namaste

"...then a voice spoke in my head, and she said:
dark is not the opposite of light, it's the absence of light...."

just coming off a 10 day silent mediation retreat and i feel a little changed, but surprisingly not much.

having a blog tributed to sound, it may seem a little odd to seek silence. but it feels like it was the most natural thing to do. in music each note makes one appreciate its complement. and each sound ultimately pays respect to its parent, the sound of silence.

what i've come to know is silence is the foundation of all sound. it's always there. even when we forget, it's there: patient, calm, waiting, full of grace. and when we recognize this, we recognize ourself as the silence. the highest resonance of all...

i remembered this track (yes those nutty buddhist beastie boys) while walking in the gardens on my retreat... watching the butterflies play in the shade of the tall trees all around, the countryside painted a lush green.

like colour on canvas
all the mind's thought and feeling
painted on our being.

beastie boys - namaste:


more magic:

• stevie wonder - free
  
• finley quaye - even after all
  
• diego stocco - music from a tree
  
• yonderboi - riders on the storm / pink solidism

get this at amazon

pop roches

it's the holidays and i've decided to catch up on the quirky and arty and underrated films i haven't had a chance to watch yet....

one such film is "please give", the opening of which is a montage of several women's breasts - in all manner of shapes, sizes, colours, and volumes - all being plopped and squished down by a glass plate for mammograms. the funny thing is, the best part of the montage isn't the breasts. nope! not at all. it's the song they play over this mammary montage: a quirky tune called 'no shoes' by the roches.

the band is comprised of three sisters who started their musical journey by singing christmas carols in their new jersey neighbourhood while in high school back in the 1960s. 'no shoes' is taken from a recent release called "moonswept".

with about 15 records under their belt (more if you count them individually or in duos), along with their lovely harmonies, quirky lyrics, immense stage and recorded presence, the roches managed to somehow fly under my radar. until i watched 'please give' the other day. i literally had to pause the film and shazam the thing.

so here's my christmas carol to you this year! hope you like.

the roches - no shoes:


related:

• nneka - africans
  
• bonobo - walk in the sky
  
• derek vincent smith / pretty lights - finally moving remix
  
• nostalgia 77 - seven nation army

get this at theroches.com

ego tripping

a very special post for a very special lady on a very special day.

a few years ago, i walked into the office of the only vision educator i could find in the city, looking for miracles. i can honestly say, that day, she put those miracles in motion.

honouring a great teacher of mine on her 65th birthday, i can't think of anything more fitting than this. also celebrating her birthday, nikki giovanni is an african american icon who has inspired millions through her words and her actions. happy birthday elizabeth and nikki. may you continue to touch millions with your smiles, your wisdom and your magic!

never forget...
"i am so perfect, so divine, so ethereal, so surreal
i cannot be comprehended except by my permission
i mean, i can fly
like a bird in the sky...."
nikki giovanni - ego tripping:


related:

• nneka - africans
  
• marie queenie lyons - see and don't see
  
• derek vincent smith / pretty lights - finally moving remix
  
• nina simone - sinnerman

get this at tru thoughts records

free

very rarely does it happen that a music video takes a perfect piece of music and makes it better, makes it come to life, makes it reach out and grab you.

this is one of those rare times.

"i think there are very few people on this earth that are totally free. i'm not free but i'm working on it." - stevie wonder



find this here

related:

• finley quaye - even after all
  
• geoffrey oryema - makambo
  
• miriam makeba - malaika
  
• stevie wonder - as/another star

even after all

i finally finished masaru emoto's hidden messages in water. i think the guy's on to something.

emoto ran extensive research about the effects of words, music and environments on the quality of water. he found that water molecules emulate the beauty of positive words, melodic music and healthy environments by forming flawless crystals when frozen. you can only guess how water reacts to polluted environments, nasty messages and crap music!

so from emoto's findings and knowing that the adult human body is 75% water, we have pretty good reasons to be discerning about the quality of the music we listen to... even the voices we surround ourselves with!

and with that, i present to you... finley quaye.

finley quaye - even after all:


related:

• bonobo - walk in the sky
  
• nneka - beautiful
  
• stevie wonder - as/another star
  
• peter gabriel - with this love

get this at amazon

music from a tree

a friend sent this to me last week and i just couldn't help sharing it. diego stocco is a composer and music designer (pretty great filmmaker i might add) who lives in california and makes surreal music from objects in nature, self-styled instruments or traditional instruments in distress.

i embedded the video for this one because it explains so much about what has gone into planning and laying down the track. i was shocked to read that it was not sampled, but played live. the whole arrangement is pretty impressive...

diego stocco - tree music:


i couldn't stop there. in one of his videos, diego uses light to control music, in another he actually makes music from sand... yeah. my thought exactly. what the heck does sand sound like? take a listen, it's pretty tropical and the video is cool too.

diego stocco - music from sand:


so if i were banished to a desert island, i'd definitely ask this guy to come along for some fun!

check out more at diegostocco.com.

thanks to dd for the introduction!

somewhat related:

• perpetuum jazzile - africa
• uakti - minimal 13 m1
• heliocentrics - once upon a time

uakti

i fell asleep to this and it permeated my being...

uakti ("wak-ke-chee") is a mythic amazonian legend - a musician whose body was filled with holes, making him an effortlessly beautiful wind instrument. he charmed all the women who he enountered with his stunning melodies. jealous, local men killed him. the palm trees which sprouted from his burial ground were used to make enchanted flutes that echo uakti's captivating melodies.

the classical quartet that goes by the same name make their own instruments from glass, water, wood, metal, PVC pipe tubes, and everyday objects. the result?

fall asleep to this and it will fill up all the little holes in you and make you sound like heaven.

uakti - minimal 13 m1:

(taken from the soundtrack to the film, blindness)

related to this:

• yonderboi - riders on the storm / pink solidism
  
• peter gabriel - with this love
  
• heliocentrics - once upon a time
  
• heliocentrics - sirius b
  
• mc 900 ft jesus - the city sleeps
  

riders on the storm / pink solidism

behold the boi-yonder....

i'm entering a phase of mind expansion. and nothing better to set it to than yonderboi. by age 24 this budapest-based composer had already released his second masterpiece-release, splendid isolation.

off his first - the double-length shallow and profound - comes this quasi-cover of the doors' riders on the storm.

easily, the most beautiful storm i've heard.

yonderboi - riders on the storm / pink solidism:


related to this:

• mc 900 ft jesus - the city sleeps
  
• bruknahm project - siba dub plate
  
• heliocentrics - once upon a time
  
• heliocentrics - sirius b
  

with this love...

i am paralyzed by this song.

a decade ago, the soundtrack it belongs to, passion - music from the last temptation of christ, was the last thing i'd hear every night before i closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

it would fill my head and my body with sound and make me feel like i was enclosed in enough amniotic jelly that i could accept the dreamland that awaited me. just incredible.

the song has chosen me. following me around for weeks and weeks. i simply can't get it out of my head.

so it's only fair of me to share this one with you tonight.
my only criticism is that it ends.



you can buy it on amazon

blind sky

u2 - love is blindness

seventeen years later and it's still just as powerful.

it's always made me think
and always, always feel....

even now, listening to the piano keys, tapping clave, distortion, wailing guitar, pleading voice... i'm dragged out of bed, outside into the night, looking up at the sky. the same one that so many see every night. some live on the sidewalk. some live in fear. in war. in famine. in drought. some with nothing. working themselves sick to earn a decent living. to care for their families. some have lost everything. and some can't see our sky at all.

and i realise how lucky i am
to feel this way

u2 - love is blindess:



get it here: u2 - achtung baby

spirit dance

in life there are circumstances, situations and phenomena that simply cannot be explained.

these are the magical moments of life. sometimes we are amazed. other times, bewildered. we stop in our tracks. disarmed. we get goosebumps. we cry.

this magic, this shimmering mystery that eludes us, always leaves a mark.

moments in time when we are altered. forever changed.

it was cold winter night in 1994 when i first heard this song.
and i have never been the same since.

dead can dance - yulunga [the spirit dance]: