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For Orchestra

Things to know about Chime

1) It's a videogame
2) Kinda like Tetris and Lumines combined
3) It has a strong musical component
4) It's for Charity!
5) Set List

Philip Glass- Brazil



Markus Schulz – Spilled Cranberries



Moby – Ooh Yeah



Paul Hartnoll (Orbital) – For Silence



Fred Deakin (Lemon Jelly) – Disco Ghosts



John Coulton - Still Alive

Three albums today. One, Two, Three ah, ah, ah *thunderclap*

First Up

Beth Rowley's - Little Dreamer.

Soul singer from the UK, featured in this movie called 'An Education', maybe you've heard of it. Sounds like Eva Cassidy, that's a good thing. While still relatively new, Rowley could possibly last a long time if she makes more adventurous albums down the line. Looking forward to it.

Beach House - Teen Dream

Traces of Pink Floyd, indie pop, atmospheric keyboards and strings. Deep and dark lyrics disguised as perfect easy listening music. Beach House has their own sound down to pat. Victoria Legrand holds your attention with her smokey warbles.




Surfer's Blood - Astro Coast

Great guitar work, catchy riffs make this album a joy to listen to. "Swim to Reach the End" is so fantastic that the rest of the songs aren't even necessary anymore. Endless reverb and feedback meld into an unspeakable melody wrapped in a pretty package. Plus, the cover art's awesome too.

I saw Cat Power 'live' tonight, it was awesome, she also waved at me.

A 4 piece band, Cool Keyboard guy, Long Sleeved Guitarist, Huge Hair Drummer and Tall Bassist.

Chan was wearing her usual outfit, green long sleeved shirt unbuttoned at the top, jeans, white loafers and a thin black tie.

Started out with a cover of The Animals 'House of the Rising Sun'. Went on to do a couple including 'Lord, Help the Poor and Needy' segued into 'Metal Heart' and an indescribable rendition of Billie Holiday's "Don't Explain" after a low key break with 'Lost Someone' (James Brown) and 'Rambling (Wo)man'

'Sea of Love' the crowd favorite followed one Jukebox's 'Woman Left Lonely'

After that they straight away went into 3 hits with 'The Greatest', 'Lived in Bars' and 'Where is My Love'.

'Dark End of the Street' came next. Followed by an Italian "Angelitos Negros" The

Can't remember what ended the set, but the band started improvising while Marshall took a bouquet of carnations and started flinging flora into the crowd. No encore was given despite the standing ovation, but she did start looking for things to feed the hungry mob including two of the set lists.

Note - Pic is not from the same night and not the same hair drummer, but she looks like that though. Also I didn't have a notepad, so this is all from memory of course.

It was a pretty decent gig, would have of course liked more of her tunes like 'Maybe Not', 'Colors and the Kids' or 'Cross Bones Style'. An encore would have been nice too if she had gone back to the abandoned piano/guitar. No 'Space Oddity' here, but I will get my Bowie some day Miss Marshall.

PS- On the waving story, it's true and I have a friend who can verify it. She asked for the lights to be turned up and the first friendly face/wave was yours truly. Ha!

Sorry about the lack of updates, getting a new job has made my time management a little harder.

On another note, there hasn't been anything that has caught my attention so far. Aside from the new stash of Camera Obscura, 2009 has been a little quiet on the music side.

On Metacritic's top list of the year, the top 2 are live albums from old legends, Leonard Cohen in London and Nirvana, back from the dead.

A slew of techno, electronica and heavy rock are on the list as well, not too comfy for my easy listening ears. Super Furry Animals, The Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear (So many creatures!)

What are you listening to? Anything to recommend?

United Airlines broke his guitar and he wrote a song about it

As most of you have heard, Michael Jackson, one of the last remaining icons of mainstream music from the last decade has passed away yesterday.

MJ was an inspiration to many of the artists we see today, his performances were electrifying, his music ubiquitous. While his eccentric actions in personal life has tainted his image some what, it is without a doubt that Michael Jackson has and will leave a lasting legacy in pop music forever.

The Crying Light
by Antony & the Johnsons

I have to say that this is probably one of the hardest reviews that I have had the pleasure to write. The layers and depth of the themes in Art and Music are so intertwined that one would not be able to do justice to it with mere words.

The Crying Light is the third studio album from Antony Hegarty and his band, there are a couple of things here, first, his voice, which is probably one of the most unique and easily recognized of this generation. The second are the lyrics and music in the record. While seemingly sparse and minimalistic, the orchestral backings and piano are really subtle or perhaps overshadowed by Antony's rich tones. But they are intricate nonetheless, in 'One Dove' the singing stops for almost a minute as strings and the woodwind take over. Conversely, 'Dust and Water' has almost no music at all, just a few notes stretched over 2:50, while Hegarty murmurs the lyrics tenderly over the expanse, like a seagull flying over a calm sea endlessly.

The songs are often sad ballads,the lyrics themselves are nearly mournful yet hauntingly beautiful, from 'Epilepsy is Dancing' - "Then I cried in the kitchen/How I'd seen your ghost witching/As a soldering Blue Line/Between my eyes" or just simply obscure "Fire kisses the floor/of the lakes and makes shadows" from 'Daylight and the Sun' . Classical composer Nico Muhly co-arranged the final track 'Everglade', the most dramatic piece of the album. Here the orchestra finally gets let loose, with crescendos of horns and strings seemingly taken from a lost symphony or soundtrack to a art film.

No Line on the Horizon
by U2

U2 has always been the one band who never fails to inspire me aurally, and their latest album, “No Line On The Horizon”, does not fail to disappoint. Although it seems like their music has taken off on a whole new direction upon first listening, it gradually becomes the U2 we all know and love after repeated hearings.

Having gotten back with "Joshua Tree" producer, Brian Eno, Bono and gang starts off with the album’s title track. Soaring along, 'No Line', along with 'Magnificent' and 'Moment of Surrender', are my favorite tracks of the album. I do have some gripes with the first single “Get On Your Boots” though. It feels like they’re trying to hard to impress and it’s not something I would expect from the greatest band in the world today.

Also, the first half of the album moves along nicely whereas the second half does get a little draggy, especially for non-converts to U2’s particular brand of music. Those accustomed to today’s popular rock/pop nonsense will find it tough to maneuver along U2’s stream of consciousness, lyrics and aural imagination. The record ends off with the 'Cedars of Lebanon' named after the near mythical trees, a reflective, slow piece. While I do not profess to read their minds, it feels like Bono is commenting on the trials and tribulations a being foreign correspondent, a subject close to my heart.

As Bono sings, “Child drinking dirty water from the river bank/Soldier brings oranges he got out from a tank/I’m waiting on the waiter, he’s taking a while to come/Watching the sun go down on Lebanon,” I remember my own times in other lands and think: This album is all that you can’t leave behind.

-This weeks Guest Review was brought to you by Alex

How did I get from this?


Ah the morning has come, what a wonderful day

to this having trouble sleeping at night.


Youtube is a wonderful place is it not?

Peer Gynt Suites was written by Edvard Grieg for "Peer Gynt" a Norweigen Play

> Incidentally, In Hall of the Mountain King was also one of the movements.

> Apocalyptica is a Finnish cello-metal band, featuring 3 classically trained cellists and a drummer, they covered a metal version for In the Hall of the Mountain King for one of their concerts

> Their debut album was a cello only cover version of Metallica's songs entitled Plays Metallica by Four Cellos

The Suite bergamasque (IPA: /'bɛʀgamask/) is one of the most famous piano suites by Claude Debussy. It was likely named after Paul Verlaine's poem "Clair de lune", which possibly alludes to a bergamask. It is also commonly believed that the Suite Bergamasque is derived from Fêtes Gallantes, a poem by Paul Verlaine. The suite was composed in 1888 but published in 1903, and consists of four parts, or movements.

1. Prélude
2. Menuet
3. Clair de lune
4. Passepied

Clair de lune is the third movement and the most famous, it means 'Moonlight' in French.

Yes it's also that song from Twilight and Ocean's 11. But please, please don't tell your children that. (Note: I have not watched Twilight)

Noise Pop 2009 is now happening in San Fransisco, so if you're around there go check it out.

2009 headliners include: Bob Mould, Stephen Malkmus, Josh Ritter, the Mountain Goats (solo), A.C. Newman, Sleepy Sun, French Kicks, Thao Nguyen, Goblin Cock, From Monument to Masses, Thee Oh Sees, Kool Keith, Mike Relm, St Vincent, The Morning Benders, The Submarines, Ra Ra Riot, Dear And The Headlights, Port O'Brien, Themselves, Portugal. The Man, Clues, Sholi, Flosstradamus, N.A.S.A., No Age and Les Savy Fav.


It is now available on youtube here