Brief moments of seemingly grasping something previously hidden from view.
Snow melting on a deserted concrete platform at a station with no name in an urban wasteland.
White trees, limbs outstretched as if barring the way into the deeper woods and the darkness.
Bone sentinels.
A faint memory of once knowing and now forgotten.
Elusive and dreamlike the ghosts return.

The title for This Painted Life comes from a quote in Nabokov's Invitation to a Beheading: " ...in my dreams the world would come alive, becoming so captivatingly majestic, free and ethereal, that afterwards it would be oppressive to breathe the dust of this painted life."

The inspiration for the songs and lyrics mostly came from screwing stuff up in my personal life, and by examining the ways I felt trapped inside the lifestyle I'd adopted. Or that had adopted me. Id become kind of a spectator to my own life, like I'd wake up and do the things that were there to do, and it was eating at me in way I didn't notice until well into my twenties. Dr. Nu once suggested calling the album "'Fear and Loathing in Your Twenties" cause it's about a bunch of the things that can mess you up at that age. Things like materialism and greed, or getting hung up on a person who's bad for you.

- Lilly Wolf

LehtMoJoe's third album corralls enough effects and trickery into a single frame to make a pepperoni hotpocket look totally amazing. As scattered as the flood of images that bear the ubiquitous hashtag, so too is the spread of Leht's music.

Featured in mixes by Grammy winner Mark Ronson, a major motion picture starring Kevin Durant, and multimillion-view YouTube videos of beagles mating, LehtMoJoe is acclaimed for his versatility and dynamic range. With #nofilter, Leht continues this propensity, bravely tossing melody and heavy beats at the electrified Jurassic Park fence.

I have to explain a little bit about my work as a composer and musician. The "missing link" I'm talking about here is the viola da gamba, originally an improvisation instrument, which happens to be able to associate with all traditional instruments of the world.

There is the manifestation, then the writing of a composition (to communicate with other musicians), and most important of all, its interpretation. In both cases, for me, it is always a question of improvisation.

Open-minded music for Open-minded people.

Why "World Music"?

In the jungle of commercial-style classifications, as on MySpace or other internet portals there isn't any label (open-minded music) yet, I have to use the catch-all wording of "World Music". As my music "blends" influences from all over the world, so be it; whatever, I'll always be French. When I started playing music, and later the viola da gamba, I never wondered about musical style, which brought me some problems with various "police", the "jazz police", the "baroque police", the "art producer police" ("this music is too good for that film") ... are there also "World music police"?

Meeting with older "masters" did help me a lot on my way. Martial Solal in 1979: "You can do what you want but should be able to explain it". Constantly unsatisfied, I never felt at ease in a style, and always went too far for my colleagues. Someday someone offered me a book by A.K. Coomaraswamy: "The Transformation of Nature in Art", in which he explains traditional art, and the idea that Style is the man, and by no means the essence of art.

Another "master", Dr. M. Bernhard, professor at the Music Institute of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (sounds good ay!),opened the doors of his library to me. So I studied European medieval music treaties and naturally Gregorian music. I discovered real treasures. References always go back to Plato. But as information here was relatively vague, I continued by searching in Arabic and Indian music.

Traditional bases of music theory are almost the same everywhere on this planet. Learning through books, is fine, but I consider it not enough, and the theory must be experienced through actual traditional practice, when possible. So I experienced with mostly oriental musicians (Arab, Turkish, Indian), as the practice of modal improvisation is more than rare in the West.

So I have been able to revitalize all these modes, which have been known as "church modes" ever since good old Gregory.

The discovery of the viola da gamba in 1993 for a film score did change my music a lot. For about 15 years I stopped working with chords and did only melodies, but as I still liked ensemble music I composed pieces using parallel melodies, like in "The City". Meeting modern hurdy-gurdy player Valentin Clastrier has been crucial, as he advised me to use electronics with the viola da gamba. Here I found a link to my past with electric guitar, where I used all well-known effects like echo, reverb, wah-wah, flanger etc., plus the synthesizer and sampler worlds. In my career during some studio recordings, I happened to have to replay a bass line, then a keyboard and even percussion part, realizing at the end, apart from the vocals and possibly drums, I had played everything. Little Mike Oldfield from Nancy was born.

I always use a special concept for a composition, as in film music. I have about 3 hours of compositions waiting for recording (Dragon, Tortue, Libellule, Papillon, Funambule...), the titles say it all.

In this recording I chose the most accessible compositions, leaving too complex rhythms (9, 6, 5, 11 and 13, in the relevant order), and used almost everything I had at my disposal (Ableton Live software), a lot of vocoder. As I don't have a midi viol, I "had to" put the sound of the viol through the filter of a synthesizer or sampler. And then even a wah-wah effect. "Why not?" said Frank.

Not being subjected to time constraints as support for images, the compositions did not have to be formatted in an acceptable way for the masses; each musical idea implies its own development, and so the pieces are relatively long, sort of "symphonic poems".

The interpretation is another "paire de manches" (a whole different ball game). Find the musicians who can, who will, who dare, and who stay, most importantly of all modal improvisers. And keep it going. This recording reflects my ideal ensemble, and I hope to reproduce it live as soon as possible.

A Compilation of Rattling instrumental rock n roll riffs and retro beats, Made with a whole lot a Fuzz and soul. The main theme and feel for this album is motoring and getting a move.