Olekksii-Iris review

When I first stumbled across Olekksii on the Fluttery Records website, I thought the name sounded familiar.  Indeed, this is the last name of a Ukrainian artist known as Endless Melancholy, only his last name is spelled with a single 'k'. 

The artist Olekksii is Alexey Krolevets.  Like Endless Melancholy, he is from Kiev, Ukraine.  Olekksii specializes in electronica, but his music can appeal to fans more diverse than the typical electronic music lover.  His new full-length album, "Iris" is an abbreviated eight-track album rich in classic electronic beats, smooth, atmospheric reverb, and piano.

This music is multi-layered.  While ambiance plays a crucial role in developing the dreary aspects of these tunes, it is sole focal point.  Olekksii builds upon that template with recognizable electronic beats, which provide tempo and depth the music.  Another key element of the mix is the piano.  Simple, catchy piano melodies play a thoughtful juxtaposition with the electronic beats, while various string arrangements cast rays of beauty into the mix.

"Iris" would be a strong modern classical performance without the electronics.  With those beats mixed in, it reflects on some latter film pieces.  These arrangements of multiple cellos and violins instead call to mind true classical music.  These arrangements are deep enough to sound cutting-edge and modern, but paced more like contemporary. 

The length of tracks does often matter to me.  As I said in yesterday's post about Funeral for a Friend's new disc, short tracks can lead to less variety in musical sound.  This is not the case with "Iris."  Though the average track length is nearly identical to the new FFAF album, the music is strikingly diverse.  This perhaps owes to the absence of vocals and the insistence of contemporary musicians need to create music devoid of catchy hooks or other sounds of repetitive nature.  Indeed, these eight tracks seem to stretch much further. 

This album is still short and I do feel that Olekksii would have been served well by including just one or two additional songs, but this is but a minor complaint. 

Fluttery records claims that this music is for people impressed with works by Olafur Arnalds, Max Richter, and several other lesser-known artists.  Having read this bio before I listened to a single note of the music, they had me at Olafur Arnalds.  Olekksii is indeed similar to Arnalds, and believe me that is a major plus.

I fully recommend purchasing "Iris".  This is a fantastic listen and an inexpensive download.  Check out the full stream, courtesy of the Olekksii bandcamp page below.  Thanks for listening and enjoy!

Free Downloads-Endless Melancholy

Neoclassicism is a sub genre of contemporary music that can evoke countless emotions and produce styles too numerous to quantify.  Since there is no such thing as bad classical music, how on earth can you go wrong with classical music that is offered for free?

Endless Melancholy, otherwise known as Oleksii Sakevych, records minimalist neoclassical piano music that borrows some low-key elements of ambient and rolls it together into one tight package.  This is gorgeous music to be sure.  Even more impressive is the fact that Sakevych is completely self-taught.  Hailing all the way from Kiev, Ukraine, his music is only readily available through his bandcamp page.

He is generous enough to offer all of his recordings as name-your-price downloads.  By listening to his heartfelt piano solos, it is apparent that Endless Melancholy is an artist who makes music solely for the love of music and with little regard for possible fame and wealth. 

All five of the pieces on his new self-released EP, aptly titled "Five Songs" are down tempo minimal piano pieces with light ambient reverb that both preserves melody and encourages contemplation.  Traversing from dark, sad melodies to more upbeat textures, this music manages to hit right where Endless Melancholy was aiming for.  Even if you are not a casual easy-listening and classical fan, you can't help but admire this man's unshakable grasp minimalist neoclassical composition. 

"Five Songs" is a wonderful EP that was recorded in one week.  You can listen to the entire EP below.  Should you feel compelled to download this EP and have the means to do so, please donate a couple of bucks.  Thanks for listening and enjoy!

Rising Shadows-Finis Gloriae Mundi (2010)

Today we are reaching all the way back to 2010.  That was a particularly good year for music as numerous bands put out great new albums.  Somehow lost in the shuffle was an obscure Swedish band called Rising Shadows.

I was fond of this band's previous release, "Found in the Cold".  That was a surprising discovery for me, as I wasn't certain what the genre had in store, let alone the band.  I had been toying around some with this genre before discovering Rising Shadows, but with the genre in question, you really do have to listen to a few songs to get a feel for whether or not you will like it. 

What kind of music exactly does Rising Shadows record?  The easy answer would be neoclassical darkwave, but of course it is never that easy to describe a band.  Rising Shadows performs contemporary music that successfully blends the use of classical instrumentation with more modern approaches to Western classical music.

In addition to the varied instruments, vocals are a minimal mesh of Enya-like singing and alto arias.  This is a welcome addition to the music of Rising Shadows, but one that causes some concern.  These vocals are good, but not great.  When overused, they can become repetitive and boring.  Luckily, these vocals are minimal and less-pronounced. 

It is notable that Rising Shadows, as well as many other bands from this genre, employ the use of archaic percussion, which presents a medieval quality of sound when used in conjunction with the vocals.  This is where the music gets really interesting.  It is very understated and very different than most film scores, not to mention conventional neoclassical music. 

The result of all this innovation and rehashing of ancient techniques is an enjoyable listen that can also serve as a reprieve between listening to classical and more popular styles of music.  Neoclassical darkwave is a genre few bands dare to delve into because it is so risky.  To pull this off, a band has to have a love for music that goes far deeper than simply scanning the radio dial to discover new sounds. 

Rising Shadows is, in my opinion, one of the best neoclassical darkwave bands in existence.  Their melodies are easy to listen to but not so catchy that you find yourself humming it while working.  Indeed it is music you really have to listen to.  In that regard, you are in luck because we have the full stream via Rising Shadows' bandcampe page below.  This is a free download, so if you like it you have nothing to lose.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!

Two Steps from Hell-SkyWorld review

It is no secret that we love film music here at ThinkMuzik.  As I have said numerous times, there is no such thing as bad classical music.  And while film music isn't necessarily classical, the same rule holds true. 

Two Steps from Hell's new public album "Skyworld" is not even film music per se.  There is a little-known genre called 'trailer' music, which is a category "SkyWorld" fits in nicely.  Most tracks are short compared to typical classical pieces and composed specifically for film, television, and video game trailers.

The compositions on "SkyWorld" merge the old with the new, leaving no stone unturned for new ways to make contemporary music fresh and exciting.  These tracks are soaring and epic orchestra pieces that incorporate guitars, horns, cellos, percussion, vocal melodies, and choral performances.  In the world of contemporary music, this album is as eclectic as they come. 

A start-to-finish listen of this album conveys varying emotional and thoughtful reactions from the profound to the somber and everything in between.  Including a track or two here does not do this disc its proper justice.  This album as an incredible and rewarding listening experience.  If you like contemporary and/or film music at all, this record is a must-purchase item.  It is exceptional in every way possible.  It surprises at every turn.  The musical styles and tempos are virtually boundless and each track relates a unique visual and emotional perspective.  The clarity on this disc is outstanding and the production is massive. 

All I can say is that my list for best albums of the year has just become a little more crowded.  This is indeed top-ten worthy and will earn its keep nicely on any film music playlist.  This album is available for purchase at iTunes and Amazon for a decent price.  Don't bat an eye, because this album contains a whopping 22 tracks.  Please enjoy the two tracks I have embedded here, and as always, thanks for reading!!

Randomness: Two Steps from Hell and Hans Zimmer

Amazon means well.  They really do.  Their main intent, of course, is to make money, and make no mistake they are very good at it.  How do they do it.  For starters their website is set up so that it remembers everything you look at.  From there, it matches other music you might not have heard to items you have viewed to introduce you to more music, which you will hopefully buy.  That's the tactic, and it works on me.  Shame to admit, but it does.  Sometimes I use this tactic to find music i might like.  I was looking up the soundtrack to Angels and Demons, and then stumbled upon two items that caught my eye.

The first thing I saw was the shimmering artwork for Two Steps from Hell's"Skyworld".  I listened to some of it and started digging for information regarding this artist.  Two Steps from hell is a music production company from the greater Los Angeles area.  Their focus seems to be primarily making music for film trailers.  Just this year they have released a public album comprised entirely of brand new music.  This music is grand, epic, orchestral music that is basically made for film.  Throw out every preconceived notion of what recorded contemporary music might sound like, because this artists smashes these boundaries with a profound studio effort that will go straight to my collection as soon as possible.

Within the first few bars of "Skyworld"s opening track, my jaw was picking up lint cat hair from the floor.  I highly recommend this music.  Stay tuned for a full album review when I get the chance to listen to the whole disc.  For now, here is Titan Dream.


My second discovery was that the new soundtrack to The Dark Knight Rises has been released.  Hans Zimmer returns to the fray to compose the music for the third new Batman movie, and is impressive as always.  It seems that official full tracks are hard to come by on the Internet, but I did manage to pull this track from YouTube.  I have not checked the track listing on the soundtrack for this, so who knows if this track is part of soundtrack or not.  However, if this is but a taste of what the soundtrack offers, count me in.  Just a few more dollars of mine to Amazon's coffers.  They are so good.  Either I'm terrible or my love for music transcends money.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!

Mono-For my Parents

Consider the line between atmospheric post rock and neoclassical contemporary music blurred.  Japan's Mono have delivered an epic worth the price. 

This is high praise for a band that until a few months ago I had never even heard of.  I happened across a preview track on a blog I regularly visit and was impressed with what I heard, even from such a small sample.  Mono's newest album, For my Parents, was released a week ago, and it has taken me that long to listen to it and offer my thoughts.

Mono successfully blends ambient and atmospheric soundscapes with orchestral majesty in thier new album.  I defy anyone to find a post rock outfit quite like Mono.  Yes, at times Joy Wants Eternity, another band I have raved about, comes close.  Mono is most often compared to post rock stalwarts Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky, but in my opinion they offer generous helpings of delicious melody in forms that the aforementioned bands don't quite replicate.

Listening to this album, I couldn't help thinking that this music was from a film, because it definitely sounds like it could have.  Amid the sweeps of symphony and the reflective, reverb-laden, ambiance the band occaionally introduces harmonic guitar plucking and sparse drum patterns. 

This album ought to be a staple in any worthy post rock CD collection.  I was slightly disappointed to find out that this album only offers up six tracks, but those six tracks amount to nearly a full hour of music.  All you have to do is press play, sit back, relax, and enjoy.  I'll give For my Parents an incredible 4.9/5 stars.  Give it a listen below.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!