Tag: latin

Mix for Sanpo Disco

Honored to contribute a mix to Sanpo Disco, a very inspiring Melbourne-based mix series that I’ve been a fan of for a long time. This is meant to be a pushback against the most brutal New York winter in recent memory: tropical and Latin textures, pillowy synths, ocean waves, sunny Japanese garage pop, crickets. Yes, that’s John Martyn covering “Over The Rainbow,” and it’s just as weird-good as you’re hoping. You can download an mp3 version here. Cheers, and stay warm!

Tracklisting: 1. John Martyn – Over The Rainbow 2. Art of Noise – Crusoe (Ambient Version) 3. Pili Pili – Be In Two Minds 4. Yoshiaki Ochi – Ear Dreamin’ 5. Unknown Cambodian Artist – Side B, Track 1 (Edit) (Sayonara Sound Productions 16) 6. Akira Ito – W・A・T・E・R 7. Sally Oldfield – Blue Water 8. The Coconuts – Did You Have To Love Me Like You Did? 9. Yuki Okazaki – アイドルを探せ 10. Grace Jones – The Crossing (Ooh The Action…) (Edit) 11. Ana Gabriel – Parece Que Fue Ayer (For C) 12. Ryuichi Sakamoto – Put Your Hands Up 13. Karin Krog – Hymn To Joy 14. Sven Grünberg – Temaga 15. Владимир Леви & Ким Брейтбург – Не Уходи, Дарящий 16. World Standard – 私の20世紀 (My 20th Century) 17. Piero Milesi & Daniel Bacalov – Camera 2 Parte

Hildegard von Bingen – A Feather on the Breath of God, 1984


Saint Hildegard von Bingen (1098 – 17 September 1179) was a German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, poet, doctor, visionary, Christian mystic, and polymath. She founded the practice of scientific natural history in Germany, lived to the age of 81 at a time when the life expectancy was early 40s at best, and wrote the oldest surviving morality play (sometimes called the first musical drama). Despite having no formal musical training, she was responsible for some of the most hauntingly beautiful and enduring music to come out of medieval Catholicism. Her compositions broke many of the existing conventions of plainchant, using extremes of register, dramatic leaps of pitch, melismas and flourishes to express rhapsodic, overflowing emotion. Sublime delivery of this collection of her songs by UK ensemble Gothic Voices and soprano Emma Kirkby, globally renowned early music specialist. Perfect hurricane soundtrack music.


The Hilliard Ensemble – Pérotin, 1989


When I was in high school, a burned copy of this CD made the rounds among the “cool” choir kids. It was passed discreetly with knowing nods, intended for the ears of those who would “get it.” To this day, it’s still one of my favorite choral compilations (if only I were still in high school, maybe I could still be cool), but I think it speaks to a much wider range of people than a few self-aggrandizing choir dorks might have imagined. Performed by the venerated/veteran Hilliard Ensemble* (they mostly perform early music, but have also dabbled in Gavin Bryars and John Cage, and have collaborated a lot with Arvo Pärt), this is a collection of works written by the legendary Pérotin, who lived sometime in the late 12th and early 13th century and was responsible for some of the earliest polyphonic music of which we have written and attributed documentation. (Gregorian chant is earlier and is monophonic.) All that aside, this music is spacious, vibrant, and dovetailing. It doesn’t mind if you’re uninterested in Christianity or choral music or even the western tradition.


*If anyone’s going to be in London around Christmas, the Hilliard Ensemble’s last performance ever will be on December 20th at Wigmore Hall. They’ll be performing Pérotin’s “Viderunt Omnes,” one of the few existing examples of four-part organa, among others. It will be a seriously historical moment, so don’t miss it. Tickets here.