Let them wash over you

Galàs recently ended a five-year recording hiatus by releasing two double-CD sets, "Defixiones: Will and Testament" and "La Serpenta Canta," both on Mute Records. "Defixiones" is a mass of sorts, in remembrance of the Greek, Armenian and Assyrian genocides that occurred between 1914 and 1923, sung in six different languages. "La Serpenta Canta" is a collection of live recordings of Galàs doing covers of well-known songs, from John Lee Hooker's "Burning Hell" to Holland/Dozier/Holland's "My World Is Empty Without You."

This week, we have two exclusive Diamanda Galàs downloads, one from each record. From "Defixiones" comes "Hastayim Yasiyorum," composed in Turkish by the great Armenian oudist Udi Hrant. And from "La Serpenta Canta" is Galàs' harrowing version of Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." These downloads are available courtesy of Mute Records. Salon Exclusive free downloads: "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and "Hastayim Yasiyorum"

"The River" and "Blaue Fäden," März, from "Wir Sind Hier"
I know next to nothing about März, except that they're a German duo of Ekkehard Ellers and Albrechte Kunze, and that their music mixes electronics, samples and acoustic instruments, with a good deal of ambiguity as to which is which. But this is some of the most beautiful, uncomplicatedly pleasurable, just-lie-back-and-let-it-wash-over-you music I've heard in quite a while. "The River" is a simple song that makes going swimming sound like the solution to all life's woes, while "Blaue Fäden" is music for dancing to -- specifically dancing inside your head, or in a dream. I found these tracks through the blog of Philip Sherburne, a music writer (and frequent critic of this column), who accurately pins the emotion in this music as "a simultaneous rush of melancholy and promise." Free downloads: "The River" and "Blaue Fäden"

"Be Kind," Devendra Banhart, from "Niño Rojo"
I wrote about Devendra Banhart in this column five months ago, and he's already back with another record. The 16 tracks on "Niño Rojo" are from the same session that produced his last record, "Rejoicing in the Hands," and they're every bit as good -- not B-sides or outtakes, but a proper Vol. 2. For the most part, these songs are just Banhart's hugely expressive voice, his acoustic guitar and some other minimal instrumental accompaniment, but sometimes, as on "Be Kind," the sound is thickened up further, with piano, drums, harmonica and electric guitar. Regardless of how the songs are arranged, Banhart is among the most unusual and consistently brilliant singers and songwriters I know. Free download: "Be Kind"

"Blue Rhythm," William Duckworth
William Duckworth, a composer and a tenured professor of music at Bucknell University, is considered the father of post-minimalism, a compositional movement that seems inevitable but has never really gotten off the ground. "Blue Rhythm," a nine-minute piece for violin, cello and piano that he wrote in 1990, gives a good sense of the potential of post-minimalist composition. Buckworth makes ample use of repetitive, circular textures that are clearly derived from Philip Glass, Steve Reich, et al., but also dispenses with many of the basic principles of minimalism, most notably the interest in process, in having a composition unfold and develop transparently, in full view. And while this music is solidly tonal and relatively harmonically simple, he fits in a few juicy harmonies that Reich and Glass would never touch, and that wouldn't sound out of place in compositions by Ginastera or Prokofiev. He also displays a passing interest in that least minimalist of all musical elements, melody. Free download: "Blue Rhythm"

"Wake Up," Arcade Fire, from "Funeral"
The most hyped band of the moment, and they don't play retro rock! Time to rejoice, time to breathe a collective sigh of relief. The music made by Montreal collective the Arcade Fire doesn't sound particularly revolutionary, but then again, they don't sound much like anyone else either. It's music of extremes, both ebulliently sloppy and meticulously fine-tuned, full of ecstasy and unbearable pain. What impresses me most about the Arcade Fire is that they are unafraid of making grand emotional gestures and, more important, are steadfast in their refusal to couch that emotional intensity in irony, or to qualify it with camp. There's no doubting the seriousness of their intent -- this is a heart-worn-on-sleeve type of band. A highly recommended record. Free download: "Wake Up"

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