Oh, my. Stuart A. Staples and the lads to a damn-near wrist-slittingly depressing (yet perfect) cover of Pavement’s rather sublime tune.
Alternative/Indie
[Music] Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra – Live In Buenos Aires 2005
Most American film buffs know Emir Kusturica as one of the best directors to come out of the Balkans. What they may not know is that he’s a hell of a band leader. Check out this concert from 2005.
[Music] Comment Band – Lahzeha
Even in Tehran, one can find good-quality alternative music. Here’s Comment Band, one of the better acts in town.
[Music] Adorable – Sunshine Smile
Adorable were an English band made up of band members Pete Fijalkowski (vocals, guitar), Robert Dillam (guitar), Stephen ‘Wil’ Williams (bass) and Kevin Gritton (drums). They produced, to my ears, one of the best shoegaze songs of the early 1990s. A truly gorgeous, shimmery track!
[Music] Kismet – Love Will Tear Us Apart
Every time I go to Skopje, there is always someone who asks why on Earth I’d bother to come and stay such long periods of time in what they feel is an insignificant city in the heart of the Balkans. You can thank this song, the disc it came on, and a friendship with Gorazd Capovski and Ilija Stojanovski, for this.
I had worked at Tone Casualties records as an A&R Manager, and came across this disc while at my evening job, buying weird music for Aron’s Records (RIP). I had passed through what was then Yugoslavia a few years past, and knew a bit about Macedonian music, but the combination of goth/darkwave and an ethnic, Byzantine sound, came as a huge revelation. I never, in a million years, thought Love Will Tear Us Apart would sound perfect with bagpipes. A pleasant surprise which still strikes a chord after 20 years.
[Music] Villagers of Ioannina City – Krasi
This is beautifully weird, and I have my dear brother, Yasen Kazandjiev, to thank for it.
This sounds like Greek folk music gone somewhere between post-punk and psychedelic music. As if Joy Division discovered the pleasures of lamb and ouzo. I’m looking forward to watching Villagers of Ioannina City grow and develop this sound!
[Video] Ólafur Arnalds -Epilogue
Ólafur Arnalds produces the sort of gorgeous music Iceland seems to be noted for. He comes from an electronic/techno background, but his understanding of composition shows in his delicate compositions.
[Video] Swans – Mona Lisa, Mother Earth
I suppose some would call this The Swans’ ‘Joy Division’ phase. The album, The Burning World, showed a marked change in direction from a band who had previously sounded like the equivalent of a drunken brontosaurus stumbling into his cave after a healthy drinking binge (and yes, that’s a good thing). Since they reformed, their sound continues to adapt and grow. They are as vital a band now as they were in the beginning.
[Sample] Standgericht – Scrape Through My Skin (Preview)
Many thanks to Diana of Standgericht, who sent me some material she’s working on for an upcoming album release. If you have a passion for Electronic Body Music of a more brutal type, this will be worth waiting for.
惘聞 (Wang Wen) – My Crime
Some sublime instrumental post-rock out of China. These guys need a much bigger following.
A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music 