Urfaust - Verräterischer, Nichtswürdiger Geist

A strange entry from a strange band. Many prefer Urfaust's first LP, the excellent Geist ist Teufel, to this but I can't get this one into my ears enough right now. Urfaust play very simple, stripped down, melodic sort-of-folky Black Metal with mostly clean vocals that give way to strange howls and histrionics at points. The vocals may be a sticking point for many; IX's voice is very much unpolished but he's always in key. The drums can barely keep up with the simplest beats and there are some musical decisions that work but are kind of baffling (ie. the arpeggiated guitars for the entirety of "Verflucht das Blenden der Erscheinung"). Verräterischer, Nichtswürdiger Geist's four BM tracks are accompanied by 3 of the most sophisticated and well recorded classical pieces I've ever heard come out of a metal band. Unlike most would-be classical composers in metal, Urfaust veer away from too much obvious melody or soundtrackiness (that's a word now) and present largely minimal work somewhat in the vein of certain 20th Century works by guys like Giacinto Scelsi or Henryk Góreck. Not on the same level of sophistication obviously, but still... So you have this weird juxtaposition of very weird metal and weirdly brilliant classical music and it's not for everybody at ALL, but fuck if I can't stop listening to it.
http://www.mediafire.com/?hb3kk5ux354ap5l

Jean Sibelius - Symphony #2

Schoenberg disciple René Leibowitz once called Sibelius "The worst composer in the world". Serialists are often dickfaces though, n'est ce pas? Besides, Morton Feldman, who people actually remember, apocryphally had Sibelius' back. All I know is that I really like the second and fifth symphonies. The climax of the final movement here is a monster. Sure it's not the most challenging or complex work that classical music has to offer but there's more to it than that, yes? This is a 1960 recording with Herbert von Karajan conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra. Get cultured.
http://www.mediafire.com/?4mqq9l8lpk5xxb3

Phill Niblock - G2, 44 +/X2

Phill Niblock is known for his use of looooooooooooooong tones. I've heard a couple of his pieces that are just an instrument playing a single note for 30+ minutes until it detunes itself. Not interesting, really. This guitar-drone piece kinda plays off the same theme, but I really like it. The disc contains two different interpretations of the same 30-minute work. One by Rafael Toral and one "massed" version featuring Alan Licht, Kevin Drumm, Lee Ranaldo, and Thurston Moore that evolves slowly, almost imperceptibly, but above all satisfyingly. It took me forever to dig this one up, so I'll spare you the trouble.
http://www.mediafire.com/?kaynoqymjmg

Paul Dolden - Seuil de Silences

I have some reservations about posting this, but here it is. My first reservation is that this music is impossible to describe verbally. There is nothing like it. I don't care how much weird stuff you've heard or what you're into, I PROMISE you that you've never heard anything like this. From Wikipedia: "His approach to audio technology is to use it as a platform from which to launch otherwise impossible musical performances". This gets you in the ballpark, but you'll just have to hear it to understand.
My second reservation is that people involved with this sort of music are often very sensitive about the reduction of their music to mp3s, and about the free dissemination of those files. So I would encourage you to purchase the CDs if this music is of interest to you. (Although I would note in my defense that this would be a more reasonable request if they caught up with the times charged something other than 1999 retail prices)
http://www.mediafire.com/?oaazmwiyioe

Alvin Lucier - Music on a Long Thin Wire

In the words of the composer:
"Music on a Long Thin Wire is constructed as follows: the wire is extended across a large room, clamped to tables at both ends. The ends of the wire are connected to the loudspeaker terminals of a power amplifier placed under one of the tables. A sine wave oscillator is connected to the amplifier. A magnet straddles the wire at one end. Wooden bridges are inserted under the wire at both ends to which contact microphones are embedded, routed to the stereo sound system. The microphones pick up the vibrations that the wire imparts to the bridges and are sent through the playback system. By varying the frequency and loudness of the oscillator, a rich variety of slides, frequency shifts, audible beats and other sonic phenomena may be produced."

It may sound somewhat complex, but the end result is ultra-minimal, at times ethereal and - to my ears - quite beautiful. This is music reduced to its barest essence.

http://www.mediafire.com/?yte1w1yvqyl

Gloria Coates - Symphony no. 15

Gloria Coates is a modern American composer, although she has been living in Euro-Land since the '70s. She is known particularly for her unique textures and liberal use of long string glissandos. Symphony no. 15, subtitled "Homage to Mozart", is shrouded in a mysterious sonic aura. Strings squeal and slide while brass and percussion add canonic figures and hint at a distant majesty. If you're into to ambient and drone music, you would be well served to check this out although it bears little direct resemblance to either. This is definitely one that might blow a few minds if given a chance, as it did to me.
http://www.mediafire.com/?m50mxlwzn2d

Krzysztof Penderecki - Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima for 52 strings

Well, this isn't really hyper-obscure nerd fare. This is a piece that has garnered renown from it's public debut in 1960. It showed up in The Shining, and I think in Children of Men as well. But if you haven't heard it, get ready to be knocked on your seat. That's the effect that it has on most. Descriptions seem to fail most here. Dissonant clusters of sound, ominous walls and poignant cries, every string played in every possible manner at the same time.
http://www.mediafire.com/?zjja5nj2tlt

Michael Gordon - Decasia

The soundtrack of the film where a guy found crates of rotting film and transferred the decayed results without any additional manipulation. Very cool to watch. The soundtrack echoes the visual theme of the movie by presenting a "decaying" orchestra. Four detuned pianos are the centerpiece, and the rest of the orchestra is similarly detuned to varying degrees. The results can be a little unsettling - much like the film - but there's simply nothing else quite like it that I've heard. I've found it to be more rewarding when approached separately from the film.
http://www.mediafire.com/?yjmnjmn1mwh