963 Hertz Solfeggio

For her first solo album with ATMA Classique, the celebrated Canadian soprano Hélène Brunet has chosen baroque and classical arias that have always been part of her life and for which she feels a deep affinity. Under the direction of Eric Milnes, the period ensemble L'Harmonie des saisons accompanies her in this program featuring music by Bach Handel, Vivaldi, Mozart and Leonardo Vinci, whose two arias are recorded here as world premieres. I remember being completely enamored, at fifteen, with Vivaldis famous aria Nulla in mundo pax sincera, attempting head voice singing for the first time and discovering the peculiar lightheaded effects of this new vocal technique.

Jah Wobble & Evan Parker - Passage To Hades (2001) {30 Hertz Records 30HZCD14}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 319 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 119 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 27 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2001 30 Hertz Records | 30HZCD14
Experimental / Dub / Avant-Garde / Saxophone

Taking as their inspiration the Greek myth of Orpheus, European improv king Evan Parker (tenor and soprano saxophone) and Invaders of the Heart alumni Clive Bell and Jean-Pierre Rasle invest in a series of stark, repetitive bass and drum structures on Passage to Hades. At the music's core is the rhythm axis of Jah Wobble and Mark Sanders. The duo maps out the territory, delivering all that's required and more through minimal means. It's a refreshing change of scenery for Parker, who's normally heard in avant-garde ensembles or blazing solo performances. Here, he's confined to a stark, muscular groove and he responds beautifully. Like the later recordings by John Coltrane (an early influence), the saxophonist unleashes an abundance of dialog on his instruments, though he never quite reaches the torrents of sound one might expect.

Jah Wobble - Umbra Sumus (1998) {30 Hertz Records 30HZCD5}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 408 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 163 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 54 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1998 30 Hertz Records | 30HZCD5
Experimental / Electronic / Indie Rock / Dub / Synth Pop / Experimental Rock / Worldbeat

The strange, spiritual album that is Umbra Sumus is one of the more interesting items released in 1998. Bassist and composer Jah Wobble creates strangely compelling soundscapes that draw textures from a variety of ethnic traditions without explicitly evoking any one of them. The first cut, "Il Jevedro il Oblanco," sets the pace with a duet for what sounds like a toy music box and fuzz bass, but suddenly becomes a lush electronica-pop track as vocalist Amila Sulejmanovic begins singing in Bosnian. Elsewhere, Natacha Atlas croons in Arabic over a texture not of ouds and doumbeks, but of synthesized percussion, keyboards, and Wobble's own throbbing bass, and it sounds perfectly natural.