Toxic Tuesday 25 : Saltillo + Three Great Electronic Tracks

     This Sunday, whilst driving to Guelph with the father  I tried to explain my musical ideology to him. We were having one of our typical music discussions, which usually involve Wikipedia and explaining different genres in simpleton terms, and I worked my way along a very thin thought process till I came to the conclusion that I am the internet version of a wine taster. "Wine taster?" you say, "yes internet" I say, "wine taster". I sample it all and consume just enough of it to relay the facts, and convince other, lesser traveled connoisseurs that I know what I'm talking about. This has happened on  multiple occasions, most notably in grade twelve when I gave a lecture on progressive metal... yeah I pulled all of it out of my ass and snatched the best grade in class, I'm a convincing speaker. So back to the topic, this weekend I found a blog called |A|Fragile|Hope| and on it I found (aside from many other things) an album from Mississippi native Menton J. Matthews III, or Saltillo. This guy is so classy he has numbers after his name, and his music conveys that class with a liberal amount taste.

     Ganglion, although from 2006 is by far one of the best albums I've heard all year. It combines everything I want from an album and much, much more. Ok so I've done a lot of story telling and not a lot of explaining, so... it all started with a link to the tag "Modern Classical", of course I was intrigued. Being an aforementioned "Connoisseur" of music my interests span across all of the musical realm, well except for country and mainstream pop/rap, I enjoy music that questions what I know about genres, rhythms, or music in general. I should have seen the tag on the album link, "avant garde", roughly translating to "advance guard or vanguard", I understand it as "before its time, radical, or original" and Ganglion is just that.

     At first I was caressed by soft strings, violins and cellos drifting from my stereo and frolicking across my synapses, then the drums and piano kicked in, bringing a depth of sound I could only dream of. I was reminded of the fragile, beautiful musical musings of Ólafur Arnalds, that used to drag my rainy day thoughts deep into a pit of emotion. Then to my surprise and delight the drum pattern changed to a more upbeat almost IDM rhythm. Soon a choir breached the soundscape and heightened the experience to almost unbearable climax of masterful strings, complex beats, beautiful vocals and and the always stoic piano of yesteryear.

     Over the epic masterpiece that is Ganglion,  if you dare, you'll be introduced to to a genre of music beyond anything that you'll ever hear on the radio, as something this beautiful cannot be allowed to reach the ears of the masses. They wouldn't understand the complex code created by a master multi-instrumentalist the likes of which we rarely see. Truly this album is the wine of of today's music, much before its time, it requires a complex taste and the time to ferment in your mind. Give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

     I don't think I have ever written enough to be able to fit two pictures in, but truly there are some experiences that warrant more than just a download link and a sentence. Now that I've gotten it all out lets drop some less complex electronic music, requiring just a sentence each.

     First up a remix of Kaskade's Raining by Minnesota, Raining (Minnesota Remix) may be just the thing to get rid of my classical music high, its a top notch electronic track, and thats all you need to know.

     Next up is I promised by Bisweed, a fairly mystical trance track that I unfortunately put as my alarm this morning, lets say I didn't get out of bed till eleven.

     For all you dubstep lovers out there, yes I remembered you, feast your ears on Pump It Up, by up and coming electro DJ Zomboy. Crank it and dance.

     So can I get a little love for one of the longest posts I've ever written? Head on over to our Facebook page and leave a like, I think I deserve it.