In A Landscape

Graham Lambkin & Jason Lescalleet- The Breadwinner: Lots of plays of this one this week. Lambkin and Lescalleet playing a house. Eight sound pictures of an upstate NY residence. Really makes for a very enticing and enjoyable listening experience. Creaks and bubbles, muffled pianos, baths, cups of tea being made, groaning and moaning... its all excellent stuff.

Cosmos- Tears: Difficult music. Listened to this release probably 3 or 4 times since I got it several months ago and while I've enjoyed it, it really hasn't 'clicked' yet, I don't think. I really love the sound of Sachiko M's click, scrathces and tones, whether she's playing empty sampler or contact microphone on objects. Ami Yoshida's voice is fascinating too. I think this album needs more careful listens as while I do pick up on some beautifully structured moments, the structuring of the three pieces as a whole (with possibly the exception of track 1, which I enjoyed the most), are passing me by at present.


I mentioned this CD last time. Five works spanning the career so far of Scottish New Complexity composer James Dillon. I really really love this CD. The first work, Dillug-Kefitsah, for solo piano, is a short, delightful work that jumps about from style to style and provides a light introduction to an album of dense music. The second work, Del Cuarto Elemento, is a chaotic, microtonal and difficult piece for solo violin. It does have a strong sense of narrative structure; however, as do the next two pieces. Traumwerk Book III for violin and piano is a series of 11 incredibly beautiful miniatures that conjure up a small world of private thoughts and desires (my impression...). Glistening chords decay, hanging above scratching, scurrying, frantic violin lines, the two voices playing off each other in a whole range of different manners. black/nebulae for piano duo is my favourite work on the CD so far. Inspired by the sight of black crows taking flight while on a visit to Japan, that imagery is powerfully portrayed through this mammoth 20 minute piece. The final work, the soadie waste for piano quintet, is a wild and rhythmic anthropological portrayal of Glaswegian "wedding receptions, dances and housie housie". Lots of microtonal fun.


Listening to this one now, for the first time. Promoted as an "ambient album", and containing the most beautiful of John Cage's music (not very familiar with alot of his work) I've heard so far, the album is rather haunting. Especially the organ piece I'm listening to currently, Souvenir. In A Landscape's decaying diatonic lines did provide a much needed rest for the ears after listening to Dillon and Cosmos earlier today though.

I also listened to Keith Rowe's "The Room" and "Shree Raga" performed by Ali Akbar Khan today. Both awesome cds but I didn't listen to them carefully enough to write much now.

Busy busy.