indian classical – Listen To This

15 Favorite Releases of 2020

In the spirit of the season, I wanted to share my favorite releases of the year. Not exhaustive, just some personal highlights. Happy holidays!

Previously: 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015

	Ali Akbar Khan – Signature Series: Three Ragas, 1990 buy / download
	Angelo Badalamenti – Twin Peaks, 1990 buy / download
	The ARC Gospel Choir – Bound For The Promised Land, 1990 buy / download
	The Art Of Noise – The Ambient Collection, 1990 buy / download
	Cocteau Twins – Heaven or Las Vegas, 1990 buy
	Dead Can Dance – Aion, 1990 buy
	Deee-Lite – World Clique, 1990 buy / download
	Depeche Mode – Violator, 1990 buy
	Mariah Carey – Mariah Carey, 1990 buy
	No Smoke – International Smoke Signal, 1990 buy / download
	Pet Shop Boys – Behaviour, 1990 buy / download
	Pixies – Bossanova, 1990 buy
	Prefab Sprout – Jordan: The Comeback, 1990 buy / download
	Soul II Soul – Vol. II (1990 – A New Decade), 1990 buy / download
	Woo – Into The Heart Of Love, 1990 buy / download

Guest Mix: Appel d’Air Vol. 2

Guest post by John Also Bennett (JAB / Seabat / Forma). JAB’s debut solo album Erg Herbe was released on Shelter Press earlier this year.

This mix was compiled as the second volume in my “Appel d’ Air” mix series, the first volume of which is available here. It takes its name from the Michel Redolfi album of the same name. I’m always looking for music that uses flute or wind instruments, open spaces, and environmental sound in tandem, even if these conditions are only met loosely. In this collection I included two pieces of music originally composed as environmental music for video games (“Inside The Deku Tree” from Legend of Zelda and a Resident Evil Save Room theme), both of which were designed to color the atmosphere of a virtual space, and both of which use flute (albeit electronic). Eva-Maria Houben’s “ein schlummer (a slumber)” uses flute and organ and their reverberations inside a large cathedral: the near silences between notes as the reverb tails off are as important as the notes themselves. I also included one of my own compositions, “Chanterai por mon coraige,” recorded in a decrepit mill in the French countryside, pictured above. Like many of the pieces included on this mix, the sound of the space in which the piece was recorded plays a role in the composition; in this case evening crickets and the churning of a nearby creek. You can download an mp3 version here.

Tracklist:

1. Daniel Kobialka – Organic Eternity (Excerpt)

2. Koji Kondo – Inside The Deku Tree (Legend of Zelda – Ocarina Of Time)

3. Mary Jane Leach – Downland’s Tears (Excerpt)

4. Vijay Raghav Rao – Raga Malkauns – Alap and Gat n Jhaptal

5. Jim Fassett – Symphony Of The Birds (Third Movement)

6. Eva-Maria Houben – ein schlummer (a slumber)

7. Steve Roach – Spectre

8. Mamoru Samuragochi – Resident Evil – Save Room (2002 Remake)

9. Harold Budd with Jon Gibson – How Vacantly You Stare At Me

10. Che Chen & Robbie Lee – This Was The Only Place That Was Green

11. JAB – Chanterai por mon coraige

12. Jefre-Cantu Ledesma – Joy

Peter Walker – Rainy Day Raga, 1966

I hope that if it’s still torrential downpouring where you are, this gets to you in time to be a helpful addition! Peter Walker is a Boston-born steel string guitar legend who left home at 14 to begin his lifelong project of musical study and research. He traveled, toured, and hitchhiked through America, Mexico, North Africa, Algeria, Morocco, and Spain, but it was seeing Ravi Shankar perform in San Francisco in the early 60s that sparked his fascination with Indian classical–he went on to study under both Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan. In the mid-60’s he embedded himself in the Greenwich Village folk scene, becoming close with Sandy Bull, Karen Dalton, Joan Baez, and eventually Timothy Leary, for whom he served as a “musical director.”

This was the first of two full lengths he recorded before a 40 year hiatus, until he was later coaxed out of retirement by Joshua Rosenthal of Tompkins Square Records in 2007, at which point he went on to release a slew of new material and tour extensively. Though his interplay with Appalachian (and more generally American) folk, Indian raga, and flamenco was still taking shape upon the release of Rainy Day Raga (his follow-up “Second Poem To Karmela” leans into Indian traditions much more explicitly), I love it for its raucous joy, tumbling lines of masterful fingerpicking building into extended crescendoes before a long cooldown. A very appropriate indoor rainy day soundtrack. For fans of Robbie Băsho, Leo Kottke, and Sandy Bull.

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[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 23

Here’s my most recent episode of Getting Warmer for NTS Radio. If it isn’t painfully obvious, I recently revisited the 1993 version of The Secret Garden, something I watched obsessively as a kid. This time I was struck by its gorgeous soundtrack, the moody world it lives in, its textural depth, and, as is often the case with my childhood movies, its easy elision of colonialism. This mix is about the pastoral, in the British countryside sense but also seeing the pastoral elsewhere. It’s about the projection and fantasy of exotica, musical migration as a result of colonialism, escapism, and essentialism; and is somewhat of a continuation of this mix. It’s also full of birds, bells, and field recordings, because it’s spring, sort of. You can download an mp3 version here. Thanks for listening!

Tracklisting:

1. Fernando Falcão – Revoada

2. Jean C. Roché / Birds – Palmar

3. Toshifumi Hinata – Fire And Forever

4. Mecano – Hawaii-Bombay

5. Per Tjernberg – They Call Me

6. Zbigniew Preisner – First Time Outside

7. Francis Bebey – Forest Nativity

8. Virginia Astley – Sanctus

9. Kudsi Erguner & Xavier Bellenger – Rahat-Ul-Ervah: Le Repos Des Esprits

10. Virginia Astley – From Gardens Where We Feel Secure

11. Kelan Phil Cohran & Legacy – White Nile

12. Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Yvette Mimieux & Charles Baudelaire – To A Passer-By

13. Raul Lovisoni – Hula Om

14. Bridget St. John – Ask Me No Questions

[Mix for LYL Radio] The Oddlogs Episode 4

I made a two hour guest mix of long-form instrumentals for Lyon/Paris based online radio station LYL Radio. The Oddlogs is their series of guest sets with different music bloggers from around the world, and their lineup has been excellent thus far so I’m honored to be in such good company. I wanted to take advantage of the long time slot to use lengthier, more meditative tracks that are less synth-heavy and more acoustic-centric, with (almost) no vocals. There’s also a lot of excellent natural reverb and room tone in here. In the spirit of the music, I recorded my talkback segments in my bathroom for added reverb, and made my best attempt at ASMR-esque speaking. For what it’s worth, I think it makes a solid snow soundtrack. If you like the mix, there’s an mp3 version without my speaking in it which you can download here. Enjoy!

Tracklist:

1. Joanna Brouk – Winter Chimes

2. Raul Lovisoni – Amon Ra

3. Daniel Lentz – Lascaux

4. Daniel Schmidt & the Berkeley Gamelan – Faint Impressions

5. Daniel Kobialka – Orbital Mystery

6. David Casper -Tantra-La

7. Ernest Hood – From The Bluff (Excerpt)

8. Roberto Mazza – Artigli Arguti

9. Vincenzo Zitello – Nembo Verso Nord

10. Pandit Ram Narayan – Rāga Kirvani

11. Seigén Ono – Suimen-Jo Niwa

12. Joel Andrews – The Violet Flame, Part 2 (Excerpt)

13. Stuart Dempster – Secret Currents

Pandit Ram Narayan – L’Inde Du Nord: L’art Du Sarangi, 1971

Another favorite from the Ocora catalogue. Pandit Ram Narayan was the first internationally successful sarangi player, credited as responsible for the introduction of the sarangi as a solo concert instrument in Hindustani classical music. He’s also responsible for developing simplified sarangi fingering techniques, and elements of his tone and inflection have been widely mimicked and adapted by subsequent generations of sarangi players. There’s lengthier information about the ways in which he pushed the boundaries of both the instrument and the genre here.

The short version of the story is that this record is incredibly beautiful, and serves as a plain reminder of why the sarangi was traditionally treated as a filler instrument during solo vocal performances, meant to imitate the vocals. Ram Narayan’s sarangi is so expressive that it feels human: crying, lilting, taking melismatic nosedives and acrobatic leaps. It’s piercing but never shrill. It’s something you should hear before you die.

Note: I spent awhile wavering between sharing the original recording, which has some room tone, vinyl pops, and a sound that is both richer and muddier; and the remastered version, which is cleaned up and has a sound that is clearer but thinner. I settled on the original, but if anyone feels strongly about hearing the remastered version (which includes an additional râga), let me know and I’ll post it.

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Sivakumar Sarma – Santur: Inde Du Nord, 197-

Perfection. Pandit Sivakumar Sarma (also Shivkumar Sharma) was the first musician to play Indian classical music on the santur (a hammered dulcimer traditionally used as a folk instrument). Sarma has had a hugely prolific career and has worked with the most legendary classical musicians, but I have yet to hear very much of his catalog because I can’t tear myself away from this. Achingly beautiful work from the master of the instrument.

Note: Nobody seems to know exactly when this record was released, but based on a few hints I would guess mid-70s. This never made it to CD and to the best of my knowledge, has never been reissued (cough).

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