Harp Mix Tape II

This week's playlist starts with some rock and ends with some chamber pop and dreaminess. To purchase the albums heard here, click on any of the links in the notes below.  To hear this playlist on BNDCMPR where you can purchase the individual song, head to Harp Mix Tape II. 

Maobi is a rock band with a harp and live painting hailing from Angoulême, France. It's kind of proggy and makes good use of pedal slides The singer really reminds me of someone and I just can't quite place it! Who does he sound like? So frustrating. This album is called The Fire Within.

Next is Kaukaisu from Helsinki, Finland. It is throat singing and harp and bells. And eggbeaters? Ok! Laiva is on the album Käsky ja Hyräily.

Track 3 is by Descofar from the album Krai.  Also from France, this is a band that that uses two electric harps, percussion, and electronics. Or as they describe it: it’s like O’Carolan fell into a cauldron of LSD and loved it." It's kind of like celtic heavy metal?

Then we have a little bit of nostalgia in the form of The Definite Articles, whose album King Merriweather is an orchestral rock masterpiece, and reminds me of The Decemberists. But with the welcome addition of a harp.

Track 5 is from rbke who plays self-described chamber pop, with some lovely vocals. The whole album whim is pretty nice.

Wrapping things up, we have Sarita Idaliea with some great layered shoegaze-y harmonies and harp and a bit of crunchy guitar. It's a nice little two song release - I had trouble deciding which track to put in the playlist. It's called Transfiguration. So dreamy.

Harp Mix Tape I

 

This week's mix is a lot of shimmery vocals over shimmery harp, and finishes up with a bit of noise.  To purchase the albums heard here, click on any of the links in the notes below.  To hear this playlist on BNDCMPR where you can purchase the individual song, head to Harp Mix Tape I.

First up is Goldmyth with track 5 from the album Faded Dream.  Goldmyth is an artist from Provo, Utah who plays indie pop harp with loops and warbly electronics and breathy vocals. It reminds me a bit of Beach House.

Next is Sarah Nichols with Tourbillon off the album Midnight Muse. Reverbed, layered harp and spoken word from a world-traveler.

The third track is Réalta by Belfast artist Úna Monaghan from the album For.  I'm a sucker for chalk-writing-on-blackboard sound effects added to electroacoustic music, especially when backed up by harp. (I'm looking at you Andreas Vollenweider.)

Then we have Danielle Taylor with It's Not as Simple As Just Leaving from Why Are We Surprised When Seasons Change? This track is lovely experimental, layered, and scintillating harp with vocals. The album is a mix of that and straight up solo harp.

Fifth in the playlist is maria, maria by interdimensional friends from the album Volcano. The only note on this album is "headphones be careful". Ha! It's experimental noise with harp. Yes, please and thank you. 

Last up we have Masal bringing us Sunday, Hope Lost from the album of the same name. A Turkish harpist and British(?) theramin..ist? make noisy electronic harp loops with a modular flavor. Again, yessss. I found the callback loops in this particular song made me smile towards the end. 

 Thanks for listening.