My friend, the Russian composer Liudmila Knyazeva, has composed an album of Eastern Orthodox choral music. It’s a wonderful venture with the vaunted hymns the Church is known for. This is an especially nice thing to hear as we as Orthodox prepare for the Marian Fast, as well as for my Saint’s Name Day (Ilija, or Elijah).
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 man’s best friend.
Duke Ellington’s Shakespearian masterpiece, Such Sweet Thunder, is the first album I bought for its typography alone. I had heard older releases by him, had classic discs like Money Jungle, but this album caught my eye because I had had a deep interest in typography around 1994-1995. The text on the right was so crisp despite its size, and of course the iconic photo of Duke meditating on the piano with big block capital letters made the album look more like an artifact. The music is, of course, sumptuous, but if you have a Spotify account, you can enjoy it for yourself.
Hands down, this is my favorite Finnish progressive rock album. I was introduced to Pekka Pohjola early in life, and now that I am listening to this album in my middle age, I can hear how beautifully it aged. Pekka’s bass is at the forefront, of course, and his playing is masterful, but the whole crew balance progressive rock of the 1970s with jazz fusion and touches of art-rock. I can’t say enough good about this disc.
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 not only from Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also the traditional music from the whole Balkan region, with a particular accent to Sevdalinka.
The music is far more energetic, though less sultry, than a lot of Sevdalinka I’ve heard previously, but it’s a joyful listen.
You can pick up the single from the CPL-Musik website, or you can stream via Spotify or Qobuz (which I prefer far more). The track is part of the album, Zavrzlama, which you can read about here, courtesy of World Music Central.
The Tomáš Kočko Orchestr are one of the great musical treasures of my new home city of Brno. They band mixes true Moravian folk music, including some melodies with pre-Christian roots (so, at least a millennium of music here), world music and even touches of metal to great effect.
The concept of their latest album is based on the women of Moravia, whose character and strength preserved the culture despite attempted encroachments from within and without.
From the band’s press release:
The songs come from the Moravian folk tradition and talk about the experiences of the great-grandmothers of today’s women through cultural archetypes. These are ancient women’s stories narrated through folk songs. The themes are current, but they share commonalities with the lives of their great-grandmother – they have similar joys and troubles, similar mistakes, but through this, they try to master their fate, their destiny. These are the songs of Moravian women of yesterday and today.
The album is available for purchase directly from the band, who can be reached via email at kapela@kocko.cz. On January 3, you will be able to stream the album on Spotify, and you can also purchase the disc via the Czech Republic’s coolest indie record label, Indies Records via their website in the next few days.
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 a tango that would have made Ástor Piazzlla proud.
The whole album is engaging, and would have made for perfect music for a dramatic film (something Alexei has been making for several years now, with great success).
As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, if you want to hear the music (or purchase it) in high-definition sound, consider going to Qobuz, where you can hear it at the best possible level.
Our friend and noted composer Alexeï Aïgui was just featured here recently for his releases, Palimpsest and Alcohol, at the end of July, and it seems that he’s kept himself quite busy as of late, so we’re pleased to announce this EP, a soundtrack to the film 1000 Miles Till The Next Embrace, a documentary on tango directed by Irina Rubia.
Alexeï has proven himself to be among the best of this generation of soundtrack composers, but there is one track which utterly stands out for me, the fifth track, titled Freeze. It has a feeling of a post-rock composition, rather gentle but stirring with power. The EP is quite a fine piece of work, which should come as no surprise to those who enjoy Alexeï’s work.
If you wish to hear the album in high quality, or if you want to purchase it as a FLAC file, consider going to Qobuz, one of two streaming services I truly appreciate. They simply to a better job than Spotify does, and a purchase is a great way to support the artist.
I’ve spent a good deal of time these last few days listening to more heavy music, so Palimpsest is something of an indulgence for me. It’s a wonderfully lush album, with splendid playing and a dreamlike quality to the music.
Our friends at Delicious Tunes do yeoman’s work spending time all over Africa, getting to know and working with musicians of astounding quality and getting them a proper release. Tofa Jaxx is one of these gems.
Tofa’s vocals are sultry, and he can hold is own with any of modern heavyweights populating the top 40 charts, but what is especially interesting is his choice of remixers for this EP. According to his press release, “from September 2017 to February 2018 during his stay in London, Tofa worked with other musicians, producers and artists like the Dance/Electronic Producers & DJs TruFonix, Fred Abbott from Noah and The Whale, Steph Marziano, and Tara Priya.” These artists have, since the mid-2010s, rules dance music and electronic music, so melding Tofa’s voice with danceable (slow groove) electronics and beefy production make this a release worth bumping at a club or enjoying at home with pleasant company and an adult beverage of your choice.
Those familiar with this blog might surmise that this is more an experimental/weird music/ambient blog, but we also like groove in all its forms. Delicious Tunes strikes again with another winner.