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PEOPLE, WORKS & STUFF I LOVE, LIKE, ADMIRE,
AM INSPIRED BY AND WISH TO SHARE
- in no particular order -
Full list (scroll down to discover more)
Metro Awakening - Anne-Kathrin Dern - The Singing Pipes
Die Antword
Stray
Georg Friedrich Haas
SmallWhiteMonster
Arcane
Levi McClain
Ben Nobuto
Matouš Hlaváč
Black Books
Cristobal Tapia de Veer - SMILE
Heilung
Tarkus - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Suffering
Karl Pilkington
Metro Awakening - Anne-Kathrin Dern - The Singing Pipes
Absolutely mesmerizing track using melody of a traditional Russian lullaby, sung by Anne herself.
I love the Metro series (and played the heck out of it), unforunetaly the Metro Awakening is VR only (sor now at least?).
Fun fact: the same haunting melody was used in the song Darkling by Die Antwoord.
"You reap what you sow, Artyom. Force answers force, war breeds war, and death only brings death.
To break this vicious circle one must do more than just act without any thought or doubt."
- Khan -
Die Antwoord (personal song choice: Strunk)
I'm always coming back to them - can't ever get tired of the wackines, unapologetic aesthetics and creativity.
If you don't mind strong laguage, I recommend!
"They said that I'm weird, that I'm ugly, and that I suck; I knew that one day all of those kids would grow up to be boring as fuck."
- Yolandi Visser -
Stray (personal OST track choice: Dead City)
It's these types of games I like to see: an adventure of a cute but capable cat in stunning sci-fi atmosphere.
And wow, the MUSIC (Yann van der Cruyssen) rocks!
"Humans often said that making art is important in desperate situations. These are certainly desperate times."
- B-12 -
Georg Friedrich Haas
(personal choice: Limited Approximations – Konzert (2010) for 6 micro-tonally tuned pianos and orchestra)
A gem of a contemporary composer, truly. Razor-sharp but also watercolor-like spilling soundscapes. Harmonic series, overtones,
massive instrumentation... Both verbally and musically outspoken activist and opponent of authoritarianism.
Lovely person married to the lovely Mollena Williams-Haas, an American writer, BDSM educator, actress,
and former International Ms. Leather! The Artist & The Pervert
"What you perceive is not the fact that they desired men, but the sadness about the impossibility to make love a reality.
And I think that has been part of my music. The fundamental pessimism.
You never will get what you want because it's not possible to get it. That is how my life has changed so intensely."
- Georg Friedrich Haas -
It was a love on first sight. Please go check this visual artist's YouTube as well as their page - I'm already a proud owner
of one of her prints and... well now I want them all!
"My work explores the juxtaposition between the ordinary and the surreal, through empty landscapes, strange dreamscapes, and psychologically fuelled narratives. I aim to evoke a feeling that is difficult to define: a subtle blend of nostalgia, unease, and childlike wonder."
- SmallWhiteMonster -
Arcane (personal song choice: To Ashes And Blood)
Honestly, it took me three attempts to stop complaining about the animation style and songs with lyrics disrupting me from dialogue – and I got ABSOLUTELY ADDICTED to the show. As probably with many people, it was gut wrenching for me and I can’t watch it again (at least not yet) – heavy stuff (it’s no secret I cry even from watching a wild life documentary). I do occasionally put on the brilliant music - especially to the songs. Both the masterful orchestral/hybrid underscore of Alex Temple, Andrew Kierszenbaum (and probably others) and the legendary songwriting of Mako (Alex Seaver) and brilliant choices of performers (Sting, Ray Chen, Bea Miller, Denzel Curry, Bones UK and many others) make this my top one TV series soundtrack.
"You can’t just give people enough to survive, you have to give them enough to live"
- Ekko -
Levi McClain (personal choice: The Music Avatar was Supposed to Have)
Extremely valuable and engaging videos about tuning systems, micro-tonality, math in music and other fascinating things. What a guy!
"How does one square a system that on one hand seems to be so immaculate in melody
but on the other so unimaginably abrasive in harmony?
The seventeen tone puzzle is the reconciliation of harmony
and melody within the same xenharmonic tuning system."
- Levi McClain -
Ben Nobuto (personal choice: Hope Spiral)
Ben is a bubbling composer whose music got my attention with its unapologetic playfulness, tactility, clever use of electronics and instrumentation. It feels like fireworks, sometimes faded on an old tape, sometimes transforming into a dandelion clock and then into a shower of rainbow candy.
Ben also shares the sheet music on his YouTube account so nerds like me can enjoy the music with the score on screen. What a legend!
"I think sampling is a bit like folk art. Like when children make collages at school,
cutting up newspapers and creating something new. It’s simple, childlike:
you gather little objects from everywhere and create something out of them.
It feels very intuitive to me. I like using sounds that carry cultural meanings,
sounds that can be interpreted differently depending on the listener."
- Ben Nobuto -
His creations hit me in an unexpected place deep within. Matouš is a young Czech painter and I can't express how much his work leaves me in awe. He is also developing a video game with hand-drawn graphics and contributing to the noise muisc scene.
It was my dear brother Radek who introduced me to this gem as part of teaching me the english language.
Oh boy, what a move - I was really barely grasping the basics back then - but still, brilliant show. Rewatched it so many times I lost track. Staring the amazing Dylan Moran, Tamsin Greig and Bill Bailey.
"I'll just have to hope when I flip the coin it somehow explodes and kills me."
- Bernard Black -
Cristobal Tapia de Veer - SMILE
As someone deeply interested in horror music and searching for something that's rather rebelious and unapologetically marches to the beat of its own drum, I'm always delighted when I find such horror score. And dear oh dear, did Cristobal Tapia de Veer fricking deliver. The palette leans heavily into sounds which are extremely raw, yet the production is of a sniper's precission. The best I can describe it is that it feels like the music is scraping against my own exposed bones (weird thing to enjoy I know).
"After our meeting, I started experimenting. Early on, I discovered this unique instrument, the daxophone, which became the main voice of the score. It’s a bowed wooden instrument that creates these eerie, human-like sounds. I had to order it specially from a luthier, and while waiting for it to arrive, I watched YouTube videos and imagined how I would play it. When I finally got it, I started recording immediately. The very first recordings I made ended up in the film."
- Cristobal Tapia de Veer -
Free Run Artist
“Making People Uncomfortable is My Job” – Cristobal Tapia de Veer on Scoring Smile
Interview with Cristobal Tapia de Veer Conducted by Michiel Marsman
Seeing Heilung in Prague (Czech Republic) definitely counts as one of the personally strongest live show experiences. The whole performance felt like an opera - from the music, choreography, costumes, props, all the way to the pacing and keeping the character during the breaks between individual pieces - everything was proudly screaming deliberation, intentionality, clear and strong artistic vision. And if you enjoy Heilung, you'll probably enjoy Wardruna as well.
"Remember, that we all are brothers
All people, beasts, trees and stone and wind
We all descend from the one great being
That was always there
Before people lived and named it
Before the first seed sprouted"
- Heilung, "Opening Ceremony" -
Tarkus - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Virtuosic yet honest, technical yet emotional, a storm yet it hugs. I remember trying forever to learn some of those passages on my tenor sax . Amazing piece of anti-war art. Just go experience it, seriously.
"Clear the battlefield and let me see
All the profit from our victory
You talk of freedom, starving children fall
Are you deaf when you hear the season's call?"
- Battlefield, Lake -
Probably the most impactful game in my life. Even though I was too young (and my English was almost non-existent) to really understand all the narrative layers, symbolism and refferences when I played The Suffering for the first time, just the atmosphere, sound design and perfectly orchestrated horror kept me glued to the screen. What a formative experience. Brilliant monster design, rewarding combat, lots of details I always appreciated in this game - from idle animations, through memorable voice acting, karma system, monster animations all the way to iconic characters like Hermes, Horace, Dr. Killjoy... Revisiting the game recently I can say it's not just nostalgia, it still holds up so damn well. Abbot State Penitentiary on Carnate Island awaits.
"It is the work that I do that makes me worthy of their attention, of their gazing eyes,
that makes me a star of unprecedented proportions.
My labors show sides of the human mind hitherto unseen, revealing that which makes us do right and wrong.
Don't you wonder about that, what makes you do right and wrong?"
- Dr. Killjoy -
XFM Radio, An Idiot Abroad... There is probably no comprehensive way to explain Karl and the way he fascinates so many people. His serious ramblings somehow keep brewing up the most chestbursting humour. He effortlessly spits out a seemingly infinite barrage of beautifully naive and unhinged opinions about science, nature, humanity and the world in general. The magic happening between Karl, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant is often running in the background while I go about my household chores. Praised be his bald orange head!
I don't like jellyfish, they’re not a fish, they're just a blob.
They don’t have eyes, fins or scales like a cod.
They float about blind, stinging people in the seas,
And no one eats jellyfish with chips and mushy peas.
Get rid of 'em!
- Karl Pilkington-