• Music

    Badieh – Badieh

    March 6, 2023 - By 

    This is quite a pairing.  Badieh consist of Spaniard Michel Gasco, who plays oud and rebab, pairs with Iranian musician Mohammed Miragharzadeh on tar and setar. From Badieh’s Bandcamp site: “Worlds Within Worlds is proud to announce the release of Badieh’s self-titled debut album – a collection of mystifying folk pieces from the Greater Khorasan region of Iran and Afghanistan. A collaboration between two masters of their craft, Badieh is the project of Michel Gasco and Mohammad Miraghazadeh. A step past Gasco’s previous Orontes project, these delicate reinterpretations of traditional Khorasani folk track takes his instrumentation to new heights. Each…

  • Music - Spotify

    Yggdrasil & Vera Kondratieva — Timint Areh

    November 16, 2022 - By 

    Yggdrasil are a Faroese project led by multi-instrumentalist Kristian Blak (whom I had the pleasure, many years ago, of meeting in Varna, Bulgaria) and a host of local musicians along with singer Vera Kondratieva from Siberia.  You would expect to hear a melding of Scandinavian and traditional Siberian music on Timent Areh, but this also adds elements of jazz, rock and maybe just a touch of post-punk.  It’s a fun album, not too terribly dark, sung beautifully and supplemented by a rather tight backing band.  Tutl Records, the record label Blak has run since the 1970s, has released another gem. …

  • Music

    Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo – Só Não Toca Quem Não quer (1987) – Remastered

    July 14, 2022 - By 

    Brazil’s finest living export (to my ears, anyway) has been quite active over the past few years, but it’s nice to see some forgotten releases getting some exposure. The personnel on this album plays some wonderfully, uniquely Brazilian fusion. Hermeto Pascoal: Bandola, Piano, Teclados (Keyboard), Flugelhorn, Harmonium, Flauta Baixo (Bass Flute), Craviola, Acordeom (Accordion), Bombardino, Clavinet, Piano CP-80 Jovino Santos Neto: Piano, Flauta (Flute), Piccolo, Harmonium, Piano Rhodes Itiberê Zwarg: Baixo (Bass), Tuba Carlos Malta: Flauta (Flute), Piccolo, Sax Soprano, Sax Tenor, Sax Alto, Sax Baritone Marcio Bahia: Bateria (Drums), Percussão (Percussion) Pernambuco: Percussão (Percussion)

  • Music

    Steve Roach & Vir Unis – Body Electric

    April 8, 2022 - By 

    Originally released in 1999, this album by American composers and ambient music legends Steve Roach and John Strate-Hootman (operating here as Vir Unis) combine tribal electronic music with what was then erroneously called New Age music.  From the release’s Bandcamp site: “Steve Roach and Vir Unis combine different rhythmic sensibilities and undeniable soundscapes in an alchemical reaction, creating an aural sensation that is surreal, hallucinogenic, but still organically human. Body Electric is a welcomed edition to the borderless world of new electronic music; this album is a zenith in bio-electronic body music, an evolutionary spark, a focused, high-energy trip of…

  • Music

    Balkan Taksim – Disko Telegraf

    January 13, 2022 - By 

    This gem, released by Buda Musique, came out on May of 2021, and it’s simmering! From the label’s Bandcamp site: Balkan Taksim is the corduroy-clad brainchild of Bucharest-based multi-instrumentalist/artist Sașa-Liviu Stoianovici who, along with his electronica producer companion Alin Zăbrăuțeanu, is on a quest to inform, educate and entertain audiences around the globe about Balkan psych, roots and grooves. The project started by searching for something to link the sense of what has been with what will be. Sașa’s exploration of traditional music of the Balkans, ancient Romanian music and Slavic cultures led him to travel a lot through the…

  • Music

    Alif – Aynama​-​Rtama

    December 26, 2021 - By 

    I trust you, my friends, had a lovely Gregorian-Calendar Boxing Day. I spent mine listening to a Lebanese experimental band called Alif. At least as the liner notes on their Bandcamp site explain, it looks to be a collaboration between Lebanese and Egyptian musicians, and features the talents of the following musicians: Khyam Allami (Oud) Tamer Abu Ghazaleh (Vocals/Buzuq) Bashar Farran (Bass) Maurice Louca (Keys/Electronics) Khaled Yassine (Drums/Percussion) The music is so rich and complex that I’m having a bit of trouble putting to words how to describe it, but the best crack I can give at the moment is…

  • Music

    Bube Dame König – Winterländlein

    December 16, 2021 - By 

    Our dear friends at CPL-Musik released quite a gem of an album from 2016 that I am only now digging into.  Bube Dame König is a German folk group which was founded in 2013. The band mixes German-language folk songs with traditional Irish and Swedish music as well as their own songs, some of which are based on local legends from the group’s hometown, Halle (Saale). From Wikipedia, “The group itself describes its style as new folk music, based on the genre of new folk music.”  It seems to be rather perfect Christmas music, or at least wonderful for this…

  • Music

    Båul – Camel [شتر]

    July 11, 2021 - By 

    Båul have managed to release an album which travels the world while residing in the beautiful state of Colorado.  They mix Arabic, Russian, Hebrew and other music together into a cohesive, energetic album.  Really fun listening.