Kylie Minoise - Psychedelic Satanism! EP

2006; 7 tracks

Kylie Minoise is the solo project of Lea Cummings, an English noise artist currently residing in Glasgow. Psychedelic Satanism!, while not his first release, is his first EP. The first 6 tracks are all under 2 minutes in length, while the final track is nearly 7 minutes. Truthfully, the last track, titled simply "!," is one of the most gorgeous noise tracks to ever be composed.

!!!!!!!
!!!!!!
!!!!!
!!!!
!!!
!!
!

Rachel Grimes - Book of Leaves

2009; 14 tracks

Rachel Grimes is the pianist for the group Rachel's, whose album I posted a few days ago. This is her only solo album, but it is an entirely gorgeous and entrancing work. If you listened to the Rachel's album and enjoyed the piano parts, Book of Leaves is solely that, accompanied occasionally by ambient and nature elements. With a very neo-classical sound, though more free and never confined to any one style, Rachel Grime's music transports one quicker than thought to many nostalgic places hidden deep in the mind. It is wonderful to hear her play... she is one very talented being.

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Rachel's - Music for Egon Schiele

1996; 12 tracks

This is the second album by the American post-rock/classical/instrumental group Rachel's. I found it to be simply beautiful and full of incredible passion and intimacy, the pianist and cellists especially. Favorite tracks: "First Self-Portrait Series," "Wally, Egon, & Models in the Studio," and "Promenade.

It was written for the play Egon Schiele, by Stephan Mazurek, about the life of Austrian painter Egon Schiele.

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Bluetile Lounge - Lowercase

1995; 5 tracks

Lowercase is astoundingly gorgeous. Mesmerizingly so. Australian post-rock group Bluetile Lounge are more slowcore than anything. Their music is sad and slow. Subtle beauty arises from the gray evenness as mist from the waves; sporadically, unexpectedly. I was reminded of Idaho, vocal-wise, and God is an Astronaut (somewhat), in terms of the post-rock-sounding music. This might just be one of the most... how do I put this... not just beautiful, but alluring albums.

Extra note: I think their band name explains the atmosphere of their music nicely. I've never been in a bluetile lounge, but if I ever was, this is the music I'd like to hear playing.

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Dot Allison - Afterglow

1999; 10 tracks

Dot Allison, or Dorothy Elliot Allison, is a Scottish singer / songwriter, and former lead singer of the trip-hop / electronic group One Dove. Afterglow is her first album as a solo artist.

"This album finds her breaking free of One Dove's sound, beginning her free-form expression within her chosen musical genres. But she does bold new things with the techno/choir/pop hybrid on this album. The lonely piano that begins 'Alpha Female,' for example; the sensual Eurodance grind of 'Mo' Pop;' the absolutely lovely 'Did I Imagine You?;' the Eastern-flavoured keyboard riff that permeates 'Close Your Eyes' -- every song is a gem, infused with Allison's trademark multitracked vocal magic and her daring arrangements. Allison's on-record charisma is phenomenal but despite her ice-goddess looks, her voice can convey a real warmth that makes these songs not just a collection of machinery and mechanized beats, but organic lifeforms with a beating heart."

This may take some getting used to among some, but through the haze Afterglow shows itself to be a charmingly oneiric album. (Yes, I did just come across that word only yesterday, but it is exactly the word I was looking for.)

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Yasushi Yoshida - Little Grace

2008; 9 tracks

Yasushi Yoshida is Japanese performer and composer in the likes of Katsuhiko Maeda (a.k.a. World's End Girlfriend) and Kashiwa Daisuke. Little Grace is his second album, and it is a breathtakingly beautiful compilation of experimental music that focuses on, but isn't exclusive to, the piano. Certain songs may cause you to play them repeatedly...

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Ef - Give Me Beauty... Or Give Me Death!

2006; 6 tracks

This is the debut album of Swedish post-rock band Ef, and it is a perfect May album. Each track resonates with a shimmering energy that seems to embody the entire genre of "post-rock." Vocals are scarce, but lovely and powerful when heard (see "Hello Scotland"). I just can't find enough words to explain the beauty of Give Me Beauty... Or Give Me Death!. The best experience I had listening to this album was last year on a day that I didn't have school. My mom took me and my sister and brother to a park right on the edge of a huge forest. Me and my sister ran through the forest and found a lake that we had visited when we were younger, and we just laid out on the rock staring at the clouds for hours. Time doesn't even exist in moments like this, when the most beautiful music and the most perfect sky calmly hold you still above the world.

City streets, in late spring...
Where smoke covers everyone, and everything.

Hammock - Raising Your Voice... Trying to Stop an Echo

2006; 18 tracks

This is an utterly gorgeous and perfect album. Hammock create beautiful, flowing post-rock ambience. 18 songs and not one moment of filler - not many can pull that off.

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Sickness of Snakes / Current 93 - Nightmare Culture

1985; 4 tracks

Split between Current 93 and Sickness Of Snakes (aka Coil collaborating with Boyd Rice). The Current 93 track (track 1) was later appended to the CD reissue of In Menstrual Night and is dedicated to James Low.

TIME FOR TEA AND FEED THE THING
I SLEPT WITH FAITH AND WOKE UP WITH A CORPSE IN MY ARMS

"Brékkek Kékkek kékkek Kékkek! Koáx Koáx Koáx! Ualu Ualu Ualu! Quaouauh!"

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Bodychoke - Cold River Songs

2009 (re-issue); 9 tracks

Bodychoke's final album is such, such an incredible work. I'm no good at writing right now, here are some thoughts that echoed my own:

"These sinister, spacious efforts create the perfect union between gothic atmospheres and tastefully grating, pulsing noise rock. The bulk of the compositions center around throbbing basslines and crisp drumming alongside short, simple vocal lines that are delivered through everything from hushed whispers to intense shouts/shrieks – accented by surprisingly frequent (and efficient) appearances of cello, while the guitars tend much more towards noisy textures and waves as opposed to tangible riffs. This re-issue also includes three outstanding bonus tracks taken from the odds and ends collection CD-R Completion that the band released posthumously, which I believe were recorded around the same time as the sessions for the album, thus making for about an hour's worth of music across nine songs total."

As a more fully-realized and sophisticated industrial/noise album (think Swans' Children of God), Cold River Songs is the epitome of Bodychoke's talent and also a fitting end...

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World's End Girlfriend - Ending Story

2000; 10 tracks

Ending Story is the first album by World's End Girlfriend (ワールズ・エンド・ガールフレンド), the solo project of Japanese electronic artist Katsuhiko Maeda. Mixing different genres and creating sad, lonely songs is his specialty.

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Keith Fullerton Whitman - Playthroughs

2002; 5 tracks

This is for you, Phonsie :3 I want to share this album with you so bad, I know you would love it so much. I only wish I could have shown it to you sooner.

Playthroughs is the first full-length album by ambient/electronic musician Keith Fullerton Whitman. He had already been well known as idm/breakcore artist Hrvatski, but he must have decided to show off his more expressive, or ambient side. These 5 tracks contain some of the most blissful electronic music you will ever hear, and an unparalleled sense of both structure and freedom. The scientific pulsations, the ebbs and flows of the rhythms - it all conjures up images of fractals, ever building upon each other. It is the sound of cells forming and bonding, of DNA and the very basest of life's composition. Nothing could ever compare to this monolith of a first album.

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Sigur Rós - Takk...

2005; 10 tracks

This album is one of the reasons I am alive. The tracks "Gong" and "Gong Endir" are my absolute favorites. They have released a few nice things, but I personally love this Sigur Rós album the most.

Sigur Rós is an Icelandic ambient group, but with guitars and various instruments their sound is highly experimental. On Takk, you will hear much gentler tracks and even some acoustic too. The high-pitched and unusual vocals may take some getting used to, but all in all... there really isn't much to dislike about them. This is such a shimmering, magical album - please try this and tell me what you think, if you haven't heard this before.

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きだしゅんすけ (Shunsuke Kida) - Demon's Souls OST

2010; 24 tracks

Here is the soundtrack to the PS3 role-playing game Demon's Souls. I haven't reeeeeeeally played the game much, other than try it out at my best friend's house... as soon as I can live somewhere by myself I will buy it. :( The soundtrack, composed by Shunsuke Kida, is mostly classical based, with plenty of organ parts (think Arcanum). Kida seems to be a fairly unknown composer, but it's still a very nice soundtrack.

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Hauschka - Ferndorf

2008; 12 tracks

"hauschka aka volker bertelmann weaves together an ethereal soundscape homage to his childhood in ferndorf, a provincial german mountain town. hauschka explores the notion of ‘prepared piano’ where he utilizes varied impedimenta, like bits of leather and metal placed in between the strings and on its dampers and hammers to achieve a tinkering, clicking, glitchy texture beneath the beautiful harmonies and arching strings. glassian, repetitive, electronic-tinged, minimalism appears to be the trend in postmodern classical. in line with this sound spectrum, haushka succeeds in streamlining his composition to its essence which affects and intrigues, both remembering fondly and looking forward."

ferndorf is one of the most serene illustrations of modern classical beauty. it's so so gorgeous, like a sunny day by the beach. think red balloons, bicycles, the inside of a clock... ou les nuages. that's one of my favorite french words, nuages... clouds. i also love aussi, monde, autre, pomme, pamplemousse, and... souvenir. i'm really attracted to the charm of some words :'3

also, prepared piano is a really interesting thing to explore. if you have a piano (preferably a grand, of any size), try it! but be careful... don't use tiny pieces, like coins or buttons, as they can fall under and then you'll never see them again. i like placing paper on the strings and sometimes even chains, and then playing random notes and bits of pieces. the piano is more dynamic than you think.


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Susumu Yokota - Love or Die

2007; 12 tracks

Susuma Yokota is a highly prolific ambient electronica artist from Japan. Love or Die is his third most recent album. Good music to listen to on the train.

"Love or Die appears to be a mixture of Yokota’s work within the past ten years. Though he remains intent on toying with triple metre structures, he reverts back to a form of piano-based loops and melodies that was demonstrated brilliantly in Grinning Cat. Love or Die is certainly one of the most eclectic albums of his career though, as murmurs of synth pads and touches if IDM are prevalent on tracks like 'A Song Produced While Floating Alone on Christmas Day' and 'A Slowly Fainting Memory of Love and Respect, and Hatred' within his usual accompaniments of strongly layered loops and rhythmic patterns."

"Yokota blends soft keyboard lines, strings, warm padded washes and a busy tempo of beats culled from a host of genres - break beats, techno stomp to the soft lilt that underpins the guitar and piano refrain of track four. This prolific artist has a canny knack of taking key elements from modern electronica and dance and melding them into something accessible and unchallenging."


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ゑでぃまぁこん (Eddie Marcon) - 綿の煙の招待状

2009; 10 tracks

Absolutely delightful folk/ambient album from Japanese group ゑでぃまぁこん (Eddie Marcon). The title translates as "Cotton Smoke Invitations." Childish innocence and the purity of summer fuse in this beautiful music that is sunny even in the rain.

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Belbury Poly - The Owl's Map

2006; 12 tracks

"Chintzy synths spilled into zither and melodica lines; recalibrated samples of hundred-year-old vocals were trapped like an EVP reading of an old English cottage. A little night music - think BBC Radiophonic workshop meets old-school spooky TV programmes."

"[Belbury Poly] is is based on the fictitious 'ancient market town of Belbury' which, according to the sleeve notes, 'is an uneasy mix of ancient and modern': Iron Age ramparts and a 'picturesque 11th century church', but also 'some notable modernist architecture', including the Polytechnic which gives its name to the group. The Owl's Map sounds futuristic and pastoral at the same time, whilst the design is inspired by old school textbooks and Penguin paperbacks.

'The Owl: the perfect Ghost Box bird-mascot, where the wholesome (children's story books from Winnie the Pooh onwards, bird-watching guides, owl as symbol of wisdom, etc.) collides with the umheimlich (spooky creature with ultra-acute nightvision).'

Jim Jupp, the man behind Belbury Poly, says that The Owl's Map concept derived partly from old tourist guides ('You know the sort of thing, murky old photos of Chichester Cathedral') and that the colour scheme for the album was inspired by the 'those brown road signs that point the way to Roman ruins, falconry centres or stately homes.'"

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Eric Serra - Léon (The Professional) Soundtrack

1994; 24 tracks

French composer Eric Serra's soundtrack to the hauntingly powerful film Léon (The Professional), by Luc Besson, is just as striking as the picture. It opens with the distant sounds of a war marked by corruption, addiction, and the simple filth of humanity. The foreshadowing portrayed by the rueful strings at the very beginning of the soundtrack sets a dark tone for the film, but not an entirely hopeless one.

Ever present in Léon is a mesmerizing rhythm, almost Einstürzende Neubauten-like in atmosphere, that adds an interesting dimension of urban intensity. It does seem like the vibrant rhythm is the background of much of the film - it comes to symbolize the almost ridiculous antics of the film's divinely psychotic villain (who is, strangely, a figure signifying authority and good), Stan Stansfield. Stan claims to like Beethoven and LOVE Mozart, so in the beginning brutal fight scenes, when Stan goes on a destructive rampage, the music builds into a chaotic frenzy as a sort of "overture" to the rest of the film ("Noon" and "Fatman").

As much as Stan is a figure of evil, signifying good, there is a definite force of good in the film, one that is intended to stand for evil. These dissenters are Léon and Mathilda, an unlikely pair who generate an unimaginably innocent relationship out of loneliness and unaffected trust. This purity is clearly seen in the soundtrack by songs such as "Ballad for Mathilda," "She is Dead," and "Cute Name," which are all my favorites. They are tenderly beautiful, contrasting greatly with the more dark and primitive tracks.

With the more industrial tracks on the soundtrack, I am reminded of a particular level on Crash Bandicoot called "Generator Room." I don't know why. The saxophones and droning bass notes also contribute to a jazzy, 90s feel. The more I listen to the soundtrack to Léon, I am reminded of Badalamenti's score to The City of Lost Children, which I love with all my heart. French film scores ftw.

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Espen Eriksen Trio - You Had Me At Goodbye

2010; 8 tracks

Espen Eriksen Trio is a fairly new Norwegian jazz group that focuses, primarily, on the gentle and rainy shades of the piano.

"Fantastic piano trio that combines highly melodic and lyrical instrumentals, with a hint of Scandinavian folk music. Focusing more on melodies and short solos! Very unique & minimalistic."

My friend showed me this, and it really is stunning. Jazzy melodies that seem to flow from another place, perfectly, like a pure liquid. There is an appealing folkiness to You Had Me At Goodbye that isn't too common in much of jazz music (which I truly know little about), but it proves a glistening attribute to this lovely music.

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