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!

Jonn Serrie & Gary Stroutsos – Hidden World

Jonn Serrie & Gary Stroutsos – Hidden World
MP3 @ 256 Kbps | 51:41 min | 2000 | 104 MB | 10% Recovery Record

Jonn Serrie is one of the leading space music artists in the U.S. His commissioned work for planetariums is legendary. Gary Stroutsos is one of the world’s leading flutists. He excels particularly on Native American flutes. These two virtuosos got together and collaborated on Hidden World, a cross-cultural hybrid. Serrie says, “(Music) exists to help us explore a sense of ourselves and our place in the universe.” According to Stroutsos: “…Music creates unity among peoples, cultures and nations. (It) can touch the soul, making it our universal means of communication.” Taken out of context, such philosophies can — and often do — seem maudlin. However, listening to this CD with those words fresh in mind clarifies and validates the philosophies. This music transcends hypocrisy and conflict — both internal and external. Serrie and Stroutsos do indeed touch the soul with their large and gentle atmospheres. The soundscapes are warm and comfortable. This CD will appeal to fans of Cornsmoke, Coyote Oldman, Zero Ohms, Douglas Spotted Eagle, and R. Carlos Nakai.

David Lanz & Gary Stroutsos – Living Temples

David Lanz & Gary Stroutsos – Living Temples
MP3 @ 225 Kbps VBR | 50:43 min | 71.7 MB | 2008 | 10% Recovery Record

If you heard the desert sing, how would you describe its song? What melodies arise from the red rock, the river, and the open sky? What is the sound of a sacred place?

Alone at the piano, with filmmaker Jan Nickman’’s images flickering on the near by screen, composer and musician, David Lanz, began to slowly find answers to these questions. And then enter into the fold, world flutist and composer Gary Stroutsos, and engineer/producer Gary Lanz. Not content to create a soundtrack restrained in style, these three friends and brothers allowed the muse to have her way, wild and elusive at first, then flowing freely, and finally tamed and captured in the recording. Blending the classic sounds of piano, cello, and upright acoustic bass, with exotic native and world flutes, dreamy synth textures, hand percussion, and the majestic thundering sound of the Taos drums, the compositions were given room to breathe, unfold, and come to life. This is music that reflects the spacious beauty the American Southwest evokes. Beauty at once stark, rich, and surprisingly lush in texture. So what is the sound of a sacred place? Listen to the music of Living Temples and you may just hear the answer . . .

David Lanz & Gary Stroutsos – Spirit Romance

David Lanz & Gary Stroutsos – Spirit Romance
MP3 @ 320 Kbps | 49:52 min | 123 MB | 2005 | 10% Recovery Record

This album from piano master David Lanz is something like the new age equivalent of a jam session. Lanz took to his piano and Gary Stroutsos to his flute and, in combination with a small handful of other new age musicians and engineers, spent a few weekends putting together a series of instrumental works. The music is composed to have a “Zen-like quality,” which is to say that there is no real motif in use and no thematic sense to speak of, but more of a generalized feeling that can be given mood or content proactively by the listener. In the realm of new age music, this one’s relatively nice. More emphasis is given to the general likableness of the sound than to the occasional spiritual or academic backings that can twist music to a more intellectual level without aesthetic purpose (à la interpretive dance). This one is a plausible addition to the collections of non-new age listeners, as a basic piece of background music on a quiet day.