QuietMelodies is now open!

As many of you might already know, the new portal is finally open!!!!!  I am so sorry that it has taken so long to happen, but I do hope you find it worth the wait.  Some of the new features you will be able to enjoy are being able to message any member & being able to post your own favorites.  There will also be a forum added so that requests and such can be made there.  Eventually hope to in essence mirror this blog there and of course have new content available.  The new music available should be substantially more than here as there will be multiple people posting =-).  Please stop by and join your NEW home for QuietMusic – www.quietmelodies.com!

Dead Can Dance – Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun

Dead Can Dance – Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 38:48 min | 1987 | 118 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry actually manage to out-shimmer the Cocteau Twins on this 1987 release, which finds their beautiful minimalism adorned with increasingly developed compositional genius. The cascading melodies that grace “Summoning of the Muse” and “Persephone” are tailor-made for that next Christmas or Winter Solstice celebration, while more conventional (albeit somewhat somber) pop tracks like “Xavier” and “Anywhere Out of the World” keep the going from getting too arcane. All in all, more fun than a barrel of goths.

Dead Can Dance – Toward The Within (Live)

Dead Can Dance – Toward The Within (Live)
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 1:07:59 min | 1994 | 222 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Originally released in 1994, this record was an audio document of the band’s 1993 sell-out world tour. Recorded at the Mayfair Theater in Santa Monica, CA, in front of an invited audience at the conclusion of the tour, the shows were also filmed with the intent of releasing a long form concert film. Includes twelve previously unrecorded Dead Can Dance tracks as well as material from their six previous studio albums.  (For Monica =-))

Dead Can Dance – The Serpent’s Egg

Dead Can Dance – The Serpent’s Egg
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 36:16 min | 1995 | 131 MB | 10% Recovery Record

The fourth Dead Can Dance album, THE SERPENT’S EGG, continues the band’s evolution away from tradition rock/pop song structures. The tracks are instead built on sustained chords, vocal harmonizing, and brittle-sounding string instruments. “Orbis de Ignis” is almost a cappella, the only music being a bell struck between verses, with the ethereal voice of Lisa Gerrard (and others) skittering over the surface. Along with the insistent tribal drumming of “Mother Tongue,” which eventually evolves into a wordless chant by Lisa Gerrard, the best tracks here are two featuring Brendan Perry’s vocals, “Severance” and “Ullyses.” The first opens on an ominous drone as the song’s narrative tells of a fading community (or civilization, even). The second features some of Perry’s most interesting work with the hurdy-gurdy, which is echoed by a string section. Also of note is the creepy vocal interplay in “Echolalia.” For fans of This Mortal Coil, “Song of Sophia” distinctly recalls that band’s “Song to the Siren.” This is maybe not the best Dead Can Dance record to begin with–it is certainly the group’s most insular–but for fans it is another fascinating trip to the dawn of Western music.  (For Monica =-))

Dead Can Dance – Spleen And Ideal

Dead Can Dance – Spleen And Ideal
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 38:01 min | 1985 | 121 MB | 10% Recovery Record

The primarily experimental structure of their second album, released in 1986, dispelled any notion that the band deserved the post-Gothic label slapped on them by the music press. “Spleen And Ideal” defined a new richness of unification between voice and music, lyrics and structure. (For Monica =-))

Dead Can Dance – Spiritchaser

Dead Can Dance – Spiritchaser
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 51:56 min | 1996 | 191 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Listening to Dead Can Dance is a transcendental experience. Enriched with dedications to the living Gaia, their creations subsist in natural and other worldly realms. Initially crafting songs which augmented their Australian roots with Gothic and Renaissance traditions, the group have since grown to encompass a hybrid of global sounds. On Spiritchaser the enchanted souls of founding members Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard shine in this, their most ethereal LP to date. Whereas earlier endeavors succumbed to genres grounded in eras of the past and non-Western present, it’s immediately apparent that this album has loftier aspirations. Hypnotically threaded with traditional and electronic instruments, the exorcism of each song touches upon the universal essence beyond. While Gerrard’s heavenly vocals are used primarily for instrumental effect, Perry’s fertile lyricism both compliments her efforts and expresses the spiritual associations related to the album’s title and meaning. Intrinsically delivered with shamanistic connectivity, the sensations ritualize the modern mortal. (For Monica =-))

Dead Can Dance – Into The Labyrinth

Dead Can Dance – Into The Labyrinth
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 1:05:31 min | 1993 | 236 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Their goth-sounding name and dour visual image aside, the prolific duo of Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard produce wildly eclectic but utterly unique music. Their painstakingly crafted albums encompass numerous arcane genres, from European classical music to ancient Celtic and Middle Eastern folk styles, often employing authentic antique instruments to achieve their ambitious, emotive soundscapes. The 1993 effort Into the Labyrinth found Dead Can Dance mixing their medieval leanings with more exotic Eastern influences on “Saldek” and “Yulunga,” while exploring Celtic balladry on the traditional “The Wind That Shakes the Barley” and theatrical songcraft in their interpretation of Bertolt Brecht’s “How Fortunate Is the Man with None.”  (For Monica =-))

Dead Can Dance – Garden Of Arcane Delights

Dead Can Dance – Garden Of Arcane Delights
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 15:00 min | 1984 | 62.7 MB | 10% Recovery Record

This 1984 release set the pace for the band’s career, helped define the tone of the 4AD label, and opened the door for a genre that includes Delirium, Deep Forest, and Enigma. While much less dense and textural than more recent DCD, this album begins the group’s study of combining global rhythms and instrumentation from various musical eras with contemporary sounds. Here they explore the somewhat Gothic electronic and rock instrumentation of post-punk European pop. Featuring the lush, sonorous vocals of Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard, this is a dark, mysterious, and compelling release. Fans of later works will not be disappointed; newcomers will find this groundbreaker a good place to meet Dead Can Dance.  (For Monica =-))

Dead Can Dance – Dead Can Dance

Dead Can Dance – Dead Can Dance
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 36:33 min | 1984 | 113 MB | 10% Recovery Record

In March 1984, 4AD release the first Dead Can Dance first album, a collection of the songs they had written over the previous four years.  The album artwork featured a ritual mask from Nuova Guinea, which would almost become the logo for the band.

The mask,though once a living part of a tree,is now supposedly dead. Neverthless,it has, throught the artistry of its maker,been imbued with a life force of its own.  (For Monica =-))

Dead Can Dance – Aion

Dead Can Dance – Aion
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 36:12 min | 1990 | 149 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Reflecting their deepening interest in early Renaissance music, "Aion" featured Gregorian chants and baroque elements, and was recorded using authentic ‘early music’ instruments, including hurdy gurdy and bagpipes. But the album was less a purist’s recreation of the past, than an exploration of the way music can transcend time.  The cover is a particular of Bosch’s “The Garden of Earthly Delights”, 1503-1504.  (For Monica =-))

Dead Can Dance – Memento (The Very Best Of Dead Can Dance)

Dead Can Dance – Memento (The Very Best Of Dead Can Dance)
MP3 @ 128 Kbps | 1:18:04 min | 2005 | 78 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Cofounded in Australia in the early ’80s by Irish punk bassist/singer Brendan Perry and Australian vocalist Lisa Gerrard, Dead Can Dance transplanted to London in 1982 and quickly became globally renowned for their stylistically diverse and groundbreaking music as well as their incredible live shows. Fusing atmospheric, ambient pop, spiritual undertones, and alt-electronica with world beats and European folk-both contemporary and centuries old-their string of album masterpieces kicked off in 1984 with a self-titled debut. After disbanding in ’99, Perry went solo and Gerrard became a prominent film composer, celebrated for her Golden Globe winning score for Gladiator, among other works. Their cult following thrives, and Rhino’s new compilation coincides with the band’s reunion, their first together in many years.