Shackleton with Ernesto Tomasini: Devotional Songs

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Shackleton with Ernesto Tomasini: Devotional Songs

Post by shadowplay » Wed Jul 27, 2016 3:37 am

Possibly of minority interest but I'll give it a go;

I have totally lost my head and heart to this record...it's seemingly been crafted just for me, since it's filled with sounds reminiscent of everyone from my most beloved Coil to Sakamoto to Muslimgauze to Paul Schütze to Steve Reich to Arvo Pärt to Current 93 to Dream Less Sweet era PTV to...let's not be shy about this...fantasy medieval kosmische prog. As Child B (knowing my musical predilections) put it; 'you're probably worried you'll wake up and this is a dream'.

Only four long songs and I'd guess Tomasini might be a Marmite character to some but he just fits this perfectly, coming on like a renaissance court minstrel having it off with a corrupt cardinal and certainly making me feel like I should be wearing robes when listening.

Years ago I remember reading how David Sylvian was in a state of distressed admiration on hearing Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden, since it was essentially the music he heard in his head and I imagine Marc Almond gets a similar feeling after listening to this.

I've loved a lot of Shackleton's music and I guess there was always a chance he'd end up here but I'm still amazed by this record.

Whole thing streamable on youtube.

or cued up;

Rinse out All Contaminants (with Ernesto Tomasini)

You Are the One (with Ernesto Tomasini)

Twelve Shared Addictions (with Ernesto Tomasini)

Shackleton Father, You Have Left Me (with Ernesto Tomasini)

Very well priced too at a piffling £14 for the 2X12 and £7 for the CD.

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Re: Shackleton with Ernesto Tomasini: Devotional Songs

Post by fakeplasticdreams » Wed Jul 27, 2016 7:59 pm

I read about this but havent heard the record snippets yet.

But that LP is priced very attractively.... :)

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Re: Shackleton with Ernesto Tomasini: Devotional Songs

Post by shadowplay » Thu Jul 28, 2016 5:30 am

fakeplasticdreams wrote: But that LP is priced very attractively....
Aye Honest Jon's are well named and shame some of the major labels with their ridiculous shakedown prices. They get very close to 'Pay no More Than' pricing for anyone old enough to remember it.

I love this record so much, I'm a mildly downhearted it's not tweaked any other ears.

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Re: Shackleton with Ernesto Tomasini: Devotional Songs

Post by mezcalhead » Fri Jul 29, 2016 6:14 am

Listening now to Father You Have Left Me. I love the music, the vocals are .. taking some getting used to. :)

Overall really good stuff though. Based on my reaction to it so far I should seek out some more Shackleton on his own, I suppose.
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Re: Shackleton with Ernesto Tomasini: Devotional Songs

Post by shadowplay » Fri Jul 29, 2016 6:42 am

mezcalhead wrote:Listening now to Father You Have Left Me. I love the music, the vocals are .. taking some getting used to.

Overall really good stuff though. Based on my reaction to it so far I should seek out some more Shackleton on his own, I suppose.
Look at Drawbar Organ and 3EP's. Google Mountains of Ashes.

I really like the singing but as Mrs S put it; 'several feet of Current 93 records prove you like oddball singers that can take a lot to get into and you genuinely think Jhonn Balance is a truly great singer (pats head).'

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Re: Shackleton with Ernesto Tomasini: Devotional Songs

Post by Slow-Pop » Fri Jul 29, 2016 10:08 am

shadowplay wrote:
mezcalhead wrote:Listening now to Father You Have Left Me. I love the music, the vocals are .. taking some getting used to.

Overall really good stuff though. Based on my reaction to it so far I should seek out some more Shackleton on his own, I suppose.
Look at Drawbar Organ and 3EP's. Google Mountains of Ashes.

I really like the singing but as Mrs S put it; 'several feet of Current 93 records prove you like oddball singers that can take a lot to get into and you genuinely think Jhonn Balance is a truly great singer (pats head).'

D
Ha! I was thinking much the same about myself. Most people I know would be put off by the vocals, but if you peek at my record shelves you can see I've been conditioned. I'm on a buying freeze right now, but I hope this is still around when I resurface from bed shopping for the little pops!

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Re: Shackleton with Ernesto Tomasini: Devotional Songs

Post by mezcalhead » Sun Jul 31, 2016 2:50 am

shadowplay wrote: Look at Drawbar Organ and 3EP's.
Good stuff! - Music for the Quiet Hour/Drawbar Organ

.. and I ran across this radio performance which I also liked, not least the title: Drones Over Lancashire .. some very Steve Reich-y moments in this one .. actually he may even have sampled Six Marimbas, not sure.
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Re: Shackleton with Ernesto Tomasini: Devotional Songs

Post by shadowplay » Tue Jan 24, 2017 6:43 am

New album out that continues some of the musical themes of Devotional Songs but brings back Vengeance Tenfold who he worked with a few years ago to bring in some gloomy spoken word.

Shackleton & Vengeance Tenfold ‎– Sferic Ghost Transmits

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Re: Shackleton with Ernesto Tomasini: Devotional Songs

Post by shadowplay » Wed Jul 05, 2017 4:44 am

Shackleton has a new vocal collaboration record out this week with Anika of the superb modern post punk band Exploded View and solo fame but not...

the Scottish one hit wonder Aneka :w00t:

(see thread). It's called Behind the Glass and it's on Woe to the Septic Heart.

The clips at Honest Johns speak the language of BUY ME NOW very loudly and sound like perhaps the conclusion of a trilogy of amazing albums.

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Re: Shackleton with Ernesto Tomasini: Devotional Songs

Post by NickD » Wed Jul 05, 2017 5:44 am

I appear to have missed this thread on at least two previous occasions :D

The touchstones in the first post mean I should like this sight unseen, but I'll have a listen later.

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Re: Shackleton with Ernesto Tomasini: Devotional Songs

Post by shadowplay » Wed Jul 05, 2017 11:50 pm

NickD wrote:I appear to have missed this thread on at least two previous occasions

The touchstones in the first post mean I should like this sight unseen, but I'll have a listen later.
I lovelovelovelove those two records and an added bonus is that they are very reasonably priced for 2x12 releases.

Both have their own attractions Enrico's delightfully eccentric and delightful signing and Vengeance Tenfold's lyrics which seem perfectly attuned to the times.

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Re: Shackleton with Ernesto Tomasini: Devotional Songs

Post by NickD » Thu Jul 06, 2017 3:43 am

Listened to Devotional Songs and Sferic Ghost Transmits and they brightened up a morning of reading financial regulation policy statements (!)

Devotional Songs builds really nicely - I especially liked the 3rd track, and Sferic Ghost Transmits really brings in the Reichian percussion :-*

And yes, great VFM by the looks, half the time a 1x12 is more than that!

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Re: Shackleton with Ernesto Tomasini: Devotional Songs

Post by shadowplay » Thu Jul 06, 2017 4:28 am

I'm not sure anything got in front of these two records in the past couple of years for me, I think Faten Kanaan ran them close but I just think they are amazing. Devotional Songs is like some fantasy Medieval scence fiction music and Sferic Ghost Transmits is properly apocalyptic industrial or even post industrial folk music that isn't like 'folk' music. He's like some unwelcome wayfaring bard that comes to your town and tells you that your teetering on the edge of the abyss.

Makes most music look pathetically unambitious.

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Re: Shackleton with Ernesto Tomasini: Devotional Songs

Post by shadowplay » Thu Jul 06, 2017 5:04 am

Are you loathsome tonight?

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Re: Shackleton with Ernesto Tomasini: Devotional Songs

Post by shadowplay » Mon Jul 17, 2017 3:24 am

you can listen to the whole thing now, it's fucking brilliant. It's an interesting record to compare to the first two in this series, as there's some very clear reprises of ideas and phrasing. Boomkat's description is worth ten seconds of your time.
Boomkat wrote:Perhaps knowingly timed for release with UK summertime, Behind The Glass is a decidedly mid-summery album full of semi-pastoral psychedelic themes and production in Shackleton’s signature style, equal parts Wickerman soundtrack and Jarman-esque uncanniness with a dash of worcester sauce sourness dosed direct to the pineal gland.

Think ritual dogging sites, lost Spiral Tribe members attempting to find their way out of a nuclear bunker for 20 years, or pagan aliens descending at full moon over Welsh glades. The production, as ever, is incredible.

Shackleton with Anika - Endless Memento/Regression/Wading Through the Underworld


Shackletonwith Anika - The Future Is Hurt/Dirt and Fields


Shackleton with Anika - Hinter der Vitrin


Shackleton with Anika - Our Sharpened Blade/Rid Yourself of the Parasites/Endless Longing

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