Music Technology

[Music] Leila Abdul-Rauf – Diminution

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The first time I came across San Francisco, California resident Leila Abdul-Rauf’s name was when she was playing with the all-female avant-garde metal/dark ambient band Amber Asylum.  She has become a far more powerful musician as time has passed (if you know anything about her previous work, that’s very high praise), and, given the brutal darkness of the one track shared, this new album should end up quaking my speakers rather badly (and yes, I’m looking forward to that).

The album is due to be released on April 13.

[Music] Jeff Gburek – FLOOPS

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FLOOPS marks the sixth appearance of American expatriate composer Jeff Gburek to this blog.

His latest release is a collection of loop-oriented pieces played on a prepared guitar.  Though Bandcamp is horrible for this sort of work, I recommend buying the album, putting the tracks into “shuffle” mode, and letting the sounds wash over you. You may hear the same pieces over and over again, but the context will feel different.

FLOOPS ends up becoming several hours’ worth of intensive listening, reminding me somewhat of Brian Eno’s generative music or Adrian Belew’s recent flux experiments.

[Music] Various Artists – Planeta Post-Rock: Flama

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Planeta Post-Rock is a (you guessed it) post-rock label out of Portugal. So far, from what I gather, they have made four compilations, with Flama being their most recent. It was released on April 1, so it’s all of a few days old, and it paints a great picture of what the post-rock and post-metal scene must be like old Lusitania.

If you feel like purchasing the whole catalog for 3 Euros, click on this link here.

[Music] Bram Tchaikovsky – Strange Men Changed Men The Complete Recordings 1978-1981

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It didn’t seem right that Bram Tchaikovsky was one of the great forgotten sons of Power Pop (along with Brinsley Schwarz), but this blog post gives the man (and the band) his fair due.  Much respect to The Fat Angel Sings Blog for posting this originally.

lizsamdog's avatarThe Fat Angel Sings

Born Peter Bramall in November 1950, Bram Tchaikovsky first came to prominence as a member of the pub rock band The Motors in 1977, subsequent to playing in several local rock bands in Lincolnshire during the late ‘60s. Following his decision to leave The Motors, Bram opted to form his own eponymous power pop band, with Mike Broadbent on bass and keyboards, and Keith Boyce on drums. The trio signed to the Radar label in 1978 and went on to achieve a US Top 40 hit in 1979 with ‘Girl of My Dreams’. Several band member changes and two albums later, Bram Tchaikovsky made the decision to split from the band and retire from the music business entirely.

This lovingly assembled package, fully endorsed by Bram Tchaikovsky himself, contains all three BramTchaikovsky albums Strange Man, Changed Man (1979), The Russians Are Coming (1980) and Funland (1981), plus all…

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[Music] Zinovia Arvanitidi ~ Ivory (Happy Piano Day)

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Many thanks to the writer postrockcafe over at A Closer Listen Blog for reminding us about Piano Day, a little holiday of sorts invented by Nils Frahm to take place on the 88th day of the year.

Equally important is the fact that Greek pianist Zinovia Arvanitidi, whose latest release, Ivory, was reviewed by us in February of this year, has released her debut on vinyl, courtesy of the Kitchen Label.

[Music] David Borden / Mother Mallard – The Continuing Story of Counterpoint, Parts 5​-​8

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Thanks to the Good Lord above for giving the world Steve Feigenbaum and Cuneiform Records, who continue to release, digitally, their amazing wares.

David Borden and Mother Mallard have their roots in American minimalist music. This particular release is the middle section of a 12-part series of variations for minimalism in the same way the Goldberg Variations were for Johann Sebastian Bach and classical music.