Virginia Wing - Measures of Joy - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Their favourite records are the perfect counterbalance of the considered and the superficial. Whether it's Madonna, Talking Heads or Holger Czukay - we enjoy these artists in the background with friends or profoundly and alone. Virginia Wing both understand and embrace this concept fully as they return with Ecstatic Arrow, an album which finds them in a place of renewed strength, optimism and clarity. Recorded in Switzerland, in the family home of longtime friend and collaborator Misha Hering within the domesticity and gentle routine of communal life, the album represents a world as predisposed to solemn introspection as it is to blithe conviviality. Ecstatic Arrow borrows from the heterogeneous terrain of The Flying Lizards Fourth Wall, the exuberant technology assisted pop of Yellow Magic Orchestra and the playful sophistication of Lizzy Mercier Desclouxs Press Colour, arriving at the evergreen intersection of pop music and conceptual art. The resolute opener of Be Released and album centre point The Female Genius pair resonant Fourth World instrumentation with sonorous, loping drum patterns. Elsewhere, the sentimental march of single The Second Shift plays out like an after-hours ballad re-imagined by Wally Badarou and For Every Window There's a Curtain is coloured by the blue-lit haze of an Eventide warped tenor saxophone. Three albums in, the voice of Alice Merida Richards is more compelling and expressive than ever. The glacial deadpan of previous records has given way to a more candid, self-possessed delivery, showing an appreciation for the humour and tragedy innate in the downtown Arcadia of Laurie Anderson, Robert Ashley or even Lynn Goldsmiths Will Powers. It's with this voice that Richards outlines a simple ideality that fortifies the entirety of Ecstatic Arrow - inequality pervades, destructive behaviours are inherited and each subsequent generation has t

Among slowly unravelling coils of oscillations and intermittent fragments of semi-formed loops, instruments both electronic and acoustic resonate gently against each other over an ever-evolving soundbed of textures. A meeting of minds and those exciting first sparks of inspiration soundtracked by celestial, otherworldly tones and free-flowing spoken word.This was how Virginia Wing and XAM Duo spent two cold days at the start of January 2017. A weekend escape in the frozen industrial district of Bradford became an archive of improvisations that were later sculpted into an all-encompassing full length.Within minutes of the four playing together for the very first time their ideas quickly grew into one single-minded theory; that of free-thinking, acting on instinct and each having the patience to allow even the smallest of initial ideas to grow organically into fully-formed pieces of music.Condensed from 48 hours down to 48 intense minutes the group's recordings create an all-encompassing new universe of sound with references from the mutated world percussion of Holger Czukay, the transportive saxophone of Pharoah Sanders, and the devotional music of Alice Coltrane.Over the course of the album's wide-eyed exploration, the group's first ever steps of creative collaboration unfold in unexpected ways, whether it be on the inhibition-free wonderment of lengthy opener 'Birch Polygon', or the hopeful, throbbing ambience of 'Good Roads Fair Weather', with it's minimalist piano and vapour trails of saxophone.1. Birch Polygon2. Yesterday's Guest3. Look Again4. Good Roads Fair5. Weather6. Person to Person7. A Tunnel

We are celebrating the 100th in the BRAZIL45 series with a massive track. The enticing and exotic samba 'Redondo Sambão' is pure Brazilian fire. With beautiful female vocal-group arrangements, floating flutes and vibrating rhythms, this song oozes charm. It's only downside being that it is over far too soon. Originally released in 1967 on a compact 7Inch on the Som Maior imprint, to our knowledge, the group sadly only had a couple of releases. 'Brasileiro' is taken from Jorginho Telles' self-titled 1971 album and also featured on a 7Inch, both released on Copacabana Records. The track switches between a hoarse male vocal crooner and a rough and raw psych-guitar, RnB dancer totally magic!