Monk Chanting

New age music and ancient shrines seem to work well together, as evidenced by top-selling concert CDs and videos (now DVDs) by Keiko Matsui and Yanni over the years. Kitaro's idea for a greatest-hits collection performed at the sacred Yakushiji Temple in Nara, the ancient Japanese capitol, is more about beauty and intimacy than sheer spectacle, although it would be fun to imagine this dramatic presentation in its native setting. The music on this double disc was taken from three live concerts in the summer of 2001, the first concerts ever presented in the temple proper. Not that you need the background to be swept away into the dreamy mysticism that defines Kitaro's twist on the universe, but this temple is the resting place of the ashes of Genjo Sanzo, the seventh century monk who walked the Silk Road from Japan to India, returning from India with the sacred texts that introduced Buddhism into China and Japan.

Steve Coleman - Lucidarium (2004) {Label Bleu LBLC6673}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 462 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 171 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 111 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2004 Label Bleu | LBLC 6673
Jazz / Post Bop / M-Base / Modern Jazz / Saxophone

The uncompromising American alto saxophonist Steve Coleman isn't the kind of artist to hire a marketing team, but if he was you could bet that track titles like the name of this album, or Plagal Transitions, or Diasporatic Transitions II would be straight in the shredder. Coleman is a serious thinker about contemporary music, and he doesn't wear the responsibility lightly. But behind the solemn, lecture-room gravitas, and woven between the sometimes mathematical investigation of rhythm and ensemble patterns he favours, can be a hot and soulful alto-sax improviser, and a surprisingly nimble and free-spirited nu-bop enthusiast.

“Words cannot describe everything we feel. How can one accurately verbalise the sensation we feel when we’re a newborn and our mother holds us in her arms, and we feel her skin on our cheek. We clearly feel her warmth and humidity, some feeling of love from her, but it’s tough to verbalise it perfectly. Music is a language that can translate that sensation, feeling, the memory of love.” — Hatis Noit.