Balmorea - Settler (Eluvium Remix)

Artist: Balmorhea
Track: Settler (Eluvium Remix)
Album: All Is Wild, All Is Silent Remixes (2009)
 
Balmorhea (pronounced Bal-more-ay) is a minimalist instrumental ensemble from Austin, Texas, that was formed in 2006 by Rob Lowe and Michael Muller. The band cite the likes of Ludovico Einaudi, The Six Parts Seven, Max Richter and Arvo Pärt among their influences.

The band self-released their first album, self-titled "Balmorhea", in April 2007, and their second album "Rivers Arms in February" 2008, and released a limited EP in the fall of 2008. The group released their third full-length album, "All is Wild, All is Silent" on Western Vinyl Records. Their fourth full-length album, "Constellations", was released in February 2010 also on Western Vinyl. 

You can buy some Balmorhea over at Western Vinyl, and pick up a lovely live album from Sint-Elisabethkerk on Bandcamp. The below video is from a special remix album, which features Eluvium, Machinefabriek and Helios among its contributors.

And yes, it's in 2 parts.


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Rachael Boyd - Back In Your Box

Artist: Rachael Boyd
Track: Back In Your Box
Album: Back In Your Box EP (2011)

Rachael Boyd is a multi-instrumentalist from Belfast, Northern Ireland. She has been playing the violin and piano from a young age and self-taught the guitar. She’s also the electric violinist of friendquestionmark, a post-rock band based in Dublin. Her influences are a mixture of alternative rock/electronic bands and classical music from the Romantic period such as Debussy and Chopin.

Her favourite artists include Balmorhea, Broken Social Scene, Radiohead, Brand New, Biffy Clyro, Colour, This Town Needs Guns, Tubelord, Cougar. She recorded and produced herself the E.P. Back In Your Box released on ElevenEleven - get it on Bandcamp - and check out other stuff on Soundcloud.

 
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Max Richter - Harmonium

Artist: Max Richter
Track: Harmonium
Album: Songs From Before (2006)

Max Richter was born in Germany in 1966 and grew up in the UK. He studied composition and piano at Edinburgh University, the Royal Academy of Music and in Florence with Luciano Berio. Though he has a strong background in the canons of classical music, his influences were more modern composers and in particular, Iannis Xenakis whose musical compositions applied mathematical and physical laws and Philip Glass whose sound was a major influence on Richter.

His influences also include rock bands The Beatles, Pink Floyd and The Clash, as well as electronic music groups Kraftwerk and Autechre.

You can grab most of Richter's releases from Amazon.

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World's End Girlfriend - We Are The Massacre

Artist: World's End Girlfriend
Track: We Are The Massacre
Album: The Lie Lay Land (2005)

World's End Girlfriend (ワールズ・エンド・ガールフレンド) is the musical project of Katsuhiko Maeda who hails from Nagasaki, Kyushu in Japan, and currently resides in Tokyo. His work blends elements of electronica, classical music, and post-rock to create a style reminiscent of several other modern day bands.

At the age of 10, Maeda was inspired by his father's collection of classical music. When he was 12 years old he started composing on keyboards, guitar, tape recorders and computers. To date he has composed more than 600 songs.

 Review here, buy here or here.



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