Backcatalog - Dig Jelly, Sero.Overdose

Dig Jelly

For Your Inner Angry Child

Label: SourceOne Records
Released: 2003
Genre: Hard Rock

Dig Jelly is the other project for three of the five members of Lolita Dark, which I reviewed a few weeks ago, plus a couple other guys. This is their first album put out, some time ago. Done before it became almost cliche to have a female led hard rock band, to boot.

This is equal parts hard rock, punk rock, and pop rock all mixed into a blender and served with a side of DIY Ethic. I like it a lot. I can't actually pin point what about it I like though, I just like it. I put the album on and it catches me from the start and just keeps going in a nice little groove. This is the kind of unpretentious rock that so many bands aim for and miss completely.

Definitely a band worth checking out. More of their stuff will come in the future, I've got their current discography sitting in my stack of music.

Sero.Overdose

No Time For Silence

Label: Alfa-Matrix
Released:  2005
Genre: EBM, Synth-Pop

A bunch of German guys making kick-ass EBM with weird haircuts and all black clothes. This is a formula really. But it works, and Sero.Overdose works well. Everything about this reminds me of all the industrial/EBM I was listening to in the mid 1990s. Given it's a decade out of time from that period I like that it hasn't really lost that feeling.

If I just sit back and listen without knowing when it was released, I probably would have guessed the late 90s. If you like the synth-pop end of the EBM ride you'll like these guys. Well produced, well done, doesn't get stuck in itself or try to make The Beatz take over the record. Good old fashioned dance floor rhythms.

New Releases 9/25 - Deadmau5, Steve Harris, Murder By Death

Deadmau5

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Label: Mousetrap Records / Ultra Records (US distro)
Released: 9/25 2012
Genre: House

The last Deadmau5 album I got did not impress me, but it was also mostly remixes. This is all brand new material and he seems to be pretty big in the EDM scene - and not producing dubstep, which seems to be some kind of feat these days. So... what do I think about this?

It's house music. Even when he manages to slide in some fuzzy bass and wobbles it (to give it that dubstep asthetic) it's house music. Because fuzzy wobbly *wubwubwub* is not dubstep, this sticks firmly to 4/4 dance beat timing. Which means, overall, I can't call it bad. Because there are very few house and rave-style dance albums I don't like. Something about them is all so very catchy.

But there are parts that drive me a little mad. Especially when I sit down to Listen to this. There are several 7 and 8 minute tracks, and less than half hover around 4 minutes - which tends to lose me. I'm definitely of the 3-4 minute/40 minute album preferences. My punk roots showing, I imagine. After 7 minutes (much less 8) of repetitive beats, with few drops, change ups or breaks, my eyes roll into the back of my head. It's like EDM DJs still just want to fill up the entire CD - and at nearly 1 hour and 20 minutes this album uses every last centimeter with music.

But! if you just put it on and don't Listen so much as let it wash through the room, it's not bad. Catchy, bouncy, and I find myself stopping every now and then to bop along for a few minutes before tuning it back out and into background music. It almost makes you miss the 90s.

Steve Harris

British Lion

Released: 9/25 2012
Genre: Hard Rock, Metal

I am a big Iron Maiden fan, have been for a few decades now (even through the Blaze years). When I heard Steve Harris was putting out a solo album I had to read the news twice. Steve hasn't, since founding Iron Maiden, done anything of note outside the band. Anything at all. I'm not even sure he put in a guest appearance on his daughters debut album. He's been the backbone, and primary writing force behind Maiden from Day 1.

So, what's this then? It's kind of generic Hard Rock. He gathered together a bunch of mates, went into the studio, and put down some pretty good rock music. Thing is, it still sound a little bit like he's writing for Iron Maiden. And this group (while full of seasoned and talented musicians) is not Iron Maiden. So, it comes off like a knock-off group, which is a little ironic.

It's not bad, I mean this is pretty good rock music. But it is weighted down by the name behind it. If you have no idea who Steve Harris is, then you'll probably like this for the British Metal sound alone - if you like that kind of thing. The solo effort just failed to grab me in any significant way. I'll probably revisit this in the future someday and come to like it a lot though.

Murder By Death

Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon

Label: Tentshow Records / Bloodshot Records
Released: 9/25 2012
Genre: Rock, Country

After that bout of mediocrity we move onto a band I just discovered. Their first album (reviewed recently) did not impress me much. I was expecting more generic indierock kind of music.

Holy shit was I wrong. This is a kind of subtle, slow, country-styled, rock that really gets into the skin. Equal parts Johnny Cash, Nick Cave, Tom Waits, and Richard Thompson - while being None Of Them hums deep down inside. They have found the kind of dark-americana that resonates.

Seriously, this album is dark, light, slow, fast, deep, and rumbles through the songs like a train in the middle of the night.

OK, enough with the metaphors. It's good music. Really good music. Country and Rock rhythms trade places across the album, nothing truly innovative is done, but what they do is just put together so well it doesn't need to cover new ground. I really really recommend this to, well, everyone. This is the winner for Buy That! this week.

Backcatalog - David J, Jackyl, Overkill

Jackyl

Push Comes To Shove

Label: Geffen Records
Released: 1994
Genre: Hard Rock, Blues Rock

Jackyl are a band that probably could have been a great band, at least until they fired up that chainsaw. Taking after the styles of Southern Rock and Hard Rock tinged Blues (ala ZZ Top), Jackyl have a great blues heavy rock'n'roll sound. More evident on their first album than here (their second album). But that Chainsaw gimmick both shot them to the top of the rock-charts and radio-play, and probably killed their career of anyone taking them seriously as a music act ever again. Pop Music....

Push Comes To Shove is a solid piece of work, not as daring, loud, or bold as their opening salvo, but still - this is good music. Even with that silly mustache on Jesse James Dupree's face (actually, as weird as it is, it's a style that kind of works). If your only exposure to Jackyl is "the chainsaw song" from their debut album, and you like your blues a little heavier and louder - do yourself a favor and take another look at Jackyl, they really do have a solid southern-blues sound gone wonderfully metal.

Overkill

Fuck You! And Then Some

Label: MefaForce Records
Released: 1996
Genre: Thrash Metal

This isn't an album, it's a collection of EPs put all into one nice little package, because the tracks on here are pretty hard to find individually, long out of print live EPs, some demos, and one heck of a cover. Ta

First up is a studio cover b-side, and five live tracks from, the "Fuck You" EP this takes its name from. The title track and cover song from the Subhumans, showing some solid punk roots in the thrash scene. And a bunch of live tracks from the tour for Taking Over, their second album. They have always had a solid live act, and this is a good recording too, not some badly done hack job with levels pushed too high.

Shoved in the middle are two more live tracks from 1990, one track from their fourth album and a Black Sabbath cover of Hole In The Sky. If anything their live act is even more polished. A good little additional bonus for this compilation release.

Next we get the very first Overkill EP, a collection of Demos. Four tracks that started it all. Two would be re-recorded for their debut album, one left over for their second album, and one left in the dust - personally I think they re-recorded the wrong track for their second album. The lost song, The Answer, is a massive slow number that foreshadows things put out much later.

From a collector's point of view - especially one that didn't get these when they were first put out in the early and mid-80s - this is a pretty sweet compilation to pick up.

David J

I'll Be Your Chauffeur (Promo Single)

Label: RCA Records
Released: 1990
Genre: Pop Rock, Soft Rock

After being part of the absolute start of the Gothic Rock and the Romance period in England's music scene, and then moving onto Love And Rockets - an innovating and excellent punk-pop-rock band David J put out a solo album in 1990. This was a 3-track promo released to radios for it.

Normally, I try and only review things that can be moderately easily obtained, even if only used. Since this contains only three album tracks from a still in print release, I thought I'd give some thoughts on it.

If I heard any of the top-40 soft rock crap on this without Knowing it was David J I'd slap the first person who said this was his work. It's a complete disappointment compared to his previous work. To be sure I went back and listened to the full album - and yeah, there's a reason it gets almost no play from my collection. It's really just generic soft-rock, not even innovative. I think he phoned that album in.

Week of 4/17 - Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Gothic Rock, Trip-Hop, A Cappella

This week I rock out in various levels of loudness...

New and Recent Releases:

Hydrogyn
Private Sessions
Label: Rapid Fire Global Music
Released: 4/17 2012
Genre: Hard Rock

Latest release from the mid-west hard rockers, this album isn't quite a hard as some previous efforts, there's less thrash elements in it. Which isn't to say it's gone soft rock, it's still a solid piece of hard rock, almost metal in some cases. Julie's voice continues to be top-notch in the genre, very few singers match her pure-rock voice. Definitely a vocalist that comfortable in the genre, keeping it all on track. The special bonus-release comes with a hidden cover of Heaven's On Fire, a great cover that shows Hydrogyn have the ability to keep true to a cover and still add their own signature. I love the energy in their songs, definitely one of the better hard-rock acts (with male or female vocals) on the scene today. A pure no-holds-barred take on rock'n'roll.

Primal Rock Rebellion
Awoken Broken
Label: Spinefarm Records
Released: 4/17 2012 (US) (March 2012 in Europe)
Genre: Heavy Metal

I actually had this one for a little bit, picking it up upon release in Europe direct from What Records, but held onto it waiting for the US debut. Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith (one of my favorite bands ever) and Bassist/Vocalist Mikee Goodman of Sikth (a band I don't like at all) teamed up to produce this... And I can't tell if it's genius or trash, or maybe a little of both. The music is awesome, Adrian and Mikee make an awesome team with their respective instruments. From that point of view the album is a monster of ingenuity and power. It's Mikee's vocals that drive me a little crazy. He's actually a pretty good singer - he just can't settle on a style, either singing, screaming, shouting, growling, or whatever, every song changes up way too often. Which is what eventually drags this album down a little bit into the mud. Were it not for that, this would easily be one of the better modern metal albums I've heard.

Hydrogen Skyline
Echoes In Retrospect
Label: self-released (www.hydrogenskyline.com)
Released: Early 2012
Genre: Gothic Rock, Ethereal

Debut full album from the Colorado based group, it's very light and airy, almost. They don't forget the importance of a good fuzzy guitar in rock, but it's definitely the lighter side of Gothic Rock, less punk-rock loud and more Bauhaus ephemeral. Like taking the best of the 80s batcave scene and mixing it with the best of the 90s electronic-goth scene. Like the single, I'm deeply reminded of Sky Cries Mary, which is a nice thing, rarely does anyone capture that mix of heavy and soft like Hydrogen Skyline have here. Warning though, if you listen to this while tired the lead vocals will put you right to sleep, her voice is smooth and clear, making it over the music without shouting at you. I definitely hope they continue down this road in the future.

Adding To The Collection:

Hungry Lucy
To Kill A King
Label: Alfa-Matrix
Released: 2005
Genre: Trip-Hop, Darkwave

Most of my exposure to Hungry Lucy was off this album, so I figured I'd start here now that I've gotten around to actually adding albums to my collection (also conveniently their debut album). I am not disappointed with a full album of listening, very dark and sensual. Crista Belle's vocal style manages to be clear and loud while still feeling soft and intimate - a testament to production quality as well as her singing. Blending late 90s Trip-Hop styles with Goth/Darkwave environments has created an amazing collection of songs. The album itself tells a, more or less, complete narrative story, and blends so well that I'll often forget to differentiate songs while listening.

Pandora Celtica
Dog Party (In The Key Of Swinging Cats)
Label: self-released (www.pandoraceltica.com)
Released: 2009
Genre: A Cappella

The debut release from PC, you can tell that by the time they got into a studio they'd be singing together a decent amount of time. A collection of sea chanties and battle songs, not a surprising move there. One thing I really like about Pandora Celtica is the harmony. No one voice runs away with a song, leaving the others to the background. Too many A Cappella groups feel the need for a lead-vocal and the vocal-band behind them. A good group is a fully harmonized collection - and that's what this group is. The subject matter, though, is a bit specialized to filking, theme parties and conventions, which is not a bad thing at all. It's just not an album to just put on in the background, unless you're into into that, then it is.

Next Week:
I've loaded up a massive 61-track compilation in the genre of "kitchen sink" (little bit of everything), as such I've only added the weeks new release - some very... well, different hip-hop, and an Industrial EP from last month I almost forgot I downloaded.

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 3/13 - Rock, Synth-pop, Metal, blues-rock

Alright, this week is almost completely full of female-vocalists from a wide range of genres and styles. We'll just jump right in.

New Releases:
The Ting Tings - Sounds From Nowheresville
Label: Columbia Records
Released: 3/13 2012
Genre: Synth-pop, Rock
A sticker on the front claimed this as "Possibly ... the album of 2012." Well, there's a suspicious statement this early in the year. It's going to have to be mindbogglingly good, or create a whole new genre on its own. It is neither. It is good, verging on excellent. But not spectacular to a whole new level. It has the same electro feeling of Broken Bells, but bounces genres around more, a little bit of everything sneaks into this album. For all that diversity it doesn't come across as excessively schizophrenic as I might've thought. It all keeps close enough to a synth-pop aesthetic to keep the thing cohesive. The album of 2012? Doubtful. Good and definitely worth checking out? absolutely. This is good music.

Recently Released:
New Years Day - The Mechanical Heart
Label: Hollywood Waste
Released: 1/23 2012
Genre: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal
Another  2$ EP from the label, a good strategy. This is also some really good, solid, rock music. It isn't a female lead vocal in front of a rock band, they just happen to have a female lead singer. Subtle difference, but there they carry themselves on the weight of the entire band, it's a rock'n'roll package, unlike some bands that play music and then forefront the singer. They aren't amazing, but they are good, the kind of rock band that has a sound that can go the distance, hopefully it's enough to keep them making music for a good long time. Some punk and pop seeps it's way in, which will also hopefully keep them close enough to get a solid large following. A band worth checking out.

Adding To The Collection:
The Black Keys - Brothers
Label: Nonesuch Records
Released: 2010
Genre: Rock, Blues-Rock
Blues-Rock duo the Black Keyes  put out another drum and guitar laden album. This is the second album from them I've purchased (I don't always get in on the ground floor...), and it's a solid shot. Not as bluesy as I imagined it might have been, but not bad. A good solid groove to get into, plays well all the way through.  The thing is, here, nothing really jumped out at me, it's just an album. A good one, one I'm glad is in the mix, but that's just about it, in the mix. Really good for filling out long stretches of a playlist you need to occupy a few hours or more of time. Maybe down the line I'll fall in love with a single track, but in this first set of listen through, nothing amazing jumps out. Still, add it to your collection, it's good to have on hand.

Florence And The Machine - Lungs
Label: Universal Republic
Released: 2009
Genre: Rock
The debut album from Florence + The Machine. And you can tell, it's not quite as polished as the second album, not quite as comfortable. And some of the song content verges on a little creepy, the lyrics can make you uncomfortable as they're sung in an almost sweet manner. You can easily see why everyone immediately liked her, powerful singing, mixed with good music, percussion heavy, she doesn't drown it in guitars, but doesn't let it wallow in pop-banality either. The second album is definitely better, but only by extension of reaching further. You'd be making a mistake not checking out Florence.

Hydrogyn - Deadly Passions
Label: DR2 Recrods (Self-Released)
Released: 2008
Genre: Heavy Metal
The album opens with solid thrash-metal, Julie's vocals give the genre an extra dimension. Not the soaring female vocals of the classically trained, and not the low rumble of a female vocal trying to fit into a Heavy Metal Mold. Nope, Julie is straight forward, almost a pop-singers style, a little rough, and she can be pissed off without growling. The music is pure Metal, the kind we had back in the 80s that just pounds on at a good pace and let's the guitar go wild. Hydrogyn handily gets on with the business of making heavy metal, from slow to fast. Also, on this, is a cover of Alanis Morisette's You Outta Know, which they own. Julie sounds the supremely pissed off that the songs needs, and the heavier music suits it much better. Compared to this cover, the original is just whining. They aren't signed to a major, or even small, label yet. For good or ill, they're flying under the radar and deserve exposure - especially if you're a fan of a more raw metal sound.

Bonus Track:
Vaski - The Island feat. Sara Laske
Label: self-released Soundcloud download
Released: 2012
Genre: dubstep
Vaski put this out on his Soundcloud for release. It starts as a rather normal sounding club track with opening vocals, and just where you expect the thing to bang out a boring house beat, it drops. Like any really good dubstep track it knows the balance between the beat, the vocal, and where to drop the beat instead of picking it up. Vaski is a producer worth finding - most of his stuff is digital, with a few vinyl 12" singles around.

Next Week:
Hard and Soft collide - Industrial Rock from Germany, Hard Rock from the US, Classical music, and Flamenco by way of India...

Also, Hydrogyn has a new album coming out in April I'll be checking out for you, but I can tell you already it'll be more of the same good metal they've always made, worth checking out.

Week Of 3/6 - Rock, Industrial, Merengue, Blues, Metal

Heavy on the rock and roll this week, and old Tom Waits album finds its way into the collection, and a compilation of electro and industrial tracks plus Merengue! (I just like typing that word with a !).

New Releases:
Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball
Label: Columbia Records
Released: 3/6 2012
Genre: Rock
The latest album from The Boss is also the first album I've actually purchased from him, oddly. Like everything else I've heard from Bruce (which is a bit considering I've never personally owned an album), it's straight up rock, blue color, with a tough of gospel lyrics tossed in. Given just have massively The Boss looms over the American music landscape it is a wonder it took me so long to pick up a full album. Compared to my usual smattering of radio play and friends I've never heard one all the way through. The whole album strikes me as a look at America under the bad influence of financial crisis, and very much a shot at those who brought it. None so clear as Death To My Hometown which is about economic ruin of small town America (and a solid thumping rock anthem to boot). As a rock album it's excellent, moving from soft to hard easily, the rhythm keeps up all the way through, not losing itself in too much introspection. While the theme is modern and close to home, he never loses site of the fact he's writing a rock album and never lets the message get in the way of the music.

Adding To The Collection:
Girl Of Fire - Revenge
Label: Hollywood Waste
Released: 2011
Genre: Rock
In all honesty I only picked up this 5-Track EP because it was two dollars, even as a 2-track Single I would probably have picked it up, it's nice to see someone out there still has the art of the Single in mind. No remixes, just five songs. The band reminds me a lot of pretty much every other rock band out there these days, except that I like them. They're more in line with each other, the sound is tight, no unintentional rough edges. This is the kind of music I wanted to get when I picked up the debut Finger Eleven album when that came out some years ago (and didn't). I do hope there is a full album out soon, a band I'm definitely keeping my eye out for, as the world could always do with more rock and roll.

Motörhead - Ace Of Spades
Label: Metal-Is
Released: 2001 (originally: 1980)
Genre: Metal, Rock
So, I actually avoided picking up this specific Motörhead album for years, for a couple reasons. First, all the tracks I really like I owned on compilations or live collections. Second, to hear the title track you just need to tune into your local hard rock/metal station because it's the only Motörhead song to get airplay these days (which is stupid). So, finally, I just added it to the collection because the gap was there... there are only a few other of their albums I haven't gotten yet, I'm sure I'll fix that soon too. It is a classic, really. Simple, dirty, loud, very loud, and hard. This edition comes with a bonus live track and two tracks with Girlschool, all three originally B-Sides (which I also already owned). This is also, I'm pretty sure, the first time I've heard the studio version of We Are The Road Crew, fancy that. No bad music here, you can hear the foundation upon which they make very loud rock and roll for the next 30 years, and going.

Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones
Label: Island Records
Released: 1983
Genre: Blues, Rock
Tom Waits has always held a fascination for me, ever since I first heard Bone Machine over twenty years ago. Every time I picked up an album I never really knew what I was getting into, but I knew I'd like it. He just has that kind of strange magic over music, and I always look forward to the carefully timed selection of a new album - I haven't actually rushed out to complete a discography on purpose, I like the sense of discovery in his music. Swordfishtrombones isn't as overly bizarre as some other albums, it's mostly lots of talking blues, folk influences, and non-jazz songs. Very straightforward I think, in a really good way. It's different from his very early stuff, which had a lot of jazz in it, and more into experimenting with the sound, one of his first to not use completely 'standard' instruments of the time to make an album.

Rough Guide to Merengue
Label: World Music Network
Released: 2006
Genre: Merengue, Cumbia, Latin
Merengue is a dance, and the music of the Dominican Republic, emerging after their independence in the 19th century. It has it's deepest roots in Cuban dance. The Merengue style being both the music and the dance means every track here is highly danceable, the whole collection moves. And little bits of other parts of Latin America seep in, you can hear Cumbia, Mambos, Boleros, and others all get sucked in at points, but the core is still Merengue. It is not, as is a common misconception, derived from a circle dance (ballroom Merengue partners never separate). The music, well, it's alive. Very alive, and upbeat. The collection is modern artists, very little older stuff beyond modern renditions of traditional songs.

Vampire Freaks Precents Cry For Death Volume 1 Electro Edition




Label: Vampire Freaks website (none)
Released: 2011
Genre: Industrial, EBM, Electro
VF collected as many rare, b-side and even a few exclusives as they could (thirty six tracks) and dropped them all as a free download. The remixes are all off remix collections, Limited Edition releases, and a few unique songs, making it a decent enough collection and not just a bunch of album tracks. The upside is those into the genre get a smattering of songs they might have missed at some point, the downside is those getting into the genre don't get the best 'clean' representation of what the scene sounds like, it's all reinterpretations - though that in itself is very indicative of the scene, so, the down side isn't very down. If you like the genres, or want to get more cheaply (free!) head over to Vampire Freaks and download this, no sign-up required even. It's a solid way to get some stuff you might like - as compilations should be.

Bonus Tracks:
Kovary - Back In Black Moombahton Bootleg
Label: Soundcloud Release
Released: 2011
Genre: Moombahton
Kovary took AC/DCs Back In Black and bounced the hell out of it. The song is slow enough it doesn't need a tempo change, and hard enough that adding all that extra thump just gives it a little more punch. Toss this one onto a dancefloor and things should keep on bouncing hard. This is the kind of left-of-center stuff I like about Soundcloud.

Next Week:
I find out of The Ting Tings have put out "The album of 2012", examine another 2$ EP from the Hollywood Waste label, chill with Florence + The Machine, rock out with Hydrogyn, and get down with The Black Keys. . .

Week of 2/7 - Hard Rock, Hip-Hop, Soft Rock, Industrial, and various Zimbabwe musics

Trying to keep each week eclectic, always looking for new and different stuff... A release I took a look at last fall but didn't pick up until now, something different from South Africa, discovering just how much Rumba is in Zimbabwe's music, and a compilation I had sitting in my digital pile.

New Releases:
Die Antwoord - Ten$ion
Label: Zef Records
Released: 2/7 2011
Genre: Hip-Hop, Rap
A trio from South Africa, a DJ and alternating male and female MCs. It's styled as 'Zef' which is a South African street subculture I'm not even going to try and describe, I'd have no idea where to begin, but it has some definite parallels to American Hip-Hop culture. The music itself alternates between hip-hop and trance/rave beats. Lyrics alternate between English and Afrikaans, which makes for a very rapid fire delivery. It's definitely a little different, and I like it, though the lyrical content towards vulgar, almost purile, some of it is gangsta to an almost comedic effect. Hopefully, the musical style catches on, it doesn't rely on standard hip-hop beats, mixing in rave, dubstep, drum'n'bass and house styles throughout.

Adding To The Collection:
Icon For Hire - Scripted
Label: Tooth & Nail Records
Released: 2011
Genre: Hard Rock, Nu Metal
The debut full length album from the band almost looks like it will fall lock step into female-lead vocal hard rock of the last decade, made popular by Evanescence. Luckily, it does nothing of the sort. Ariel has a strong rock style, not the classical singing style others try to emulate. The music is solid rock, with a bit of industrial sensibility tossed in to keep it from being just heavy metal. Ariel can easily switch between a slower and faster sung styles, keeping up with tempo changes in the music so the vocals match up. The album has a theme behind it about fame, fortune, and identity. Well put together, catchy, I can only imagine they're getting some decent radio play - or I hope they are, they deserve the exposure and I'm looking forward to the future of this group.

Sarah McLachlan - Surfacing
Label: Arista Records
Released: 1997
Genre: Soft Rock, Folk Rock
Most of my exposure to Sarah is actually through a proliferation of house, ambient, and other remixes from the electronic music scene. It's a wonder that I never really went back to the source to give her a closer listen. So I do, finally, and... her voice is excellent, alluring, melodic, and easily adapted to trip-hop and related genres. I can hear how someone would listen and think she needed a heavier treatment to the music, even if most of her remixes and covers ended up on the ambient style. This album, itself, is a pretty standard sound of soft, or folk, rock. The music light, non-intrusive on her vocals, which are a light touch, no yelling and indignent sneering from her, even when the song content sounds like she should be a bit angry. I think I'll come back and check out more recent albums to see how she's evolved. As it, this album is a good light album to put on when you want an acoustic background. This is the album with Building A Mystery, that song that was on the radio every 14 seconds for a while there.

Matrix Downloaded 001
Label: Alfa Matrix
Released: 2011
Genre: Industrial, EBM, Electro
To celebrate ten years as a label, Alfa Matrix decided to offer up a 34-track free download, which has been sitting on my hard drive since the fall sometime. And now it is loaded into my library. And most of it I have already, not because I own a lot of these albums (honestly, I don't, the exchange rate to get music from Europe sucks), but because I ended up with a lot of compilations through 2010 and 2011 that contain tons of the same songs here. Which makes this slightly redundant in my library, but still cool. This is essentially a Double CD (they even conveniently meta-tag the tracks as 2 17-track discs) compilation spanning most of ten years, for free. You really can't argue with that. Most of this is EBM and Electro, from light to hard - and well mixed to flow evenly between the two, a DJ set this order up.  There are about a half dozen tracks you won't find anywhere else, and most of the rest are only available on various compilations anyway - making it a pretty good download unless you're overly obsessive...

Rough Guide To The Music Of Zimbabwe
Label: World Music Network
Released: 1995
Genre: Zimbabwe Tradtional, Rumba
This time around I went into research mode and learned something about traditional Zimbabwe musics, coming up with a few genres local to the area. And then listened to this compilation and found a whole bunch of it full of Rumba, a lot done with traditional instruments, but the beats are unmistakeably Rumba in a lot of this music. Even the local Shona and Chimurenga. It's also unclear if the Mbira (sometimes known as the thumb piano) is just an instrument, or a genre unto itself. Since the instrument appears all over the place, I personally think it's just an instrument used to create the local rhythms. This is all good, fun, upbeat, and danceable music - everything presented here says Move. Good enough I think i'll start looking for more of it.

Bonus Track:
Seki Yukio - My First Hardcore Song by 8yr Old Juliey (Dubstep mix)
Label: Soundcloud release
Genre: Dubstep
So... someone recorded what had to be their little sister singing to a pretty hardcore punk bit, the original is about a minute or two long.  The opening line "Get your 2-step on" is shouted loudly and with the kind of energy I wish more bands brought to the stage, the guitar is anything but 2-step... German producer Seki Yukio got ahold of it, and turned it into a pretty fun dubstep track. While the original could easily fit on an SOD album, the remix belongs in a club at top volume. Really, it's these kinds of random bits that make the modern digital age so cool... you'd never get this in a record store.

Next week - keeping it diverse; Industrial Rock (Neue Deutsche Harte, technically), Electroswing, Soft Rock, Blues Rock, and a Moombahton collection.