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5:4
CD/Digital releasesFree music

Darren McClure – The World Is Made Of Words

by 5:4 January 26, 2023 • 09:00 0 comment

Fermata myrkir

by 5:4 January 24, 2023 • 09:00 0 comment

Seaming – Mermaid

by 5:4 January 23, 2023 • 09:00 0 comment
CD/Digital releasesFree music

Gelg – Look Around You

by 5:4 January 19, 2023 • 09:00 0 comment

Danz CM – While Mortals Sleep (Original Score)

by 5:4 January 16, 2023 • 08:36 0 comment

Ektoise – Down River

by 5:4 January 12, 2023 • 10:32 0 comment
CD/Digital releasesFree music

Gareth Davis, Jan Kleefstra, Romke Kleefstra – Sieleslyk

by 5:4 January 9, 2023 • 08:24 2 comments

Mixtape #67 : Best Albums of 2022

by 5:4 January 1, 2023 • 05:00 0 comment

Best Albums of 2022 (Part 2)

by 5:4 December 31, 2022 • 00:00 1 comment
Best of the Year

Best Albums of 2022 (Part 1)

by 5:4 December 30, 2022 • 00:00 0 comment

Helmut Lachenmann – Marche Fatale

by 5:4 December 25, 2022 • 05:00 0 comment

Justė Janulytė – Unanime (World Première, first version)

by 5:4 December 24, 2022 • 05:00 0 comment

more articles

  • CD/Digital releases

    Heavy radiance: Tu M’ – Is That You?

    by 5:4 November 6, 2008 • 00:31
    November 6, 2008 • 00:31

    Netlabels are a curious phenomenon. On the one hand, they’re rather like havens for creatives to inhabit, artistic agglomerations producing wildly (un)predictable output; on the other, their surprising dedication to giving music away free of charge seems to have abandoned any hope of remuneration for creative endeavour. It’s hard to…

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Quixotic risks: Deerhoof – Offend Maggie

    by 5:4 October 17, 2008 • 23:03
    October 17, 2008 • 23:03

    The week before last saw the release of Deerhoof’s new album, Offend Maggie. After the undiluted artistry and infectiousness of 2007’s Friend Opportunity, this was a definite highlight in the calendar, made all the more tantalising by the performance of half of the songs at their concert in Brooklyn’s Prospect…

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  • Miscellaneous

    Ancient and modern: Unsuk Chin – Violin Concerto, Miroirs des temps; Chris Dench – Passing bells: night

    by 5:4 September 23, 2008 • 19:15
    September 23, 2008 • 19:15

    i’ve been a fan of Unsuk Chin‘s music ever since she returned to instrumental writing in the early ’90s with Akrostichon-Wortspiel. Her Violin Concerto is awash with invention; all the talk of open strings is simply an opening gambit, from where it departs into vivid and distinctly unfamiliar territory. Often,…

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  • Miscellaneous

    A moving aria for a vanishing style of mind: Scott Walker – The Drift

    by 5:4 September 14, 2008 • 19:22
    September 14, 2008 • 19:22

    i avoid superlatives whenever possible. If people ask me (and they do, surprisingly often) to name a favourite composer or artist or album, i invariably either deflect the question away—”i don’t really have one…”—or reflect it back at them—”i’m not sure; how about you…?”). For the most part, the best…

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  • Concerts

    Live in Prospect Park: Metropolis Ensemble and Deerhoof

    by 5:4 September 5, 2008 • 13:14
    September 5, 2008 • 13:14

    i’m surprised there’s not more comment on the web about the recent concert given jointly by the Metropolis Ensemble and Deerhoof, which took place in July in Brooklyn as part of the Wordless Music series. This had been hyped up a fair bit beforehand, partly because it was bringing together…

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  • Retrospectives

    Respectable anarchy: Operator Please

    by 5:4 September 3, 2008 • 17:26
    September 3, 2008 • 17:26

    Ok, let’s get things going again with a band i’ve been meaning to write about for a long while. i’m assuming Operator Please will be well-known to many, but i’m not sure that would have been the case, say, 9 months ago, as their profile seems to have increased significantly…

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  • Announcements

    Fermata

    by 5:4 July 31, 2008 • 22:33
    July 31, 2008 • 22:33

    Tomorrow, the Beloved and i set off for a little over 2 weeks’ exploration of “Na h-Eileanan Siar”: the Western Isles, beginning on Skye and then gradually moving beyond into the Outer Hebrides. Therefore, a short hiatus here on 5:4; enjoy the silence.

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  • Premières

    James MacMillan – String Quartet No. 3 (World Première)

    by 5:4 July 31, 2008 • 16:11
    July 31, 2008 • 16:11

    James MacMillan‘s most recent work, the String Quartet No. 3, was premièred a couple of months ago by the Takacs Quartet on 21 May, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. i don’t know either of MacMillan’s previous two quartets, but this new addition is a fairly ambitious work. MacMillan…

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  • Mixtapes

    Mixtape #7 : Ambient

    by 5:4 July 26, 2008 • 00:33
    July 26, 2008 • 00:33

    To conclude the little series of posts about the “ambient tradition”, here’s a new mixtape devoted to this special genre. It’s the hardest mix i’ve made so far; the temptation was, perhaps, never to stop, to create a compilation that could play into infinity—which is, after all, the point towards…

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  • Thematic series

    The ambient tradition: Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto – cross-cultural peace and quiet

    by 5:4 July 15, 2008 • 12:21
    July 15, 2008 • 12:21

    Having spent the last four days absorbed in the monastic pattern of life at Burford Priory, i’ve returned home with, among other things, my senses both heightened and sensitised. i’ve needed somewhat gentle stimuli, and so it seems perfect timing to return to my ambient musings, focusing on the the…

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  • Thematic series

    The ambient tradition: black on black – Lustmord and the dark side of ambient

    by 5:4 July 10, 2008 • 11:15
    July 10, 2008 • 11:15

    At its best, ambient descries a vista that is vast in scope, epic in scale, often ablaze with light. However, light presupposes darkness (check Genesis if you don’t believe me) and likewise all landscapes have their shadows. From the deepest of them (perhaps their very source), comes the voice of…

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  • Thematic series

    The ambient tradition: John Hudak and the infinitesimal writ large

    by 5:4 June 27, 2008 • 21:58
    June 27, 2008 • 21:58

    In general, composers of ambient – no doubt due to the fact that as well as being “interesting” it should also be “ignorable” – tend to fashion their music at the quieter end of the dynamic continuum. And in the farthest reaches of the quiet, his music looking at the…

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  • Thematic series

    The ambient tradition: Steve Roden and the world of lowercase

    by 5:4 June 25, 2008 • 21:58
    June 25, 2008 • 21:58

    If dance was the first style of music to make deep impressions on my formative mind, hot on its heels was ambient. By pure serendipity, in my early teens i stumbled on a book (the title and author of which i wish i could remember – it’s probably still lurking…

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  • Miscellaneous

    David Briggs – Symphony in Four Movements

    by 5:4 June 25, 2008 • 20:49
    June 25, 2008 • 20:49

    A former Director of Music of Gloucester Cathedral, David Briggs has made something of a name for himself as a creator of large-scale improvisations. From a compositional standpoint, they’re generally contrived and unoriginal; Briggs – like fellow organist Wayne Marshall – has a penchant for creating music in the styles…

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Throwing down the gauntlet: t.A.T.u. – Beliy Plaschik

    by 5:4 June 24, 2008 • 12:03
    June 24, 2008 • 12:03

    If i was to admit that my love for t.A.T.u. began the moment the video for All The Things She Said was first shown on MTV, it would possibly send out the wrong kind of message. i won’t deny that i found the video surprising and controversial (i was in…

    Read more
  • Retrospectives

    Bitter and strong: the legacy of Dubstar

    by 5:4 June 18, 2008 • 22:55
    June 18, 2008 • 22:55

    A few months back, the announcement was made that Dubstar were at work on a fourth album, due for release this year. This came from Steve Hillier, brains of the outfit, who has, in the intervening years since Dubstar’s departure from the music scene, continued to maintain webpages connected with…

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Conflicted and inconsistent: the mentality and detriment of Venetian Snares

    by 5:4 June 12, 2008 • 12:01
    June 12, 2008 • 12:01

    Through the last few years, my opinion of Venetian Snares has been in the descendant. But from the outset, let’s be fair; while Aaron Funk has, on occasion, produced music that rarely rises beyond mere drivel – Songs About My Cats, Chocolate Wheelchair Album – he has also achieved some…

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  • Premières

    Ensemble Exposé: Brian Ferneyhough – Incipits (UK Première) plus Davies, Xenakis, Barrett, Dillon and Sørensen

    by 5:4 June 6, 2008 • 21:15
    June 6, 2008 • 21:15

    Here’s a real treat for those who prefer their contemporary music to be at the more intellectually rewarding end of the continuum. It’s music from a concert given at the ICA in London by Ensemble Exposé (plus violist Garth Knox), under the direction of Roger Redgate, who also discusses the…

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Versions, versions everywhere (plus a red herring): Autechre – Quaristice.Quadrange.ep.ae

    by 5:4 June 3, 2008 • 17:01
    June 3, 2008 • 17:01

    Early yesterday morning, after a number of the wrong kind of glitches at Bleep.com, the final tracks of Autechre‘s Quaristice.Quadrange.ep.ae became available. Versions, versions everywhere: and with this – after 44 tracks, totalling almost 5 hours – i think one can assume that the Quaristice project is at an end.…

    Read more
  • ConcertsPremières

    Bath International Music Festival, Bath Abbey: Dhafer Youssef – Les Ondes Orientales (World Première)

    by 5:4 May 31, 2008 • 23:04
    May 31, 2008 • 23:04

    Last Wednesday, the Beloved and i were at Bath Abbey, for a “Messiaen Centenary Celebration” given as part of the Bath International Music Festival. In addition to Messiaen‘s rarely-performed Trois Petites Liturgies de la Présence Divine and a keyboard concerto by J. S. Bach, the concert included the world première…

    Read more
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5:4
  • About
  • Patrons
  • The Lists
    • Listening History
    • Complete List of Ratings
    • Compositions reviewed on 5:4
    • Composer Map
    • Albums and EPs reviewed on 5:4
    • Festivals reviewed on 5:4
    • Best Albums of the Years
    • The Proms premières – Poll results
  • The Dialogues
  • Mixtapes
    • Mixtapes
    • The Isolation Mixtapes
    • Mystery Mixtapes
    • Podcasts
  • Contact
    • Contact Form
    • Submission Contact Form