Here’s my newest episode of Getting Warmer for NTS Radio. I was working on this as news was breaking about the fire at Notre Dame cathedral, so I was thinking a lot about sacred music and sacred spaces, but also about the hard lines we draw between devotional music and non-denominational music that still embodies some aspects of reverence for the divine, and what it means to enjoy music or other aesthetic remnants of religions that we don’t necessarily subscribe to or think are problematic. Some of this music is explicitly religious, and some of it isn’t. I hope you like it! You can download an mp3 version here.
Tracklist: 1. Skin – Blood On Your Hands 2. Roberto Musci – Lidia After The Snow 3. Kenji Kawai – 謡II (Ghost City: Chant II) 4. Les Nouvelles Polyphonies Corses With Hector Zazou – Eramu In Campu 5. Sœur Marie Keyrouz – L’Apostikhon de l’Office de Mercredi Saint (Prière de Marie-Madeleine) “Ya Rabbi”… 6. Sainkho Namtchylak – Haragannig 7. David Hykes & The Harmonic Choir – Kyrie Opening 8. Dead Can Dance – Wilderness 9. Geinoh Yamashirogumi – カライ・モーメ (さあ行きましょう、娘さん) 10. Urszula Dudziak – Po Tamtej Stronie Gory 11. Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir – Kalimankou Denkou 12. Dead Can Dance – The Host Of Seraphim 13. Jocelyn Montgomery With David Lynch – Alleluia 14. Geinoh Yamashirogumi – Kleenex 15. Elena Ledda & Mauro Palmas – Sett’ispadas De Dolore
This month’s mix for 
This month for 
Another favorite collection of compositions by 
Very much a quiet “wow” record. Warm, dusty, honeyed Chicago private press folk pop. The only release from the group, which included Katherine Parsons, Kathryn Davis, W. Wilson, T. Shiek, J. Bill, and K. Peterson. Bare-bones, baroque-pop harmonies over simple guitar parts and percussion, pegging them on first listen as Bacharach-tinged lo-fi bedroom folk contemporaries of Peter Paul & Mary (fittingly, “Rich Man, Poor Man” is a cover of a Peter Paul & Mary song, originally released in 1968). But! there’s more–there’s an unsmilingly blunt closeness to the vocal quality that reminds me of Marine Girls, The Roches, but also sounds much more antiquated than what I associate with 1969–it reminds me a lot of the tones that I’m used to hearing in recordings from the 50’s, or even the 40’s–though maybe that’s just degraded recording quality coloring my perception.
These swooning, girl group harmonies will definitely work for fans of 
Scribble was a short-lived project of Australian musician and songwriter Johanna Pigott, formerly of punk band XL Capris. Acting as lead vocalist, guitarist, pianist, keyboardist, songwriter, and producer, Pigott recruited her partner Todd Hunter for bass and keyboards, as well as a slew of session musicians. She eventually dissolved Scribble to focus more on her writing, and went on to rack up many songwriting and screenwriting credits, including Keith Urban’s first single, “
Pristine minimal ambience from Italian musical giant Giusto Pio. Best known for his many collaborations with Franco Battiato, Pio was a composer and world class classical violinist born in Castelfranco Veneto in 1926. He was sought out by Battiato as a violin teacher, but the two went on to sculpt Battiato’s sound from post-prog to minimalism to Europop, with many other projects along the way, like their contributions to 
Ridiculously catchy Belgian new wave disco-funk. Bombastic, soulful vocals from Sarah Osborne; Martyn Ware production, of course. Not too much to say about this other than that it fills a dance floor very quickly. Good for fans of Liquid Liquid, ESG, Lizzy Mercier Descloux. I’m also including a bonus b-side from the single for “Valley of the Kings” called “Wrap Your Legs (Around Your Head)” which, uh, really slaps.
Here’s my newest episode of