Loscil - Versions Ep

Genre: Ambient, Piano, Experimental
Label: Self Released

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The EP is aptly titled Versions and features reworked versions of Emma from First Narrows, Estuarine and The Making of Grief Point from Endless Falls. Emma and Estuarine both feature Dan Bejar on guitar and Josh Lindstrom on Vibes and were first performed as part of New York’s Wordless Music Series in 2009. The Making of Grief Point is an instrumental version of the track from Endless Falls which featured Bejar’s spoken word. All of these tracks compliment the originals quite nicely so I thought it was worth making them available.

Peter Broderick - Three Film Score Intakes

Genre: Neo Classical, Piano
Label: Schedios

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Released on 3” CD, the three tracks on display here combine piano, strings and field recordings. A signature of the Broderick classical sound is his ability to take a minimalist approach to composing and through his blending of pre-recorded sounds or looping his own instruments he adds significant complexity to his music. So, for example, “Part 1” in essence a fairly simplistic, but nonetheless beautiful piano composition is supported by undertones of violin and given a distinctly gritty edge through the recorded sound of a train passing by. “Part 2” which seamlessly integrates from the first track, gives the strings a more prominent role and the resulting sound is an emotionally charged, melancholic one. “Part 3,” reverting to a greater piano focus again, is the most melodic of the three tracks yet Broderick again through his ambient intuition, ensures there is not an overriding burden of romance to the composition. There is a narrative link between the tracks, the title of the EP alludes to a cinematic quality, and as with the film scores we are accustomed to seeing on the silver screen, the three tracks here certainly feel connected. Despite its micro nature both in the few tracks at hand and the small physical format it’s released on, Broderick as ever succeeds in creating an expansive and complex, yet immediately accessible selection of recordings. With only 200 copies, make sure you are quick, as this is a necessary addition to the music collections of any musical enthusiast.

Danny Norbury - Light In August

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Genre: Neo Classical, Piano, Ambient
Label: Lacies Records

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Cellist Danny Norbury has contributed to music by Library Tapes, The Boats, Nancy Elizabeth and Rafael Anton Irisarri of The Sight Below. This incredible full-length, Light In August, finds Norbury assuming the role of a one-man ensemble, spinning a collection of understated string and piano elegies harnessing an incredibly intimate cinematic quality.

Norbury’s music taps into the neo-classicisms of Rachel’s or Hildur Gudnadottir, with gentle, harmonised cello figures and minimal keystrokes leading the way. A maudlin grasp on romanticism takes hold of pieces like ‘The Morning Star’ and ‘Small Field’, setting the tone for what’s to come: a set that wrings every drop of emotion from Norbury’s instrumental palette. Fans of Peter Broderick’s Float album, or the aforementioned Hildur Gu?nadottir’s Without Sinking will fall in love at first listen, but Norbury manages to map out his very own niche within the current crop of modern classical musicians on outstanding entries such as the quietly devastating ‘This Night Is For You And For Me’ and final track ‘The Evening Star’, whose extreme cello glissandos mimic pedal steel tones, arcing across the horizon in the most heart-rending of fashions. (Boomkat)

Nils Frahm - Wintermusik

Genre: Ambient, Piano, Neo Classical
Label: Sonicpieces

Wintermusik might have languished in obscurity as well, if not for Monique at Sonic Pieces, who happened upon the disk, fell in love with it and signed the artist for this limited release of 333. The handmade book binding is stark gray, but elegant, and suits the project well; Wintermusik was initially recorded as a Christmas present for family and friends. This puts the disk in the company of Sufjan Stevens' Songs for Christmas, recorded as a series of personal gifts over the years and finally packaged a few years later as a boxed set for fans. There’s certainly a light-hearted, holiday feeling to the music, especially when the bells join the proceedings; one thinks of happy carolers, wandering from house to starlit house as flurries dust their woolen caps. But this is not to say that one should avoid the disk simply because Christmas is half a year away; nor should one feel that the sounds herein represent any specific religion or creed. This is simply a disk of engaging, well-played music, suffused with a positive vibe.

Unlike the songs on the upcoming The Bells (which began as Tonaglia: Piano Improvisations), the three pieces on Wintermusik are fully-fledged compositions, a combination of – you guessed it – piano, celeste and reed organ. The opening track, “Ambre,” is the shortest, a single-length introduction to the album, sedate and unadorned. At 17:25, “Tristana” is a much more complex entity, featuring all three instruments. On this piece, Frahm wanders from his default timbre of airy and bright. When the darker tones (perhaps foot pedals) enter, they occupy the same space that a bass guitar would inhabit in a post-rock setting. The piece may unfold at an unhurried pace, but is constantly mutating and always has a sense of destination. Certain themes end up repeating, or returning in a slightly altered fashion. There’s an enormously-subtle buildup to the conclusion, but it’s there – an example that bombast-oriented groups might wisely imitate. Finally, “Nue” closes the half-hour album (strangely, around the same length as Broderick’s Music for Falling from Trees). This piece is busier and sprightlier: upbeat, hopeful, and more overtly melodic than the preceding tracks. There’s even a chorus of sorts, one that might make for a suitable Charlie Brown theme; and the final two minutes possess a muted, yet climactic tone.

Buen fin de semana a tod@s.

Nils Frahm - The Bells

Genre: Ambient, Neo Classical, Piano

Label: Kning Disk

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"I first met Nils after playing a concert in Berlin in early September, 2008. We had exchanged a few emails prior, in which we had agreed to swap some records in the mail. He came up to me after the show with a beaten brown package, which he had tried to post to me two times, but both times it was returned to him because I was out on tour when the postman tried to deliver it. At any rate, that night he handed me the package containing his first lp Streichelfisch and four cd-r’s of unreleased material. Later when I was getting in bed at the hotel, I pulled out my discman and popped in a disc of his that was labeled »Tonalagia: Piano Improvisations«. I laid back and pressed play, thinking I would fall asleep to the sound of some nice piano music. But the sound I heard was more than just nice. It was absolutely breathtaking, and it kept me awake staring at the ceiling until the cd was finished. Then I pressed play again. I had to hear it again. I think I managed to drift off at some point in the middle of the second listen, but I remember thinking to myself as I lay there stunned, that I could spend ten years trying to write an amazing piece of piano music, and still it would never be half as good as these improvisations! The next day I wrote to Nils and told him that very thought, and proposed the idea of him contributing to the solo piano series on Kning Disk. A couple months later, in mid November, I flew to Berlin to meet up with Nils and to witness the recordings of what was to become The Bells. We rented a beautiful old church in the heart of Berlin for two nights, with a wonderful old grand piano and the most amazing natural reverb I’ve ever heard. We set up (actually Nils did most of the work while I ran around the church trying out the huge pipe organ and harpsichord) two microphones on the piano, and three more out in the room to capture the sound of the church. And then Nils just played. I laid down on a pew in the middle of the big room and listened to his playing in the same position I had heard it for the first time, on my back, staring at the ceiling. Occasionally I arose and asked Nils to amuse my ears by making him improvise with different rules I spouted out off the top of my head, such as »Make a song using only the notes c, e, and g« (this one will be available as a bonus download track), or »Make a song that you could imagine me rapping over the top of« (track no. b3). At one point I was even inside the piano, laying on the strings, asking him to make a song called »Peter is dead in the piano«. Those two amazing nights in the church left us with five and a half hours of recorded material, and together Nils and I have compiled what we think are the best pieces into this 40 minute collection. The role I played in putting this album together was a very small one, and yet somehow I feel more proud of this music than anything I have ever created on my own. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have."
Peter Broderick