scleeve has written the following articles:
So did everybody watch that three-part Beeb documentary series The Sound and the Fury that aired throughout February? It took a succinct and uncomplicated look at twentieth-century classical music, calling upon New Yorker critic Alex Ross’s bestselling »
While The Ballasted Orchestra perhaps isn’t the jewel in the crown of Stars of the Lid’s catalogue, it remains a solid and worthy entry.»
ko.yaa.nis.katsi (from the Hopi language), n. 1. crazy life. 2. life in turmoil. 3. life disintegrating. 4. life out of balance. 5. a state of life that calls for another way of living. This definition appears emblazoned across the screen above the»
Max Richter casts a distinctive shadow on the contemporary classical landscape. Despite spending his formative years sheathed in the a world of musical academia, studying both at the Royal Academy of Music and with the likes of Luciano Berio in Florence (an influence he regards as “a genius,” describing their few meetings as “life-changing”), Richter continues to make the sort of music that's as accessible to fans of post-rock or electronica as it is to admirers of something more traditional.»
In many instances, These Walls of Mine is simply a musician following instinct and intrigue, and in that respect Peter Broderick and Erased Tapes have always been very cards-on-the-table about this record.»
Alongside the Meltdown Festival, Ether is an undeniable highlight of the Southbank Centre's calendar. An annual celebration of inventive, genre-hurdling music, it's previously yielded the sort of unmissable results that range from Jonny Greenwood and Thom Yorke's appearance alongside the London Sinfonietta (2005), through to last year's breathtaking screening of Stanley Kubricks' seminal 2001: A Space Odessy, in which the presumably problematic task of scoring the film live was effortlessly handled by the Philharmonia Orchestra. This year's programming signals no deviation from the festival's creative, groundbreaking repute. Some of DiS's highligts can be found below, with the full list over at Ether's minisite. At the bottom of the list, you'll find a Spotify playlist featuring some of the artists playing this month's festival.»
It's the understated confidence about Shields that will win it its admirers.»
how was everybody's Sunday evening, London folk? Were you one of the disappointed herd furrowed in front of your telly sets; the Jessie J variety hour during the Olympics Closing Bonanza? London's Southbank Centre played host to a different kind of spectacle entirely. The pretty young things of the London Contemporary Orchestra performing orchestrated versions of William Basinski's seminal ambient work, The Disintegration Loops.»
A half-year round up of 2012's best, most innovative and entertaining releases and events that tread the complicated line between popular and classical music. »
DiS has a little something for you from the new release by Nico Muhly, but first some words from Sam Cleeve...»
At times full of nervous vigour, at others letting itself fall blindly backwards into honeyed daydream, A Different Ship has a life and character all of its own.»
The Clearing is a woody, creaky, but ultimately gorgeous folk record; one that has undoubtedly sprung out of the same coppice from which once grew Upper Air and Hymns for a Dark Horse, but that stands distinct from these all the same.»
“Thanks y’all, good night,” are the words that somewhat distressingly fill the Barbican Hall on Monday evening as I fumble through the doors. Having missed a support slot from Minneapolis’s own looping extraordinaire and long-standing Andrew Bird »
“See a sea anemone, the enemy, see a sea anemone, and that’ll be the end of me.” So go the oblique opening lines to Andrew Bird’s ‘Anonanimal’. Cryptic, yes, but then nobody ever claimed him to be the most earnest songwriter in the world – n»
“I’m an arsehole!” exclaims Tim Minchin, interjecting to round off a thought as I’m a few words into a fresh question. “There’s your headline”. In reality of course, he's far from it...»
This winter release is a vibrant Pollok splash in the midst of a seasonal lull. »
Stillwater, Oklahoma natives Other Lives are all about the slow maturation, the drawn-out gestation period. Having been playing together in one guise or another since 2004, it’s taken until earlier this year to see their first release on our fair shores – sophomore effort Tamer Animals, an alt-rock gem that itself took a total of sixteen months to record. The result is an album of evocative dust bowl portraits, an intimate depiction of the people and landscape of the American Midwest.»
I think it's fair to say that I encountered Laura Marling earlier than most. Attending the same secondary school as her at a relatively similar time meant that the first time that I saw her play was actually in a school assembly. Not that that grants me a»
It’s beautiful music, but is there any longevity to it? »
This emotive disc balances a hushed intimacy and vast expanse that places it in a unique sonic terrain. »
DiS’s journey to La Route Du Rock 2011 begins aboard a ferry out of Portsmouth, where it’s roughly 2am, and I’m trying my absolute best to grab a precious ounce of sleep. Unfortunately, what with the fellow sat opposite me working overtime to see if he can successfully self-inflict a brain hemorrhage by way of snoring alone, and my own brain working overtime to try and discover what sort of karmic retribution had been dealt unto me in my having to witness an hour of seizure inducing ferry cabaret, I’m dragging my feet across St. Malo port the following morning having had next to no shut-eye.»
There’s a completely unique blend of textures and a desire for musical experimentation running through the bloodstream of The Golden Age of Apocalypse.»
This unrelenting originality at least is something to be celebrated. »
If you can get on board with Harvey’s uniquely theatrical songwriting style, then there’s a prismatic world of life, love, indulgence, abandonment, betrayal, and ultimately, death in this record.»
It’s best not to award too much concentration to Fading Parade, but simply let it unfold at its own pace. »
White Wilderness feels like a record that could have become a compelling collection of wonky strum-along pop songs with imaginative and colourful instrumentation, but ultimately it's indebted to an over-complication of ideas in a collaboration that struggles to flourish the way it should do on paper. »
He’s still smiling. You can’t not smile as well.»
Dust Lane isn’t musically breaking any new ground here – densely layered and orchestrated anthems aren’t anything we’ve not all heard before… but it will make you grin in a way Funeral never could. »
Warm Weather… really is a hit-and-miss affair.»
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DiS meets John Lydon - Part 1: The Man
DiS Does Singles 20.05.13: Paramore, Laura Marling, The Replacements
DiS joins the Music Alliance Pact + May 2013's global MAP compilation
Drowned in Bristol #12
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