07 January 2020: Blow Up Hollywood / Reza Solatipour / Persian Experimental Music

In light of recent events, it is appropriate to feature this superb 2006 release from Blow Up Hollywood.

Blow Up Hollywood’s third studio album,  The Diaries of Private Henry Hill, is based on the journals of a young soldier who died tragically in the Iraq War. This concept album narrates a first-hand account of the transformation of a real man from citizen to soldier to killer to martyr.
The Diaries of Private Henry Hill is Blow Up Hollywood’s follow-up to the critically heralded 2004 album Fake.

Blow Up Hollywood is an underground American rock band. Their eclectic sound, built over a decade of recording, incorporates many different styles, diverse as progressive rock, post-rock, experimental, pop, classical, jazz and ambient soundscapes. Founded by Steve Messina and Nik Chinboukas in 2001, the group has evolved into more of a collective than a band, as some of their members have changed over the years.
Their debut, self-titled CD, is a concept album about death and the afterlife. The CD was recorded in a beach house in West Hampton, New York, over the course of three weeks in March 2001, and was released the following year. Originally the recording was intended to be just a “musical vacation” amongst friends who had performed and recorded together in various groups and projects throughout the years. But after hearing the results, and enjoying the collaboration, they decided to release it, with Blow Up Hollywood as their moniker.
Their sophomore CD, Fake, was released in 2004, and garnished critical acclaim.
In September 2004, John Diliberto, the host of the radio show Echoes, ran a feature on the band and had them perform live on air, bringing them national attention. That same year their live version of the song “beyond the stars” was included on the Echo’s compilation CD, alongside artists Yo-Yo Ma, Kai King, and Will Ackerman.
Stars End – A one track ambient improvisation, was recorded live on November 14, 2004, at WXPN in Philadelphia. The CD is titled after Chuck Van Zyl’s show Star’s End which has aired every Saturday night since 1976. “We asked Chuck what we should play, and he gave us free reign. So we improvised for an hour”, one of the band members stated.
In 2006 the band released what would become their most popular CD, both nationally and internationally. With the debate over the war in Iraq raging, the band released another concept album, The Diaries of Private Henry Hill. Based on the journal entries of a young, deceased soldier from the Iraq war, Blow Up Hollywood takes us on Private Henry Hill’s surreal journey as he joins the army out of necessity rather than patriotism.
That same year the album was released, Amy Goodman, the host of the news show Democracy Now! (a daily TV/radio news program, airing on over 900 stations, pioneering the largest community media collaboration in the United States) championed the band and the video for the song WMD, playing it repeatedly on her show for weeks.
Rachael Maddow, the then host of The Rachael Maddow show on Air America Radio, also invited the band to perform live and discuss the CD. And many other songs from the Diaries record were featured on NPR‘s program All Things Considered.
In 2008, the band was invited by Tomas Young (an injured American soldier from the Iraq war ) and Eddie Vedder (the lead vocalist of the American rock band Pearl Jam) to have WMD included on the compilation soundtrack to the documentary film Body of War, alongside Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Tori Amos, Tom Waits, Roger Waters (founding member of Pink Floyd), and Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam.
In 2011 Steve Messina, Nik Chinboukas and Thad Debrock joined forces to write, produce, and record with photographer and conceptual artist Andres Serrano, with Blow Up Hollywood as his backing band. They released the recording under the name Brutus Faust.

In the second half of tonight's show, we will feature Tehran musician, Reza Solatipour, and his 2019 dark ambient release, The Gate.  Our thanks to Raffaele Pezzella and the Unexplained Sounds Group for providing us with a promotional copy of this album.

It came clear, in recent years, that drone & dark ambient music from Iran made a considerable statement among the followers of this music genre. Reza Solapitour, from Tehran, was among the most talented Iranian projects alongside with Xerxes The Dark, Alphaxone, idft. His music was published on the prestigious compilation “Visions of Darkness” curated by Raffaele Pezzella and co-released by Unexplained Sounds Group / Cold Spring Records.

soundcloud.com/rezasolatipour

unexplainedsoundsgroup.bandcamp.com/album/visions-of-darkness-2cd-edition

credits

released November 23, 2019

REVIEWS

ToneShift
toneshift.net/2019/12/11/the-gate-by-reza-solatipour/

Avant Music News
avantmusicnews.com/2019/11/25/amn-reviews-reza-solatipour-the-gate-2019-eighth-tower-records/

Head-Banger Reviews
headbangerreviews.wordpress.com/2019/12/11/reza-solatipour-the-gate/


Music recorded in Tehran by Reza Solapitour
Artwork: Eliphas Üsher (IÖR)
Mastering: Sonologyst
sonologyst.com
© Eighth Tower Records / Industrial Olocaust Recordings
www.discogs.com/label/64495-Industrial-%C3%96locaust-Recordings

28 May 2019: Blow Up Hollywood / Tidsrymd / Leaving Richmond / Ethereal Ephemera

I will also be hosting the (Mostly) Country show,  Rural Electric, from 7-9 pm, the block before Freeform.

Tonight we begin by featuring the new release from Blow Up Hollywood, Gold.


GOLD is the latest release from the ambient rock band and finds them returning to their roots both sonically and thematically.

Gold is available as a traditional Vinyl LP album, as well as in CD and MP3 formats. Visit the Blow Up Hollywood Shop to purchase your very own copy.

This is a superb album and we think you will agree after hearing it.

Blow Up Hollywood is an underground American rock band. Their eclectic sound, built over a decade of recording, incorporates many different styles, diverse as progressive rock, post-rock, experimental, pop, classical, jazz and ambient soundscapes. Founded by Steve Messina and Nik Chinboukas in 2001, the group has evolved into more of a collective than a band, as some of their members have changed over the years.

We continue tonight's show with the ambient sounds of Tidsrymd from Gothenberg, Sweden and the release I juliaskan, released September 23, 2018; All songs composed and produced by Johan Ohlsson; Mastered by Joakim Westlund.  Their Facebook page here.
Johan Ohlsson:
The EP is called "I juliaskan", which translates "In the Ashes of July". The title came about halfway into making the title track, during the autumn of 2018. What I heard reminded me of the forest fires, which plagued a few areas of Sweden during the summer and were very difficult get under control.

That summer had somewhat of a strange feeling to it, because of recurrent thunder with little or no rain, dry grass everywhere, different reports of the fires and farmers having to make emergency slaughters due to drought. I won't go into politics, but I think during that summer the concept of climate change became something close to home for the first time to a lot of people in Sweden.

"Dagvild" is a Swedish expression, which means that you don't know which day of the week it is. To me, at least, it associatively follows the theme of summer.

The track "Sinnesro" seems to be your typical relaxation music, but it has some slightly unnerving detuning and dissonance in there, to create a sort of contrast.

This is the First EP I've made on my own, after playing in bands for a couple of years, and I made most of it quite fast in a sort of rush of inspiration during my free weekends. I hope you'll enjoy it – or that you'll enjoy something else.

Great Distances is the 7th studio album from the Los Angeles based electronic music project: leaving richmond.

7 lovingly crafted electronic-instrumental tracks to add to your collection

Futurism with a human feel.

Lush melodies and sonic landscapes play with layered evolving beats to create music with meaningful purpose.

I want to soundtrack your thoughts.

The atmospheric, instrumental music of Jordan Pier has made its way into a number of hit TV shows, broadcasts and advertisements and continues to gain new fans year after year.

credits

released May 17, 2019

All tracks composed and mixed by leaving richmond.
All tracks mastered by Bad Bat Records.

Tags

electronic ambient atmospheric cinematic instrumental Los Angeles

Finally, we end the show with the soothing ambient sounds of ethereal ephemera and their latest release, escape to dreamscape.

Two warm and soothing ambient soundscapes.

Drifting, slow and peaceful.

Live improvised recordings using virtual tape loops and a range of sound sources.

More of this sort of thing:
etherealephemera.bandcamp.com

credits

released March 18, 2019

All music written, performed and produced by Brin Coleman
at MCos, Manchester, March 2019.

Cover design and photography by Brin Coleman.
Cover photograph: San Francisco, April 2017.

Tags

ambient idm new age atmospheric chill-out creative commons dreamy drone ethereal experimental improvisation peaceful shoegaze sleep soundscapes space tape loops Manchester