24. I bless the rains down in Africa

BEST

SONG

EVER

.

Happy Holidays!

23. But Amelia is asleep in winter. There are only prayers in a secret house

maudlin Of The Well is an American avant-garde metal group which has become well-known among connoisseurs of music for their unique, progressive, challenging and daring musical style. Their companion concept albums Bath and Leaving Your Body Map (2001) are their ageless legacy. We have on numerous occasions wondered how come their composition, entitled brilliantly Birth Pains of Astral Projection, is such a perfect single piece of music that we have ever heard. It is a perfect demonstration of the compositional ingenious and stunning imaginative originality of the band’s leader Toby Driver. The track opens with a smooth segment with hints to blues and jazz and features also a nice saxophone solo. The song takes a surprising turn as it jumps in to a exciting esoteric heavy metal mood with a mysterious guitar pattern, whispers and growl vocals. Again, the track takes a unexpected turn when it goes back to more peaceful pop/rock mode featuring the soothing vocal performance by Toby Driver and one the best guitar solos of all time! It is not just the guitar solo and how it evolves but also the musical frame which the band creates for the solo, that gives it a gorgeous dramatic power. As a cherry on top of the cake we have the cryptic lyrics of Jason Byron. You just has to hear the composition to fully appreciate its’ magnitude.

22. And tears that fall are blood from the heart, from the moment that we part

Mostly Autumn is a celtic-influenced progressive pop/rock band. The guitarist and singer of the band Bryan Josh wrote and dedicated this song, along with the rest of their of first album, for his father who had recently past away. We see the song as a perfectly appropriate for the last Advent Sunday when some people take the time to remember and honor those loved ones who have left this world for the next one. In this song you can hear the sincerity of the grief but also the love for a passed away relative. In addition, song closes up with a epic and gorgeous guitar solo.

21. We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.

Nowadays there is on-going discussion about whether or not video games are a form of art or do they at least the qualities of being art. One recent game that certainly speaks in favor of this argument is the fantastic adventure/fantasy game Journey developed by Thatgamecompany in 2012. Game lacks of any specific plot and features a robed figure traveling in a desert as he or she travels towards a distant mountain. The game has no text nor dialogue and the only way of communication and interaction between the character and its’ surroundings is a musical chime. The game has both extraordinary visual and conceptual beauty in it and to accompany that, Austin Wintory has composed a stunning soundtrack. This is the first track, Nascence which is also featured on the menu screen and it captures perfectly the tone, and above all, the beauty of the game.

20. Traspasar los siete mares, espejismo tatuado, laberinto de conciencia y nacen cantes.

It is the last weekend before Christmas and if you still have something to do which requires energy, whether it be partying, shopping for presents, decorating the house, cooking... whatever, we are guessing you need a little zest in the form of music. To the coldness and darkness of the winter we will bring you a glimpse of the sun and the warmth from Spain. Ojos de Brujo (The Eyes of the Wizard) is band from Barcelona which fuses hip hop with flamenco along with various other musical styles. They have had always such a great energy both on record and live that it is absolutely stunning. Here we give you one their best songs, Todo Tiende which has also a nice eastern influence in it mixed with flamenco, hip hop and all the other elements that the band is known for. Enjoy and have a nice weekend!

19. OK that's it, I'm leaving now, I quit. I was unwise, so don't apologize

The member of our team who wanted to include this track on the Calendar was logically to come up with the description for the tune and this was all he could summon up: “Supertramp is a British, progressive pop and rock band and their composition Cannonball is some groovy stuff, a great track. I don’t know at all what I should say about Cannonball since I’m not so familiar with the band neither. Anyways, a hell of a song.” So, take a listen all of you and judge it for yourselves. 

18. Just believe in yourself and go there. The gift of hope on Christmas day

Shadow Gallery is a slightly underrated band, at least when it comes to technical and musical proficiency of the musicians, as well as for the compositions they have created before the unfortunate passing away of Mike Baker, their lead singer, in 2008. Christmas Day fits pretty well to the theme of this calendar, obviously and it is all a week to the big day! This is so much more than a piano ballad with incredibly beautiful melodies that tells a Christmas love story. It is an epic ride in the musical world of Shadow Gallery with progressive rock and tenderness combined with a good taste.

17. And let then be for lights in the firmament to give light upon the earth

The Ocean, also known as The Ocean collective, is a Swiss/German sludge metal band that published an album of huge success this year. Pelagial has gotten great reviews, receiving almost top scores in every one. This phenomenon has raised the band to the general knowledge of heavy metal audience. Firmament is the opening track of Heliocentric (2009) after the intro track and is one of their earlier gems. The track is by their main composer, German guitarist Robin Staps, and has almost all the typical elements of band’s signature style: Groovy progressive metal, variety of vocals, sludge metal head banging, calm and mysterious soundscapes, dynamic drumming and mid-tempo guitar work with amazing solos.

16. Yaaaaa, ya-ya yaa ya. Sing it every hour, sing it

So it is the last week before Christmas. If you still have some errands, work, studying... whatever obligations before you can kick it and start chilling on the Holidays, we will try and give you that one extra motivation through this absolutely grooving instrumental version of a funk classic. Armed with an organ, a guitar, a bass and drums The Meters from New Orleans take Sing a Simple Song and show a very concrete example what is groove. It is the last track of their debut album from which the majority remember the classic Cissy Strut, but here the band definitely show that they formed one the most meanest rhythm machines in the rhythm and blues history. Get your groove on and boogie woogie!

15. Music should enrich the soul; it should teach spirituality by showing a person a portion of himself that he would not discover otherwise

Pat Metheny is one the most commercially successful jazz artists to enter the scene since the 70’s and among his unique playing style, his body of work has a lot of variety. Probably his most progressive side can be heard on interestingly named As Falls Wichita Falls, So Falls Wichita Falls which is a duo album with the pianist Lyle Mays. The album features a beautiful ballad dedicated to the great jazz pianist Bill Evans and the name of the track, September Fifteenth, is the date of his passing. The song features gorgeous solos by both Metheny on acoustic guitar and Lyle Mays naturally on piano. They capture here perfectly the mood and the style from which Bill Evans was known, but still at the same time this composition has clearly some tasteful originality in it. Let us all have a moment this Sunday to remember one the greatest jazz musicians and composers of all time.

14. Walk me across the water and maybe you'll understand

We have all here in the Aural Obscurities team been at one point of your lives big fans of Dream Theater. Nowadays our opinions may vary about the band and their newest material, but their classic albums have some significance to all of us. Nevertheless, lately we have all agreed on how a quality album their criminally underrated Falling into Infinity album is. The majority of people probably shun the album for its’ more popish material, but we find it refreshing and showcase for the general song writing and melodic abilities of the band. The fourth track, Hollow Years, has always been one of our favorites. When you think about, it is a very basic pop song without any the progressive and technical gimmicks or long instrumental solos for which Dream Theater is largely known. So for a different side of Dream Theater check out Hollow Years.

13. The music has generated all the techniques I use

Pat Martino is one of the great legends of the jazz guitar. His rose to fame in the 60’s and 70’s but in the 80’s he unfortunately underwent a surgery as a result of dangerous brain aneurysm which left him with amnesia. Among other things he forgot how to play the guitar but stunningly he learnt it all over again which is beyond amazing. Not only that, but in the 2000’s he has recorded his best material and he plays like the champion. To get you in to the Friday mood, we present the grooving and cool Mac Tough from the absolutely mind blowing live album, Live at Yoshi’s where Marino joins forces with Joey DeFrancesco on organ and Billy Hart on drums as they play one hell of a concert.. Let this serve you all as reminder also on Friday the 13th that no matter how bad luck you might have, you can still overcome your troubles and obstacles.

12. Dedicated to my friend from childhood

Argentine tango is one of the “world music” genres which is dominated by one name on the international market: Astor Piazzolla. However, since the 1980’s one of the most important vanguardists of the tango nuevo has been the composer and bandoneon player Dino Saluzzi who has continued to developing the genre mixing with jazz and chamber music. On Cité de la Musique we find Dino in a very intimate setting with himself on bandoneon, his son José M. Saluzzi on acoustic guitar and the American Marc Johnson on bass. The album closes with a beautiful Coral para mi Pequeño y Lejano Pueblo (choral for my little and distant village). Johnson and José Saluzzi both deliver very subtle but emotionally powerful solo over Dino’s bandoneon which also plays the perfect intro and outro melodies. Perfect music to smooth your mind. 

11. Beneath the wind turned wave infinite peace islands join hands beneath heaven's sea

King Crimson is without a doubt the great mammoth of progressive rock: band that has been progressive and experimental with its’ sound from 1969 to the present day, always searching between the sounds to take the next step in their never ending musical development. The band has released 13 studio albums along with numerous live albums and countless official bootlegs. However, there are couple of good quality studio albums that for some reason have been forgotten by the bigger audience. Their fourth album Islands falls in to that category. The closing track - which is also the title track - is one of their most stunning compositions. A 12-minute long symphonic ballad with graceful piano, luxurious brass and woodwinds and who could be left cold by the poetic lyrics by Peter Sinfield. A true gem.

10. I should be sorry if I have only succeeded in entertaining them; I wished to make them better

Baroque music sets the mood perfectly for Christmas - at least we see it fitting for the Holidays. It would be the easy choice to include something from Johann Sebastian Bach here but that would be against our principal of trying to introduce some lesser known quality music to you all. So we picked the first movement, Adagio of the D minor organ concerto by Georg Friedrich Händel which has in it a delicate and deep sense of spiritual beauty. The organ brings Christmas to mind as it is still deep down a christian holiday and many connect the organ with the church. The main theme is simple but effective and the treatment it gets in the end makes it even more gorgeous.

9. A darkness carried in the heart can’t be cured by moving the body from one place to another

How wide and open taste of music you might have, there is always some genres that are being neglected. In our case one of those is hip hop. It is partially because we have not yet looked in to the genre and there are also some common attributes of hip hop that we do not generally find enjoyable. There is always exception to rule and in our case it is a group called CunninLynguists. Particularly their album A Piece of Strange is a really great hip hop album which at least one of us enjoys enormously. The third track Nothing to Give is a perfect example of what is great about the group: good composition, real instruments, nice flow, great beats and especially insightful and meaningful lyrics. The lyrics here deal with the phenomenon how one is more eager to commit crime and horrible deeds in general during the night time when the evil actions do not seem so bad.

8. I wonder what Aeris felt...When she was up on that altar...

In our modern digital times video games have become essential part of our popular culture. We value certain games as we do with the movies and books that have a place in our heart. One of the most important titles in video game history - as seen in so many best video games of all time lists and personal favorite to so many - is Final Fantasy VII by Square. Along with great game mechanics, massive length and original and intriguing story, the music composed by Noboe Uematsu is definitely unforgettable. The theme of the character named Aeris gives us goosebumps highly charged with childhood nostalgia. The unexpected turn in the story gives this theme also an additional special meaning...

7. I turn to face an empty space where once you used to lie, and look for a spark that lights the night through a teardrop in my eye

Sometimes on rather a rare occasion you come across a song that you really like but somehow rest of the material by the artist is not enjoyable - not even remotely. In our case one of the incidents took place with Irish celtic metal band Cruachan. Since during the Christmas times one should focus more on the positive things we will share their awesome power ballad Ride On with all of you. The song opens with a majestic flute melody and shortly the gorgeous female vocals enter. We also really enjoy the vocal performance by Shane McGowans who sounds like a Irish drunkard with his deep voice. The development of the song is also very satisfying as it gets constantly more epic with the guitar solo and all the heavy metal.

6. You say you've gone away from me, but I can feel you when you breathe

Well, if you have not lived your whole lifetime under a rock then you probably know Leonard Cohen at least by name. Cohen is a prolific singer-songwriter whose career spans over a half a decade. Songs of Love and Hate is one of his most praised albums and also our personal favorite. However, the one song that everyone remembers from the record is the beautiful Famous Blue Raincoat while the opening track Avalanche is often left in the shadows. Avalanche sets perfectly the dark mood - both musically and lyrically - for the rest of the record and showcases that Cohen is truly one of the undisputed geniuses of pop music lyricism.

5. Yo aprendí a descansar sobre tus hombros y a descender por ríos y laderas, a entrelazarme en las tendidas ramas y a hacer del sueño mi más dulce muerte

Vicente Amigo is the most important and innovative flamenco guitarists and composers of his generation. Since his first record in 1991 he has pushed the envelope in flamenco music fusing it with modern jazz harmonies and other music genres. Poeta is mix of flamenco and classical music as it features Vicente on flamenco guitar among with other flamenco musicians with a symphony orchestra. The concept and the tone of the record has echoes of the famous guitar concerto Concierto de Aranjuez by the Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo. The concept of Poeta revolves around the poetry of Rafael Alberti, thus the name Poeta. Amor, Dulce Puerte is a great piece demonstrating how poetic beauty can be translated into music.

4. I want to look at life in the available light

Rush is undoubtedly known worldwide but it could be argued that general public is familiar mostly with the material they did from the mid 70’s to the early 80’s. Even tough the band moved further away from their more ambiguous progressive sound to more straightforward pop/rock idiom they always kept their songwriting pen sharp. One of these “lost” gems that showcases this brilliantly is the last track on the 1989 album Presto titled Available Light. The song features the singer/bassist Geddy Lee on piano this time around while Neal Peart plays the drums tight as always and Alex Lifeson delivers a nice guitar solo. The strength of the song lies in the composition and the dynamics between the more emotional verse and the energetic chorus works like a charm. In the darkest time of the year we surely need all the Available Light we can get.

3. Laisse-moi devenir l'ombre de ton ombre

Ne me quitte pas (Don’t leave me in English) is well known 1959 French song by the famous chanson singer Jacques Brel which has been covered countless times and translated and performed in various other languages. Of all those covers that I have heard so far my favorite has to be interpretation of the Spanish flamenco singer Estrella Morente. Accompanied by very gorgeous piano playing Estrella sings the song (in French) with deep and genuine pathos with that rootsy flamenco nuance.

2. In my church, we don't believe in Mormons

Angels in America is one of my favorite television shows and its’ emotional core evokes feelings in me that I personally associate with the Holiday spirit as well. Everybody who is familiar with the show probably remembers the gorgeous main theme. This theme is spectacular and epic in itself, but there is a subtler chamber music arrangement of the composition titled The Mormons which has truly something of a mesmerizing intimacy. Spare two minutes of your Monday and allow this tune to enthrall you.

1. Astaroth is the Crowned Prince of Hell named after the Canaanite goddess Ashtoreth

For the first day of December we will quite down for some poetic serenity in the realm of modern jazz. Here we have American avant-garde composer and saxophonist John Zorn, who is usually known for his out-there antics, avant-garde mayhems and saxophone freak outs, proving that he is capable of composing of beautiful and rather simple (in a good way) modal jazz tunes. Lelabel was first interpreted by the Jamie Saft Trio on the Astaroth album, first in the Book of Angels songbook series, with Jamie Saft on piano, Greg Cohen on bass and Ben Perowsky on drums. The trio plays the tune with the intimacy that is required and Saft and Cohen both deliver very sober and lyrical solos while Perowsky provides a very subtle and stylish accompaniment.

Aural Advent Calendar 2013

Hello to you all readers. We are hoping that you are getting in to the holiday spirit as the Christmas and the holidays are approaching. We here in the Aural Obscurities team decided to do something special this December and share the anticipation of festive celebrations by doing our very own Aural Advent Calendar! So for the 24 days of December we will post one song that is very special to us and write a little something about it. Hopefully we will share the joy of these aural marvels with you.

The Victim's Shudder - Terror Romance

Artist:                The Victim’s Shudder

Album:              Terror Romance

Year:                 2008

Line-up:            ???

Label:                Paradigms Recordings

Beautiful and haunting. Terror Romance is an album one may find oneself enveloped by, swept by feelings of both awe and unease. These mostly ambient tracks have been impressively crafted to take the listener to places beautiful and serene, or horrifying and oppressive, or both at the same time. It is this blend of atmospheres that makes Terror Romance a noteworthy piece in the sometimes stale field of ambient music.

It may be that the music presented here is not strictly just ambient, since many parts of the album do contain melodies of a kind, but they are haunting in the background, blended into the ghostly female vocals or the more clearly ambient soundscape some tracks present. Sometimes the music takes more dramatic turns into droning, uglier sounds or muffled echoing cries, but it mostly keeps its harrowing atmosphere very subtle.

The quiet and subdued nature of the music is perhaps the first thing the listener hears in the album, and it may very easily become just ambient background noise, but I believe the album is meant to be listened to more closely and intensely. That is when the ghosts of Terror Romance can be heard. 

But it is not music to be listened to all the time, and a listener may find the album repetitive at times. When the mood is right, however, this album can be a very powerful experience.

Here is a track on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STCkdFTj-QY

Written by Those Who Know.

Kayhan Kalhor and Brooklyn Rider - Silent City

 

Artist:        Kayhan Kalhor and Brooklyn Rider

Album:      Silent City

Year:         2008

Line-up:    Kayhan Kalhor – kamancheh, setar

                 Brooklyn Rider:

                 Colin Jacobsen – violin

                 Jonathan Gandelsman – violin

                 Nicholas Cords – viola

                 Eric Jacobsen – cello

                 Jeff Beecher – bass

                 Siamak Aghaei – santur, tombak

                 Mark Suter – cajon, doira, djembe bodhran, ghaval, pods, shells and metals

Label:       World Village

A day of silence

Can be a pilgrimage in itself

Hafez - Silence

Every once and a while one comes across a musical work which is able to capture both the imagination and evoke various feelings on the listener by simply being something totally unique, beautiful, creative and exciting. Yet somehow, no matter how strongly we feel about this music and are fascinated by it, we find it almost impossible to capture those feelings and put them into words. Sometimes the music escapes the chains of language and all the word we seek to describe these sounds helplessly run through our fingers like sand. These kinds thoughts Silent City has aroused in me ever since I set myself to produce my next writing about this particular album.

Silent City is a collaborative effort between one of the most important Iranian composers and kamancheh players of today, Kayhan Kalhor and New York-based classical string quartet known for their unusual and contemporary repertoire. The project saw its' birth in 2000 at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts while Kayhan Kalhor and the members of Brooklyn Rider were taking part in ambitious effort initiated by the world famous classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The Silk Road Project is a not-for-profit organization which goal is to expand and study the multicultural and musical relationships of the historic training route of Silk Road. During this project Brooklyn Rider was part of performing a new composition by Kayhan Kalhor specifically composed for the occasion titled Blue as the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur. They were tremendously affected by the common modes and rhythmic grooves which offered them such a rewarding method of musical communication and the ease of co-existence of Persian musical traditions alongside with American minimalism and early European music.

Among with becoming personal friends of Kalhor, Brooklyn Rider were so taken by their experiences with Silk Road Project that they began to pursue a way of creating a dynamic musical vehicle that could produce something new and innovative which would hopefully breed meaningful musical experiences and communicate with a wide variety of different audiences. At the same time, their friendship with Kalhor evolved to the state that they began dreaming and visioning a studio record which would bring their musical collaboration not only to a new level but also to a wider audience. Silent City is the product of these studio sessions which the artists regard as their personal musical laboratory which enabled them to explore the possibilities of the intimacy between string quartet and kamancheh and study the common grounds of their respective cultures and traditions.

As I said earlier, I feel almost amazed how difficult I find it to try and describe verbally Silent City in a manner that would please me personally and make this record justice. Not only is the music itself beyond my verbal reach as it truly something truly remarkable and extraordinary, but all of the four compositions featured here have their own very distinct character and tone. Silent City opens with Ascending Bird which takes a traditional Persian tune as its' reference point on top which original material has been written. The music tries to capture a mythical story of a bird attempting to fly to the sun. Failing on two first attempts on the third one the bird finally manages to free itself of its' physical body as it embraces the sun – a metaphor of spiritual transcendence. The third track, Parvaz is Kalhor's personal take on the same story where the bird is called to recite the 1001 names of the Creator and failing to remember the 1001^th name, the bird is ultimately consumed by its' Beloved Sun. Kalhor plays here the setar (a long-necked wooden lute with four strings) which is considered a narrative instrument in Iran as it was usually the instrument of choice of the bardic poets and storytellers of the past.

The center piece of the album is definitely the title track not by only its' enormous length of nearly 30 minutes but also by its' high artistic quality. Silent City is the music of silence, an aural prayer without words, a personal journey, an experience. It tells the tragic tale of the town of Halabjah in Iraqi Kurdistan: On March 16, 1988, after two days of conventional artillery attacks, the Iraqi military forces dropped gas canisters on the town accompanied by bombs, artillery attacks and further chemical weapons resulting in the immediate death of at least 5 000 people and 7 000 people being injured and suffering long term illness. Most of the victims were Kurdish civilians. Later the Iraqi forces destroyed the town completely. Silent City serves as an elegy and a testament of only of this tragic but also of other fallen cities and civilisations. More importantly it attempts to arouse hope by the idea that life always returns growing and sprouting once again from the desolate landscapes. The album ends with a composition by the Brooklyn Rider violinist Colin Jacobsen titled Beloved, do not let me be discouraged. The inspiration for this piece comes from a legendary tale of Layla and Majun, which is a story about ill-fated lovers similar to Romeo and Juliet. Musically, it draws inspiration from the chamber version of Hajibeyov's opera of the same story performed by the legendary Azeri mugham singer Alim Qasimov and from the genre of sacred songs called Laude of the 14^th Italy where Jacobsen found many similarities of devotional feel of joyful praise and penitence of Layla and Majnun.

The meeting of the Persian kamancheh and Western string quartet, the dialogue between the ethnic traditions of the East and the Western Art Music together here spawns something totally new and exciting which is not just an East meets West type of fusion project but something truly unique and beyond conventional categorizing. Silent City is a small monolith of beauty and art which opens up a window to a new historical and contemporary musical world.

Take a listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftwfCOlBnv0

This is the city and I am one of the citizens,

Whatever interests the rest interests me..

Walt Whitman – Song of Myself

Written by Παναγιωτιης

Juhani Aaltonen Trio - Mother Tongue

 

Artist:       Juhani Aaltonen Trio

Album:     Mother Tongue

Year:        2003

Line-up:   Juhani Aaltonen – tenor saxophone, flute

                Ulf Krokfors – bass

                Tom Nekljudow - drums

Label:      Tum Records

”The music flows so easily among the three of us that playing together is a constant joy. I hope that at least of some of that joy is also communicated to the listener through this recording”

- Juhani Aaltonen

When autumn is coming to an end with all its' splendid colorful leaves of red, yellow and green now fallen from the branches and winter is closing in, when you feel the chill in the air and days are getting darker and shorter and you seek warmth and light for comfort, I often times find myself in the mood for some good moody and atmospheric jazz. If you have a tendency for melancholy like me you might find modern jazz from Scandinavia to suite your state of mind better than American classics. For over five decades Norway has been the birth place of many of the most interesting modern jazz masters such as Jan Garbarek, Arild Andersen, Terje Rypdal, Ketil Bjørnstad, Tord Gustavsen, Trygve Seim and many more who intergrate the melancholy, the vast spaces and the silence of the North to their music. These artists have become house hold names in the jazz partially for recording for ECM Records. However, the global jazz public seems to be somewhat unaware that in the recent past few decades Finland has seen also a rise of creative and exciting modern jazz musicians and records.

One of the most important channels to discover new Finnish jazz music for me personally has been the record label TUM and its' own festival TUMfest. TUM stands for Todella Uutta Musiikkia (Really New Music) which is a sort of an inside joke in the Finnish jazz circles for there is a prolific big band in Finland called UMO which stands for Uuden Musiikin Orkesteri (Orchestra of New Music). TUM Records is a record company which focuses on improvised, jazz-based music emphasizing on the free expression and the own music of the performing artists. One the most interesting musicians and very personal favorite of mine, who has been aboard with the label from the very start since 2003, is saxophone player Juhani Aaltonen.

Juhani Aaltonen (b. 1935) is a fascinating musical figure to say the least. Largely self-taught as a musician, Aaltonen began his career as a freelance musician in 1961 and at the same time began his studies at the Sibelius Academy. However, after only one year's studies Aaltonen quite the academy to pursue a full-time career as a musician. In the 60's Aaltonen worked with some of the finest Finnish jazz musicians and composers including Otto Donner and Edward Wesala and formed the progressive rock group Tasavallan Presidentti. Since then Aaltonen has been involved in various projects including playing with Peter Brötzmann and being one of the founding members of UMO in 1975 in which he continued playing until 1986. In 2001 a new Finnish jazz ensemble Suhkan Uhka (also the first record by TUM) was put together and Juhani Aaltonen was asked to join in. At the time, Aaltonen thought that his career of playing improvised music was largely over and it took much persuasion to get him finally on board with Suhkan Uhka. The project turned out to be a happy coincidence as it brought Aaltonen together with drummer Tom Nekljudow and bassist Ulf Krokfors who, after playing for the first time together in Suhkan Uhka, decided to form a trio together.

Mother Tongue is the first album of Juhani Aaltonen Trio and second release by TUM Records. The performances here were recorded live at Kanneltalo in Helsinki on October 17^th, 2002 in a concert part of a tour organized by Finnish Jazz Federation. Taken into account that the trio had only played together merely over a year, it is rather astounding how well these three talented musicians play together – especially when the music is mostly free improvisation. Aaltonen himself says in the linear notes that ”from the very first times that we played together, I knew that this trio was something special. After only a few performances, we went through that rare transformation from three musicians just playing together to the three of us playing as a group, a unit reaching a whole new level of communication. I feel that this trio truly represents a case of the whole being more than the sum of its parts.” These words could not be more fitting to describe this record. I myself have experience attending free improvisation concerts and practicing the same art myself as a musician with others and it is a rather difficult and demanding musical setting. Sometimes the finest musicians and improvisers might get together but the magic is just not there. Therfore, in the case of hearing Juhani Aaltonen perform live or on record you truly feel privileged to witness such seamless interplay between these three musicians and witness the one aspect of magic of music.

So how is the music itself of Juhani Aaltonen Trio? The term free improvisation tends to have a confused identity among players and listeners alike. This genre – if one can even call it a genre – encompasses so many different kinds of musicians, too many starting points and attitudes towards music and too many ideologies and philosophies of what improvisation really is, that many find it a fallible term to give a complete description of certain kind of music. A general misconception is that free improvisation is linked with experimental and avant-garde, fighting against the conventional musical parameters such as key and rhythm. At times, it might be just that but not always and certainly not with Juhani Aaltonen Trio. Even tough Aaltonen has always been heavily influenced by the likes Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy and John Coltrane who themselves have been known for their experimental and avant-garde elements, the music on Mother Tongue is mostly quite beautiful. Here free improvisation is a musical philosophy granting the musicians a musical freedom to do something unexpected without the fear of making ”mistakes” or missing cues. As said earlier, all of the three musicians are highly prolific and talented in their own right. The style, and particularly the sound of tenor saxophone, of Aaltonen is instantly recognisable and unique. It has very organic, soft and warm feeling in it. Also, the flute playing on Reflection is something truly haunting and mesmerising. This theme is also present for the rest of the record: a certain spirituality which is created by the intimacy of the three musicians who are in a constant dialogue with each other with music as their mother tongue.

I feel that I have praised this record already than enough. If you even remotely like jazz or improvised music, Mother Tongue is an essential and a must-have record in our record collection.

You can listen to the first track Lullaby on the label's internet page:

http://www.tumrecords.com/002-juhani-aaltonen-trio-mother-tongue

Written by Παναγιωτιης

Procyon-X - The Ghost of Orion

 

Artist:      Procyon-X

Album:    The Ghost of Orion

Year:        2007

Line-up:   ???

Label:      Paradigms Recordings

I have taken notice that I have recently developed a trend of writing about albums about which I feel very strongly on a personal level. Don't get me wrong, my very meaning of my writings is to shed light upon some of my favorite records which feel have been left in the shadows even among the music enthusiasts yet alone the mainstream audience. However, I personally feel at the moment that I have been maybe too over sentimental and perhaps even a bit grandiose about some the albums I have covered recently. I might have indulged in poetics and romanticism where my personal experiences and world views have come into play in my text very strongly. I figured that it might be the time to write about a more low-key album this time around where I do NOT use the term musical journey to describe the album. Thus, I present you The Ghost of Orion by Procyon-X.

Language is the medium through which we construct and outline the reality around us. However, music escapes the chain and possible limitations of language in its' abstract nature, and yet it is still able to penetrate into our very souls and provide us with an endless variety of different human emotions and feelings. We can describe music verbally by theoretical vocabulary and using different adjectives to communicate to others what emotions a certain piece of music is able to evoke in us. Still, one can never quite capture the essence of music. This task becomes even more difficult we can dwell in the realm of ambient music. The genre often does not have its' emphasis on the usual musical parameters such as rhythm, melody and harmony. Instead, ambient normally focuses on the actual sound and its' mechanics; that is to say the texture for example. It is tends to try and create atmospheric sound environment and soundscape still retaining a sense of musical movement. Normally one the goals of ambient music is to invoke a sense calm and space in its' listener. 

When I one night listened to The Ghost of Orion for the first time in preparation for this writing after a long period of the album just sitting on my record shelf, this image of space kept coming to my mind. When I next morning began to do some research about the album, I noticed to my surprise that some sources label The Ghost of Orion as space ambient. Yet another proof that music often has the ability to capture our imaginations and cast very specific images before our very eyes without the means of language. Space ambient is an umbrella term of a subgenre of the ambient genre which is described as flowing and relaxing by its' general atmosphere. Sequencers are used along with synthesizers with ascending and descending rhythm patterns. These characteristics are certainly present on The Ghost of Orion. The label Paradigms Recordings describes the album as ”seriously mysterious exploration of the sonic void. Dark astral ambient voyages through solar infinity. Deep, all encompassing sensory projection for earthbound space travellers and cosmic explorers.” I certainly would agree to this description although it paints a lot more poetic and magnificent picture of the album that I would give it credit for.

The Ghost of Orion is a nice little (clocking just in 30 minutes) but interesting and intriguing ambient album. So if you are looking for an relaxing and stimulating space atmosphere thorugh music to fuel your imagination or set the mood of your dreams, pop this baby in your player and float into the mysterious realms of outer space.

Take a a sneak peek of the the last track of the album from the web page of Paradigms Recordings:

http://www.paradigms-recordings.com/audio/procyon_x.mp3

Written by Παναγιωτιης

Melos - Chants de la Méditerranée / Mediterranean songs

 

Artist:            Melos

Album:          Melos – Chants de la Méditerranée

Year:             2012

Line-up:        Keyvan Chermirani – artistic direction & percussions

                     Dorsaf Hamdani – vocals

                     Mohamed Lassoued – violin & rebab

                     Mohammed Rochdi Mfarredj – qanun

                     Drossos Koutsokostas – vocals

                     Kyriakos Kalaitzidis – oud

                     Kyriakos Petras – violin

                     Périklis Papapetropoulos – saz, bulgari, lavta

                     Juan Carmona – flamenco guitar

                     El Kiki – vocals

                     Sergio Martinez - cajon

Label:           Accords Croisés

μελος – 1. a member (a person in a group); 2. a limb; 3. a song, strain, the music to which a song is set, an air, melody (Lindell and Scott: Greek-English Lexicon)

The Mediterranean is truly a fascinating place in many ways but especially in the field of cultural history it holds a particular interest. The roots of the whole Western culture and civilisation are found in the Ancient Greece which was not summoned out of nothing but rather it was born in the course of over a thousand years as a result of interaction between the Mediterranean culture and the Arabic and Islamic cultures. The Mediterranean is not only a historical and cultural space of the researchers, historians and intellects but also the mystical and magical space of writers, musicians and other artists. All the numerous cultures of the Mediterranean form one singular and vast continuity where the same phenomena, thoughts and forms appear over and over again in different geographical locations and in different time periods. All these elements are rooted deeply in the space and time and thus one cannot separate one Mediterranean culture without taking account the greater network of cultural influences of the whole Mediterranean sea.

Melos is a project created by Saïd Assadi, the director of the French concert office, production agency and record label Accords Croisés and realised by the prolific Iranian percussionist and composer Keyvan Chemirani. Its' aim is to explore the endless Mediterranean culture and its' power through music. For this rather ambitious artistic pursuit of bringing together different musical traditions of the Mediterranean and modern compositions, Keyvan has not settled on gathering individual musicians from different Mediterranean cultures but has went even further by bringing in three whole ensembles forming a group of eleven people which features musicians from Spain, Morocco, Tunisia and Greece. The ensembles around the project have varied over the years around Keyvan but on this particular album we have the plessure to witness Juan Carmona and his ensemble, Dorsaf Hamdani and her ensemble and the Greek En Chordais joining forces to create something tremendous musically.

This record, simply titled Melos – Mediterranean songs, brings together three rich musical traditions of the different members of the project: flamenco from Spain, Greek music and maluf from the Maghreb region (Northwest Africa, west of Egypt). Additionally, other musical traditions and their elements are explored here going as far as to Armenia and all the way to India. Music presented here is an enchanting search of common musical grounds and counterparts of various music style and lyrical themes of the Mediterranean; Melos is a fascinating study of the similar musical modes and their functions and specially the rhythmic strength and possibilities which are exquisite and endless in the Mediterranean music traditions. Nevertheless, it is not only a piece of academic research but most of all an artistic creation. The one major problem with these kinds of fusion projects is the difficulty of mixing the two – and in this case various – different elements in one pot without it sounding contrived. The strength and the magic of Melos are that Keyvan Chemirani and all the talented musicians here succeed in making and piecing together songs which have all these different elements in them, and yet, they all sound natural. Here we have compositions which all at the same time have sounds and images of the past and the tradition, but still sound new and exciting, they might seem somewhat strange and foreign but are also somehow familiar. It is a piece of the mythical time which still can be found in certain parts of the Mediterranean.

Similar to the epic story of Homer's Odyssey, Melos is a musical and cultural journey where one sets off traveling the world and returns home, returns to oneself. The project is a glorious attempt to caress the whole Mediterranean culture and spellbind its' listener with its' magic never neglecting the integrity and the uniqueness of the cultures of its' individual members. Here the one who seeks might find a brief glimpse of the mythical time, the nature and the hidden.

Here is a 10-minute document about the project:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTZwB4N2c6E

Written by Παναγιωτιης

Taal - Skymind

Artist:        Taal

Album:      Skymind

Year:         2003

Line-up:    Anthony Gabard – electric & acoustic guitars

                 David Stuart Dosnon – bass

                 Loic Bernandeau – acoustic drums & lead vocals

                 Igot Polisset – electric & acoustic drums

                 Sebastian Constant – keyboards

                 Helene Sonnet – flute & vocals on Blind Child

                 Manu Fournier – violin & saxophone

                 Gaelle Deblonde – violin

                 Manue Bouriaud – viola

                 Mehdi Rossignol - cello

Label:       Musea

 

Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.

                                                              Jules de Gaultier

Every once and a while you run into bands and groups who are musically all over the place taking a wide range of influences from various different musical genres. As a result, you might get some totally batshit crazy, and yet ever so intriguing, mixture or just all mashed and messed up pile of confusion. However, on rare occasions you just happen to find those few hidden gems which are musically all over the map but somehow just manage to pull it off. One of those rare bands is the oddball and criminally unknown band from France called Taal.

Taal draws it musical influences from such genres as heavy metal, western art music, gypsy music, French jazz to name a few of the most prominent ingredients. Also, the line-up of the band with such instruments as the flute and saxophone completed with a whole string quartet in addition to the more traditional pop/rock groups' arsenal (guitars, bass, drums and keyboards) is one huge advantage that the band has in order to create very imaginative soundscapes. From these elements, the band is able to compose a surprisingly coherent and natural sounding whole earning the band its' own unique and impossible-to-copy style. The perfect manifestation of all the things so marvelous about Taal is their second album, and unfortunately the last as for now though the band stated back in 2007 that it was recording a new album, Skymind is creative, fun, humorous, complex, dynamic, beautiful, rocking and all around a fascinating album.

To describe comprehensively Skymind is not an easy task. Not only is Taal a very talented and creative group of musicians but they also have style: everything on Skymind is in a perfect balance and not one element in the enormous palette is misused nor overused, be it a certain musical instrument, a musical genre or any other musical element. Everything on Skymind feels justified and fits perfectly with what comes before and what comes after. Nothing on the record feels forced or contrived which is easily the case when mixing up so many different ingredients in one pot. On the other hand, while Taal showcases a certain discipline with its' music as the band manages to hold it all together perfectly, the music of the group is so spellbinding that it often brings me almost like a childlike enthusiasm and captures my imagination without any limitations. That is a power not to be underestimated. Skymind takes us truly on a musical ride where you go back and forth from more soft and gentle moods to more guitar driven rock feel. Skymind feels almost like a French musical carnival or circus where our imaginations are treated which such genres as rock, heavy metal, chamber music, gypsy music, French jazz, eastern music, electronic music, folk music... you name it.

Skymind is a delightful attestation of creativity, talent and originality; all features which are all to rare in the current musical industry. It is truly a progressive album as it mixes so many different elements seamlessly and all six songs here are unique little musical journeys and stories. If you are seeking something to get you again childishly excited about music, look no further friends. You will find it on Skymind.

Take a listen to the first track:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zKcDfUftVE

Written by Παναγιωτιης