Evergreen Listening Post 368. Darwin believed love songs began as a primeval mating ritual and Byron heard melody in the roar of the deep sea. Romance and nature are the oldest tropes in music and also the newest; every song on these themes we hear today connects us...
The Persistence of Harmony Listening Post 354. Einstein, Dalí and Descartes walk into a bar… No, this isn’t the full story of Blaumut’s fifth album but it suggests the ambition, gravity and splendor of the 10 songs that peruse the relative positions of heavenly and...
Roots & Wings Listening Post 301. Nakany Kanté’s third album evokes a place where disparate cultures and experiences harmonize, each home displays artifacts reflecting the owner’s origins and precious pieces acquired on journeys of discovery, and each soul is...
Amadeus Goes to Sea Listening Post 277. They are zany, surreal and buoyant, bathtub mariners and virtuosos who sweep through a composition like a storm, leaving behind a perfect mosaic of disparate elements. Five guys from Barcelona who have never gone to sea, El Pony...
On Balance Listening Post 135. In principle, a picture may be worth a thousand words, but in artful hands the ratio can change. Take, for example, Jack Vettriano’s painting The Singing Butler—showing an elegant couple, under servant-held umbrellas, dancing on a...
Into the Woods Listening Post 9. El Primer Arbre del Bosc (The First Tree of the Forest) is a five-star stew spiced with dollops of Dalí and a sprinkling of Sgt. Pepper. With floating images and surrealist flair, the Catalan band Blaumut takes listeners on a giddy...
