☆ The Social Media Chorale

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Simon Phipps

Chatting with Jill earlier, I ended up watching this TED talk by composer Eric Whitacre:

Which led me to his Virtual Choir project, which I found exceptionally beautiful and moving:

and to this year’s Virtual Choir 2.0, which drew together an astounding pool of global talent:

I’m moved by both works, by the beauty of the music as well as by the grace of the gathering together of strangers to create that beauty. I think I’ll enjoy the CD that contains both works (I’ve ordered it from Amazon UK; also on Amazon US).

The Value Of Social Media

Both of those Virtual Choir videos are the product of social media, downloading and peer-to-peer systems. Groups of people have voluntarily contributed their own voice and performance to collectively create a larger work beyond the scope of any one – or even any group – of them locally. When legislators lash out blindly at “social media” or “downloading” it harms not just the underclass they are briefed by lobbyists to envisage but also the creative energy of a meshed global society.

We saw during the London riots that social media was the vehicle for the expression of cohesiveness and contribution as well as for frustration and destructiveness. Here we see social media as the vehicle for creativity and beauty in an area we are being told it’s only used to “steal” and damage.

The truth is that tools are amoral (which does not automatically imply immoral), producing whatever the hands that hold them intend. We already have plenty of laws in our society which deal with malicious intent. I remain unconvinced we need new laws to deal with its modern expressions through new technology.  We need to tell our political representatives that banning social media, downloading, peer-to-peer and other technologies because they have only heard about the bad uses is wrong.

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♫ Artist Sampler Is A Masterpiece

Posted on August 14, 2011 by Simon Phipps

If you enjoy listening to good singer-songwriter music, chances are that you’ll love the sampler that Amazon.Com is giving away free this week (sadly the same sampler is £7.11 from Amazon.co.uk although it’s worth paying for in my view).  The earlier sampler from the same label (with many of the same artists) was great too, by the way. As well as a track from Peter Bradley Adams (who I’ve previously recommended), the other artists – especially Barnaby Bright and Kate Maslich Bode – are also excellent. Very much recommended.

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♫ Two Favourites in the UK

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Simon Phipps

If you are a UK resident located in the UK (yes, Amazon really has bolted its service down that tightly here), there are free tracks by two of my absolute favourite artists available at the moment.

I ordered the new album Perfect Darkness [US] by Fink as soon as I saw it was being released (it’s out in 10 days in the US). I think his earlier album Distance and Time [US] is just brilliant, especially This Is The Thing [US], and find his stripped back, smoked bluesy sound captivating. You can get the title track from Perfect Darkness free from Amazon UK; sadly there’s only one track on mflow, Makers. There is actually a different Fink track free on Amazon US, Revolution.

On the other hand, as I wrote before, I’d assumed Lamb were roast, so to speak. I’ve been really enjoying the richer, smoother sounds on their comeback album 5 [US] and you can get a free track from it on Amazon UK, Last Night The Sky, with the strong yet beautifully uncertain voice and lyrics of Lou Rhodes. No free US tracks that I can find, sorry.

Obviously the links are going to corrode and the tracks will stop being free, so apologies if you found this with a search some time long after I posted it 🙂

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♫ 5

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Simon Phipps

I’ve been a fan of the music made by Lamb for a long time, but I’d assumed that when they broke up we’d not be hearing any more from them. Indeed, Lou Rhodes new solo career has produced some good music since then. But on the flight to Brazil, I saw in the TAP in-flight magazine that Lamb were back together and on tour – with a new album.

The album, 5 (that’s a US link – naturally it’s available in the UK too) seems to me to be a great come-back. Both musically and lyrically strong, it has a new smoothness to the music that harks back to earlier greatness plus an orchestral depth on many of the tracks that to my ears makes the new album my favourite Lamb so far. Very much recommended.

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♫ Unthankyou

Posted on March 19, 2011 by Simon Phipps

You’d think given the number of places I track music and the number of things I have given permission to spam me with music information that something would have mentioned that The Unthanks had a new album coming out, or that they would be performing just up the road this Wednesday. But no, nothing did, so I don’t have an actual physical backup disk of the album yet (AKA a CD) nor will I likely make the gig because I’ll be on my way back from GoOpen in Oslo.

All the same, I have listened to it for as long as is possible today (before it was able to start to induce too much depression, as Unthanks albums tend to) and I must say I really like it. Assuming that’s the right word to use for an album that starts strongly in all senses with a funeral dirge for a child and goes down from there, making even Peter Gabriel’s “Up” seem cheery. Thanks to the wonder that is mflow, I’ve been able to stream the whole album without adverts and bathe in the glorious darkness which is Last.

If you want to do the same and are in the UK (the only place mflow works), first sign up from this link (which will give both you and me £1 of credit to spend) and then go listen on this link. Since I like to have a backup of my MP3s, I tend to buy the CD if it’s not too much more than the digital album; hopefully it’s winging its way from Amazon already (if you’re in the US you’ll need to pre-order as it’s not released yet).

Ever more self-assured and accomplished, this is an album of raw beauty, delivering uniquely modern yet still traditional folk music with both lyrical and melodic clarity. It also has a variety of pace and tonal texture that means it makes good, varied listening – albeit without any clog-dance percussion this time. On early listening I especially like the two longer tracks – Last and Close The Coalhouse Door.

The title track Last explores the loneliness of singleness, and is written by Rachel’s partner Adrian McNally. Coalhouse Door reflects on the human cost of mining and considers coal as clots of dried blood. Holy Moly sums it up well:

This is a truly miserable record; a three-hankie affair. Listening to ‘Last’ for the first time in the less than ideal environment of Glasgow airport we snivelled at the title track with its desolate future view and plea for human interaction, bit our lip throughout the traditional lament ‘My Laddie Sits Ower Late Up’ and lost it completely during their extraordinary reading of Alex Glasgow‘s ‘Close The Coalhouse Door’ (written about the death toll of North East miners, and the Aberfan disaster). Rarely is the North depicted so sadly and yet so beautifully.

If you too are a fan of “three-hankie folk” then this is a must-try. Just make sure you have cleared away everything sharp and grabbed the tissues first.

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♫ Imogen Heap’s Missing Album

Posted on December 30, 2010 by Simon Phipps

It really is time Imogen Heap released an album of B-Sides And Rarities. There’s some really good stuff out there uncollected on any album of hers. I’m maintaining a track listing for the album I’d like to buy, just in case she needs any help 🙂 – I’d welcome pointers to your favourite tracks I’ve missed here.

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♫ Strange Communion

Posted on December 18, 2010 by Simon Phipps

I don’t think I’ll be able to get out to hear her performing live tomorrow evening in Winchester at The Tower, but I wanted to mention how much I have enjoyed Thea Gilmore‘s music this year and tell you about her wonderful winter album “Strange Communion”.

If you didn’t listen to it when I recommended it this time last year, it’s worth your time to go listen on Spotify,  Amazon UK or Amazon US. Try Sol Invictus, Midwinter Toast, the beautiful December In New York and (for some darker humour) The St Stephen’s Day Murders (which includes some British references American friends might need help with, such as the reference to Irn-Bru). If your taste in “holiday music” is dominated by Bing, Frank and carols, you might not like it, but I have a hunch a whole lot of people who are reading this will find it’s the first seasonal album they have wanted to buy for themselves.

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♫ White Waves

Posted on December 12, 2010 by Simon Phipps

The new Mixed Tape compilation is available – 10 free tracks awaiting download. Most of them got 3 stars in the Webmink Rating System but your taste may vary, and  tracks 7, 9 and 10 appeal to me very much, scoring 4 or 5 stars.

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♫ Imogen Heap at the Albert Hall

Posted on November 6, 2010 by Simon Phipps

We were in London yesterday on our way back from a family celebration (congratulations Alastair!) and were lucky enough to have great tickets for Imogen Heap’s concert at the Royal Albert Hall. I’ve uploaded a sample of photos from the concert as well as (since it was a “cameras permitted” event) a video of one of the songs.

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♫ Holiday Gift

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Simon Phipps

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    All views expressed on this blog are those of Simon Phipps and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other entity, including current and former employers and clients. See my full disclosure of interests.

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