I’m way behind in putting together compilations of new music and videos that I want to recommend. Yesterday, after hours of listening, I assembled more than two dozen of them that I discovered just over the last week. I had the fantasy of presenting all of them in alphabetical order in this Overflowing Streams format (short on words and visual art but long on music).
This morning I realized that would be a herculean task, and I’m no Hercules. So I abandoned the alphabetical idea and have arranged the collection with different ideas in mind and divided the post into Parts — because I’m not sure how far I’ll get. There should be at least one or two more installments today.
By the way, I decided to do this instead of the usual SHADES OF BLACK post today, though I’ve made sure to include new black metal in the collection, beginning with…
AKVAN (Iran)
The Persian tar (a type of four-stringed lute) is the star of this first song, along with the mesmerizing, melancholy melody that it voices. It provides the beating heart of the song even after the music rises into a tumultuous storm of thundering drums, scathing riffs, and scorching vocals. Fascinating, fierce, otherworldly, and glorious, the song is a tremendous thrill to hear. Continue reading »