Faure / Greenwood / Wagner / Part
I've always listened to a lot of classical music but I'm fairly sure I haven't posted much on here before (the spectacular Gabor Szabo Love Theme from Spartacus comes pretty close) but since I recently borrowed a much bigger Ipod to the one I'm used to I've had the luxury of carting around about 10 times as much music which has led to some great rediscoveries.
Elsewhere, in the production of Julius Caesar I'm performing in at the moment this piece is used when Caesar's body is borne off stage. I'm usually biased towards Deutsche Grammaphon but this version put out by EMI of the Paris Conservatoire is a timely reminder of the golden age of recording.
Another more contemporary work that makes an appearance in Caesar is some of Jonny Greenwood's classical compositions for the soundtrack of There Will Be Blood.
Teddy Tahu does a magnificent rendition of this song from Wagner's Tannhauser but this older recording comes from the 111 Years of Deutsche Grammaphon collection, which I had easier access to.
Finally, one of the few songs that makes you feel like your whole life is stretching out in front of you. This piece of Estonian minimalism has suffered tangentially at the hands of overplay in movie soundtracks, but it's featured so heavily for good reason. If you enjoy it, check out Part's Cantus in Memorial of Benjamin Britten.
Northeast Party House
i wrote / a letter
Moving into much more different terrain now with local band Northeast Party House; a really well-mixed, high quality track from a group that's even better live.
The Church
so hard / finding inspiration
The Church walk the giddy tightrope between jangle-pop and Australian post-punk in a song that'll surprise the casual listener, only familiar with Under the Milky Way Tonight.
Joy Division
made the fatal / mistake
I hadn't heard a lot of the "last" Joy Division album, Still, but when listening through their live recordings I found The Only Mistake, and it was only then that I checked out the studio version. I also included Sound of Music, even though I've usually toss up between the Still track and the Peel Sessions version.
J Dilla
Having heard the Dilla instrumental that this is built around hundreds of times I was really pleasantly surprised to come across this track from the (one of many) posthumous Dilla albums, Jay Stay Paid.
Gang of Four
it's the cause / of all my thinking
I've probably listened to more Gang of Four over the last four years than any other band but over the last week I've been revisiting Return the Gift! and their Peel Sessions in particular. The best Peel Sessions are always those where the band mix up the way they play their songs, as they do on this record, but this take on Guns Before Butter is fairly true to form, except for the vocal panning at the beginning.
