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Music

Jóhann Jóhannsson – And In The Endless Pause There Came The Sound Of Bees

by JustinLeave a Comment on Jóhann Jóhannsson – And In The Endless Pause There Came The Sound Of Bees

I stumbled across a remarkable soundtrack yesterday by the Icelandic composer, Jóhann Jóhannsson. I came across it in the unlikeliest of ways. I was watching the trailer to Battle: Los Angeles (yes, yes I know) which looks utter tripe but the music was really compelling (as you can hear if you click on the link) and I just had to find out who composed it. It was Jóhannsson.

As I was heading in to London anyway I thought I’d drop in at HMV to see which of his CDs they had in stock. And this is what I came away with. It isn’t the music featured on the trailer but it’s an achingly beautiful album. And as it’s available on soundcloud I thought I’d embed it here.

It’s an outstanding mix of choral, orchestral and electronic elements creating a truly haunting, nakedly emotional work. Some of it is very dark. In fact the track, Escape is one of the darkest things I’ve heard in some time. It begins with a drone of strings, a cello drags itself from the mire and then the most extraordinary electro-acoustic moan bellows forth before a choir joins to pull the track back into the darkness. It is a vividly spectral listen.

If you’ve been a little stressed lately (as I have) then this hugely satisfying collection of tracks could be just what you need to hear. Set the lights low and turn the volume up – this is a truly moving and memorable piece of music…

Music

Zoë Keating – Voice of the Cello

by JustinLeave a Comment on Zoë Keating – Voice of the Cello

The cello. One of my favourite instruments. It is said that it is the one which most resembles the human voice. Perhaps that accounts for how emotive and haunting it can be to listen to.

Zoë Keating is an incredible cellist. Classically trained from an early age she actually cut her teeth playing with a variety of rock bands  but is now regarded as a one-woman orchestra thanks to her use of sampling technology. She samples her playing and solo performances to create multiple layers and textures of sound and the results are often quite stunning and sublime.

She takes, as she says, a “label-less” approach to releasing her music and does so via Bandcamp (the site I talked about in my previous post). Although you can buy her CDs from amazon and itunes as well. Below is a track from her first EP, One Cello x16 and her latest album, Into The Trees. They’re both fantastic.
If you love what you hear, I urge you to click on the links and buy a copy so that she can keep making beautiful music. I think she’s an amazing talent.

 

Music, Videos

Sigur Rós – INNI

by JustinLeave a Comment on Sigur Rós – INNI

At last. Something new on the horizon from Sigur Rós. Last week the band released a teaser trailer (see below) for something called, INNI.

Today it was revealed that INNI is going to be, apparently, the definitive Sigur Rós live experience. Which is essentially a live performance film and a double album. Whilst it’s a shame that there’s no new material (the band have been on “indefinite hiatus” since 2008) any news of a release by the band is enough to perk my day up considerably.

A large proportion of the film is live footage from their concert at Alexandra Palace in 2008 and was shot by the director Vincent Morisset, who made the Arcade Fire documentary, Miroir Noir.

Here is the teaser trailer and some of the original footage shot by Morisset. It’s pretty damn good and I bet will be absolutely amazing on a big screen with surround sound washing over you. For further details on the forthcoming release just click: here. The film and album are out in November.

Music

Keith Jarrett – The Köln Concert

by JustinLeave a Comment on Keith Jarrett – The Köln Concert

Classic jazz. The term makes me shiver. There are a few recordings that don’t – Kind of Blue and pretty much anything by Coltrane. But for me, the best of them all and one that deserves that you leave any preconceptions about jazz (nice) at the door is a live recording of a concert that the performer didn’t even want to play. And yet, when he did, something miraculous happened.

Keith Jarrett arrived in Cologne tired and exhausted and suffering from chronic back pain to play a solo piano concert at the city’s main opera house. When he arrived he found that the piano wasn’t the concert grand he expected but a substandard, ill-tuned baby grand meant only for rehearsals. There was no substitute. Initially he refused to play but 1,400 people were coming to see him perform only a few hours after his arrival. It was too late to cancel. So, at 11.30pm (an unusually late hour because the only time the house could give him was after that evening’s regular opera performance) he took to the stage. And, against all reasonable expectations, created a masterpiece.

His concert, broken down into four sections on the album and performed in two acts, was almost entirely improvised. Improvisational jazz can be a thing of squirm-inducing horror – self-indulgent noodling and interminable scales that go on for hour after mind-breaking hour. But not here. This was almost revolutionary improvisation at the time (1975) – quiet, lyrical spontaneity with breathtaking harmonic invention. His whoops and sighs which accompany his extraordinary playing only add to the sheer brilliance of the recording. It is an extraordinary record and one of the few concerts I dearly wish I could have experienced firsthand.

Here is Act I:

 

It is well worth seeking out your own copy to hear the concert in its entirety. Jazz will never seem quite the same again…

Music

Memoryhouse – Max Richter

by JustinLeave a Comment on Memoryhouse – Max Richter

After I started this blog and called it the memory house, I did a google search of the name (as one does) just to see what else popped up. Of course many, many things did. But I had no idea that a masterpiece in necoclassical music was there to be found.

It’s a beautiful piece. And, whilst I thought of changing the name and have no pretensions to my blog having any kind of link with such a work, it’s such a poignant and evocative piece that I thought what better inspiration could there be…

Here is Max Richter’s memoryhouse:

Music, Videos

Explosions in the Sky

by JustinLeave a Comment on Explosions in the Sky

Listening to Codes in the Clouds this week galvanized me to find similarly majestic and inspiring music. I needed to escape. And I found quite a few bands that are new to me and whose CDs are now winging their way to my living room. One I’m really keen to hear in particular is Explosions in the Sky. For more than a decade this four piece instrumental rock band have been creating music that, in their words,”immediately grabs your attention and gets to your emotions”. And the songs I’ve heard so far do exactly that.

Despite having played together for so long they’ve only just released their first video. It’s truly gorgeous. And here it is. Plug in the headphones and take a trip…