“Joye: Les plaintes de Gilles de Bins dit Binchois”. Graindelavoix/Björn Schmelzer. Glossa (link)

Although the dukes of Burgundy were nominally vassals of the French king, in the late 14th and 15th centuries they grew in power thanks to useful marriages and land acquisitions, taking advantage also of France’s difficulties during the Hundred Years War. When Philip the Good became duke in 1419 he inherited not just part of northeastern France but also Flanders and its important commercial centers; over the course of his reign, he added much of the rest of the Low Countries and brought Burgundy to the height of its power. Philip was a great patron of the arts: he appointed the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck to his court, and his chapel of musicians was among the finest in Europe. Because Philip lived mostly in his northern possessions rather than in Dijon, most of his musicians came from Flanders and the Low Countries. One such musician was Gilles de Bins, known as Gilles Binchois, born probably in Mons around 1400, who joined Philip’s chapel in the 1420s, remaining there until 1453 (he died in 1460). He’s best known today for his secular French chansons; the dukes of Burgundy were carrying on the medieval courtly tradition, and Binchois’s chansons are on the continuum stretching back through Machaut to the trouvères. Binchois seems to have been particularly keen on composing by conventional rules: most of his chansons are in rondeau form, with four- or five-line stanzas and two-line refrains, most have lines of eight syllables, and almost all are in triple metre. What made Binchois stand out among his contemporaries were his graceful melodies, combined with a lack of rhythmic complexity. This simple and elegant music seems to lend itself to melancholic expression, as exemplified by Graindelavoix’s collection of plaintes, or laments. It seems odd to title such an album “Joye”—which comes from Johannes Ockeghem’s description of Binchois as “the father of joy” in his lament on the death of Binchois, included on the disc—but Björn Schmelzer explains that the “joy” in question is a more profound emotion that relates to “singing out one’s sadness”: a 15th-century form of the blues, if you like.

Dufay: “O gemma, lux”. Huelgas-Ensemble/Paul van Nevel. Harmonia Mundi (link)

Guillaume Dufay is widely regarded as the greatest composer of the Burgundian school. Born around 1397, he became a choirboy at the cathedral of Cambrai, where he received both musical and religious training. Dufay had several periods of employment in Italy: he appears to have worked under the Malatesta family in Rimini and/or Pesaro between 1420 and 1426, and he was a singer in the papal choir in Rome from 1428 to 1433; he was also associated with the dukes of Savoy and the Este family in Ferrara. This was yet another troubled time for the papacy: when Dufay returned to the service of Pope Eugene IV in 1435, the pope was in Florence, having fled Rome due to political turbulence; then in 1439, Eugene was formally deposed and replaced by Dufay’s previous employer, Duke Amadeus VIII of Savoy (whom history now calls an anti-pope). It’s not surprising that Dufay left the scene and returned to Cambrai, having already been made a canon of the cathedral in 1436; he returned to Savoy in the 1450s, after the papal crisis had ended, and retired back to Cambrai in 1458, by now an eminent figure occasionally visited by other composers. He died in 1474. Some of Dufay’s travels can be traced in the Huelgas-Ensemble’s collection of all 13 of his extant isorhythmic motets. Motets of this now long-established style had become associated with ceremonial occasions, as is clear from some examples: Vasilissa ergo gaude was composed in 1420 for a feast in honour of Cleofe Malatesta before her marriage to the brother of the Byzantine emperor; Supremum est mortalibus bonum marks a treaty of 1433 between Pope Eugene and the Holy Roman Emperor; and Nuper rosarum flores was sung at the consecration of the cathedral in Florence in 1436, when Brunelleschi’s dome was completed.

Dufay: “Flos florum”. Ensemble Musica Nova. Zig-Zag Territoires (link)

Dufay’s isorhythmic motets represent the last such works, and the move away from isorhythm represents a major shift in composition. In an isorhythmic motet, the composer was creating a complex musical structure based on the durations of the different sections and on their relationships. These structures themselves could be highly symbolic; for example, Dufay’s Nuper rosarum flores possesses certain durational ratios that correspond to the biblically reported dimensions of the temple of Solomon. In short, isorhythm is all about numbers. In Italy, however, composers had not been especially interested in isorhythmic motets, preferring non-isorhythmic polyphonic forms such as madrigals. With Dufay and various northern contemporaries spending many years in Italy, it’s unsurprising that they should make use of local styles, and in the evolution of the motet we see not just the disappearance of isorhythm but also a decline in the importance of the tenor voice (upon which the isorhythmic motet depended for its structual foundation), the use of single rather than multiple texts, the use of imitation among voices, and an important role for melody in the creation of the structure. In short, what we see in the first half of the 15th century is a shift from numbers to melody. There was also at the time a reconsideration of the purpose of the motet. The form had originally developed as sacred music to be sung in particular liturgical contexts, but over the years it had drifted somewhat from this purpose. Now, perhaps influenced by practices in England, where there seems to have been less drift, composers were returning the motet to devotional use, with particular emphasis on texts relating to the Virgin Mary. Examples of such pieces can be heard on Ensemble Musica Nova’s album, along with some hymns and antiphons, genres which generally involved the fairly straightforward harmonisation of an existing chant. A form of harmonisation known as fauxbourdon begins to be seen in some works of Dufay from the 1430s, where the chant is sung in the uppermost voice, doubled a fourth below, and with a third voice singing mostly in parallel sixths (which, we saw in the last chapter, was a stylistic feature of English polyphony). Although fauxbourdon tended to be confined to simpler chant settings, its general features were a major part of the overall Burgundian style of three-part composition, with the two higher voices coupled together in terms of melody and rhythm, producing a more homogenous texture.

Missa Caput. Gothic Voices/Christopher Page. Hyperion (link)

In terms of the type of music being composed, the most significant development during the Burgundian period was the appearance of the cyclic mass. We’ve already seen that Machaut and various anonymous composers of the 14th century had produced complete settings of the Mass Ordinary, but the Burgundians’ inspiration for masses in which all the movements were musically connected appears to have come from England. Complete mass settings in which the movements employ a tenor based on a particular pre-existing chant (referred to as the cantus firmus, or “fixed song”) were composed by Leonel Power and (possibly) John Dunstable, but the crucial work in the development of the cyclic mass is an anonymous composition from around 1440. The Missa Caput derives its name from the fact that in each of the five movements the tenor is based on the hundred-note-long melisma sung to the first syllable of the word caput (meaning “head”) in the antiphon Venit ad Petrum. This antiphon, part of the Sarum rite, pertains to Jesus washing the feet of his disciples and was sung on the Thursday before Easter, though whether this is relevant to the circumstances of the mass’s composition is unknown. Importantly, the Missa Caput is written for four rather than three voices, the novelty here being the addition of another voice below the tenor, one that was freely composed rather than linked to the tenor, which, because of the way it could affect harmony, prompted a new way of thinking about chord progressions and cadences that ultimately led to the idea of tonality. This low fourth voice was termed the contratenor bassus, to distinguish from the contratenor voice above the tenor, which became the contratenor altus; meanwhile, the top voice, previously called the cantus or triplum, became the superius. You can easily see how we have ended up with the soprano – alto – tenor – bass nomenclature. The Missa Caput made its way around Europe in manuscript form and proved such an inspiration that two composers of different generations—Johannes Ockeghem and Jacob Obrecht—created their own masses using the same cantus firmus (in fact, the original Missa Caput was long thought to be a composition by Dufay).

Busnois: Missa L’homme armé; Domarto: Missa Spiritus almus. Binchois Consort/Andrew Kirkman. Hyperion (link)

It wasn’t long before cantus firmus masses moved away from reliance on plainchant and began to employ other sacred and secular tunes. In the latter category, the most popular source of a cantus firmus was the song L’homme armé (“The armed man”): more than forty masses that use its tune are known. It has just a single verse, translated as “The armed man must be feared / It has been proclaimed everywhere / That everyone should arm himself / In an iron shirt of mail”. The author of and inspiration for the song are unknown, though it might not be coincidence that it became popular in the period when Europe was shocked by the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks. That was in 1453; the following year, Philip the Good of Burgundy held the legendary Feast of the Pheasant to rally support for a crusade. Here, we’re told, the entertainment included an elephant carrying a woman who sang a lament for Constantinople, and a giant pie within which (uncooked) were 28 musicians. No crusade ever materialised. In 1467, Philip the Good was succeeded by his son Charles the Bold, who was particularly associated with L’homme armé: an anonymous set of six masses based on the song is dedicated to him, and the most popular Missa L’homme armé of the time was composed by Antoine Busnois (or Busnoys), who was employed in Charles’s chapel. On the Binchois Consort’s disc, Busnois’s mass is coupled with a mass by Petrus de Domarto, thought to be among the earliest cantus firmus masses produced in continental Europe. Despite an apparently high reputation in his lifetime, little is known of Domarto today—not the first time in this series where a patchy historical record might give us pause. As for Charles the Bold, he became embroiled in a series of conflicts and was killed at the Battle of Nancy in 1477; Busnois and the other musicians of his chapel had accompanied him on previous campaigns, but they seem to have avoided this one. Charles’s death marked the end of Burgundy as a power, but the dominance of Flemish and French composers continued.

Selected tracks from the above albums are available in a mix at 8tracks.com.

Previous posts in this series:
Introduction
Part 1. Gregorian chant (8tracks mix)
Part 2. From chant to polyphony (8tracks mix)
Part 3. Troubadours and trouvères (8tracks mix)
Part 4. Troubadour influences (8tracks mix)
Part 5. The 13th-century motet (8tracks mix)
Part 6. Ars nova (8tracks mix)
Part 7. Trecento Italy (8tracks mix)
Part 8. Medieval England (8tracks mix)

 My Song of the Week is “Psalm of Life”.  It is on the album Gift, the first collaborative recording by the mother-and-daughter team, Eliza Carthy and Norma Waterson, who make up part of British folk’s great dynasty.

The song puts to music the classic poem of the same name by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  It is one of my favorite poems.  Longfellow said of it, ‘I kept it some time in manuscript, unwilling to show it to any one, it being a voice from my inmost heart, at a time when I was rallying from depression.’  (Longfellow’s young wife was burned to death in an accident while lighting a candle.  The flames caught her skirts on fire and completely engulfed her.)

When I discovered that Carthy & Waterson had set this poem to music, I was anxious to hear what these two brilliant artists would do with it, but my eagerness was also tempered with some trepidation.  Such a powerful poem could be trivialized and ruined so easily with the wrong interpretation.  I needn’t have worried.  Carthy & Waterson nail it.  The melody they have chosen is perfectly suited to the spirit of the poem, as are the vocals and accompanying instruments.  Graceful piano notes contrast with earthy, almost clumsy-sounding trombone notes. The same contrast is echoed in the vocals, where Carthy’s beautifully smooth voice is heard alongside Waterson’s more rough, edgy one.  This smooth/rough, graceful/awkward, heavenly/earthy combination of sounds paints a very effective sonic picture of the literary message of Longfellow’s poem – a broken, depressed soul’s fumbling journey to reach an endpoint of comfort and contentment.  There is a beautiful, somewhat melancholy instrumental break featuring a violin that is also in perfect keeping with the spirit of the poem.  The song’s chorus, repeated throughout the song as one would expect,  repeats the poem’s last stanza (“let us, then, be up and doing/with a heart for any fate/still achieving, still pursuing/learn to  labor and to wait”), and is particularly fitting since it conveys the main point Longfellow wished to make.   I cannot think of a better way to express the poem musically than what Carthy and Waterson have accomplished.

Here are the lyrics, followed by the story behind the poem:

A PSALM OF LIFE

TELL me not, in mournful numbers,

Life is but an empty dream ! —

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

And things are not what they seem.

Life is real ! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal ;

Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

Is our destined end or way ;

But to act, that each to-morrow

Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world’s broad field of battle,

In the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle !

Be a hero in the strife !

Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant !

Let the dead Past bury its dead !

Act,— act in the living Present !

Heart within, and God o’erhead !

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time ;

Footprints, that perhaps another,

Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate ;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labor and to wait.

THE STORY BEHIND THE PSALM (from “Light from Many Lamps” 124-126 (Lillian Watson, ed., Touchstone 1988):

“It was early morning. The bright sun streamed through the windows of the Craigie house in Cambridge where George Washington had once had his headquarters, and where a young Harvard professor now lived. He lived, in fact, in the very room that Washington had occupied. And as he stood gazing out of the window at the sloping lawn and the elms, he wondered if Washington might not have stood here once feeling perhaps as he did–unutterably lonely and dejected. The young man’s wife had died three years ago, but he longed for her still. Time had not softened his grief nor eased the torment of his memories. He turned restlessly from the window and wondered how to spend the time before breakfast.

He was a poet too, this young professor; but he had no heart for poetry these days. He had no heart for anything, it seemed. Life had become an empty dream. But this could not go on, he told himself! He was letting the days slip by, nursing his despondency. Life was not an empty dream! He must be up and doing. Let the dead past bury its dead. . . . Suddenly Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was writing in a surge of inspiration, the lines coming almost too quickly for his racing pen. Longfellow called his poem “A Psalm of Life.” He put it aside at first, unwilling to show it to anyone; for as he later explained, “it was a voice from my inmost heart, at a time when I was rallying from depression.”

But later he allowed it to be published . . .and it went straight to the hearts of millions of people. No poem ever written became so well known so fast. It was taught in schools, recited on the stage, discussed from pulpit and lecture platform. It crossed the ocean, and spread like wildfire through England. It was translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Danish–even Sanskrit! In China it was printed on a fan and became immensely popular. A whole generation of school children grew up under the influence of Longfellow’s “Psalm.” Many prominent men later acknowledged that influence with gratitude. Henry Ford, for example, memorized it as a lad, and in later years often said that the sixth and ninth stanzas came back to him all his life, inspiring him to effort and achievement. Firestone also freely acknowledged his indebtedness to the poem, as did many other famous men. Edward Bok made a special visit to Longfellow to tell him how much the last four lines meant to him. Even Gandhi, on the other side of the world, quoted a favorite line from it just a few days before his death (“….things are not what they seem”). The call to courage and action of a man emerging from a great sorrow, “A Psalm of Life” is one of the best-loved and most widely read poems in the world. Its lines are full of hope, its message clear and unmistakable. Its appeal is as vital and timely now as it ever was; in a recent poll to determine the nation’s favorite poem, it easily won first place.

For over a hundred years “A Psalm of Life” has helped the weary, unhappy, and discouraged to be “up and doing, with a heart for any fate.” No poem more richly deserves its place among the inspirational classics of mankind.”

In SYDLHH: Part 1, we looked at some of hip hop’s earliest influential tracks.  As mentioned therein, the DJs ruled the roost in early hip hop, and most artists got their start wanting to be DJs.  In fact, even Jay-Z notes in his memoir/book of annotated lyrics Decoded that he first wanted to be a DJ.  It didn’t take long, however, for MCs to take the hip hop crown, and with just a few exceptions (e.g. J Dilla, DJ Screw, the RZA, DJ Premier) they’ve never given it back.  In SYDLHH: Part 2 we will look at some of the earliest MCs and how they furthered the growth of the genre.  I intended initially to limit this overview to just one post, but there is simply too much to say about the 8 MCs I want to cover, so Part 2 will go up in two posts (and even limiting it to two posts requires me to repeatedly remind myself that this series is just an overview).

Run-D.M.C. – “It’s Like That” (March 12, 1983): Profile Records

Formed in Queens around 1982, Run-D.M.C. was made up of Run, D.M.C., and Jam Master Jay.  While the group wouldn’t break into the mainstream until 1986’s Raising Hell, they began changing the rap game as far back as 1983’s “It’s Like That” b/w “Sucker M.C.’s”.

Produced by Russell Simmons (Run’s brother) and Larry Smith, “It’s Like That” was released by Profile Records and while it didn’t exactly light the charts on fire, it did lay the ground work for a new version of hip hop.  As can be seen in Part 1, hip hop prior to Run-D.M.C. was dance oriented with MCs and DJs using sampled and looped funk, disco, electronic, and other dance beats to rule the clubs and street parties.  Run-D.M.C., however, particularly on tracks such as “It’s Like That”, introduced beats that were not sampled or looped but hit hard while containing a level of minimalism that allowed the beats to breathe.  These harder/minimalist beats would go on to provide the background for most hip hop of the next 25 years and are used almost exclusively in hardcore hip hop.  Similarly, Run-D.M.C.’s look in dress, Adidas track suits with gold chains and similar outfits, and performance set up, with only the three group members on stage, brought both a simultaneously hard and minimal feel to the group’s visuals.  Again, this ascetic became the hip hop standard.

Lyrically, “It’s Like That” extends the conscientious themes of  “The Message” through discussions of poverty and the difficulties faced by those simply trying to stay afloat.  Unlike a lot of similarly themed songs, however, and despite lines like “Won’t you tell me the last time that love bought you clothes”, “It’s Like That” is explicitly hopeful.  After describing the difficult lives of those around them, Run-D.M.C. close with four stanzas exhorting the listener to take the improvement of their lives into their own hands.  Of the four stanzas, my favorite is the call for education, “One thing I know is that life is short/So listen up homeboy, give this a thought/The next time someone’s teaching why don’t you get taught?/It’s like that (what?) and that’s the way it is”, but each of the four demonstrate a hopeful realism that would be central to Run-D.M.C.’s entire catalog.

Schoolly D – “P.S.K. What Does it Mean?” (1985): Schoolly D Records

The first artist discussed in SYDLHH not from the environs of New York City, Schoolly D is a Philadelphia native often credited as the first gangsta rapper.  In fact, Ice-T was inspired to write the first well known gangsta rap song “6 in the Mornin’” after hearing “P.S.K.” for the first time.  Produced by Schoolly D and DJ Code Money as a single on Schoolly D Records, before it was included on his debut self-titled release for Jive Records, “P.S.K. What Does it Mean?” is gangsta to the core.

Musically, “P.S.K. What Does it Mean?” is truly of its time.  Backed solely by drums and scratches (already demonstrating the minimalism Run-D.M.C. inaugurated two years earlier), Schoolly’s flow is molasses slow (unlike later gangsta rap, which tends to have accelerated flow) and, other than a brief sample at the beginning, Schoolly’s is the only voice you hear on the track.  Lyrically, “P.S.K.” includes the stories of sex, drugs, and violence that would become the norm for gangsta rap (P.S.K. itself is a direct reference to the Philadelphia gang the “Park Side Killas”).  The one difference between the stories in “P.S.K.” and the gangsta rap to come is that “P.S.K.” is substantially tamer and less graphic than N.W.A., the Geto Boys, etc.  For the time, however, it was a shocking depiction of life on the streets of Philadelphia in the early to mid 1980, and its influence cannot be understated.

LL Cool J – “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” (October 6, 1985): Def Jam Recordings

These days LL Cool J is mostly known as an actor on a procedural television show, but as a 17 year old in 1985, Def Jam released his debut album Radio, featuring lead single “I Can’t Live Without My Radio”.  With production from Rick Rubin, Radio as a whole is a vital hip hop document due to its status as the first full length release of seminal hip hop label Def Jam Recordings (following singles by T La Rock & Jazzy Jay, LL Cool J, and Beastie Boys, and an EP by Rubin’s band Hose).  Nonetheless, and with apologies to “Rock the Bells”, “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” is the album’s clear centerpiece.

“I Can’t Live…” was written by LL and Rubin and is an ode to the ghetto blaster, specifically one playing LL himself at high volume.  Lyrically, the track is a largely straightforward example of hip hop braggadocio with LL showing off his hard hitting flow, e.g. “My radio, believe me, I like it loud/I’m the man with the box that can rock the crowd/Walkin’ down the street, to the hardcore beat/While my JVC vibrates the concrete”, but LL does include a few Easter eggs for the careful listener.  Included among these Easter eggs are the following lines referencing Def Jam and Rubin: “Let your big butt bounce from right to left/Cause its a actual fact this jam is def/Most definitely created by me/Goin’ down in radio history/I’m good to go on your radio/And I’m cold gettin’ paid cause Rick said so.”

From a production standpoint, Rubin has become famous over the last three decades for his stripped down production style on everything from hip hop to Red Hot Chili Peppers to Johnny Cash.  “I Can’t Live…” is a perfect example of this style, with Run-D.M.C.’s minimalism taken to an extreme: Only a drum machine and a couple DJ scratches back LL.  In fact, there are moments, incredibly brief though they may be, where all sound drops away.  This gives the track a sparse feel and places the focus squarely on LL’s rhyming style for the simple reason that there is no place for LL to hide.  I think it would be intimidating as an artist to have the song hinge so strongly on the sound of your voice, but LL comes through with flying colors, and this is how I’ll remember him no matter how many fake crimes he solves.

Eric B. & Rakim – “Eric B. is President” (January 1, 1987): Zakia Records

Rakim is the “God MC” and Eric B. is as good a DJ as Rakim is an MC, so I’m not really sure what else needs to be said about Eric B. & Rakim, but I suppose…

Eric B. & Rakim met as teenagers when Eric B. (from Queens) began looking for an MC to work with and was introduced to Rakim (from Long Island) by a promoter.  They immediately started working together and hooked with Marley Marl for their first recording session.  Out of that session came “Eric B. is President”, which followed Run-D.M.C.’s lead when it comes to hard hitting beats, but differed in that it continued to use funk and dance track samples to back Rakim’s lyrics.  Whether Eric B. or Marley Marl was actually responsible for creating the music is strongly disputed, but in any event the track combines the bass line from Fonda Rae’s “Over Like a Fat Rat”, the drums from The Honey Drippers’ “Impeach the President”, and of course James’ Brown’s “Funky President”.  It’s a remarkable combination of tracks that creates a truly one-of-a-kind sound, but it’s Rakim that makes “Eric B. is President” great.

Rakim has a remarkable ability for rhyme that knows no equal.  At surface level his flow is incredibly smooth and easy, almost laid back, but a deeper listen shows just how much he mixes the rhyme structure up throughout “Eric B. is President”.  He starts out with some internal rhyming: “I came in the door, I said it before/I never let the mic magnetize me no more.”  Then moves to a line with a triple rhyme: “But it’s biting me, fighting me, inviting me to rhyme/I can’t hold back, I’m looking for that line.”  In the second verse he complicates things further by throwing in extra rhymes both within and overlapping lines: “I made it easy to dance to this/But can you detect what’s coming next from the flex of the wrist/Say indeed and I’ll proceed cause my man made a mix/If he bleed he won’t need no band-aid to fix.”  Listening to Rakim rhyme is remarkably similar to listening to a great jazz musician solo by taking a theme and gradually weaving it throughout a piece.  Just when you think Rakim has lost the thread he brings it back around and makes you sorry you ever doubted his virtuosity.

Alamaailman Vasarat

I reviewed here the most recent album by Finnish band Alamaailman Vasarat. Following that review, Stakula, the band’s leader, kindly agreed to an interview, offering some insights into the processes behind the music.

Valta is an addition to what by now is a substantial body of work, and Alamaailman Vasarat has established a distinctive sound. Has anything changed on this album compared to previous releases?

The most obvious changes were in the lineup. Before the Valta sessions, our new drummer Santeri Saksala had already performed with the band for a year, much to our enjoyment. The live performances really tightened up and had a whole new level of energy. In the Valta sessions, his knowledge and passion for the drums as instruments made a huge difference to album sound, not forgetting some of the most memorable improvised moments, like in the opening track “Riistomaasiirtäjä”. His contribution has made a huge impact in the overall sound of the band and we’re very happy to have him on board.

The most difficult move was the second lead change from trombone to trumpet/alto horn in the middle of the Valta sessions, sometime during March 2012. Jarkko Niemelä joined the band with background in classical, jazz and Balkan music – just a perfect combination of skills for the band. He learned and recorded all the new songs unbelievably quickly and we were able to keep the original release timetable. Now, after performing with Jarkko at several gigs all around, also the older songs have a new life with sparkling trumpet leads. This is certainly a Vasarat version II, so much has changed for the better in a very short time.

To understand Valta better, I need to go back a little bit: Huuro Kolkko, the album before Valta, released in 2009, was a concept piece with a complex storyline going through the whole thing. While interesting way to do music and we’re most happy with the end result, we didn’t want to repeat that all over again. But we didn’t just want to make a random collection of songs either.

So, Valta does have a concept, but it’s more ideological and less linear. Valta is a musical study about valta (a Finnish word for “power”) from several angles. Tyranny is one aspect of it and heavily present in the songs like “Riistomaasiirtäjä” and “Hirmuhallinto”. More subtle, but ancient power is found in dreams, legends and stories like Henkipatto and Hajakas. There’s also a lot of emotional power in everyday life of the ordinary people. Their joys and griefs are highlighted in songs like “Haudankantaja” and “Uurnilla”. But like most Alamaailman Vasarat albums, Valta gives the listener a lot of room to interpret the songs freely, maybe totally differently than what we originally thought. And that is the power of instrumental music.

In our thoughts, we always return to our imaginary country Vasaraasia, (name of our debut album from 2000), and in some way Valta is also the partial history of that place, a combination of short stories about how power has affected Vasaraasian people in the past and today. Valta may also be a prelude to fundamental change in Vasaraasia, maybe a prelude to the next album, we’ll see!

That combination of having something to say but also leaving listeners to weave their own stories from the music itself is interesting. I get the sense from all of your work to date that on the one hand you like to build ideas around your music, to create stories and conceits that frame the albums, yet on the other hand you sound as if you just take sheer delight in a great tune for its own sake. How does that balance out when you are composing? Do the ideas come before, after, or with the music?

As a long-time fan of movies, sci-fi and fantasy literature, etc. I’m always thinking about some sort of setting right from the start. It’s a natural way of composing for me and I suppose other band members may have picked up that technique along the way too, during these past 16 years. When I’m humming a melody in my head, I picture myself in an imaginary movie, sometimes as the main character, sometimes just an observer. Melody itself may lead to many changes in this imaginary settings and new ideas when it comes to arranging.

Orchestration and arranging are in many ways the most important things in Alamaailman Vasarat music production. All the instruments we have at our disposal are very flexible and we like to experiment with different music styles all the time, often combining them even in the same song. Also, because the music we do is instrumental, we don’t have to follow that many rules when it comes to song structures. Imaginary settings also free us to think outside the box and let the vision flow. All you need is a strong composition, everything else is open for discussion!

Given what you have said about how you compose, it seems as if video would be a natural medium for you, and there was some video work accompanying some of your earlier pieces. Is that something you plan to explore more in the future?

Yes, we’ve done some music videos in the past, starting with “Kebab tai henki!” which was shot in B&W 8mm in Helsinki and also “Violence trilogy”, featuring three music videos shot in B&W 16mm in Prague. All of those were sort of like silent short movies, scored by Alamaailman Vasarat. We even approached the whole projects like movies, starting with a proper script and all.

The funniest thing was when we were making “Kebab tai henki!”. The director called me and said that they had some good footage left but the song was too short to fit the footage in. I called Marko, our cellist, and we went to the rehearsal room to compose an additional part for the song. The director was kind of surprised but very pleased! The video got much better and the extra part is now permanently part of the song.

We’ve been thinking about doing videos like these more in the future, but it’s a question of funding and time. We’re big fans of grainy film which makes these productions much more expensive compared to shooting digital. But we’ll see, maybe it happens in the future!

Does the emphasis on setting extend to the physical setting in which the music is made? I gather there’s a story connected with the recent album involving a tower and some wine…

Yes, recently we’ve been experimenting with some unusual sound techniques. For the outro of “Hirmuhallinto”, the last track of the latest album Valta, I envisioned a water dropper which could act as a rhythmic background for the other instruments. It turned out even better when the band guys built it – we got a good sound out of a special metallic box which was hit by liquid drops from some four meters up, gradually slowing down as the liquid ran out in a very natural way. After testing, we found out that only using red wine as the liquid gave the right kind of sound. It also really opened up the wine!

Natural, slightly random elements during the recording process may give the music some unexpected and fresh feeling. They will also create great memories and make the sessions more special. I’m sure we will try these weird techniques out more in the future!

I sense in your compositions and in your comments both a joy in music and a seriousness about music. What would you say music is for? Why is it so important?

Hard question! Well, I don’t really know if anything is really “for” anything, but certainly music has an important role in defining human emotion in an abstract and untouchable way. Yes, it is based on movement of air, but still music triggers something in our minds which is way deeper than just physics or mere numbers. I believe as long as there are random elements in music and the path from a vague musical idea to listener’s ear is a surprising journey, music will stay important!

“Worcester Fragments”. Orlando Consort. Amon Ra

There’s not much extant music from the 14th century or earlier that’s specifically English. Under the Anglo-Saxons in the 10th and 11th centuries, a repertory of tropes for Gregorian chants was developed, with examples surviving today in manuscripts from Winchester and Canterbury. Among the changes brought by the Norman conquest of 1066 was the replacement of senior clergy by Normans, who imported their own liturgical traditions and introduced what is now called the Sarum rite. This rite was melodically similar (though not identical) to the Roman rite and included certain unique prayers as well as locally significant additions to the calendar. Thanks to the Normans and their successors the Plantagenets (who came to power in 1154 with the accession of Henry II), England was now closely linked to France, politically and culturally. We saw in Chapter 2 that Anonymous IV, the key source of information on Léonin and Pérotin, was an Englishman, and in fact the earliest surviving version of the Magnus liber organi of Notre Dame is one produced for the Augustinians of St. Andrews, Scotland. English composers seem not to have been especially interested in abstract theories of music compared with their French counterparts, however, and a distinctive English musical voice began to develop during the 13th century, one significant feature of which was a preference for thirds and sixths that may reflect an earlier Scandinavian influence. Unfortunately, the Reformation of the 16th century resulted in the destruction of many manuscripts, and the only records of English polyphony in the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries survive in fragments. The “Worcester fragments” are individual leaves from manuscripts used in Worcester Cathedral; they survived only because they had been recycled for book-binding, and in the 20th century they were gathered together to represent what scholars believe to have been a very rich repertoire of polyphony.

“Miri it is”. The Dufay Collective. Chandos

The cupboard is rather bare, too, when it comes to secular music. We’ve already seen that Henry II’s son, Richard I, was a trouvère, and later nobles and the merchant classes were interested in courtly song as was the case in France, but there’s no English equivalent of the large body of troubadour and trouvère music possessed by the French. A few examples of Anglo-Norman songs with music exist, as well as some Latin songs similar to those found in the Carmina burana. As for songs written in Middle English, there are very few of these – around a couple of dozen from before the early 14th century, most of them sacred. (It should be noted here that Anglo-Norman was the official court language until an act of parliament in 1362, which helped pave the way for the development of a distinctive English culture, as exemplified by the works of Geoffrey Chaucer and his contemporaries). One secular song in Middle English is probably the best-known of all medieval music: “Sumer is icumen in”, found in a mid-13th century manuscript. This is a round (or rota) whose text is sung in four voices accompanied by a two-voice repeated phrase that itself is a round – a complexity that appears to be unique for its time but may well reflect a common practice of polyphonic singing that wasn’t otherwise written down.

“Deo gracias Anglia!”. Alamire/David Skinner. Obsidian

Rather better represented as a particularly English genre is the polyphonic carol. At first – in the 12th century – carols (or caroles, as they were called in France) were monophonic dance songs with solo and choral sections. By the 15th century, from which time we finally have some examples of carols, the form had evolved into a two- or three-voice composition that wasn’t intended for dancing, though the alternating stanza–refrain structure remained (the refrain was known as the “burden” and technically speaking wasn’t the same as what we would now call a chorus). Today we associate carols with Christmas, but medieval carols were associated with various times of the liturgical year, when they were sung as processional music. Moreover, some of them weren’t religious; one of the best-known carols is the so-called Agincourt Carol, which describes Henry V’s victory at the battle of that name in 1415. Alamire’s recording presents the full contents of the oldest extant source of polyphonic carols, the Trinity Carol Roll. Here, instrumentalists have been brought in for additional variety, which perhaps enhances the impression that carols are folk music – though they’re more correctly described as art music composed in a popular style.

“The Old Hall Manuscript”. Hilliard Ensemble. Virgin

The best source of examples of what music was being written by English composers in the late 14th and early 15th centuries is the so-called Old Hall Manuscript. This was compiled for Thomas, the Duke of Clarence and second son of King Henry IV, around 1410-15, with some later additions probably up to about 1420. The manuscript contains 147 pieces of sacred music, arranged thematically: first settings of the Gloria, then antiphons and sequences, followed by settings of the Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei, with some isorhythmic motets at the end (there are no Kyries because in England the Kyrie was sung as plainchant with tropes). Of great benefit to music historians is that about two-thirds of the music is attributed to named composers – 24 names in all, including two pieces by “Roy Henry”, which (translating from French) is presumably Henry IV or Henry V. Within each group of pieces, there’s a further arrangement, with settings in the older “descant” style appearing first, notated in score, followed by more modern pieces notated in separate parts; overall, the manuscript shows quite a wide variety of musical styles. The descant (or discant) style often makes use of a plainchant melody, usually in the middle voice (the tenor), harmonized note for note by the other voices. Among the newer works we find the cantilena style, where the melodic focus shifts to the upper (treble) voice, with two supporting voices that are usually less ornate and sometimes instrumental; another foreign influence is the caccia style used by Pycard to produce Gloria settings in canonic form. In terms of quantity of works, the most significant composer to be found in the Old Hall Manuscript is Leonel Power (died 1445), who was employed at the Duke of Clarence’s household chapel and may have been involved in the manuscript’s preparation. Enough of Power’s music is extant to allow scholars to divide it into earlier and later periods; the pieces in the older part of Old Hall include English discant, isorhythmic Mass movements, and works in the Ars Nova style, whereas the later music shows more consonance and less rhythmic complexity.

Dunstable: “Sweet Harmony: Masses and Motets”. Tonus Peregrinus. Naxos

Before we go further, we must briefly return to the history of the Church. Although the Avignon papacy had declined in the first years of the 15th century, the great schism continued, and by 1409 there were now three rival popes. Europe had had enough, and 1414 saw the beginning of the four-year Council of Constance, which finally ended the schism. Some 18,000 clerics attended over the course of the council, as did seventeen hundred instrumental musicians, according to the chronicler Ulrich von Richenthal. Of significance for our story here is the arrival in 1416 of two English bishops and their parties, whose celebration of mass created quite an impression among continental musicians with what Ulrich described as “angelic sweet singing” of a style of music they hadn’t heard before. English music’s reputation in Europe took a further great boost thanks to the fortuitous arrival in Paris a few years later of John Dunstable (c.1390-1453). Dunstable – whose name is also spelled Dunstaple – was in the employ of John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford, who following the death of his brother King Henry V in 1422 became Regent for the young Henry VI and spent most of the rest of the decade in Paris maintaining England’s hold on its French possessions. Around fifty of Dunstable’s works survive, and the majority of them are found only in continental manuscripts. The French were drawn to those distinctively English aspects of Dunstable and his contemporaries’ music – the flowing rhythms and, especially, the lack of dissonance. Whereas Ars Nova harmonies contained plenty of dissonances, English composers, as we’ve seen above, had a liking for the consonance provided by major thirds and sixths, and Dunstable was particularly disposed to avoiding dissonance in his music. This approach was so admired that in 1440 the poet Martin le Franc remarked, in an aside in his allegorical poem Le Champion des Dames, that the composers of the time followed the example of Dunstable and “la contenance Angloise” rather than that of their earlier compatriots. A few decades later, the composer Tinctoris described Dunstable and the English composers as essentially the source of what was good in modern music. In the next chapter, we’ll hear what le Franc and Tinctoris were talking about…

Selected tracks from the above albums are available in a mix at 8tracks.com.

Previous posts in this series:
Introduction
Part 1. Gregorian chant (8tracks mix)
Part 2. From chant to polyphony (8tracks mix)
Part 3. Troubadours and trouvères (8tracks mix)
Part 4. Troubadour influences (8tracks mix)
Part 5. The 13th-century motet (8tracks mix)
Part 6. Ars nova (8tracks mix)
Part 7. Trecento Italy (8tracks mix)

Some facts about me: I’m white (a full fledged WASP actually); I’m middle class; I’m in my 30s; I’m a father; I live in the midwest; and I love hip hop.  It’s that last one that surprises people.  Due to the first five things listed I’m not supposed to like hip hop, even though I’m a huge music fan.  Nonetheless, whether it’s Golden Era East Coast, hardcore West Coast, southern, indie, or otherwise, if it falls under the hip hop umbrella there’s a good chance I listen to it.

The simple reason people are surprised by my hip hop fandom is it’s not ‘my’ music.  Hip hop, rose from the streets to tell the stories of the street.  Meanwhile, I’m about as ‘street’ as a labradoodle, and can’t pretend to relate to hip hop’s stories through personal experience.  Those stories, or at least the ones many people identify as wholly representative of hip hop, are largely made up of hustling, gang banging, and the like, and involve violence, drug dealing, misogyny, and other things utterly alien to my suburban, midwestern upbringing.  Obviously songs of this type are a subcategory of the broader hip hop spectrum, but the real problem with the assumption that I wouldn’t be a hip hop fan is the underlying presumption that just because I haven’t personally experienced these things I have no interest in the art that is being created as a result.  Good art should challenge its audience in some way and hip hop often does so by confronting its listeners with hard truths.

It’s these twin issues of mistakenly thinking all hip hop deals with violence and misunderstanding the challenging aspects of the parts that do, that make it particularly hard for me to hear other music fans say something along the lines of, “I like all types of music…except hip hop.”  All music fans have certain genres or artists they don’t connect with (art is highly subjective after all), but too often the dislike of hip hop is based on these two issues without further investigation of the genre, and hip hop absolutely requires further investigation.  At surface level some things about hip hop can certainly be off putting, if not downright horrifying, but the art wouldn’t be honest without including the less than desirable aspects of the lives of the artists or their friends/family.  Put simply, you can’t properly document the street without using the language of the street.  Additionally, a close reading of many hip hop lyrics that deal with violence will demonstrate the violence, language, et al., are not in any way glorified, but rather demonstrative of a tragedy at the center of a story.

“So You Don’t Like Hip Hop” is my way of helping music fans navigate the world of hip hop to find that one style of hip hop, or even one song, that cuts through the noise and speaks directly to them.  I will present groups of tracks tied to together by things like era, locations, or style with a very brief description of why the track is important.  This really is a labor of love for me because I truly believe that once an entry point to the genre is found, music fans can follow their song down the rabbit hole of hip hop and emerge on the other side saying “I like all types of music.”  Up first we’ll look at hip hop’s earliest ground breakers:

The Sugarhill Gang – “Rapper’s Delight” (September 1979): Sugar Hill Records

“Now, what you hear is not a test/I’m rapping to the beat.”  The first line of the first hip hop song to chart in the U.S. (I don’t count Blondie’s “Rapture” as it was only partially ‘rapped’), reaching #36 on the pop charts and #1 on the R&B charts, is actually an explanation that Wonder Mike was not just talking to make sure the mic worked, but that his lyrics were actually the song.  Kind of an inauspicious beginning, but one that was needed.  The Sugarhill Gang was put together by Sugar Hill Records in an effort to capitalize on the burgeoning hip hop movement emanating from the Bronx, and the masses that were as yet unaware of the movement likely would have been utterly confused by what seemed to be Chic’s “Good Times” with random talking on it instead of the usual lyrics.  The members of Sugarhill, Wonder Mike, Big Bank Hank, and Master Gee, were basically unknown as rappers in the hip hop community (Big Bank Hank was the The Cold Crush Brothers’ manager, but his verse was ghostwritten by Cold Crush’s Grandmaster Caz), and the community did not take kindly to Sugarhill being the group that first brought hip hop to the mainstream.  Nonetheless, “Rapper’s Delight” remains a wonderfully fun introduction to the genre due in part to its (in)famous hook: “I said a hip, hop, the hippie – the hippie/To the hip hip-hop, and you don’t stop/The rock it to the bang-bang, boogie say ‘up jump’/The boogie to the rhythm of the boogie: the beat.” Other great lines include: “Ya see I’m six foot one and I’m tons of fun/And I dress to a ‘T’/Ya see I got more clothes than Muhammad Ali and I dress so viciously”; “Have you ever went over a friend’s house to eat/And the food just ain’t no good?/I mean the macaroni’s soggy the peas are mushed/And the chicken tastes like wood”; and of course “So you bust out the door while it’s still closed/Still sick from the food you ate/And then you run to the store for quick relief/From a bottle of Kaopectate.”  This isn’t a song with a deep message, or any message at all, but the mix of the “Good Times” instrumentation and fun rhymes are perfect to put on for a Saturday night out.

Funky 4 + 1 – “That’s the Joint” (January 1980): Sugar Hill Records

The first hip hop group from the Bronx to get a record deal (later to be the first hip hop group to perform on national television via Saturday Night Live), at the time of “That’s the Joint” Funky 4+1 was KK Rockwell, Keith Keith, Lil’ Rodney Cee, Jazzy Jeff (no not that Jazzy Jeff), and the first recorded female MC, Sha Rock.  As was often the case in the early days, Funky 4 + 1 was incredibly young with no one in the group being 18 yet when they formed in 1979.  On January 1, 1980, the group released their nearly 10 minute classic, “That’s the Joint” on Sugar Hill Records.  While The Sugarhill Gang’s MCs simply traded verses on “Rapper’s Delight”, Funky 4 + 1 had worked together long enough to create a true crew track, with MCs trading lines within verses and joining in unison at times.  The song was arranged by Clifton Jiggs Chase, an in-house producer at Sugar Hill who later sequenced “The Message” (see below), and part of the track was later sampled by Beastie Boys on both “Shadrach” and “Shake Your Rump”.  The track’s lyrics feature the type of braggadocio that dominated early rap lyrics and still pops up with some regularity.  Braggadocio was, and is, so common in hip hop due to the genre’s roots in battle rapping.  Rapping started on street corners, at outdoor parties, and then in clubs, and if you wanted to get on the mic you had to show you had what it took by standing out.  This was ordinarily accomplished by simply taking on your competition directly in a battle.  As battling really gives the MC two options to demonstrate their superiority, run down the opponent or talk up themselves, battle rappers quickly became proficient at coming up with new, interesting, and continuously more complex ways to do both.  “That’s the Joint” contains countless examples of early techniques and is a quintessential example of the myriad ways MCs could brag on themselves (as well as shout out some other artists they like).

Kurtis Blow – “The Breaks” (September 1980): Mercury

Kurtis Blow, named ‘blow’ by his manager Russell Simmons after a punch not cocaine,  was the first MC to sign with a major label (Mercury).  His debut self-titled album is somewhat scatter shot in style and quality, veering from hip hop to R&B to rock, but second single, “The Breaks”, despite peaking only at #87 on the Billboard Hot 100, was the first rap song to go gold and is a true classic.  The beat in “The Breaks” is original and the lyrics mention many, many types of “breaks”: Brakes on buses, cars, planes, and trains; the bad breaks of losing your job or your girlfriend; and breaks (pauses) in war, to name a few.  The focus of the track, however, is on the breaks that “will rock your shoes.”  The track contains six separate ‘breaks’ (dropping everything but percussion and guitar for a period), which are designed for dances and are really the basis of the song’s popularity.  The development of the break is credited to DJ Kool Herc, also credited with bringing Jamaican sound systems to the Bronx thereby lighting the spark that would become hip hop, who noticed that party goers preferred the breaks that already existed in songs.  Accordingly, in the early to mid 70s he developed what he called the “Merry-Go-Round” (switching from break to break on multiple turn tables), which greatly extend breaks and sent partiers into a frenzy.  Early hip hop artists built upon the “Merry-Go-Round” by creating tracks made up of breaks, and obviously “The Breaks” is a prime example of this development.  Again, there is no larger message to the track, but it is fantastic for parties.

Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force – “Planet Rock” (April 1982): Tommy Boy

1982 was the year hip hop really started to break (to get another use of the word into this article), and Afrika Bambaataa, already a leading figure in the genre, was at the forefront of the explosion.  Bambaataa started to DJ after hearing Kool Herc around 1973 and is one of the most interesting figures in hip hop history (I look at him as hip hop’s Sun Ra).  Bambaataa was born sometime between 1957 and 1960 and prior to getting involved in hip hop was a warlord of the Bronx gang the Black Spades.  After he visited Africa (thanks to winning an essay contest) and as the 70s progressed, however, he became involved in gang peace movements, changed his name to Afrika Bambaataa Aasim, and converted his gang work into the formation of the Zulu Nation (a positive community group in opposition to gangs), using hip hop to grow the Nation.  The Soul Sonic Force were Bambaataa’s MCs and on “Planet Rock” included G.L.O.B.E., Mr. Biggs, and Pow Wow.  On “Planet Rock” Bambaataa and the Sonic Force combined their love of funk and electronic music (the track is built upon the melody from Kraftwerk’s “Trans-Europe Express”) to create a groundbreaking sound that not only still serves as the basis for g-funk, but moves beyond hip hop to be a strong influence on house music.  “Planet Rock”‘s lyrics have had far less of an impact than its music, but they are no less interesting, focusing as they do on a message of peace and using music to bring people from around the world together on the dance floor.  A prime example of Bambaataa’s message are the lines: “You’re in a place where the nights are hot/Where nature’s children dance and set a chance/On this Mother Earth, which is our rock/The time has come, and work for soul, show you really got soul/Are you ready hump bump bump, get bump, now let’s go, house.”

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five feat. Melle Mel and Duke Bootee – “The Message” (May 1982): Sugar Hill Records

Another Godfather of hip hop, and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (whatever that’s worth), Grandmaster Flash also learned how to DJ from watching guys like DJ Kool Herc and was the first DJ to truly master scratching.  The Furious Five, like the Soul Sonic Force, acted as Grandmaster Flash’s MCs (goes to show how much more important DJs were in the early days of hip hop that they were the named party), and were comprised of Cowboy, Kid Creole, Melle Mel, Rahiem, and Scorpio (Duke Bootee was a Sugar Hill session musician).  Just the month after Bambaataa released “Planet Rock” and forever altered the music of hip hop, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five released “The Message” and did the same for hip hop lyrics by creating the first great hip hop story track.  Prior to “The Message”, Grandmaster Flash, like basically all hip hop artists, primarily made party music, but the song’s hook alone (“Don’t push me cause I’m close to the edge/I’m trying not to lose my head/It’s like a jungle sometimes/It makes me wonder how I keep from going under”) was enough to shock the listener through its depiction of living on a razor’s edge.  Add to that the song’s verses (particularly the specifics of the smell of urine everywhere, the party girl who becomes homeless and turns to prostitution, and the horrors of prison after turning to a life of crime to survive) and the horrors of inner city life were truly brought to the masses.  “The Message” only hit #62 on Billboard’s Hot 100, but all the conscious hip hop that followed can trace its history to the track, and it was the first hip hop song added to the United States’ National Recording Registry of historic sound recordings.  I really want all readers of this post to listen to all five featured songs, but if you must only listen to one, make it this one.

1 John Adams: Harmonielehre - Michael Tilson Thomas, San Francisco Symphony (SFS Media). In the early 90s, I discovered the music of Gustav Mahler and Philip Glass at roughly the same time. What I didn’t know then was that a few years earlier John Adams had combined the two (and plenty more besides) in Harmonielehre. The title comes from the treatise of the same name by Schoenberg, but Adams’s music is a gleeful rejection of Schoenberg’s aesthetic, a grand mix of influences and references that constantly surprises.

2 Prezioso Quartet (ERP). This quartet’s members are Estonian, and they’ve been together since 2006. This is their first recording, and it makes a big splash, with a vivid acoustic and some surprising repertoire. Webern’s highly uncharacteristic Langsamer Satz and an arrangement of a likeable chamber concerto by Estonian Jaan Rääts are framed by a cheerful dance suite by the not-well-enough-known Erwin Schulhoff and the sublime fourth quartet of Peteris Vasks.

3 Voyage en Russie – Claire-Marie Le Guay (Mirare). Basically, a whole bunch of short Russian piano pieces, with a focus on Rachmaninoff and Scriabin. Some of the “greatest hits” are here, but there’s plenty of unfamiliar music, and it’s all captivating. Claire-Marie Le Guay brings everything together into a convincing program, from the opening Flight of the Bumblebee to the closing Vers la flamme, Scriabin’s astonishing depiction of the heat death of the Earth.

4 Veljo Tormis: Curse upon Iron - Orphei Drangar (BIS). Tormis’s choral music, of which this selection for male voices represents just a small portion, is firmly rooted in the folk music of his native Estonia. Some of it’s heart-achingly beautiful, while other pieces tap into stronger, darker forces, such as the shamanic title work (adapted from the Kalevala, the Finnish epic poem), full of chanting and pounding drums. An exhilarating experience.

5 Le Paris des Romantiques - Le Cercle de l’Harmonie/ Jérémie Rhorer (Ambroisie). It’s hard to decide what’s the highlight of this imaginary concert from Paris circa 1850, played on period instruments. On the one hand we’ve got the beautifully clear performance of Liszt’s first piano concerto, with Bertrand Chamayou playing an 1837 Érard. On the other, there’s Napoléon Henri Reber’s fourth symphony, which manages the neat trick of coming across like a long-lost Beethoven composition while simultaneously sounding utterly fresh.

6 Morava – Škampa Quartet (Supraphon). I kind of surprise myself by having a second quartet disc in my top ten. Most of this release is taken up by the three string quartets of Pavel Fischer, all of which are greatly inspired by folk music from Moravia and elsewhere and full of fascinating twists and turns; the most magical moment is in the quartet “Wild Mountain Thyme”, where that Scottish song suddenly emerges at the end of the middle movement. There’s also a quirky quartet from violinist/singer Iva Bittová, who herself sings on a couple of other pieces.

7 Ravi Shankar: Symphony - London Philharmonic/David Murphy (LPO). Shankar’s symphony is indeed a four-movement structure modeled on the traditional classical symphony but employs raga scales and makes considerable use of the sitar, played here by his daughter Anoushka (this is a recording of the work’s premiere in 2010). I know next to nothing about Indian music so all I can report is that this “sounds Indian”, and I guess it’s this aspect of the work that lends it a general post-minimalist feel.

8 Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Symphony no.6 - Vladimir Lande (Naxos). Weinberg’s star continues to rise, though my explorations are at an early stage and I’m still inclined to fall back on the description “sounds quite like Shostakovich, with a bit of Mahler thrown in”. In the Sixth Symphony, the composer’s gift for orchestration is dramatically enhanced by the presence of a boys’ chorus in three of the movements; the music is increasingly troubled but ends with a hopeful lullaby.

9 Elena Papandreou plays Nikita Koshkin (BIS). An intriguing collection of new guitar music from the Russian guitarist/composer, three of the four pieces being written for Papandreou. The lengthy Megaron Concerto is a mostly sombre work, though it sports a very catchy second movement. The quintet for guitar and strings is also rather dark-hued; it’s all in a thoroughly accessible idiom but you’ll never mistake it for Boccherini! Overall, an album that patiently creeps up on you.

10 Beethoven: Diabelli variations – Andreas Staier (Harmonia Mundi). Beethoven’s epic adventure brought to spectacular life by Staier, who plays a copy of a Beethoven-era Graf fortepiano that comes with some surprising sound-effects features. These provide bonus entertainment but Staier’s playing is, of course, the main event. For good measure we get ten other composers’ contributions to Diabelli’s project; the effort by 13-year-old Franz Liszt is hilariously easy to pick from the line-up.

11 Advent at Merton – Choir of Merton College, Oxford (Delphian). I’ll freely admit that English church choirs aren’t usually something I enjoy, so this one came as a surprise. It’s a collection of old and new pieces, including seven antiphons commissioned from the likes of John Tavener, Rihards Dubra, and Gabriel Jackson by Merton College’s chaplain. Old and new combine beautifully in Jan Sandstrom’s hypnotic reworking of Es ist ein Ros entsprungen, but it’s gorgeous music all round.

12 Himmelslieder – Franz Vitzthum (Christophorus). An excellent countertenor, in a program of German Baroque cantatas and songs. The collector in me is delighted to add some new composers to the library (Johann Augustin Kobelius and Johann Hildebrand, anyone?); the music lover is thrilled to hear Franz Vitzthum’s ethereal purity—it floats like no other countertenor I can think of—and the Capricornum Consort Basel’s sympathetic support.

13 Bach guitar transcriptions – Graham Anthony Devine (Naxos). The miracle of Bach’s music is that it can be adapted to pretty much any instrument and still sound wonderful. Graham Anthony Devine himself has arranged the fourth cello suite and second violin partita, among other works, and the results seem wholly natural; comparison to the originals is pointless, as this is fine, expressive playing that stands on its own merits.

14 Josquin Desprez: Missa Ave maris stella - Weser Renaissance/Manfred Cordes (CPO). My medieval and renaissance listening this year has mostly been confined to older recordings as I slowly work my way through my History of Classical Music. This is a lovely collection, sung by male voices only, of a mass and several motets by – as I’ll hopefully soon get round to describing him – the greatest of the Franco-Flemish composers.

15 Seán Ó Riada: Orchestral works (RTÉ). Seán Ó Riada was an important figure in Irish music who died too young, at age 40 in 1971. This is a collection of several orchestral works, including his landmark score for the documentary film Mise Éire, making use of various well-known Irish tunes, and the vibrant Hercules Dux Ferrariae, which combines twelve-note rows with a theme by Josquin and no longer sounds like the forbidding piece I thought it was when I first heard it as a teenager.

16 Dowland in Dublin – Michael Slattery & La Nef (Atma). This album takes as its starting point the suggestion (not well supported, it must be said) that English Renaissance composer John Dowland was in fact an Irishman. Here, the American tenor Michael Slattery joins forces with Canadian baroque ensemble La Nef to present some of Dowland’s lighter music with a distinctly Celtic flavour. There have been sniffs from some quarters that this isn’t “authentic”, which rather misses the point.

17 Antonio Vivaldi: La Cetra – Rachel Podger & Holland Baroque Society (Channel). These twelve concertos aren’t among Vivaldi’s most popular, but one listen will make you wonder why. Rachel Podger and the Holland Baroque Society are clearly having a ball here, with music full of incident and invention. We all know there’s more to Vivaldi than the Four Seasons, but it’s nice to be vividly reminded. Of the twelve concertos, is there a highlight? Um… all of them?

18 Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Symphony no.20; Cello concerto (Chandos). More Weinberg! Thord Svedlund and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Weinberg’s Third Symphony was my first introduction to the symphonies and became an instant favourite, and their follow-up is also impressive. The symphony (written in 1988) is a dark work that gradually tightens its grip on the listener, while the cello concerto has a beautiful, lyrical first movement that should be much better known.

19 Fazil Say: Istanbul Symphony (Naive). Fine musical picture-painting from the Turkish pianist/composer. The Istanbul Symphony is, in Say’s words, a picture of “a nostalgic, dreamy, vintage Istanbul” that makes use of Turkish instruments alongside the Western symphony orchestra. Its partner on the disc is the Hezarfen Concerto for ney (a Turkish flute, played by Burcu Karadağ) commemorating the man who is claimed to have glided across the Bosphorus in 1632 using wings of his own construction.

20 Goethe Lieder – Marlis Petersen (Harmonia Mundi). Schubert and Wolf are the obvious choices for a program of Goethe settings, and they’re here, but the particular value of this set comes from the appearance of less-obvious pieces, with composers ranging from Fanny Mendelssohn to Charles Ives to Manfred Trojahn. Multiple versions of “Wanderers Nachtlied” shed light on how different composers deal with the same text.

Finally, I must highlight two pieces of music from albums that didn’t make the cut. Pedro Sanjuán was a Basque conductor and composer who spent a decade in Cuba. The slow movement of his orchestral work Castilla is a gorgeous, sinuous piece with a saxophone tune that’s a first cousin of Ravel’s Bolero. The rest of the album from the Basque National Orchestra is fine, but this movement—En la llanura—gets my award for favourite individual track of the year.

Meanwhile, the award for best musical depiction of a dog in a spaceship goes to Jon Øivind Ness’s Zvezdochka in Orbit, an alarmingly vivid portrait for cello and wind band of what Yuri Gagarin’s immediate predecessor might have experienced in her capsule. It heads a very varied program played by Ernst Simon Glazer and the Norwegian Navy Band, which includes Friedrich Gulda’s entertainingly daft concerto.

As Atmosphere noted in their song “Shhh”, there isn’t a lot to brag about in Minnesota.  It’s cold, there aren’t really any tourist destinations (sorry Mary Tyler Moore statue) and the popular sports teams are varying levels of terrible.  One thing we do have, though, is the Purple Yoda himself: Prince.  Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis and while he has lived outside the state, Minnesota has always been his home.  That said, Prince hasn’t performed in Minnesota since a run of three shows at various venues in 2007.

On the morning of Tuesday, January 15, 2013, however, Prince announced a run of six ‘rehearsal’ shows at the Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant in downtown Minneapolis.  The Dakota is a small jazz venue that seats less than 300, so it was initially a surprise that Prince would hold the concerts there rather than his home base at Paisley Park.  Turns out, the band fun. is starting a tour in St. Paul on the 23rd and had rented out Paisley Park as their rehearsal space.  So Prince decided to move his rehearsals to another location, but being Prince he couldn’t let that be the only curve ball he through his fans.  Jaws really dropped when folks learned that the six shows would be over three nights (shows at 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. each day), each night would have a different theme, and the shows were scheduled for the next three nights: Wednesday the 16th through Friday the 18th.  The shows were broken down as follows:

Wednesday, January 16, 2013, “Soundcheck”: Prince auditioning a new drummer and performing improvised music.  Gimme Noise’s review can be found here.

Thursday, January 17, 2013, “Jam!!!”: Prince and the band playing an after party vibe.  The Current’s review is here.

Friday, January 18, 2013, “Surprise!! (don’t miss this)”: It’s a surprise, so who knows what is going to happen.  I have serious doubts that even Prince knew initially what he wanted to do at these shows.

Tickets to all shows went on sale on Tuesday, and I was able to navigate the music world’s destruction of the Dakota’s ticket buying website to secure tickets to the Friday Surprise 8:00 show.

As the week went on, speculation was rampant about what the surprise would be, with the popular assumption being that Prince would unveil an all female backing band.  Some, were hoping for something crazier though, including Current host Mary Lucia who noted that with Prince “god only knows who will show up, he could unearth the body of James Brown”.  When Prince took the stage it was clear that the rumors were correct as he was joined in a traditional rock quartet by three females: Donna on guitar; Ida on bass; and Hannah on drums.  As we know with Prince, he likes the women around him to be young and gorgeous and these three certainly qualify.  We also know, though, that he’s not going to let anyone on stage with him that doesn’t have the chops to keep up, and again they definitely fit the bill.  I don’t know where Prince found them (seriously does he have a lab where he creates all these gorgeous and talented women?), but I’m glad he did.

The bigger surprise, though, was that after Wednesday night’s crowd saw bandleader Prince, and Thursday got keyboard jamming Prince, Friday was gifted with the presence of guitar virtuoso/rock god Prince.  The band took the stage and Prince stood silently at the front with his guitar strapped on and his head bowed (wearing pants with one black and one white leg, what appeared to be a purple velour jacket (the lighting at the Dakota wasn’t designed for this kind of show so it was hard to tell for sure), a white puffy shirt open to the chest, and gold chains).  As the crowd whooped and tittered, Prince give a forceful ‘shhhh’, instantly silencing the crowd and drawing a Cheshire grin from the man of the hour.  Silence then fell again for about 20 seconds.  It seemed at first that Prince might be setting the mood, but once the music started it was clear the silence was just the calm before the storm.  The band launched into a raucous five song stretch (“Endorphinemachine” – “Screwdriver” – “When You Were Mine” – “Guitar” – (song that has left my memory)) that didn’t give anyone a chance to breathe.  Thereafter, the show was a wonderful, noisy blur of cymbal crashes, funky bass lines, and screaming guitar solos from both Prince and Donna.  There were only occasional chances to catch our breath when Prince took to the piano.  In short, to quote a friend of mine, Prince and the band “rocked our [word omitted in deference to Prince no longer cursing] faces off”.

Highlights of the set included the funky slow jam “Beautiful Strange”, which may well have impregnated several women in the audience, to close the main set, a solo piano version of “How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore” to open the encore, and the surprise of the night: “Purple Rain”.  To be fair, “Purple Rain was both a highlight and slightly disappointing (if that’s possible).  It was disappointing both because it was one of the few songs where Prince put his guitar to the side and played the piano, and because the band chilled the song out while only playing the first verse and extended outro.  It was a highlight, though, because it was Prince playing “Purple Rain” 25 or so feet away from me, and to be honest it’s hard to be objective about that.

Another happy surprise was Prince’s mood.  He was clearly having a great time on the evening, cracking several jokes including asking if anyone in the crowd was related to him before stating that we’re all related, noting about drummer Hannah, “spell it backwards and it’s the same”, and referring to himself at one point as an “androgynous pirate”.

Put all of this together, and it is difficult for me to say I’ve ever been to a more enjoyable show.  Judging by the smiles on the rest of the audience’s faces as they left the Dakota in a deaf daze, I don’t think I’m alone in this belief.  Accordingly, Prince gets an A+.

O’ Be Joyful by Shovels & Rope (Dualtone Music Group).  (AMERICANA)  Shovels & Rope is Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst, a husband-and-wife duo.  Their website says they “sing harmony driven folk, rock and country songs using two old guitars, a kick drum, a snare, a few tambourines, harmonicas, and maybe a little keyboard sometimes.”  There’s plenty of that on O’ Be Joyful, plus fiddles, banjos, and some wonderful, slightly off-kilter horns that take the genre to a new level (“Hail, Hail,” and “Tickin’ Bomb”).  Clanky percussion is prominent on most of the tracks.  Songs like “Carnival” demonstrate the duo can dazzle with slow-tempo ballads, too.  It’s just quirky enough that it may not be for everyone, but if you like an old-timey country sound with a rockin’ edge to it, this album just might be right up your alley. ( Listen to samples here.)
Little Blue Egg by Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer (Red House Records).    (COUNTRY FOLK/AMERICANA)  New recordings from folk duo sensation Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer came to an abrupt end in the summer of 2002 when Carter suffered a fatal massive heart attack.  Ten years following Carter’s death, we are blessed with a rare new recording from the pair, thanks to the discovery by Grammer of lost tracks that she discovered in a moldy basement.  The tracks were found to be in pristine condition and subsequently digitized for Little Blue Egg.  The new album contains never-before-heard “new” songs originally recorded between 1997-2002, including fully fleshed out songs that were left off other albums, some late-night living room recordings, reference tracks for multi-artist collaborations, and rare demos.  A true folk gem.  (Soundclips here.)
Shel by Shel (Moraine Records/Mad King).  (CONTEMPORARY FOLK/POP/AMERICANA)  Shel is a new four-piece band of  sisters from Colorado.  Their self-titled debut album was funded entirely by fans through a PledgeMusic project and it is one of the most unique and impressive albums to come out in a long time.  The classically-trained sisters play all the instruments and they have written all the songs, with the exception of a killer cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Battle of Evermore.”  Beautiful harmony with catchy, unique melodies and arrangements.   One Ohio newspaper, “Cleveland Plain Dealer,” described their songs as “wonderfully weird and impossible to describe.”   I agree.  A very different and refreshing winner.  (Listen to it on Shel’s website).
Sailor’s Revenge (Limited Edition) by Bap Kennedy (Proper Records).  (CONTEMPORARY FOLK/FOLK-ROCK)  Some of the best in the music industry appreciate the talents of Irish singer-songwriter, Bap Kennedy, including Van Morrison, Steve Earle and Mark Knopfler, but Kennedy remains largely under the radar to most music listeners for some inexplicable reason.  With Sailor’s Revenge, his 8th solo release, Kennedy hits the ball straight out of the park.  Produced by Mark Knopfler and recorded in his studio, this double CD limited edition set includes 11 brand new songs plus a bonus CD of Kennedy’s personal favorites from his previous releases plus two previously unreleased tracks.   Musician guests include Knopfler, Michael McGoldrick and John McCusker.  Get it.  (Listen to four of the songs on Soundcloud.)
Are You There by Minnesota (Hymn & Holler Records).  (INDIE ROCK)  Peter Himmelman has been putting out great music since the late ’70s when he fronted the band, Sussman Lawrence.  Through the years, despite a low profile, he has captured the attention of Rolling Stone, American Songwriter, USA Today, NPR, and others.  Now Himmelman has teamed up with screenwriter/filmmaker David Hollander, and vocalists Kristin Mooney and Claire Holley under the collective moniker, Minnesota, to release a knockout debut with Are You There.  It’s  an album generously peppered with a dark-hued Appalachia that sets it apart from most indie rock records.  Pure dynamite.  (Hear three of the songs from the debut here.)
Gloryland by Kevin Gordon (Crowville Media).  (SOUTHERN ROOTS ROCK)  It’s been seven years since we’ve heard anything new from Gordon and Gloryland convinces us it was worth the wait.  It’s full of musical stories based on true incidences from Gordon’s growing-up years in the American South. The album works both musically and lyrically, the band is incredibly tight, and Gordon’s lyrics reflect the fact that he holds a master’s in poetry.  He has the perfect knack for choosing just the right phraseology and melding it with just the right musical passage for maximum effect.  All the songs are noteworthy (there are no fillers), but the song that will probably be remembered most is the 9+-minute opus “Colfax/Step in Time,” a recounting of Gordon’s trip to the nearby town of Colfax as a 7th-grader in the junior high marching band, led by their black bandleader, and the unexpected appearance of Ku Klux Klan members in the crowd.  The song is enveloped in an impressive musical aura that captures the drama of the event and transports the listener.  Containing elements of southern-drenched rock, blues and folk, the entire CD is spot-on and proves to be Gordon’s best release yet.  (Sample it here.)
Resonance by Under The Purple Tree (independent release).  (INDIE ROCK)  Resonance is the outstanding debut ‘mini-album’ EP from a new female-fronted rock group from Australia that has garnered a lot of local attention “down under”  and is destined to become more widely known in the coming year.  Under The Purple Tree is singer-songwriter/guitarist Megan Barnes, guitarist/producer Matt Lee, Anthony Lee (bass), and Stephen Barrett (drums).   Sir James Shipstone, former managing director for BMG Music Publishing’s Australia/New Zealand branch, frequently collaborates with the group as co-songwriter and serves as a valued mentor. Their style ranges anywhere from head-banging rockers to achingly beautiful songs of emotive themes.  What sets this group apart is the beautifully expressive vocals of singer, Megan Barnes, and the band’s use of electronic loops.  The EP contains five original compositions showcasing the band’s various styles  and one mind-blowing cover of the Beatles classic, “Help!”, which is so impressively original and unlike anything you’ve heard before that it should go down as a classic in its own right.  Resonance is the first in a series of mini-album EP’s the group plans to release in the near future, followed by a full-length studio album consisting of  additional new material and some “best-of” picks from the mini-albums.   Keep your eye out for Under The Purple Tree in 2013.  (Hear Resonance on Soundcloud.)
Seinn by Mary Jane Lamond & Wendy MacIsaac (Turtlemusik Records).  (CELTIC FOLK)   A wonderful album of old traditional and contemporary Cape Breton tunes.  It is part toe-tapping jigs and reels featuring MacIsaac’s superb fiddle playing, and part gorgeous Gaelic ballads sung by Lamond, who is well known for her vast knowledge of traditional Cape Breton folk tunes and gorgeous vocals.  MacIsaac and Lamond have toured together in the past, but Seinn is their first joint recording venture.  A real treat!  (Soundclips here.)
Belong by Susan McKeown (Hibernian Music).  (CONTEMPORARY FOLK).  Irish vocalist Susan McKeown possesses one of the most impressively strong and expressive vocal chords on the planet.   She has used this gift to great effect in celtic music, but considering the fact that this Irish lass has spent as much of her life in the U.S. as she has in her homeland, it is no great surprise that she equally wows in the contemporary American  folk category.  With Belong, a PledgeMusic funded project, McKeown has really outdone herself.  Her voice has never sounded better than here.   She blends it so well with the musical accompaniment and uses phraseology so impressively that it is as if her voice is not a voice at all, but rather one of the instruments.  Guest musicians include Erin McKeown, James Maddock, Declan O’Rourke, Dirk Powell and Ray Santiago. Absolutely stunning. (Soundclips here.)
We’re Usually a Lot Better Than This by Tim O’Brien and Darrell Scott (Full Lights). (BLUEGRASS/NEWGRASS)  Don’t let the title of this album fool you – it would be hard for these guys to sound better.  The material on We’re Usually a Lot Better Than This was recorded  in 2005 and 2006 when O’Brien and Scott performed two benefit concerts as a fundraising project  for the Arthur Morgan School where each had a child attending.  They had not toured together for a number of years when they performed the concerts, but the magic is still obvious.  O’Brien’s banjo picking, Scott’s guitar picking, and the amazing harmonies the two of them make together, are impressive indeed.  The album includes alternate recordings of tracks from their previous album, “Real Time,” plus others never heard before.  Filled with one stellar song after another, the album closes with its standout track, “When There’s No One Around/Will the Circle Be Unbroken.”  If you think you don’t like bluegrass, give this one a listen (as well as Real Time) – they slap the strings with a fervor that is usually reserved for rock.  Word is out that the two plan to release a new recording in 2013.  It can’t be soon enough. (Listen to samples here.)
No Sheer Will of Force by Smokey Brights (independent release).  (INDIE FOLK/ROCK/POP)   This is the first in a series of limited run 45′s the group plans to release.  Hailing from Seattle, Smokey Brights describe their music as “warm vintage, pop savvy, yet slightly wry rock music. The kind that streams from the boombox all day at your uncle’s barbecue, or crackles through the AM radio on an all night drive through some expansive American highway.”  No Sheer Will of Force contains only 2 songs, but what it lacks in length, it makes up for in quality.  Hopefully, we won’t have to wait too long for the release of the 2nd in the series.  (Listen to it on Soundcloud.)
Crowsfeet & Greyskull by Keri Latimer (independent release).  (CONTEMPORARY FOLK/SINGER-SONGWRITER).  This is the debut solo album by Keri Latimer, who is part of the Canadian folk/Americana group, Nathan, a group I wrote extensively about in a previous MiG review.   Acoustic Guitar describes Crowsfeet & Greyskull as “..infectious alt-country noir, fractured folk-swing and surreal songwriting.”  It possesses the same irresistible sweet quirkiness that Nathan’s records have, but it is mellower and, dare I say, perhaps more impressive than Latimer’s works with Nathan.  The whole album has such a captivating ambiance which washes over the listener that it can take repeated listens for the lyrics to soak in, which add even more enjoyment once they penetrate the ears.  With intriguing song titles such as “Crowsfeet & Greyskull” and “Mud and Slobber” (based on e.e. cummings’ poem, ‘Spring Omnipotent Goddess Thou’), this album contains intelligent and well-written lyrics and some of the best of the best singer-songwriter folk music.   You will want to hear it again and again… and then again.  Absolutely mesmerizing.   Listen to it, or better yet, download it free/nyop  here.
The Weight of Glory by Heath McNease (independent release).  (INDIE FOLK/SINGER-SONGWRITER/ACOUSTIC)   McNease is more known as a hip-hop rapper than a singer-songwriter, but The Weight of Glory proves he is impresesive in this genre. Each of the album’s twelve tracks are named after one of C.S. Lewis’ books, except for one which is named after one of the Narnia characters.  Lewis is perhaps the greatest writer on the big questions of life since Augustine, and musically capturing the spirit of such daunting works can be challenging.  McNease beautifully pulls it off.  Each song perfectly captures the essence of Lewis’ books, reflecting McNease’s own personal struggles in a way that anyone who has ever questioned ‘why’ will relate to.  This is a beautifully done album.  You can get it  free/nyop at Bandcamp.
Body of Evidence (Box Set) by David Olney (Deadbeet Records).  (CONTEMPORARY FOLK/AMERICANA)  Body of Evidence is a trilogy of mini-album EP’s that Olney released over the past year and consists of the individual EP’s Film Noir, The Stone, and Robbery, Murder.  Olney is frequently touted as one of the best storytellers in music history and this set lives up to the hype. It is unique and captivating ‘art for the ears,’ as I described in my detailed review of Film Noir and The Stone. The final installment, Robbery, Murder, re-tells R&B/rock ‘n’ roll legend Chuck Willis’ story of Betty and Dupree from different angles and interweaves it with another darker love story about a rich mill owner and his unfaithful wife.  Both stories are full of surprises.  Each EP in the series can be purchased separately and stand in their own right, but Olney’s literary musical genius is fully realized in how he has brought all three together under the umbrella of a common theme ingeniously titled  Body of Evidence.  A one-of-a-kind production.  Don’t miss it. (Listen to songs from the series (and more) here).
Travelin’ Machine by The Ragbirds (independent release).  (FOLK ROCK/FUSION).   This latest album from the multi-faceted folk rock group, The Ragbirds, is aptly named.  Its tracklist will take you on a musical tour across the globe with the band’s unique sound, described by Wikipedia as “gypsy, middle eastern, Americana, rock and Latin influences, all stirred with a Celtic bow.”   The Ragbirds is a five-piece band led by classically-trained violinist and singer, Erin Zindle.  Instruments include fiddle, mandolin, congas, guitars, banjo, accordion and djembe.  The entire album is pleasant, with Zindle’s soft and smooth voice setting the tone, but the strength of the album lies in the last five tracks, beginning with “Moribayassa (I’ll Fly Away)”, a unique and memorable interpretation of the traditional gospel song featuring an African moribayassa beat that is prominent throughout.  The tempo picks up for the last minute of the song, when solo conga drums hypnotically bang it out.  (The African moribayassa has a fascinating history, by the way, which can be read here.)  ”Moribayassa” is followed by the equally strong “Tomorrow River” and “Acrobats.” (Listen to sound samples here).
 Birds Fly South by The Mastersons (New West).  (AMERICANA).   This the debut album from husband-and-wife duo, Chris Masterson and Eleanor Whitmore.  Masterson formerly played in the bands of Jack Ingram, Son Volt, and Bobby Bare Jr., among others, and Whitmore has worked with Regina Spektor, Susan Gibson, Kelly Willis, Diana Ross, Will Hoge and others.  As a duo, the pair has frequently toured with Steve Earle.  Each is an impressive solo performer, but when the two come together, they really shine.    New West’s website describes Birds Fly South as “an album with soul and groove and teeth and not an ounce of schmaltz. Like the Jayhawks or Buddy & Julie Miller, it exists in an expansive territory that encompasses rock, pop, blues and country.”   The comparison to the Jayhawks is a good one – on my first listen of this album, I was reminded of how great I felt the first time I heard “Hollywood Town Hall.”  Thoroughly enjoyable.  Listen and/or download for free two of the tracks from Bandcamp.
Camilla by Caroline Herring (Signature Sounds).  (CONTEMPORARY FOLK BLUES)  Camilla has been described as a ‘career-defining’ record for folk singer Caroline Herring, and it is easy to see why.  It is a beautiful southern-drenched folk album consisting of heart-wrenching, memorable songs of historical people who endured and conquered extreme adversity, as well as a couple of traditional tunes with new arrangements by Herring.  Herring plays acoustic guitar and is backed up vocally by such luminaries as Mary Chapin-Carpenter, Claire Holley and Kathryn Roberts.  Fats Kaplin contributes pedal steel, fiddle, mandolin and banjo. A slow-tempo southern folk masterpiece, Camilla will take you on an emotional ride that is not soon forgotten.  Sample it here.
Signs & Signifiers by J.D. McPherson (Rounder).  (ROCKABILLY, ’50′s ROCK/R&B)  The inclusion of this album in 2012′s ‘best of’ list may be a little bit of a cheat since it was released on a smaller label in 2011 before being picked up by Rounder in 2012  for a wider distribution, but this record is too good to leave out on a mere technicality.  Country singer, Eric Church, describes it as “…very stripped down and refreshing… You feel like you just walked into a burger joint in 1955 and expect it to have hot rods outside.”  There have been numerous artists who have delved into the ‘retro’ sound, but no one as deeply nor as exclusively as McPherson has done.  While putting all your eggs into one retro basket can be risky business, McPherson pulls it off beautifully.  He doesn’t just repeat what’s been done before, but rather adds his own stamp that makes this music relevant in the 21st century.  If you can listen to this whole album and remain still, you had better check your pulse. (Sound samples here.)
Redhills by I Draw Slow (Pinecastle).  (BLUEGRASS/NEWGRASS)  Upon listening to this album, one would easily conclude that the five musicians who make up I Draw Slow are straight from the American Appalachian mountains, but this group hails from Dublin, Ireland.  Wonderfully melding elements of Irish traditional music with modern Americana, I Draw Slow has gained lots of attention in their homeland over the past couple of years, but 2012 saw their horizons widen when the group signed a contract with the U.S. label Pinecastle  after its CEO saw the video of one of Redhills’ tracks (“Goldmine”) on YouTube.   “Goldmine” is, indeed, a most impressive song, but so are all the songs on this album.  The band has played to audiences in the U.K., Germany, Denmark and Belgium, and began their U.S. tour last year with a performance with the legendary Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.  The British press has described I Draw Slow as “American top league equivalents” that will “blow the opposition away.”   ‘Tis true!  Listen to some of the songs, including “Goldmine,” here.
 The Great Despiser by Joe Pug (Lightning Rod Records).  (AMERICANA/SINGER-SONGWRITER)  Joe Pug has steadily gained a loyal fan base through the wise and successful marketing strategy of giving away his music to anyone who would listen back when no one had ever heard of him.  He still is not nearly as widely known as he deserves to be, but most who have heard him are hard and fast, loyal fans.    His lyrics are intelligent and thought-provoking, wrapped up in a musical aura that will get inside a listener’s head and take up residence.  The Great Despiser showcases Joe Pug better than ever before.  Guest musicians include Sam Kassirer (Josh Ritter, Langhorne Slim) on piano, organ and marimba, and The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn.  If you aren’t familiar with Joe Pugg, you owe it to  yourself to check out this album (sound samples here).  Also check out his earlier releases – you can still get free downloads of a previous EP and a five-song sampler on his website.

#1 Pjusk – Tele
Norway’s Pjusk have become one my favorite ambient/electronic artists on the strength of three stellar releases. Tele (full review here) takes us deep into the glacial cold of northern Norwegian landscapes – the tracks are themed around layers of rock and ice. Deep in the earth, we are taken on a dark and resonant atmospheric journey that ends in light and life. Creation is not all sunlit beaches, and this release gives us a masterful aural tour of its frozen recesses.

#2 Wil & Tarl – Angel in the House
This was the year I discovered Wil Bolton and fell in love with his work. My favorite two albums of his (Chimes for a Wall Drawing and Time Lapse) were not 2012 releases, but Angel in the House, a collaboration with Tarl Broad-Ashman on a limited 3″ CDR release, is one of the best drone pieces I’ve ever heard. Deep, rich, and warm, with shifting surface textures, when I play it, it often ends up on repeat, which is more than I can say for most 19-minute tracks. One of those albums that feels like a permanent gift.

#3 Taylor Deupree – Faint
This album was the chief reason I could not compile this list in December; not only was it released in mid-December, but I had to wait until Christmas to unwrap the box set. Taylor Deupree has set very high standards both in his own work and in his curating of others’ releases, and his latest does not disappoint. Perhaps one of his most melodic releases, Faint hovers at the threshold of consciousness, immersing the listener in gently shifting pools of stillness.

#4 Talvihorros – And It Was So
How do you rank an album that you discovered less than a week ago and wonder if you are overrating just because it is new and wonderful but don’t want to underrate because it’s new and wonderful? Biblical in theme and grandeur, this album offers a series of expansive and dramatic sound-collage epics fusing guitar and electronics. In collaboration with their titles, the densely woven tracks evoke mysterious worlds emerging into being. An album to get lost in.

#5 Kimiko Ishizaka – The Open Goldberg Variations
This deserves to be on more lists, not least because of what it represents. A kickstarter project was used to fund a top-quality new recording of Bach’s famous Goldberg Variations that could then be offered to the world at no cost, making one of the great classics of Western music available for free. There’s even an iPad app that can be used to follow along with the score. While the concept is admirable, the music is also beautiful, a crisp and delicate performance that keeps drawing me back for more.

#6 Cello + Laptop – Parallel Paths
Last year I placed Owl Splinters by Deaf Center atop my list, and a year later still value it as highly. This release from new Spanish duo Cello + Laptop has a similar aesthetic of haunting, distressed strings and darkly atmospheric passages. Gentle rhythms, crackles, chimes, and wistful lyrical snatches of melody make for a meditative listening experience. I’ll be looking out for more music from these folk.

#7 Alamaailman Vasarat – Valta
Finnish band Alamaailman Vasarat combine rock, jazz, klezmer, mediterranenan, and other influences into a wildly carnivalesque mix all of their own. Their latest release, Valta (full review here) is cohesive and compelling amid the mayhem, and above all great fun. Probably the only album this year to use the sound of red wine dripping from a four-meter tower to establish tempo.

#8 Loscil - Sketches from New Brighton
I have loved pretty much everything loscil has put out. This latest release continues his immediately recognizable sound and is tied thematically to previous albums. The warmly enveloping atmospheres, the gently hypnotic rhythms that insinuate their way into your subconscious, the subtle layers and patterns are all in place. A few new rhythmical twists and a slightly darker edge here and there keep things moving forward. Very enjoyable as ever.

#9 Taylor Deupree + Marcus Fischer – In A Place Of Such Graceful Shapes
Taylor Deupree and Marcus Fischer have separately both made albums that I cherish; together early in 2012 they added a joint slice of beauty. At the heart of the album is a 50 minute expanse of gentle stasis filled with subtle shifts of tone, rustlings of small objects, and sounds evocative of small events carried on the air in some undisturbed wintry outdoors. Meticulous in its attention to detail and absorbing in its microscopic movement.

#10 Kane Ikin – Sublunar
Kane Ikin’s first full-length (full review here) offers up a thought-provoking marriage of cosmic distances and grainy, nostalgic sounds recovered from the past. Hazy static and lurching rhythms leave a sense of listening to distant landscapes through a grainy, earthy musical language rooted right here. Sometimes pulsing, sometimes creaking and rumbling, the tracks vary from dark to whimsical. A distinctive and absorbing release.

#11 From the Mouth of the Sun – Woven Tide
One of the year’s first releases, this album remains one if its strongest. Featuring the collaborative work of Aaron Martin and Dag Rosenqvist, it combines haunting orchestration, noise/drone elements, and a variety of acoustic instruments into a whole that is now mournful, now lyrical. Subtle drama arises from the interplay of the layers. (Full review here).

#12 Orcas – Orcas
This is another collaboration, this time between Benoît Pioulard and Rafael Anton Irisarri. One could also think of it as a kind of collaboration between ambient, folk and pop musical motifs. The songs have a kind of sleepwalking melancholy, moving sedately through dreamy-yet-detailed collages of acoustic and electronic instrumentation. The overall effect is soothing, melodic, and appealing.

#13 Hidden Orchestra – Archipelago
Hidden orchestra have quickly managed to establish a unique and recognizable sound that combines elements of jazz, hip hop, electronic and classical music into a vibrant and organic instrumental whole. Their new album continues very much where the previous one left off, with plaintive melodies wed to invigorating rhythms and a sweeping, windswept sense of breadth. Excellent listening.

#14 Mark Harris – An Idea of North / Learning to Walk
Beginning almost imperceptibly with the sound of rain and birdsong, ambient electronic textures seem to emerge seamlessly from the natural environment. The album offers a single 45 minute soundscape that is marked by gentle restraint and disciplined serenity, with not a sound out of place. Very much worth slowing down for.

#15 Egyptology – The Skies

This album was a bit of a bolt from the blue. Unashamedly retro, it takes the familiar science fiction tropes of classic analog synth music and celebrates them unabashedly, injecting in the process an infectious freshness and energy. Alternating playfulness and majesty, this album is a delight throughout.

#16 The Dwindlers – Allegories
I’ve admired Benjamin Dauer’s ambient work; his releases as half of The Dwindlers head in a different direction. The warm, dusky voice of Michele Seaman reads quirky, thoughtful poetry over a musical backdrop of spare, ambling bass and percussion, creating an intimate, jazzy vibe. Very enjoyable, and one of many reasons to be sad that the Heart and Soul label has not survived into 2013.

#17 Wil Bolton – Under a Name That Hides Her
I mentioned above my new found love for Wil Bolton’s music. He had a prolific year in 2012. This full-length release shares some of the absorbing qualities of his excellent Time Lapse. Bright chiming textures, treated guitar and restrained field recordings of natural sounds combine to create an aural journey filled with light and space.

#18 Good Weather for an Airstrike – Underneath the Stars
An ambient concept album themed around the phases of sleep may more than flirt with cliché, but Tom Honey’s full length release succeeds at creating something that both subliminally drifts and retains an overall narrative shape. The best tracks are as delicate and beautiful as anything I’ve heard this year, and the album holds up to repeated listens. A soothing and thoughtful contribution to this year’s music. (Full review here).

#19 Aidan & Richard Baker – Variations On A Loop (Rhythms)
This one is unlikely to be everyone’s cup of tea. Two long tracks each endlessly loop a brief segment of drums, bass, and off-kilter guitar, subjecting it to gradual variation, distortion, and decay. The result is oddly compelling. The loop has a hypnotic quality, and the subtle changes offer a shifting array of textures and details, subtly modulating the mood as each piece progresses.  Best for close listening.

#20 Ian Boddy – Strange Attractors
Ian Boddy, curator of the DiN label, has over the years put out a steady stream of Berlin school analog synthesizer music, full of burbling, pulsating sequences and drifting alien soundscapes. I find that some of his releases grab me much more than others; Strange Attractors proved strangely attractive. 75 minutes of glorious space music. (Review here)

And here’s a list of the next 20, releases that I also liked. Who knows, on a different day some of these might have been in my top 20. They are listed here alphabetically.

Ametsub – All Is Silence
B. Fleischmann – I’m Not Ready For The Grave Yet
Black Unicorn – Rediscovering Infinity
Cory Allen + Marcus Fischer – Two/Twenty-Two
En – Already Gone (Review here)
godspeed you! black emperor – Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
Greg Haines – Digressions
Kane Ikin + David Wenngren – Strangers
Leonardo Rosado – The Blue Nature of Everyday (Review here)
Lessazo – Soleil d’Hiver
Lights Dim – Deep Summer
Mpala Garoo – Ou du Monde
Nicolas Bernier – Music For A Piano / Music For A Book
Nils Frahm – Screws
Off the Sky – The Lowern Decay EP
Offthesky vs Kinder Scout – The Curio Collection
Olafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm – Stare
Pillowdiver – Flames
Steve Peters + Steve Roden – Not a Leaf Remains as It Was

To any artists mentioned here who might happen across this, thank you for your music in 2012, and may you prosper in 2013.