Qntal will soon be enchanting us with their beautiful blend of classical and electronic music again. Their sixth album entitled Translucida will be released on both sides of the Atlantic this week. In the United States, Dancing Ferret’s sub-label Noir Records will release Translucida on Tuesday, February 26th. The album will then be released in Germany on Friday the 29th. Both locations will see the usual 2-format release with a standard and a limited edition. The basic album comes with 12 songs, while the limited edition is in a digibook and contains a second disc with bonus material.

Listen to Translucida
I am currently listening to the 2 songs from Translucida that are on Qntal’s Myspace page and they are just stunning. Very beautiful and captivating. If you enjoy Qntal’s previous music, or other “modern-traditional” bands like Faun or Corvus Corax for example, you will love this new album. Qntal is really one of the most steadily-good bands in this genre and Translucida really continues this trend.

Where to find Translucida
In North America, get it directly from Dancing Ferret’s store, Isotank: regular for $13.99* - limited edition for $16.99
In Europe, get it from EMP.de: regular for Eur 14.99 - limited edition for Eur 16.99

* Please note: I don’t know why Isotank shows the regular version with the bonus disc, but no other retailer shows this. I think it’s a mistake on their site. If you want the bonus disc, make sure you buy the limited edition.

Qntal - VI-Translucida tracklisting

Disc 1:
01. Sleeping
02. Departir
03. Slahte Wille
04. Translucida
05. La Froidor
06. Glacies
07. Worlds Of Light
08. Obscure
09. Sumer
10. Amorous Desir
11. Ludus
12. Passacaglia

Disc 2 on limited edition only:
01. Ludus
02. Umaere
03. La Froidor
04. Slahte Wilde (Version Bleu)

Qntal is coming to America to play 3 concerts, their only U.S. shows in 2007. Sorry to anyone on the West coast, but the concerts are limited to New York City and Philadelphia. The first two are on October 12th and 13th where Qntal will be a featured band at FaerieCon in Philadelphia. The medieval and fantasy themes of FaerieCon should be perfect for a band like Qntal. If you like Qntal’s music but could do without all of the fantasy nonsense, then you will prefer the New York City concert on October 15th. This is a more traditional concert which will be held during Nectromantic at the Knitting Factory which goes from 11 PM until 3. Tickets are $20 and you have to be at least 18 to get in.

Dancing Ferret Records has been a godsend to German musicians and their fans in America. They have released numerous talented bands like Eisbrecher, Subway To Sally, De/Vision, Qntal and Joachim Witt in the U.S. And they just keep going, more and faster. The Ferret’s latest venture into border-crossing is a re-release… actually 2 of them. Qntal’s first 2 albums were never officially released in America, but finally after more than 10 years, they will reach American shores.

The Qntal albums, called I and II, will be released on October 9th. They both feature Qntal’s beautiful combination of medieval tunes and instruments with some more modern influences, as well as a mixture of languages. You can find MP3 samples for both albums on Dancing Ferret’s mailorder site, Isotank.com (I here and II here). Go ahead and order them if you like the music, too, now that they won’t cost you a fortune to import.

Qntal - I tracklist
01. Un Vers De Dreyt Nien
02. Ad Mortem Festinamus
03. Anc Non Lo Vi
04. Por Mau Tens
05. Floris E Blanchaflor
06. Unter der Linden
07. Rossinhol
08. Non Sofre Santa Maria
09. Doussa Res
10. Jherusalem
11. Sanctus
12. Black Death

Qntal - II tracklist
01. Introitus
02. Palestinalied
03. Frühling
04. Hymni Nocturnales
05. Vos Attestor
06. Herbst
07. Abaelard
08. Virgo Splendens
09. Trobar Clus
10. Sine Nomine
11. Ab Vox d’Angel
12. Epilog

Estampie is releasing a retrospective of their best work from the past 20 years, simply called Best of Estampie 1986-2006. The CD was released today by the Dancing Ferret sub-label Noir Records and features 18 tracks of fantastic medieval music. Estampie’s style is closer to true medieval music than their sister band Qntal, but is equally as stunning. You can listen to samples from every song on the CD on Isotank.com.

The Best of Estampie tracklist
01. Disse mi
02. Chanterai por mon corage
03. Imperator rex Graecorum
04. Quantos me creveren
05. Palästinalied
06. Bluomenrot
07. Gol (Live-Aufnahme)
08. Estampie V
09. Voi ch´amate
10. Al jorn
11. A voi gente
12. Qui sunt hi - O antiqui sancti - Aer enim volat
13. O Fortuna
14. Fin amor
15. Reis glorios
16. Numquid Dari
17. Heu heu heu
18. Summerwunne

While Qntal is certainly no new band to me, I just recently discovered their current album Silver Swan. It was released just over a year ago and I think it’s fantastic. The band’s merger of classical, electronic, and medieval music make for some beautiful sounds. The album is available in 2 versions: a standard CD version, and a limited edition with a bonus disc including several remixes, a bonus track called “Rot”, and an exclusive art gallery by the fantasy illustrator Brian Froud.

You can hear one of Qntal’s older songs, “Ecce Gratum”, on the current Radio Goethe podcast, or check out their Myspace page for a few from Silver Swan. You can also watch their unique video for “Von den Elben” via their website.

Silver Swan was released in the US by Noir Records, a branch of Dancing Ferret. You can order the album (and listen to additional samples) through their site Isotank.com here, or find the limited edition with a bonus disc here.

Silver Swan
01. Monsieur’s Departure
02. Amis Raynaut
03. Levis
04. Von den Elben
05. Lingua Mendax
06. Falling Star
07. The Whyle
08. Winter
09. Altas Undaz
10. 292
11. Silver Swan

Bonus CD
01. Von Den Elben (single edit)
02. Levis (Half Light mix)
03. 292 (A Darker Shape mix)
04. Veni (Filthy Floor Mix)
05. Rot
06. Von Den Elben (Brian Froud music video)
07. Brian Froud multimedia gallery