• Music

    Úzgin Űver – Patak

    March 11, 2024 - By 

    Our dear friends at the Lollipoppe Shoppe released a stunning slice of psychedelic folk prog that came out in 2018 and holds up beautifully six years later.  From the label’s Bandcamp site: “In the music of Úzgin Űver traditional folk is stretched far beyond the average world music. Of course, this calm, psychedelic, rich and scale-based instrumental process music draws from a mix of genres and methods, and has an ancient layer as well as some unique velvety emotional and electric charge. The disregard for any current trends gives the music a timeless attraction, and yet takes you on a…

  • Music

    László Hortobágyi – Music from Fomal​-​Hoot al​-​Ganoubī 1994​-​2023 [Re​​​-​​​Mix Mastered Version Series Vol. 3]

    November 15, 2023 - By 

    László Hortobágyi is perhaps the best known electronic/experimental music composer to ever come out of Hungary.  Our dear brothers at áMARXE Records have released Music from Fomal​-​Hoot al​-​Ganoubī, a 1991 release, as a remastered edition. From the áMARXE Bandcamp site: “Fomal-hoot al-Ganoubī is a mythological Arabic constellation. It is the planet whose warm milky-mist landscapes are home to the ethereal body-incarnations of deceased Muslim saints and dervishes. When in the XXII century the white man reached the moons of Jupiter and there transformed himself into a floating changeling to populate the stratosphere of Jupiter, in the same way the souls…

  • Music

    Szilárd Mezei Trio – Ink​á​bb (Rather)

    July 26, 2023 - By 

    Serbian-Hungarian multi-instrumentalist and composer Szilárd Mezei is perhaps the most adventurous musician coming out of Hungary these days, and that’s saying a lot, considering the great quality of improvisers who have come from that country (think of the legendary A.E. Bizottság, for example).  This is a trio album from 2008 where he plays viola while Ernő Hock handles the double bass and István Csík plays drums.  Unique.

  • Music - Music Articles

    [Article] Omega — “Utazás A Szürke Folyón”/”Journey on the Grey River: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — May 20, 2023

    May 21, 2023 - By 

    As I will be busy on Sundays for the forseeable future, I will be posting articles on other blogs, or podcasts I find on Youtube, for your entertainment.  Today’s installation comes from the blog Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! / Off the Charts: 60s Rock Revelations, a great read for those of you who like weird psych music.  Today’s installment covers Omega, Hungary’s greatest progressive rock band.  You can read the article here.

  • Music

    Banat Tamburitza Orchestra – Serbian Dance Band in New Jersey, ca. 1949​-​50

    November 20, 2022 - By 

    Canary Records produces another excellent collection of archival music, this time from Serbia.  From his Bandcamp site: “The Banat Tamburitza band are said to have been formed around 1912 or ’13 in Elizabeth, New Jersey by Serbian immigrants from the village of Sânpetru Mare (then-population about 2,000) in the Banat region of present-day Timiș county of western Romania. A group by the same name recorded for Columbia in the mid-20s for Columbia and then in the mid-40s for the Sonart label with the renowned Bosnian singer Edo Ljubić (b. 1912; d. 1993) at which point a reference in Miriam Lidster…

  • Film & Television - Music

    Gabor Csupo – Blue Yonder For Pluto

    September 29, 2022 - By 

    I have the pleasure of sharing an album of electronic music composed by my friend and old boss, Gabor Csupo (of Klasky-Csupo fame).  As well as being an animation legend, he’s a rather fine electronic music composer in the vein of groups like Tangerine Dream, Holger Czukay’s solo work, or a more sunny Brian Eno.  This album has more of a ‘soundtrack’ feel to it, and it serves as a paean to the loss of Pluto, his beloved dog (may his memory be eternal).  As a dog owner, I understand the pain, and the disc is a touching tribute to…

  • Music

    György Kurtág – Signs, Games and Messages (mode230)

    September 25, 2022 - By 

    Yesterday, I had the pleasure of going out to the picturesque town of Szentendre, about 35 minutes outside of Budapest, with my girlfriend and some fine old friends.  I expected a nice trip, and instead, we not only have that but we were treated to seeing several galleries, bookstores, and a performance space which featured graphic artist Yorgos Tzortzoglu, a local artist of Greek descent.  His exhibit featured scores from Hungarian composer György Kurtág, and lo and behold, he was in attendance!  Though he is 96 now, Kurtág looked in pretty good condition, and had a smile on his face…

  • Music

    András Wahorn – The Wahorn Airport Live at the Contemporary Wahorn Club Vol. 1

    December 29, 2021 - By 

    wahorn · The Wahorn Airport live at the Contemporary Wahorn Club Vol. 1.   This is quite a peculiar album made by an old friend. András Wahorn had a storied history as the leader of one of Hungary’s most radical progressive rock bands, A.E. Bizottság, who released three albums of what they called disaster music.  He also released works for the now-defunct record label Tone Casualties which tended to drift towards more experimental and improvisational music mixed with electronics. Wahorn isn’t making disastrous music these days.  In fact, he’s managed to pull an album together informed by easy listening, lounge…

  • Music

    CMC – CMC/Now

    December 7, 2021 - By 

    Hungarian band CMC have been recording albums since 1989, and, had they received their fair due during the heydey of post-Industrial Electronic Body Music (EBM), they would have been recognized as competitors of such luminaries as Front Line Assembly and Front 242, but with a darker groove. The band’s main actors, composer Vince Kósa and György Szász, have reactivated the band.  The grooves are still as powerful as they were nearly 30 years ago, and it feels like they never went away.  Three tracks are available to check out, and each will remind you of the days where EBM dance…