZ-HKm MS II.A.7) is a 15th-century speciálník (i.e. special songbook) originating from a monastery in the region of Prague.” It is considered something of a ‘missing link’ between medieval and Renaissance music and it features several rather unknown Czech composers. The Hilliard Ensemble sing pieces from this […]
Pekka Pohloja – Jokamies (Everyman)
Jokamies (‘Everyman’ in Finnish) is a collection of tracks for a television series of the same name composed by the Finnish bassist Pekka Pohjola. After his work with the hard-rock/progressive outfit Wigwam, he ventured into jazz fusion (perhaps New Age as well) and made some of the most impressive albums in the genre during […]
Uusikuu – Karuselli
Welcome to the world of Finnish tango as brought to you by Uusikuu, who celebrate their 16th year with this charmer of a disc. As this wonderful release from the ever wonderful CPL-Music isn’t on Bandcamp, I would like to point you to their Qobuz website, as I’m not much of a fan of Spotify. […]
Divanhana – Ćilim
Our dear friends and CPL-Musik stun us again with a popping single! Some info from the band’s Bandcamp site: Divanhana is a Bosnian sevdah band which performs traditional music in new arrangements created under the influence of jazz, pop and the 20th century classical music. Divanhana’s intention is to cherish and present the urban traditional music […]
Alexei Aigui & Arkady Marto – DA
This should be a breakout year for Alexei Aigui, who has released his fourth album of the year in collaboration with pianist Arkady Marto. The album is absolutely sublime. Each track has a gentle touch, balancing violin and piano perfectly. The cornerstone of the album for me is this track, Nocturne No. 0: It is […]