Grant-Lee Phillips - Little Moon - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The composer Paul Ben-Haim made his early career in his native Munich. He emigrated to Palestine in 1933. His music mirrors his change of circumstance The String Quintet (1919) - heard here in it's first recording - taps a rich vein of Straussian late Romanticism. The First String Quartet (1937) is coloured by middle-Eastern melisma and folk-rhythms. Israel's Carmel Quartet perform regularly in Israel and abroad. Violist Shuli Waterman is principal violist of the Tel Aviv Soloists.

Grant-Lee Phillips - Ladies Love Oracle [COMPACT DISCS] date 11/10/2009

I'm drawing from the urgency of the moment,Inch says acclaimed Nashville-based singer-songwriter Grant-Lee Phillips of Widdershins, his ninth solo album. Inspired by Inchthe things that eat away in the late hours,Inch Phillips invests the insight, nuance and wit in a riveting dissection of today's fraught social landscape. Recorded over four days at Sound Emporium in Nashville, the 12-track set was produced by Phillips (guitar, vocals, keyboards) and cut largely live in the studio as a trio with Jerry Roe (drums) and Lex Price (bass). Mixed by Tucker Martine (My Morning Jacket, The Decemberists) and engineered by Mike Stankiewicz, the album delivers it's poetic truths in Phillips' peerless melodic sensibilities, relayed via vocal performances that balance intensity and vulnerability. Lead single InchTotally You GunslingerInch for instance is a backhanded salute with a mix that combines Roy Orbison with The Smiths. InchI made a commitment to myself not to sink into despair,Inch explains Phillips, InchI'm tracing a longer narrative here. We've been through some of this before - not just our country, but the civilization as a whole.Inch Phillips sees in Widdershins a connection to his earliest work with Grant Lee Buffalo. InchThat was also a time of intense social anxiety. The Gulf War, the LA riots - everything became cranked up. Then a few years later there was the earthquake we lived through, which also made for a time of uneasiness. I was in a heightened state when I wrote that stuff - as I am now.