Leaf label's redesigned site.....

[cybot]

Just in case somebody out there is interested here's a link to Leaf's new redesigned site. Bargains galore to be had!


http://theleaflabel.net/

[Ivor]

Just in case somebody out there is interested here's a link to Leaf's new redesigned site. Bargains galore to be had!


http://theleaflabel.net/

I have to admit I don't know 90% of the artists mentioned but the 10% I do know get me terribly excited.
I'm now going to give my Visa card to my kids to hide and have another look later.

Nice one D.

[cybot]

Just in case somebody out there is interested here's a link to Leaf's new redesigned site. Bargains galore to be had!


http://theleaflabel.net/

I have to admit I don't know 90% of the artists mentioned but the 10% I do know get me terribly excited.
I'm now going to give my Visa card to my kids to hide and have another look later. LOL

Nice one D.

No problem Ivor.If Fergus was here now I'd get a roasting - bad influence and all that :-)) BTW the Murcof (Rememberanza especially on vinyl) stuff should be well worth a punt plus one of the Colleen albums, I forget the title.Let me check...It's Les-Ondes-Silencieuses where she uses medieval instruments of sorts.I remember listening to it in Road but it was the wrong time for me, whatever that means?? Anyway I now have another shot at bliss, hopefully!

[Fran]

Sounds intriguing, but I never heard of any of them!

[cybot]

Sounds intriguing, but I never heard of any of them!

Have a listen to the Murcof stuff and see what you think...



As Murcof, composer Fernando Corona creates some of the most captivating music being made today, in any genre. For several years he has combined musical styles in wholly new ways, adding funk and brass to techno under the name Terrestre and emotional depth to robotic minimalism as Murcof. His innovative approach reaches new heights with Remembranza, his second full album as Murcof, a record that creates a storied, layered framework within strict micro-boundaries.

Corona, born in Tijuana in 1970, was primarily known as a member of Mexico’s celebrated Nortec (“Norteño-Techno”) Collective before his first full-length, Martes, was released in 2002. His revolutionary work as Murcof saw him recontextualizing the work of his beloved European contemporary classical composers (including the likes of Arvo Pärt, Henryk Górecki and Giya Kancheli) within minimal electronic structures. It’s a trick that others have tried to pull off, but none with Corona’s lightness of touch, or widespread appeal. The pieces here incorporate traditional instrumentation recorded especially for the album (including strings, piano and harp), working in tandem with his passion for new and unexplored rhythms.

Since the release of Martes, Corona’s fame has grown, as has his schedule: he has performed across the planet, including shows in North America (SxSW, Mutek), South America (Mutek again), Europe (Sonar, Roskilde, The Big Chill (among many others), and Japan; he has remixed Kronos Quartet and Miles Davis; he recently provided the soundtrack to a new Ballet Boyz performance at London’s Sadler’s Wells (soon to be released on DVD); a Sutekh remix of ‘Memoria’ was used as the soundtrack to a film that accompanied a recent Alexander McQueen collection. He has also contributed to a number of film and TV soundtracks, including Nicotina, the latest feature by the producers of Amores Perros, the soundtrack of which was nominated for Diosa De Plata (the Mexican equivalent of the Oscars). XLR8R named him one of the most important artists of 2004; La Banda Elastica awarded him for his innovative work as a producer in Latin America, and Martes was nominated for the prestigious European Ars Electronica award. Planet magazine recently presented him as one of 30 ‘Global Visionaries’, alongside Lars Von Trier, Naomi Klein, David Byrne, Bono and others.

Last year, 2004, The Leaf Label released a collection of new pieces and remixes, entitled Utopía, to bridge the gap between Martes and Remembranza. The release of the new album coincides with Corona’s long-planned relocation to Barcelona, Spain, which should see his art evolve once more.

A sublime album of texture and depth, Remembranza reaches the apex of Fernando Corona’s explorations as Murcof, and re-establishes him as an artist at the forefront of electronic music.TRACKS
1. Recuerdos
2. Razon (en 3 partes)
3. Retrato
4. Rostro
5. Ruido
6. Reflejo
7. Resignacion
8. Rios
9. Camino

REVIEWS:

Electronic music is now a truly global lingua franca. Its saturated reach, however, has the all too frequent tendency to make its sources anonymous, as evidenced by Mille Plateaux’s Clicks & Cuts compilations. In opposition stand the likes of Iceland’s Múm and Mexico’s Murcof who have developed unique voices that are difficult to separate from the countries that nurtured them. Murcof’s music has a very strong sense of place, of a landscape where mountains meet plains and sun-bleached towns hover in the haze of afternoon heat. Its depth, clarity and sense of contemplativeness evoke the calm stillness of Vermeer’s interiors. If the Dutch artist had painted the Mexican countryside with sound, perhaps the result would have been similar to this music.

Remembranza travels along the path established by its predecessors, Martes and last year’s Utopia (a compilation of remixes and new tracks). The music, marked by a brooding stateliness, convincingly marries electronic elements and carefully applied orchestral tones. There’s a sense of delicacy and detail in Murcof’s approach that saves it from descending into rarefied archness. No stealing up out of silence this time. Recuerdos establishes its dense atmosphere without preamble. The trademark brush of burnished strings is intermittently audible, but there’s a lot of other activity, a variety of presences that gradually layer themselves into a resonant well of dark hues... the veiled tones of piano and violin appearing like points of light that only serve to deepen the shadows that surround them.

Titles like Remembranza and Recuerdos point to a focus upon the past. Judging by the tone of the music, the memories are not happy ones. There’s a sombre mournfulness that suggests deep hurt and painful, reluctant acceptance. The syncopated clatters that are interspersed throughout the first track suggest the marshal assembling of rifles (this particular association is triggered by its similarity to a rhythm figure used by Photek on The Hidden Camera). It is interesting to see Murcof declare, in a milkfactory interview undertaken at the time of Martes’ release, that ‘there is no political motivation behind my music, it’s just music and what I can do with it’. I wonder whether the emotional foundations of this music are deeper now, they certainly sound as if they are. Even if that’s not the case, Remembranza serves as a resonant screen upon which it is possible to project one’s own feelings and memories.

Colin Buttimer

4/5
Footnote : It wasn't known at the time but he (Murcof) dedicated the Lp to his Mother who had died during the recording
sessions....

[fergus]

[
....If Fergus was here now I'd get a roasting - bad influence and all that :-))

LOL....in a nice way I hope!!!

[cybot]

[
....If Fergus was here now I'd get a roasting - bad influence and all that :-))

LOL....in a nice way I hope!!!

Of course, of course :-))) Now we want to hear what you think of the new Incredible String Band CD remasters......I had one in my hand (Wee Tam and the Big Huge) the other day (HMV) and they looked beautiful.They were only €16.99 too.Apparently they sound amazing....ok,ok I'll stop now :-))


http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_ ... +band+rema SORRY...

[fergus]

Two superb albums....You should have bought them yourself Dermot!!!
I have been trying to avoid going down that road but I must confess that I was listening to another early ISB CD recently and, for the first time, I noticed that it sounded a little tired so....maybe!!!!

[cybot]

Two superb albums....You should have bought them yourself Dermot!!!
I have been trying to avoid going down that road but I must confess that I was listening to another early ISB CD recently and, for the first time, I noticed that it sounded a little tired so....maybe!!!!

Yeeaahh! No, seriously, these remasters are supposed to be something else. BTW I would have bought them if they had been available on vinyl, the remasters, I mean. I don't even have a CD
player anymore; my last one sat down on me a few months ago and I haven't bothered to replace it!

[fergus]

.... I don't even have a CD player anymore; my last one sat down on me a few months ago and I haven't bothered to replace it!

Do you have a CD collection or have you bought all of your CD music on vinyl as well?