Harp Mix Tape IV

A bit shorter playlist this week. It's basically just a bunch of my favorites I tried to figure out how to smoosh together. 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 songs, head to Harp Mix Tape IV.  And hey, this Friday is Bandcamp Friday!

Emily Hopkins starts us out with little experiments of reverbed noise and slightly distorted harp, that I would love to hear fleshed out. It was really, really hard to pick just one track. You can hear the rest on Time Shadows.

Follwing that is hip-hop with some great harp, from Paul Chin's album Love Letters. It really does the names justice, both the album and the track. I can imagine this as a background to a misty evening stroll through the park to meet up with that special (new?) someone at the movies.

Next is a single + remix from Moon Paw Print called Fate Brought Us Here. It's self-tagged as hip-hop, but I'd put it more in the chillwave or lo-fi category. At least the first track.

Kris Keogh is the next artist. This album is on the label New Weird Australia and is titled Processed Harp Works Vol 1. It basically does what it says on the tin. There are crackly audible edits. I almost wrote edible edits. You can definitely sink your teeth into these.

And we have more beats from Yomi (featuring Blake Davis) mixed with indie pop on Selenite.

Last, but certainly not least, Olga Glazova plays a Gusli, which is described as a Russian harp. This is so, so pretty and has been on repeat for me for weeks. The album is called Six Days of Spring.

Harp Mix Tape III

Sometimes you need music that meshes with what's going on in your head and changes it slightly. My brain has been noisy, and I just needed to add some beautiful dissonance to it this week. 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 songs, head to Harp Mix Tape III.  

Raon / Figueiredo / Hasselberg is a trio that sensibly named themselves after themselves. They play experimental improv with piano, bass, and harp and a bit of processing. In this track, the harp comes in halfway through. The album is called This is What Will Be.

Scott Crawford Morrison "takes fragments of counterpoint by Giovanni da Palestrina (1525 - 1594) and uses these as the basis of new arrangements for alto saxophone and electronics, and lever-harp and electronics." This has an almost music box quality, but maybe the sound is drifting in from the next room. The album is simply called Pale.

Rafael Toral is a Portugese composer. The album Constellation in Still Time is spare experimental music with harp. vibraphone, and computer sine waves.

rough-ah plays acoustic and electric harp, adds field recordings, and then digitally and analog.. ally? processes it. This has some absolutely lovely dissonance and distortion that scratches my itchy brain. Another simple album title: bare.

Duo Harpverk is an Icelandic duo that plays experimental harp and percussion. I always forget that percussion includes marimba. It's a neat combo. The Greenhouse Sessions

L'abri + EVELINE combine harp and field recordings, but this track kind of starts with a Holst's The Planets-like  chorus. so it sounds like it could be here on earth, but maybe it's really out in space. Rêves en cours is the album.

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.