Showing posts with label sitar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sitar. Show all posts

23 August 2022: Broselmaschine; Popol Vuh; Visions of Darkness Vol II

 

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Bröselmaschine

From Prog Archives:

This is one of those rather obscure gems that is probably more folk than progressive, but the interplay of Celtic and Middle Eastern sounds atop a bed of what almost sound like Peter, Paul and Mary covers makes for a very charming album and a good use of a little more than a half-hour of your time.

Bröselmaschine was basically a one-shot German band who seem to have been heavily inspired by American folk singers of the sixties, plus featured the stunningly gorgeous and folksy vocals and flute of one Jenni Schucker. Amazingly Schucker doesn’t seem to have appeared on anything after this release.

This album was impossible to find for decades until it was reissued on CD in 2005. I just read this week that Akarma is releasing this on domestic CD in December 2007. I have the Ohr German import version that was released a couple years ago, which was the only other CD version I’m aware of. I don’t know if the Akarma release has the same tracks as this one or has some bonus material, so I will have to check into that one. But since Peter Bursch’s material after this release is generally considered inferior I’d be surprised if any bonus material amounted to much.

The tracks don’t range too far from my opening description, with the exception of the lengthy “Schmetterling” which does manage to blur the line between Middle Eastern-inspired folk (sitar, flute, zither, metallophon – you get the idea) and full-blown psych. There is even an extended flute solo that places this album squarely at the end of the flower-power era.

The rest of the album is much closer to rather tame hippy folk, although the presence of the zither, congas and tabla do manage to give the remaining tracks a bit of a dated sound.

On “The Old Man's Song” Schucker manages to come off sounding a bit like Grace Slick circa Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow days. This isn’t really a psych number though, as much as it is a rather intense folk piece accented with a light touch of slightly psych-and-blues guitar, tabla and the ever-present zither. Albums like Joe Byrd’s American Metaphysical Circus and the Comfortable Chair’s self-titled release also come to mind.

The sonic quality of the CD reissue is excellent, and while the liner notes are in German the overall package is quite decent. This is a very decent progressive folk offering that used be difficult to find but has been available in Europe for a few years, and is coming soon to America. Worth picking up and well recommended to prog folk fans. Four stars.

Studio Album, released in 1971

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Gedanken (5:06)
2. Lassie (traditional) (5:06)
3. Gitarrenstuck (2:03)
4. The Old Man's Song (5:26)
5. Schmetterling (9:31)
6. Nossa Bova (8:06)

Total Time 35:18

Line-up / Musicians

- Jenni Schücker / vocals, flute, bells
- Peter Bursch / vocals, acoustic guitar, sitar, flute
- Willi Kissmer / vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, zither
- Lutz Ringer / bass, metallophone
- Mike Hellbach / congas, tabla, spoons, Mellotron


 

Hosianna Mantra is the third album by German band Popol Vuh. It was originally released in 1972 on the German record label Pilz. The album saw the band blend elements of Western classical music, Asian music, and space rock.[1] For the release, bandleader Florian Fricke abandoned electronic synthesizers and instead employed acoustic instruments such as piano, oboe, and tambura. Prominently featured are Korean vocalist Djong Yun and electric guitarist Conny Veit.[1]

 


 

When the anthology "Visions Of Darkness (In Iranian Contemporary Music)" was released in 2017 and then co-published in collaboration between Unexplained Sounds Group and Cold Spring, it was immediately clear that the Iranian music scene was not just promising, but already a rich chest of treasures. Years later we have further confirmation of the creative richness and variety of musical languages that flourished in the Persian land. In spite of the title, this second volume of the legendary anthology also gives us a broad picture of the musical experience of the Iranian underground that is not limited to the dark ambient, but explores sonic territories that reach concrete music, electro-acoustic experimentation and sonic abstractionism. Persia, the cradle of a millenary culture, is teeming with young talents who continue their musical research with enthusiasm, pride and self-denial in the territories of drone music, as in electronic experimentalism and in the contamination of genres. To some names already present in volume I (Xerxes The Dark, IDFT, Reza Solatipour, etc ..), new discoveries are added that contribute to making the journey through the new Persian music exciting to the point that we can no longer speak of an emerging scene, but of a consolidated musical reality like others in the West.

Raffaele Pezzella

credits

Freeform thanks Raffaele Pezzella (Sonologyst) for providing us with a promotional copy of this release.

released July 29, 2022

Curated and mastered by Raffaele Pezzella (Sonologyst)
sonologyst.com
Graphic Design by Abby Helasdottir
Co-released by Unexplained Sounds Group and Cold Spring
© 2022. All rights reserved
experimental avant-garde drone improvisation musique concrete sound art Italy

 

 

 

17 March 2020: Music for Social Isolation: John McLaughlin / Drone Islands

John McLaughlin, Shankar Mahadevan, Zakir Hussain 

Is That So? 

Six years in the making, Is that So? is one of John McLaughlin's deepest and most profound musical collaborations with prolific Indian composer and vocalist Shankar Mahadevan. Joining the duo is their life-long friend and musical brother Ustad Zakir Hussain on the tabla, who has been collaborating with John since they founded Shakti in the early '70s, acknowledged by most to be the first groundbreaking crossover East-West musical group. 'The idea for this album appeared in my mind early 2013. Shankar and I had been touring with Shakti and I was constantly inspired by his superb voice and gigantic talent. Even though I had studied the theory and practice of Indian music for years, I remain a 'Western' musician and one aspect of Western music is the magic of harmony', says John. 'From the outset in the early 1970's, I constantly researched the possibilities of integrating harmony into the traditions of North and South India while at the same time keeping as close as possible to the melodic rules of the Raga system. However, the idea I mention above, was to abandon the rules of the Raga system completely and apply my own western harmonic liberty to the amazing voice of Shankar Mahadevan. ''Before concerts, John and I used to dabble with free improvisations using Indian scales (Ragas) and different harmonies backing them', says Shankar Mahadevan. 'The whole texture, color, feeling and the canvas of the music excited us as harmonic content does not exist in Indian classical music. In the beginning it was just a fun experiment, but it soon became larger than life and we knew we had to record it. When Zakir Hussain, the great tabla Maestro himself agreed to play in the improvisational sections we knew this would take our recording to a new level. We could not have asked for more. Is that So? is a a new concept in the meeting of musicians, singers, percussionists and the musical cultures of the East and West and takes us into unexplored musical horizons.  

 

2nd volume of the series Drone Islands, "Drone Islands - The Lost Maps" continues Eighth Tower Records' deep explorations into the realm of "droning music". Alongside drone ambient music masters like TROUM, Rapoon, Schloss Tegal, Autopsia, and well known dark ambient projects like Alphaxone, Taphephobia, the volume presents experimentalists such Simon Balestrazzi, Trauma Terrestrial, as well extremely interesting young musicians like Gaspar Peralta. Solid realities and new promises is a sign of the best international drone music.

Raffaele Pezzella

credits

released January 31, 2020

REVIEWS

Santa Sangre
santasangremagazine.wordpress.com/2020/03/09/various-artists-drone-islands-the-lost-maps/

Musique Machine
www.musiquemachine.com/reviews/reviews_template.php?id=7704

Densidad
www.densidad2025.com/resena/drone-islands-the-lost-maps-english-version

Rosa Selvaggia
www.rosaselvaggia.com/recens.dischi_02_20.htm

Head-Banger Reviews
headbangerreviews.wordpress.com/2020/01/28/eighth-tower-records-drone-islands-the-lost-maps/

© Eighth Tower Records
Curated by Raffaele Pezzella (a.k.a. Sonologyst)
Artwork: Francesco Di Stasio
Mastering: Sonologyst
sonologyst.com
200 copies limited edition CD
© All rights reserved

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