The Mid-Week 10 [December 28, 2011]
Hi, everybody, my name is Dave Greening and I welcome you to the mid-week 10, the blog where I present you with 10 different tracks I’ve found on soundcloud this week, for you to listen to, comment on, and share. This week I will be looking at a number of different genres, including some great music from Una Harrison, Pixie Dust, Brombaer, J. Condor, WayB4, *Halo, Myristica, Pappa Sierra, Jonathan Dogey, Clockship, and Nazneen. This week’s featured track is The Blackbird’s Tale by Zefora.
If you haven’t already, please listen to the related podcast at the top of this blog post, and leave me a comment on what music you want me to feature next week. Bear in mind that I can’t plug absolutely everybody’s music, personally, but other ‘clouders may well click on the links you post anyway, so go ahead! I’m also requesting recorded audio clips of your own shout outs, so that then I might be able to also have a guest shout out feature. If you like the sounds of this, send me an audio clip to my SoundCloud dropbox. Anyway, here we go… Listen, comment, fave, and enjoy this week’s 10 tracks!
As is traditional, I shall start with this week’s featured track. The Blackbird’s Tale by Zefora is an absolutely stunning piece written by a ‘clouder who I have well and truly grown to love, and consider as one of my best friends on here. The emotion in this piece is so strong; the simplicity of the guitar line is stirring, but it is the power evoked by the sad lyrics which really makes this piece, alongside her stunning vocals. “The Blackbird’s Tale” is amongst my favourite tracks of the year, and I hope you’ll understand why.
Amongst my favourite tracks of the week is Brombaer’s “Guardian of the Moon,” featured above. Typically ambient and atmospheric, Brombaer’s style is so relaxing and out of this world. The track really has purpose, and develops so well across it’s playing time, with the inclusion of beautiful drips and ethereal pads, coming together to create a very deep atmosphere. If you like ambience, it’s definitely one you need to check out.
Next up, is an orchestral gem from J. Condor who is amongst one of the most overlooked artists on the ‘cloud. “The Legend of Flat Earth” is a riveting piece which starts off epic, before moving a quainter piano section (with accompaniment) around 1:10, and then solidly building up again from 2:30 with gorgeous string chords. Let him know what you think.
Well, now, we have a progressive rock track from WayB4, an artist I stumbled upon last week. I really enjoyed this one, and thought it was worth promoting on here, considering it’s low amount of plays. The style is really unique, it’s quite a delicate, quiet piece, which contrasts sharply with the dark message delivered through the lyrics. The chorus is delicious, by the way, a really catchy, fluid melody.
Moving towards electronica, now, I’ve got a piece to share with you from Pappa Sierra. This one is a remix of York and Brandon Jones’ track “Wanna Be Known,” and I felt compelled to share it, not only because of how nice it sounds, but because of how modest the remix is. Pappa Sierra has given it a downtempo vibe to really let Brandon’s vocals sound out as much as possible. Very impressive, and great to sleep to. I think I’ve played this one 10 times this week already.
Next, while we’re in the realms of electronic and alternative music, is Pixie Dust’s remix of Una Harrison’s “Memories Fire.” Besides showing some sincere interests in last week’s mid-week 10 blog and podcast, I have included these two lovely people because this is such an emphatic track. Listen to how it builds up from 1:40, oh, my, gawd. The mastering is awesome, the musicality is superb, and the atmosphere created is wondrous. Really impressive piece. :)
This brings us nicely to Jonathan Dogey’s “Pour Me Out, Father,” which seems to be a religiously inspired new age piece. The piano throughout has got a nice ring to it, but moreover, it’s the percussion and ambience which really impressed me. There are some lovely background effects added in from 1:50 onwards, and wait for the explosion of sound at 3:23 :) Truly a testament to the power of the soul with this experimental, hope-inspired wonder.
Sticking with acoustic, I now present you with Nazneen’s “Token,” a gorgeous jazy track which is so delightfully musical. The vocals and lyrics are inspiring, the musicianship in the background of the track is astounding, and the feel-good vibe is spot on, and really reaches out to us all. Lovely one.
Clocking in at just 76 plays is Clockship’s “Sublime (Acoustic)” a beautiful, heart-wrenching track, which is full of heart. Close your eyes, and let his vocals and improvised guitar part tear you apart, especially that line around 2:19, superb!
And now, at the absolute height of musicianship is *Halo’s version of Myristica’s “Beyond the Glow.” With a loose waltz feel and glowing melody, this is without in my top 10 tracks of the year. For a piano arrangement, this is absolutely outstanding, because I really can’t stress to you how hard it is to arrange a piece, and not detract from it’s original splendour. The accompaniment featured in the track is perfectly placed too, with it not imposing upon the running piano line. Definitely one you can’t miss!
Thank you all for reading, don’t forget to comment on the tracks, and also leave your suggestions for me, which you can do on the audio verison of this blog. I leave you now with this week’s featured group, which is Acoustic/Unplugged, where you can submit acoustic tracks, and have them featured on WheelBellow’s youtube channel.
Wishing you all the best,
Dave
(Source: facebook.com)
