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  New Frequencies 2

  The German Electronics artist Robert Schroeder (discovered 1978 by EM pioneer Klaus Schulze) has produced numerous excellent solo CDs as well as his success album Double Fantasy / Universal Ave., which reached the US Charts in the end of the 80s. The music of Robert Schroeder is various, but always soulful. He combines spherical synthesizer sounds with modern rhythm-mical contrasts, often supplemented by spacey guitars and sometimes also by piano, cello or voices. Schroeder's music spectrum includes Electronic, Ambient, Chill-Out, Lounge, Adventure and Trip-Hop. Electronic Music in the widest sense is the musical style of this artist who has his roots in the music of Klaus Schulze, Can and Pink Floyd. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Be sure! This kind of music neither do you know of Robert Schroeder, nor do you expect this kind of music from him. But nEW fREQUENCIES Vol.2 is certainly a very unusual and outstanding production, not only in the context of convention by Robert Schroeder, but also in relation to all other known publications of similar styles. Already the first CD of this new series (release 2010 on Spheric Music) Schroeder received increased media attention and was awarded for the CD of the month of the German hi-fi magazine 'Audio'. The music prefers analogue synthesizer sounds and uses sequencers, but also rhythmic and slightly higher BPM values. This spicy electronic music provides the right mix of dance, relaxation and pure enjoyment. NEW fREQUENCIES Vol.2 offers the latest generation of electronic sounds. The album tracks are danceable as well as experimental and spherically. Voice samples and galactic sound surfaces round off the overall image to a post-modern music production. A cleverly studio project that clearly stands out from the standard through his music and production quality. NEW fREQUENCIES expands horizons and blood veins. Music for clubs, discos and at home - for dancing, chilling and dreaming. Please take your time for listening. Enjoy your journey through this awesome music. Best tracks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 Other albums from Robert Schroeder: (1979) Harmonic Ascendant (1980) Floating Music (1981) Mosaique (1982) Galaxie Cygnus-A (1983) Paradise (1984) Computer Voice (1985) Brain Voyager (1987) TimeWaves (1988) Driftin (1990) Pegasus (1991) Hamaja (1993) MindWalk (1994) Everdreams (1998) D.MO Vol.1 (2005) brainCHIPS (instrumental) (2005) brainCHIPS (vocal) (2007) SphereWare (2008) D.MO Vol.2 (2009) Taste It (2009) 30 Years After (2010) New Frequencies Vol.1 (2010) Cream, Cygnus-A (2011) Club Chill Vol.1 (2011) Bochum Live 2011 (2011) Esthétique (2012) D.MO Vol.3 (2012) New Frequencies Vol.2 (1987) Double Fantasy 'Universal Ave' (2006) Food For Fantasy 'The Secret Of Dreamin' (2008) Food For Fantasy 'Fruits Of Fantasy' (2010) Food For Fantasy 'Fresh Food"

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  Future Unfolding

  Compellingly beautiful heart felt flowing music with vocals, ethnic flutes, didgeridoo, ethnic hand percussion, piano, guitar and keyboards. From danceable to meditative. Inspiring melodies and exotic flair to the tracks.

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  877

  In 877, his second Sea Road Records release, composer and multi-instrumentalist Curtis Earthquake explores new melodic territory, introducing jazz and cinematic elements into the mix. Whereas his prior effort, Count the heartbeats, was largely an album based on harmonic structure, 877 involves more thematic development and classical technique. To be sure, the album shares with it's predecessor a rich and varied assortment of beats and moods, including upbeat, danceable numbers, such as Demolition Dervish and Love You The Most, as well as more contemplative tracks, like Crick and Jette. Moreover, you can hear echoes of Pat Metheny and Jimmy Smith on tracks like Meth Lounge and B.D.O.C., which highlight Curtis' formidable chops on jazz guitar and organ.

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  Stories from Earth

  Welcome to the weirdest band on the planet, or actually passing by this planet. The Hitchhikers of the Galaxy looks like a collective of artists from everywhere on the Earth, that remotely joined to write and record hot tracks, from pop to rock to jazz, experimental and beyond, always open to whatever idea or genre is coming form the different members and collaborators. The Album Stories From Earth, reflects this extravagance, yet being able to be fun and inspirational on every single track. It's musical range of influences starts form the fun and sympathetic voice of Clementine on the first three tracks, with her poetically simple lyrics - sung with an out-tuned fun voice-, to the deepness of Conrad's emotional inspiration in Low Resistance. Marzo Superstar provides a break into instrumental super-danceable riffs and solos for trumpet, with shades of jazz-contemporary improvisation and Big Band themes, as opposite to the nasty gurgling of aggressive distorted guitars and bouncing percussive rhythms. We've found acoustic moments as well, like in the space ballad Come Along, with a hilarious feeling of retro mountain choirs, even though intense for it's lonely lyrics. The Album ends a non-sense disco music track, which apparently is some sort of a remix from some other undefined sources, but it's of a blasting of rhythm and attractive melodies. Curious album, as their first release, Stories from Earth by the Hitchhikers of the Galaxy collective, worth a listen to.

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  Fathom

  Fathom is a solo album in the melodic tradition of great 1970s one-man efforts like McCartney, and Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, and perhaps more recently Gotye's Like Drawing Blood. It has, as you might expect, folk, rock and lounge elements. What you might not expect are the danceable electro tracks like No Values (about mixed race/gender/skin colour relationships) and Betrayed, about, well, being betrayed by a lover. There are country songs, piano ballads, songs of the future and songs of the past. There's even a surf instrumental called Warriewood featuring five separate electric guitar harmony parts ('lad's music', Ian says), that Fathom producer John Stuart has dubbed 'Scotland on a surfboard'. TRACK BY TRACK Wolf at the Door As summery a piece of retro lounge as you are likely to hear this or any other year. 'I wanted to say to listeners, right off the bat, this guy is NOT entirely serious,' Ian says. No Values Race relations. The idea of falling really hard for someone who barely understands you. This dance tune fairly bubbles with middle eastern flavours, sounds and rhythms - and one of the album's signature sounds - the hand bell. 'It's kind of a collision between a disco sound, I suppose representing Anglo values, and this spicy hot middle eastern thing. The idea is to celebrate all cultures through the mantra-progression 'You've got no values, who's got no values? Only one value - love above all'. World peace with a dance beat,'' Ian says Two Cars A real country song, an old fashioned waltz time divorce ballad. 'It's about that last moment, when all the fighting is over, and you and the person you've been living with for years and you are standing on the street in the rain, packing the very last of your stuff into separate vehicles. A heartbreaker for the recently separated,'' Ian says. Fathom The sweet sound of rain on a tin roof is joined by a haunting, futuristic piano figure, shaer, clave sticks, and those hand bells before a symphonic interlude. 'It's almost a musical palindrome,'' Ian says. 'After the orchestral part, each of the figures makes it's return in reverse order.' Fathom crystallises the album's themes of water, depth and personal attachment. After all, in English law, a fathom was defined as 'the length of a man's arms around the object of his affections.' District Park A sweet pop song about being 14 in the general haze of wondering if everything is going to turn out alright, yet somehow elevated by an almost spiritual assurance that it will. The park, in Manly, is personified and addressed in the song: 'District Park, how you haunt me through the years, with your head in the mist like a boy's first kiss, you were there at the birth of desire - and though my dreams seemed so far away, you were the breath of something higher, fire.' Sunny song with just a wisp of regret. 'It's really the song of a much older bloke driving past the park, decade after decade, remembering a time of innocence, a time when 'the constant talk of girls unfurled,' Ian says All We Leave Behind A very personal song. Ian's mother died in May, 2008, and the song is a tribute to Betty Cuthbertson, and to the lasting, eternal nature of love. 'It changes you forever to lose someone so close, and I guess I wanted to address that change, and also to leave behind my own message of what my Mum meant to me, and what enduring love is really about,'' Ian says. The song features Ian on piano, cello, electric bass, French horn and voice. Warriewood Scotland on a surfboard. 'I wanted to do a surf instrumental that was pure boys music, you know the stuff that girls are supposed hate, and guys put on their iPod to listen to at the beach. I particularly wanted the splash cymbals to hit you in the face the way the whitewater does when you are paddling out. I loved doing it, and I particularly loved getting the guitars to scream and howl - not discordantly, but in a controlled way, like these great harmonised beasts of the sea,'' Ian says. Warriewood was one of the first songs completed and the forthcoming video is 'sexy and fun'. The song should transport you to the beach from your desk at work, or wherever you happen to be stuck, wishing you were there. Betrayed A third person narrative about a guy who is betrayed by his girl. HUGE drums and a surprise entry of a heavy metal guitar part along with even more clubland drums. A feast of dance rhythms to get even the most sluggish of dudes up on the dance floor. Letters in the Sand When the Fathom sessions were in fully sway, Ian says he couldn't help noticing producer John Stuart's pedal steel guitars standing around at sound Heaven. 'I always wanted to this song with a pedal steel,'' Ian says. 'It wasn't originally planned for Fathom, but it kept playing in my head, so I recorded the backing at home and asked John if he'd play on it. He worked on it one morning before he's heard the vocal melody, and to our great pleasure the part he recorded worked really well with the vocal lines.'' Letters in the Sand is a young man's song - when you're crazy about someone to the point of writing that you love them in the sand, knowing the message will be washed away before they see it. It's about finding the strength to tell someone how you feel about them, and just stop 'writing all these letters in the sand.' Wild and Free The oldest song in the collection, Ian wrote Wild and Free in the early 80s when he was with the Accelerators. 'It was the song that always made them jump up to dance - so I thought it deserved a run on my album,'' says Ian. 'I think it's a really upbeat, bright, and optimistic way to end the record - and I love the brass at the end. It's a great full stop that harks back a bit to the opening track Wolf at the Door .' About Ian Cuthbertson -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Though probably best known for his work over the last eight years as a technology, television and arts journalist at The Australian, Ian has been singing, playing and writing music since age 15. His debut performance was at Sydney's Pact Folk in Liverpool Street, Sydney, while still at school. This was followed by appearances at the Journeys End wine bar in Sydney's Woolloomooloo in the mid 70's while training as a psychiatric nurse. From 1978, by then a registered nurse ('don't call me sister, mister') Ian played countless solo shows in pubs, including a 13 month residency at the Royal Sovereign (Now the Darlo Bar) in Sydney's Darlinghurst. He auditioned for and became lead singer and principal songwriter for the 80s punk outfit The Accelerators. After the frenetic early 80s, and a general disenchantment with the more horrifying artefacts of punk culture, such as finding spikes of porcelain where toilets used to be in venues, Ian moved to the Blue Mountains, furthering his career as a psychiatric nurse while developing some soothing, anti-punk ambient music. A return to the city in 1983 led to weekend shows in pubs in Manly and Rozelle. Some of the ambient music made in the mountains was used on relaxation tapes by alternative healers such as Peter De Reuter, and one piece - Ocean Song - was used for some time as the late night sign off music by Sydney radio station 2SER. A turn as Simon Zealots in Jesus Christ Superstar was followed by appearances in cabaret, more folk clubs and a year or two with the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Choir. From then on it was cabaret all the way, with appearances in New Theatre productions such as Anything Goes. But Sondheim, Cole Porter and Gesualdo were not really where his heart was, so armed with the latest music recording technology and a purpose built room full of much loved instruments, Ian began work in his studio at home on the material that would become Fathom.

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  Chopin

  During my time as a student with Byron Janis in New York, we studied many of Chopin's works together, encompassing all genres, both large and small. Byron Janis was a genius of expression and characterisation in all the music of Chopin. He gave the small works the respect that tends to be reserved only for the large works by many and he influenced me greatly in my interpretation. In gratitude for music and much else, I dedicate this recording to Byron Janis. Small forms... I was delighted to be asked to record a Chopin Recital devoted to his smaller works. The emerging musical Romantics undoubtedly owed some of their ideals to their literary aunts and uncles. One legacy of this was the status of the fragment as a work of art, stemming from Novalis and Jean Paul and finding musical form through Schumann and some of the Preludes by Chopin. However, the musical revolution was not unopposed. Even in our postmodernist age, there is an uneasiness, among members of the artistic profession especially, about the eminence of these Waltzes, Nocturnes, Mazurkas and other small works. How typically ironic was Chopin's pen when in a letter from Vienna he wrote, 'Here, waltzes are called works!' An article from 1835 in the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik by August Kahlert, typical of the day, represents a three-pronged attack on small forms in general, calling dance music the lowest form, implying that dramatic music is incompatible with small genres and explaining the custom of adding literary titles to musical works as being a mask to cover up empty works that have no meaning of their own. Even Schumann himself, who later attempted opera and symphony, said that Chopin's exclusive concentration on piano composition prevented him from achieving even greater heights. It is the aesthetic of the fragment - so many half-glimpsed and half-wrought visions, 'individual eagle pinions' as Schumann styled Chopin's Preludes - that is valuable to an appreciation of all Chopin's small forms. Although not strictly fragments, the Waltzes, Mazurkas and Nocturnes all share a dispersive quality with the true fragments among the Preludes. Each short work is a microcosm of expression, voice, form and technique. The epic, dramatic and lyric voices of a Chopin ballade or sonata can all find their individual articulation in the passage of a single Mazurka or Nocturne, just as the Waltz is a component of most of the large-scale works. The song... The nocturnes have a superficial affinity with the growing tradition of small-scale works popular with publishers and amateurs from the start of the nineteenth century. This association is responsible for the notion of Chopin the salon composer. However, Chopin's first published nocturne, Opus 9, No. 1, stands manifesto-like at the gateway forbidding such an interpretation with it's remote and dark opening tones. The full drama is unleashed in the middle section of the last nocturne of that same set of three. Publishers of the day followed the custom of attaching poetic titles to works to promote sales. The London edition of the Opus 9 Nocturnes went under the title Murmurs of the Seine and few works by Chopin escaped such treatment. Inevitably these titles, combined with the narrative hallmarks and intensity of many of his lyrical compositions, brought about another powerful conception of Chopin as a Romantic composer. His music became a 'fragment of autobiography', in Dahlhaus' words, and Chopin's liaison with Georges Sand, the trip to Majorca, his suffering and consumptive end took on new significance for the reception of his music. Chopin himself was too classicist to support this. He did not approve of descriptive titles and in his extant correspondence hardly more than once gives a poetic description of one of his own works. The dance... The Waltzes and Mazurkas mostly abandon the solid practicality of danceable music and instead elevate the spirit of dance, aspiring to the Baroque tradition of Bach. Chopin's Mazurkas tend to draw from more than one type of Polish regional dance, including the oberek and the kujawiak in addition to the characteristic holubiecs and other accents of the mazur. This elaborate mixing of genre, often perceptibly within one work, is an indication of the richness of the musical thought. Chopin's Mazurkas are also misinterpretations - in Harold Bloom's sense - of their folk models. One example is the treatment of the drones of Polish folk dance, such as the dudy or gajdy (bagpipes) or basetla or basy (unstopped string bass), which form a stable basis in the folk models. In Chopin, they sometimes function perversely to destabilise the tonic key, such as in the middle section of Opus 7, No.l. The Mazurkas partly fuel the myth of Chopin as the exiled Polish nationalist composer. As a result of the Polish folk origin and unusual modal elements of these dances, groups of listeners perceive his entire oeuvre, by association, as politically and culturally programmatic. Rubato... Eigeldinger identifies three distinct forms of rubato in Chopin - and the evidence suggests that Chopin used them all when he himself played his works. The most characteristic kind of rubato is that derived from the Italian Baroque bel canto tradition, and continued by Mozart, where the left hand maintains the pulse and the cantilena has an independent rhythmic freedom. The second kind is the more generally practised agogic fluctuation of tempo in response to phrasing, texture and dynamics. The third kind is a rhythmic signature specific to the Mazurkas, whose tradition must now sadly be regarded as lost to us. Chopin abandoned the use of the term rubato in his compositions at an early stage, no doubt because of the scope for misunderstanding and the recognition that the nature of rubato could only be communicated by demonstration. CD notes © 2001 Tamami Honma About TAMAMI HONMA, piano Tamami Honma began her career at the age of five as a prize-winner in a national competition in Tokyo, going on to make her US concerto debut at the age of seven with Mozart's Concerto in A Major, K414. After this auspicious start, she won grand and first prizes in several international competitions and has made many solo and orchestral appearances across most of the continental USA, in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Japan, Israel, Lithuania and Russia. In Moscow's Great Hall, she performed Rachmaninov's Concerto No. 7 with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra. Tamami Honma studied piano over a four-year period with legendary pianist of the Romantic generation Byron Janis - himself a student of Horowitz and the Lhevinnes - in New York and thereafter with Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy of Music, London. She now lectures on and co-ordinates the Piano Literature Course at the Royal Academy of Music, a course which she founded in 1998. An article by Tamami Honma on Beethoven performance was recently published in Arietta, Volume II (Autumn 2000 edition) and she was appointed as editor of the Liszt Society Journal in 2001. Commercial CD recordings of Tamami Honma's playing demonstrate an eclectic approach and a refreshingly diverse focus, including a disc of Mozart sonatas with violinist Howard Davis (leader of the Alberni Quartet), also for DK Music Ltd, and discs of contemporary British chamber works by McCabe, Rawsthorne and Nigel Clarke on Metier. Both Metier recordings received five stars in BBC Music Magazine and the Clarke CD also received high acclaim in Gramophone magazine. Tamami Honma's concert appearances around the world have included radio and television broadcasts with distinguished chamber partners. She has recently been featured on Lithuanian radio and television with the Vilnius String Quartet as part of the Gaida 2000 Festival in Vilnius, and on Polish Radio during the Autumn Festival 1999 in Warsaw with the acclaimed Kreutzer Quartet. Tamami Honma has also played with violinist Peter Sheppard-Skaerved, leader of the Kreutzer Quartet, cellist

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  One Sky

  This album explores sunny and dark aspects of our humaness, the ups and downs of life in general. Some historical referrences, upbeat, downbeat and danceable ditties too. Melodic and spoken word stylings with an emphasis on acoustic sounds. Suitable for all ages.

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  Growland

  A guitarist and songwriter traversing the realms of Hendrix, Funk, Afro-Carribean and Punk. John January played with many bands in Southern California before relocating to Portland Oregon. There, under the infuence of the natural beauty and thriving music scene the John January band formed, honing it's upbeat and danceable blend of jams through countless live dates. Drummer Ilko Major, Bassist Steve Kelly and Percussionist Dan Bamberger round out a line-up of Portland's best musicians.

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  Red Scare EP

  With influences drawn from old school punk rock, classic country, garage, hardcore, and southern rock, Tailgunner Joe & The Earls Of Slander are an amalgamation of styles that can only be described as balls-to-the-wall rock n' roll. On 'The Red Scare,' Tailgunner Joe bangs out the frenetic, high energy danceable punk of 'The Street,' the rollicking honky-tonk alt country of 'Killzone,' penned by The Slackers' Vic Ruggiero and writer Phil Nerges, the Fogerty-esque swamp rock of 'That's Alright,' and the chugging buzzsaw groove mania of 'This is Your Brain.' The debut EP captures the sweaty exertion of the band's live show, an in-your-face, never-a-dull-moment rock n' roll blitzkreig reminiscent of the band's fiery communist-hunting namesake.

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  And So Here

  Bill's voice has been described as "unblemished and full of wide-eyed awe and innocence." His songs have been described as "quiet grooves, haunted musings, and joyous, danceable pop, wrapped in orchestral arrangements." New wave, electronica, and folk influences filter through his songs creating a sharp yet dreamy indie-pop sound. Bill studied music at the Performing Arts High School and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He released his critically acclaimed solo debut And So Here... in 2003. He's currently recording songs for his next release Architect. He is a founding member of Cold Son. They released their debut Crumble and Fall in 2001 and are currently working on their sophomore album Frost, slated for a Fall 2007 release. Bill is also a founding member of The Booklets and has just started working on their debut release. He is a member of ASCAP and OUTMUSIC and has tracks featured on various compilation CD's including Marry Me (produced by Figjam entertainment) and Bear Tracks 2 (produced by Woobie Bear Music). He has performed extensively throughout the Northeastern US including off-Broadway. When Bill isn't touring or recording he's directing or designing sound for live theatre.

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