The first time I remember hearing this was at Aron’s Records, and I couldn’t quite wrap my mind what genre this album was. I suppose Rachel’s could be seen as a precursor to post-rock or a lot of the modern classical music coming from labels like Erased Tapes. This album remains gorgeous listening.
Chamber Rock
[Music] Piero Milesi – Modi
Thanks kindly to Cuneiform Records, whose weekly $5 downloads are an affordable way to replace a few CDs lost to time and travel.
Piero Milesi was an Italian composer who started off his career in 1977 with the International Folk Group of Moni Ovadia. His first break came from the now-legendary Cherry Red Records, which originally released this two-piece work in 1982.
The release itself doesn’t sit comfortably in any genre. Obstensibly a classical music record of a sort, it also touches on chamber rock, art rock, jazz, electronic music, progressive rock, avant-progressive, film music and modern composition. It was a breathtaking debut for a composer who would score a few more albums, and even arranging an album for Japanese pop star Kazufumi Miyazawa before succumbing to a heart attack in 2011.
[Music] Art Zoyd – Génération Sans Futur
I must have been about 17 years old when a disc called Symphonie pour le jour où brûleront les cités, Musique pour l’Odyssée and Archives 1, performed by a band I had never heard of called Art Zoyd, kept staring me in the face, while I heard voices in my wallet saying, “Take it.” I had just recently discovered Univers Zero, a contemporary band, and was told by the ever-knowledgeable staff at Rhino Records in Claremont, California, that it was a winner. Indeed, it was, and it was unlike anything I had ever heard up until that point. Chamber-rock wasn’t in my vocabulary at the time, but that would be the term which fit the band best. It’s good to see this album in its proper form, but I really do hope that Sub Rosa, who took the time to do such a wonderful job producing this disc, re-releases Art Zoyd’s whole back catalog, including bonus tracks. Each disc has been worth it.
[Video] Decibel – Flamel´s Bebop
This comes as a pleasant shock. Decibel were one of the great legendary RIO bands to come out of Mexico. Apparently, they’re playing music again!
[Music] Finnegans Wake – 4th
Finnegan’s Wake is the name of at least one other progressive rock band, but this one hails from Belgium, though now resides in Brazil, and is led by Henry Krutzen, who founded the band in 1993, and it reminds me of a chamber-rock band, not dissimilar to Rock-In-Opposition bands like Henry Cow or Art Zoyd.
[Sample] Finnegans Wake – 4th
Finnegan’s Wake is the name of at least one other progressive rock band, but this one hails from Belgium, though now resides in Brazil, and is led by Henry Krutzen, who founded the band in 1993, and it reminds me of a chamber-rock band, not dissimilar to Rock-In-Opposition bands like Henry Cow or Art Zoyd.