Hauschka - Ferndorf
The latest from German pianist Volker Bertelmann. It continues his fascination with prepared piano and Satie-esque compositions. Here is plays alongside cello, violin, and horns in various combinations. Some of the pieces are improvised and some are fully composed, but they are all pretty solid with standouts in Heimat, Neuschnee, and opener Blue Bicycle.
I was initially attracted to the record by the tone, which has a great deal in common thematically with Tin Hat Trio (now just Tin Hat after the departure of a member and the addition of a few others). There's a near film-score quality, which I think comes from the sense of wordless narrative rather than relying on specific film score tropes.



Monkey - Journey to the West
The new project by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, who are the people behind the Gorillaz. Albarn continues to grow his interest in non-European music by writing in pentatonic scale of traditional Chinese folk music.
The music was originally created for an opera directed by Chen Shi-Zheng and you can here it on the record. The pieces tend to be short and can be hard to follow sonically because we don't have the visuals to help us, but the music is fascinating. Mixing electronic music with traditional Chinese vocals turns out to be a great idea. Who had any idea that this is what Albard would be doing after leaving one of the most popular bands in England?