Browse by Label: BRASSLAND RECORDS

Artist:	CLOGS
Title:	Lullaby For Sue
Label:	BRASSLAND RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	HWY 004CD

"Clogs are four classical musicians hailing from Australia and the United States. The Wire celebrated their first record's 'eerie, looping folk melodies...delicately bowed and struck strings [and] beautiful 'lost at sea' effect.' Lullaby For Sue, their second album, is more rhythmical, ambient, electric, and eclectic. Think myriad stars in Aussie skies; red desert violins; gnarled attic guitars; medieval bassoons; junkyard metal percussion. Clogs have been compared to artists as diverse as Arvo Part, Sigur Ros, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor."

Artist:	FRIEDLANDER, ERIK
Title:	Maldoror
Label:	BRASSLAND RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	HWY 005CD

"Erik Friedlander is a unique cellist whose body of work both blurs and defies genre borders. Son of the noted artist/photographer Lee Friedlander, Erik was born in 1960. Maldoror is Erik's solo debut and consists of ten improvisations recorded at Berlin's Teldex Studios. It was inspired by the poems of early French surrealist Lautreamont, who wrote a collection named Maldoror and Poems. Is it jazz or classical? Is it composed or improvised? These are the questions of the feeble. Intense, mystical, and beautiful, Friedlander's Maldoror is a journey into music's darkest heart. Deep down where the music of Morricone, Piazzola, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and John Coltrane also serves to sooth the savages."

Artist:	CLOGS
Title:	Stick Music
Label:	BRASSLAND RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	HWY 007CD

"A tour de force concept album conceived by the duo. Simply put, it is a deep exploration of strings. They are bowed, struck, plucked, and treated as never before. The results are intimate, melodic, gorgeous. One moment they resonate like gentle raindrops, the next they're woven into dizzying eddies of sound. Stick Music is a bold achievement. It is odd and intense enough to satisfy avant gardists yet grows as accessible and comfortable as instrumental classics like John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians, Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz to Come, or Brian Eno's early ambient works."

Artist:	CLOGS
Title:	Lantern
Label:	BRASSLAND RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	HWY 010CD

"Clogs' fourth album, Lantern is their finest and most varied effort to date. The group augments their unique sonic palette (acoustic guitar, strings, percussion, bassoon) with melodica, ukulele, and mandola − guitarist Bryce Dessner, goes electric. Further expanding on the work of their first three records. Lantern sees the band incorporating more rock influences, and writing the best melodies of its career. The record also shows the influences of Philip Glass. Recommended if you enjoy fellow travelers like Rachel's, The Books, Bell Orchestre, Erik Satie, Johann Hieronymus Kapsburger, etc."

Artist:	DOVEMAN
Title:	With My Left Hand I Raise The Dead
Label:	BRASSLAND RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	HWY 017CD

"Doveman is 25-year old Thomas Bartlett and a select group of collaborators. On his sophomore album, With My Left Hand I Raise the Dead, the band includes banjo player Sam Amidon, a folk singer and old childhood friend; drummer Dougie Bowne, sideman to Iggy Pop, the Lounge Lizards and Cassandra Wilson; guitarist and conjurer Shahzad Ismaily, who has previously appeared with that magical trifecta -- Marc Ribot, the Master Musicians of Joujouka and Rage Against the Machine; and trumpeter Peter Ecklund, an expert in genres like swing and dixieland jazz. At various times there are various others. Doveman does not rehearse, but they sure can play. When listening to this music you should keep in mind artists such as Frederic Chopin, Cat Power, Keith Jarrett, Talk Talk and Chris Whitley -- unless you don't know any of them or are not a fan, in which case you should keep in mind Nick Drake, The National, Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, and other, trendier bands whose music has recently appeared in car commercials."

Artist:	MUHLY, NICO
Title:	Mothertongue
Label:	BRASSLAND RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	HWY 018CD

"The young composer Nico Muhly -- recently subject of a 6000+ word profile in the New Yorker -- amassed a string of commissions and premieres that would be notable for a composer twice his age. The Boston Pops, the BBC, American Ballet Theater, the New York Public Library, Whitney Museum and, yes, even a debut at Carnegie Hall. More intriguing to pop listeners, perhaps, are Muhly's contributions to projects by a striking constellation of modern musical icons: Rufus Wainwright, Philip Glass, Antony, Björk, Will Oldham, The National, et. al. Thankfully, Mothertongue's contents are more impressive than Muhly's resume. The title track is a mystery that grabs your attention with ambient chatter and soothes you with strident noise. 'Wonders' collapses the distance between early music and music of the future. And 'The Only Tune' is an exploded folk song that stimulates your brain while tightening its grip on your heart. Classical music can be a daunting exercise for those unfamiliar with the genre. Luckily, the composer Nico Muhly prizes communication -- both in day-to-day life (note his frequently updated blog at nicomuhly.com) and in his music. It's this sensibility which has inspired the titles of both his records, Speaks Volumes and now Mothertongue. Mothertongue, in particular, sounds like the product of someone in love with language. Voices are treated as exquisite instruments. (The click of the teeth, the tap of the tongue, the smack of the lips, etc.) The music itself speaks to deeper meanings and specific ideas and emotions, like words on a page."

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