na: tokyo string quartet

Not a lot happening today. Here’s what we got, along with one title that came in a while ago that I want to tease:

Tokyo String Quartet, Beethoven String Quartets Opp. 74 & 95:
Today’s major new arrival. I’ll let Gavin Borchert say it for me:

As seems appropriate for a label known for many high-quality original-instrument recordings, the Tokyo’s new versions sound a little leaner and more sinewy — less tonally lush than their earlier performances, but with a wider range of color. The contrapuntal sections in the slow movement of Op. 95, for example, sound even more beautifully Bach-like, and there are ethereal, ghostly moments in both slow movements. The group also brings the right tone of levity to Op. 95’s coda; in a quartet full of dramatic surprises, the biggest of all is the sudden, startling frivolity of the last 30 seconds or so of a work nicknamed “Serioso.”

Sin Fang Bous, “Advent in Ives / Clangour & Flutes”: One of the bands Yancey was buzzing about upon his return from Iceland. Eerie, somber, glitch pop, ethereal vocals and sturdy melodies. Highly recommended. Consider this single a tease for their forthcoming full-length.

Andi, “Good Morning Sun”: Like a more polished St. Etienne — sweet, sparkly, a lil bit commercial.

Bob Alunni, Thinking of Flight: Ragged alt-country, raw-throated, broke-down, ultimately kinda winning.

Eslam Jawaad ft. De La Soul, “Rewind DJ”: This sounds great to me. His MySpace bio begins like so: “An ex Lebanese Mafia affiliate turned overweight entertainer, after an 8 Million Dollar sale of a stolen Mammoth tusk from a Siberian excavation went wrong. Born to Syrian and Lebanese parents, Eslam Jawaad (real name ‘Wissam Khodur’) left his mafia past in Lebanon and came to London in October 2003 where he quickly caught on to the vibrant music scene of the bustlin’ city.”

It just gets crazier from there. Both of these songs sound solid to me, enough that I’m curious about the upcoming full-length.

Fires of Rome, You Kingdom You: eMusic’s Chuck Eddy sez:

It’s hard to tell which generation of androgynous rock New York trio-plus-friends Fires of Rome are aiming for; the best hypothesis might be ’00s alt-glam of the Placebo ilk. (Franz Ferdinand? Rapture? White Stripes, even? You decide.) But if that’s the case, what they end up with flexes way more classic muscle. As becomes clearer toward album’s end, these guys have maybe inadvertently managed to recreate a high-register sector of ’70s hard rock that feels simultaneously meat-and-potatoes and idiosyncratic: Sparks or Slade in ragtime-revival mode…

The samples sound very promising — worth checking out!

Scott Pinkmountain &the Golden Bolts of Tone, The Full Sun: Weird, bleary, kinda psyched-out quasi-noise stuff. Some kind of odd Beefheartian bizarro world. Those with eclectic tastes should enjoy.

The Boxer Rebellion, Union: Sprawling yearning epic anthem rock. Those who consider Codlplay or late-period U2 a guilty pleasure will dig.

We also got a ton of titles from Front Line Assembly, none of which I feel qualified to talk about. Is there an expert in the house?

Overlooked in 08:
Equilibrium, Sagas: How did I miss this? Holy god, this is good. I downloaded it two weeks ago, and have listened to nothing else since. I am a relative newcomer to pagan/Viking metal, so this caught me completely off-guard. I have absolutely no idea what this band is doing — some kind of crazy, inventive hybrid of extreme metal and pagan flute music — but this is the first record I’ve heard in a long time in which I have absolutely no idea what is going to happen next. Jaw-dropping.