Agnes Obel’s Philharmonics Heads Echoes Top 25 for January
Ambient chamber music is big on January’s Top 25. Agnes Obel leads it with her delicately serene and haunting debut, Philharmonics, which sets her voice in a chamber bed of piano and cello. I’m sure this album will be in my Top 5 at the end of the year. (read review and listen to tracks here)Also in the Top 10 is Olafur Arnald’s And They Will Escape the Weight of Darkness. It came out the middle of last year but only just found its way to Echoes. Arnald’s mixes spare, minimalist piano melodies with a string quartet and subtle electronics on this album of emotionally precise and devastating music. It’s a perfect twin for Obel’s Philharmonics. Straight electronic ambiences can be heard in David Arkenstone’s Ambient World. It’s our Echoes CD of the Month for February. And another great album from Ultimae climbs into the Top 5, Asura’s 360.
You can see the complete Echoes Top 25 for January 2011.
John Diliberto ((( echoes )))