This band came up on my Spotify stream while working and thought some may be interested...

So it's time to head into frivolity with a Manc band I have seen several times at local gigs.

Gypsies of Bohemia are masters of the cover version, serious re-writing of classics with great musicianship and humour in the presentation:

As the UKs leading original covers band Gypsies of Bohemia pride themselves on having written at least half of their complete catalogue of original cover versions. Something of a paradox? Well that sums these guys up. These 5 musically literate, well groomed individuals can bring a party like no other to the bandstand and turn the most sophisticated of settings into an all-out guitar style rave with their inventive and superbly crafted renditions of popular contemporary songs from the modern era - whoever said you can't polish a turd was wrong.

Heavily influenced by the sounds of early gypsy jazz guitar pioneer Django Reinhardt the group started life when jazz guitarist Jim Wallace met (then Whiskycats frontman) Matthew Whitaker. Early on, the pair were often run out of South Manchester’s trendy urban music venues to cries of 'play something we know' whilst batting away stale loaves of rye bread and tightly compact bags of mung beans with their Maccaferi guitars.

Then came the breakthrough – a Klezmer style reworking of the Britney Spears hit 'Toxic' - offering middle England's 30 something's an exclusive chance to revisit and enjoy the songs they were too cool to like in the 90's and noughties.

A subsequent revisit to the tracks of their teenage years proved fruitful in not only stirring up moments of embarrassing nostalgia but providing a wealth of musical treasures for the band to pillage. Poignant moments of lyrical finesse such as 'gonna bring my flavour gonna show you how' and 'stick your nani on my tongue' proved particularly inspirational to songwriter, lyricist and rhythm guitarist Matthew, while the crass and predictable melodic and harmonic formulae provided a perfect launch pad for development by gypsy guitar virtuoso and arranger Jim.

Strengthened by the addition of double bassist Frank Grime, drummer Sam Draper and keyboardist Andy Stamatakis-Brown the band up scaled to a quintet and began compiling a catalogue of unique, original reworkings of contemporary and popular tunes which, rather than being merely a gimmick, are meticulously crafted arrangements showcasing both the personalities and strengths of these virtuoso performers.

It has long been the trend amongst jazz musicians to take popular songs of the day and use them as vehicles for arranging and improvisation. Gypsies of Bohemia are pushing this trend to its absolute limits, daring each other as they go. No style too ludicrous. No song too absurd. Hip Hop, garage, 90’s rave, drum n’ bass, reggae and heavy metal are all comically juxtaposed against the sophisticated yet electrifying gypsy jazz tapestry.

In 2013 the band announced themselves on the North wests Arts and culture scene with invites to perform at Festival number 6 (house band central piazza), Manchester International Festival, Manchester Jazz Festival and Kendal Calling. Following the release of their debut album ‘Gyp Pop’ in 2014 they embarked on their second festival season and UK tour winning over audiences with their flamenco inspired take on Prodigy’s ‘Out of Space’ and up tempo jazz manouche version of Nelly’s ‘Hot in Herre’.

Rarely has such a delicate balance been successfully struck between the artistic and the absurd. Is Django turning in his grave?.... We hope he's doing it B Boy style to the sounds of Gyp Pop.

Of course the music journey never stops, so after a hiatus you have 2 blogs in a week !

Dream Theater are American progressive metal 'giants' formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to concentrate further on the band that would eventually become Dream Theater. To date, Dream Theater has released fourteen studio albums. 

The Liquid Tension Experiment, an instrumental progressive metal supergroup, were formed by drummer Mike Portnoy after Magna Carta records gave him the green light for "whatever he wanted to do". The band comprised of Mike Portnoy (Transatlantic, Sons of Apollo), John Petrucci (Dream Theater), Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater), and Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel).

Formed in 1997, the band released two albums – LTE 1998 / LTE2 1999. Due to Dream Theater ending up consisting of the 3/4 LTE members and the commitments of their main projects they did not record further work. Although they did performed as LTE in 2008 to celebrate their 10th anniversary.

Portnoy’s split with his Dream Theater bandmates in 2010 seemingly put an end to any further LTE outings.

Then 20 years later after Covid freed up their calendars they reconnected in the virtual studio and recorded LTE3 which was released April 2021.

There is a very much more instrumental 'experimental' ‘jamming’ ‘improv’ approach creatively to the prog metal genre instrumentals, with dauntingly intricate, endearingly colourful and/or calmly melodic passages. This is especially evident on the bonus disk of their expanded LTE3 release.

The band’s avant-garde side is further revealed by their reinterpretation of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue. Performed on past tours, on LTE3 they tear it apart over the course of 13 minutes, throwing away the instruction manual and proceeding to rebuild the parts with the carefree disrespect of such past progressive giants as The Nice and ELP.

Pre-order from Canada only - in Blue Vinyl, I also obtained the CD with booklet

Stylistically it follows on from their brilliant album Sorni Nai. This one comprises a 43-minute long opus dedicated to the terrific story from the 1930's northern shore of the USSR where a flotilla of frozen ships were suddenly found by geologists. The story is based on real letters, articles and events. The album is separated into seven narrative chapters carefully described with an included libretto.

Together with the album there's a 40-page tabletop RPG adventure to interact with the story, available in print together with limited LP and CD versions of the album.

Love it!!!

This is why physical media cannot be supplanted!

Gilmore was born in Oxford to Irish parents and lived in the village of North Aston, Oxfordshire. She became interested in music as a result of her father's record collection, which included work by Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and The Beatles. Later, she listened to Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, and The Replacements, among others. Having always written poetry and stories, she began seriously writing songs at the age of 15.

Gilmore released her first album as a teenager, entitled Burning Dorothy, in 1998 and over the course of the next four years, released increasingly well-received albums that earned her a reputation in the UK music press but no chart success.

I first came across Thea’s music in 2000 when I picked up her 2nd album ‘The Lipstick Conspiracies’ as a random purchase, something about the cover attitude  caught my attention. And listening definitely grabbed me ear. Her vocal tone, way with wordology and composition – Her musical ability to play with genres and her lyrical ability shades other singer songwriters. Her lyrics display emotion, intelligence and an understanding of the world as it really is - warts and all. It's not a pretty picture out there and Gilmore highlights and salvages life with her strong sense of humour.

She also has a great way with cover versions, making them her own. Album ‘Loft Music’ being a great example. In January 2011, Gilmore appeared at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall in a tribute concert celebrating the 70th Birthday of Bob Dylan. She performed versions of "I Pity the Poor Immigrant" and "Masters of War." Subsequently, Gilmore entered the studio with producer and husband Stonier and recorded the entire set of tracks found on Dylan's original release of John Wesley Harding.

An artist of enduring international acclaim (Bruce Springsteen regularly names her as a favourite) and a justly revered lyricist, Gilmore’s musical settings have taken many ingenious detours over the years years.

Given the reverence in which Gilmore is held among contemporaries it was no surprise that UK folk royalty including Cara Dillon, Seth Lakeman, Sam Lakeman, Katriona Gilmore, Jamie Roberts and BBC Radio 2’s Young Folk Award winner 2013 Ciaran Algar all step up to contribute to her latest recording ‘Small World Turning’. Moreover the engine room of the record  - which contains no traditional kit drums - is a stellar and diverse transatlantic rhythm section of Matt Owens (Noah And The Whale) and Michael Blair (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello).

She is a brilliant lyricist and emotive performer. I first started listening to her in 2002 with 2nd album “Extraordinary Machine”.

Fiona Apple was born in 1977 Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart in New York City to singer Diane McAfee and actor Brandon Maggart, who met when both were cast in the Broadway musical Applause. Her father is from Tennessee, and through him, Apple has Melungeon ancestry.

Apple was classically trained on piano as a child, and began composing her own pieces by the age of eight. Apple later began to play along with jazz standard compositions after becoming proficient, through which she discovered Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, who became major influences on her. There is definitely a Jazz influence to be heard in her later recorded compositions. At age 12, Apple was raped outside the apartment she shared with her mother, step-father and sister in Harlem. She subsequently developed an eating disorder, purposely slimming her developing body, which she saw as "bait" for potential predators. She suffered panic attacks while walking home from school, which led to her relocating to Los Angeles to live with her father for one year. Many of her songs had speculation around them siting that her ordeal had influenced her writing, however Fiona said she did not write songs about the trauma surrounding her rape as there was nothing poetic about it.

Her first song was for a young school friend, but she wasn't introduced to the music industry until 1994, when she gave a demo tape to a friend who was the babysitter for a music publicist who took it to Sony.

Her second album was in the Guiness Book of World Records for a while as having the longest title – “When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He'll Win the Whole Thing 'fore He Enters the Ring There's No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might So When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won't Matter, Cuz You'll Know That You're Right” which is a poem she wrote after reading letters that appeared in Spin regarding an article that had cast her in a negative light in an earlier issue.

During a career hiatus, where she contemplated retiring, Fiona recorded with Johnny Cash on a cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge over Troubled Water" that ended up on his album American IV: The Man Comes Around and was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Country Collaboration with Vocals". She also collaborated with Cash on Cat Stevens's "Father and Son", which was included in his 2003 collection Unearthed.

4th album stretched the title wording again "The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do"

Her 5th album “Fetch the Bolt Cutters” was released earlier this year, and she features as backing vocals on Bob Dylan's 39th album Rough and Rowdy Ways.

16 Horsepower are an American alternative country music group based in Denver, Colorado. Their music often invokes religious imagery dealing with conflict, redemption, punishment, and guilt through David Eugene Edwards's lyrics and the heavy use of traditional bluegrass, gospel, and Appalachian instrumentation cross-bred with rock.

I have been listening to them since their first album swamped my ears in 1996 with it's rural backwoods kitch and edgy off-kilter country rock harboring a smattering of hillbillieness.

David Eugene Edwards and Pascal Humbert formed Horsepower in 1992 in Los Angeles, California, where they had met building movie sets for Roger Corman's Hollywood Studios. Friend, co-worker and trained jazz drummer Jean-Yves Tola joined shortly after. The trio performed as Horsepower before they parted ways with Humbert as Edwards and Tola relocated to Denver, Colorado.

In Edwards's hometown of Denver, the band once again became a trio with the addition of Keven Soll, a luthier and accomplished double bass player. 

Frustrated by misconceptions about the name Horsepower being related to heroin and inspired by a traditional American folk song about sixteen horses pulling the coffin of a beloved to the graveyard, the name was changed to 16 Horsepower.

Acknowledged influences on the band included Joy Division, the Gun Club, Nick Cave and the Birthday Party.

16 Horsepower are among the Denver-based bands credited for laying the foundation for what today has become known as "Gothic Americana".

Wovenhand is the subsequent American alternative country band led by former 16 Horsepower front-man David Eugene Edwards. The band began in 2001 as a solo project for Edwards while 16 Horsepower was taking a temporary hiatus. Wovenhand's music combines influences from Southern Gothic music, old-time music, folk music, gospel music, and rock and roll, among other genres and styles of music, a progression from 16 Horsepowers sound. Conceptually and lyrically, Wovenhand reflects Edwards' strong Christian faith.

Edwards is married and has two children (his daughter, Asher, plays strings on 16 Horsepower's album Secret South and appears in the videos for the band's songs "Haw" and "Clogger")

16 Horsepower....

Wovenhand....

& they have always covered others songs in their unique style…

(Heart & Soul has always been part of live performances for both band incarnations )

Recently I had them playing while working and a 'listening suggestion' popped into my streaming periphery 'Tengger Cavalry'

Audio impressions are of a heavier metal version of the Hu, BUT...

Tengger Cavalry was formed in March 2010 initially as one-man project by Nature Ganganbaigal. The band originate from inner Mongolia and is named after the ancient Mongolian and Turkic deity Tengri. They combine elements of the traditional music of Central Asia and music of Mongolia with heavy metal into a kind of folk metal that is refer to as nomadic folk metal. The band also recorded game soundtracks for Civilization and Doom Eternal (@Alex Gaskin)

So in fact the The Hu are a lighter, more consumer orientated version of Tengger Cavalry and it appears The Hu clearly followed their influence.

OR did they!!!

There's another folk metal group founded also in 2010 with members mostly also from the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia. The group combines traditional Mongolian music with heavy metal, notably using traditional instruments and overtone singing techniques 'Nine Treasures (九宝, or jiǔ bǎo)' . The name of the group refers to the nine materials evoked in ancient Mongolian poems as favoring luck (gold, silver, bronze, iron, agate, amber, jade, pearl and coral). The name was proposed by a former member of the group who currently plays in the group Hanggai; the group considers the name auspicious.

Av'a gander at both:

a mad gallop with Tengger Cavalry.......

explore the valuable find....

The band was formed in 2002 in Glastonbury by Hannah Miller (aka Hannah Moule) and are multi-instrumentalists who experiment with the interplay between electric and acoustic instruments through effects & distortion. Notably led by either a 4, 5 or 6 String Cello; the band use 3-part vocal harmony and often incorporate orchestral and progressive elements into their music.

They occasionally play with a chamber orchestra, or in larger ensembles.

Their main influences include Björk, Kate Bush, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Beatles and Pink Floyd. They have received positive reviews from mainstream press which has acknowledged the band's original sound. The band have been nominated for several Best of The Year lists, and won Spiral Earth's Best Band and Album categories. 

Having toured extensively and played at many festivals since their inception, Moulettes have shared the stage and studio with Seasick Steve, John Paul Jones, The Ting Tings, Mumford and Sons, Band of Skulls, Paul Heaton, Bonobo, Liz Green, The Unthanks, Arthur Brown and many more.

Definitely a unique sound, and imo a fitting alternative blog addition.

AND you've likely heard their music before!

Driving rhythms, ancient melodies and sounds of past times: With fascinating huge drums and self-made bagpipes Corvus Corax (aka The Kings of Minstrels) bring the spirit of old ages back to life.

Throughout their years of medieval music, since the late 80's, the Berlin musicians have contributed significantly to the development of Medieval Music as currently known. Their music was influential to an entire scene from Moscow to Mexico City. They toured in Japan and China, the U.S. and Canada as well as all over Europe.

Because medieval music theory was dominated by ecclesiastics, it is often difficult to determine from the existing manuscripts just how the secular medieval music sounded. Corvus Corax draws on a number of sources to try to make their music as authentic as possible: they have used documents that "condemn profane music" as an indicator of what the music might have sounded like, and drawn on nineteenth century scholarly treatises for information. In many cases these treatises are unreliable, as they impart more nineteenth century interpretations of medieval music than factual information on what the music was like.

With mystical and myth-enshrouded albums they awake old gods and legends, they review the Celtic and Nordic traditions and present the Viking culture in modern times. Everyone who has seen the masks and costumes at shows must confess that they succeeded in re-inventing the Vikings.

Corvus Corax aren't “just” playing medieval music. Corvus Corax combine ancient music with modern fantasy, they experiment with different cultural sounds and crazy instruments. No matter, if they are playing at a club venue, a concert church, at a knights tournament or in front of thousands of Metal Heads: Corvus Corax know, how to make people dance and jump around like crazy – as known from the St. Vitus’ dance in middle ages.

This creative heritage conservation of Corvus Corax delights people all over the world: That is why none other than Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer ("Gladiator“, "Pirates of the Caribbean“) approached the kings of the minstrels and initiated Corvus Corax’ writing of the music for "Ironclad“. In the BBC documentary "The Crusades“, presented by Monty Python-legend Terry Jones, their bagpipes and drums are to be heard as well as in the computer game "Dragon Age“. Finally the producers of the highest-grossing TV-series “Game of Thrones” were impressed and invited them to play live for the series on set.

CORVUS CORAX is the Latin name for the common raven. 

His performance career began in the Captive Audience Theatre Company, an influence captured in later live shows and videos. He later switched to music as harmonica player for a number of bands spread across the genre spectrum. For two years he was a fifth of rock outfit The Derelicts and earned the moniker “the hairy Bez of blues harp” for his unpredictable onstage antics. After the band split he moved to Philadelphia, recorded with Dr. Dog and subsequently returned to the UK with a headful of ideas drawn from the East Coast underground live scene.

In 2006 he turned front-man and formed Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six (transitioning from Louis Barabbas and the Black Velvet Band). The band was together until 2016 and released three studio albums, one live album, two EPs, a DVD and toured all over the world, sharing the stage with such disparate acts as Motorhead, Supergrass, The Blockheads and Sun Ra’s Arkestra.

Realising that unfashionable, genre-hopping groups such as his own could only achieve success through sheer stubbornness he formed the label Debt Records with bandmates Biff Roxby and Dan Watkins, an enterprise devoted to supporting exceptional touring artists that didn’t suit a traditional marketing approach (or indeed a comfortable lifestyle).

In 2012 he was nominated for the Independent Entrepreneur Award by the Association of Independent Music (AIM) for his work with Debt Records and Un-Convention.

Louis passionately believes in the unifying force of music – that good songs have the power to educate, entertain and console. One day he hopes to write one that does all three.

Unfortunately, disillusioned with the state of the music industry the band went their amicable separate ways. Louis is currently working as a fireman in Dunvegan on Skye.

Live – a truly entertaining and captivating act…

I Ain’t Done

Tell Tale Hound

Mother, live solo

Waiting for bad news

Writing My List for Christmas

James Kent (born 1993) is a French musician from Paris. He became interested in music in part due to the influence of his parents, who are journalists and rock music critics. His parents were themselves musicians and had a tech trance band when they were young.

He initially concentrated on guitar  and got involved as a guitarist in several black metal bands. However his early influences prompted Kent to take up use of synthesizers.

He combined the feel of his dark metal days with 80’s synth music to create Dark and Retrofuturistic music inspired by the 80's.

Since 2012, he has produced electronic music inspired by cyberpunk culture and with inspiration from movies such as Akira, Ghost in the Shell, and the Running Man. He uses a variety of software synths in his productions, such as the emulators of old vintage synths.

His music increased in popularity when it started being used within computer games by Hotline Miami. The success of the Hotline Miami games resulted in a greater amount of exposure to a mainstream audience.

Kent is known by his stage name Perturbator "The legend says he's half human, half synthesizer..." and the genre is dark Synthwave.

Lindsey Stirling is an American violinist, songwriter, and dancer. The performance as a whole is an integral part of her musical interpretation, with a dance troupe and set locations.

Growing up her parents could only afford to find a violin teacher who would give her half lessons. Although they were told by instructors that "a child isn't going to learn how to play in 15 minutes a week", her parents persisted, and at the age of five she began.

From a young age, Stirling had a fascination for dance, and desired to take both dancing and violin lessons. In an interview she said, "...ever since I was a kid, I've always wished that I could dance, but my parents said, 'You choose violin or you choose dance, but we can't afford both', and I chose violin. So this is kind of a fulfillment – it's funny to say, but this is something I've always wanted to do."

Stirling performs a variety of music styles, from classical to pop and rock to electronic dance music. Aside from original work, her discography contains covers of songs by other musicians and various soundtracks. She has also performed with many other artists.

A bit of a deviation from my usual blogs this time: (apologies if you opened for a new musical alternative selection)

I have been into music since the mid 70's. Initially I had Cassettes and Vinyl, then just Vinyl with an eventual movement to mainly CD's with some of my favourites also purchased on Vinyl. I had several years without a working turntable, and I became purely a CD junky for a while. On replacement with my current turntable I started buying again on vinyl the albums I really liked a lot. I was still a CD fiend, but gradually I found I was buying cd's I would never play again.

Historically, my 'new' to me music has been through recommendations and magazines. The magazine reviews have been deteriorating imo and covering a much narrower genre range. I used to be able to read a review and understand my likelyness to like an album, whereas it has been becoming more and more hit and miss.

A few friends over recent years were streaming and passing on some good recommendations, so I decided to sign up. I had used Spotify free briefly, but thought I'd put some thought into researching all the options. If I was going to play through my HiFi I needed a high fidelity streaming service. I eventually went for TIDAL, as they did one of the highest quality streaming options & had an offer of just £4/month.

So duly downloaded onto my phone some testing began. I was fairly impressed but, even streaming HiFi quality played via Headphones or a phono input into my pre amp, I didn't think the sound was quite right - a bit woolly, lacking detail, emotionally flat. It was still good enough to eliminate several CD purchases from my 'to purchase' list, so will easily pay for itself when it jumps back up to full subscription.

On to the next leap of faith using specifications and reviews I bought the streamer ( I am usually a 'physically audition' the hell out of all the options geek ).

My new Streamer arrived yesterday (Denon HEOS Link HR2) to feed into my HiFi.

I also purchased a 'Denon Home 150' WiFi speaker. With 2 of us working from home (me in my home office and my wife Wendy on lounge dining room table) I am unable to just turn the HiFi volume up to 11! Now I will be able to stream or play any HiFi source such as Vinyl or CD wherever I take new speaker.

All with the funds from Covid-19 lockdown - not going out at all and cancelled holiday money savings.

After a lengthy set up session sorting cables, sockets and cleaning away the pile of accumulated dust behind the hifi and video units I got to some listening to music.

Now I'm impressed! Playing back to back the same versions of same albums on CD's and TIDAL they are so near to each other. Whether it's psychological or aural, I couldn't say (probably mainly aural with some psychological impact thrown in). But I definitely felt that CD is still the better source, with it having the slight edge on detail, dynamic range and impact.

Would be interesting to hear the streamer through a decent DAC, as I suspect the inbuilt one will be fairly basic and my Meridian CD player was not entry level. But that will have to wait until funds build up and full physical auditioning more practical again.

I can foresee this set up ultimately saving me buying a lot of unappreciated CD's, but maybe a slippery slope to DAC, CD transport  

Now to my weekend's listening session. There are several albums I have on Vinyl, CD and can now stream in HiFi quality.

Therefore it's going to be audition central round here:

Joy Division, Unknown Pleasures - original Album / CD / 40th remastered album / stream

Siouxsie... , The Scream - original album / 2015 remastered CD / album /stream

Ist Ist, Architecture - 2020 album / cd / stream

Kauan, Sorni Nai - 2015 album / cd / stream

That could be a lot of hours of listening involved, so cannot predict how much I'll actually get through.

I will always have an affinity for Vinyl  as that was the sound I grew up on and will never tire of or stop physical music media collection. I like having the tangible entity, with art work.

I would also have concerns over 'losing' a streaming service and losing all the amassed music within.

Anyway - whether you be Muso and/or Westy Aural stimulated....

Have a Vinylous / CDite / Streamfull / Westily (delete as appropriate) weekend ALL !

This brought to mind the Northumbrian folk of the Unthanks, who sing poetry and traditional lyrics.

They are very Northumbrian with clear regional dialect and accent coming through in their vocals, also demonstrating a unique timbre and tonal balance which can be both melancholic and atmospheric adding drama and feeling to performances.

They stick close to their roots, using Northumbrian Clog dance for percussion and other traditional instruments such as squeezebox, singing about the history of the regions working people.

For this blog I'm reverting back to a more folk based and gentle form of the musical arts.

Skáld , is generally a term used for poets who composed at the courts of Scandinavian leaders during the Viking Age, 793–1066 AD, and continuing into the Middle Ages (5th century – 15th century). Skaldic poetry forms one of two main groupings of Old Norse poetry, the other being the anonymous Eddic poetry.

In the early Middle Ages, the skalds of Scandinavian society were storytellers, poets and musicians. In the same way as the bards of the Celts, they sang the praises of their bloodlines, narrating the epic feats of heroes or the exploits of their Gods in times when the oral tradition was sovereign. 

Blending chanted narratives with rhythmical song — in a combination carried by music that often led to a state of trance — the skalds captivated their listeners with the power of the images they evoked. Skaldic poetry is extremely strong, with a rich vocabulary and often complex verses that confer a mysterious aura on the meaning, conferring the status of an initiate on the author of such works. It can also be noted that this narrative role was not reserved for men alone, as the names of several female skalds are known.

SKÁLD is a unique project in music inspired by Nordic mythology. Developed over time by a group of enthusiasts, the project originated when producer-composer Christophe Voisin-Boisvinet encountered a trio of talented singers whose voices had atypical timbres. Together they decided to breathe new life into the poetry of the ancient skalds, whose ancient language – Old Norse – told stories of the Vikings and their gods.

& a special 'lockdown' vocal performance:

Everything includes a Japanese offering!

Japan has a sometimes bazaar and always unique take on modern culture, which of course includes music.

It's the only country that still massively supports Physical media. And in today’s world of downloads and online streaming the maligned plastic disk is nothing but a faint memory in many places, but CD purchases made up 85% of all music sales in Japan.

Though once a beacon of music industry power and prosperity, the Tower Records chain filed for liquidation 2006. With outlets dotted across the world, the red and gold megastores went the same way as many CD outlets in the late 2000s – except, that is, in Japan. In fact, in 2012, Tower Records Shibuya did the impossible and actually increased in size. Towering over the heart of Shibuya on massive 5000 square meter block, it’s still a bustling must visit destination for tourists and locals alike.

In the a country where appreciation quickly turns into full blown obsession, it’s no wonder that audiophiles have found a home in Japan.

There is still a lot of traditional music, but to the fore as many will have seen is the super sickly sweet J-Pop young boy and girl bands. But there is also a massive rock and metal scene (which I've only just stumbled upon through my recent explorations).

There's an unorthodox mix of thrash metal and pop, and a popular one at that. Babymetal are the most famous group internationally. Fronted by three teenage vocalists, Babymetal have toured internationally and brought the genre to the wider international mainstream.

A band that have really caught my ear are 人間椅子  Ningen Isu meaning The Human Chair. They have been around for over 30 years (formed in 1987) and are very accomplished with some great tracks (imo), although now visually the Grampa Bankers look does detract a bit from their current videos.

My blogs so far have had more traditional music aspects to them, but this is just a cranked up Friday thrash to blow away the stresses of the week! Just for the hell of it!

Their 30th Anniversary CD arrived earlier (Japan Import), so I'm having a beer while the cd's going on the HiFi now and being turned up to 11 while Wendy is out walking our dog

I've been exploring fields further away, but what do I find for UK based traditional instruments/music being updated with current genre slants?

There's a fair bit of classical infused music,

But of course this also brought Bagpipes into play - leading me to Celtic Rock:

"Celtic rock is a genre of folk rock, as well as a form of Celtic fusion which incorporates Celtic music, instrumentation and themes into a rock music context. It has been extremely prolific since the early 1970s and can be seen as a key foundation of the development of highly successful mainstream Celtic bands and popular musical performers, as well as creating important derivatives through further fusions. It has played a major role in the maintenance and definition of regional and national identities and in fostering a pan-Celtic culture. It has also helped to communicate those cultures to external audiences."

Still sounding serious you may conclude!

UNTIL you start listening - then most of it isn't .... it all has a light-hearted feel (must be a consequence of imbibing all those drams :-) )

...... why not film the video in Bonny Scottyland!

This is a self indulgent promotion of one of my favourite new bands Ist Ist and their 1st Album release 'Architecture'. Released on 1st May, I have been playing the Vinyl and imo the whole album is excellent. But it's all down to personal preferences.

Please have a listen to the album, streamed through your favourite service!

Sweden's Apocalypse Orchestra weaves a faceted tapestry of music. The band was inspired by their love for folk music and slow metal so they decided to combine the two.

The tones of ancient drone instruments entwines with heavy guitars and music separated by over 800 years do meet. With a foundation of original music and lyrics but also incorporating melodies from as far back as the 11th century the goal was to create a musical homage to a bygone musical era.

The songs tell of flagellants, plague doctors, tales of hell, the meaninglessness of war and of suffering; they are all chapters in the bands grimoire.

To balance it out they also shine a light on medieval art, science and enlightenment and try to incorporate these into live performances with shows that feature theatrical performances (sometimes utilizing actors and dancers), fire and projected animation. The band feels the theatrical element can enhance the music, giving it the feel of classic storytelling.

Music can be far more 'de-stressing' than visual media, which is due to images passed by optical nerves taking massively more processing power of the brain. Sound conversly uses far less of the brain resulting in less stimulation and more relaxation.

So to a band who describe the impact of their musical style as "The listener is supposed to be left at ease and in a relaxed state after a magical musical journey that is at times turbulent"

Heilung is an experimental folk music band made up of members from Denmark, Norway, and Germany. Their music is based on texts and runic inscriptions from Germanic peoples of the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Viking Age. Heilung describe their music as "amplified history from early medieval northern Europe". Their music is usually about Norse deities, jǫtnar, and valkyries. "Heilung" is a German word meaning "healing" in English.

As instruments, items are used that may have been already available to humans in the Iron Age, such as drums, bones or spears. They also use throat singing in a similar way to Tibetan or Mongolian traditional music, as incorporated by The HU of my previous blog.

here's to a more 'relaxed state' of being .......

Moving on from Kauan, a Band originating in Chelyabinsk, Russia and singing in Finnish.....

To The HU, a rock band hailing from Mongolia singing in Mongolian incorporating traditional music.

The band’s name The HU, is the Mongolian root word for human being. Influenced by rock bands such as Foo Fighters and Slipknot (I can't hear the Slipknot connection!), they call their style “Hunnu Rock”… inspired by the Hunnu, an ancient Mongolian empire, known as The Huns in western culture.

Some of the band’s lyrics include old Mongolian war cries and poetry. The HU combines Rock Music with traditional Mongolian instrumentation like the Morin Khuur (horsehead fiddle), Tovshuur (Mongolian guitar), Tumur Khuur (jaw harp) and distinctive traditional guttural throating singing.

Their first album is called The Gereg, the word Gereg was used as the first Diplomatic “Passport” by the Mongol empire during the time of Genghis Khan.

A short while ago I managed to get hold of an LP I’d been wanting for ages – only available on vinyl and limited availability from a record label out of Finland.

The music link I’ve included below isn’t for the LP recently purchased above, but of the same Russian/Ukrainian band Kauan’s greatest work ‘Sorni Nai’

The 52-minute single-song opus chronicles the expedition of nine doomed hikers who mysteriously died—killed by an “unknown compelling force” according to Soviet Army investigators—after disappearing in a blizzard in the Ural Mountains in what came to be known as the Dyatlov Pass Incident. This incident happened on the night of February 2, 1959 on the east shoulder of Kholat Syakhl Mountain (meaning Mountain of the Dead). Specifically, it was in a pass known as Dyatlov Pass, being named after the groups leader, Igor Dyatlov. The Dyatlov Pass incident occurred during the rule of the Soviets over Russia and although there were no eyewitnesses or survivors to what actually happened the Soviet army did investigate the incident and locate the bodies of the 9 hikers. Soviet investigators at the time determined only that a “compelling unknown force” had caused their deaths. For 3 years after the incident, 1959-62, the Soviets forbid access to the area to skiers and hikers. When Soviet investigators went looking for the hikers who failed to return on schedule they first found the hikers tent that was apparently cut open in the back with a knife. The hikers appeared to have fled through the hole without their shoes, some wearing only socks and others barefoot in the heavy snow. The investigators found all 9 bodies at the edge of the snow covered forest. The corpses showed no signs of struggle, however, two of them had fractured skulls, two had broken ribs, and one of the hikers was missing her tongue. According to investigators 4 of the victims’ clothing had substantial levels of radiation detected on them.

What is great about this work is that the story is conveyed without having to understand/translate the lyrics. It reaches the heights of cinematic musical storytelling for the band, taking the listener through the innocent, idyllic outset of the hikers’ journey to the crushing, catastrophic end through varying tonal moods and vocal impact.

Give Sorni Nai a listen!