• Music

    Aravt – Guren (Г​ү​р​э​н)

    Melodic Death Metal is something I don’t spend a lot of time listening to, but it is not because I don’t like the genre.  It is merely because I don’t have the knowledge base or background, and I’ve relied on a few friends to turn me on to some of the better bands out there.  Mongolia’s Aravt is one of them. The band blend metal riffs with some quieter elements of Mongolian traditional music.  It’s a natural-sounding blend, and worth exploring further.

  • Music

    The Bayan Mongol Variety Group – The Bayan Mongol Variety Group

    From Discogs.com and Light In The Attic Records: The Bayan Mongol Variety Group existed from the early ’70s to the late ’80s. After the collapse of the USSR, the ensemble began to experience serious difficulties with funding and booking concerts, and finally disintegrated, after which the participants lost contact with each other. Fortunately, thanks to efforts from the fans, some old contacts were reestablished, key records and sound sources were dug up, and now this historical record is released again. File under funk, jazz-rock, prog rock, or psychedelic rock. Reissued in cooperation with the band.

  • Music

    Enji – Ursgal

    Enji Erkhem is a jazz singer who is originally from Mongolia, but who currently calls Munich, Germany, home.  She has quite an interesting personal story, growing up in a yurt to a working-class family, traveling to Germany to study music pedagogy, and getting utterly inspired by jazz singers like Carmen McRae, Ella Fitzgerald and Nancy Wilson, while adding folk elements into this framework. Though vocal jazz fans will find much to enjoy in this album, the track which most piqued my interest was the track Aya, which swings and sways in a way that reminded me of Björk’s jazz album,…

  • Music

    Magnolian – Famous Men

    It is my great honor to present the first featured release of the blog. This album comes to us from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It is not what you would expect from the country, as most marketing of music shows Mongol folkloric culture melded together with everything from heavy metal to rap, most of it working well, but also letting off an air of cod exotica. This release by Magnolian is radically different from what most of their countrymen are producing. This is more of a breezy folk-rock touched gently with post-rock, a combination that works surprisingly well. The vocals and lyrics…