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Marquis de Tren & Bonny Billy

(2000) Marquis de Tren & Bonny Billy
Get on Jolly
192k, Palace Records
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(2000) Marquis de Tren & Bonny Billy
Get the Fuck on Jolly Live
192k, Palace Records
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Anonymous said...: This review is rediculous. Maybe one good advice might be not to listen to an album with expectations but with an open mind. I love it. Thanks!

fakejazz:
Bonny Billy (a.k.a. Bonnie "Prince" Billy) = Will Oldham (of the Palace variations)
The Marquis de Tren = Mick Turner (of the Dirty Three).

Given the involvement of such heavyweights in this little project (six songs, 22 minutes), one's hopes may rise beyond the point of sustainability. The purpose of this review is: don't get your hopes up.

For those who are familiar with the previous work of the involved parties, the overall tone is appropriately melancholy and maudlin. The pace is slow. The atmosphere is heavy. However, the melodies are underdeveloped and abstract. The songs wander along like a drunk in love, who knows not wither his lover lie. The various overdubbed guitars on "25" (the songs are only numbered, not named) sound like an orchestra tuning up, rather than any musician playing a song. The instruments on "2/15," guitar, bass, accordion, and some backwards sounds, have no appearance of being played on the same song, but seem randomly assembled. Only the last two tracks, "64" and "66" rise to the level of a focused, coherent tune (maybe it's the presence of drums on those tracks, that keep them in line).

Toru Takemitsu (Played by Jim O'Rourke) - Tokyo Realization

(2006) Toru Takemitsu (Played by Jim O'Rourke) - Tokyo Realization (a.k.a 'Translate Takemitsu') / V2
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Japanese-only release of two performances of Toru Takemitsu's 1962 composition "Corona", performed by Jim O'Rourke. "Toru Takemitsu (1931-1996) was a self-taught Japanese composer who combined elements of Eastern and Western music and philosophy to create a unique sound world. Some of his early influences were the sonorities of Debussy, and Messiaen's use of nature imagery and modal scales. There is a certain influence of Webern in Takemitsu's use of silence, and Cage in his compositional philosophy, but his overall style is uniquely his own. Takemitsu believed in music as a means of ordering or contextualizing everyday sound in order to make it meaningful or comprehensible. His philosophy of "sound as life" lay behind his incorporation of natural sounds, as well as his desire to juxtapose and reconcile opposing elements such as Orient and Occident, sound and silence, and tradition and innovation. From the beginning, Takemitsu wrote highly experimental music involving improvisation, graphic notation, unusual combinations of instruments and recorded sounds. The result is music of great beauty and originality. It is usually slowly paced and quiet, but also capable of great intensity. The variety, quantity and consistency of Takemitsu's output are remarkable considering that he never worked within any kind of conventional framework or genre. In addition to the several hundred independent works of music, he scored over ninety films and published twenty books."-Steven Coburn, All Music

1. Corona for Pianist(s) Written by Toru Takemitsu: Tokyo Realizaton 1 (26:19)
2. Corona for Pianist(s) Written by Toru Takemitsu: Tokyo Realizaton 2 (25:05)

Fancie

Fancie - A Negative Capability
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link
link

Arthur Russell

myspace

The World of Arthur Russell [2003]
(Part. 1) (Part. 2)

World of Echo [1986]
(Part. 1) (Part. 2)

H i M

Egg [1996]

Lau Nau

Last year saw an explosion & all too welcome interest in a vital, tightly knit scene of artists from Finland. Out of the communal circle of prodigious Finnish musicians comes this lovely 10 song debut solo outing of abstract folk, stray kiss lullaby & plucked blues by Laura Naukkarinen (vocalist in Kiila, Päivänsäde, The Anaksimandros). Sung in her native tongue, Kuutarha intimates a secret language outside traditional word speak into something utterly beautiful & unrestrained. Melody is suggested through the contours of voice, guitar & violin and arrangement has less to do with the placement of things than with Lau's comfort in letting sounds fall where they may. Line up: Laura Naukkarinen (acoustic bass, bass recorder, five-stringed kantele, acoustic guitar, tenor recorder, violin, bamboo flute, colorful juice glasses, mortar, mandolin, witch laugh megaphone, baby's rattle, bike bells, banjo, cowbells, electric guitar, organ, willow whistle, tablas, percussion, cymbals, comb, beer cans); Pekko Käppi (tamboura, jouhikko).

Nukkuu (Finnish for Sleeps) is the long awaited sophomore album by celebrated Finnish folk fave Lau Nau. Nukkuu is psychedelic, abstract & emotionally captivating. Nukkuu is an album of changes.

In the years since her debut album Kuutarha, Laura became a mother, moved to the Finnish countryside and took valuable time to carve out a space for her enchanted art in the new found tranquility of her remote surroundings.

Conceived in tight attics & vacant dens on off hours when her young son Nuutti was fast asleep, this is an intimately crafted 9 song collection that unfolds like dreamlike musical ribbons for the senses and delivers the listener to a place of unhurried contentedness.

Digipak cd & deluxe gatefold 180 gram vinyl will be n stores May 13, 2008.

www.locustmusic.com
www.haamu.com/launau/
MySpace.com - Lau Nau

Nukkuu [2008]