What are you listening to at the moment?

[Smaragd]

Charlemagne Palestine; particularly ‘Strumming Music’ and ‘The Apocalypse will Blossom’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bulibjyaQ0s&t=198s

It is interesting, because minimalism to this extent doesn’t normally move me so much, but there is something very transformative about this piece (Strumming Music).
He is playing between two pianos, I think, but monotonously on the same sustained arpeggio. It is in many ways a practice in patience, but if one can last to the point that the first sustained harmonies begin, they have a profound beauty - at least to me they did/do.

Strumming Music is one of my favourites from Charlemagne Palestine. The way he slowly gets to the beautiful harmonies from sometimes sterile minimalism is very beautiful and transformative like you described. The beautiful parts, to me at least, has similar feeling to them as some more electronicly produced repetitive loop music like William Basinskis The Disintegration Loops or Celer's Engaged Touches, but those works kind of go straight in there, and thus feels like a complished work placed for a show. Where as Palestine takes you there with his process. I guess that is why I usually like to listen to his music from live recordings or youtube videos, since the recorded music tends to fight against it. The process is made for the recording, and I think I can hear it. Strumming Music is one of the less "icey" records from him. It could be also the colourful visuals of the videos that warms the sound. Here's a short excerpt of his work with bells: https://youtu.be/1HnnGopah4A?t=109

A new finding for me that has been on repeat lately is Thomas Ligotti's The Unholy City. Apparently he's also made music for us to enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJsV69bQhYI

[Silvaeon]

Charlemagne Palestine; particularly ‘Strumming Music’ and ‘The Apocalypse will Blossom’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bulibjyaQ0s&t=198s

This was wonderful, thank you for sharing.

[Mimesis]

I guess that is why I usually like to listen to his music from live recordings or youtube videos, since the recorded music tends to fight against it. The process is made for the recording, and I think I can hear it. Strumming Music is one of the less "icey" records from him. It could be also the colourful visuals of the videos that warms the sound.

This is a really interesting observation, and I can see - or perhaps rather feel it - when watching the performance recording of Strumming Music, as opposed to listening to it on record, in a very different context.

The tension is very present in both, but is entirely different.

This reminds me of a conversation I have had previously with an old friend, who is a pianist and a minimalist composer, regarding the place that minimalism occupies on record and in a live environment, and whether these are different - be that for artist, audience or both.

If I didn't have an answer to my opinion then, I certainly do now. Even just via video recording, the difference in effect from essentially the same tension is quite significant. Both equally valid.
On record, I find it incredibly immersive and transformative. Live, I find it almost threatening. It would be interesting to actually experience it live.

[Silvaeon]

One roots/Americana artist I have been following for several years is a Nashville, Tennessee based performer by the name of Holly Williams. She has a piece by the name of Waiting On June, which tells the life story of her grandfather through his perspective. While I still love the extreme and abstract musics I've always been accustomed to, as I get older I find myself drawn to this type of story based songwriting.

https://youtu.be/wk79WIgb7ng

Just listening to this now, so I wanted to say thanks for sharing. This was great.

I can relate to the sentiment of your post as well. The bulk of my listening would still fall under metal or classical banners I suppose, but the older I get the nicer it is to just listen to some simple storytelling. It's been growing steadily for many years now, but I would say that the bulk of my listening since the summer other than metal has been of the folk/alt country/ihatetryingtoclassifythissortofstuf variety - timeless and classic songwriters like Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and Townes Van Zandt have gotten a lot of play, as well as a lot of Songs:Ohia/Magnolia Electric Co, Lydia Loveless, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, The Weight, lots more... Must be getting soft. (ha. I've always been soft.) My 15 year old self is laughing that my nearly 30 year old self would love this music so much now.

A couple things to share that may be of interest here. I listened to a lot of Gram Parson and the Flying Burrito Bros over the summer, and am now getting into a fairly related artist - Gene Clark. His album No Other from 1974 was a bit of a commercial flop, which is absurd, but it's recognized by many for its genius now. When I was reading about it on Wikipedia I came across this, which I found interesting. "Living up to the "hillbilly Shakespeare" moniker accorded him by later bandmate John York, the weighty and ponderous nature of most of his lyrics from the period were drawn from his Christian upbringing and discussions regarding Carlos Castaneda, Theosophy and Zen with his wife and friends"
Anyways, here is the album. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x901yPr6pP8&t=2521s

Another artist I have become enamored with is David Eugene Edwards of 16 Horsepower and Woven Hand. He is a christian, but perhaps a somewhat eclectic one, if only in that his music has a very tangible darkness to it. This may be more to the taste of some others here than the above, so I highly recommend giving him a listen if you are unfamiliar with his work. I'm still exploring his discography, but thus far my favorite album is Woven Hand's Consider The Birds. Album here https://wovenhand.bandcamp.com/album/consider-the-birds

Enough rambling for now.

[Benemal]

Woven Hand and 16 Horsepower are great (or used to be). Makes me think of abandoned tractors rusting alone in the rain.

I'm still listening to techno mostly, but I'm not gonna start listing those, unless someone asks. One "esoteric christian" artist I always go back to, is David Tibet and his band Current 93. This side project, from 1994 especially, has been playing in my head (and speakers)for months now. I don't know why, after some years, I just started hearing it. It's annoying actually.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EbFnz4eAHI

And I cannot forget the genius main band. One of my favorites is "Black ships ate the sky" (2006). This one isn't considered one of the classics, but it has me. Could be in part because the title refers to a dream Tibet had. I have those kinds of dreams. Apart from a couple of rare exceptions, everything from this band, starting with first album "Dogs blood rising" in 1984, is great. They get into the the folky stuff, they're mostly known for in 1988, with "Earth covers earth". One of the biggest cult classics, of the 80s.

[Insanus]

Big bad voodoo daddy is my current favorite, also Britney Spears and Igorrr occasionally.

[RaktaZoci]

I've been listening to some old Bathory, Motörhead and, surprisingly, The Beatles.

And I cannot forget the genius main band. One of my favorites is "Black ships ate the sky" (2006). This one isn't considered one of the classics, but it has me. Could be in part because the title refers to a dream Tibet had. I have those kinds of dreams. Apart from a couple of rare exceptions, everything from this band, starting with first album "Dogs blood rising" in 1984, is great. They get into the the folky stuff, they're mostly known for in 1988, with "Earth covers earth". One of the biggest cult classics, of the 80s.

C93 is certainly magnificent.

[Kenazis]

Morbid Angel - Kingdoms Disdained. It sounds best after Formulas record (all after that has being disappointments in minor or major scale). This new one sounds promising. There's just couple of Death Metal bands that is worth listening these days (for me). This is one of them.

[Mimesis]

One "esoteric christian" artist I always go back to, is David Tibet and his band Current 93. This side project, from 1994 especially, has been playing in my head (and speakers)for months now. I don't know why, after some years, I just started hearing it. It's annoying actually.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EbFnz4eAHI

Beauty Reaps the Blood of Solitude is a wonderful album. The tension between the predominant acoustic instrumentation and voice(s) with the interluding noise, ambience and orchestration is fantastic. Challenging and abrasive, but this just adds to its power and emotion, I think.



Two other collaborations that David Tibet is involved in, which I love, are the version of ‘Mockingbird‘ from ‘Soft Black Stars’ which he reinterpreted with Richard Moult, and his vocal appearance with Othon, in their 'cover' of Coil’s ‘The Dreamer is Still Asleep’.
I use 'cover' as loosely as one can in relation to Coil and anyone's ability to reinterpret them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0RHEqPJod4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szbSAzKytII

One of my favorites is "Black ships ate the sky" (2006).

I can absolutely imagine ‘Black Ships ate the Sky‘ resonating with you the most (from Current 93’s output at least)!

[RPSTOVAL]

"Trans" by Karlheinz Stockhausen