Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Berg's Lieder
These earlier works from Berg provide a backdrop to his stunning piano sonata, and further explore that same dark and sombre straining of tonality. If you are as smitten by the sonata as I am, then you will lap up this lieder, and the marvellous harmonic language this maestro built from.
These lieder also illustrate how obvious his programmatic interests were from the beginning; his wide-ranging interest in the arts no doubt having a strong influence.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Vitabit x Jigabite
What we have here is a collab between two young beat-smiths from Melbourne, running the gamut of post-Dilla production. Whether it is 90's cheese, soul, jazz, or hints of Brainfeeder-esque wonkyness, it all coalesces into a kind of party vibe that keeps the heads nodding.
What is impressive is how these two have begun carving out their own styles so early; the close-working pair obviously feeding off each others creativity to great effect. The challenge they each face now is further refining their sounds, and distinguishing themselves in this now densely populated arena.
Full stream/download:
What is impressive is how these two have begun carving out their own styles so early; the close-working pair obviously feeding off each others creativity to great effect. The challenge they each face now is further refining their sounds, and distinguishing themselves in this now densely populated arena.
Full stream/download:
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Misc.
So I guess this thing is still going.
Music blogs have taken a bit of a hit in the recent months with the blocking of Megaupload, and various other sites either deleting files or changing their "services" in search of legality. One thing is for certain, which is that it is getting a little more difficult to find and download every obscure release you could think of. While there is still a substantial amount of music online, enough to occupy a life of listening and then some, it seems as though the combination of new streaming services and this attack on filesharing has made a significant dent in online music culture. The Golden Age, as it were, is over for filesharing. Of course it will never dry up, so long as the music industry has it's commercial interests, but the next phenomenon seems to be on the rise; streaming services are in the process of climbing to the top of online music experience.
Here is a very interesting post I read recently, which has a whole lot to say about the current situation concerning music and the internet, presenting a few points which never really get much focus.
I doubt I'll keep posting much music on here, or at least it won't be the only focus, as there are plenty of things you can find elsewhere, and I have never uploading things anyway. I'll keep sharing things here and there, but it will be more of a quality over quantity situation. This blog was always kind of open ended as far as content was concerned, but music has certainly occupied most of the space in my life up until now.
What to post then?
Well I have been watching/listening to a lot of this man playing the piano. His renditions of Debussy, which seem to be very popular, are fantastic. All of his videos on youtube are of superb quality (in performance, not necessarily sound).
I have been lucky enough to be exposed to some very interesting artists in one of my classes this semester, which is basically just seminars with various guests. It has challenged many of my classmates' tastes and perception of music, which is fun to see (and welcomed), and given us a chance to hear about alternate paths through music, without an emphasis on formal training. Some of the highlights were Mike Cooper, Ros Bandt, and Dure Dara.
Twentieth century Hungarian art is something that has piqued my interest of late, with the works of, well, of course Béla Bartok and György Ligeti, but mainly the author László Krasznahorkai and director Béla Tarr. Krasznahorkai has this dark and foreboding style that paints an unflattering portrait of humanity in general, but without any overblown apocalyptic melodrama; a Backettesque kind of darkness, without some of the absurdity. His two novels, The Melancholy of Resistance and Sátántangó were thoroughly engrossing and really left me in awe of the man's style. Both of these novels, incidentally, have been adapted by Tarr; Melancholy... becoming Werckmesiter Harmóniák and Sátántangó becomes a seven hour film of the same name. Werckmeister really impressed me, simply because after reading the book, I did not know how well the dense narration and atmosphere, without much dialogue, would transfer to the screen. Tarr gets points not only for making it work, but for creating a work which stands wholly on it's own as a thing of immense beauty. The three disc set of Sátántangó will have to wait until the holidays, however.
I have become increasingly infatuated with GoodReads too, as I find some more lesser known modern literature, and classics also. Between it and Rate Your Music, I have more than enough inspiration at hand for a long time to come.
Music blogs have taken a bit of a hit in the recent months with the blocking of Megaupload, and various other sites either deleting files or changing their "services" in search of legality. One thing is for certain, which is that it is getting a little more difficult to find and download every obscure release you could think of. While there is still a substantial amount of music online, enough to occupy a life of listening and then some, it seems as though the combination of new streaming services and this attack on filesharing has made a significant dent in online music culture. The Golden Age, as it were, is over for filesharing. Of course it will never dry up, so long as the music industry has it's commercial interests, but the next phenomenon seems to be on the rise; streaming services are in the process of climbing to the top of online music experience.
Here is a very interesting post I read recently, which has a whole lot to say about the current situation concerning music and the internet, presenting a few points which never really get much focus.
I doubt I'll keep posting much music on here, or at least it won't be the only focus, as there are plenty of things you can find elsewhere, and I have never uploading things anyway. I'll keep sharing things here and there, but it will be more of a quality over quantity situation. This blog was always kind of open ended as far as content was concerned, but music has certainly occupied most of the space in my life up until now.
What to post then?
Well I have been watching/listening to a lot of this man playing the piano. His renditions of Debussy, which seem to be very popular, are fantastic. All of his videos on youtube are of superb quality (in performance, not necessarily sound).
I have been lucky enough to be exposed to some very interesting artists in one of my classes this semester, which is basically just seminars with various guests. It has challenged many of my classmates' tastes and perception of music, which is fun to see (and welcomed), and given us a chance to hear about alternate paths through music, without an emphasis on formal training. Some of the highlights were Mike Cooper, Ros Bandt, and Dure Dara.
Twentieth century Hungarian art is something that has piqued my interest of late, with the works of, well, of course Béla Bartok and György Ligeti, but mainly the author László Krasznahorkai and director Béla Tarr. Krasznahorkai has this dark and foreboding style that paints an unflattering portrait of humanity in general, but without any overblown apocalyptic melodrama; a Backettesque kind of darkness, without some of the absurdity. His two novels, The Melancholy of Resistance and Sátántangó were thoroughly engrossing and really left me in awe of the man's style. Both of these novels, incidentally, have been adapted by Tarr; Melancholy... becoming Werckmesiter Harmóniák and Sátántangó becomes a seven hour film of the same name. Werckmeister really impressed me, simply because after reading the book, I did not know how well the dense narration and atmosphere, without much dialogue, would transfer to the screen. Tarr gets points not only for making it work, but for creating a work which stands wholly on it's own as a thing of immense beauty. The three disc set of Sátántangó will have to wait until the holidays, however.
I have become increasingly infatuated with GoodReads too, as I find some more lesser known modern literature, and classics also. Between it and Rate Your Music, I have more than enough inspiration at hand for a long time to come.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)