Slowing down on how many albums I look through in a week, gives me a nice long backlog of music sitting on my desk taunting me. This week I scored a Charlie Parker box set for 6$, the new Skindred finally arrived from the UK, some old GabberTrance, and brand new Industrial from the legendary Ogre.
New Releases:
OhGr - Undeveloped
Label: Metropolis Records
Released: 5/10/2011
Genre: Industrial
Ogre is one of the originals on the scene in the 1980s when it broke into the clubs, from Skinny-Puppy through KMFDM and Ministry. He's been everywhere, this is his third solo released under ohGr. It doesn't show off the more modern guitar and crunch laden Industrial, it feels old school, early 90s Industrial, though you can tell there's the experience of time behind it. Some of the songs feel a bit repetitive in the chorus, not everything is club-friendly. But there are a few really standout tracks (Crash being my favorite). It's a good album to put on to get things started, an opening salvo for the day.
Filling Out The Collection
Charlie Parker - The Yardbird Suite: The Ultimate Charlie Parker Collection
Label: Rhino Records
Released: 1997
Genre: Jazz
Charlie Parker is without a doubt one of the greats of Jazz through the 40s and 50s, and even beyond as his sound carried onto the next generation. Bird is a timeless classic. This 2-Disc set covers his entire career from his time with Dizzy Gillespie at the start to his various bands - quartet, quintet, and sextet, septet, all-stars, and orchestra. A little bit of everything is here. It comes with a booklet that hi-lights his career along the way, some of the ups and downs. In total the 38 tracks here going right up to the unfortunate end of his career in 1955 with his death. If you want a wide selection of The Bird's work to get started with, or even just a box-set that you can put on this is an excellent resource to track down.
Skindred - Union Black
Label: 7PM Management / BMG
Released: April 2011
Genre: Metal, Ragga-Punk
Skindred are part punk rock, part heavy metal, and part ragga. Born out of London, lead singer Benji carries the group to a new level with his vocals. Always loud, always rowdy, this is their fourth release, and it's the first release since their move back to the UK after several years trying to take off in the US. They're sound is bigger, bolder here. The first single Warning is just that, it attacks with ferocity, and delivers the opening salvo an an album that doesn't slow down. The whole thing comes off awesomely, a few tracks go above and beyond. The defiance of Own You and Game Over almost make them anthems, while Guntalk and Bad Man Ah Bad Man just rock along in a danceable beat rarely achieved in anything related to metal. Skindred consistently tops out as one of my favorite bands.
Ultimate Gabber Trance, The Beats From Hell
Label: Hypnotic Records
Released: 1996
Genre: Gabber, Trance, Techno
The early 90s saw a rise of trance music, and when it hit raves it got sped up a little. And sped up a little more. Eventually it reached 180+ Beats Per Minute, that was Terror Trance. At over 200BPM it shifted into Gabber Trance, a hard, fast, twitchy, all rhythm style of beats. It's hard to imagine just how fast this music goes, how much it throws you onto the dance floor. Hard to find on releases even back when it was just getting into the mainstream dance scene. This ten track compilation is full of choice high-BPM cuts. Not particularly good to listen to all at once, though it does blend nicely into the background if one is laser-focused on something. But taking a few tracks and dropping them into the middle of a playlist is sure to break things up, keep things moving, and make sure the listener is always paying attention. If you want really fast and hard techno go out and find some Gabber.
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