The first album by architect, painter, and sculptor Takashi Suzuki is a fine work of art in itself, exhibiting all the traits of Suzuki’s other professions/trades.
Suzuki lays down a foundation of soothing synthesizer textures on the ten namesake tracks (“Resonance in Blue 1-10”), a canvas upon which he adds a dash of piano here and an accent of jarring sound effect there. The ten tracks, while exhibiting their own subtle nuances, are of one accord. They are similar in tempo and feel and have the effect of a sonic painting that slowly stimulates your senses and gradually works its way into your psyche.
This CD is New Age in the classic sense, with peaceful, tranquil tones that set the mind at ease and at the same time transform the listening experience into something more profound.
The music will definitely appeal to those who enjoy soft synthesized sounds but should prove just as useful to those seeking sonic escape and refuge. It is applicable in a variety of settings but is perhaps most effective during a nighttime sojourn under the stars.
--Raj Manoharan
Sunday, July 31, 2011
CD Review – …and Love Rages On! by AOMUSIC
You can’t help but feel the love on this joyous and exuberant celebration of the diversity of life throughout this planet. This is one of the most uplifting and inspiring albums I have had the pleasure of listening to in a long time.
AOMUSIC primarily consists of Richard Gannaway (stringed instruments, vocals), Jay Oliver (keyboards, synthesizers, samples), and Miriam Stockley (vocals), all of whom are also the principal composers and songwriters. They are backed by an impressive lineup of top session musicians and vocalists hailing from and recording in various parts of the world.
While most of the songs contain vocals, they are wordless vocals, or vocalese. In many cases, they are phonetically based on existing languages, helping create the sense of all the different languages of the world blending into one unified voice. In some cases, actual English can be discerned, such as on the second track’s deep baritone intonation of “I am another you…You are another me.” The throaty, raspy vocalization is so shadowy and sinister that it’s almost subliminal, which is probably the intent so as to foster focused reception of the message. The song then ends with a beautiful chorus of “I am you and you are me” ad infinitum.
A key ingredient in the success of this album is the utilization of various children’s choirs from around the world, including the CRC Children’s Choir from Beijing in the People’s Republic of China, the Martve Children’s Choir from Tbilisi in the People’s Republic of Georgia, and the Bishop Bavin St. George’s Children’s Choir from Johannesburg, South Africa. This bolsters the concept of different cultures and peoples coming together for a common goal – in this case a much-needed musical message.
This is a very enjoyable and stimulating album. If you like the global rock stylings of artists such as Peter Gabriel and Sting, as well as various ethnic vocals, you’ll dig this.
--Raj Manoharan
AOMUSIC primarily consists of Richard Gannaway (stringed instruments, vocals), Jay Oliver (keyboards, synthesizers, samples), and Miriam Stockley (vocals), all of whom are also the principal composers and songwriters. They are backed by an impressive lineup of top session musicians and vocalists hailing from and recording in various parts of the world.
While most of the songs contain vocals, they are wordless vocals, or vocalese. In many cases, they are phonetically based on existing languages, helping create the sense of all the different languages of the world blending into one unified voice. In some cases, actual English can be discerned, such as on the second track’s deep baritone intonation of “I am another you…You are another me.” The throaty, raspy vocalization is so shadowy and sinister that it’s almost subliminal, which is probably the intent so as to foster focused reception of the message. The song then ends with a beautiful chorus of “I am you and you are me” ad infinitum.
A key ingredient in the success of this album is the utilization of various children’s choirs from around the world, including the CRC Children’s Choir from Beijing in the People’s Republic of China, the Martve Children’s Choir from Tbilisi in the People’s Republic of Georgia, and the Bishop Bavin St. George’s Children’s Choir from Johannesburg, South Africa. This bolsters the concept of different cultures and peoples coming together for a common goal – in this case a much-needed musical message.
This is a very enjoyable and stimulating album. If you like the global rock stylings of artists such as Peter Gabriel and Sting, as well as various ethnic vocals, you’ll dig this.
--Raj Manoharan
Saturday, July 16, 2011
CD Review – In the Flow, by Michael Brant DeMaria
Psychologist and multi-instrumentalist recording artist Michael Brant DeMaria’s latest album is a form of regression therapy, actually compiling material from his first three albums to weave a soothing, sonic tapestry that has as one of its main themes the healing, regenerative properties of water.
As the album title, artwork, and many of the track names suggest, the music creates the warm, visceral sensation of floating in water. DeMaria accomplishes this through the use of his keyboards, synthesizers, and flutes to generate soft sounds and gentle vibrations that envelop the subconscious in comfort and serenity.
DeMaria’s keyboards and synthesizers set the tone for the entire recording, functioning as a sort of musical anesthetic that lulls the senses into a state of tranquility, enabling reception of the therapeutic healing. DeMaria’s flute is the musical scalpel with which he precisely penetrates the core of the listener’s being and fine-tunes it into equilibrium with peace and harmony.
The album functions well as both background music and music for meditation, healing, and therapy and also stands on its own as a pure, blissful listening experience.
--Raj Manoharan
As the album title, artwork, and many of the track names suggest, the music creates the warm, visceral sensation of floating in water. DeMaria accomplishes this through the use of his keyboards, synthesizers, and flutes to generate soft sounds and gentle vibrations that envelop the subconscious in comfort and serenity.
DeMaria’s keyboards and synthesizers set the tone for the entire recording, functioning as a sort of musical anesthetic that lulls the senses into a state of tranquility, enabling reception of the therapeutic healing. DeMaria’s flute is the musical scalpel with which he precisely penetrates the core of the listener’s being and fine-tunes it into equilibrium with peace and harmony.
The album functions well as both background music and music for meditation, healing, and therapy and also stands on its own as a pure, blissful listening experience.
--Raj Manoharan
Monday, July 4, 2011
CD Review – Something Getting Wrong, by Michael de Salem
Michael de Salem’s first CD is a brooding masterpiece that has a dark, ominous sense of foreboding, with musical rays of hope peering through.
The multi-instrumentalist fuses piano, keyboards, bass, guitar, and drum programming, along with beautiful, searing cello from Ann Nina, to sculpt edgy, shadowy music that reflects de Salem’s perceptions of the disharmony that exists between Earth and its inhabitants.
The set opens with “Metropolitan,” a solemn soundtrack to life in the city, with police sirens wailing quietly in the background. Reflective pieces like “Sentimental Steps” and “Remind” are sentimental without being sappy.
The three most solid tracks on the album, “Emergency Talking,” “Tribal Interlude,” and “Something Getting Wrong,” are representative of de Salem’s overall sound, which is industrial and progressive yet lush and melodic, with a beat that is infectious but not bouncy.
“Emergency Talking” starts with a pensive theme that increases in intensity, and “Something Getting Wrong” fleshes de Salem’s jazz-rock fusion sound to its fullest. “Tribal Interlude” is the most gripping of the three and as a result the album’s most formidable and probing track, propelled primarily by pulsating, rhythmic percussion in lockstep with equally pulsating, rhythmic bass notes, resulting in an entrancing, ritualistic, cinematic sound.
De Salem has created a compelling musical vista, both grand and subtle, that is riveting from beginning to end.
--Raj Manoharan
The multi-instrumentalist fuses piano, keyboards, bass, guitar, and drum programming, along with beautiful, searing cello from Ann Nina, to sculpt edgy, shadowy music that reflects de Salem’s perceptions of the disharmony that exists between Earth and its inhabitants.
The set opens with “Metropolitan,” a solemn soundtrack to life in the city, with police sirens wailing quietly in the background. Reflective pieces like “Sentimental Steps” and “Remind” are sentimental without being sappy.
The three most solid tracks on the album, “Emergency Talking,” “Tribal Interlude,” and “Something Getting Wrong,” are representative of de Salem’s overall sound, which is industrial and progressive yet lush and melodic, with a beat that is infectious but not bouncy.
“Emergency Talking” starts with a pensive theme that increases in intensity, and “Something Getting Wrong” fleshes de Salem’s jazz-rock fusion sound to its fullest. “Tribal Interlude” is the most gripping of the three and as a result the album’s most formidable and probing track, propelled primarily by pulsating, rhythmic percussion in lockstep with equally pulsating, rhythmic bass notes, resulting in an entrancing, ritualistic, cinematic sound.
De Salem has created a compelling musical vista, both grand and subtle, that is riveting from beginning to end.
--Raj Manoharan
Sunday, June 26, 2011
CD Review – Angels of the Sun, by Fred Thrane
The debut album by former classical guitar professor Fred Thrane (pronounced Trana) belies any perceived notion of stuffiness that might be associated with academe and is instead a sonically rich, cosmic affair.
Backed by Dennis Murphy’s subtle but dynamic bass lines and Jim Norris’s exotic percussion, Thrane unleashes a spectrum of ethereal sounds from his nylon- and steel-string guitars, the signal output of which is processed heavily with lots of chorus, reverb, echo, and delay. The result is a sound that is very much in keeping with the interstellar artwork on the simple but elegant CD digipak. In fact, Thrane’s tones are so luminescent and otherworldly that the music could truly be called space jazz.
Thrane does showcase his more Earthbound classical and flamenco flourishes on the traditional-style tracks “Fandango in Four” and “Farruca,” which also have a bit of a Middle Eastern flavor to them. However, it’s the overall spacey sound of the rest of the album, especially the New Age reverie of “Dawndancer” and the jazz fusion exploration of “Moraga Raga,” that really sets Thrane’s compositions and performances apart from the pack.
Thrane’s masterful command of his instrument and his bold audacity in defying the conventional expectations of traditional nylon-string guitar make this a musical odyssey worth embarking upon.
--Raj Manoharan
Backed by Dennis Murphy’s subtle but dynamic bass lines and Jim Norris’s exotic percussion, Thrane unleashes a spectrum of ethereal sounds from his nylon- and steel-string guitars, the signal output of which is processed heavily with lots of chorus, reverb, echo, and delay. The result is a sound that is very much in keeping with the interstellar artwork on the simple but elegant CD digipak. In fact, Thrane’s tones are so luminescent and otherworldly that the music could truly be called space jazz.
Thrane does showcase his more Earthbound classical and flamenco flourishes on the traditional-style tracks “Fandango in Four” and “Farruca,” which also have a bit of a Middle Eastern flavor to them. However, it’s the overall spacey sound of the rest of the album, especially the New Age reverie of “Dawndancer” and the jazz fusion exploration of “Moraga Raga,” that really sets Thrane’s compositions and performances apart from the pack.
Thrane’s masterful command of his instrument and his bold audacity in defying the conventional expectations of traditional nylon-string guitar make this a musical odyssey worth embarking upon.
--Raj Manoharan
Friday, June 10, 2011
DVD – United Kingdom of Ipanema, by Roberto Menescal, Andy Summers, and Cris Delanno
In the fall of 2008, shortly after the conclusion of the Police reunion world tour, guitarist Andy Summers was invited by Brazilian bossa nova guitar legend Roberto Menescal to join Menescal and Brazilian vocalist Cris Delanno for a concert performance of bossa nova classics and reinterpretations of Police hits.
The result is this beautifully produced DVD, which features the excellently shot concert as well as interstitial segments and a documentary in which Summers and Menescal reveal their shared passion for Brazilian music and the guitar amid the sights and sounds of Rio de Janeiro.
The program is of such high quality that it would be a perfect fit for PBS, but it seems to be available in Brazil only. Dusty Groove America occasionally stocks the all-region DVD.
Summers was the guitarist for the mega-popular rock band The Police, who were active in the late 1970s and early 1980s and reunited for a 30th anniversary tour in 2007 and 2008. Being a good decade older than his bandmates Sting and Stewart Copeland, Summers began his professional recording career in the early 1960s, playing for Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band (which later became the psychedelic but short-lived Dantalian’s Chariot), Eric Burdon’s New Animals, and Soft Machine. After formally studying guitar at Northridge University in California from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, Summers returned to England and plied his trade as a session guitarist for Joan Armatrading, Neil Sedaka, Kevin Coyne, and Deep Purple’s Jon Lord before achieving monumental success and international stardom with The Police.
After the dissolution of The Police in the early 1980s, Summers scored some Hollywood films (Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Weekend at Bernie’s) and recorded one rock vocal album before establishing himself as an acclaimed and accomplished contemporary instrumental guitarist across a variety of styles, including jazz, fusion, New Age, and world music.
One of Summers' upcoming projects is Spirit Garden, a collection of guitar duets featuring Summers and classical guitarist Andrew York. In addition to acoustic and electric guitars, Summers and York also play other instruments. The duo’s collaboration began on the title track of York’s latest album, Centerpeace
, which is available now. More information on Centerpeace and Spirit Garden can be found at www.andrewyork.net.For a good overview of Summers’ solo work, I highly recommend the following albums: Mysterious Barricades
, A Windham Hill Retrospective
, Synaesthesia
, and The X Tracks
. My personal favorite Summers albums are Mysterious Barricades, The Golden Wire
, Charming Snakes
, World Gone Strange
, Synaesthesia, Earth and Sky
, and First You Build a Cloud
.--Raj Manoharan
DVD – Andy Summers: Guitar
The 1998 two-volume Hot Licks guitar instruction VHS video starring the Police guitarist is finally on DVD, and it’s worth getting if you’re an Andy Summers fan and/or an aspiring or amateur guitar player.
The two-hour-and-thirty-four-minute program features Summers demonstrating his guitar technique from his years with The Police, as well as from his solo career, interspersed with live studio performances with his band at the time. The result is a good overview of rock and jazz guitar, delivered with Summers’ whacked-out sense of humor, plus a great audio-visual document of Summers displaying his masterful chops as an instructor and a composer-performer.
Summers was the guitarist for the mega-popular rock band The Police, who were active in the late 1970s and early 1980s and reunited for a 30th anniversary tour in 2007 and 2008. Being a good decade older than his bandmates Sting and Stewart Copeland, Summers began his professional recording career in the early 1960s, playing for Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band (which later became the psychedelic but short-lived Dantalian’s Chariot), Eric Burdon’s New Animals, and Soft Machine. After formally studying guitar at Northridge University in California from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, Summers returned to England and plied his trade as a session guitarist for Joan Armatrading, Neil Sedaka, Kevin Coyne, and Deep Purple’s Jon Lord before achieving monumental success and international stardom with The Police.
After the dissolution of The Police in the early 1980s, Summers scored some Hollywood films (Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Weekend at Bernie’s) and recorded one rock vocal album before establishing himself as an acclaimed and accomplished contemporary instrumental guitarist across a variety of styles, including jazz, fusion, New Age, and world music.
One of Summers' upcoming projects is Spirit Garden, a collection of guitar duets featuring Summers and classical guitarist Andrew York. In addition to acoustic and electric guitars, Summers and York also play other instruments. The duo’s collaboration began on the title track of York’s latest album, Centerpeace, which is available now. More information on Centerpeace and Spirit Garden can be found at www.andrewyork.net.
For a good overview of Summers’ solo work, I highly recommend the following albums: Mysterious Barricades, A Windham Hill Retrospective, Synaesthesia, and The X Tracks. My personal favorite Summers albums are Mysterious Barricades, The Golden Wire, Charming Snakes, World Gone Strange, Synaesthesia, Earth and Sky, and First You Build a Cloud.
--Raj Manoharan
The two-hour-and-thirty-four-minute program features Summers demonstrating his guitar technique from his years with The Police, as well as from his solo career, interspersed with live studio performances with his band at the time. The result is a good overview of rock and jazz guitar, delivered with Summers’ whacked-out sense of humor, plus a great audio-visual document of Summers displaying his masterful chops as an instructor and a composer-performer.
Summers was the guitarist for the mega-popular rock band The Police, who were active in the late 1970s and early 1980s and reunited for a 30th anniversary tour in 2007 and 2008. Being a good decade older than his bandmates Sting and Stewart Copeland, Summers began his professional recording career in the early 1960s, playing for Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band (which later became the psychedelic but short-lived Dantalian’s Chariot), Eric Burdon’s New Animals, and Soft Machine. After formally studying guitar at Northridge University in California from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, Summers returned to England and plied his trade as a session guitarist for Joan Armatrading, Neil Sedaka, Kevin Coyne, and Deep Purple’s Jon Lord before achieving monumental success and international stardom with The Police.
After the dissolution of The Police in the early 1980s, Summers scored some Hollywood films (Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Weekend at Bernie’s) and recorded one rock vocal album before establishing himself as an acclaimed and accomplished contemporary instrumental guitarist across a variety of styles, including jazz, fusion, New Age, and world music.
One of Summers' upcoming projects is Spirit Garden, a collection of guitar duets featuring Summers and classical guitarist Andrew York. In addition to acoustic and electric guitars, Summers and York also play other instruments. The duo’s collaboration began on the title track of York’s latest album, Centerpeace
, which is available now. More information on Centerpeace and Spirit Garden can be found at www.andrewyork.net.For a good overview of Summers’ solo work, I highly recommend the following albums: Mysterious Barricades
, A Windham Hill Retrospective, Synaesthesia, and The X Tracks. My personal favorite Summers albums are Mysterious Barricades, The Golden Wire, Charming Snakes, World Gone Strange, Synaesthesia, Earth and Sky, and First You Build a Cloud.--Raj Manoharan
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)