instrumental / acoustic

There’s an expression in Latin American Spanish language that says “aire de chamamé”, “aire de zamba”, something that could be translated to “inspired by chamamé”, “inspired by zamba”. This expression means that you can’t say exactly that you know what rhythm is being played, it reminds you some specific rhythm, but in a particular way that the musician who is playing it has “absorbed it”. This is the translation that Rafael did, because ‘Inspirações’ is the portuguese word for inspirations. This is the point that Rafael achieved on his solo album: all the songs are like musical photographs that were taken during his travels across the large number of countries in Latin America!

‘Inspirações’ begin with ‘Rio Abaixo’ and ‘Ela’, two musics that could be interpreted as preludes in slow tempo, the first one have inspirations from the rural brazilian music and the second is a zamba (an argentinean rhythm); then we are presented to ‘Nossa Casa’, a chamamé (tradicional argentinean rhythm); ‘Passagem Crioula Nº1, Nº2 and Nº3’ were composed during a latin american tour and show all the influences that he had during this time; ‘Tempo’ is a prelude for the returning of ‘Ela’, but at this time with the presence of Badi Assad; ‘Dançando com ela’ is so interesting, because it starts with a kind of fast milonga (another argentinean rhythm), but then other percussion instruments start to been played and you have a baião (a northeast brazilian rhythm)! ‘Cabreiro’ and ‘Choro pro Motor’ are excellent tributes to the old choro groups of Rio de Janeiro, even more because of the addition of a clarinet and a “pandeiro”! This album finish with a beautiful version of ‘Rio Abaixo’ with a contrabass played by Pedro Macedo and a solo version of ‘Passagem Crioula Nº3’, bringing back a previous material in an intelligent way by adding an instrument in the penultimate music and removing an instrument in the last music.

After traveling through countries like Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and Brazil (of course) it’s natural that Rafael had inspirations from as many different rhythms as milonga, choro, zamba, chamamé, paraguayan polka, baião, rural Brazilian music, choro, and so on! This internalized musical diversity is the key point that makes this album so interesting, because it portrays - in an extremely personal way - the Latin American guitar music, featuring Badi Assad and Pedro Macedo! It's fantastic to see a work like ‘Inspirações’: An album without any kind of prejudice being released in a time when more and more people care about imaginary divisions beetween human beings... something that we use to call borders...

P.S.: If you like to buy the physical CD or any score of this album, just send an e-mail to rafaelcardosoviolao[at]gmail[dot]com.


Glauber

drone / ambient / folk

electronic / ambient/ synthwave

bandcamp

bandcamp

acoustic / folk

post punk

post punk

funeral doom

shoegaze / dreampop

electronic / house / synth

hard rock

math rock / alternative rock / experimental / noise rock / punk

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ambient / folk

Boring Machines

From crushing death metal riffs to calm acoustic guitar fingerpicking, we at Merchants Of Air like ourselves a bit of variation. I don't think that's really a surprise for most of our readers. Throughout the years we have been getting comments about the versatility in genres on this website. It seems like everything is possible here.

But enough about us, let's dive into these 'Standing Waters' by Italian guitarist Maurizio Abate, a soothing blend of folk and ambient with a minimal touch of drone and with a warm, comforting atmosphere. That is pretty much all I need right now. 

The digital version on bandcamp opens with a track titled 'Teaser Track' while 'Odonata' opens the physical edition. Shortly after pressing play, on either one of these tracks by the way, I'm imagining a walk over an Italian beach on a warm summer evening while nearby a street musician is playing beautiful, romantic but melancholic tunes on his acoustic guitar. It alternates between blissful folk and mesmerizing ambient soundscapes.

'Shaping The Mud' is my absolute favorite here, an acoustic track that dares to look forward and issues influences from post-rock. It's followed by the lingering 'Nymphs Dance', which feels like a long solo jam session. That musician from the previous paragraph is now carefully experimenting, testing melodies and plucking techniques. I like that. Halfway through the track I'm already doubting if this should be my favorite instead of the previous track.

But I guess that doesn't matter. All that matters is that this album is filled with acoustic guitar goodness. 'Pond Mood' is another one of those inspiring pieces of music, one with an immersive sound and a nostalgic atmosphere. 'Standing/Crumbling' is yours to discover, dear reader, and I urge you to try it out. This is a beautiful album, one that digs right into the essence of music and right into your soul. 


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death metal

punk / hardcore

sludge metal / noise rock

death metal

death metal

post rock / post metal

alternative rock

electronic / alternative / experimental / trip hop

indie / alternative rock

post rock

black metal / "funeral grunge"

black metal

sludge metal / doom / krautrock

ambient / experimental / noise

Serge

acoustic / folk

Now here is something different, apparently coming right out of the French black metal scene but nothing to do with black metal whatsoever. To make it easier for myself, I categorized this album under "folk" and "acoustic" but there is so much more to this than being another folk album.

When you look at the influences, you might understand. Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Brian Eno but also Sunn O))), Ulver and Pink Floyd are in there and in a way you can hear all of them, be it in an acoustic setting. So don't expect any bombast or intense riffing. Expect to dwell in awesome acoustic music.

Spectrale is the brainchild of Jeff Grimal, musician and artist. For this project, he chose for acoustic and esoteric exploration. Acoustic guitars, cello and drums make up most of the music and often some shamanic vocals appear as well. I can't help but think of acts like Barn Owl but Spectrale seems to handle things differently. They balance on the edge between folk, ambient and progressive rock music with an immersive and hypnotic sound. Hell, even Anathema comes to mind at times.

In the end, the album will probably fit in best between your ritual ambient albums but I can just as well see these guys play at a festival like Desertfest. The whole thing is simply a thrilling and exciting musical journey. I'm not going into a song by song description but I can tell you that tracks like 'Andromede' and 'Landing' are masterfully crafted pieces of music and they are far from the only ones on this album. Check it out, it's different but it's also a very welcome addition to your collection.


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