Nought - self titled

Where do I start with Nought? I doubt many people reading this blog will have ever heard of them. The band formed in Oxford, UK in 1996. They were loved by John Peel and apparently they toured for a while in Russia. They've never become very widely known, which is a shame because they are an extremely talented bunch of individuals.

I'm not even sure quite how to describe their music. The sound is experimental, noisy, has elements of prog-rock, math-rock, post-rock, jazz, industrial, modern classical, and is very avant-garde. They have been compared to likes of Miles Davis, Steve Reich, Sonic Youth, Philip Glass, Stravinsky, Glenn Branca, Nation of Ulysses, John Coltrane & The Fall. I don't think this does them justice though, they are highly original and almost virtuosos. They improvise heavily while performing although if you have ever seen this band play then you have probably lost a little bit of your hearing.

I first started watching Nought in tiny little venues and was completely mesmerized by the two Fender Jaguars laying horizontally on stands, with a drill sitting on top of one of them, the insane time signatures, the discordance, and the almost inhuman drumming and bass playing. They were certainly something to behold at that time.

They have gone through a few line up changes since then, which is a shame because I don't think they've ever been quite as good as they were with the original members. I didn't understand the music at the time and I probably don't understand it now. The main member of band is not far from a genius, he composes everything and directs the band. I can only imagine what goes on in his mind.

It was a while before they released an album although they did release a couple of singles on Shifty Disco which were excellent and really did a good job to represent how the band sounded on stage.

The album itself is, in some ways slightly tamer but more crafted and mature. It contains quite a few of the old songs that they always played, including the one with the drill and a telephone ringing, but it is well produced and has more sophisticated air about it.

You can buy the album at their website here - NoughtMusic
or at the Shifty Disco website here - Shifty Disco

It is only £5 at the Shifty Disco site although you can download a couple of tracks from their website.

This is a download from their site: Ignatius

I can't find a video with music from this album but there are a couple floating around of their live performances, pretty noisy! Please just download the song because this video is really not a good representation of the band's talent.

Read More

Max Richter - Infra

This is another favourite of mine. Max Richter is a German-born British composer who has worked with a broad range of artists such as Roni Size (on the In The Mode album), Future Sound Of London, he produced Vashti Bunyan's Lookaftering album, and has had his music featured in various tv programmes and films, such as Stranger Than Fiction and Shutter Island.

So while you have probably heard his music before, you might not know it.

Infra is his latest, and fifth, solo album. It starts of with morse code (I'm not sure what it says though) and some old radio sounds before a beautiful slow piece of music fades in and blossoms. This track reminds me slightly of Godspeed You Black Emperor or Mogway.

The second song continues with the radio noise, weaving a theme that continues throughout the album. Richter is keen on this fragmented style and is not the first time he has used such a technique. This song comes in with some piano but doesn't really go further than that. That said, it is a great track and actually doesn't need much else, sometimes less is more.

In fact, some of the piano on this album is just incredible. There seems to be quite an obvious influence of Philip Glass and I have to say that Max plays and writes every bit as well as Glass. There is so much beauty in his playing.

The tracks vary so much on this album but somehow stay on theme with the rest of the album. There are tracks that are not much more than hints at melody with noise and radios tuning in the background and then there are full on orchestral delights. For example, Journey 2 is one of the noise/slight melody tracks but it is followed by Infra 4, one of the most concise and well written tracks on the album, orchestral and completely emotional.

I don't know what you would tag Infra as, perhaps classical, neo-classical. I don't really care because it is just well written, emotion evoking, colourful, and mainly extremely good. I loved it the first time that I listened and, although you may not think you like classical music, you should give this album a try, while I wouldn't say this is 'entry level' at all, it could be a very good album to get in to this genre of music.

In my opinion, this is the best song on the album. It really reminds me of Philip Glass with the repeating theme played throughout but growing and growing until it explodes in to the climax. It blows me away every time.

Read More