Phoenix Rising out of the Bay Area brings us a neo-classical, lyrical style that is both haunting and refreshing for its very defiance of stereotypes. Beautifully recorded, their latest release Ascension has as much to do with Lisa Gerrard and Penguin Cafe Orchestra as it does with Deuter and Enya.

Tags: classical music streaming, drums percussion, eternal quest, goat hooves, guitar drums, hang drum, indie music blog, irina mikhailova, jennifer lim, key signatures, Lisa Gerrard, lyrical style, monica williams, new classical music, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, piano sounds, primal instincts, seven chakras, spiritual realm, tabla india, talented women, wendy loomis

Mark Hollis – Mark Hollis

1. Mark Hollis – “Inside Looking Out” – Album: Mark Hollis
   After a decade and a half with Talk Talk, frontman Mark Hollis comes out with a hyper-minimalist effort that explores even further the silence that “Laughing Stock” was approaching. Piano, clarinets, upright, acoustic guitar, strings all convene in as gentle a matter as can be, married together in a way that would make Van Morrison circa “Astral Weeks” proud.
2. Antony and the Johnsons – “I Am A Bird Now” – Album: I Am A Bird Now
   
3. Kathleen Yearwood – “Who Killed Phillip?” – Album: The Book of Hate
   
4. A Fine Frenzy – “Ashes and Wine” – Album: One Cell in the Sea
   
5. KT Tunstall – “Paper Aeroplane” – Album: Drastic Fanstastic
   
6. Penguin Cafe Orchestra – “The Snake and the Lotus (the pond)
   
7. Charles Ives – “Central Park in the Dark” – Album: The Unanswered Question
   
8. James Blunt – I’m just fuckin kiddin.
   
9. Gnarls Barkley – Album: The Odd Couple (checkin it out)
10. The Black Keys – Album: Attack and Release (checkin it out)

Tags: A Fine Frenzy, Antony and the Johnsons, Charles Ives, Gnarls Barkley, indie, Kathleen Yearwood, Keram, KT Tunstall, Lists, Mark Hollis, music, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, The Black Keys, Top Ten