Albion One

Battle of the Field was recorded by the Albion Country Band in 1973, but it wasn't released until 1976. The delay didn't really matter, since the group's music – traditional English folk played on electric instruments – is essentially timeless. The group wasn't quite as skilled as Fairport Convention, but they were nevertheless extraordinarily talented, and this arguably remains their finest moment.

Shirley Collins' collaboration with the Albion Country Band for No Roses is considered a major event in the history of British folk and British folk-rock. For it was the first time that Collins, roundly acknowledged as one of the best British traditional folk singers, sang with electric accompaniment, and indeed one of the first times that a British traditional folk musician had "gone electric" in the wake of Dave Swarbrick joining Fairport Convention and Martin Carthy joining Steeleye Span. The album itself doesn't sound too radical, however. At times it sounds something like Fairport Convention with Shirley Collins on lead vocals, which is unsurprising given the presence of Ashley Hutchings on all cuts but one, and Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol on most of the selections (Dave Mattacks plays drums on a few tracks for good measure).

One thing is certain in this uncertain world – you can trust Ashley Hutchings to do interesting things with various areas of British folk and rock music. In the case of the Albion Dance Band, under its various names, the focus was on mutating traditional English dance and folk music, which led to escapades involving traditional tunes, Morris dancers, double drummers, dance callers, Philip Pickett's entire collection of medieval instruments, and serious rock guitar front lines that tend to leap onto the hay cart and start blazing away. The Prospect Before Us is particularly unusual, even for Hutchings and the Albions – a number of the tracks were recorded live in the studio, complete with dancing by the Albion Morris Men, an effort that resulted in some especially raucous moments: the bonus version of "Merry Sherwood Rangers" is far more staid than the live rendition that made it to the original version of this album. An essential purchase, we think.

Albion is Ginger Wildhearts latest venture with the fan funded Pledge Music system, building upon the huge success of the 555%, Mutation and Hey! Hello! projects, and what a monster of an album it is. Albion has been recorded primarily by the lineup that Ginger put together for the live shows to support the 555% albums, hence the Ginger Wildheart Band monica and what a line up it is featuring the talents of Ginger Wildheart (The Wildhearts / Mutation / Solo / Hey! (Ginger Wildheart Band / The Loyalties / Bassknives / Michael Monroe Band), Victoria Liedtke (Ginger Wildheart Band / Hey! Hello!).

Stephen Vitiello - Bright and Dusty Things (2001) {New Albion Records NA115CD}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 310 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 150 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 9 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2001 New Albion Records | NA 115 CD
Avant-Garde / Electronic / Experimental / Classical / Sound Sculpture / Sound Art

If Ligeti or Stockhausen were computer nerds this might be what they'd make… astounding. In 1999, Stephen Vitiello was given a residency on the 91st floor of the World Trade Center (tower one). Gazing at the lights of New York City, he decided he wanted to translate sights into sound. To do so he simply used a photocell to record the luminosity of various points around him and through the windows. A computer assigned sound parameters to the collected data. This interesting process could have generated arid music if applied to the letter. Luckily, Vitiello had something else in mind. He treated the "Light Readings" (the title of three tracks on this CD) as sound sources.