Stegzy's Music Project

A commentary on Stegzy's album collection

F#A# Infinity – Godspeed You! Black Emperor [#449]

FsharpAsharpInfinity_vinylFirst of all, many thanks to Steelrattus for covering the Music Project while I was away in Australia. It’s always interesting to read what other people think about the music in my record collection especially when presented with unusual albums. Nothing is more unusual than F#A# Infinity and it would have been interesting to find out what Steelrattus thought of it too.

F#A#Infinity is an entirely instrumental album consisting of three tracks. The apocryphal first track has many people suggesting that it is inspired by the events surrounding 9/11, but as the album was released in 1998, this is highly unlikely. Other tracks add to the foreboding the first with ethereal sounds imitating number stations. Moreover, parts of the album feature in the soundtrack for the zombie flick 28 Days Later.

The album is atypical of other GY!BE works, e
ntirely instrumental with huge dollops of mystery and hauntology to bring the listener to an indescribable soundscape.

Whenever I’m feeling a bit meditative, or if I’m trying to sleep on a plane I’ll pop this album on my music player, close my eyes and drift off to another place. I totally recommend this album if you’ve enjoyed any of the Les Joyaux de la Princesse or the albums by Japanese Mono.

 

Advertisement
Comments Off on F#A# Infinity – Godspeed You! Black Emperor [#449]

Album #66 – Amarok – Mike Oldfield

Screen Shot 2014-06-03 at 13.56.10Amarok – Mike Oldfield

Oldfield presents a miasma of sound harking back to the wild days of Ommadawn in this release from 1990.

I remember asking Steph Ormsby to nip to HMV for me to get this on cassette because I was stuck in school and I simply had to have it.  Bless her, she did and I’m eternally grateful to her for doing so.

Without Amarok, the next 2 years would have been difficult expression wise. I could hear how Oldfield had vented frustrations against Branson and Virgin while at the same time marvelling at his musical prowess and wishing I was just as talented.

Of course, I’m not.

Presented as a single sixty minute track, something that was lost by listening to it on cassette, Amarok is a true experiment in your own understanding of musical form. I especially like how the ending just keeps building up and up. Theoretically, you could listen to it on loop for a whole day.  I do, however,  recommend that you listen to it when feeling a bit…eclectic.

These guys did a good job of performing it too:

Comments Off on Album #66 – Amarok – Mike Oldfield

%d bloggers like this: