Week Of 7/10 - Darkwave, Rock, House, Classical

Despite the week being a minor disaster causing me to miss the Sunday post (it'll be a week late), I did manage to get to the normal musical load... Keeping it diverse this week, and two new releases.

New Releases:

Ego Likeness
East
Label: self released (www.egolikeness.com)
Released: Early July 2012
Genre: Darkwave

The new EP with a few new tracks, and a lot of remixes. The real gem here is the cover of Tea In The Sarah, an amazingly dark rendition of the song, putting a whole new spin on it. The two new tracks are good as well, hoping for a full length in a similar style soon. The remixes, which take up seven of the ten tracks, deconstruct Ego Likeness across a multitude of genres. From harsh electro to standard club cut. The CD copy is a limited edition EP, but the digital release is good high quality audio.

Serj Tankian
Harakiri
Label: Reprise Records / Serjical Strike
Released: 7/10 2012
Genre: Rock, Metal

Serj has always been an interesting force in music. With a wide vocal range, and a diversity of delivery from rapid to slow, he never fails to change it up. His third solo album since the hiatus of System Of A Down (now off hiatus) is even stranger. It's all over the place. From songs the remind me greatly of the last so SOAD albums, to stuff that's just really new and weird. He doesn't let rock'n'roll sit around doing the same old thing. He just takes it and runs and goes such awesome places with it. From political activism to irreverent whatevers, it's an amazing and sonically awesome album. Go get this immediately, you won't regret it.

Adding To The Archives:

BT
Never Gonna Come Back Down - Remixes
Label: Nettwerk
Released: 2000
Genre: House, Techno

Five remixes of the title track off BTs 2001 album "Movement In Still Life". And that's where the interesting part stops. BT himself is a pretty solid producer, making some great late 90s house, and going into the 2000s some decent club albums. But this single, is pure hyped trash. All the boring parts of 90s House. With some big names behind it there's absolutely nothing imaginative about the remixes here. It was worth the whole dollar I paid for it as a curiosity of the age. Leaving me wondering why we tolerated a billion remixes of every big song.

Rough Guide To Classical: Beethoven
w/ Conductor Matthew Best "Mass In C Major"
Label: World Music Network
Released: 2011
Genre: Classical

Always curious to see what movements are placed in a collection, and that Beethoven wrote so much it's hard to duplicate your collection. Ten tracks, from a good wide range of compositions. Honestly, the opening piece of Bagatelle No. 6 on piano is both a good opener, and my favorite piece. A few symphonies, some string quartets, and several piano concerto's make it on. Like every rough guide, some serious (and good) thought went into this compilation and it's both a good start for newbies and a good addition to fans.

And the bonus disk, starts out with more piano. I like symphonies just fine, but classical piano is such an amazing art form, something about that instrument captures music so well. And we get all 6 movements  (they split movement 4 Sanctus into that and Benedictus). It's nice and chill, and well done. After that four more works are given, as chorus, but I have to say the recording quality was lacking. It's a little too quiet, I had to adjust the sound levels on the track because turning up the volume just made whatever I played next blast the speakers. Still, nice to have one of the lesser played works done.

Next Week:
Some Psychobilly, some Punk, some Reggae... all wildly different and yet all so connected to each other. Also, some Classical Indian and something up from my vinyl collection needing to be digitalized. Plus, a surprise!

Week Of 7/3 - Symphonic Metal, A Capella, Hip-Hop, Clasical (Modern)

Late this week, due to a number of factors, partially just got overly busy and behind. Without any more fanfare:

New & Recent Releases:

Delain
We Are The Others
Label: Sesnory (Laser's Edge)
Released: 7/3 2012
Genre: Metal, Symphonic Metal

Symphonic Metal likes to the toe the line between the heavy thrash/death metal sounds and light classical sounds. Both Classical and Metal can be extremely hard sounding, between the crunch of guitars and the power of a good string section the blending is basically made for each other. Yet, most symphonic metal bands like to waffle back and forth, which is why I don't listen to much of it. Delain found a nice middle ground here, it doesn't swoop back and forth between the two, it blends them into a pretty cool middle ground - guitars and violins I'd guess (though the symphonic part is entirely electronic, organic sound though. Charlotte's voice is good, she doesn't soar into highs that usually make me roll my eyes - a rock voice instead of operatic one. And they very sparingly use male death-metal singing, another bonus. So, solid album, solid sounding band, good composition, and very listenable. I recommend it for rock and metal fans alike.

Murs w/ Foundation
Yumiko: Curse Of The Merch Girl
Label: self-released (http://www.devilsdue.net/yumiko/)
Released: July / Late June 2012
Genre: Hip-Hop

The album is a tag along to go with the 124 page graphic novel, and aren't available separately to my knowledge. Which isn't so bad, the graphic novel is decent enough, and helps explain the story in the songs in more detail. The concept is pretty simple: jilted love. The execution, musically, is pretty standard hip-hop fair, some of the language was a little more vulgar than I go in for, but not overly so.  It's a solid piece of production, and some pretty decent story telling through music.

Adding To The Archives:

The Bobs
I Brow Club
Label: Rounder Records
Released: 1997
Genre: A Capella, Pop

The Bobs have always been an interesting group to me. I think they're usually at their best doing A Cappella covers honestly, the I Brow Club confirms that a little bit. Not quite funny enough to get a chuckle, not quite serious enough for me to enjoy the harmonies. It's kind of musical humor gone wrong honestly. They certainly have some serious talent, always have. It just feels like they kind of ran out of ideas here. They have many better albums to choose from.

The Bobs
Plugged
Label: Rounder Records
Released: 1995
Genre: A Capella

Speaking of better albums, there's the previous release from them, Plugged. Which does include some accompaniment (in the form of toy drums) and voice effects (to get 'guitar' sounds). But the song selection is much better. This one sounds like a solid extension of the album before that, without retreading ground. This one is a genuinely fun album, and I definitely recommend finding it and picking it up if you like A Capella groups, or even if you don't this is a good place to start with on that front.

Hans Zimmer
Inception musical score
Label: Reprise Records
Released: 2010
Genre: modern classical, classical

Hans Zimmer knows soundscapes, and Inception is a movie built of big expansive ideas, and the music follows suit. I don't normally go in for musical scores to movies, if I want something ambient I know plenty of musicians who create ambient works not attached to specific imagery. But, we found this one on sale, and the sounds in the movie really are amazing. The soundtrack stands on its own quite nicely, everything here builds or works with tension of some kind. If you're a table top gamer (RPGs) then this is a great collection of sound to have on hand. It's good enough to put on and just listen through as well.

Next Week:
More classical (Beethoven), new music from Serj Tankian and Ego Likeness, and an old BT single I found in a bin looking for a home (ah, that old school rave music...)

Week Of 3/20 - Classical, Flamenco, Industrial, Hard Rock

This week I get into some classical composers, industrial from Germany, and Flamenco by way of Classical Indian sounds....

New Releases:
Anoushka Shanakar 
Traveller
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Released: 3/20 2011
Genre: Flamenco, Classical Indian





Anoushka Shankar's latest release finds her pairing up with a number of Flamenco musicians, at the front are her sitar and the guitar of Javier Limón. The music, and rhythms are unmistakably Flamenco in style, but the instrumentation is mostly Hindustani sounds. At the same time, it feels like you're listening to traditional Indian music. Their combination is often hard to pull apart, the blend of the two is nothing short of amazing. It's this kind of amazing musical synergy that gets me to go exploring further and further into what people can do with fusing music from around the world. This album is absolutely worth finding and picking up. It's energetic, and at the same time it's also a great album to put on and just let fill the space with pleasing sounds.

Adding To The Collection:
OOMPH!
Wahrheit Oder Pƒlicht
Label: Supersonic
Released: 2004
Genre: Industrial Rock, Neue Deutsche Harte




By 2004 OOMPH! had become giants in the genre in Europe, not quite as big over the US, and groups beyond Rammstein still hadn't quite broken through into the market here. Which is too bad because this album is great. Hard, a little rough around the edges, and good use of female vocals as not just chorus, but counter-verse and bridge. It's a solid album of industrial-rock, heavy on the guitars without ignoring the harder beats and dance-floor aesthetic. Not being a German speaker, much less ability to translate the sung word, I can only really comment on the music here - not the content of the songs. If you like Rammstein, this is the band you want to go get to add to your collection. I can say this album does feel somewhat formulaic, like they haven't quite broken out of a musical rut yet.

Halestorm
Halestorm
Label: Atlantic Records
Released: 2009
Genre: Hard Rock




This is the debut album from Halestorm. Like a lot of groups over the last decade it's a female lead vocal and a standard rock band behind her. Lzzy and Arejay, the Hale siblings, started the band with their dad back in 1997, releasing an EP in 2000 when they were still kids. The debut album is, musically, decent. Lzzy's voice is solid, doesn't sound like she's yelling or trying to imitate someone else. It's the lyrical content - it's almost an entire album about break ups, or how good the guy had it and how the girl will do so much better, etc and so on. Basically, girl-power rock focused completely on relationships, which gets boring about two songs in. Their new album comes out in April and I'm hoping it's possible they're changed writing tactics. But this album is basically emo-punk set to hard-rock and heavy metal, musically simple and contextually boring. There's some power hidden in there, they just need to cut loose with different material.

The Rough Guide To Classical Music
J.S. Bach
bonus CD: Angela Hewitt Plays Bach
Label: World Music Network
Released: 2011
Genre: Classical



The Rough Guide series started to delve into the Classical artists a short while back, Baroque composer J.S. Bach was the first. The collection here is interpretations by different conductors and musicians. Celloist Steven Isserlis starts off the collection. Conductor Roy Goodman, with the Brandeburg Consort, provides Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major Overture and Suite No. 1 in D Major parts 2-5, upbeat and quicker paced than I expect classical. Conductor Harry Christophers, with the Sixteen, takes on Praise The Lord parts 1-2, which frankly just sort of adds space to the next collection. Angela Hewitt fits in The Well Tempered Clavier in both C Major and C Minor, I find her piano mesmerizing honestly, it's light and relaxing. The Purcell Quartet and Swiss Baroque Soloists provide a Concerto each. Soprano Johanette Zomer provides the Cantata I Have Enough. And finally Thomas Schmögner ends the collection with Sleepers Awake, an organ prelude. I don't have a lot of experience with Classical, or Baroque, music. But I do know a diverse and wide collection when I hear it, and this seems to cover a good deal of Bach's styles and writings.


The second disc is just piano pieces performed by Angela Hewitt, as a piano player I find her amazing, interpreting Bach and you can't help but just sit back and listen. It's an amazing collection, honestly, covering a lot of ground, and doing it fluidly. The way the chosen pieces fit together I forget it's not written as an album for release but a series of pieces written years apart in some cases. The second disc here is worth the price of this collection.


Next Week:
And that's all this week, next week... a lot of heavy metal makes it's way through the speakers... several live albums, the new Overkill, and just to mix is up some EBM.

Week Of 9/20 - Classical, Gothic Rock, Guitar, Industrial, Rock

This week I had a short week to listen as I'm leaving on vacation on Monday and will be on the road for three days, so this post is being written on Sunday. So I didn't quite get as many listens in to the new CDs as I'd like...

New Additions:
Tori Amos - Night Of Hunters
Label: Deutsch Grammaphon
Released: 9/20 2011
Genre: Classical
Tori is moderately predictable, most of her albums have a very similar vibe musically. Including this one, which isn't a bad thing, you know what you're in for - some amazing classical piano, though this one is much more classical than previous albums. Up to the point where many songs are reworkings of actual classical pieces. It's all very stripped down, no percussion at all, no guitars and bass, just some strings and wind instruments occasionally accent her piano playing. It's actually a very relaxing album, despite some of the lyrics being the opposite. The opening line is classic Tori "That's not my blood on the floor" .... which really gives the album its life. If you're a Tori Amos fan you'll definitely like this offering, if you're just getting into her this is a good starting point.

Adding To The Collection
16 Volt - American Porn Songs // Remixed
Label: Metropolis
Released: 2009
Genre: Industrial
OK, so I wasn't impressed with American Porn Songs, and sometimes the remix albums hold a lot more interesting things going on. Sadly, no. The complete lack-luster of APS carries right over into total boredom here. Somewhere in here is an acoustic cover of one track, but honestly I couldn't be bothered to even look up which one or who did it. I should probably have given this a more thorough listen through, but honestly it kind of bored me the first time through. Only get this if you're a die-hard 16 Volt fan.

The Mission (UK) - Carved In Sand
Label: Mercury
Released: 1990
Genre: Gothic Rock
Like most Gothic Rock coming out of the 80s, this is just as much punk rock and straight rock'n'roll as it is Gothic. Which is how I like it, really. And The Mission never fails to deliver a good album, so when I found this sitting in the used bin at a local record store I immediately picked it up. I don't remember ever getting to hear this one back in the day, but it sounds familiar, that kind of good familiar that brings you back to a good place, hanging out with friends, in a bar or all night diner, knowing there was nothing to do the next day so one am became three before finally shuffling off into the dawn for sleep. And that's what this does for me. It's a good album, I won't say from a better time, but a different time, when things felt simpler musically. Fans of The Mission will immediately love this album and probably already have it in their collection, as 1990 was the year of hanging on the precipice of musical oblivion before the 90s swallowed up so much of the previous three decades.


Rough Guide To African Guitar Legends (with Bonus Syran Mbenza & Ensemble)
Label: World Music Network
Released: 2011
Genre: Guitar, Rock
With a name like African Guitar Legends I'm afraid I set myself up for a little bit of disappointment. I love guitar driven music, especially some good serious blues, rock, country, and roots. And while every band here has an awesome guitar player in it, and are excellent bands, this is not guitar driven work. This is a collection of people who are known for their excellent guitar work, and are out of Africa, but it's not really Guitar Driven. They just happen to be really awesome guitar players, with a backing band. Nothing truly spectacular, just something really good. And thus my disappointment, which was completely a personal expectation I should probably have placed to the side. Because this is some good music, uptempo, and different from what I get in the US. The bonus CD is a tribute to a great guitar legend who passed away, and feels like a good tribute album, but again the guitar work is not stand out, it's seamlessly integrated into a band work. You can hear the solo work behind everything else, and it's very good. In the end it's two CDs of good music, just not guitar focused work.

Bonus CD
KMFDM - Live Boston 2011
Label: none
Released: Sept 2011
Genre: Industrial
KMFDM recorded as many shows as possible through their 2011 North American Tour, and released them as digital downloads on the world. Sadly, my city (Denver) was not recorded so while I was at the show I didn't get to take it home with me. Luckily their set was pretty much the same throughout the tour (or exactly the same really), and I randomly picked Boston to download to check out the recording quality. It was an awesome show this year, and the live recordings capture that well. 90 minutes of classic KMFDM, most of the WTF?! album and lots of 2000s era stuff, and a few bits from the 90s, and only Godlike from before that. While I love that they play the new albums nearly in their entirety, I wish they'd select from a wider range of albums, they have over 25 years of experience and I think in a live show only one song from a previous album is needed, especially since they took two from Blitz (one of their weakest albums ever) and two from Tovuvabohu, a track of Xtort, Money, WWIII, or earlier would be neat. Still - good recording, clean and clear, and the crowd noise made it through - which occasionally doesn't happen on soundboard recordings. If you saw the shows, this is an awesome souvenir, if you didn't this is a good way to get it second hand.


Next week, I'm on vacation, actually the next two weeks. So I won't be getting anything new - but I am pre-adding two weeks worth of music to listen to while on vacation. If I can post from the road I will, otherwise the next Audio-Bomb will have a lot of Additions to report, and the week after that will be all the New Stuff I missed out on listening to while away - because I have new CDs on order, I just won't be around to receive them.

Until then - Listen Hard!