Joy Division: Piece by Piece

The appearance of the second album by Lumen Drones, ‘Umbra’, carries the status of a major event. Coming fully five years after the group’s startling, self-titled debut recording – released, in late 2015, on ECM Records – the long-awaited follow-up marks a significant leap forward. No less experimental than its predecessor, and certainly no less ‘electric’, yet in many ways a deeper and more profound expression of the trio’s interests, ‘Umbra’ is probably some sort of masterpiece.

Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a bright and charming high-school student who also has a dark and willfully eccentric side; he does little to mask his contempt for many of his peers and enjoys challenging the authority of the adults around him. Donnie is also visited on occasion by Frank, a monstrous six-foot rabbit that only Donnie can see who often urges him to perform dangerous and destructive pranks. Late one night, Frank leads Donnie out of his home to inform him that the world will come to an end in less than a month; moments later, the engine of a jet aircraft comes crashing through the ceiling of Donnie's room, making him think there might be something to Frank's prophesies after all. The rest of Donnie's world is only marginally less bizarre, as he finds himself dealing with his confused parents (Mary McDonnell and Holmes Osborne), his college-age sister (Maggie Gyllenhaal), his perplexed analyst (Katherine Ross), a rebellious English teacher (Drew Barrymore), a sleazy self-help expert (Patrick Swayze), and the new girl at school who is attracted by Donnie's quirks (Jena Malone).]

Vincent Delerm - Quinze Chansons [2008]
French singer/singwriter | Nov 2008 | Covers | MP3 @192 kbps | 51 MB
Genre: French-Pop

The music of French chanson Vincent Delerm channeled the sophisticated, archly literary pop tradition first popularized by American songwriters like Randy Newman and Paul Simon. No surprise, given that he is the child of acclaimed novelist Philippe and children's writer/illustrator Martine Delerm. Born August 31, 1976, in Evreux, Vincent was raised on the romantic, melancholy pop of French icons Alain Souchon and Françoise Hardy. As a teen, he embraced British post-punk icons the Cure and Joy Division, and at 17 formed his own mope-rock outfit, Triste Sire. He continued writing songs and teaching himself piano while studying modern literature at the University at Rouen, later expanding into theater and cinema as well. Delerm nevertheless reserved his greatest passion for music, and in 1998 made his solo live debut at Rouen's Ronsard Hall. A Parisian cabaret tour followed a year later, and in early 2000 Delerm befriended comedian Jérôme Deschamps, who passed his demo to producers with radio broadcaster France Inter, who in February invited the virtual unknown to perform on the network's flagship program, Sur le Pont des Artistes.

By now, if you know the name Jamie Stewart, you either find his emotionally wracked compositions fascinating, or completely unbearable. There's no middle ground when it comes to people's opinions of the mastermind behind Xiu Xiu, just as his music has no middle ground. The man simply will never, ever play it safe: just when you're being lulled by a plaintively strummed acoustic guitar, massive shrieks of distorted synthesizers puncture your eardrums...