Josip Račić – Watercolours: Paris Through the Eyes of a Stranger

May 3, 2018 / Rudy Carrera / Leave a comment

Beautiful art from Croatia.

We begin a new month – the pink, flowery and sweet May – with a new artist; Croatian painter Josip Račić (1885-1908) and the watercolours he painted during his brief stay in Paris in 1908.

Josip Račić, Park Luxembourg, 1907

On 10th February 1908, young Croatian artist Josip Račić arrived in Paris. Five months later he was found death in his room. A suicide. A mystery which gave birth to the romanticised myth of this tortured genius’s life. In his short yet turbulent artistic career, from humble beginnings to education in Munich and lastly, his short Parisian period, Račić, having died at the age of twenty-three, managed to create enough works to become a crucial figure for the development of Croatian Modern art and to pave way for the artists who followed.

Račić was born in a village near Zagreb in 1885 and attended grammar school for a short period…

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[Music/Video] Chris Trull

May 2, 2018 / Rudy Carrera / Leave a comment

I am very proud to introduce my cousin, Chris Trull, to my friends and connections! He’s blossomed into a hell of a video producer and photographer, and if you’re looking for someone to do a music video for you, especially if you’re into things that lean more towards prog, grunge, and even psychedelic music, Chris is your man!

[Music] Pluge & Spigl – Dfnc EP

May 1, 2018 / Rudy Carrera / Leave a comment

There isn’t a lot of techno I like, but if it’s cold, rhythmic and focused like the works of Pluge & Spigl, I’ll be happy to indulge in it.

[Music] Kyriakos Sfetsas – Greek Fusion Orchestra Vol.1

April 29, 2018 / Rudy Carrera / Leave a comment

Kyriakos Sfetsas is originally from Lefkadia an island in Greece, and started this particular band in the mid-1970s in order to expand the boundaries of what Greek traditional music is. Apparently, there is a lot more music of his which has yet to be released. This is as fine an intro to his works as one could hope for.

Much love to Teranga Beat, the Senegalese label which will release this masterpiece on May 25, 2018.

[Music] Alexandre Navarro – Imaginations

April 28, 2018 / Rudy Carrera / Leave a comment

Checking out the tags at the bottom of his Bandcamp page, I noticed that Alexandre Navarro’s latest release, Imaginations, is listed as post-rock. Absolutely, positively not!

This has more of a feeling brought out in albums by classic artists like Harmonia, a touch of Popol Vuh and maybe even the Russian soundtrack composer Edward Artemiev. This is mellow, has a wonderful 70’s vibe and makes for a nice way indulge in headphone listening.

[Music] Manja Ristić – The Nightfall

April 27, 2018 / Rudy Carrera / Leave a comment

Manja Ristić is a Serbo-Croatian violinist and experimental music composer whose works have left me captivated. This latest release, The Nightfall, collects for compositions inspired by the seasons. From her Bandcamp site:

In haiku poetry, “Kigo” is a seasonal reference, a word or group of words which locates the poem in a season of the year, the seasonal association helping the reader imagine the atmosphere and settings of the poem more vividly. Kigo evokes memories and feelings which vary depending on the readers themselves: their active role is crucial in haiku poetry as different cultural and historical backgrounds may lead to a different interpretation of the poem.

The release was made available by London-based label Naviar Records yesterday.

[Music] Rauppwar & Sir Edgar Carpenter – Reptilian Abnormalities

April 26, 2018 / Rudy Carrera / Leave a comment

Though this is nowhere near easy listening, this collaboration between Brazil’s Rauppwar and Mexico’s Sir Edward Carpenter don’t make mere noise – they add a rather cosmic, psychedelic element to it.

Not for the faint of heart, but rewarding in its own way. It was released by Cian Orbe, out of Santiago, Chile.

[Music] Abu Obaida Hassan – Abu Obaida Hassan & His Tambour: The Shaigiya Sound of Sudan

April 24, 2018 / Rudy Carrera / Leave a comment

Abu Obaida Hassan had a wonderful career during the 1970s and 1980s making the kids sway in Khartoum, Sudan with his tambour, but by the second decade of this century, Sudanese media pronounced him dead. Thankfully, he is far from it, and courtesy of Ostinato Records, he has a fine retrospective coming out on May 18, 2018.

[Music] Erlon Chaves – Procura-se Uma Virgem OST

April 23, 2018 / Rudy Carrera / Leave a comment

Procura-se Uma Virgem turned out to be a very pleasant slab of easy/cheesy/sleazy listening from soundtrack composer Erlon Chaves, who should have been working in Europe, where is mellow style would have been perfect for directors like Jess Franco and Mario Bava.

[Music] Aisha Orazbayeva – Telemann Fantasias

April 22, 2018 / Rudy Carrera / 1 Comment

Aisha Orazbayeva is London-based violinist who originally hails from Kazakhstan. She has become a new favorite master of the instrument who easily balances a mastery of avant-garde contemporary music (think of compositions by Luciano Berio and Morton Feldman) and the sumptuous compositions of Georg Philipp Telemann, whose works were the bridge way from the Baroque Era into the Classical Era.