Featured Artists: July 2010

This month I have two featured artists and one online store to tell you about.

The first featured artist is a duo, Mark Mahoney & Michael Peck. They hail from eastern Tennessee, and make interesting and diverse electronic music. I met them years ago at the first Electro-Music festival and became fast friends. This is their first record together in a couple of years, titled A Life Incandescent. Their music doesn't really stay in one place for very long. It's always shifting, moving, changing. This is ambient music that commands your attention. I've seen them play live before on a few occasions, and they put on a tremendous show. And they're great guys, too. Check out this website for more information:

http://waitingworldrecords.blogspot.com/

Next up is a cellist with ties to the Hudson Valley (he has family here). His name is Matthew Schoening, and he's normally from California, though when he was in the Hudson Valley recently, he took the time to come visit and talk about his new CD, Elements. It's all solo cello, recorded live in concert. He employs live looping techniques to layer his sound and make his cello sound like an ensemble. What's more interesting though is that he plays an electric cello. This gives him the flexibility to use percussive techniques similar to what many fingerstyle guitarists use. It's a wonderful album, and I highly recommend it. For more info, check out his website:

http://www.mrcelloman.com/

The last feature this month is an online download store, Musiczeit. Musiczeit started a couple of years back mainly as a source for downloadable electronic music. They've branched out into different styles of music since, but their main focus is still electronic music, and is perhaps the main download source for European electronic music. There are quite a few older albums that are out of print that have been reissued as downloads here, and newer albums that are available only as download. The prices are fair, and the service has always been great. And if you've ever ordered music from overseas (as I have many times), you'll appreciate the immediacy of downloads versus waiting for weeks for a package to arrive. I've spent quite a bit here filling holes in my collection. For more info, check out the website:

http://www.musiczeit.com/