I’ve yet to hear a bad track from Kraftwerk. Thanks the my incredible friends on my Facebook feed who pointed me to this lilting piece of electronic music.
Germany
[Music] Twenty Sixty Six and Then – Winter
Fine, heavy, expansive Krautrock from one of the better German bands of the era, 2066 (Twenty Sixty Six) and Then.
[Music] RIP Dieter Moebius
Extremely sad news today. The Quietus reports that Dieter Moebius, one-half of the legendary Cluster, along with Hans-Joachim Roedelius, a collaborator with Michael Rother in their Harmonia project, as well as Brian Eno, and a source of influence for so many musicians who delved into making electronic music, passed away today at the age of 71.
I had the pleasure of meeting Dieter and Achim a few times as they would pass through my home on tour. I wish his wife, Irene, Achim and his family, and all those who worked with him, much comfort in the days ahead.
[Video] hr-Sinfonieorchester – Frankfurt Radio Symphony – Orion (comp. Kaija Saariaho)
This is about as fresh as it gets for classical music. Orion a new composition by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, debuted at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Germany, on April 17, 2015.
The piece is conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada for hr-Sinfonieorchester – Frankfurt Radio Symphony. The recording makes for wonderful listening.
[Video] Ø + Noto – 04 Noto
[Video] Karlheinz Stockhausen – Klavierstück XIV
Pianist Bernhard Wambach deftly interprets this 1984 composition by Karlheinz Stockhausen.
[Article] A Striking Exception
The Wall Street Journal do justice to the legacy of Manfred Eicher and perhaps the most amazing and success label you may never have heard of, ECM. From Stuart Isacoff’s article, a quote which sums up my personal opinion of him quite nicely:
“But the most striking exception at the Grammys belongs to ECM (Editions of Contemporary Music), nominated this time around for works by the little-known Polish-Russian composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg performed under the direction of Gidon Kremer. If anyone deserves an award for lifetime achievement, it is ECM’s founder, Manfred Eicher, a producer of over 1,600 albums—many of which have changed the course of recorded art
Here’s to Manfred and the crew at ECM, hoping they make another 1,600 wonderful albums.
