Dustin O'Halloran – Lumiere

My Rating: 3.8/5
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Dustin O’Halloran is another fine modern classical musician/composer amongst the excellent peers like Johan Johannsson, Max Richter, Peter Broderick Nils Frahm, etc. (of course he's also a great dream pop rocker if you remember his romantic band 'Devics'!!)…….his composition and self-taught piano talent come up 2 of his previously released solo piano albums with beautiful, contemporary thoughtful and sentimental music….

In ‘Lumiere’, Dustin O’Halloran evolves his solo piano stuff with more strings involvement and richer arrangements……..with the help from his friends (not competitors!!) like Johan Johannsson, Peter Broderick, etc. (what a admirable harmonic music scene!!), you will be no wonder there is string orchestral involved and some orchestral arrangements are also very Johan Johannsson-like….nevertheless, the vibe of complete album is still his own subtle, modern, a bit dark a bit sad and thoughtful soundtrack mood (still remember his stunning score to Sofia Coppola's 2006 film Marie Antoinette?!) which is quite the same as his last 2 solo albums if melodies are not less beautiful this time I think……anyway, ‘Lumiere’ is still a good modern classical album in nowadays standard!!!   

   

Ryan Teague - Causeway

My Rating: 3.8/5
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It’s been quite a while since Ryan Teague’s last album ‘Coins & Crosses’ from Type imprint in 2006. According to his own web site, Ryan Teague described himself as a Bristol based composer, producer and guitarist working in the field of electro-acoustic minimalism. His music combines contemporary arrangements and instrumentation with electronics and processing.

If you have heard his last album that packed with some beautiful and minimal modern classical composition stuff, you will be very surprised in the first seconds of listening this new album……no more those contemporary classical orchestral stuff this time and instead is those refreshing cool American Primitivism pioneer John Fahey-like avant garde finger pick acoustic guitar stuff……..when you think the album will be going to be folk and blue influenced, Ryan Teague’s works will remind you he is still a contemporary composer rather than a avant garde guitarist…..he just makes use of such cool finger pick stuff to process and loop them into some cool ambient composition music……though a bit over and boring for looping things some times, Causeway is still a very ambitious and impressive collection of works!!        

Tape - Revelationes

My Rating: 3.8/5
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Tape are Andreas Berthling, Tomas Hallonsten and Johan Berthling from Sweden formed since 2000 with blending acoustic, pop, experimental as well as electronic sound in an unique micro, warm and minimal way…..

‘Revelationes’ is their new release since their 2008's 'Luminarium'. If you look back their back catalogues, you might notice that their music was evolving to be more and more bright and out-going compared to their early releases of more low profile and introvert approach…...nevertheless, their unique music style has still unchanged for many years by looping some nice melodies with acoustic guitar, synth organ and electronics to create some very impressive warm, intimate, contemporary, polite and minimal ambient post rock sound……with this new release, Tape has been more emphasizing the drumming sound and the result becomes like a typical post rock band with less ambient more obvious jamming style and music form related to some jazz/chill out stuff……anyway, it’s a nice album showing Tape is evolving for good!!!       

The Tree of Life 生命樹

My Rating: 3.8/5
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According to Wikipedia, some movie’s background information is as…..”The Tree of Life is a 2011 American drama written and directed by Terrence Malick and starring Sean Penn, Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain. Malick's film chronicles the origins and meaning of life by way of a middle-aged man's childhood memories of his family living in 1950s Texas, while also featuring themes and imagery of space and the birth of life on Earth. (The film's unorthodox style reflects the nature of memory.) After decades in development and missed 2009 and 2010 release dates, the film premiered in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d'Or. The film received overwhelmingly positive reviews for its technical and artistic merits, but there were also polarizing reactions in response to Malick's directorial style and, in particular, the film's fragmented and non-linear narrative.”

I think The Tree of Life is the most talked art film recently (at least in Hong Kong) and the comments are also very extreme. Some also compare it to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey……I also had such expectation going to see this movie and my feeling is the movie is simply not really up to that grade…. The Tree of Life in fact is a good movie, but not really a great/classic one as 2001: A Space Odyssey……I also think the movie is a bit hollow in details as the movie did only speak for its main theme largely by the visual effect and music score rather than the story itself which the story is in fact quite a flat and boring 50/60s American family grow-up story (also a bit in hollywood way that miss a bit artistic way of independent film’s expression)..….those abstract theatre drama play is also quite pretentious and make me feel something force audiences to get into the main theme of the movie……I feel the Director is very eager to express loads of his idea, thinking and philosophy in Life, but I think I prefer a wonderful story of a movie speaks for its main theme in a subtle way rather than such forceful expression……

Johann Johannsson - The Miners' Hymns

My Rating: 3.8/5
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Johann Johannsson is one of the young living greats in the field of modern composition music amongst my other favourites like Max Richter, Peter Broderick, Keith Kenniff, Olafur Arnalds, etc….. so it's easy to understating that this Icelandic musician, composer and producer will always take part in film score works due to his composition talent.......he has been great in making music and film score presented by strings orchestral like his last album “And In The Endless Pause There Came The Sound Of Bees”for the film "Varmits" by Mark Craste. This new release is no exception which was made for the same named movie ‘The Miners’ Hymns’. But the new thing is it is no more a string orchestral play and instead is a brass ensemble orchestral stuff which provide a very different vibe compared to his previous works. I haven’t seen this movie and only heard that it’s a sad history-telling story to celebrate the coal-mining culture and movement in the northern English city, Durham in 70s. It is imaginable the movie will be showing those ‘blood and tear’ labour movement epic scenes to fight for rights and justice of coal-miners. Of course, it’s better for you to check with the movie web site or trailer for details.

Listening movie soundtracks sometimes is a complete different listening experience and approach to a normal album…..take this one as example, it will be quite a tasteless one if listening this solely as a music album of full of brass plays blowing for nothing…….but when connecting the score with the movie’s story line (though not yet having watched the movie), you will be easily touched by the vibe created by the brass instruments and it’s a very good soundtrack offering excellent background mood for the movie with rich implication for the dark old days in 70s with those working level people surviving in their days like a dog fighting for their deserved rights and justices……when you immersed in this mood of humanity thinking with those sentimental brass orchestral plays, you will be moved with tears in your eyes…….it’s a really stunning movie score that can just capture the vibe of the movie!!!

Dean & Britta play Galaxie 500, Live in Hang Out Hong Kong, 3 July 2011

A bit late to post this one......It's my 2nd time to watch them in last 2 months as I have been seeing them playing in Primavera in Barcelona in May......of course, this time with much less people attending the show which I think only around 200 people were there compared to thousands in Primavera, but I think most of them were loyal fans with thirty/forty something's age wanting some nostalgia on Galaxie 500, so overall speaking, the atmosphere was really good and the production was also a merit which made the show is a well set up one (in term of small indie gig's standard)...of course, Dean and Britta were also having a solid performance that making it's a memorable show for Galaxie 500 fans..... let's take a look some moments of the show as the below video clips.....  

Live Video Clip 1
Live Video Clip 2
Live Video Clip 3
Live Video Clip 4
Live Video Clip 5

Matthew Cooper - Some Days Are Better than Others

My Rating: 3.5/5
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For in case you don’t have idea who’s Matthew Cooper…..Matthew Cooper is another moniker name of the ambient musician, Eluvium, who is based in Portland, Oregon and well-known in the indie scene for his minimal and experimental music blending electronic, shoegze, ambient, classical influences….

‘Some Days Are Better Than Others” is his new soundtrack works for the same-named film featuring members of Sleater-Kinney (Carrie Brownstein) and The Shins (James Mercer). I haven’t watched the movie and, from some other reviews and also from the CD inlay texts and photos, this movie is going to be sad and serious talking why the good times slip by so fast while the hard times always seem so sticky and exploring ideas of abundance, emptiness, human connection and abandonment.....seems better prepare your mental condition before walking to cinema for this movie!!

  

In music term, this is still his trademarked ambient stuff that is full of feeling of unconsciousness, lightness, simplicity and escapism of being in this huge cruel universe……but this time is presented in an even simple way by using single line playing of damaged instruments (to reflect out the main theme of the movie - life after the good old days that we all must have to pass through….) …the outcome is something like a sound check for sound texture of different damaged instruments like organs/synths for different inner emotional reflection, but in a bit over subtle and minimal way…… maybe as we all know, Matthew Cooper/Eluvium is always a low profile (dare I say also elegant!) musician and it makes sense for a movie score to give the main spotlight on the movie itself rather than the music score (dare I guess of his idea like that) !!