With OPEN CONTINUUM Wim Mertens presents his second project with symphonic orchestra. In 2006 the composer recorded Partes extra partes, a studio production with the Brussels Philarmonic directed by the Argentinian conductor Dante Anzolini. Since then, Wim Mertens regularly performed with a piano/voice and symphonic orchestra setup, with among others Madrid, Murcia, Berlin and Brussels Philarmonic’s orchestras. The composer considers the production and the performing with symphonic orchestra as one of the facets of his musical activity.
Sweden’s OPETH are preparing to release their most important record to date with »In Cauda Venenum«. Certainly, fans and critics will have their opinion, but few records in the Swedes’ oeuvre are as engaging, delicate, panoramic, intense, and musical as OPETH’s lucky thirteenth. Sporting a clever Travis Smith cover – replete with inside jokes and a nod to KING DIAMOND – a masterful Park Studios (The Hellacopters, Graveyard) production, OPETH’s usual five-star musicianship, and lyrics entirely in Swedish, »In Cauda Venenum« raises the bar markedly. While a record in Swedish is a first—there’s also an English version—for frontman and founding member Mikael Åkerfeldt, the 10 songs on offer feel and sound completely natural. As if years of listening to and being a fan of Swedish rock and hard rock has paid off. In a way, Opeth have come home. But the Swedish lyrics of the primary edition of »In Cauda Venenum« shouldn’t distract from the quality presented in OPETH’s new songs, the lot of which sneak up and take control after repeated listens. »In Cauda Venenum« is like that, tricky in its complicated simplicity, resourceful in its ability to charm with delightful if wistful melodies. Really, it’s just OPETH being OPETH.
Several years ago, Anthony and I discovered our mutual (giddy) enthusiasm for the music of Richard Wagner. I feel compelled to mention this because there is a positively orchestral, if not Wagnerian, element to our recording together—a sonic Gesamtkunstwerk, if you will, representing all registers of playing. In each take, new drama unfolds, as if each were a new act in an operatic continuum.
Sparkling out of the nouvelle vague of the French club/dance scene, uplifted by the success of the chart-topping single Lady (Hear Me Tonight), Modjo give away a shining continuum to their work through Modjo, their self-titled debut album. Introducing some fresh beats within the boundaries of the electronica style, the French duo combines classy and inspirational pieces of disco sound with original and superior instrumentation.