Modern Classical Highlights of 2016
OccultHawk mentioned last night that 2016 was a fantastic year for modern classical and its related subgenres. As a tremendous fan of the genre who has sadly neglected its exploration for the last several years, I instantly set myself to the task of righting this wrong.
A quick RYM custom chart instantly revealed new titles from modern classical mainstays which I know I'll have to pick up - Iceland's Jóhann Jóhannsson's nineteen album discography, (most recently the
Orphée album and the film scores to
Arrival and
Sicario), Ólafur Arnalds'
Island Songs, Max Richter's Sleep Remixes, and Nils Frahm / Ólafur Arnalds'
Trance Frendz. Library Tapes'
Escapism also sounded good from a brief sampling, as well as the 2015 album
Yume by an old favorite, Helios (and his latest work titled
Sometimes performing under his Goldmund moniker). Both projects are long-standing favorites of mine.
In about 4 minutes, OccultHawk's comment inspired an entire weekend of exploratory listening. And this will be much-needed medicine for melancholy working through all that I have going on at present. Tune in with me if you'd like. It's wonderful stuff. I'll embed a few highlights below. Many of these are complete album playlists.