Rome is a Luxembourgish dark folk act founded in late 2005 as the main output for the songs of Jerome Reuter and was joined by co-producer Patrick Damiani as official member in early 2008. In 2009, violinist Nikos Mavridis officially joined the band to further contribute to the creation of their unique sound, which they themselves refer to as Chanson Noir. Rome's music blends excellent songwriting craftsmanship, unusual arrangements and fine poetry into a musical output that combines chanson, dark ambient, apocalyptic folk, acoustic rock, cold wave – all rolled into one impressive avant-garde package. Highly recommended!
Artist: Rome
Album: Flowers from Exile
Year: 2009
Genre: folk, dark
Tracks:
1. To A Generation Of Destroyers
2. Accidents Of Gesture
3. Odessa
4. The Secret Sons Of Europe
5. The Hollow Self
6. A Legacy Of Unrest
7. To Die Among Strangers
8. A Culture Of Fragments
9. We Who Fell In Love With The Sea
10. Swords To Rust-Hearts To Dust
11. Flowers From Exile
12. Flight In Formation
The Boats is a three-piece post-rock band from Melbourne, Australia. This is their first full-length album, released in 2007. The Boats are an atmospheric, dynamic and a beautifully improvised instrumental experience, creating sonic sketches of looped guitars, bass and drums. Dark and beautiful. Recommended!
Artist: The Boats
Album: Los Musicos Perdidos
Year: 2007
Genre: post-rock, experimental, dark
Tracks:
1. Warmth From A Window
2. 2 AM
3. The Sea Is In The Boat
4. Los Musicos Peridos
5. Strawberry
6. Little Black Rays Of Hope
7. Alone In Us (I Hope)
8. Asylum
John Erik Kaada is a musical artist and composer from Stavanger, Norway. He has been working as a composer of film music and as a extensive touring solo artist. This is his most recent album, released in 2009. It's not easy to put his music in one genre. I'd say that combines neo-classical with electronica and experimental music. In any case, excellent album; highly recommended!
Tracks:
1. A day and a night and a day
2. Truth serum
3. Ode to the old flesh
4. Hammering down the nails
5. Dragging an ox
6. Marja Dalia, The Polska Bogini
7. Broken Horse Restaurant
8. Late bloOmer Gipsiara
9. The Hermetic Bird
10. All the things that grow old and pass away
11. We salute you, polish working man
Grande Duke is a trio from Derby, UK. This is their debut EP released a few days ago on Fight Me records. Their music combines elements from post-rock, post-metal, math-rock and jazz. The latter is definitely the most promising part of this EP. Give it a try!
Artist: Grande Duke
Album: Grande Duke
Year: 2010
Genre: post-rock, post-metal, instrumental, jazz
Tracks:
1. Stonecutter
2. Duke of Rain
3. Lunacy by Sea Wind
4. Chora
Started by two high school friends from Queens, New York, in 2005, The American Dollar creates cinematic, electronica-tinged instrumental rock. The duo fuses processed drums, spacious keyboards and powerful organ swells with electric guitar and bass, creating deep sonic textures while maintaining the passion and energy of a live band. The swirling soundscapes build and swell, punctuated by glitchy beats, breathing and expanding into crashing guitars and soaring leads: precisely constructed symphonies for a new era. A great band; this is their most recent album, released earlier this year. Recommended!
Artist: The American Dollar
Album: Atlas
Year: 2010
Genre: post-rock, instrumental, ambient, cinematic
Tracks:
1. A Few Words
2. Age of Wonder
3. Fade In Out
4. Shadows
5. Oil and Water
6. Circuits
7. Red Letter
8. Clones
9. Equinox
10. Second Sight
11. Frontier Melt
12. Flood
13. Escapist
Aufgang is a French trio comprised of Juilliard-trained pianists Francesco Tristano and Rami Khalifé as well as drummer Aymeric Westrich. They explore the line between avant-garde, modern classical and four-to-the-floor drumming. This is their debut, released in 2009. Excellent mixture of piano, drums and electronics!
Howard Zinn died yesterday, aged 87. Zinn was a historian, playwright, and social activist, one of the greatest voices of the US left. He is perhaps best known for the million-plus best-seller "A People's History of the United States", which presents American history through the eyes of those rarely heard in mainstream histories.
Growing up in an immigrant, working-class family in Brooklyn, Zinn became a shipyard worker at 18, later joining the air force and flying a bomber during the second world war. His experiences shaped his opposition to war, and on his return he took a PhD in history at Columbia University, later working with civil rights movement activists including Alice Walker and Marian Wright Edelman, and leading antiwar protests. Professor emeritus at Boston University, Zinn received a host of honours, most recently the 2010 Martin Luther King, Jr Humanitarian award from New York University for embodying "a vision of peace, persistence in purpose, and inspirational action" [The Guardian].
Howard Zinn was a founder of the Zinn Education project, which promotes the teaching of A People's History in schools throughout America. Moreover, he was a leading member of Voices a education, arts and social justice organization, which aims to encourage civic engagement and to further history education by bringing the history of the US to life through public readings of primary-source materials. Voices works to remind people of the eloquence of ordinary people, as well as extraordinary and well-known figures from the American history.
In 2002, his autobiography, "You Can't be Neutral on a Moving Train", was published and the words that end the book are probably the best tribute:
To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places--and there are so many--where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of the world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.
Parisian hip-hop devotee Laurent Daumail (DJ Cam) is one of a few but growing number of French artists updating hip-hop for the chill-out crowd. Here, he collaborates with other great artists to create this brilliant album. The quartet comprises of DJ Cam on scratches, strings, drums and programming; Alexandre Tassel on the Bugle; Christian Brun plays guitar and Jerome Regard is on bass. Excellent nu-jazz/chillout/hip-hop. Highly recommended!
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