Anya M. Wassenberg's Blog: Art & Culture Maven, page 5
July 30, 2024
Indie Electronic | Les Brown: The Next One (Independent / 28 June 2024)
Les Brown: The Next One
(Independent / 28 June 2024) Stream "The Next One" on Spotify
Les Brown's music trips along blithely from neoclassical and contemporary classical passages to electronica to rock and pop, and music that sounds cinematic - even like sound effects.
It's easy to come up with a bunch of sounds and riffs - not so easy to get them to trip along with each other seamlessly.
If music has a sense of humour, you'll find it easily in Yeehaw! where a vocal riff punctuates a tracks that ranges from pop dance to rock guitar riffs.
Multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Les Brown is on a mission to include as many of his great ideas into one release, and overall, the more is more approach works for him. A nicely original sensibility keeps it fresh, with each track offering a new angle to experiment.
In Happy Malfunction, it's electronica in early video game mode. In Picycle, it switches to a playful mode of EDM. Not surprisingly, Brown lists Tangerine Dream and King Crimson among his influences.
The Next One is his second full-length album, (after... The First One). Rather amazingly, he's largely self taught, and now producing as well as composing his own work. He has this to say in a statement,
"My albums are meant to be like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates: "You never know what you're going to hear." If one tune isn't your favorite flavor, try a different one.
"I blend music genres, geographic regions, languages, instruments to make unique music with emotion and feeling. Some songs invoke fun or playfulness, while other songs are closer to rock or jazz, and others are entrancing psychedelia, an auditory space to explore or be enveloped within."
He's essentially taking his listeners on the journey with him.
"I write music to capture the sound and feeling of being in a new and unfamiliar, or perhaps mysterious, but always unthreatening place. I try to invoke feelings of being in a new space, real or imagined, for the listener to think "That's interesting!" or "I hadn't thought of that before. Cool!" I want the listener to enjoy experiencing music that is new and interesting, with no pretense or lessons; just the listener observing and coming along for the ride."
Musician Names/Instruments: Les Brown - Guitars, bass guitar, drums, synthesizers, samplers, effects
Official Website: https://lesbrown.rocks
Post-Punk | Mother Ghost: Radio Fantasma (Geodesic Records / 19 July 2024)
Mother Ghost: Radio Fantasma
(Geodesic Records / 19 July 2024)
Electronica, what they used to call New Wave rock, synth pop - all of the above apply to Radio Fantasma, the new release by Mother Ghost. They cite the likes of New Order, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, and Daft Punk as their inspirations, and it's easy to hear.
As inspiration goes, it's good source material for experimentation. The songs have appropriately post-punk titles - Dead Inside, Negative Affirmations, and so on - and lyrics to match. Their music is in your face in terms of approach, anchored by a driving punk beat in a modern drums & bass kind of vibe, ranging from aggressive punk to melodic New Wave, with a dash of jazz thrown in here and there.
Mother Ghost is brothers Oscar and Thomas Flores, based in Houston, TX. Between the two of them, they play/program all the instruments, and sing. Oscar is the main vocalist, with just the right emotive and angsty delivery for the music.
Con Colmillo breaks the pattern in a Spanish song, sung with low key vocals in a lower range. Bury Loose has a faster, straight up punk feel - in the words and the music.
Everything falls apart
Before you even start...
Brothers Oscar and Thomas Flores, Mother Ghost (Photo: Daniel Jackson)The album was largely written and recorded during the pandemic. The brothers Flores commented on the process in a statement.
"We have loved having the time to focus in the studio, allowing us to experiment and discover the right sound for each song.
Radio Fantasma is about the anxieties of everyday life and the things that help us get through to the next day. Most of the lyrics on the album come from our personal life, a news story, or social grievance."
The title track returns solidly to New Wave territory, with a danceable groove and heavy bass line.
It's for fans of the post-punk era and its genres, done here with a sense of invention.
Musician Names/Instruments: Oscar Flores – Guitar/Vocals/Programming; Thomas Flores –Bass/Programming/Synths/Backing Vocals
Websites:
Official Website: https://geodesicrecords.com/mother-ghostFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/MotherGhostInstagram: @motherghostmusicJuly 14, 2024
Red Island: A film by Robert Campillo | Theatrical opening August 16 2024 In NYC
From a media release
Red Island: A film by Robert CampilloTheatrical opening August 16, 2024
At Film at Lincoln Center
A semi-autobiographical film inspired by Campillo's childhood in Madagascar
Additional markets to follow
The director of the acclaimed movie 120 BPM, Robert Campillo follows up with a story drawn from his childhood in Madagascar. The French filmmaker's story takes place during the early days of independence in the island nation.
The StoryLiving on one of the last remaining military bases amidst a hedonistic group of French armed forces in 1970s Madagascar, ten-year-old Thomas begins to find cracks in the surface of his family’s blissful existence on the idyllic island.
Taking inspiration from his comic book hero Fantomette, Thomas spies on those around him, discovering the hidden and tangled political and sexual lives of the colonizers and the colonized. As relocation looms, he questions whether the memories he has made are ones he should remember fondly.
The FilmSimultaneously a sensual evocation of discovering the adult world and a sober reflection of what it represents, Robin Campillo’s anticipated follow-up to his acclaimed 120 BPM weaves together the personal and political in a “visually spectacular [and] masterful portrayal of colonialism through a child’s eyes” (The Upcoming).
Following its World Premiere at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, where it was nominated for a prestigious Golden Seashell “Best Film” Award, the affecting drama was also nominated for Best International Film at the Haifa International Film Festival and a Dragon Award at Goteborg.
RED ISLAND (2023)
Directed by: Robin Campillo
Written by: Robin Campillo (screenplay), Gilles Marchand (collaboration)
Cast: Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Quim Gutiérrez, Charlie Vausellem, Amely Rakotoarimalala, Sophie Guillemin, Hugues Delamarlière
Produced by: Marie-Ange Luciana
Cinematography by: Jeanne Lapoirie
RT: 117 minutes
Language: French, Malagasy with English Subtitles
July 2, 2024
Imagination Fusion | Idiot Grins: Hounds of Mess Around (Snug Harbor / 9 March 2024)
Idiot Grins: Hounds of Mess Around
(Snug Harbor / 9 March 2024) Stream It On Spotify
This is our fifth full-length album. We all gave each other COVID during one of the first sessions, but managed to recover from that to finish the album in a leisurely twelve months.
Idiot Grins, of Oakland, CA, fuse RnB, soul and alt-country, combined with a relentlessly upbeat vibe, and turn it into a sound that's their own.
They've got a retro sound that would fit solidly into the 1970s, where complex, layered pop rock with horns and two or three keyboard parts weren't at all out of the ordinary.
PA Mining Town has a kind of anthemic radio-friendly vibe that's typical of the group. John Hansen's vocals are perfect for the style, rich and melodic, making it all sound easy.
There's humour in the song titles and attitude. Not Reggae... isn't reggae, but it is one of the highlights of the release. It's a rhythmic track with a taste of Caribbean grooves here and there, but incorporating so many changes that they blend seamlessly with the other non-reggae parts. It ends somewhere in contemporary pop territory, surprisingly.
On Ded Zep, which begins with acoustic strumming and spoken word, and ends in a kind of folk-jazz blend that doesn't sound like it should work, but it does.
It's an intriguing and imaginative sound from veteran players who do it (seemingly) because they're having fun.
Musician Names/Instruments: Evan Eustis - Bass, mandolin, backing and lead vocals; Michael Conner - keyboards, strings, clavinet and synths; John Hansen - lead vocals and backing vocals; Michael Melgoza - drums; Randy Strauss guitars
Official WebsiteStoryteller | Stevie Cornell: Some Sweet Dream (Independent / 29 March 2024)
Stevie Cornell: Some Sweet Dream
(Independent / 29 March 2024) Stream It On Spotify Some Sweet Dream is only the second solo album for Stevie Cornell, despite a half century spent as a fixture in the music scene on the West Coast, specifically Northern California's Americana scene. He's a native of Santa Rosa, Cali.
He mines the countrified surf rock slash folk of the late 1960s and 1970s, with influences that run from The Doors to Johnny Cash.The tracks draw from a broad palette of North American genres of the era. He uses familiar elements in sometimes unexpected ways, blending idioms you never thought would meet
He blends elements of Americana and classic 60s radio pop on Better As A Memory, the first track, with surf rock chords at the chorus. Courage, in contrast, has a more emotional, stripped down feel closer to the heart of Americana. Some Sweet Dream, the title track, adds four part vocal harmonies to the mix, along with a churchy organ in the background.
Other stick closer to their roots, like the sweet country waltz in Drunkard's Lullaby, complete with keening violins, or the twangy-guitar driven Don't Look Down.
One More Time is a stand-out track with a dark country swing to it.
It's country surf rock with a polished edge, and should satisfy aficionados of both country and Americana. Website: https://steviecornell.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/steviecornellmusic?mibextid=LQQJ4dInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevecornellmusic
Music Meets Meditation | Theda Phoenix: Crystal Calm Vol 2 (Independent / 22 September 2023)
Theda Phoenix: Crystal Calm Vol 2
(Independent / 22 September 2023) Stream It On Spotify
Vancouver singing bowl performing artist and singer-songwriter Theda (Theeda) Phoenix has a recent release of meditative music -- along with an enviable multi-hyphenate persona as an artist.
She creates vibrational soundscapes with crystal singing bowls and dreamy vocals, along with natural sounds. It's music meant to evoke the sense of oneness that is the goal of meditation.
Theda was raised in British Columbia, in a float-home on the ocean of Echo Bay, Simoom Sound. Her connections to coastal culture and the unique natural environment are deep. It's a sensibility that fuels her music-making today.
"Shy and introverted as a child, I always had a strong sense of nature that nurtured my intuitive sensitivities. I discovered my calling early on, through a deep emotional connection to the beauty of music and a profound spiritual experience. I became passionate about the mind/body connection, holistic healing and self-development, and about music as a tool for healing. I love to sing intuitively, create songs in the moment and perform sound healing journeys that inspire others to access the healing power of sound and singing.",
The crystal singing bowls are made of quartz in various sizes that are tuned to different frequencies, i.e. pitches. Theda weaves the vocals and the sound of the crystal bowls together into music that is meant to cross the border between song and meditation. She also uses the sounds of water flowing in the Ganges River in India as part of the sonic stew.
The effect is quite pleasant and calming, the sounds immersive. There's some studio magic to add to the effect, but it's only in the service of the music itself, and not obtrusive.
"I believe in the transformative power of music to transcend boundaries and touch the soul. With this music, I aspire to create a space for introspection, connection, and healing. I invite listeners to embark on a journey of self-discovery and inner exploration, with the sounds of ethereal vocals, Crystal Singing Bowls, flowing river waters and electronic pads that weave throughout."
'Crystal Calm Vol 2' isn't just music, it's a sonic gateway into a deep inner journey, a multi-layered creation utilizing unique binaural recording technology. Crafted with hours of attention to the subtle nuances of each sound. It guides you on a journey into self and the place where you feel a sense of oneness with all of life."
You'll enjoy the music as a companion to your inner journeys.
Online:
Official Website: https://ThedaPhoenix.comFacebook: http://facebook.com/intuitivesinger/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theda.phoenix/Progrock Is Back | Montresor: Autopoiesis (Independent / 24 May 2024)
Montresor: Autopoiesis
(Independent / 24 May 2024) Listen/Buy On Bandcamp
'The first album in 9 years was a long time in the making, with some compositions dating back to 2018's February Album Writing Month challenge. 'Autopoiesis' is an extended labor of love...paying tribute to a lesser-known subgenre of progressive music with a fascinating history, the short-lived Rock in Opposition (RIO) movement of the late 70s. Influenced by RIO bands such as Henry Cow and Univers Zero, the music fuses technical instrumental progressive rock with classical instrumentation.'
You don't actually need to know all that background to enjoy the album, as it turns out. Montresor offers a few more thoughts on the music:
...the music fuses technical instrumental progressive rock with classical instrumentation: clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, piano, harpsichord and marimba alongside guitars, bass and drums. (I) navigate oddly timed rhythms, polymeters and bitonality thanks to a host of skilled musicians (on the album).
Australian guitarist, composer and musical dadaism afficionado Cameron Pikó is (aka) Montresor, and Autopoiesis is his third album. He's a serious devotee of progressive and experimental rock, and it shows.
The compositions or orchestral in their scope, even though they're held down by a basic rock trio at the centre of the sound. The music is complex, layered, and often dense.
Farmland has a contemporary jazz edge to it, and a repetitive pattern that becomes hypnotic. It's hard to be a progrock fan and not reference Gentle Giant at least once... (or perhaps twice, again in the opening to Bildungsroman).
The mood throughout the album ranges from moody avant-garde-ish to contemporary jazz and back, through the realm of contemporary classical. This is a world where guitar prowess is about maintaining the military precision of the complicated patterns, and not anthemic guitar hero riffs.
Homunculus is the shortest track at 3:44, making up for it with a quickly established ominous mood, and a pattern that develops through a subdued clarinet, and piano.
It's complicated music, interesting, and not just intellectually so. There's a groove and a constant sense of momentum that propels the tracks.
Instrumental music is a tougher sell in the music market, although orchestral music is enjoying an overall boost at the moment. Perhaps that will extend to prog rock and worthy practitioners like Montresor.
Musician Names/Instruments: Cameron Pikó - guitars; Chris Martin – bassoon; Stuart Byrne – bass clarinet; Charlie Cawood – bass guitar; Vilan Mai – clarinet; Morgan Ågren – drums (1-2, 6-8); Gerry Pantazsis – drums (3-5); Phil Turcio – piano; Richard Allison and Gabriel Riccio – additional keys
Website: https://piko.com.au/in-disciplined/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/montresorband/New Americana | Eric Anders and Mark O'Bitz: Contrapasso (Independent / 1 April 2024)
Eric Anders and Mark O'Bitz: Contrapasso
(Independent / 1 April 2024) Listen/Buy On Bandcamp
Eric Anders and Mark O'Bitz have worked in a variety of genres through their 20-year partnership, most of which have revolved around a heart of Americana and folk music.
Contrapasso deepens their relationship to that music, venturing into bluegrass with collaborators that include John O'Reilly Jr. on the drum kit, and friend Mike Butler on a raft of other instruments, including acoustic and electric guitars, lap steel, piano and keys, dobro, banjo, and mandolin.
Anders and O'Bitz wrote all the material for the four tracks on the EP.
It's "Americana" in the truest sense. From their liner notes:
“Careful Now My Son” was not intended as much a reflection of the “inner turmoil” of the pandemic, as a warning about the existential threat posed by Trumpism. The four songs on Contrapasso are a reflection on the cultishness of Trumpism, in addition to America's original sin of slavery–two very connected aspects of America's present and past–since the MAGA cult could be considered the New Confederacy and the old Confederacy was very much a form of Christian Nationalism, which has been on the rise for the last four decades.
Musically...The title of the first track is unambiguous - High On Cult Life. Bluegrass guitars and putting the vocals in the centre spot works well for music that carries a message. You want to hear the words and their story. Anders has a soulful tenor that takes what could be preachy and gives it emotion. The song builds in intensity to a hypnotic rhythm.
Bells Toll, inspired by a quote by Frederick Douglass, leans into folk music. Here, the vocals sing a melody in a higher range over an easy rootsy groove. This Haunted Love, in contrast, has a distinctly bluegrass feel, sung in a much lower key that adds gravity to a spooky kind of vibe.
The EP ends with Sold Down The River, a sweet country tune that belies the harsh story it tells about slavery.
It's Americana for the thinking population.
Website: https://www.andersobitz.com/Webpage for Contrapasso on www.AndersObitz.com: https://www.andersobitz.com/contrapasso-2024July 1, 2024
Jazz Fusion | Joan Torres's All Is Fused: Embrace Form (Independent / 20 January 2024)
Joan Torres's All Is Fused: Embrace Form
(Independent / 20 January 2024) Listen/Buy On Bandcamp
Embrace Form is a celebration of longevity for the fusion band known as Joan Torres' All Is Fused. Originally intended as a 10th anniversary marker, the band is now in its 13th season.
Bassist, composer, producer Joan Torres has led the Jazz Fusion ensemble All Is Fused since 2011. With five albums released to date, multiple awards and nominations,
The MusicWhen it comes to 'fusion', what might be fused, you might want to know? The album notes talk about pop, lounge and jazz. The notes quote the band:
Embrace Form is an album that explores the relationship between experimental instrumental music and popular music. Sometimes it's easier to write experimental music that follows no rules other than "sound musical", but by leveraging familiar forms and enhancing or appropriating them to fit our expressive style we can also expand our vocabulary and the diversity of our repertoire.
How does that translate into the tracks themselves?
Tracks on this record feature common musical forms or compositional techniques such as verse-chorus ("Explode"), vamps ("Friends, Memories, Loops"), canon ("Crystalline") as well as improvisational forms that are open ("Cotati Reset") or that follow call-and-response patterns ("Caribbean Mountains"). These familiar forms are then modified to bring listeners something familiar with a twist.
Joan Torres' All Is Fused (Photo by Andrew Westhoff)The AlbumThe opening track, Cotati Reset, illustrates the concept perfectly well. Form emerges slowly from a collection of notes, melody begins, rhythms suggest a pattern that might develop... It's also a take on natural sounds like insects and wind - a very interesting idea, but also a pleasing progression of notes and sounds.
The orchestration is full and dramatic, incorporating sax, shimmering cymbals and other percussion, guitar, and other sounds that emerge from the mix to carry the momentum, then let another voice do the same. The track unfolds in more than 7 minutes of undulating movement.
Unexpectations, the next track, launches unexpectedly (see how I did that) into a rhythmic percussion-driven jazz track. It's a real showcase for drummer/percussionist Fernando García and his virtuosic chops. He's truly all over the place.
But, just when you thought you knew where it was headed, the piece moves in a different direction.
The band, and the album, cycles through several other genres. There's the rocky Darker Decision and Explode, where the guitar (Gabriel Vicéns) and Jonathan Suazo on alto sax take over centre stage. Pursuit Ongoing is a nice track of kinetic jazz, full of movements and changes.
Crystalline is something of an exception, with a laidback groove and layers of melody and rhythm that build slowly.
It's an album for lovers of polished contemporary jazz and jazz fusion.
Musician Names/Instruments: Jonathan Suazo: Alto Sax; Gabriel Vicéns: Guitar; Sergio González: Guitar; Emanuel Rivera: Piano and Keyboards; Fernando García: Drums and percussion; Joan Torres: Bass
Music With A Message | Lara Taubman: The Gospel of Getting Free (Atomic Sound / 21 June 2024)
Lara Taubman: The Gospel of Getting Free
(Atomic Sound / 21 June 2024) Stream It On Spotify
NYC-based singer-songwriter Lara Taubman calls herself 'a troubadour of the new world'.
My new album, 'The Gospel of Getting Free,' has been like a ship on which I can finally sail home. I see only now that my three albums are primers that guide me out of my own complex trauma to become my true self.
For Lara, music was always about the search for freedom. But, it took some time to get to where she is today - in fact, it took her previous two albums.
The same ideas that drove me to write the songs for 'The Gospel of Getting Free' also helped me come up with the songs for the first two albums. What distinguishes this album from the last two are two things. First, I feel more mentally healthy than I ever have. Last summer I began working with somatic therapy for trauma and it changed my life quickly. I immediately wanted more hope in the music as expressed in the songs “The Reason I Was Born” and “Sing Your Song.” Even the songs that are about dark matters like addiction (“Sugar”) and heartbreak (“The Odyssey,”) carry a sense of humor and an inner hope instead of despair.
She believes in the power of song to heal, and that's the approach that runs through the release.
Portrait of artist Lara Taubman by Paul StoryThere are ten tracks on the album, each telling a story. Musically, her style falls within the Americana slot, in moods that shift from uplifting to the haunting melodies of The Siren.
Sugar shifts into a mode of jazzy rock fusion with a sexy groove - while the lyrics belie the mood with a story about addiction.
Her vocals are simple and focus on the words rather than adornment.
Could I have been your great remorse?
Steering from your charted course?
(from The Siren)
The focus is on the story and the underlying message about human emotions and their conflicting ends. She's an inventive lyricist with a poetic mode of expression.
The title track spotlights acoustic guitar and vocals, with a backdrop of synthy strings that add to the atmosphere. It's typical of the kind of polished approach she takes to the music. This isn't stripped down basics, but rather, a rootsy seed that's been grown in a well nourished hothouse.
If you like a positive message along with your lushly arranged Americana, this is an album for you.
Official Website: https://www.larataubman.comArt & Culture Maven
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