This week's picks : Neil Young, Sigur Rós, Rachmaninov

Hi, sorry for updaing so late, but Internet is out of work at home and I can only post at the office during lunch breaks. So I'll update it from time to time.

No "album of the week", but three records I have heard. 2 are old relatives, one is a first listen.

Neil Young - Harvest (1972)

I first heard this one in 1988, or 87 (I was 17 or 18) when my friend Noel came back from Frisco with a pile of LPs, including this one and After The Goldrush. They are my two favorite NY albums, depending on the times : in my top 200 Harvest is ahead at the moment, but it may change...
I guess I fell in love at first listen. Harvest is an easy album, everybody can appreciate it, you don't need any knowledge or experience for that. I guess that's why some people don't like it, but I'll have to call that snobbism.


Instead of playing Heart Of Gold for the 100th time, I picked the title track, almost a traditional country number.

Neil Young - Harvest (buy)

For French speakers, here is an article in Telerama




Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (2008)

Yes, I know... That means "With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly". Tagged as "postrock" (which is nothing more than contemporary progressive rock), this fascinating Icelandic group is still well and alive with this 5th regular album studio, sounding as eerie as possible. They're progressive without being pretentious, and their music has this kind of organic feel and that ability to suspend time when you're listening to it. I don't know, but I find them more friendly than, say, Radiohead...
Sigur Rós - Festival (buy)

Rachmaninov /Andsnes/ Pappano : Piano Concertos 1 & 2

In France, Rachmaninov's piano concerto 1 is very famous because the first movement was the soundtrack of a TV show about books called "Apostrophes", that I watched when a was a teenager. Concerto nb 2 is more acclaimed, and it is beautiful from beginning to end. 2nd movemet is well-knowned because Eric Carmen stole the theme for his hit, "All By Myself". I think that Rachmaninov is indeed very close to pop music. I don't know why. And Ansnes is a great pianist, very sensitive, never showing off technically.
This is one of my favorite pieces of classical music. Unfortunately I didn't find the Ansnes version on Deezer, but this one by Nikolai Lugansky is excellent too.

Découvrez Nikolai Lugansky, Sakari Oramo & City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra!