This year was packed with good music, new and old. So let’s see what ended up on my stereo this year.

My latest addition was “The God Within” by Othon. This is one of the rare albums that doesn’t really work in the background. You just have to sit down and emerge yourself in the music. However, if you know his previous works, you will be surprised: Gone is the experimental pop music with vocals by artists like Marc Almond or Ernesto Tomasini. Though there was always something “classical” about his music, I never expected a man and his piano only (though there are some ambient sounds in the background here and there). The compositions are beautiful, meditative and haunting pieces and that makes the album so strong and beautiful. But listen for yourself:

A different kind of piano music came from Amanda Palmer. For “There Will Be No Intermissions” the self-styled “punk piano player” wrote a couple of personal ballads where she hits the key with a hard edge and worked together with a lot of guest musicians.

The album that haunted me the most this year was probably “Everywhere, an Empty Bliss” by The Caretaker. He works with manipulated samples of ballroom music from the 1930 to explore memory and memory loss. After completing his six part cycle “Everywhere at the End of Time” about dementia and Alzheimers he explored the same themes in a more condensed form.

The Caretaker reminded me of Robert Ashley‘s work “Automatic Writing” from 1979 where he explores Tourette’s syndrome musically. Though he has a more traditional approach to writing music, you cannot deny certain similarities.

Another beautiful album is the Soundtrack to the movie “Far from the Apple Tree” by Rose McDowall and Shawn Pinchbeck. Though I haven’t seen the movie, the music is a collection of haunting songs accompanied by guitars and sound effects.

Similar haunting melodies you will find on actress Maria Monti’s album “Il Bestiario” that was already released in 1974.

Another singing actress is Emmanuelle Seigner who teamed up with musicians from The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Limiñanas to from L’Épée. Their debut album “Diabolique” is a cool brew of groovy rock and French chansons.

If you like rock music, you might enjoy the latest album by the Swans. “Leaving Meaning” sees the group developing further with many guest musicians that help create various soundscapes, always changing, dissolving and assembling.

Here I can also recommend the album “Offenbarung und Untergang” that Swan’s singer Michael Gira recorded with Étant Donnés. Together they interpret a poem by Austrian poet Georg Trakl and perfectly capture the darkness of the lyrics musically.

If you like your rock more extreme, I can recommend Sunn O))). When I saw them live this year, their experimental doom metal was so loud that the whole room was vibrating and my whole body with it. Their “Life Metal” album captures the sound of that concert very will – especially when you buy it on vinyl to get the full scope of the recorded frequencies.

Somewhat experimental rock music is featured on “Metaprogramação” by Brazilian band Deafkids. They fuse metal, industrial and alternative rock to their own unique sound.

Land of Kush made great album mixing oriental music with jazz, pop, folk and experimental sounds. For me, the album works more as a whole, but here is one of the tracks so you can see what it sounds like.

To not make this piece too long, here are further jazz and folk artists I liked to listen to this year: Turkish singer and songwriter Gaye Su Akyol, Gabonese musician Pierre Akendengué (especially his album “Nandipo”), the 1960’s and 70’s albums by Jazz legend The Art Ensemble of Chicago (especially “Fanfare for the Warriors”), the ritual music of the “Themes” albums by Psychic TV and last but not least the Colombian band Yaki Kandru who play with Native American instruments. Sadly I only own a live album and have never ever seen any of their studio albums somewhere. But listen how amazing they sound:

As far as searching for records goes: This year I finally found an affordable copy of “The Faust Tapes” by Faust, which, for me, is the best album of the krautrockers. Another interesting collection of sounds, bits and pieces was “Eskimo Deconstructed” by The Residents. They literately blew their classic “Eskimo” to pieces and put it back together to something new. Another interesting project was Nurse With Wound‘s collaboration with The James Worse Public Address Method. On “The Vursiflenze Mismantler” they experiment with all kinds of vocal sounds and strange poems in a fantasy language that very much sounds like English but is not understandable at all. Another linguistic experiment is “Play Wooden Child” by the Nodding God who sing in Akkadian, an extinct Semitic language spoken in ancient Mesopotamia.

Another interesting sound experiment is “Hunters in the Snow” by Anemone Tube featuring Jarl and Monocube, a contemplation of Pieter Bruegel’s “Series of the Seasons”.

Here are some pop records that I liked to listen to in 2019: “More Than a Feeling” by former fun punk band Die Goldenen Zitronen is a pop meditation on building walls. Already released in 1985, Λένα Πλάτωνος album “Γκάλοπ” is probably one of the best synth pop albums of the decade and still works very will today. Lana Del Rey has shown on “Norman Fucking Rockwell” that she really is a gifted songwriter. Last but not least Anni Hogan teamed up with a different singers to record her first pop record since – probably – the 1980’s.

So, now I put on some music and prepare some food for tonight’s party. I wish you all the best for 2020.

Oh, if you haven’t seen it, I also released a new album with my project mockART. Here is another track from Country Songs:

The post The Music Within appeared first on rabirius.

As you know, I mainly show a collection of my photographs here – so I will start this post with a The Concert – a picture I’ve taken in Istanbul some years ago and which you might have seen here already. You might have seen my post Greatest Hits as well, where I wrote about the music I liked in 2013 – and as you can guess, here I will write about great music I discovered in 2014. Though, this time around I don’t really have one or two favorites, so I would like to introduce you to 10 artist/records I discovered, ordered alphabetically:

Marc Almond

Marc Almond was really busy last year, publishing three albums. The most accessible is probably The Dancing Marquis (SFE) where he successfully combines strings, glam rock guitars and some electronic beats. But the highlights were the other two records. The Tyburn Tree (recorded with John Harle / Sospiro Music) evokes the ‚Dark London‘ of the 19th century with pop, classical music and a little jazz – whereas his Ten Plagues (SFE) are more minimalistic piano music. As you might guess, it evolves around an outbreak of the plague – so prepare for something more sinister.

Aynur: Hevra/Together

Strangely, when you mention Aynur in Turkey, no one knows who you are talking about until you mention her last name: Doğan. She is one of many talented Kurdish artists in Turkey – though what makes Hevra (Sony Music) stand out is the production by Javier Limón who adds a spark of Spanish music and therefore takes the musical traditions Aynur incorporates in her music to a whole new level.

Einstürzende Neubauten: Lament

On Lament (Mute Records) Einstürzende Neubauten tried to evoke World War I with different musical forms that remind you of their early industrial/noise phase, as well as their later phase which you might nearly call pop music. But there are also poems, hymns and animal noises to be found.

Elena Hristova & Goran Trajkoski: Bioscopia

As far as I know, Bioscopia (SJF) is the only record Elena Hristova & Goran Trajkoski recorded together. The recording from 2011 combines Macedonian music with classical and jazzy elements to an atmospheric piece of music.

Norberto Lobo: Fornalha

With Fornalha (Three Four Records) Portuguese artist Norberto Lobo recorded an album with experimental guitar sounds. As I play guitar myself, I think you probably have to forget everything your teacher ever told you about how to use this instrument to create such intense soundscapes.

T.R. Mahalingam: Portrait Of A Prodigy: His Early Years, 1940s-1950s

His Early Years (EM Records) is an interesting collection of early recordings by the Indian flautist T.R. Mahalingam, also known as Mali. What makes these recordings so special is his sense for melody and rhythm. The music here was beautifully remastered, though as it was taken from old records, prepare for some cracks and noises. However, I think they only give a nice vintage feel to the music.

Othon: Pineal

The new album Pineal (SFE) by Greek artist Othon Mataragas starts basically where he left off with his previous albums and takes us back to some futuristic cabaret where we can here incredible voice of Italian singer Ernesto Tomasini. But in the second half of the album Othon takes us over the ocean and deep into the Brazilian rain forest. To me, the whole album feels a bit like a trip back to nature.

Umay Umay & Cem Adrian: Cam Havli

Cem Adrian is probably one of Turkey most talented singers. But he also is a good songwriter and since his album Emir he also developed the his ability for beautiful and original arrangements. On Cam Havli (Dokuz Sekiz) he teams up with Umay Umay and delivers another collection of wonderful music.

Scott Walker + Sunn O))): Soused

Since I first heard the 1960’s recordings of Scott Walker I was fascinated by his music. I also remember when I bought his album Tilt and was introduced to his new sound, which is most brilliant, but certainly difficult to digest. When I heard that he recorded Soused (4AD) with Sunn O))) I was sure it would be another difficult affair. And though the darkish soundscapes might sound somewhat disturbing, it is definitely the most accessible album he has recorded since the 1980s. Nonetheless, it is another brilliant work.

Ruben Zahra: Arabesque

The music Ruben Zahra creates on Arabesque (Soundscapes) you would probably file under contemporary classical music. Though I also discovered some traditional Maltese elements as well as some sparks of jazz and so, the musical genres start to blur to an interesting composition.

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