Various (Hauschka, Vashti Bunyan, Leyland Kirby, the Brodericks etc.)

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5...according to our Phil on Thu 21 Jan, 2010.

Here's a doozy for you! It's a 21 track compilation CD called Music & Migration and it's designed to bring to your attention the plight of the modern day bird as we scupper its existence by destroying forests and generally being all human and fucking things up everywhere like we do. We all love birds and from the roster (really had to stop myself from writing rooster...) Second Language has pieced together it's obvious that loads of cool musicians love birds too. On this stunning CD you get exclusive tracks by Hauschka, Vashti Bunyan, The Declining Winter, Xela, David John Shepherd, both Peter & Heather Woods Broderick, Danny Norbury, Library Tapes, Fieldhead, Leyland Kirby, Gareth S Brown, Ant, Seasons Pre Din, Darren Hayman and tons more. It's quite possibly the best line up on a comp album I've seen in years. It being for such a great cause 'n all the artists have donated some smart tracks 'n all. Not wishing to cause any arguments but for me the standout tracks are the ones by David John Shepherd, Xela, The Declining Winter, Lene Charlotte Holm, Brave Timbers and Fieldhead. There's some stunning pieces of music on this album and if you're into the neo classical, post-rock or the more sound art adventurous side of things then you'll love this. It's super limited and we've got 50 only to sell. They come in amazingly packaged little cardboard things with stamps and fancy inserts including a tracing paper map with the migratory routes on. Great stuff. Be quick!!

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The compilation album Music & Migration really is music for the birds – its 21 tracks inspired by both the miracle of the migratory impulse and the human-inspired peril of avian life today. A showcase for the finest in contemporary post-classical composition, idiosyncratic folksong and pastoral soundscaping, it’s an album with a charitable raison d'etre that just happens to offer 75 minutes of bewitching, immersive sounds and stands as an enticing survey of where left-of-centre music is at in 2010. To put it another way, the first great compilation album of the new decade has arrived.

Perhaps it’s an innate empathy with birdsong, or the fact that internationally touring artists enjoy a natural kinship with the notion of ‘migration’, but musicians do seem to have a particular affinity with our feathered friends (just ask The Byrds, Doves, Guillemots, Pigeon Detectives, Black Crowes, etc . . .) So when the nature conservation organisation BirdLife International (through their Born To Travel campaign) wanted to increase awareness about the burgeoning threat to the breeding grounds and ‘air lanes’ of migratory birds across the globe, it seemed logical to ask musicians to be the mediators of the message.

Co-ordinating the project was Copenhagen-based Martin Holm, who just happens to be one of the founders of a new, boutique subscription record label called Second Language (London-based musician Glen Johnson, of Piano Magic, and musician, writer and Brian Eno biographer David Sheppard, are his colleagues). Martin was eager to merge his two passions; bird conservation and music and, thus, what started as an online awareness promotion via MySpace quickly evolved into a physical album, populated by the musicians he and his colleagues love. Music & Migration is the delightful result.

The sophomore release on Second Language (the first, by Glen Johnson's Textile Ranch project, has already sold out), Music & Migration, like all the label's releases, contains only new and exclusive tracks and is released in a super-limited edition, with much attention given to its luxurious, hand-tooled, recycled packaging.

Tracklisting:

1. Hauschka - Lipstick Race
2. David John Sheppard - Small Town Raptor
3. Vashti Bunyan -Here (Demo)
4. Danny Norbury -The Lovers
5. Xela - Autumn Prayer
6. Heather Woods Broderick - Suture
7. Enderby's Room - Tiptoe
8. The Declining Winter - Red Kite
9. Ghostwriter - Even Solemnity In The Instruments (Farina's Automatic Translation Machine)
10. Darren Hayman - Summer Visitors
11. Gareth S. Brown - Over Biscay
12. Peter Broderick - Untitled For Violins
13. Lene Charlotte Holm - Tracing Echoes
14. ANT - Magpies (Demo)
15. brave timbers - Let's Never Go Back
16. Carousell - Black Swallow
17. Seasons (pre-din) - A Night Alone Pt. 2
18. Winter Cabin - Swifts And Swallows
19. Fieldhead - Open Show
20. Library Tapes - Another Field
21. Leyland Kirby - Whiffling