Humming

Brian Eno & Harold Budd - The Pearl (1984) {2009 Virgin DSD Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 174 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 101 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 28 Mb | 5% repair rar | DSD Remaster
© 1984, 2009 Virgin Records / Astralwerks | 509996845382
Ambient / Electronic / Avant-Garde / Experimental

Hearing Budd's piano slowly fade in with the start of "Late October" is just one of those perfect moments – it's something very distinctly him, made even more so with Eno's touches and slight echo, and it signals the start of a fine album indeed. Acting in some respects as the understandable counterpart to Ambient 2, with the same sense of hushed, ethereal beauty the partnership brought forth on that album, The Pearl is so ridiculously good it instantly shows up much of the mainstream new age as the gloopy schlock that it often is. Eno himself is sensed as a performer on the album, if not by his absence then by his very understated presence.

Ripperton - Niwa (2010)
Electronic | Album | MP3 CBR 320 Kbps | 149 Mb
Publisher: Tartelet | Language: English

Immaculately constructed to the point of refined delicacy, yet luxurious and inflamed with passion—that kind of duality can suffuse music with depth and meaning, but it’s a feat that many producers don’t pull off over entire careers. That the Swiss artist Raphaël Ripperton has done so on his debut long-player—and in a natural, seemingly unforced fashion—solidifies his claim as one of the main players in what could be termed “dream-tech,” a sound that fuses techno’s attention to tonal experimentation with the satiating sumptuousness of the best deep house.

Howe Gelb - Ogle Some Piano (2004) {OW OM Recordings - OW OM 07}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (image)+CUE+LOG -> 295 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 208 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 34 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2004 OW OM Recordings | OW OM 07
Jazz / Indie / Acoustic / Piano

Tucson's musical savant Howe Gelb has released an album of mostly instrumental keyboard music, Ogle Some Piano. It's a curious disc, even by Gelb's eccentric standards – nineteen tracks of piano meanderings in a variety of styles: jazz, rock, pop, tin pan alley and experimental avant-garde weirdness. And the titles seem a parody of art-rock pretentiousness: "Spangle Bib of Radiant Value," "Hammered and Hampered, We Then Took the Deeds Down by the Dozen," and "Someday They Will Have a Name for What Ails You as Opposed to Being Saddled with Speck Elation" are representative. The best tracks include Joey Burns on double bass and John Convertino on drums, making these tracks more or less Giant Sand pieces. There are also contributions from the usual suspects, including Nick Luca and Craig Schumacher of Wave Lab studios in Tucson, and the late great Rainer Ptacek as well.

C-melody saxophonist Frankie Trumbauer will always be most famous for the recordings that he made with cornetist Bix Beiderbecke but he also led a series of fine sessions after Bix had departed the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. This CD features Trumbauer leading a large combo filled with Paul Whiteman sidemen during 1929-30 and a nonet in 1931. While some of the numbers are a bit commercial and there are vocals by Smith Ballew, Art Jarrett and Trumbauer himself, there are also some fine jazz solos from the leader, cornetist Andy Secrest, violinist Joe Venuti and trombonist Bill Rank. Among the better tracks are "Manhattan Rag" (which has Hoagy Carmichael on piano), "Happy Feet," "Get Happy" and "Honeysuckle Rose."