Tír Na HiFi

On the tt, especially for Spirit of Peace.....see below. That doesn't mean that the other tracks are not indispensable, they are; it's just that I'm so familiar with them that Spirit stands out because it's the only solo piano recording that Fricke committed to tape....and therein lies it's very special appeal....plus the fact it's an obviously improvised piece and absolutely staggering in it's hushed beauty.....


This includes the whole of Pharaohs plus a remix of L'acrime Di Rei from Aguirre
and the 20 minute Spirit Of Peace...a compilation of sorts!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVAsmNfR ... ata_player




A few words:
"how can you describe an album that's indescribable? I have heard many albums in my life, some were good, some were bad, some were brilliant...but none of them came even close to this one. Remember the black monolith in Kubrick's "2001: a space odyssey"? This is the musical equivalent, at least for me. It's so intense and mind-boggling that after you finished listening to it you are in another state of mind. And it's timeless music, although it was recorded over 30 years ago it will NEVER EVER sound dated. Unfortunately Popol Vuh's mastermind Florian Fricke died in 2001, but he left the world one of the very best music albums of all time."

My first 5" lathe cut by Peter Broderick and Eluvium. The sound's not great but it's nice to hold in the hand and besides it also has an mp3 link too. Imagine....a 5 incher that that looks like a CD but is actually a 7" single : )







http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62g0je1O ... ata_player - view/listen

Dermot,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, however today involved a lot of travelling.

The Gute Lufte album has strong Orb undertones running through it. Some tracks are a repeat of the previous one with a different twist to it. Overall I am happy with it, but then again one mans poison is anothers.....

Putting it here even though it's not electronic at all! One of the shortest and most stunning music I have heard this year or any year for that matter. Read the review below and for heaven's sake if you have a tt (it's on vinyl only I'm afraid) DO NOT WAIT AROUND. You have been warned....Stunning, Stunning, Stunning......Hope you're listening Fergus!


http://www.normanrecords.com/vinyl/1272 ... aestuarium - amazingly, these people have a copy!?!?!?


http://www.experimedia.net/index.php?ma ... ts_id=3770 - and these too !?!?


http://boomkat.com/vinyl/432358-jessika ... aestuarium - Holy God, Boomkat must have got a few more copies in!!







http://soundcloud.com/experimedia/jessi ... vind-kang/ - Listen if you dare....

http://boomkat.com/downloads/416397-jes ... aestuarium - here too.







Originally released on CD-R in 2005, this vinyl only reissue of vocalist Jessika Kenney and violist Eyvind Kang’s collaboration is one of the inaugural releases on Stephen O’Malley’s new Ideologic Organ label. Both artists have worked with O’Malley in Sunn O))) but to expect anything remotely like O’Malley’s own music would be a mistake. This is quiet, contemplative, and fully acoustic; both artists explore the relationships between each others' craft. They intentionally break down the barriers between voice and viola and between playing music and singing.

Thorughout Aestuarium, Kenney’s voice drifts into Kang’s viola like a river into the sea; the two merge into one and become indistinguishable from each other. In the opening moments of "Orcus Pellicano," my ears are bamboozled by this strange symbiosis of timbre. Together, Kenney’s voice and the viola form a third instrument that retains some of the individual character of both instruments but with another dimension that either on its own is incapable of creating. This idea of mixing two similar timbres to form a new middle ground between the two is reflected in the album’s title, an archaic term for an estuary.

Kenney’s interest in Persian music comes through strong on Aestuarium as she explores scales more in line with traditional Middle Eastern music than with western composition. Kang is more than adept both at following Kenney’s lead and in taking the reins himself; at times it is hard to tell who is following who as they almost become one Janus-like figure. On "Unnamed Figures," their respective performances become so entwined that it is hard to believe that one mind is not controlling both musicians. It sounds like Kenney is trying to make Kang play outside his comfort zone and at the same time Kang is pulling Kenney to a point where her voice is tested to its limits.

While I made clear that this is nothing like Sunn O))), it is easy to see why O’Malley would pick this album for his label. Kenney and Kang chase timbre and tone in the same way O’Malley and Greg Anderson do in Sunn O))). In this way, Aestuarium is more than a collection of songs by the duo, here Kenney and Kang have created deeply spiritual as well as conceptual music that could easily have come from a thousand years ago or from 2005. In any case, I wish I had heard this album when it first came out as I feel I have been missing out on something incredible for too long.

I found those extracts very interesting Dermot....I bet that the sound has wonderful presence when heard on vinyl!

fergus wrote:I found those extracts very interesting Dermot....I bet that the sound has wonderful presence when heard on vinyl!

Absolutely stunning Fergus! Absolutely stunning.....especially the first track "Orcus Pelliciano" with it's properly recorded blend of voice and viola. The resulting resonant timbre of the combined "instruments" is unbelievable.....only hinted at in the mp3 excerpt. It completely stopped me stone dead....well nearly ;-) Thanks for the comments and for listening.....

This is something I'll be listening to for a long time to come....There's a note on the back that says "For best results use hi fi cartridges only " :-))

On the tt this evening....



Kevin Drumm - Imperial Distortion on triple white vinyl...Shattered pieces for a dying world.






Kevin Drumm - Ist on double Lp....taking the electric guitar to undreamed of places.

Revisiting old friends going back almost 36 years! Side two has always been a favourite of mine, namely: the "Three Variations on the Canon in D Major" by Johann Pachelbel. It's based on Jean Francois Paillard's interpretation which is played at somewhere near half of it's notated tempo which in turn is slowed down even further with Eno's version....which incidentally is played by the Cockpit ensemble conducted by Gavin Bryars. Unfortunately the members of the ensemble is not mentioned on the sleeve....




Original Obscure pressing on EG with it's usual pops and clicks :-)

Followed by this from 1978....