rescuing musical virtue in distress.
Plenty of music passes under my pen which sounds like it would be the perfect soundtrack to a film, music for which I turn to words such as cinematic, filmic, atmospheric, chilled, ambient…even ethereal. And these are all words that perfectly fit into a review of Apocalypse: The Doll Chronicles because, for once, this actually... Continue Reading →
Having first encountered Mimi Novic via Dream House: The Journey, an album designed to act as the sonic platform for guided meditation which saw her collaborating with David Courtney, it was great to find new music with her name on in the review pile. This time out, she is working with renowned violinist Edward Fokker... Continue Reading →
The world is a small place. Both in terms of geography and the way that cultures impact on, and cross-pollinate with each other. And this can only be a good thing for music, for it gives us artists such as Ortanasia. Tokyo based and with a voice grounded in operatic and classical styles, her totally... Continue Reading →
If you are one of those people who thinks that classical music lives only in the past, that world music is found primarily in the far-flung corners of the world, that electronic music is the bastion of the dance music set, then you need a bit of Alex Stolze in your life. But creating music... Continue Reading →
For many, the term classical music evokes the past, a musical style of a time gone by. Operatical is a music group that proves that such a sound and style is very much alive in the modern world and Pasión tells you everything you need to know about the bridge that they build between past... Continue Reading →
We mainly think of cellos as being part of the engine room of an orchestra, driving along under the surface, essential, sweeping, often striking but mainly sitting back out of the limelight happy to be a team player whilst the likes of the violin or piano bask in the limelight. The sort of instrument which... Continue Reading →
If you think that classical music is a thing of the past or the elitist domain of a select few, then you only need to look to film scores to see where it is thriving most in the modern age. Few of us might find ourselves listening to sweeping symphonies or ornate orchestrations live in... Continue Reading →
There has been an undoubted rise in people's consumption of ambient and understated music in the last year or so. Lockdown has meant that rather than getting their musical kicks from more energetic forms, played live before your very eyes and ears, people have been more inclined to consume deft and delicate music in the... Continue Reading →
These Australian Noisemakers initiate this recording with 3m45s of edgy awkward tune-ups. It's the sort of sound that might get Glyndebourne aficionados running to the exits demanding their money back in a Mr Angry from Tonbridge Wells stylee. However, they'd have to push past me as I was gatecrashing the turnstiles and rushing towards the... Continue Reading →
It’s been a tough year. There is no denying that. Add all the usual concerns of Christmas with the stresses and strains of this year's political machinations and pandemic related isolation worries and it has unquestionably been a taxing time all round. What you need is some soothing music. Something that you can lose yourself... Continue Reading →
It’s a strange job being a music writer. One moment you are trying to capture the energy and euphoria of a high-octane, throw-away techno tune, the next you are putting pen to paper on behalf of classical delicacy and understated piano lines. It shows the eclecticism of my day, but more importantly it shows just... Continue Reading →
Those with even a cursory amount of musical training will understand the reference in the title, Una Corda being a musical directive that indicates the use of the piano's soft pedal, or as the artist himself puts it, “It’s when things go quiet.” Quiet is exactly the right word for this gorgeous and gracefully collection... Continue Reading →
It would be only natural to assume that having released himself from the complexities of the sonic world of Karda Estra, that Richard Wileman’s current musical vehicle, essentially a duo with Amy Fry, would result in some much more simply drawn music. And to some extent it does, but of course everything is relative. If... Continue Reading →
Metal, especially the more technical end of that particular spectrum, and classical music have always made slightly odd but perfectly compatible travelling companions. But require high levels of skill, dedication and dexterity, both revel in florid and intricate soundscapes, byzantine sonic structures and whatever the opposite of the “less is more” approach is. Both also... Continue Reading →
Gedanke has passed under the reviewing pen before, as part of a triple sonic slice of lush, classic infusions of the same name. But some music seems to come even more to life when accompanied by the perfect video and the simple, graceful and effective visuals that we find it with now, are just that.... Continue Reading →
When you look back over the history of classical music, it is interesting to see how it has moved from been something exclusive, being performed for the upper echelons of society into a modern world where it has found perhaps a new found sense of purpose, being accessible to the masses by its perfect matching... Continue Reading →
Music by Gestalt is the perfect name for this wonderful project, gestalt being a word used to describe the process of a coming together of many different parts into a total which is much more than the sum of those individual components. I suspect all bands think that they are doing that but if you... Continue Reading →
If there is a gap between the saccharine rush of pop, or at least popular musical styles, and the more deft and considered compositions that exist in the orchestral and classical worlds, then perhaps it is artists such as Vincent Krennerich that are the bridge between the two. Although he is very much employing the... Continue Reading →
It’s easy to forget the true meaning of Christmas; of course, the clue is in the word but for every smiling man in a red suit that comes along, one less religious reminder is forced off of the shelf, perhaps Santa attracts more people than a baby in a stable surrounded by donkeys, cows and,... Continue Reading →
As a new music reviewer I am confronted with all sorts of music on a daily basis. It all jostles for your attention just as it will for the music buyers money and does so by using all manner of clever ploys and sonic gimmickry. But sometimes you are presented with music which is just... Continue Reading →
With instrumental music, such as this elegant offering, I find myself making the same point as I do when reviewing music with lyrics that are in a language other than my own. Take away the direct communication that the words provide and you are left with just the music itself as the bridge between the... Continue Reading →
With instrumental music, such as this elegant offering, I find myself making the same point as I do when reviewing music with lyrics that are in a language other than my own. Take away the direct communication that the words provide and you are left with just the music itself as the bridge between the... Continue Reading →
Some pop music, though using the term pop for such a song as Hello World seems to undersell its many charms, is about impact and bombast, a quick and fairly obvious hit that swaps subtlety for a sonic sugar high. Thankfully, I can report that Bianca M makes music that is the sheer opposite of... Continue Reading →
Where as music with up-front lyrics, where there is communication using the usual conventions of recognisable words and familiar language taking place, is a format in which it is relatively ease to make yourself understood, instrumental music has be much cleverer in how it interacts with the listener. In the case of Martin Ptak’s gorgeous... Continue Reading →
The instrumental pieces on The Humors, the second full-length album from NYC-based freelance guitarist Ryan Dugré, are meant to create mood and space. Drawing influence from film music, sparse scores such as Neil Young's music for Dead Man, as well as the more melancholic pieces found on Marc Ribot's Silent Movies, Ryan's music is graceful and meditative. Dugré composed the majority of the record in... Continue Reading →
As long as there has been mainstream music there has been an alternative scene. Sadly “alt” sub genres have become as calculated and predictable as those they claim to provide the escape from. Alt-rockers in particular with their complicated hair and skinny, designer ripped jeans seem to be the biggest culprits. So the obvious conclusion... Continue Reading →
By and large pop music tends to follow some pretty tried and tested templates. Most chart bound offerings fresh off the music industry production line seem to have more in common than the things that instead make them stand out from each other. Homogenisation thy name is modern pop music. But even if the creative... Continue Reading →
If at one end of the wide pop spectrum you have brash identikit, dance routine driven, short shelf-life throw-aways, Box comes from the furthest point in the opposite direction. Here Alisa Chirco has created an elegant ballad that fuses pop with more classically minded sounds. The result is a song which has enough modernity to... Continue Reading →
Despite having only encountered Floating Beauty twice before, via the single Larissa and the album that spawned it, Larva, I already look forward to any of their music which finds its way to my review pile. Why? Because musically it is so different from almost everything else that comes my way, it runs against the... Continue Reading →
If you are one of those people who shudders when confronted with the notion of someone known as a sit-com actress pursuing a career in music then Tres Hanley Millman is probably who you need to hear to break those cliched images already forming in your head. Tres has always juggled a number of disciplines,... Continue Reading →