I asked some of my musician friends from Beirut, to list their 10 favorite albums of 2014…
Or the music they’ve listened to the most during the past year, regardless of date of release
– The Neighbourhood: I Love You
– Daft Punk: Random Access Memories
– Lana Del Rey: Ultraviolence
– Mount Kimbie: Cold Spring Faultless Youth
– Paolo Nutini: Caustic Love
– St. Vincent: S/t
– Coldplay: Ghost Stories
– Lykke Li: I Never Learn
– Beck: Morning Phase
– Azealia Banks: Broke With No Taste
I asked some of my musician friends from Beirut, to list their 10 favorite albums of 2014…
Or the music they’ve listened to the most during the past year, regardless of date of release
1. Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett: Cheek To Cheek
2. Tania Saleh: Shwayit Souwar
3. Various artists: Songs From A Stolen Spring
4. Dina el Wedidi: Tedawar w Tergaa
5. Beck: Morning Phase
6. Elbow: The Takeoff And Landing Of Everything
7. Tori Amos: Unrepentant Geraldines
8. Mary J. Blige: The London Sessions
I asked some of my musician friends from Beirut, to list their 10 favorite albums of 2014…
Or the music they’ve listened to the most during the past year, regardless of date of release
Vashti Bunyan – Lookaftering (2005)
Vashti Bunyan – Just Another Diamond Day (1970)
Beach House – Bloom (2012)
Belle & Sebastian – If You’re Feeling Sinister (1996)
Belle & Sebastian – Tigermilk (1996)
Nick Drake – Pink Moon (1972)
Other Lives – Tamer Animals (2011)
Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues (2010)
Luluc – Passerby (2014)
The Walkmen – You & Me (2008)
——– Pascal Semerdjian
In no particular order:
Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
Other Lives – Tamer Animals
Nick Drake – Pink Moon
Luluc – Passerby
The Tallest Man On Earth – Shallow Grave
The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream
Vashti Bunyan – Lookafterings
Fleet Foxes- S/t
J. Tillman – Vacilando Territory Blues
Animal Collective & Vashti Bunyan – Prospect Hummer EP
——- Rany Bechara
In no particular order:
Interpol – Turn On The Bright Lights
Foals – Holy Fire
Other Lives – Tamer Animals
Bon Iver – Bon Iver, Bon Iver
Belle & Sebastian – Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant
Sigur Ros – Takk
——— Marwan Tohme
In no particular order:
Nick Drake – Pink Moon
Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
Other Lives – Tamer Animals
The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream
The Walkmen – Lisbon
Pentangle – Basket Of Light
Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me
Simon & Garfunkel – Wednesday Morning, 3AM
Jackson C. Frank – Jackson C. Frank
The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead
I asked some of my musician friends from Beirut, to list their 10 favorite albums of 2014…
Or the music they’ve listened to the most during the past year, regardless of date of release
Joseph Ghosn (writer & musician)
2014 a été une année un peu étrange durant laquelle j’ai tenté de désapprendre à acheter des disques (sans succès), à aimer la pop sans que ce soit un exercice théorique (sans grand succès), à trouver autre chose que de la musique abstraite pour me nourrir (avec plus ou moins de succès), à ne pas céder unilatéralement aux rééditions de toutes sortes (sans aucun succès). Cela dit, au bout de l’année, quelques disques m’ont vraiment captivé et capturé les oreilles. Parmi eux, il y a pas mal de maxis de techno que j’ai aimés sincèrement mais que je ne retiens pas parce qu’ils sont passés trop vite, il y a aussi les 3 albums de NeoTantrik, le groupe d’Andy Votel et Demdike Stare qui auraient fait un seul disque splendide, il y a toutes les cassettes, maxis, rééditions, projets de Demdike Stare qui ne me quittent pas, il y a aussi pas mal de trucs New Age eighties assez beaux – à commencer par la compilation I Am The Center trimballée partout ces 9 derniers mois… Bref, 2014 a été riche mais ne m’avait pas donné envie de faire une liste. Jusqu’à la demande de Ziad pour son blog. D’où ce qui suit, subjectif et sûrement déjà obsolète – à vous de voir :
Dirty Beaches – Stateless
Shinichi Atobe – The Butterfly Effect
Metronomy – Love Letters
Andy Stott – Faith In Strangers
Dean Blunt – Black Metal
Locust – After The Rain
Wolves In The Throne Room – Célestite
Oren Ambarchi – Quixotism
Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence
Kassel Jaeger – Toxic Cosmopolitanism
Bitchin Bajas – double album
Scott Walker + Sunn O))) – Soused
Trevor Jackson – Yesterday Today Tomorrow Forever
Grouper – Ruins
Aphex Twin – Syro
Forever Pavot – album
+
Rééditions : Craig Leon / Phill Niblock / Ariel Kalma / Crime / Polyphonic Size / Louis de Meester / Jean-Claude Risset / François Bayle / Francis Bebey
I asked some of my musician friends from Beirut, to list their 10 favorite albums of 2014… Or the music they’ve listened to the most during the past year, regardless of date of release
– Death Grips: The Powers That B
– Ariel Pink: Pom Pom
– Andy Stott: Faith In Strangers
– Mister Lies: Shadow
– Saint Pepsi: Fiona Coyne/Fall Harder
– White Lung: Deep Fantasy
– BADBADNOTGOOD: III
– Mac DeMarco: Salad Days
– Caribou: Our Love
– Iceage: Plowing Into The Field Of Love
———–
I asked some of my musician friends from Beirut, to list their 10 favorite albums of 2014…
Or the music they’ve listened to the most during the past year, regardless of date of release
– The War On Drugs: Lost In The Dream
– Angel Olson: Burn Your Fire For No Witness
– Sun Kil Moon: Benji
– Mac Demarco: Salad Days
– Fennesz: Becs
– Perfume Genius: Too Bright
– Owen Pallett: In Conflict
– Timber Timbre: Hot Dreams
– Jackson C. Frank: S/t (reissue of the 1965 album)
– Iceage: Plowing In The Field Of Love
Lebanese folk singer/songwriter Allen Seif aka OAK was the guest of Ruptures, for an interview and live performance showcasing his music career in Lebanon and Australia.
Lebanese folk singer/songwriter Youmna Saba was the guest of Ruptures, for an interview and live performance during which she played the entirety of her third and latest album, ‘Njoum’. She is accompanied by Lebanese musician and producer Fadi Tabbal on electric guitar and various sound treatments.
Ruptured presents
Launch concert for RADIOKVM‘s first vinyl release ISSRAR Featuring live music by Radiokvm & live video by Rami el Sabbagh
Hailing from Beirut, Lebanon, SARY MOUSSA aka RADIOKVM is a self-taught electronic musician. Constantly busy absorbing, analyzing and trying to reproduce in his own manner the ambient sounds surrounding him, he started taking music lessons as a kid, but soon found out that experimentation, e-learning, reading and trial and error processes were a lot more efficient and interesting. He was into making electronic music, and no one around him knew what a synth, a filter or a drum machine were!
Moussa grew up listening to rock and jazz, before delving headlong into electronica. He started crafting his own melodies under the moniker radiokvm in 2008. He collaborated closely with Lebanese producer Okydoky, organizing live gigs and releasing a batch of demos; the two men became notorious on the live circuit of Beirut’s electronic scene. In later years, Moussa collaborated with Lebanese electronic producers Munma, Jad Atoui, and Liliane Chlela, releasing both remixes and original compositions for label compilations; he has also composed music for theatre and dance performances (Ali Chahrour’s ‘Fatmeh’), as well as soundtracks for short films.
Born in Beirut in 1979, Rami el Sabbagh is a Lebanese video maker. He graduated from the Institute of Scenic and Audio-Visual Studies (IESAV), Saint Joseph University in Beirut in 2004. His videos include ‘C’est de ta faute, quelque part’ (It’s Somewhat Your Fault, 2003), ‘2mg of Rotten Blood on Pure White Snow’, and ‘The Last Hero’ (2012). He is also a VJ since 2005 and a DJ since 2006.
Poster by Maya Chami, based on an original artwork by Sandra Ghosn
Ruptured Music 