RIP Bernardo Sassetti

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Yair Yona


Started this morning with sad news - Portuguese pianist and composer Bernardo Sassetti had died two days ago. According to what Wikipedia says, he fell off a cliff.
Sassetti was a brilliant composer, a pianist who was deeply influenced by the works of Bill Evans, and released several wonderful albums, mainly with Clean Feed. The musical paths he explored were ranging between classical music and jazz, characterized by a charming, heart melting playing, poetry and melody, gentle and compassionate.
A good example will be his 2004 solo piano album Indigo.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1dPJkIKJYo

Aside to his regular studio albums, he also composed film scores, and often set his experimental sides free in those works. He combines romanticism and classical film score composing off the Henry Mancini school of music, along with Brazilian and even poppy sides.
I mostly recommend his stunning 2006 album Unreal:Sidewalk Cartoon, rich with sounds and instruments (Marimbas, vibes, oboe, horns etc) and hypnotizing with his lust for life.
[Audio] Bernardo Sassetti — Dona Antónia (Movimentos Oblíquos)

His recent album was released in 2010 and was much more jazzier, Keith Jarrett-wise, and included a surprising cover of a Sparklehorse song.Here’s a live version of Homecoming Queen.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiGre38TaTc

Great loss. RIP.

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STR Mixtape : Mashed Onions

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Yair Yona

[Audio] Mashed Onions

1. Ruby and the Rib Cage – Horror
2. The Nighttime Adventure Society – Shes in Mind
3. Bert Jansch – Open Up The Watergate
4. Blk Jks – Zol!
5. Damscray – Twist & Science
6. Dara Puspita – Beleive Me
7. Dominique A – Rendez-Nous La Lumière
8. Club De Rome – Painting On Your Skin
9. Roy Harper – Feeling All The Saturday
10. Bauhaus – In Fear Of Fear
11. Pylon – Feast On My Heart
12. Gap Dream – Feast of the First Morning
13. The Standells – Did You Ever Have That Feeling
14. LA Vampires featuring Matrix Metals – So Unreal
15. Nova Express – La Fille Aux Yeux Telescopiques
16. The Royal Pendletons – Those Lonely, Lonely Nights
17. The Psychedelic Furs – Yes I Do
18. Ten Years After – Love Like A Man

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A New Single By Hayvanlar Alemi

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Yair Yona

About a year ago, I was going on and on and on about the Turkish band Hayvnlar Alemi, signed to Sublime Frequencies, who’s doing a mixture of psych,surf,dub and experimental music. Their 2011 album was one of the best that year.

Now they have a new single out, and the A side is a cover to the legendary Mulatu Astatke. The 45” will be sold in their shows.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bywocPVpTi8

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Paolo Tofani – Indicazioni

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Yair Yona

Paolo Tofani released Indicazioni in 1977. He was enjoying a public recognition as guitarist of one of the better bands from the Italian Prog movement – Area.
He also recorded a psych/folkier album under the name of Electric Frankenstein called What Me Worry?, and then recorded this strange album.

Indicazioni is a solo guitar album, totally weird and experimental. The sound is processed through an EMS synth, with a feeling of disorientation and aggressiveness in the same time, jazzy licks, electronic squeaks and track of Italian spoken word (?).
I’ve seen the name Robert Fripp in relation to that record, obviously in a reference to the Frippertronics system, and you can sense his spirit here, but only on the surface, because upon listening to their playing, they are not similar at all.

Fans of Derek Baily and Ido Bukelman and experimental free guitars, will dig this for sure. 

[Audio] Paolo Tofani – Quattro Fasi Per Quattro

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STR Mixtape – Mars In Reverse

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Yair Yona

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1. The Moog Cookbook - Ziggy Stardust (The Moog Cookbook Plays The
Classic Rock Hits, 1997)
2. The Tesco Bombers - Hernando's Hideaway (Hernando's Hideaway
(7" Single)
3. Ultimate Spinach - Dove In Hawk's Clothing (Ultimate Spinach)
4. Les Baxter - The Trouble With Harry (Vintage Dance Orchestras
No. 150)
5. Koes Bersaudara - Poor Clown (Koes Bersaudara)
6. Ian Dury & The Blockheads - I'm Partial to Your Abracadabra
(New Boots and Panties!!)
7. Amir Perry - Life On The Floor (No Wonder It's Dark)
8. Greg Sage - Straight Ahead (Straight Ahead)
9. TV-resistori - Voi ei, ei voi olla totta (S/T)
10. True West - Throw Away The Key (Hollywood Holiday Revisited)
11. CAN - ...And More (Flow Motion)
12. Ernesto Djedje - Zadie Bobo (Ivory Coast Soul)
13. White Fence - A Hermes Blues (Family Perfume Vol. 1)
14. Alterboys - Frank Sinatra (Club Foot Orchestra)
15. Angel'in Heavy Syrup - Voyage (Angel'in Heavy Syrup IV)
16. Tripsichord - The New Word (Tripsichord)
17. Ennio Morricone - Ma non troppo erotico
(Belmondo, Morricone, Henri Verneuil (Bandes originales de fi)
18. The Beatles - Another Girl (Help!)
19. The The - The Beat(en) Generation (Mind Bomb)
20. Kwick - You're The Kind of Girl I Like (To The Point)
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Gorman – House In The Hills

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Yair Yona

Applewood Records sent me an email and suggested I’d listen to the new Gorman single House In The Hills. So I listened like a good boy and liked it a lot. It’s kinda strange folky song, that more then anything reminds me of Big Blood, sound and style-wise. Listen for yourself and you tell me.

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