Epigram - This Is Not Where We Are Supposed To Be

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(Albums available for purchase on Bandcamp.)

Release The Long Ships - I Have Never Seen The Light

I love hearing stories. So when I stumbled upon this on a blog I follow, Veror's music blog (originally from an ArcticDrones interview), I had to share it here.

This is a man that prior to 2011 wasn't a musician, just someone that was passionate about music and listened to a lot of it. In 2011 he started his journey to explore his passion in music in a different way than just listening. I have so much admiration for this man. Whereas my exploration into my music passion branched into blogging, travelling huge distances, and other things, his passion led him to create. It is nothing short of beautiful to see one go out and put extra effort to experience what they're passionate about.
Previously known as Rain Catalogue, Release The Long Ships is Ferenc Kapiller from Szombathely, Hungary.

I was going to initially post The Heart of the Mountain until tears started pouring out of my eyes from I Have Never Seen The Light. Something about this song grips me...


Please visit ArcticDrones to read his words about his album, Wilderness.
And check out Ferenc's artwork on Pintrest.

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(Albums available for streaming and purchase on Bandcamp.)

Deaf Center - The Day I Would Never Have

Revisiting my "loved" tracks on last.fm, I came across this. The very first thing I thought about was how much I really want to do another float experience but with this song. There is nothing like feeling music with your entire body through the water.

Deaf Center is an contemporary classical/ambient collaboration between two Norwegian musicians, Erik Skodvin and Otto Totland.


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(Albums purchasable on Boomkat.)

Big Big Train - Judas Unrepentant

"This is the story of Tom Keating, the forger. Tom was an art restorer who eventually turned to forgery after failing to break into the art market. He was on a personal crusade to destabalise the art world by forging works to fool the experts. He deliberately planted clues in the works that would reveal them as forgeries. He also cunningly managed to falsify provenances for his forgeries."

Big Big Train is a progressive rock band based in Bournemouth, England.

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Koji - Peacemaker

If you're going to look for Koji on Spotify, you will find his album "Crooked In My Mind" and a few other artists by the same name. I'd recommend Bandcamp to listen to his music.


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(Albums can be purchased on Bandcamp for whatever price you desire.)

HRVRD - Cardboard Houses (Laundry Room Session)

I love it when bands do a stripped down version of their music. I haven't come across any that I didn't absolutely fall in love with. This one is no exception.

Since I had just recently started to get back into exploring music again, I forgot what it felt like to come across a song that makes me stop my music exploration for a couple hours to satisfy my desire for more of that band's music. It feels gooooood.


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(Albums can be purchased on iTunes.)

To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie - The Needle

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(Album, The Patron, can be purchased on the label's website.)

Pomegranate Tiger - Stars

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(Albums available for purchase on Bandcamp.)

April Rain - Constant Uncertainty Of Your Universe

It has been far too long since I posted. Lately I have been so disconnected from music. And because of that I have not been feeling myself for a while. But that needs to change. And with that change I should not only continue listening to music but I should also keep updating my blog to push me to keep listening and keep discovering and also keep sharing.

I restart with some post-rock from Ukraine.


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(Albums available on Bandcamp for free or any price you choose.)

tapeunderground - úgy lépek

A conversation of reminiscing with a friend had compelled me to revisit tapeunderground. It was then I realized, I haven't made a blog post about these guys!

I had stumbled upon tapeunderground back in 2009, which opened my music taste to trip-hop. There was just something about their sound that grabbed me. A year later I planned a trip to Hungary to see Képzelt Város and Marionette ID. Since it was a month-long trip, I might as well cram in as many concerts as I could. I was super pleased to find out that tapeunderground was playing, and only within a few days of my arrival!

As the day arrived I was incredibly excited. I had invited my Hungarian Couchsurfing host to join me on this musical excursion. She was shocked that I knew of so many small Hungarian bands and intrigued at what this small band could bring. We arrived at the venue, Cökxpôn. To this day I've never been to a more chill venue. The ground floor was the cafe while the basement was the music venue. Pillows and low tables were everywhere. I don't normally like sitting for concerts, but this was definitely the music to sit on a comfortable pillow to. The decor was colourful and trippy.

The environment complimented the music so well. Despite the two jocks seemingly putting extra effort to making everyone's experience less awesome, a potential fight breaking out between them and a guy in front of me, and the entire venue yelling at them... the evening was quite magical. It was definitely a mixed emotion concert. But getting to see tapeunderground was just so much better than I even expected.


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(Their albums are free to download from their website. Letoltesek.)

Pariisin Kevät - Pyykkipäivä

I've been having a bit of a dry spell with music lately. It's during these times I'm grateful to have amazing friends that know me and my passion in music very well. One of my best friends, a Finnish woman, had just introduced me to this particular song. The band is pretty electropop-y but this particular song has certain deeper sounds that really resonate with me. I'm really enjoying the rest of their music, but this song... and Matkala Etelään too... mmmm.


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(Albums can be purchased on iTunes.)

The Bad Plus - Seven Minute Mind

I particularly like listening to music before I go out to dance tango. Sometimes it can help me make a connection to music before I make an even deeper connection later on. Just like I would never listen to Caspian right before a Caspian concert, I never listen to tango music before a Milonga.

Yesterday started as a Denovali Records day until one of my favourite jazz ensembles came up, Contemporary Noise Sextet, then it became a jazz day. My good friend from Hungary, noticing I've been listening to jazz for most of the day, suggested me this Minnesotan Jazz trio. I instantly fell in love with the song he introduced me to, Forces. The more I listened to their music the more I was falling in love with their sounds... until Seven Minute Mind came on. When the song started really 'groovy' I thought, "Oh, that's cool, I really like this!" And then it transitioned to this absolutely gorgeous piano, beautiful in a classical (genre) kind of way. This song instantly started resonating with me. Chills were going down my spine, goosebumps formed, my eyes were quickly watering. I went from bobbing my head to nearly weeping. Once the song finished I knew I'd be listening to this a lot in the next couple months. I had just found my most recent favourite song.

Needless to say, it was a good night of tango.


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(Albums digitally available on iTunes and Amazon.)

The Atlas Ladder - High Lonesome

Philip Jamieson. We initially met through his other band, which I was (and still very much am) a huge fan of. In 2011 shortly after coming back from a big European trip I visited his hometown in Massachusetts for the first time. Since then we've been really close. He is one of very few people I've felt a deep spiritual connection with. Such an amazing, sincere, deep, cognitive, emotional individual that I'm honoured to call one of my friends. This man is like a brother to me. So, I thought it'd be fitting to have his solo project, The Atlas Ladder, be my 5000th artist on last.fm.

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(Songs can be downloaded for free from Soundcloud.)

No Grave Like The Sea - One For Lyman (feat. Paul "Watty" Watson on cornet)

One of my favourite concert-going experiences is attending a concert for the headlining band just to find out that the opening band is equally as amazing. Two days ago I attended the If These Trees Could Talk concert. No Grave Like The Sea opened, and they blew me away. That night I don't see it as two openers (with Signal Hill) and a headliner, to me it was three headliners.

I had a great conversation with Benjamin (keyboards) after their soundcheck and prior to the show. We both agreed, there should be more brass... or generally more brass in instrumental rock. (Oooh, I just gave myself goosebumps imagining trombone in instrumental rock.)

Both Signal Hill and If These Trees Could Talk were superb. But I think my highlight of that evening was discovering a great band I didn't know about prior to the show.


Their EP currently only can be streamed or purchased at their concerts (it's in a really cool tin case with a parchment paper insert). The physical copy has the addition of this song, One For Lyman. Though, the trumpet cornet was just featured in the live show and the recording features non-lyrical vocals. I do hope their next album has some brass.
Edit: "Yes, brother there will be cornet on the record, that you can count on." -NGLTS Nicccccccce!


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La Bicicleta - Sombras Azules

As of late, I've been heavily into tango. Classic musicians like Carlos Di Sarli, Juan D'Arienzo, and Osvaldo Pugilese are the known greats. But my appetite is never satisfied even as great as the classics are. So, as usual, I have to do some tango exploration. There are some modern musicians that are sprouting with such vibrance and passion.

La Bicicleta is a tango trio from Berlin. Out of the modern tango musicians I've heard, these guys have struck me the most. The peaks and the valleys of their music has created some intense emotion. And while this music would most likely be considered undanceable due to the lack of discernable rhythm, I can't not dance to this. I dance to tango I feel. And oooh, do I feel this.


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(Their album, Tango Progresivo, is available on Bandcamp for purchase.)

123 - KDA

I come across a lot of phenomenal artists through my music discoveries. And sadly, a lot of these artists get forgotten after a period of time. But the other side of the fun of music discovery is rediscovery. I rediscovered 123 just recently and reminded myself what initially captured me. Their music resonates with such beauty that it penetrates my entire being. When I hear this song, even though I didn't listen to their music during my two week stay in Turkey, I'm instantly flooded with memories of walking through the outskirts of Samsun during the setting sun. I feel a warm sensation and a build-up of emotion when her voice is accompanied by harmonics.

One of my major regrets from my two month trip through Europe and Turkey last year was not getting to see 123 play. But that will be one of my biggest goals of my return trip.


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(Albums available for purchase on iTunes, links on their website.)

Arian Saleh - Wakeup

A couple weeks ago I went on an Iranian music binge, searching for as much as I could find. It was a difficult search, but there were some results that struck me. Arian Saleh's Wakeup struck me profoundly. Most of the lyrical music I listen to (that I can understand, in English) tend to be more toward the upbeat like Mammal Club or more emotional like Blank Maps. But this is the first I can recall listening to and feeling darker lyrical songs. The rest of Arian's music is already pretty downbeat. But wow... the frustration and darkness in this song is so intense.

Arian's diverse influences are brought out fairly clearly in his songs, with the gypsy-like Better in Blue and the tango-like Unspoken. Right when I thought I'd move on and listen to another artist I can't help but go, "Oh, I want to hear this one again... and this one..."


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(Arian Saleh's music is available on iTunes for purchase.)

Dosh - Loud

I've been out of it for the past several days. So what better way to be "in it" than to just to go head-first into some new music. This first started with something a little more familiar. I started listening to a little The Non some The Octopus Project, and from there I discovered this artist. This entire album (Tommy) is filled with an array of styles that all blend beautifully together. A little folk, a little hip-hop, jazz, alternative... it's nice. I'm totally digging this.


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(Albums available for purchase on Bandcamp, his Website, or Label and streamed on Spotify.)

Madmazel & Amir Danaei - Shorou

It is about time I made a new music post. I just couldn't hold myself back from posting this.
Recently I've been infatuated with the Iranian music scene for the same reason why the Pakistani scene fascinates me. The trouble a musician has to go through just to have their music heard is a lot more than we, as Americans, can even fathom. This, to me, is a non-music element that enhances the experience of listening. It becomes more intimate and personal.

I had spent a few hours hoping I'd discover all sorts of different indie, post-rock, rock, and various other artists. Three had come up (the other two I will post later). This particular song made me instantly fall in love with this artist's music. On top of Madmazel's absolutely beautiful voice, Amir Danaei has created a guitar hook both beautiful and so catchy I can't stop thinking about it. Neither have any albums out, but they both have various songs here and there on their soundcloud accounts.

Madmazel
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Amir Danaei
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Blog news, a new direction, and today's song: Snowing - So I Shotgunned A Beer And Went Back To Bed

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(Album is available for purchase on Bandcamp. Their five track demo is also available here.


So, I'm putting this blog to rest. When I had time it was easy to go on music exploration binges and find new artists I liked to feature on the blog. But once I started the partial tour with Labirinto at the beginning of March then went to Europe for two months then moved here to New York City, life has jumped into overdrive. Sadly, I haven't had much opportunity to do music exploration for my own self. But there are occasional moments that one band is brought to my attention that compells me to share, like now. (Thanks to The Tidal Sleep for linking this one on facebook.) I will say that this was a good experience, and I enjoyed sharing these small-time artists. And on one occasion I actually got to meet one of the artists I featured, which was pretty cool.

The Wandering Musicphile is most certainly not dead, just taking a new route. I will be updating with new music just like I am now, when I come across it. But the frequency between updates will be considerably low even compared to the recent past. However, what I mean by "a new route" is the ongoing project I mentioned in my previous post. I have decided to just give it a generic name, "The Wandering Musicphile presents...," because while my creativity expands into video post-production it does not expand into thinking of names. Hah hah.

Some updates on "The Wandering Musicphile Presents: Our Ceasing Voice"... I shot 55 gigs of 1080p24, H.264 video in Austria between Achenkirch (home town), Innsbruck, and Vienna. At that compression, that is a lot of video. I edited occasionally in various coffee shops and restaurants during my visit to Budapest, Hungary and Sofia, Bulgaria. In Sofia I locked down the edit and was about to go into colour correction, title sequences, and minor compositing (if it needed any). Two people got to see it in its entirety so far, one of my best friends in Hungary and my good Bulgarian friend, and guitarist of Mental Architects. Both reacted with surprise and delight. They both expressed that they feel like after watching this 20 minute video they know Our Ceasing Voice on a deeper level. (Which was nice to hear since I was hoping to cause people to feel.) Shortly after the second showing my hard drive had mechanical failure due to a drop. Needless to say, that put a dark, depressing dent into my trip. Now that I am back in the US, I took the hard drive in the lab for repairs. I was originally told it will take 3-5 days. That was 12 days ago. The HD is severely damaged. Even after the first attempt at repair and lab recovery, when they ran it it was reading excruciatingly slow. So it had to go back into the lab. My anxiousness is peaking, and I'm sure as well as the guys in Our Ceasing Voice. A lot of talk has been going on about our ideas of what to do with the project IF we can get it back.

If I do get the drive back intact, look forward to seeing an intimate look on the Austrian instrumental rock band, Our Ceasing Voice.