Tag: bulgaria

[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 51: Early Choral Music Special IV

My newest episode of Getting Warmer on NTS Radio is the fourth installment in the annual Early Choral Music special. Entirely acappella and mostly sacred, though I got a little wild and threw in a secular song from 16th century England. Also, to keep it extra spicy there’s some Hungarian and Bulgarian stuff in here too! I’ve listed the performers as the artist, and then the composers in parentheses after the song title. In full transparency, I’m neither an expert on this stuff nor am I at all religious–I just really love this music, and I think it makes an ideal winter hibernation soundtrack. I hope you like it too–if you do, you can download an mp3 version of it here. Stay warm! Previous early choral music specials: 2020, 2019, 2018

Tracklist: 1. Sequentia – Kyrieleison (Hildegard von Bingen) 2. The Tallis Scholars – Qui venit (John Taverner) 3. Sequentia – Ora pro nobis, beate Nicolae (Anonymous, France) 4. Anonymous 4 – Motet: Puellare gremium / Purissima mater (Unknown composer, England) 5. Huelgas-Ensemble – Virgo sub ethereis (Alexander Agricola) 6. Anonymous 4 – Pia mater gratie (Anonymous, France) 7. Huelgas-Ensemble – Fortuna desperata (Alexander Agricola) 8. Sequentia – O Dulcis Electe (Responsory/To St. John The Evangelist) (Hildegard von Bingen) 9. Osnabrücker Jugendchor – Miserere mei, Deus (excerpt) (Gregorio Allegri) 10. Theatre of Voices – Ve Mundo (Philip The Chancellor) 11. Anonymous 4 – Novum Decus Oritur (Unknown, Hungary) 12. Tonus Peregrinus – Quam Pulchra Est (John Dunstable) 13. The Tallis Scholars – Requiem: Taedet Animam Meam (Tomás Luis de Victoria) 14. Taverner Choir & Players – Westron Wynde (Anonymous, England) 15. Discantus – Vox in Rama (Unknown, France) 16. Tonus Peregrinus – Sanctus (John Dunstable) 17. Chamber Music Ensemble Kukuzel – Bulgarian Lament (excerpt) (Ioan Kukusel) 18. The Tallis Scholars – Dona nobis pacem (John Taverner) 19. Westminster Cathedral Choir – Sanctus (Missa Cantate) (John Sheppard)

[Mix for NTS Radio] Getting Warmer Episode 33

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

25 Favorite Releases of 2017

In the spirit of the season, I wanted to share some of my favorite releases of the year. Obviously not exhaustive; just some personal highlights. Quite a few of these are giant major label releases, so I’ll be taking down those download links quickly or leaving them off accordingly. Let me know if links are broken. Happy holidays!

Previously: 2016 | 2015

Alice Coltrane – Divine Songs, 1987 buy comp / download
Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir – Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, Vol. 2, 1987 buy / download
Cleaners From Venus – Going To England, 1987 download
David Sylvian – Secrets Of The Beehive, 1987 buy / download
Depeche Mode – Music For The Masses, 1987 buy
dip in the pool & Masahide Sakuma – 黒いドレスの女 OST, 1987 download
Dolly Parton, Linda Rondstadt & Emmylou Harris – Trio, 1987 buy
Elicoide – Elicoide, 1987 buy / download
Eric B. & Rakim – Paid In Full, 1987 buy / download
Frankie Knuckles & Jamie Principle – Baby Wants To Ride/Your Love, 1987 buy
Geoffrey Landers – Many Hands Make Light, 1987 buy
George Michael – Faith, 1987 buy
Haruomi Hosono – The Tale Of Genji, 1987 download
Ichiko Hashimoto – Mood Music, 1987 download
Isabelle Antena – Hoping For Love, 1987 buy / download
Laraaji – Essence/Universe, 1987 buy / download
Masahiro Sugaya – Music From Alejo, 1987 download
Meredith Monk – Do You Be, 1987 buy / download
Michael Jackson – Bad, 1987 buy
Pet Shop Boys – Actually, 1987 buy
Phuture – Acid Tracks, 1987 buy / download
Pizzicato Five – Pizzicatomania, 1987 download
Prince – Sign O’ The Times, 1987 buy
Sinead O’Connor – The Lion And The Cobra, 1987 buy
Yasuaki Shimizu – Music For Commercials, 1987 buy / download
 

Kenji Kawai – Ghost In The Shell, 1995


A few days ago, poor Steve Aoki revealed his remix of the iconic 攻殻機動隊 (Ghost in the Shell) theme for the forthcoming remake. The remix is the EDM equivalent of trying to embroider lace with a power drill, and incensed anime fans have flooded the comments with rage (as well as with links to the also-iconic theme from the Stand Alone Complex series). Rather than adding further insult to injury, I wanted to share the original soundtrack, as it’s one of the best anime soundtracks (and arguably one of the best soundtracks, period).

To make the aforementioned theme, scoring giant Kenji Kawai combined Bulgarian choral harmonies and traditional Japanese vocal techniques into a wedding song with lyrics in the ancient Japanese language Yamato Kotaba. The theme is repeated in three different variations, all of which should give you goosebumps. The rest of the soundtrack is gorgeous, murky atmospherics: submerged keyboards, sparse taiko, synthetic strings, ominous clanging, a lone (Spanish?) guitar. If you haven’t seen the movie, song titles like “Nightstalker” and “Floating Museum” should be able to paint a sufficient picture. The real curveball is the closer, sometimes listed as a bonus track, which is a bubblegum pop sung in Cantonese. Many reviewers complain about the inclusion of the jarring closer, but I think a slightly psychotic ending makes sense in the context of a movie about fragmented personhood in a cyberpunk dystopia. Bonus round: here’s a very beautiful live performance of the theme.