What Are You Listening To Now? 6.0

Teramaze - Ocean Floor

litfan mentioned them a few posts up and I wanted to check them out eventually. Today, my favourite metal station (aardshock radio in the Netherlands) played this song and I can't get it out of my head. Parts Voyager, parts their own thing, mixed very well with a crystal clear sound and smooth playing. Likey. Gotta check out their other stuff after lunch.

Enjoy! I love Teramaze. Their production has always been very distinct and clear.
 
Got a bunch of new records in today. New as in "freshly bought." Three have released within the past few weeks, one is a legend - the soundtrack to "Once Upon A Time In The West" (or "Spiel Mir Das Lied Vom Tod" in German), a movie Dani has a lot of fond memories of.

In no particular order:
Lik - Misanthropic Breed: "Lik" is Swedish for "corpse" and these guys live and breathe the rot-infested, putrid-smelling spirit of the early '90s Swedish Death Metal explosion. The guitars sound like Dismember's "Like An Everflowing Stream", the drummer knows how to tan the hides and the vocalist has exactly the voice befitting this style of music. The fascinating thing with Swedish Death Metal is their love for sudden melodic touches - guitar harmonies or outright beautiful guitar solos. Lik don't disappoint. Naysayers might complain that their stuff sounds generic, but in today's metal scene, obsessed with "harder, faster, louder" competitions, their blend of old school is a breath of fresh air. Or maybe it's my inner fourteen-year-old taking over. I wasn't much of a gourmand back then. :)

Necrophobic - Dawn Of The Damned: These guys play at the razor's edge of frenzy, brutality and strange beauty. Despite all their thunder and sulphur-spitting, they never forget to put in some haunting melodies. This time they seem to channel the spirit of the early '80s, when Sodom and Destruction (two of the metal pioneers in Germany) stopped being utterly rubbish Venom worshipers and began to play somewhat tight. There are odd timing changes and phrasings which make you sit up and scratch your head, in the "did they really leave that in?" kind of way, but when you go back and listen again, it seems to fit regardless. Fascinating stuff.

Enslaved - Utgard: Finally had some time to dig into this beast. It's a solid 45 minutes of massive music. Enslaved have found a cosmos all their own, going from frosty Norse chants to wonderfully warm multi-layered chorus passages, from frantic black metal blunt force to feather-light, warm, analogue-synth driven Pink Floyd tributes - and all without a single hiccup or misplaced transition. This album, to quote an oft-abused phrase, "flows" and the 45 minutes are over much quicker than I'd like. It's hard to pinpoint a standout moment, because every fricking song is more a soundscape than something with a distinct beginning or end, so I'll just pick the one with the most interesting sound mix - the aforementioned "Urjotun" Synthwave sequencer loop, Motörhead bassline, infernal vocals - and it all works wonderfully together.
https://youtu.be/pXzRjf7OMek
 
Counting Blue Cars from Dishwalla
Courtesy of BrokenSpokes' playlist on Spotify. Go to her author page to get the link. Its a good playlist.

What - I am not listening to RUSH? Something must not be right in the universe. :eek::eek::eek:
 
Counting Blue Cars from Dishwalla
Courtesy of BrokenSpokes' playlist on Spotify. Go to her author page to get the link. Its a good playlist.

What - I am not listening to RUSH? Something must not be right in the universe. :eek::eek::eek:

I'm sure the ghost of Neil Peart won't haunt you for discovering new music. I like "Moving Pictures" or "Vapor Trails" as much as the next black jeans wearing guy, but no one said you should narrow your own horizons by just listening to one artist or band.
 
Over the years I tend to listen to certain music while doing certain tasks. Solo handyman projects at home, when I was working and doing twelve hour shifts, intense Photoshop work, manual labor, etc. They all had albums I got stuck on. Being a guy who listened to FM stations in the 80's, I prefer to hear an entire album side at a time.

These days every time I sit down to write erotica on my laptop, I randomly choose one of the eight soundtracks to a season of Game of Thrones. I have it low so as not to interfere, but loud enough to drown out anything internal or external that interrupts the flow of typing.

Currently the final season has my vote, due to the long spooky passages of uninterrupted music. "The Rains of Castamere" was done about twelve different ways thru the shows run, and this season had some of the best ones.
 
Vintersea - The Host
https://youtu.be/JK5FwXTejKg

This showed up in my Youtube suggestions and being the grumpy ass hat I am at the moment, I clicked on it expecting yet another third-rate Nightwish or Epica clone.

Boy, was I wrong.

Vintersea have no intentions of playing by-the-books symphonic cheese metal. Their stuff is dark and complex, much heavier than I anticcipated, and the vocalist has serious skills. I'm not a fan of female growls and I probably never will be, but thankfully, she's capable of fantastic clean vocals too. Bonus points to the songwriting department, for leaving her enough room despite a seriously massive wall of sound.

After being blown away by "The Host", I checked out a few other tracks and I'm happy to see that they also have some with minimal gutturals in them. Fascinating discovery.
 
'Hoea ra', The Maori Children's Choir, with Kiri Te Kanawa.

It was originally a song from WWI, a plea to help support Maori soldiers fighting for the English at Passchendaele in 1917, since they weren't allowed in the hospital the other soldiers got treated in.

Spellbinding version of the song. It's more of a sappy romance song these days, since most of the original verses aren't sung.

Haeremai e hine mä,
Me nga taonga o te wä,
He reo karanga i katoa,
Haeremai ki au.

Come dear girls
with the the gifts of the time (our action songs)
calling to all, (who have come to this concert)
"Welcome!"

Hoea rä te waka nei.
Hoea, hoea ki te pae
Ma te poi e karawhiu
E rähui i te pai.

Paddle this canoe (support those in combat)
Paddle, paddle to the horizon (to the war's end)
May the beat of the poi (our fundraising concert)
keep up the morale (of both us and our boys)

Me pehea rä e taea ai
Te aroha pehi kino nei,
Mo te tau i pamamao
Haeremai ki au!

What kind of evil is this
that crushes my heart
when my beloved is far away?
Come to me!

Koia ra e hine mä
Koha kore noa te pai.
Haere me te atawhai
Ka rahui i te pai.

So it is, ye maidens
suffering is not good at all.
Come with generosity (Donate to the comfort fund)
to aid the welfare. (of our boys overseas)

Na te ngäkau tangi ra
Ko te tiwaiwaka nei
Te poi ka hoea atu nei
He tohu no te pai.

How the heart cries out (How heartbreaking is the cry)
"The fantail is here!" (a telegram - a messenger of death)
So the poi will be swung out (So our concert will raise money)
as a sign of protection. (to help our boys survive)
 
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Heath vs Ros. (Swing vs Latin)
The magic of phase 4 stereo and two of the best bands around at that time.
 
Counting Blue Cars from Dishwalla
Courtesy of BrokenSpokes' playlist on Spotify. Go to her author page to get the link. Its a good playlist.

What - I am not listening to RUSH? Something must not be right in the universe. :eek::eek::eek:

Eh, don't worry. A working man like you is always finding their way.

It's a mellow morning, so Miles Davis, "Blue in Green"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLDflhhdPCg
 
Ditto mellow day for me, so listening to Will playing Joplin, my favorite composer growing up; listening to him segue 'Peacherine Rag' into 'Heliotrope Bouquet' was breathtaking; Ragtime played on a concert grand piano has such a reverberant, rich tone, although the 'honky-tonk' tone of Ragtime played on an upright is also beautifully evocative.
 
Here is a run down of the newest prog for the week. Haven't had a chance to listen to much - managed to catch a nasty head cold which is NOT covid-19. Been Nyquilling it up and sleeping a lot.

So the big release was King Crimson guitarist Jakko Jakszyk's new solo album, "Secrets and Lies." Gorgeous album with a bunch of guests including several form King Crimson including Robert Fripp himself. As expected this is a gorgeous album - reminds me more of Alan Parsons Project with a distinctly different guitarist from Ian Bairnson.

Another album I've been highly anticipating is Norway's Wobbler with "Dwellers of the Deep." Their last album from three years ago was stunning and this is every bit as good. Wobbler only use instruments available in the seventies which gives their music a very distinct recognizable sound. Love it.

The big surprise was two releases from the ashes of Hawkwind with Hawkestral's "Pioneers of Space" and Hawkwind Light Orchestra's "Carnivorous." I haven't heard these yet but looking forward to them.

Big Big Train's Steve Hughes released "Themes Vol. 5" This is an instrumental prog album with Hughes playing all the instruments. It was lovely background music and I mean that in a very positive way.

From Pakistan comes Takatak's "Acrosphere." This is a prog metal album which I haven't heard yet.

From Italy comes the metal release "Blue Light Cage" from Soul Secret.

Sweden's Salva released "A Thousand Ways to Disappear."

Starfish64 from Germany released "Crimson Cabinet."

USA's Fervent Sand released "Dietro la Saglio." I did listen to this instrumental heavish prog album and quite enjoyed it.

Another instrumental prog album from Australia with Brown Spirit and their album "Vol. 2." This was lighter than Fervant Send and more in the prog jazz spectrum. I liked this quite a bit and picked it up as well as their other two albums.

Finally from France comes Gepetto with "Evolutive Songs."

Big prog release coming with Flower Kings on Friday. Be safe and well and have a great music filled week!

More Nyquil and back to bed for me.
 
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