Noekk - Waltzing In Obscurity - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Falkenbach were originally conceived as a solo-project by Vratyas Vakyas and officially came into being with the InchLaeknishendrInch demo in 1995. On his third full-length, InchOk nefna tysvar TyInch, the German continued to navigate straight along the course that he had set on the previous two releases. This meant a further reduction of obvious black metal elements, while adding more melodic and folkish parts. Yet musically as well as in their lyrics, Falkenbach firmly went on to spearhead the pagan metal style that became so very popular only a few years down the road. Vratyas Vakyas starting to work with guest musicians from this album on, gave his sound more of a band feeling as well.

On Disquiet, The Necks stretch their immersive, shape-shifting sound across three discs and more than three hours of labyrinthine, patient intensity. This is their twentieth studio recording and it marks the 39th year of the band's existence.Meticulously recorded and sculpted, the four extended pieces on Disquiet see Tony Buck, Chris Abrahams, and Lloyd Swanton pushing at the outer edges of their collective intuition, building and unraveling hypnotic structures with microscopic focus. Present is the usual arsenal of piano, double bass, and drums, and all the in-between of sounds undefined and sources obscured.The music of The Necks has always carried a profound sense of shared responsibility - between the players, of course, in their utter commitment to the improvisational - but also between the work and it's audience. With music so open, there are profound opportunities to choose what to focus on, whether to focus at all, etc. Disquiet takes this further there is no particular listening order prescribed. There is no InchDisc 1, Disc 2, Disc 3.Inch The music itself seems to stretch time, and this presentation challenges ideas of sequencing. The Necks, one may argue, are a mode of discovery as much as they are a band.Regarding the sound itself, The Necks' signature restraint and textural depth remain, with subtle tonal shifts, evolving motifs, and roiling phases of keen and propulsive clatter, strains of subdued surprise and unmatched intentionality - as ever, expansive and absorbing.

Traditional Czech and Moravian carols, Christmas canticles from Czech Baroque hymnbooks, old European Advent and Christmas songs, and Jaroslav Krcek's original songs. The highly acclaimed Christmas album Nativitas is now joined by a new festive album, bearing the title Exaltatio. While in Colloquial Latin the word means InchexaltationInch and InchelationInch, in Christian theology it has a more profound connotation InchelevationInch. The mezzo-soprano Dagmar Pecková has recorded yet another Christmas-themed album, featuring Czech and other European carols and folk songs hailing the Nativity. At Christmas, people feel much closer to one another than at any other time of the year, and it has been so for centuries. The special seasonal atmosphere is what French, German, English and Polish songs have in common. Pecková has again reached for Baroque hymnbooks, in which piety combines with a majestic sublime mood. The album also encompasses much more high-spirited and poetic folk carols. Jaroslav Krcek has made stylistic arrangements, whose singular signature relates to Musica Bohemica. The features several Baroque-inspired pieces he himself has composed. The magic of Christmas evidently continues to be celebrated by contemporary creators. Dagmar Pecková's new Christmas album 30 carols and songs from Bohemia, Moravia and other European regions