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/ /_/ / (__ |__ ) / /_/ / __/ / / / /_
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d i s s i d e n t
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a r t i s t : Richard Youngs
t i t l e : Airs of the Ear
d a t e : 2003
l a b e l : jagjaguwar
g e n r e : Indie
r l s. d a t e : Apr-2003
t r a c k s : 05
b i t r a t e : 192kbps
s i z e : 52,7 MB
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Richard Youngs' impressive body of work continues to mount. It
resembles, unwittingly for sure, a slow zig zag march towards
some Hegelian musical ideal in the distant horizon. Youngs, the
leading wizard of droney and minimal psychedelic folk, has
unleashed Airs of the Ear, his new opus invoking new magic
looking for new ears to ensnare. Building on his esteemed
recordings Advent (1990), Sapphie (1998), Making Paper (2001)
and May (2002), Airs of the Ear goes beyond merely residing in
what is the essential ecology of Richard Youngs--the spiritual
nexus between the oft disparate realms of traditional folk and
the avant-garde; it now embodies this ecology. Acoustic
instruments coexist perfectly with electric ones, while neither
class of instrumentation is ever trumped by the other
contraptions on the record, namely ring modulation, the square
wave or the theremin. Perfect balance is almost achieved. There
is harmony, true emotional resonance, even on what is Youngs'
most captivating work on the record, "Fire Horse Rising".
Despite the ever-escalating nature of this song, where Youngs
powerfully and repeatedly invokes "...and I don't understand,
...and I don't want to know...", the listener is never allowed
to feel overwhelmed or be pushed out of that special meditative
and trance-like space. The spell is never broken.
English born and bred, but residing in Glasgow, Scotland (where
Airs of the Ear was recorded), Richard Youngs has remained busy
over the last two years. In addition to his recent Jagjaguwar
offerings, Youngs has remained a very active collaborator. He
has released wonderful albums with Makoto Kawabata (of Acid
Mothers Temple fame), Simon Wickham-Smith, Neil Campbell, as
well as with Sunroof! & Vibracathedral Orchestra. He is also
featured on the latest Damon & Naomi live album Song to the
Siren on the bonus DVD where his live performance in Glasgow,
Scotland is documented.
Released March 18, 2003
(http://www.jagjaguwar.com/jagjaguwar/catalog/jag59.htm)
....no, it really does sound that terrible....no, i did not
reencode it from 96k/bits....yes, even with 44khz and 16bit
sample rate it does sound like this....and no, i didn't paint
the cover myself........oh, you're disappointed now?...so am i
(i should have known this...the press info names a band called
'sunroof' and everything mentioned in one context with
this...ahem...'band' needs to be doubted....still i'm very
sad it hit the fabulous richard youngs this time)
[no, i'm not only complaining on the recording quality...maybe
go for track 4, which is one of the better ones]
(http://www.rippersnote.com)
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01-Life on the Stream [05:15]
02-Oh My Stars [06:47]
03-Fire Horse Rising [05:28]
04-Halifax Amore [03:31]
05-Machaut's Dream [17:19]
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38:20 min
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