The Best of Classical Music / Verdi The Greatest Italian Opera Composer

Nabucco - Chorus (Verdi)

From Still Life out Sept 21/21 on limited clear vinyl.

Igor Yalivec - Campanula

from 'Symmetrie und Wahnsinn' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den370
available on all formats at https://denovali.com/sanktotten/

After the 2020 album "Lieder Für Geometrische Stunden", Sankt Otten finally make us happy again with a new release at the beginning of 2022. "Symmetrie Und Wahnsinn" (Symmetry and madness) fits here skillfully, both creatively and musically, in an album series with geometric context.

The album starts unusually buoyant with "Hymne Der Melancholischen Programmierer" (Hymn for sentimental programmers). A Kraut-Pop pearl, which could go on forever with its Motorik swing and with its catchy melody the track doesn't come across as melancholic as the song title predicts. You have to listen twice to not succumb to the illusion that it was composed in Düsseldorf at the end of the seventies. Here (and on the track "Sei Symmetrisch Zu Mir"), Sankt Otten were supported in the studio by drummer friend DIRK PELLMANN.

The drum machine in rumbling funky mode. "Die Glücklichen Unglücklichen", the secret hit of the album? They bend the beat into geometric shapes, let the bass play in circles and cover the song with ghostly choirs. The echo of a spinett-like sound overlays the sound, spitting out a deceptively cuddly dream world.

The 10 minute long "Die Ordnung Des Lärms" could be called an Ambient-Kraut symphony without hesitation. An enormous swelling to ecstasy, a guitar sings distantly in the background. Silence. Synthetic strings pave the way and are supported by choirs. A crackle that suggests a rhythm until it is taken over by a drum computer in the main part of the track. Bombastic mountains of synthesizers pile up and yet a catchy melody finds its way through this mishmash of hypnotic electronics. Fourth movement - Kosmische-choirs in suspension over a bass synth and an Ebow guitar. Is this already Prog-Rock? The question doesn't arise, in the end everything merges into reverb.

"Luftspiegelung Der Sentimentalitäten" begins cautiously with a gentle sequence and a discreet kick drum. The mini-Moog sounds like a guitar. Anyway. A surface floats by and returns, layers and shapes build up. At last, everything melts into perfect harmony with a plaintive-sounding synth. This track was composed as a stripped back reprise of the first track from the last album "Sentimentale Sequenzen".

A hypnotic Motorik-beat of an 808 that encourages head nodding and could almost be danceable. True to style with warm analog 80s electronic sounds and a loose echo guitar. This is "Angekommen In Der letzten Reihe". Man and machine hand in hand as a homogeneous musical unit and the connection of tradition and vision.

Sankt Otten like images of infinity. In the religious sense of meditative mantras, or also in the mathematical sense of an elongated curve that eventually returns to its starting point. "Bis Das Helle Licht Uns Holt" goes exactly in this direction with its classical use of sequencers and a sound carpet of choirs. Sound worlds that, through a clever repetitiveness, barely noticeably guard the constant changes in the compositional mesh like a secret and only reveal what is to be discovered by listening closely and letting it be seen. Such a thing is probably called Berlin School?

The Osnabrück duo Sankt Otten, founded in 1999, has been releasing on Denovali since 2009. With their now 12th album they give us again a gem of timeless instrumental music. The holy trinity of Krautrock, Ambient and contemporary Electronics, but always stylistically confident and unmistakable Sankt Otten.

For the mastering New York based RAFAEL ANTON IRISARRI could be won. Also with the cover layout again good taste is proven. As part two of a cover series, this extraordinary die-cut cover artwork was again created by designer DANIEL CASTREJÓN. The vinyl version comes in a die-cut cover (in a limited transparent edition), the CD in an elegant cardboard slipcase.

Symmetrie und Wahnsinn

Luftspiegelung der Sentimentalitäten

Sankt Otten - Luftspiegelung der Sentimentalitäten

CHROMA

The first offering of the 'vocal ambient' album series by Ambient Echoes - a collaboration between labels Ambientologist and Echoes Blue.

Download here: https://ambientologist.bandcamp.com/album/anxiety-hope

Seven collaborations touching on Volume 1's emotional spectrum theme - anxiety / hope - and a testament to music's capacity for complex emotive expression.

Ambient Echoes, Vol. 1 - Anxiety / Hope

Download

Ambient Echoes, Vol. 1 - Anxiety / Hope (Album Mini-Mix)

From 'No Perfect Wave', one of my favourite albums of 2016 - here is my remix of C.Diab's 'Memory as Mist'. Part of a remix EP including Guy Andrews, Ambassadeurs and Heinali. Available digitally now from itunes, bandcamp, etc https://injazerorecords.bandcamp.com/album/no-perfect-wave-remixes

C Diab - Memory As Mist (Kelpe Remix)

Warner CD - Steve Reich - Different Trains - III After The War

Track taken from the upcoming album 'Hearts full of sorrow, souls full of hope, we look to the west...'

www.fluidaudio.bigcartel.com

Hearts full of sorrow, souls full of hope, we look to the west

infinite blanket

e & i - infinite blanket

I first encountered Ben Chatwin's music as Talvihorros sometime in 2011 through his release on hibernate imprint. We become more acquainted when he contributed a beautiful track towards my ...and darkness came benefit compilation appearing in 2012. A few years later, Chatwin moved from London to Edinburgh and began recording under his real name. This new beginning also gave his music a refreshed and upgraded sound and with newly found confidence he moved on to the independent Village Green imprint - see Sleeper Awakes appearing on Headphone Commute's Best of 2015 lists. We've seen his follow-up, Heat & Entropy, grace the 'best of' lists a year later, but in 2018, I must admit, I was completely blown away with the Staccato Signals. Something changed entirely. Chatwin's music became cinematic, darker, edgier, blending synthetic and the acoustic, pushing the boundaries of intense sonics and textures, and totally gripping my mind. Needless to say, the album grabbed the top spot in the coveted Music For The Film Behind Closed Eyelids list of best cinematic music of 2018. This year, Ben Chatwin is back to unleash The Hum for Village Green, his sixth studio album under his own name, and today I've got an exclusive premiere from the release dropping tomorrow.

The title of the album, and indeed the title of this track, hint at something lurking behind the lights, the pipes, and concrete. That something is a sound, a drone, a purr, of lifeless objects generating life. When electricity is cut, the house fills with silence, and only then are you aware of all that constant whir you've been surrounded all time. This sonic ghost becomes the bloodstream of the dwelling, and with The Hum, Ben Chatwin amplifies its voice. This rumble is electric, growling, at times it's suffocating with the bass, its place expanded, frequencies increased, dynamics magnified. But at the center of this multi-dimensional chant lies a song, alone in space, alone in beauty. This is the song of Chatwin's music, and I've been mesmerized with all it has to say.

"When electronic artist Ben Chatwin plugged his Moog synthesiser into the mains at home one day, he was surprised to find the electrics of his home faintly singing. His house was built in the nineteenth century, and what he was listening to was the building’s natural hum. He boosted the volume, and in doing so, found the inspiration for his next release, The Hum, out on Village Green on November 6th"

The Hum

Ghost In The Machine

TRACK PREMIERE : Ben Chatwin - Ghost In The Machine

from 'Miscellany' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den348
available on all formats at http://denovali.com/origamibiro

After an almost 6 year hiatus, and the break up of the audio-visual trio it had evolved into, Origamibiro returns with Miscellany, a body of work amassed during the years since the release of 2014’s Odham’s Standard.

Though the group never officially disbanded, a number of life-changing events meant it simply became impossible to continue together. As such, the project organically reverted back to the solo pursuits of composer Tom Hill. Fellow multi-instrumentalist Andy Tytherleigh, however, remains a strong collaborator.

Miscellany comprises a varied mixture of work, ranging from electroacoustic to orchestral chamber music. Drawing upon much of the found-sound style for which Origamibiro became known, the DIY approach to sampling and composing continues to play a central role in the process.

Exploration into the tangible nature of everyday objects and textures - both in and outside of the home - is a theme relished in much of Origamibiro’s work. Forest brambles and plastic toy Easter eggs are examined in surgical detail alongside the debris of demolished piano parts, to be repurposed into whatever sonic potential they offer up.

However, new additions to the instrumental palette - viola da gamba, piano, zither, singing bowl, glockenspiel, drum machines and gongs - contribute to an even broader timbre.

Miscellany will be released on Denovali, March 2021.

Miscellany

Origamibiro - Circle Fifth

"The London Steve Reich Ensemble is an outstanding group of young musicians.
They have a superb feel for how to play my music. Their performances pulse with life" Steve Reich

The London Steve Reich Ensemble is the only group in the world that composer Steve Reich has allowed use of his name besides his own group. Founded and led by the artistic visions of Vincent Corver & Kevin Griffiths. Pianist/CEO and Conductor/Artistic Director.

The group came together in 2005 at the Royal Academy of Music in London, receiving immediate high acclaim from the Academy itself for its impeccable performances in the first year of its existence. The LSRE has moved forward in the years, performing throughout Europe’s renowned venues such as the London Duke’s Hall, Tonhalle Zurich, KKL Lucerne, Schönbergsaal The Hague, Cheltenham Festival UK and many others.

The LSRE received the Diapason D’Or Award for its first CD under the CPO label, only 2 years later being contracted under Warner Classics (Formally: EMI Classics) for its second CD. The CD includes the string ensemble pieces Triple Quartet and Different Trains by Reich, conducted by Kevin Griffiths for acoustic ensemble. The CD also features the World Premiere arrangement of the 1973 work “Six Pianos” by Steve Reich, now released under the new name “Piano Counterpoint” in 2012. A work that received its World Premiere Performance on The Pearl – Qatar in December 2012, by Vincent Corver, who was personally commissioned by Reich to make the arrangement. In January 2013 the work was taken into the official hire-library of the music publisher Boosey & Hawkes. Various global premiere performances are due throughout 2015 and 2016.

The Ensemble has set new ways in the collaboration with the London Royal Ballet, and the choreographer William Tuckett. A new world premiere choreography has been set for 2016. 

The London Steve Reich Ensemble is known for performing not only Steve Reich, but programming his music alongside other repertoire, complimenting the music of Reich. The performances are recognized by international critics for their intense vitality and precision, whilst keeping the natural flow of sound and where the repeat is not performed as a repeat, but as a micro incremental development.

Steve Reich's style of composition has been hugely influential to many composers and musical groups. He is also equated as the Andy Warhol of classical music. Described by The Guardian as one of "a handful of living composers who can legitimately claim to have altered the direction of musical history". Many critics including Kyle Gann quoted "may...be considered, by general acclamation, America's greatest living composer".