Music

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Space Hotel
Al Gromer Khan
Manufacturer: New Earth Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Kamasutra Experience
Sufi
Music From an Eastern Rosegarden
Tantra Electronica
Tantra Drums

ASIN: B0000009D5
Release Date: 1997-03-17

Tracks:

La Chanson De La Rose
Dance The Hadra
The Wayfarer
Vilayat's Song
Utopia Al-Kahira-Beautiful Future (Hymn To The Unknown Dervish)
Mast Africaine
The Samarkand Run
How Can We B Sure?

Average customer rating:

Godspeed indeed...

Trouble at Jinx Hotel
Molasses
Manufacturer: Alien8 Recording
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Experimental Music | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
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Telegraphs in Negative/Mouths Trapped in Static

ASIN: B0001ZW6QK
Release Date: 2004-06-01

Tracks:

Siren's Song
La La La Amerika
Saint Christopher's Blues
Sign Of Judgment
Lynn Canyon Wedding Song
Coda
You Can't Win
Trouble In Mind
Las Ninas
Miss Peach's Pawnshop/Buffaloed At Wounded Knee/The Weeping Winds/No Love Lost/Songs From The Basement/Lucky Thirteen

Album Description

The fourth album from sprawling Montreal ensemble Molasses features members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Hrsta, Fly Pan Am, Silver Mt. Zion, and Shalabi Effect.

Customer Reviews:

Godspeed indeed..........2007-01-19

The aptly named Molasses project is ultimately the work of singer/songwriter Scott Chernoff, but what reputable Montreal act would be complete without guys like Sam Shalabi and Godspeed's Thierry Amar and Efrim Menuck?

This is the group's fourth album (and "group" here is an understatement, as the Polyphonic Spree barely outnumber them), and this time around they haven't altered the formula -- we're treated to languid, spacy compositions that incorporate elements of folk rock, psychedelia, post-rock, field recordings and even a hint of shoegazing for good measure. Tension is created through the use of low frequencies, distant drones (supposedly emulating Iraqi air-raid sirens), creeping tempos (hence, "aptly named"), Chernoff's whispered vocals and barely audible choirs, occasionally exploding into a riot (i.e. "Coda"'s bleeding amp, the everlasting GY!BE feedback on "Miss Peach's Pawnshop"). The music never really seems to reach its destination, postponing its climax until the last second or simply avoiding it altogether, then whipping it out three tracks later. Again, that's the sort of thing we've come to expect from this camp, but it's still effective, despite the lullaby quality of many of the songs (possibly echoing the tension of world affairs and the leaders who sway them?).

Maybe so. Trouble at Jinx Hotel's lyrics center around the Middle East vs. US troubles, specifically the attacks in New York. Chernoff is careful to avoid too many pointed remarks, but with titles such as "La La La, Amerika", "St. Christopher's Blues", "You Can't Win" and "Sign of Judgment", he pretty much tips his hand.

It's clear that Molasses still has something to say, particularly about peace and war, as told by a prophet on the mount. Do we really need another folk singer? As long as Chernoff has his lush sonic congregation behind him, you can baptize me into his cult any day.

Average customer rating:

Probably His Best, Which Is Saying Quite A Bit
Excellent tranquility
ancient worlds, timelessness, and mystery
boaring
Another haunting night journey from Al Gromer Khan

Space Hotel
Al Gromer Khan
Manufacturer: New Earth Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ambient | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Electronica | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | International | Styles | Music

General | New Age | Styles | Music

Meditation | New Age | Styles | Music

General | New Age | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00000G436
Release Date: 1998-11-24

Tracks:

Chanson de la Rose
Dance the Hadra
Wayfarer
Vilayat's Song
Utopia Al-Kahira (Beautiful Future) (Hymn to the Unknown Dervish)
Mast Africaine
Samarkand Run
How Can We B Sure?

Customer Reviews:

Probably His Best, Which Is Saying Quite A Bit.......2006-03-31

The self-titled "paisley music" of Al Gromer Kahn is a tasty concoction of ethnic instrumentation, Mr. Khan's subtle "electronic sound design," and his understated albeit sensual rhythms. This has been a reliable formula for deep listening over the course of about 18 titles and more than twenty years. "Space Hotel" might be his best, although it's hard to go wrong with almost any selection, and "Sufi" runs a close second (his CDs are my favorite releases on the "New Earth" label.)

On "Space Hotel" the playing is tight, there are surprises like the appearance of viola da gamba on two compositions, and the tracks flow together beautifully. Simply allow yourself to be carried along by the music.

"Space Hotel" is the quintessential CD of "paisley music." Al Gromer Khan constructed an aural tapestry packed with ear candy and a healthy dollop of his sitar and subrahar licks. This is a "multi-layered" CD, and each time I spin "Space Hotel," the CD yields new musical nuances. This is a great CD for headphones, but whether you listen through 'phones or speakers, set aside a time and space to gradually unveil "Space Hotel." This is a magical CD.

Excellent tranquility.......2005-09-26

Gromer Khan excels with space hotel. It is far more superior to Sufi & Kamasutra. Its deeply meditative with its echoing sitars & wind like synthesizers, while the percussion add an element of mystery & dimensional border to it. It must be listened to for appreciation.
It definitely is not for an upbeat mood, it needs some emptiness to fill, to drive away those heavy clouds inside, very plesant indeed.

ancient worlds, timelessness, and mystery.......2002-08-31

I've purchased a number of what I call "ambient" CDs, looking for music that is interesting but mostly quiet and unobtrusive, something you can listen to on endless repeat and not get tired of, while you work for hours at a time. This is one I keep going back to and enjoying again.

It opens up aural spaces that invite mental imagery of sun-baked deserts, central Asian medieval cities, North Africa, Turkey, places that Westerners know only in the imagination. There is an aching melancholy that underlies some cuts, and slow rhythms that suggest the languid movement of camel caravans.

It would be unfair to describe this CD as "mellow," because "mellow" suggests something mindless, and this music is far too intelligent for that. Sound is layered over sound in ways that evoke feelings of ancient worlds, timelessness, and mystery. To my ear, there is not a single musical cliche anywhere in this mix of related but different styles. It's not a CD you'll listen to just once or twice.

boaring.......2002-08-29

Listen to any album by al gromer, there is always one track that he playes his sitar that is usually verey beutiful, but move on to second track and the third and forth and.... it alwayes seemes like he turned the synthesizer on and left the room.depressing boring music.I wish he would forget the synthesizer symphonic sound and play what he playes best. sitar

Another haunting night journey from Al Gromer Khan.......2001-04-09

Al Gromer Khan is a master of Indian-themed music, perfectly blending sitar and vocals in a shimmering tapestry of melody and harmony. I first heard of his work when I bought Mahogany Nights, an older spacemusic album published by Hearts of Space.

This album is much the same style, except with a vocalist on one track instead of a synth "voice." The tracks flow easily into the next, and the melody is carried in waves that soothe and entrance, like watching the smoke from an incense offering in a temple drift lazily towards the ceiling.

The night I listened to this it was warm and humid. I listened to the music as I was working. I left the window open, and I could hear crickets and birds in the darkness, adding their own melody to the sitar, tabla and voices. Then a spring thunderstorm began, and the patter of rain mixed perfectly with the crickets and sitar music.

The effect was amazing. I felt as if I had been transported to another time and place in India. Although I can't guarantee that you too will have the added beauty of crickets and gentle rain when you listen to this CD, it is still an amazing collection of Indian music that is perfect to read to, study to, or relax to.

Music:

Music