Expand your taste in music. Based in Beijing, China.
We would like to wish our readers, especially those who are Roman Catholic and Protestant, a quiet, happy and blessed (Gregorian Calendar) Christmas, and we look forward to bringing you much more music in 2024. Merry Christmas!
As we celebrate (at least on the Western Calendar) the birth of Jesus, the Christ, I leave you this evening with a traditional tune once performed by Sting under another name (Gabriel’s Message), this time played on bagpipes by staff at Heritage Bapipes.
One more day before Gregorian Christmas, so we spend it listening to Christmas lounge music, courtesy of Triosone!
As Advent nears its finish and we prepare to celebrate the Nativity, we have a rather charming Protestant offering from Blacknall Arts which wouldn’t sound out of place to Fairport Convention fans.
I don’t do year-end lists because of the absolute onslaught of releases I get to hear throughout the year can be overwhelming, but I like when those I admire do it for me. The magnificent Four Flies Records have released a compilation of 15 easy-listening/soundtrack cuts that made a swinging impact. I look forward to hearing much more from these guys!
Two masters of drone at their peak after two decades of collaboration. From the duo’s Bandcamp site:
“Since beginning to work together as a duo in the early 2000s, Kang and Kenney have collaborated on sound installations, music for orchestra, choir, and mixed ensembles in addition to releasing numerous widely acclaimed full-lengths: Aestuarium (2005), The Face Of The Earth (2012), Live In Iceland (2013), At Temple Gate (2014), Reverse Tree (2016), Seva (2017), The Cypress Dance (2020).
A hypnotic return to the duo’s unique expression of “unison music”, Azure is among Kenney and Kang’s most pared-down efforts in more than a decade. Its five compositions are underscored by allusions to the natural world and drifting temporalities, producing a profound calm that rises in arcs of tonal color. “
Today there will be no reviews as we are having to prepare for Christmas at the school and time is limited, so I share with you the ever-wonderful La Montaña Rusa podcast and a broadcast of some fine jazz and improvised music. Enjoy yourselves this evening!
Li Xing is a Shanghai-based psychedelic noise-rock guitarist who produces a sludgy, powerful album which is reminiscent of Keiji Haino’s mid-period guitar noise era.
This album is quite a revelation! Ofege, A group of hippies from Nigeria came together to record an absolutely solid disc full of tunes that sound less Afrobeat and more West Coast psych. A cool album, indeed.
Four Flies Records is an Italian label which “rescues golden age soundtracks from oblivion,” and we here are MYNTH are thankful for it! This release is a 7-inch record by Italian saxophonist Gianni Oddi (in Italian) which blends a grimy funk with easy/cheesy/sleazy listening grooves. This will definitely appeal to fans of library music as well as soundtracks.