New Album Release: Arian Saleh - Undone

I finally got around to checking out Arian Saleh's new album, which released a week ago. Wow... just... wow.

Like his previous album, this one is a wonderful mix of different styles of music, some, such as dirty hip-hop and dubstep, I was surprised but quite delighted to hear in such a different environment. And being a fan of strings, it was a welcome sound to hear cello, and plenty of it. As I progress through Undone I feel like I'm coming in and out of different worlds of music, guided by an incredible voice.

This particular song, Cut Me Loose, seemed to resonate with me enough to pick this to post. There's a mix of harsh and emotional within this song that's just... I've been thinking about an adjective to accurately describe what I feel but I can't. One will probably come to me once I post....

Saleh's new album can be purchased on iTunes or purchased and streamed in its entirety through his website.


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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.)

New Album Release: Lavinia - Take Shelter [ep]

(Instead of posting a song from their two track EP, I'll save you that experience for yourself. For this post, I'm going to use my favourite song on their last EP. I love obscure instruments in rock, so of course hearing banjo done well in an intense song is just so beautiful.)

Every time I visited my good friend in Boston my not listening to the other band he was in, Lavinia, somehow always came up. And he always took it modestly, "That's alright man," which made me feel worse about it. I have a feeling he knew I would eventually gravitate to Lavinia, it would just take some time. And eventually I did. There are bands that make you feel, then there are bands that make you FEEEEEEEEEEL. Lavinia instantly became among my favourite bands. I can't count how many times I listened to Bone & Arrow. (Well, actually, last.fm can count... 28, but I'm pretty sure that's not at all accurate.)

Sadly, though, Lavinia was very short-lived. After coming together, releasing their first EP in 2011 and touring a little they disbanded. However, there were still some songs unfinished. They came back together briefly to finish those songs. This new EP is them.

Download Take Shelter [ep] for a buck-fiddy on Bandcamp!


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