Tag: Brittany

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Plantec – Awen

It’s a bit of a tragedy that Breton music doesn’t get the same healthy push as, say, Scottish or Irish music does.  Outside of the absolutely legendary Alan Stivell, it’s rare to hear of great music coming out of this most unique of French provinces.  Thankfully, we have Plantec to bring forth something that I suppose could qualify as electro-Breizh.  The music simply rips with expert playing of Breton bagpipes, but there’s something that makes the music incredibly punchy and even danceable.  Though this release is from around 2012, the band are still quite active today and continue to innovate by incorporating electronic music and even hip-hop into their authentically Breton sound.

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Internal Fusion – IWWA

I suppose we can coin a new term for this magnificent music out of Breton dark ambient composer Eric Latteux (who composed under the name Internal Fusion): Kosmische dark ambient. I seem to be finding a fair amount of music like this these days, and our dear friends at Mahorka have released another gem.

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Antiq – Ilbeltz / Hanternoz / Anceisural Eritance – D’Anjou en Vasconie

This was a combination I didn’t expect.  It’s not uncommon for, say, black metal musicians to integrate their music into pagan folk and make a good hybrid, but this is something different.  Antiq combine soaring traditional Basque and Breton vocals with a proper metal backing, and somehow, by some strange miracle, it all comes together very well.  As far as metal goes, this is really quite good.

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Breizh Napoli – Démo

Two places I have been enamored with for at least half of my life are Brittany in France and Naples, perhaps my favorite Italian city.  Breizh Napoli, as the name clearly indicates, combines both Breton and Neapolitan music seamlessly.  This is a fine demo of choral music that brings out the best of both cultures, and it’s my hope that the band continues to mine this particular strain of folk music.

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Lonsai Maïkov & New Orthodox Line – Sobornost

Breton musician Thierry Jolif (who records as Lonsai Maïkov here) is a fellow Orthodox who also happens to make boomingly dark experimental drone music.  It’s quite something to hear both worlds collapse into each other so violently, but if I could trust anyone to pull of such a feat, it is him.

This is an EP’s worth of music, time-wise, but genres covered include ambient, drone, noise, darkwave and there are spoken word elements which tie the album together well.