Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Trentemøller – The Archives


The Trentemøller Chronicles is a double compilation album of Anders Trentemøller’s best songs and remixes.
Released one year after The Last Resort (
Poker Flat), one of the very best electronica records from 2006, this compilation confirms that Anders Trentemøller has find a major place among today’s most creative electronic producers. Since Paul Van Dyk and his fantastic Out There And Back (2000), I never felt so excited with a record of electronic music genre. Those 24 Trentemøller tracks personally compiled by Anders himself are just incredible.
The Trentemøller Chronicles (October 1, 2007) is a double CD or a three parts album. CD1 is filled with Anders own works and until the beautiful Blood In The Streets (track 5) the mood is more ambient and melancholic; then comes the second part of the CD - the dancefloor part – which starts with a remix of Moan, the second single taken from The Last Resort featuring the vocals of Danish talent Ane Trolle, and ends with the remix of Always Something Better featuring Richard Davis. CD2 features Anders Trentemøller’s best remixes of classics like Röyksopp’s What Else Is There or Moby’s mega-hit Go! Almost perfection! Just make your own opinion
here.
As the press release says The Trentemøller Chronicles is a valuable addition to any fan’s collection and a perfect introduction to anyone keen to find out more about the artist and his oeuvre.

MySpace:
myspace.com/trentemoeller
Label: audiomatique.com

Trentemøller - Moan featuring Anne Trolle (remix preview) .mp3
Trentemøller - Always Something Better (Trentemøller Remix) .mp3
Moby - Go (Trentemøller Remix) .mp3

Bonus:
Röyksopp - Remind Me .mp3

Labels:

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Sigur Rós - Expecting To Fly


From those genius islanders, I only have Takk (2005). It’s not because that I don’t like Sigur Rós, of course not, it’s just that I miss the opportunity to listen to them when they start to release their first albums in the late 90’s and, you know, sometime you’re lazy, not too proud of yourself and think that it’s too late. But at the end of last year, I bought Takk. I was amazed and promised myself not to do the same mistake again with the future one.
Sigur Rós have 3 new releases coming up in the next couple of weeks. To give an overview of what is coming out when, here are the official release dates along with the least expensive pre-order links we could find:
· Hljómalind single: October 29 in Europe only (
pre-order)
· Heima DVD: November 5 worldwide / November 20 in North America (pre-order:
Europe / USA)
· Hvarf-Heim double compilation album containing studio versions of previously unreleased songs ("Salka", "Hljómalind" (formerly known as "Rokklagið"), "Í gær" and "Von"), on Hvarf, and acoustic studio versions of the songs: "Samskeyti", "Starálfur", "Vaka", "Ágætis Byrjun", "Heysátan"and "Von", on Heim.: November 5 worldwide / November 6 in North America (pre-order:
Europe / USA)
More info on the Heima DVD will be published on this
site soon in a new section dedicated to the film.

Web:
sigur-ros.co.uk
MySpace: myspace.com/sigurros

Meanwhile, you should have a look on the video below, it’s an exclusive acoustic showcase held in Paris last week. There will be two more like that later on the same website.

Video:
Sigur Ros - Nojsnavelin (acoustic live) in lesinrocks.com

Sigur Ros - Saeglopur .mp3 from Takk
Sigur Ros - Ny Batteri .mp3 Live in Berlin, 2005
Sigur Ros - Untitled #6 .mp3 Live in Laugardalshöllin, Reykjavík, 1999

Labels: ,

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Kevin And Robert - The Soft Brothers



In less than a month, two founding members of the great Soft Machine released there latest contribution to the music history, Kevin Ayers, first, with The Unfairground (September 10), then Robert Wyatt with Comicopera (October 8). The other three original members are still alive and well (thank you!); Mike Ratledge keeps the legacy of Soft Machine alive with Steam (August 2007), Hugh Hopper still works on numerous jazz projects and Daevid Allen in 2003 formed a new version of Gong with members of the Japanese collective known as Acid Mothers Temple, as well as playing and releasing material with his California-based band University of Errors.
I started to listen to the Soft Machine in the early seventies; it was for my young ears a major musical discovery. I must confess that I am quite pride that I was sensible to both the psychedelic-rock and jazz-rock that the Softs provided with their first two official albums (
Soft Machine and Volume Two). At that time, it was music hard to find in conventional record shops, it was call “experimental music” or “underground music”…
Subsequently, in few months, I had the chance to meet Daevid Allen personally, went to some Kevin Ayers’s gigs and experienced Soft Machine live (July 73 - unfortunately without Robert Wyatt, it was right after his accident). All great shows! Later, I was lucky to attend to one of the most amazing concert held in London at that time: THE come back of Robert Wyatt with the help of his friends,
Theatre Royal Drury Lane (recorded September 8, 1974 and released in October 2005). Ok, I stop talking about me.

I would like to say more about the influence of those guys for the music but I don’t have enough space here - you’ll find a lot to read elsewhere on the web, like the story of the Softs working as support on Hendrix’s first American tour - all I can add is that they also gave much pleasure to a lot of people including me.
Listen and buy The Unfairground and Comicopera. It’s great to hear Kevin’s voice again. The Unfairground is a very good and enjoyable album, his best since
Bananamour. Yes, Kevin, you “Did It Again”… Sorry, I don’t have much to say about Comicopera, just heard here and there some excerpts. Robert Wyatt voice is still amazing. It will be one of my future purchases.
Also read on Leaky Sparrow:
kevin-ayers-new-cd-for-2007

Web:
kevin-ayers.com
MySpace: myspace.com/robertwyatt

Kevin Ayers - Friends & Strangers (excerpt) .mp3
Robert Wyatt - Just As You Are .mp3 via Stereogum

Bonus:
Kevin Ayers - Supersalesman .mp3 (Live – New York, 1980) via Ollie Halsall Archive
Bonus: Robert Wyatt - Song For Che .mp3 from Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard
Robert Wyatt - Pigs In There .mp3

Labels:

Friday, October 12, 2007

PJ Harvey - The White Interview


PJ Harvey again: in lesinrocks.com, interviewed by her old friend John Parish, PJ says everything you want to know about her new cd, the beautiful White Chalk.
In English, of course, no subtitles. Enjoy!

The video-interview in 2 parts:
lesinrocks.com

PJ Harvey - When Under Ether .mp3 via The Purple Hood - Playlist.blogspot.com

Photo : JP Blache - PJ Harvey - Belfort, Presqu'île de Malsaucy (France) – July 3, 2004

Labels:

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

PJ Harvey - The White Album


If you have followed PJ Harvey’s music over the years, you probably now realize that you did not like everything the woman records and releases.
For me, her previous album, Uh Huh Her, was very frustrating and I must confess that I have difficulties now to listen to the first two, Dry and Rid Of Me. On the contrary, I’m still really fond of To Bring You My Love and of course of Dance Hall At Louise Point that she co-wrote with John Parish, her best album so far. For me, her work is a collection of brilliant moments over fifteen years and eight records of different styles of music that leaves me wanting more… And White Chalk finally arrived and answered to my expectations.
White Chalk is a masterpiece and is the best record Polly Jean Harvey has released. With no guitar and with a new voice, PJ is challenging her audience to listen differently. It is pointless to discuss this album in terms of each particular track, it is all one song. All along the 11 tracks, PJ is as virgin as a white chalk and the intensity is always at is peak during (little) thirty-four minutes. “Daddy's in the corner/Rattling his keys/Mummy's in the doorway/Trying to leave/Nobody's listening…/Oh God I miss you” (The Piano).
For those who also loved Dance Hall At Louise Point, a second collaboration of John Parish with PJ Harvey I schedule to be released next year. Eleven years and so much experience later, it will be a record worth the listen to.

Web:
pjharvey.net
Web: pollyharvey.co.uk
MySpace: myspace.com/pjharvey

Labels:

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Low In The Sky


No, it’s not the reunion of Low and Explosions In The Sky… Low In The Sky is just an ambient Ohio band.
On their second album, We Are All Counting On You, William, Low In The Sky covered a remarkable variety of sounds from hip-hop to acoustic guitar to sonorous piano notes hanging over sparse musical landscapes. What remains a constant are ambient elements.
I don’t know much about them, sorry, I just heard what they offer on their own
MySpace or on Pattern Based, the label. There you can also download songs from the previous album Dear Birds (2005) and watch few videos. So, please go and have a look, make yourself your own opinion. By the way, We Are All Counting On You, William will be available in Europe in October and note that the final sleeve was chosen among others by fans on there MySpace.

MySpace:
myspace.com/lowinthesky
Label: myspace.com/patternbased

Low In The sky - New Amsterdam 1972, New York 1933 .mp3

Low In The Sky - Fax Mn .mp3
Low In The Sky - Dialogue With A Shadow .mp3

Labels:

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Single of The Month - Film School


Hideout is Film School’s second full-length for Beggars Banquet. The album is already out in the States since September 11th (beggars). For Europe, you’ll first have to wait for the CD single, Dear Me, due to hit the shelves on October 22nd. The album, Hideout, will follow on November 5th.
Film School is a Californian collective from San Francisco watching an old movie from the eighties: the English new wave. Hideout relives the days when we listened to Echo & The Bunnymen, My Bloody Valentine or Joy Division.
The CD single, Dear Me, is backed by Two Kinds a heartbreaker pop song about lost love, a beautiful melody that you can find on the blog
Speed Of Dark.

Film School - Two Kinds .mp3 from Dear Me, CD Single (November 22) via Speed Of Dark.

Web:
filmschoolmusic.com
MySpace: myspace.com/filmschool
Label: beggars.com/banquet/index.htm

Film School - Lectric .mp3 from Hideout (2007)
Film School - On And On .mp3 from Film School (2006)

Labels:

javascript hit counter