Syriana - Ten Days in Bilad Al Sham

Much more than an ‘East meets West’ musical fusion project, Syriana are three friends who came together in creative protest pre-President Obama.

Nick Page (Real World regular, Trans Global Underground member and Dub Colossus mastermind), Abdullah Chhadeh (Syrian qanun virtuoso and musical innovator) and Irish born Bernard O’Neill (another Real World regular and in demand musician) are the three distinctive artists behind Syriana.

“We thought a new Cold War was being foisted upon the world,” says Page, “the Cold War and its iconography had divided East and West. We wanted to bridge it.”

Recorded at Chaddeh’s London base in Walthamstow and at Real World Studios in Box, the music was already a genre-defying mixture of Americana via Dick Dale and the traditional sonorous sound of the ancient 81 srting Arabic dulcimer, the qanun, but it was a 10 trip to Damascus that sealed its unique sound.

Ten Days in Bilad Al Sham is the stunning album for this months Society of  Sound members. Available in all three formats including, 24bit FLAC, it really is unlike anything else we’ve heard and would very much like to hear what you think.

Leisure Society

We’re big fans of the innovative and very cool UK label Full Time Hobby . We had an exclusive label sampler from them earlier in the year and we’re very excited to be offering an exclusive four track EP of new signings The Leisure Society to Society of Sound members next month.

The band won an Ivor Novello award nomination for their sublime debut single ‘The Last of the Melting Snow’ and Mojo describes them as creating ” a sound steeped in the finest folk-pop traditions while retaining a very British streak of humour and individuality”.

The band are also playing three UK dates in November:

22nd Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
23rd Birmingham, The Glee Club
25th London, St Giles In The Fields Church
http://www.seetickets.com/?a=the+leisure+society&filler3=id1gmaps

Ola Onabule is not short of great reviews, the Guardian described him as having a “golden voice, with a range and smoothness that recalls singers such as Luther Vandross” and the BBC “as one of the best UK soul vocalists of his time”.

Although less well known in the UK than he should be despite these reviews, 2009 saw the Lagos-born vocalist debut at The Montreal Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival as well as the Blue Balls Festival in Switzerland.

Part of Society of Sound’s remit is to introduce its members to great new music which is beautifully recorded. That’s why we’re very proud to present this album which Ola put together exclusively for Society of Sound members and which we think showcases his extraordinary voice perfectly.

Bowers & Wilkins Signature Diamond

We recently invited B&W customers to ask us  questions.  We’ve had an overwhelming response and we’ve tried to answer as many as we can.

Several of the questions will be answered in depth and posted in the Lab area of SoS later on this year but we thought you might have some opinions on the one below:

Dear B&W,

I am frustrated by the way I can listen to one album and enjoy the tonal balance and quality of the recording, then another album changes the whole balance and sounds awful.

I have always ‘listened’ to the equipment more than the music, but now I just want to listen to good music. I am starting to think that listening through quality equipment only enhances the inadequacies of the recordings themselves?

I’d like to know what others think? Do they sometimes get frustrated and turn off their good systems and revert to listening to lesser quality systems (I have two systems in my home) which aren’t so musically correct, but sound more listenable and relaxed.

I am 51 and have been ‘listening ‘ to HiFi for ~ 40 years.

Regards
David

Trio Goya's Hayden - the Heart of Invention

World renowned harpsichordist, Maggie Cole, formed Trio Goya with Kati Debretzni and Sebastian Comberti. They play classical music - primarily trios by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Storace and Schubert - on period instruments.

Though born in the US, Cole is resident in the UK and is best known through her numerous recitals on BBC Radio 3 and appearances at leading British Festivals, Debretzni is a leading Baroque violinist from Transylvania and British born Cromberti has been principal cello with many orchestras and founded specialist label Cello Classics.

Together they have recorded Haydn’ s trios for Society of Sound at Real World Studios and plan to record a double CD of the trios to coincide with the 200th anniversary of his death.

We’re really proud to be able to offer this recording to our members and would love to know what you think.

Excellent graphic from NY Times on the sales life of the different music formats from 1973 to 2008.

B&W's 685 speakers as part of the The Fragmented orchestra

Last week, the PRS Foundation launched the third New Music Award.

The foundation is the UK’s only independent funder of new music across all genres and are continually launching schemes to promote, encourage and comission new works. It’s always worth checking their website for new funding options.

The winner of the previous New Music Award was the groundbreaking Fragmented Orchestra (pictured opposite), a huge distributed musical structure modelled on the firing of the human brain’s neurons  and incorporating twenty-four  B&W 685 speakers suspended from the ceiling.

The PRS Foundation chairman, Sally Taylor, commented:

“It is an exceptional award which takes risks by encouraging creators to push boundaries of their artistic practice and extend the possibilities of music regardless of which genre they work in. We really do encourage anyone with an inspired musical idea to apply.”

The deadline for entries is Friday 8 January 2010 and you can find out here how to enter.

Micah P Hinson All Dressed Up and smelling of Strangers

Society of Sound artist, B&W office favourite and resident of Abilene, Texas,  Micah P.Hinson has kindly allowed us to preview four tracks exclusively from his new album of covers, All Dressed up and Smelling of Strangers, which is out on the 28th September on Full Time Hobby Records. Micah is currently touring Europe, you can check his website for details.

The four covers available to Society of Sound members are:

Elvis’ ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight?’

Dylan’s ‘Times They are a-Changin”

Cohen’s ‘Suzanne’, and, most splendidly of all,

Orbison’s ‘Runnin’ Scared’.

As usual, we’d really like to know what you thought of the music.

It’s been impossible to avoid the news of the Beatles remasters and much debate has ensued within the office. Primarily, why the mono boxset has less content, no DVD, but costs £30 pounds more than the stereo boxset and which individual albums would we be buying (White Album most popular so far, followed by Abbey Road).

Although you can buy individual albums remastered in stereo, the  mono ones are only available as a set which is clearly aimed at completists. This is a shame as for the most authentic listening experience you would arguably want the albums up to Revolver in mono and the following albums in stereo.

Page after page of glowing, swooning purple prose has already been written by writers who’ve experienced epiphany after epiphany whilst reviewing the complete works of the world’s most famous band. Almost unanimously they feel as if they are hearing the music as if for the first time which is unasailable evidence of how good a job has been done given the ubiquitousness of the music and the usual cyncism with which music jouralists often greet music.

One of the most enjoyable reviews is David Cavanagh’s 3 page epic in this month’s Uncut magazine which at the same time has to be discounted due to his review being based on a 14 hour session at Abbey Road listening to the newly revealed masterpieces  (through our speakers I can only assume) as this sadly won’t be the listening experience of everyone else.

I am not going to attempt a review here, there is no need as Bob Gendron’s  exhaustive review for Tone Audio tells you all you need to know. It’s particularly good on the stereo vs mono debate for the earlier albums (coming clearly down on the side of mono)  and as he says:

“If the Beatles remasters signify the last great hurrah of the compact disc, at least the format is going out in style.”

We’d love to know if any of you have already bought one or both of the boxsets and what your thoughts are…

Nick Cave’s new novel, The Death of Bunny Munroe, is being released as an audiobook this week. Not so interesting as news in itself,  but it’s being released via Apple’s app store.

Clearly no ordinary audio book. As well as a soundtrack composed by Mr. Cave and his fellow Bad Seed Warren Ellis, the audio  has been mixed in what his publishers describe as a “groundbreaking 3D audio spatial mix” courtesy of Arup Acoustics

What this means is that the sound is designed specifically for headphones so gives the listener a far more immersive experience and therefore making the action far more immediate.

Not known for pioneering new media forms, Nick Cave commented:

“I’ve suddenly found myself at the cutting edge of the way we may read books in the future but it’s all been something of a surprise to me.”