Sunday 22 May 2011

The Moody Blues - To Our Children's Children's Children

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This is the remaster of the 4th Moody Blues album to feature the post "Magnificent" line-up. I think it's their best, although it takes a couple of tracks to really warm up and out of the twee psychedelia, tracks 5 through to 13 are golden. A really lush sounding album, featuring only a couple of tracks (namely Higher and Higher and Gypsy) which they were able to recreate live. Mellotron features heavily throughout, spacey, choral and symphonic. There are a few alternate mixes and live tracks at the end of the album, but I recommend concetrating on the first 13 tracks which really hang together as a whole piece.

tracklisting

1. Higher and Higher (4:07)
2. Eyes of A Child - Part 1 (3:24)
3. Floating (2:59)
4. Eyes of A Child - Part 2 (1:24)
5. I Never Thought I'd Live To Be A Hundred (1:06)
6. Beyond (2:58)
7. Out And In (3:50)
8. Gypsy (3:33)
9. Eternity Road (4:19)
10. Candle of Life (4:15)
11. Sun Is Still Shining (3:40)
12. I Never Thought I'd Live To Be A Million (0:34)
13. Watching and Waiting (4:21)

bonus tracks


14. Gypsy (alternate version) (4:19)
15. Candle of Life (alternate version) (4:59)
16. Sun Is Still Shining (extended version) (4:06)
17. Have You Heard / The Voyage / Have You Heard - Part 2 (Live) (5:51)
18. Legend of A Mind (Live) (4:33)


http://www.mediafire.com/?kyc2py12aczdy
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Wednesday 18 May 2011

Valentin Clastrier - Heresie

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French musician Valentin Clastrier (born 1947) is one of the few performers in the world specializing in contemporary music for the hurdy-gurdy; before Clastrier, the instrument was used primarily in the performance of European Medieval and folk musics.

He began his career as a guitarist, and was introduced to the hurdy-gurdy in 1970. His instrument has 27 strings rather than the conventional six.

Clastrier’s strikingly original compositions for the instrument (in both acoustic and electroacoustic versions) have been recorded, in collaboration with other creative European musicians (including tubist and serpent player Michel Godard, accordionist Jean-Louis Matinier, saxophonist/clarinetists Michaël Riessler and Louis Sclavis, and percussionists Gérard Siracusa and Carlo Rizzo).

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from the liner notes by Valentin Clastrier

Heresy

My guiding purpose has been to make music inspired by the heresy of the Cathars, and which would allow every possible shift in time, place and language.

By coincidence the wheel vielle (hurdy gurdie) appeared at the same time as the Cathar heresy in Occitana, in about the year one thousand.

Accordingly the vielle is omnipresent in this music, originally meant for it and enhanced by the timbres offered by the musicians.

With its archaic and modern features, its gusty shriek, its boundless drone bowed out from a raw wound, is not the vielle itself a heresy?

http://www.mediafire.com/?eyp8q7s1my11i

Saturday 14 May 2011

Before the Spring mix tape pt III

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Here is a third playlist, it's got wooden trumpets, choral treatments of Black Sabbath, polyphony, folk songs, prog, drones, yodelling and more! Enjoy...

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^ this lady is Lemmie Brazil

Tracklisting

1. Dou de büchel (wooden trumpets duet—Central Switzerland) - Moritz & Christian Trütsch
2. Herz Aus Glas Opening Yodel - from Werner Herzog's Heart of Glass, recorded from a TV
3. Solitudo (Solitude) - Rondellus
4. Bibit (with Philip Thorby) - Horses Brawl
5. When Falling - Ilk
6. Riverchrist - The Cloisters
7. Stroudwater - Donald MacLeod & Congregation
8. The Lord Will Provide - Peter Bellamy
9. God Killed the Devil - Lemmie Brazil
10. White Horse - Spiridon Shishigin
11. Marseille Tape - Daniel Padden
12. Figure of Eight - One More Grain
13. Of Souls (A Pantomine) - Ilk
14. Gloria Laus - The Young Tradition
15. Trotto / Salterello - John Renbourn
16. Psalter - Faust
17. C'est La Fin/Pour Mon Cuer - Shirley & Dolly Collins
18. Sonnerie glorieuse des armées du Pape - Valentin Clastrier
19. Chickadees' roar pt. 2 - Efrim Manuel Menuck
20. I'm Going In a Field - Ivor Cutler
21. Martyrs - Alasdair Graham & Congregation
22. Iligai - Folk Ensemble Of The Presidential Orchestra
23. Der Fryburger Chuehreihe (Western Switzerland)- Alphorn Quartet from Guin


http://www.mediafire.com/?nuybj815o1gpb
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One More Grain - Pigeon English & Isle of Grain

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One More Grain were a short lived outfit formed around Daniel Patrick Quinn's (founder of Suilven records) Mark E. Smith-esque spoken word monologues focussing on the British landscape and city living, the sound of the hurdy gurdie, harmonium and guitar, offset with Andrew Blick's trumpet-playing and skill as a sound manipulator, all of this is played over a solid rhythm section reminiscent of kraut-rock and afro-beat. They released 2 mini-lps (posted here) and a 7" single before disbanding due to financial difficulties, which is a shame as these guys were one of the more distinct and unique outfits in recent years. Quinn then moved to Jakarta, Indonesia, and oversaw In Nem, a New York minimalist-inspired gamelan recording project in Central Java as well as writing liner notes for Trance Gamelan in Bali. He is now writer and editor for an Indonesian volcano website Gunung Bagging detailing all peaks in the country with 1000 metres topographic prominence known as the Ribus.) and the remaining members continue on under the name Gyratory System.

One More Grain - Pigeon English

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http://www.mediafire.com/?j1pbz85z1qhzh

Pigeon English - tracklisting

1. A Shout in the Street
2. Tropical Mother in Law
3. Against King Moron
4. Northern
5. I'm On My Way
6. Down Roman Road
7. Won't Get Fooled Again


One More Grain - Isle of Grain

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http://www.mediafire.com/?krw44ad0uuo0r

Isle of Grain - tracklisting

1. Confession Time
2. A Town is what you Make it
3. John Hasselhoff
4. Lad with a Balloon
5. Under Night Streets
6. Having a Ball
7. Figure of Eight
8. Walking off the Map

Sunday 8 May 2011

Peter Bellamy - Oak, Ash & Thorn

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Peter Bellamy, formerly one third of the excellent Young Tradition sets poems from Rudyard Kipling's "Pook of Pook's Hill" and "Rewards and Fairies" in folk song. English folk doesn't get better than this. Mostly voice, with touches of concertina, fiddle, lute, flute organ and guitar.

Peter Bellamy - Oak, Ash & Thorn
http://www.mediafire.com/?r34taa19du6wm2p

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