Domenica 16 Lug 2006, 18:08
- No, why?
- I don't know, that's why i'm asking you!
well, i've decided to try something. here i'll post reviews to some of the music i like. i'm not a professional reviewer, so this will be my sandbox. english is not my primary language. if you feel outraged by my engrish blurps, feel free not to read this journal.
Celine - Elapsed Time
"Long awaited release from Funckarma and Ulrich Schnauss collaborator." – a blah-blah note from Discogs. I'd say that this album is a surprise to me – I rarely await an album, a film or a book – I like being surprised. And this is a very pleasant surprise for me. This release is a colab between many artists and the french singer Celine. She likes to experiment and that’s obvious. In her “Uplifting demo” she sings vocals on her own on several tracks such as Aphex’s “Nannou”, “IZ US”, “Flim”, BoC’s “Anything you do is a balloon”. Rather interesting – IDM + vocals/lyrics is a rare phenomenon. Somehow Celine got in touch with some guys: EU, Ulrich Schnauss, Miles Tilmann, Funckarma, Mr. Projectile… the result is beyond description. She featured with “Arati” in the Funckarma’s “Solid State”. Celine has a soothing warm voice, reminds me to Titi Albrecht’s (cf. 1010 & Mr. Projectile - …And They Met) björkish swings. It’s useless to comment the above mentioned artists. They formed kind of an IDM dreamteam launching Celine’s album into my personal top 10 for this year.
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Desert Ocean
I’ve got the news that Pan•American had released a new album and my ears got aroused. Usually I don’t rush for the latest releases from an old favorite artist, so I decided to recall some of his previous “Quiet City”. Quiet drones flying over desolate soundscapes, distant whispers and quenched guitars… you know all that yet. My appetite got sharpened so I dug “The Dead Texan” from the ashes. It’s useless to describe that album. You should hear it. Probably you’ll think something like “that’s the soundtrack to a rainy lonely autumn afternoon, when my baby left me and I got drunk and tried to open my veins” or other shit like that. The album is more complex than you’ll find in his haunting, minimalist ambiences. An album to hear, not just to listen.
So I’ve tried to get the new Pan•American but instead of that I found something really good. I’ve discovered a group called Lanterna. At first sight I thought it’s a kind of a darkish metal band with a grunting vocal. However I decided to give it a try and I was hit by upbeat sunny melodies and a very crafty guitar work. Henry Frayne immerses the listener into rich atmospheres, sometimes dangerously close to the new-age nature obsession, sometimes close to David Gilmour’s despair. This is an multi-genre album, I cannot sort it into my “rock” folder because I don’t have one no longer, nor into the “ambient” folder just because it’s not ambient at all, nor into the post rock folder because it’s not.. hmmm.. let’s say aggressive enough and I left it unclassified. This album is the emotional antipode of the mentioned above. If you need a cup of a good instrumental rock that does not invite you to smash someone’s head, that’s the answer. Sure, I’ll check the previous albums of Lanterna.