Shigeru Umebayashi - Yumeji’s Theme (from In the Mood for Love’s Soundtrack)
梅林茂 (born February 19, 1951 in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka) is a famous japanese composer. He began his career as the leader of the Japanese new wave rock band EX. Subsequently, he began composing music for films and television series. He has composed music for more than 40 Japanese and chinese films. His minuet, Yumeji’s Theme, originally composed for the 1991 Seijun Suzuki film Yumeji, was used by acclaimed director Kar Wai Wong in his 2000 film, In the Mood for Love, and Umebayashi was subsequently commissioned by Wong to write the score for the film’s 2004 sequel, 2046. He also composed the musical scores for two wuxia films by Zhang Yimou, the Oscar-nominated 2004 film, House of Flying Daggers and the 2006 film, The Curse of the Golden Flower.
Sébastien Tellier - La Ritournelle
Sébastien Tellier (born 1975, Paris) is a French singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is currently signed to Record Makers, a French independent record label. He sings in English, French and Italian.Tellier’s first album, L’incroyable Vérité (The Incredible Truth), was released in 2001. Tellier went on tour with Air in support of the album. L’incroyable Vérité is a pop album featuring styles from lo-fi electronica to bizarre cabaret tunes. Tellier followed L’incroyable Vérité with his second studio album Politics (2005). A particularly popular song from Politics was “La Ritournelle”, a string-led tune, which featured Nigerian drummer, Tony Allen of Fela Kuti fame. His third studio album Sexuality was produced by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk. Tellier used a single term as title and theme of the album. Tellier’s label Record Makers collaborated with retailer American Apparel for an exclusive three month pre-release of the album, whilst American Apparel sold limited edition versions of the Sexuality CD, LP and “Divine” 7” and 12” single through their North American stores and website. His latest album, My God is Blue, came out on April 23rd.
Classic.
M83 - Moonchild (from Before The Dawn Heals Us)
M83 is the electronic music project of the French artist Anthony Gonzalez. He and former member Nicolas Fromageau founded the group in 2001 in Antibes, France. M83’s style owes a lot to the shoegaze genre, in that there is much emphasis on tonality, extensive use of reverb effects and often softly-spoken lyrics at times submerged in instrumentation. M83 was named after the spiral galaxy “Messier 83”. M83 has released the following albums: M83 in 2001, Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts in 2003, Before The Dawn Heals Us in 2005, Digital Shades Vol. 1 in 2007, Saturdays = Youth in 2008 and Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming in 2011. The double album “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming” was released on 17th October 2011, through Naïve, produced by Justin Meldal-Johnson (Beck, NIN, The Mars Volta, Goldfrapp) and including contributions from Zola Jesus, Brad Laner (from 90’s band Medicine) on guitar, and ‘Saturdays = Youth’ vocalist Morgan Kibby. The album was preceded by the track Midnight City” released in July.
Wolf Parade - You Are A Runner And I Am My Father’s Son
Wolf Parade is an indie rock band from Victoria, British Columbia, based in Montreal, QC, and currently on indefinite hiatus. Wolf Parade was formed when Spencer Krug (also Sunset Rubdown, Frog Eyes, Moonface and Swan Lake) was offered a gig supporting Arcade Fire. He called Dan Boeckner (formerly of notable B.C. band Atlas Strategic, now also part of Handsome Furs) and they wrote songs with a drum machine before calling Arlen Thompson to play drums. Hadji Bakara joined in 2004. Dante DeCaro (formerly of Hot Hot Heat and currently of Johnny and the Moon) joined in Summer 2005 as second guitarist and percussionist. Though expected to perform again, the band announced their indefinite hiatus on November 27, 2010.
Boards of Canada - In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country
Boards of Canada (commonly abbreviated BoC) are a Scottish electronic music duo consisting of brothers Mike Sandison (born June 1, 1970) and Marcus Eoin (born July 21, 1971). Boards of Canada’s music is reminiscent of the warm, analogue sounds of 1970s media and contains themes of childhood, nostalgia and the natural world. Mike and Marcus have mentioned the documentary films of the National Film Board of Canada, from which the group’s name is derived, as a source of inspiration. Their earliest recording that is commercially available now is 1995’s Twoism, which was re-released in 2002 by Warp. Initially another limited release, it was sent to Skam Records, who were impressed enough to sign the brothers and release another EP. This was followed in 1998 by their breakthrough album, Music Has The Right To Children. A masterpiece of ambient IDM, it brought them widespread acclaim from music critics and instantly made them stars of electronic music (although Boards of Canada very rarely give interviews or perform live). After a couple more EPs, their second full-length was released in 2002. Geogaddiwas again widely praised, although it was not considered to be quite as good as Music Has The Right To Children. Third album The Campfire Headphase (2005) saw a slightly different style, with more conventional structures and the inclusion of real instruments. It received mostly positive reviews, but some reviewers were disappointed with the new sound. Nevertheless, Boards of Canada are still very well regarded by fans of experimental electronic music, and their fourth album is highly anticipated.
M83 - In The Cold I’m Standing (from Before The Dawn Heals Us)
M83 is the electronic music project of the French artist Anthony Gonzalez. He and former member Nicolas Fromageau founded the group in 2001 in Antibes, France. M83’s style owes a lot to the shoegaze genre, in that there is much emphasis on tonality, extensive use of reverb effects and often softly-spoken lyrics at times submerged in instrumentation. M83 was named after the spiral galaxy “Messier 83”. M83 has released the following albums: M83 in 2001, Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts in 2003, Before The Dawn Heals Us in 2005, Digital Shades Vol. 1 in 2007, Saturdays = Youth in 2008 and Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming in 2011. The double album “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming” was released on 17th October 2011, through Naïve, produced by Justin Meldal-Johnson (Beck, NIN, The Mars Volta, Goldfrapp) and including contributions from Zola Jesus, Brad Laner (from 90’s band Medicine) on guitar, and ‘Saturdays = Youth’ vocalist Morgan Kibby. The album was preceded by the track Midnight City” released in July.
Kronos Quartet - Mishima/Closing (from Kronos Quartet Performs Philip Glass)
Kronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in 1973. Since 1978, the quartet has been based in San Francisco, California. The longest-running combination of performers (1978–1999) had Harrington and John Sherba on violin, Hank Dutt onv iola and Joan Jeanrenaud on cello. Jennifer Culp replaced Jeanrenaud on cello in 1999. Jeffrey Zeigler replaced Culp on cello in 2005. Kronos specializes in new music and has a long history of commissioning new works. In fact, over 600 works have been created for the Kronos Quartet. They have worked with many minimalist composers including Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley and Kevin Volans.
Sébastien Tellier - Russian Attractions (from My God is Blue)
Sébastien Tellier (born 1975, Paris) is a French singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is currently signed to Record Makers, a French independent record label. He sings in English, French and Italian.Tellier’s first album, L’incroyable Vérité (The Incredible Truth), was released in 2001. Tellier went on tour with Air in support of the album. L’incroyable Vérité is a pop album featuring styles from lo-fi electronica to bizarre cabaret tunes. Tellier followed L’incroyable Vérité with his second studio album Politics (2005). A particularly popular song from Politics was “La Ritournelle”, a string-led tune, which featured Nigerian drummer, Tony Allen of Fela Kuti fame. His third studio album Sexuality was produced by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk. Tellier used a single term as title and theme of the album. Tellier’s label Record Makers collaborated with retailer American Apparel for an exclusive three month pre-release of the album, whilst American Apparel sold limited edition versions of the Sexuality CD, LP and “Divine” 7” and 12” single through their North American stores and website. His latest album, My God is Blue, came out on April 23rd.
Aphex Twin - Matchsticks (from Selected Ambient Works Volume II)
Aphex Twin, born Richard David James, August 18, 1971, in Limerick, Ireland to Welsh parents Lorna and Derek James, is an electronic music artist. He grew up in Cornwall, United Kingdom and started producing music around the age of 12. Richard has been hailed as “the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music”, with his works ranging from ambient pieces to acid techno. Quoted in Mixmag Richard said ” I just love electronics and music and putting the two together just came naturally. I did electronics in college. Electronic music is just so lush basically I love messing with acid, jungle, and playing it out to my mates in a night club. Get out there and dance. Let’s have it! If anyone’s coming to my shows I just want everybody to just dance and have a laugh basically.” In 1991 Aphex formed the Rephlex record label with his friend Grant Wilson-Claridge. Signed artists include Mike Paradinas (aka µ-Ziq) and Squarepusher. He’s also known as: AFX, Blue Calx, Bradley Strider, Caustic Window, The Dice Man, GAK, Polygon Window, Power-Pill, Q-Chastic, Soit-P.P., Rich in Mike & Rich, Martin Tressider in Universal Indicator…
College - Teenage Color
David Grellier is a French electronica musician and founder of the musical projects College (2005) and Valerie (2007). College, in Grellier’s words, was an attempt “to synthesize into my music the emotions of my childhood” and was greatly influenced by American 1980s pop-culture, “80’s soaps and an aesthetic which I particularly like: color, images, silvery films and the sun – images of Los Angeles and all of the other cities that […] continue to fascinate me.” In an interview to magazine Tsugi, David Grellier said he was influenced by “nostalgic music”, by the band Daft Punk, and artists like Alan Braxe, Fred Falke, Lifelike, Jacques Lu Cont (Stuart Price), Nicolas Makelberge, DJ Falcon, John Carpenter and others.
Múm - The Land Between Solar Systems (from Finally We Are No One)
It’s an enchanted world that Múm inhabit. Conceived in a remote Icelandic lighthouse, Finally We Are No One is an electronica album that conjures up hazy, half-remembered memories of childhood, both magical and eerie. The obvious comparisons are with Boards of Canada and Múm’s compatriot, Björk. But as with their superb 2000 debut, Yesterday Was Dramatic, Today Is OK, Múm make a music that’s far too original to be easily compartmentalized. So analog keyboards hum alongside muted digital glitches, and “proper” instruments—accordions, cellos, melodicas—flutter in and out of the mix. The overall effect is of a modern kind of folk music. It’s gentle, almost-fey stuff, but the quartet (including twin sisters who appeared on the cover of Belle & Sebastian’s Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant) never slips into anything like polite ambience. Instead, the 11 pieces are like extracts from a particularly vivid dream journal, especially when the Valtýsdóttir sisters sing in their peculiar gurgling, infantilized way in the epically unfurling lullaby, “The Land Between Solar Systems.” This is an album that leaves you longing for shady childhood experiences you never knew you’d even had. —John Mulvey
Boards of Canada - Everything You Do Is A Balloon (from Boc Maxima)
Boards of Canada (commonly abbreviated BoC) are a Scottish electronic music duo consisting of brothers Mike Sandison (born June 1, 1970) and Marcus Eoin (born July 21, 1971). Boards of Canada’s music is reminiscent of the warm, analogue sounds of 1970s media and contains themes of childhood, nostalgia and the natural world. Mike and Marcus have mentioned the documentary films of the National Film Board of Canada, from which the group’s name is derived, as a source of inspiration. Their earliest recording that is commercially available now is 1995’s Twoism, which was re-released in 2002 by Warp. Initially another limited release, it was sent to Skam Records, who were impressed enough to sign the brothers and release another EP. This was followed in 1998 by their breakthrough album, Music Has The Right To Children. A masterpiece of ambient IDM, it brought them widespread acclaim from music critics and instantly made them stars of electronic music (although Boards of Canada very rarely give interviews or perform live). After a couple more EPs, their second full-length was released in 2002. Geogaddi was again widely praised, although it was not considered to be quite as good as Music Has The Right To Children. Third album The Campfire Headphase (2005) saw a slightly different style, with more conventional structures and the inclusion of real instruments. It received mostly positive reviews, but some reviewers were disappointed with the new sound. Nevertheless, Boards of Canada are still very well regarded by fans of experimental electronic music, and their fourth album is highly anticipated.
Pantha Du Prince - Saturn Strobe
Hendrik Weber, better known as Pantha du Prince is a German electronic music producer and DJ affiliated with Hamburg’s Dial music label. His music is often characterized by a hypnotic, intricate combination of melodic chimes and dark, heavy techno beats, but does not confine itself to a single sound or strain of minimal techno. He made his debut as Pantha du Prince with a four-track 12” release, Nowhere (2002), followed a couple years later by a full-length CD/double LP, Diamond Daze (2004). The album garnered considerable acclaim, with some critics gleefully pointing out Weber’s affinity for late-’80s British shoegaze bands such as Slowdive, Moose, Ride, and My Bloody Valentine. His affinity for Detroit techno (à la Carl Craig) and minimal techno (Chain Reaction) was evident as well. Weber released his second Pantha du Prince full-length, This Bliss (2007), which again garnered considerable acclaim. In 2010, he switched labels to Rough Trade Records before releasing his third album Black Noise.
Brian Eno on Creating Music and Art As Imaginary Landscapes (1989)
In Imaginary Landscapes, documentarians Duncan Ward and Gabriella Cardazzo paint an impressionistic video portrait of Brian Eno: record producer, visual artist, collaborator with the likes of U2 and David Bowie, ambient music-inventing musician, self-proclaimed “synthesist,” early member of Roxy Music, and co-creator of the Oblique Strategies. Even if you’ve never handled an actual deck of Oblique Strategies cards — and few have — you’ve surely heard one or two of the Strategies themselves in the air: “Honor thy error as a hidden intention.” “The most important thing is the most easily forgotten.” “Do something boring.” The idea is to draw a card and follow its edict whenever you hit a creative block. This should, in theory, get you around the block, no matter what you’re trying to create. Eno first published the Oblique Strategies with painter Peter Schmidt in 1975, and here in Imaginary Landscapes, fourteen years later, you can hear him still excited about the cards’ basic premise: if you follow arbitrary rules and theoretical positions, they’ll lead you to creative decisions you never would have otherwise made.
This short documentary combines interviews of Eno with footage of him crafting sounds in his studio, simulating the echoes of a cave, say, then turning that cave into a liquid. It weaves these segments together with a trip through American cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York, then back to the Woodbridge, Suffolk of Eno’s youth, then on to Venice, one of the world’s places that draws him irresistibly with its wateriness. Place itself emerges as one of Eno’s driving concepts, not simply as a source of inspiration (though it seems to work that way for his video Mistaken Memories of Medieval Manhattan), but as a form. When Eno talks about making albums, or images, or installations, he talks about them as places for audiences to exist. In any physical place, you’re presented with a certain set of choices. You can’t always tell the deliberately designed elements from the “natural” ones, and having a rich experience demands that you actively use your own awareness. This, so Eno explains, guides how he builds “places” — imaginary landscapes, if you will — for listeners, gallerygoers, recording artists, or himself, trying to open up “the spaces between categories” and “make use of the watcher’s brain as part of the process.” Look into his more recent projects, like his iPhone apps or his collaborations with bands like Coldplay or his touring exhibition 77 Million Paintings, and you’ll find him building them still.
Hello. I'm Kevin. I'm French and I currently live in Montreal where I study Business and Environmental Science at Concordia University. You'll find here some of the things that I read and find interesting. 
