Howard Zinn - interview

A great interview at the Greek website TVXS.gr. He talks about different issues: war, Barack Obama, social movements and his personal experiences.

More Info:
HowardZinn.org
Wikipedia

War


Barack Obama


Social Movements


Personal Experiences

Cayetano - Focused

Giorgos Bratanis aka Cayetano is a Greek artist, former member of "Stroggilo Kitrino". His music combines elements from dub, funk, electronica but also from Latin American music and reggae. "Focused" is his third album released in 2006. Piano, trumpet, classic guitars, electronic sounds and ethereal vocals worked together, in order to create this multi-coloured sound puzzle. Highly recommended!

Artist: Cayetano
Album: Focused
Year: 2006
Genre: dub, electronica, cinematic etc

Tracks:
1. Mathematical Sorrow
2. Sweet Poke
3. Las Sirenas
4. Stretto Cafe '06
5. Stay
6. Red Winter
7. After All [It's Bossa]
8. La Poupee
9. Une Histoire Si Petite
10. Spiritual Sun
11. Focused
12. Red Winter II
13. The Light Around You
Cayetano feat. Valia - Feel [bonus track]

Official Website (go here to buy!)
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy!

Alcest - Souvenirs d'un autre monde

Alcest is a French band created by Neige (also in Amesoeurs, Peste Noire and Forgotten Woods) in early 2000. He began writing songs on his own but a few months afterwards Argoth (bass) and Famine from Peste Noire (lead guitar) joined him and his solo project became a real band. Beginning as a raw black metal, Alcest later became a vessel for Neige's "memories of another world" as the band evolved into his solo-project. His music now draws more comparison to other genres such as shoegaze and post-rock. This is his debut full-length album, released in 2007. Really beautiful music!

Artist: Alcest
Album: Souvenirs d'un autre monde
Year: 2007
Genre: shoegaze, post-rock

Tracks:
1. Printemps Émeraude
2. Souvenirs d'un autre monde
3. Les Iris
4. Ciel Errant
5. Sur l'autre rive je t'attendrai
6. Tir Nan Og

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here or here (N.America only)
Check the comments to listen first.

Pacific UV - Longplay 2

Pacific UV formed in Georgia, USA, in 1998. Their style is frequently categorized as utilizing elements of dream-pop, post-rock and shoegaze. This is their second full-length album; it has become very successful since its release in 2008. Beautiful! Highly recommended!

Artist: Pacific UV
Album: Longplay 2
Year: 2008
Genre: shoegaze, dream-pop, indie, post-rock

Tracks:
1. Alarmist
2. Need
3. Tremolo
4. Something Told Us
5. Waiting
6. Orson
7. If So
8. Ljiv

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace (buy from here)

Check the comments to listen first.

Oldboy (2003)

There are some movies that keep you quiet for a few minutes after seeing them; Oldboy is definitely one of them. I am a bit biased since this is one of my favourite movies. Directed by Park Chan-Wook, it is based on a Japanese manga of the same name written by Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya. Oldboy is the second installment of The Vengeance Trilogy, preceded by "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance"(2002) and followed by "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance"(2005). Both are great movies but this one is absolutely sublime. The film is violent and shocking but also amusing and visually stunning.

Finally, the music, a combination of classical and electronica, is simply amazing. Nearly all the music cues composed by Jo Yeong-Wook are titled after movies, many of them film noirs.
Check the comments to listen!

A hugely popular and critically-acclaimed movie. A must!

More Info:
Wikipedia
IMDb

Trailer:

Cue - Bring Back My Love

Cue is a fantastic band from Texas, USA, formed in 2001. Their music was described as “a melodic and dramatic violin/piano/guitar/bass/drum sound that often crests into mountains of orchestrated assault". This is their second full-length album, the first one as four-piece group, released in 2005. The violin and the piano give an amazing feeling. Absolutely brilliant album!

Artist: Cue
Album: Bring Back My Love
Year: 2005
Genre: post-rock, instrumental, experimental

Tracks:
1. I
2. Handful Savants
3. The Sun Has Risen Twice Today
4. Every Wing All at Once
5. The End of the Rule of Nostalgia
6. VI
7. New Year (Pt. 3)
8. Thulsa Doom
9. Granny Suite
10. Bring Back My Love
11. XI

Official Website (check this to buy!)
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Epigram - Anything that comes to mind

Epigram was formed in 2007 in Toronto, Canada, and plays beautiful instrumental, post-rock music influenced by bands like Explosions in the Sky. This is their debut album released in 2008. Really good!

Artist: Epigram
Album: Anything that comes to mind
Year: 2008
Genre: post-rock, instrumental

Tracks:
1. The beginning of anything
2. Fear of Heights
3. Reunion
4. What's mine is yours
5. Always an uncomfortable silence
6. Nostradamus
7. This is not where we are supposed to be

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Please support this band. Buy from CB Baby.
Check the comments to listen first.

Tangled Thoughts of Leaving - Tiny Fragments

Tangled Thoughts of Leaving is a band formed in early 2004 in Mandurah, Australia. Their music is a unique combination of metal, post-rock and jazz. Really awesome! This is their debut EP released in 2008, which they made available for free download. Get it!

Artist: Tangled Thoughts of Leaving
Album: Tiny Fragments
Year: 2008
Genre: post-metal, post-rock, jazz, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Tiny Fragments Part One
2. Tiny Fragments Part Two
3. Tiny Fragments Part Three
4. The Banshee

Last.fm
MySpace

Download for free from the Lost Children net label. Many thanks to the band for this!
If you like it and you want to support the band, buy it from here (very cheap!)

Sex crimes and the Vatican

Earlier this week, a report about child abuse in Irish Catholic church was published. The report, nine years in the making and covering a period of six decades, found thousands of boys and girls were abused by priests and nuns. Church leaders knew about the sexual abuses.
More info@BBC: [1], [2], [3], [4]

Having this in mind, today I post a great documentary entitled "Sex crimes and the Vatican", by Colm O'Gorman, who was raped by a Catholic priest in Ireland when he was 14 years old. It was filmed for the BBC Panorama Documentary Series and shows that the Vatican used a secret document, Crimen sollicitationis, to silence allegations of sexual abuse by priests and that it was enforced for 20 years by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became the Pope.



More info:
BBC Panorama
Wikipedia
TVXS (Greek subtitles)

My Beloved - Force Feeding Love

My Beloved is an "instrumental music-noir" band from Copenhagen, Denmark. Their music is dark, mood-creating with storming crescendos and beautiful passages, based on guitar, synths, piano, drums and bass. This is their fifth and most recent album. Enjoy!

Artist: My Beloved
Album: Force Feeding Love
Year: 2008
Genre: post-rock, experimental, dark

Tracks:
1. Backworld Blues
2. Hell’s Kitchen
3. Disabled Butterfly
4. Dirty Pearl
5. Lunatic Rising
6. Retracing Steps
7. In Vitro
8. Aware Of Thorns

Official Website (check this to buy!)
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Il Cielo di Bagdad - Export for Malinconique

Il Cielo di Bagdad is a post-rock band from Aversa, Italy. They play ambient/moody-instrumental music influenced by Sigur Ros. Really beautiful!

Artist: Il Cielo di Bagdad
Album: Export for Malinconique
Year: 2008
Genre: post-rock, instrumental, ambient

Tracks:
1. Stanno tutti bene
2. A Day Of Wool
3. First Light Of Morning
4. Export For Malinconique
5. Save Your Forest
6. Mr. Butterfly
7. L’ultimo gesto
8. Magic Bus
9. Sunday Afternoon

Last.fm
MySpace

Please support this band. Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Magyar Posse - Kings of Time

Magyar Posse is a Finnish post-rock band formed in 2000 in the city of Pori, Finland. Their music is instrumental and usually has a soundtrack-like atmosphere. Their biggest influence is Ennio Morricone, although they are clearly influenced by post-rock bands like GYBE, Sigur Ros and Tortoise. They have released 3 albums so far; this is their second one. You will love it! Highly recommended!

Artist: Magyar Posse
Album: Kings of Time
Year: 2004
Genre: post-rock, cinematic, experimental

Tracks:
1. [untitled]
2. [untitled]
3. [untitled]
4. [untitled]
5. [untitled]
6. [untitled]
7. [untitled]

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Emery Reel - …For and Acted Upon Through Diversions

Emery Reel is a band from Tennessee, USA, that play lo-fi/experimental post-rock music with some fair amount of noise and intensity. Their debut album (the only one so far), released in 2003, is absolutely brilliant! One of my favourite post-rock albums. Get it!

Artist: Emery Reel
Album: …For and Acted Upon Through Diversions
Year: 2003
Genre: post-rock, instrumental, experimental

Tracks:
1. They Are Cohercing Ideas Into the Mind
2. A New Beginning
3. Hence; Therefore, Again
4. Departure of Hope
5. Cam’s March
6. His Hammer Is My Axe
7. Uneasy, the Crossing Guard

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Please support this band. Buy from CB Baby.
Check the comments to listen first.

Dead Man's Shoes (2004)

Dead Man's Shoes is a superb film directed by Shane Meadows. It's a movie about revenge, a straightforward morality tale: brutal, stark and nobody wins. The story is simple (but the message is timeless): a man goes back to his a small town to take revenge on a group of people who abused and tortured his mentally-retarded brother. Paddy Considine (also co-writer) delivers an absolutely convincing depiction of a man struggling to balance his desire for revenge and redemption.

Just like all Meadows' films, the soundtrack is spot on. Perfect songs used with impeccable timing create a distinct, moody atmosphere. Excellent movie!

More Info:
Wikipedia
IMDb
Shane Meadows (official website)

Trailer:

Halley - Forget the Leaves, Autumn Will Change Us

Halley was a band from Austin, Texas, formed in 1998 and disbanded in 2005. This is their first (and final) album, released in 2002. Their music covers everything from noisy pop, with the opening song bombarding the listener with a barrage of trumpets and trombones, to drum machine based arrangements, heavy noisy rock, and a waltz, to the final moments of an 11 minute song ending the record complete with a choir, strings, horns and a harp to finish off the solid structure of sound. Really really good!

Artist: Halley
Album: Forget the Leaves, Autumn Will Change Us
Year: 2002
Genre: post-rock, shoegaze, pop etc.

Tracks:
1. Adventures of Georgie and the Robbers (Record Player Pt 1)
2. Heart Attack on a One Way Street
3. Movie Song - Trailer Theme
4. Peninsula Pomegranate Pendegrass
5. Redlightgreenlight
6. As Cheap as Fake
7. Ellipses
8. Herkimer Battle Jetne (Record Player Pt 2)
9. Living from a Heart Palpatation
10. The Last Word Is a Silent Vowel
11. Movie Song - Love Theme
12. Kites Are Slow Downers

Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from CB Baby
Check the comments to listen first.

Ian Curtis - 29 years since his death

From wikipedia: "In the early hours of 18 May 1980, Curtis hanged himself in the kitchen of his house in Macclesfield. He had just viewed Werner Herzog's film Stroszek and listened to Iggy Pop's The Idiot."

A few videos to remember the lead singer and lyricist of Joy Division.

Love will tear us apart:


Isolation:


Decades:


The Eternal:


More info:
Wikipedia
Biography (Joy Division website)
TVXS (in Greek)
Control@IMDb (a movie for Ian Curtis)

En Plein Air - L'alba Irradia L'inutile Parola

En Plein Air is a post-rock band from Rome, Italy, that combines the post-rock guitar sound with the melodic, melancholic sound of violin and cello. Their debut EP is simply astounding. Highly recommended!

Artist: En Plein Air
Album: L'alba Irradia L'inutile Parola
Year: 2009
Genre: post-rock

Tracks:
1. L’alba
2. Irradia
3. L’inutile
4. Parola

En Plein Air @ Fluttery Records
Last.fm
MySpace

Please support this band. Buy from CB Baby.
Check the comments to listen first.

Ilha das Flores - Isle of Flowers

A classic 1989 short movie/documentary by Jorge Furtado. It tracks the path of a tomato from garden to dump with the help of a monotone voiceover and a collection of bizarre images. While a very humorous film, the message it delivers about how human beings treat each other is anything but such. With sincere irony, Furtado shows freedom is the problem of many people in a world in which only money and property count. One of the most important short movies ever made!

Ilha das Flores-sub Eng
Uploaded by Simud - News videos hot off the press.

More info:
Wikipedia
IMDb
TVXS (greek subtitles)

Esbjörn Svensson Trio - Viaticum

Esbjörn Svensson Trio were a Swedish jazz piano trio, formed in 1990, with Esbjörn Svensson (piano), Dan Berglund (double bass) and Magnus Öström (drums). E.S.T were renowned for their vibrant style, often playing in rock venues to young crowds. They achieved great commercial success and critical acclaim throughout Europe. Their 1999 release "From Gagarin's Point of View" started their international breakthrough, being the first E.S.T. album to be released outside of Scandinavia. Esbjörn Svensson tragically died after a diving accident in June 2008. After this, E.S.T., as a band, has come to an end. This album is a 2005 release, a fantastic jazz album. Highly recommended!

Artist: Esbjörn Svensson Trio
Album: Viaticum
Year: 2005
Genre: jazz

Tracks:
1. Tide of Trepidation
2. Eighty-Eight Days in My Veins
3. The Well-Wisher
4. The Unstable Table & the Infamous Fable
5. Viaticum
6. In the Tail of Her Eye
7. Letter From the Leviathan
8. A Picture of Doris Travelling With Boris
9. What Though the Way May Be Long

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Vello Leaf - Morning Star

Vello Leaf is a three-piece band formed in Crete, Greece, in 1999. This is their debut EP, released in 2006, featuring female vocals by Alexandra Mckay Diamantopoulou. Very refreshing and promising album!

Artist: Vello Leaf
Album: Morning Star
Year: 2006
Genre: dream pop, shoegaze

Tracks:
1. Floatboat (Bring My Lover Back)
2. Whispers
3. Swing On Clouds
4. One Last Tear
5. Stellar Wind
6. 21st Station

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Please support this band. Buy from CB Baby.
Check the comments to listen first.

Les Fragments de la Nuit - Musique du Crépuscule

Les Fragments de la nuit is a French band created in 2005 by Michel Villar (piano) and Ombeline Chardes (violin), score composers for film. In order to play their pieces on stage, they decided to set up a quintet made up of three violins, a cello and a piano. Their music, ranging from tragic to epic and atmospheric was greeted by audiences with unexpected enthusiasm. Some see in it the influence of repetitive music composers such as Philip Glass or Steve Reich, others the melancholic emotion found in the works of Arvö Part or Canadians Godspeed You! Black Emperor. They say: «Our music is poetry in which words are notes, a memory in which images are dreams». Beautiful music!

Artist: Les Fragments de la Nuit
Album: Musique du Crépuscule
Year: 2008
Genre: neo-classical

Tracks:
1. Eveil des fées
2. Assault
3. La ronde des fées
4. Entre ciel et fer
5. Devenons demain I
6. Devenons demain II
7. Solitude
8. Solarisation
9. La chambre des fées
10. Soleils noirs pour lune blanche
11. La mélodie de la tête
12. Le château enchanté
13. Le scarabée bleu
14. Soleils noirs pour lune blanche - Tango
15. Les eaux dormantes
16. Alpha du centaure

Last.fm
MySpace (buy from here!)

Check the commetns to listen before you buy.

Le Noise - El Camino A Casa

Le Noise is a fantastic band from Spain! This is their debut album and it's really awesome! Influenced by GYBE, Calexico, Dirty Three, Nick Cave etc, their music combines post-rock, southern-rock and experimental-rock elements. One of the best discoveries of this year (kudos to TheSirensSound); "Mantra" is one of the best tracks I've listened recently. Highly recommended!

Artist: Le Noise
Album: El Camino A Casa
Year: 2008
Genre: post-rock, southern, experimental

Tracks:
1. Canción para una película sin censura
2. El camino a casa
3. Drivin late home
4. 04
5. hey hey hey (mi vida sin ti)
6. El último perro visible
7. Mantra
8. Adiós gringo
9. Cancion de ataque nº1
10. Pequeño ejercicio de introspección
11. Del miedo a lo innombrable

Official Website (Contact the band to buy this album!)
Last.fm
MySpace
YouTube

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

The Walkabouts - New West Motel

The Walkabouts were founded in 1983 by Chris Eckman and Carla Torgerson. Their blend of folk idioms and noisy experimental rock has won them lots of devoted fans; however, they still remain below the radar of the public at large. A highly underrated band; this is their best album, one of the best albums of the 90s! An absolute must-have!

Artist: The Walkabouts
Album: New West Motel
Year: 1993
Genre: indie, folk/rock, americana (sort of...)

Tracks:
1. Jack Candy
2. Sundowner
3. Grand Theft Auto
4. Break It Down Gently
5. Your Hope Shines
6. Murdering Stone
7. Sweet Revenge
8. Glad Nation's Death Song
9. Long Time Here
10. Wondertown, Pt. 1
11. Drag This River
12. Snake Mountain Blues
13. Findlay's Motel
14. Unholy Dreams

Last.fm
MySpace (unofficial)
Also check "Chris Eckman - A Janela"

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Vals Im Bashir - Waltz with Bashir (2008)

Waltz With Bashir is an animated documentary by Ari Folman, a disturbing comment on war and its consequences on both countries and people. It's a journey of self-discovery, cinema as psychoanalysis, a document about the past, a warning for the future: Waltz With Bashir is all those things and much more. It's a unique piece of cinema, unmatched in its seamless mixture of raw power and peculiar visual beauty.

The film story focuses on the first Lebanon war in 1982, particularly on the Sabra and Shatila massacre, in which Palestinian men, women and children were massacred by Christian Phalangists as revenge for the assassination of their leader Bashir Gemayel.

The film is a unique combination of the real and the unreal. When nightmares are dissipated, the deep-buried reality gets back - the massacres in the Palestinian camps become real on screen, and this is the only place where Folman uses fragments of filmed material rather than animation. Without ever leaving the personal and emotional plans, the political statement about a war with no winners is made loud and clear without the need of being explicit.

Finally, the music, which features rock, Bach, Chopin, Schubert and the original score by Max Richter, adds an incredible amount of depth and emotional impact to the film. A really must-see movie!

More Info:
Official Website
IMDb
Wikipedia
Also see: Closed Zone

Trailer:

Saxon Shore - It Doesn't Matter

Saxon Shore is an American post-rock band formed in 2001. They play intense, melodic, instrumental rock similar to the sound of "Explosions in the Sky" and "God is an Astronaut". This is their most recent release. Highly recommended to post-rock fans!

Artist: Saxon Shore
Album: It Doesn't Matter
Year: 2009
Genre: post-rock, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Nothing Changes
2. Thanks For Being Away
3. Tweleven
4. This Place
5. Sustained Combustion
6. Bar Clearing Good Times
7. What Keeps Us Up
8. Small Steps
9. Tokyo 412am
10. Goodnight, So Long
11. Amber, Ember, Glow
12. Secret Fire, Binding Light

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Please support this band. Buy from their website!
Check the comments to listen first.

Four Tet - Rounds

This 2003 album is already a classic! Four Tet is the name used by Kieran Hebden for his experimental electronic solo efforts, to differentiate from his work with the post-rock band Fridge. Hebden’s solo work typically utilises samples lifted from various sources including hip-hop, electronica, techno, jazz, and folk mixed with his own guitar playing. His music is notable for its rich, organic sounds and harmonious melodies as well as for eschewing the traditional pop-song format in favour of a more abstract approach. A must have!

Artist: Four Tet
Album: Rounds
Year: 2003
Genre: electronica

Tracks:
1. Hands
2. She Moves She
3. First Thing
4. My Angel Rocks Back and Forth
5. Spirit Fingers
6. Unspoken
7. Chia
8. As Serious as Your Life
9. And They All Look Broken Hearted
10. Slow Jam

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Ólafur Arnalds - Eulogy for Evolution

Ólafur Arnalds is an extremely talented young artist from Iceland. His music can be described as fragile and emotional neo-classical, a combination classical instrumentation with an ambient aesthetic. This is his debut album, released in 2007. After this, he released one EP ("Variations of Static") and, more recently, he made available a collection of tracks, entitled "Found Songs", as a free download on foundsongs.erasedtapes.com.
From his MySpace page:
“Breaking classical music out of the tweed jacket and loafers and putting it into a t-shirt and trainers…”.
Absolutely brilliant!!

Artist: Ólafur Arnalds
Album: Eulogy for Evolution
Year: 2007
Genre: neo-classical, ambient

Tracks:
1. 0040
2. 0048/0729
3. 0952
4. 1440
5. 1953
6. 3055
7. 3326
8. 3704/3837

Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy!

Felizol - Birthdays

Felizol is the Greek artist Giannis Veslemes and "Birthdays" is his debut album, a great electronica/ambient album. Many artists participate in the album offering their voices, such as The Boy, Madame Bouche, Dr.Hector, Sportex and Savina Giannatou. Track 3 ("Ssik") is an exceptional cover on Prince's "Kiss". Very promising debut! Refreshing and original!

Artist: Felizol
Album: Birthdays
Year: 2009
Genre: electronica, ambient

Tracks:
1. Holding Hands (In Retrospect)
2. Lemonpie
3. Ssik
4. Helen On The Dock Of The Bay
5. Hom(m)e
6. Lullaby
7. No Time Left For Us Honey
8. The Birthday Song
9. Earl To Grey
10. Dark N Creepy
11. Kookooki
12. This Tea Party Is Gonna Last Forever
13. The Quest (1979 - )
14. Green Room
15. For The End Of

Last.fm
MySpace
MiC review

Please support this artist. Buy from PlayOurMusic.net.
Check the comments to listen first.

The Flashbulb - Soundtrack to a Vacant Life

The Flashbulb is the American idm/electronica mucisian Benn Jordan. His style differs strongly between albums, but they all have a cohesive bond tied around fast drum programming, acid-influenced melodies and a wide array of live instrumentation from various instruments Jordan has acquired. He also often records his melodies through MIDI-synced guitars. His guitar style and skill has gained attention because he typically plays it strung backwards, and makes heavy use of fast sweeping and tapping. A really fantastic musician! This album is his eighth studio album released in 2008. It's an album with an increadible variety of musical styles: post-rock, piano, electronica, Balkan music etc, a bit different from his previous releases. Highly recommended album! I also recommend his 2005 album "Kirlian Selections".

Artist: The Flashbulb
Album: Soundtrack to a Vacant Life
Year: 2008
Genre: electronica, idm, post-rock etc.

Tracks:
1. Prelude
2. Kirlian Voyager
3. Steel for Pappa
4. Dirt Bikes and Street Vendors
5. Bodies in the House Next Door
6. Forbidden Tracks
7. Sunset Dept.
8. Someone
9. La Tristesse Durera Toujours
10. That Missing Week
11. Remember Tomorrow
12. The First Rain and You
13. Warm Hands in Cold Fog
14. Near the Woods
15. Sunshine
16. No Running Water
17. Leaving Georgia
18. Severed
19. Vicious Circle
20. Swollen Trees
21. Submerged Renewed
22. Hello Mr. Tree
23. I Believed in God
24. Pine Ridge, SD
25. That Final Week
26. Returning Flight Theme
27. Floating Through Time
28. Highway One
29. Hello, I'm Benn
30. Suspended in a Sunbeam
31. When the Sky Ends

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Fridge - Semaphore

Fridge is an fantastic English post-rock band, comprising school friends Kieran Hebden, Adem Ilhan, and Sam Jeffers. Initially Hebden played guitar, Ilhan bass and Jeffers drums, but Hebden and Ilhan soon adopted a variety of other instruments, and after a few years the sampler was playing an increasingly important role in the group's music. Hebden began a solo career in the late 1990s under the name Four Tet while the other two members attended college. Ilhan has also released three solo albums under the name Adem. Both solo projects are, also, top class and are, perhaps, more popular than Fridge! Semaphore is the band's second album, released in 1998. Excellent!

Artist: Fridge
Album: Semaphore
Year: 1998
Genre: post-rock, electronica
Also check: Fout Tet - Rounds

Tracks:
1. Cassette
2. Furniture Boy
3. A Slow
4. Motorbus
5. Teletexed
6. Chroma
7. Lo Fat Diet
8. Swerve And Spin
9. Curdle
10. Lign
11. Stamper
12. There Is No Try
13. Michael Knight

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy!

Låt den rätte komma in - Let the right one in (2008)

Starting today, I am going to post one movie I like every week, not always a new movie!



"Let the right one in" is the last movie I've seen in the cinema. This Swedish film is the most amazing dark fantasy movie I've seen since "Pan's Labyrinth". Based on John Ajvide Lindqvist's bestselling book, director Tomas Alfredson creates a great movie about early adolescence, love, revenge and... vampires

I am not particularly fond of the vampire movies, but this one is so much more. It is artistic, poetic, and in many ways a very profound movie exploring the nature of good and evil. Highly recommended!

Official Website
IMDb

Trailer:

Hood - Outside Closer

Hood is a brilliant experimental band from Leeds, UK. The core of the band features brothers Richard and Chris Adams, joined by various different friends over the years. Mapping the territory of their native Yorkshire in sometimes haunted, sometimes passively angry, but always abstract and melodic song cycles the Hood sound is rural and submerging. This is their sixth full-length album, their most recent release. A pure masterpiece!

Artist: Hood
Album: Outside Closer
Year: 2005
Genre: electronica, post-rock, ambient

Tracks:
1. Introduction
2. The Negatives...
3. Any Hopeful Thoughts Arrive
4. End of One Train Working
5. Winter 72
6. The Lost You
7. Still Rain Fell
8. L. Fading Hills
9. Closure
10. This Is It, Forever

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy!

Saltillo - Ganglion

Saltillo is a solo project by Menton J. Matthews III, also of Sunday Munich. Matthews is an amazing artist, a multi-instrumentalist who plays cello, viola, violin, guitar, drums, piano, and bass, as well as a slew of electronics. He has spent the last few years refining his song-writing abilities by scoring film soundtracks and doing production work at the mixing desk. Ganglion is his debut, released in 2006. Out of this world! Get it!

Artist: Saltillo
Album: Ganglion
Year: 2006
Genre: trip-hop, electronica

Tracks:
1. A Necessary End
2. Giving In
3. Remember Me?
4. A Simple Test
5. A Hair on the Head of John the Baptist
6. Blood and Milk
7. The Opening
8. Backyard Pond
9. Grafting
10. Praise
11. I’m on the Wrong Side
12. 002 F#m

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Please support this artist. Buy from Suspicious Records.
Check the comments to listen before you buy!

Early Day Miners - Let Us Garlands Bring

Early Day Miners is an American group from Bloomington, Indiana, and is self-described as "musical cooperative". They spin American rural music into richly cinematic, experimental textures that contain a prominent streak of melancholy (and some slowcore tendencies). In my opinion, this is their best album, released in 2002. Enjoy!

Artist: Early Day Miners
Album: Let Us Garlands Bring
Year: 2002
Genre: slowcore, ambient, post-rock

Tracks:
1. Centralia
2. Santa Carolina
3. Offshore
4. Silvergate
5. Summer Ends
6. Autumn Wake
7. Light In August
8. A Common Wealth

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy!

Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance

"It is up for the viewer to take for himself/herself what Koyaanisqatsi means. For some people it's an environmental film, for some people it's an ode to technology, for some people it's a piece of shit, for other people it moves them deeply. It depends on who you ask" - Godfrey Reggio (director)

Koyaanisqatsi is one of the most important films ever made! A cult film, boring junk to some, an involving masterpiece to others! In the Hopi language, the word Koyaanisqatsi means crazy life, life in turmoil, life out of balance, life disintegrating, a state of life that calls for another way of living, and the film implies that modern humanity is living in such a way. Koyaanisqatsi (1982) is the first in the Qatsi trilogy of films: it is followed by Powaqqatsi (1988) and Naqoyqatsi (2002). The trilogy depicts different aspects of the relationship between humans, nature, and technology.

Created between 1975 and 1982, the film is an apocalyptic vision of the collision of two different worlds - urban life and technology versus the environment. There is neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and music. Minimalist composer Philip Glass was optioned to compose the score, and the result was, quite simply, astounding. A work of pure genious!

Everyone must see this film once! Download a good quality video, or watch it on the big screen. Otherwise, here is a (bad quality) video.



More Info:
Official website of Qatsi trilogy
Wikipedia
IMDB