Talk Talk – Eden
A piercing and beautiful thing by Eden. Everything in the best traditions of our favourite Talk Talk. Smooth, slow melodies accrue and explode with sharp and dirty guitars. It will always sound modern, and most importantly it will always win hearts.
Михей и Джуманджи – Сука-любовь
«Love is a bitch» by Mihey blew up the stuck in the pop rhythms of the late 90’s Russian music in general and pop music in particular. A beautiful and memorable voice, an easy dub, a simple yet very explosive text. But the main meaning, known to everyone who loved, but never received an answer. «That’s how the beat will show you where it hurts. Like salt on my wounds, love is a bitch. Love is a bitch.» Mikhey left too early, but managed to do something special and very, very good.
Coil – Teenage Lightning 2005 (taken from their 2005 album The Ape Of Naples)
We were always told that Coil were dark and gloomy guys. But we can say the opposite with confidence. John and Peter created light and sincere music. We are absolute fans of Coil works. One of our favorite tracks is Teenage Lightning. This is a song about the first love, beautiful, strong, naive and certainly tragic. Here are the notes of nostalgia, which smoke is so pure. Each of us had their own Teenage Lightning.
Silly Wizard – The Secret Portrait / Wha’ll Be King But Charlie?
Everything was said for us by Niles J. Frantz «Silly Wizard is not just another folk music group; they rank with the greatest creators and performers from any country from any time.» They are amazingly beautiful performers of the traditional Scottish song «Wha’ll Be King But Charlie?» This Jacobite song about the landing of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the gathering of the clans may have been written (or at least recorded) by Lady Caroline Nairnie.
A smooth, measured beginning, like a sunrise among the natural landscapes of Scotland. All are preparing for a very important and triumphant event, so the melody is interrupted by almost ceremonial march. Well, closer to the end, the rhythm fades again and here the notes of eternity are heard.
Lusine Azaryan – Baghdzanq (Wish)
A very beautiful performance from the Armenian opera singer Lusine. The author of music is a magnificent Armenian composer with a beautiful name and a surname Vahan Artsruni. The original performance of this song is in his legendary album «Komitas. Ten relevations». The author of the text is wonderful Komitas. It’s impossible to stop listening to this song.
Bjork & Antony Hegarty – Dull Flame of Desire
Our favorite track by Bjork. And certainly the delightful voice of Anthony. The poem by a wonderful19-th century Russian poet Fedor Tutchev, which was also used in the final in a great film by Andrei Tarkovsky «Stalker». No words can describe this combination of pipes and drums which just gives you goosebumps.
Michael Brook & Djivan Gasparyan – Take My Heart
The name speaks for itself. Love respects honesty. This track is of course about love. Jivan’s cooperation with Michael clearly shows how the eastern and western musical cultures can perfectly match. Sparkling guitar tremolo, mixed with a piercing duduk. From the liner notes: « I wish you were a flower in my garden. I wish you were a bird flying over my garden. I wish you were with me, my love. Stay with me, don’t cause me too much pain. You may take my heart away if you wish, only please don’t leave me. Stay with me and I will do anything for you.» These words can not convey the beauty of this music. Just listen.
Jefferson Airplane – Today
If today you want to tell someone you love them, listen to this song, it will help spread your wings.
Rouben Hakhverdian & Lilit Pipoyan – Menak Jamport Em
Lilit Pipoyan is the true treasure of Armenia. If you want to feel Armenia, you should start listening to the songs of Lilith. One of our favorite songs is «Menak Jamport Em», performed with Ruben Hahverdyan, a famous Armenian musician, one of the founders of the author song genre in Armenia. Magic arrangement. This is real poetry.
Laurie Anderson – Slip Away
The musical ode to death. This song is similar to the well-known phrase Memento mori. When time stops and collides with emptiness and infinity, with what you can not accept. «Oh death, that creep, that crooked jerk. He comes, he comes walking. He comes sneaking …» Love your loved ones.
Delicate Features – Pure (Freeride Millenium / Pauls Musique)
St. Petersburg duo Delicate Features serve up the next release on Freeride Millenium, turning out five hyper-emotional tracks that make a lasting impact and come with brilliant artwork by Daniel Rajcsanyi.
Delicate Features was formed in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 2012 and is made up of composer Pavel Diakov and singer Radmila Nikogosian. They have put out three albums of abstract, ambient, downtempo and leftfield sounds that are mesmerising and always original. The tracks for this new EP were written between 2015 and 2018 and are united by “the melancholy of time which runs and never comes back.” The pair see their music as poetry and say most of these pieces were inspired by Russian poet Vasily Filippov, who spent much of his life in a mental health hospital. As such they are superbly reflective and inward affairs about loneliness and “the melancholy of departure. The inevitability of parting.”
Enthralling opener ‘Attached’ is a sea of pads and synths, cosmic details and gentle drums that suspend you in mid air. Utterly thought provoking and fully formed, it’s followed up by the more propulsive ‘The Sun Moves So Fast,’ with exquisite synths and a carefree vibe that carries you away on a dream. It’s a track to truly get lost in whilst the masterfully moody ambient piece ‘Decimal’ is the same. It has distant vocal cries drifting in and out and is a cinematic landscape that has you gazing into the distance as a barely-there, down- low rhythm slowly propels you forwards and upwards.
Standout ‘Moonlight Disco’ has long-legged, slow motion drums sinking you into a deep- cut and starry-eyed groove. Drenched in echo, the whole thing feels grandiose and epic, with sweeping pads adding to the all-consuming scale of the track as it floods your heart with feeling. Last of all, the beautiful ‘Hopes’ is a celestial ambient offering subtly packed with optimism. Bright lines shine out of the heavens, with soft focus keys and a swelling sense of hope rising throughout.
