Search results: Totem

Review: The White Arcades ranks amongst one of Harold Budd's best loved solo works. The ambient pioneer and celebrated pianist is of course well known for his work with the likes of Brian Eno, but this 1988 album demonstrates how clear-sighted his approach became when he was recording on his own. There's a pristine quality to this kind of ambience which allows it to sink into any number of settings, but it's far from banal. The subtlety of Budd's composition and performance as the piano and synth lines enmesh is a marvel to behold, suggesting half-hidden mysteries waiting to be solved, but only when the time is right. If there was ever music to soothe a troubled mind, this would be it.

Review: Dialogo Records continues to explore the vast back catalogue of Italian soundtrack and library music specialist Piero Umiliani, a composer famed for combining his love of jazz with all manner of global musical styles. First issued on his own Omicron label in 1975, Polinesia saw Umiliani and his band of talented session musicians give their updated, mid-1970s take on the exotica sound first made famous by Martin Denny. It's a hugely evocative and entertaining listen, with Umiliani's compositions making extensive use of lilting pedal steel, sweaty percussion, spacey analogue synthesizers, cheery chants, toe-tapping rhythms, easy listening orchestral arrangements and post-funk grooves. It's quirky and eccentric of course, but also hugely alluring and brilliantly performed.