Higher Plain Music » Dead Can Dance

Baraka Review

Higher Plain Music — Tue, 04 May 2010 20:49:15 +0000

Something slightly different, Baraka was released in 1992 as something of a lardmark film. Baraka is a visual/audio experience quite unlike anything I’ve really come across. It takes cultures from all around the world and then slowly envelopes fantastic artistic camera work with some powerful music of various eras and nations. It’s really something that you don’t sit down to lightly watch, its something to really get lost and engaged in, so long as you appreciate the sheer art of the film. Baraka features some of the best world music I’ve listened to. Dead Can Dance are probably the best known but Michael Stearus’ own otherworldly layers are phenominal too. Once combined with the poetry in motion on screen, something special happens.

If you’re able to get the 2 disc edition, disc 2 has a really in depth making of documentary that’s actually longer than the original film but is really interesting to see how they came about what they ended up with.

You can see the movie trailer here.

Tagged: Dead Can Dance, Michael Stearus

Most Viewed – July 2009

Higher Plain Music — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:11:29 +0000

Well was there really any doubt? OverClocked Remix absolutely smashed the charts with almost more views on OCR posts than the rest of the site put together! Only Imogen Heap’s track listing for her latest album Ellipse was able to pull in big numbers too. Interesting we had almost exactly the same number of visitors as June (14 difference) and it was our third most viewed month of the sites history. We did break one new record, our first day with more than 200 hits! August should be a great month too. Let’s enjoy the summer!

01) OverClocked Remix (RE)

02) Imogen Heap (v)

03) Brendan Perry (^)

04) Utada (^)

05) Vienna Teng (v)

06) Hiroki Kikuta (RE)

07) Akira Yamaoka (v)

08) Natalie Imbruglia (NE)

09) Patrick Wolf (v)

10) Dead Can Dance (v)

Top 3 Games Reviews

01) Numblast

02) Trash Panic

03) Magic Ball

Tagged: Akira Yamaoka, Brendan Perry, Dead Can Dance, Hiroki Kikuta, Imogen Heap, Natalie Imbruglia, OverClocked ReMix, Patrick Wolf, Utada, Vienna Teng

Most Viewed – June 09

Higher Plain Music — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:45:37 +0000

June missed being our most busiest month by just 21 hits so March 09 still holds the crown of busiest month – however for the first time ever one artist completely outrun everyone else by such a margin, their top post (our most viewed post this month) had more hits than the second, third and fourth busiest posts combined! Well done the Imogen Heap – everyone’s gone mad over the tracklist for Ellipse and we’ll be buying the album on release day so expect a sharp review on the day (provided its in shops – we couldn’t get a copy for Speak For Yourself in a store and had to buy online and wait). Patrick Wolf, Dead Can Dance & Vienna Teng’s album reviews all followed behind. Here’s the top 10 artists followed by the only two game reviews on site (we will be doing a top 5 game hits too). Congrats to Lisa Germano for making a new entry and Tori Amos, number 1 last month, dropped straight back out the charts again! June should be a busy month with lots of reviews not just here, but over on new site I Love Disaster Movies, which is another personal indulgence to another hobby of mine! Enjoy the summer!

01) Imogen Heap (1 Month)

02) Patrick Wolf (RE)

03) Dead Can Dance (RE)

04) Vienna Teng (-)

05) Akira Yamaoka (^)

06) Utada (v)

07) Brendan Perry (-)

08) Sarah Slean (v)

09) Lisa Germano (NE)

10) Yasunori Mitsuda (RE)

Tagged: Akira Yamaoka, Brendan Perry, Dead Can Dance, Imogen Heap, Lisa Germano, Patrick Wolf, Sarah Slean, Utada, Vienna Teng, Yasunori Mitsuda

Dead Can Dance – First Song Released

Higher Plain Music — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:37:55 +0000

Brendan Perry has just released the first studio recording of Dead Can Dance from 1982. The songs “A Means of Escape” is available to download from Brendan Perry’s website. It keeps true to the début albums more rockier sound with Brendan on vocals. It’s pretty good too with the strange percussive bells rounding off the song.

Tagged: Brendan Perry, Dead Can Dance, Lisa Gerrard

Most Viewed – April 2009

Higher Plain Music — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:29:51 +0000

Slightly delayed it may be, but here are the top ten artists that have been viewed for April 2009 which saw a bit of a change at the top with Utada taking top step from Tori Amos, Vienna Teng & Sarah Slean! Congrats to everyone on the list and here’s to another great month which will be full of new content (and a bit more prolific than last month!). However, it was our second busiest month of the sites history despite it being one of the quietest in terms of new content. May will be a busy one!
01) Utada (RE)

02) Tori Amos (^)

03) Vienna Teng (^)

04) Sarah Slean (v)

05) Brendan Perry (v)

06) Dead Can Dance (NE)

07) OverClocked Remix (v)

08) PJ Harvey (RE)

09) Akira Yamaoka (v)

10) Hiroki Kikuta (RE)

Tagged: akira yanmaoka, Brendan Perry, Dead Can Dance, Hiroki Kikuta, OverClocked ReMix, PJ Harvey, Sarah Slean, Tori Amos, Utada, Vienna Teng

Dead Can Dance – “Aion” Review

Higher Plain Music — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:18:26 +0000

With each album Dead Can Dance turn to a different place in time and space. With “Aion” the time and place is the French Renaissance. From jaunty jigs to mystical chants, the album delights from one end to the other.

“The Arrival and the Reunion” opens the album with a powerful chant led by Lisa Gerrard’s otherworldly vocal talent. There’s many backing vocals that support her and push this short song into the forefront of your mind. Followed is the jaunty jig that is “Salterello” that is a beautiful instrumental. The drums pound away (with kudos to the huge bass drum) while entwining pipes bring you an infectious riff that doesn’t leave your side when the song is finished. If the album didn’t flow so well as a one listen piece, you’d have this song on repeat. The ambience of “Mephisto” is a short but sweet string piece using many archaic instruments.

“The Song of Sibyl” signals the next section of the album with a haunting piece led by Gerrard and an eerie church organ. The tension can be felt like electrical pulses in this song. “Fortune Presents Gifts Not According to the Book” is the first song with Brendan Perry singing and its a simplistic song on the surface with lots of hidden instrumental depth to it. It’s a bit like a wind up song that builds up and up and then slowly ebbs away and the playing of the stringed instruments is exceptional. “As the Bells Ring the Maypole Spins” follows on as a joyous song. The pipe playing is at the forefront with some excellent vocals from Gerrard as one of her more uplifting songs to date.

“The End of Words” is a calming vocal duet that signals the start of act three as it envelops you with its arms before “Black Sun” pushes you away and screams at you. Possibly my favourite track of the album, Perry’s vocals and the tense impending doom that surrounds the entire track really hit home in what is generally a soothing and quiet album. “Wilderness” quickly returns to a soothing vocal piece as if to reassure you its all ok! “The Promised Womb” is a more abstract piece of string and vocal rollings which has never fully grabbed me. “The Garden of Zephirus” is a bird singing, flute playing ambient section that leads to the final track “Radharc” which comes across almost Asian influenced in a way. This track is a favourite too as its got a good beat and a sense of urgency about it.

“Aion” is very much a mood piece. It’ll take you on a journey and some songs as a standalone aren’t as effective as when they are played as part of the album. However the overall feel is one of being transported away to some other plain and that’s what Dead Can Dance have always done best.

Tagged: Dead Can Dance

Dead Can Dance – Unreleased Song

Higher Plain Music — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 07:18:57 +0000

While trawling through the vast lands of YouTube I came across a bizarre but fantastic live performance of an unreleased Dead Can Dance song entitled “The Children’s Toy” recorded back in 1986! Lots of DCD’s live content wasn’t always released so it’s great to still have new stuff surfacing after all these years!

Watch it here

Dead Can Dance – Within The Realm Of The Dying Sun Review

Higher Plain Music — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:42:50 +0000

Dead Can Dance recorded this, their 3rd album back in 1985. In the days of LP’s and cassettes you could split a record. Lisa Gerrard takes the B-Side, Brendan Perry takes the A-Side and each has four tracks that fall onto your ears like a doomsday apocalypse raining down on your soul in crystal drops of heaven.

“Anywhere in the World” sets the tone with echoing synths and swirling melodies and Brendan crying out for a saviours arms. “Windfall” is where the orchestral side really begins to seep through with this instrumental piece of tension while “In The Wake of Adversity” sees brass and strings pumping out a pointed march to the bows of hell. “Xavier” closes the first half with dramatic effect. This song expands and expands and expands into a enormous climax and remains as one of my favourite DCD tracks.

Side 2 bursts into action with the dramatic battle cry of “Dawn of the Iconoclast” which leads into the iconic “Cantara”. This song showcases Lisa’s impassioned vocals however it sounds much better on the live DVD as the studio performance is a little darker and less fraught and much more hypnotic. Instead the winner of the dramatic Lisa song goes to “Summoning of the Muse” which its mesmerizing vocal lines and heavy reverb on the ringing bells leave you standing on the edge of a mountain top. The album then ends with “Persephone” which is like the twin of “In the Wake of Adversity” with marching strings and dark chord patterns.

“Within the Realms of a Dying Sun” is a classic album which fans of any kind of alternative music should enjoy. It’s unique and universal all at once and I’ve been smitten with it since day one.

Friday Night Live: Dead Can Dance

Higher Plain Music — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 19:45:34 +0000

Every Friday there will be a live performance posted here for people to watch. The first edition comes from the fantastic Dead Can Dance with their genreless, timeless and mystical sound. I’ve taken a song called “Dreams Made Flesh” which showcase Lisa’s vocals and Brendan’s music playing a Yang Chin. Such a unique talent…