Back Catalog - Beats Antique, Rough Guide to China

Beats Antique

Tribal Derivations

Label: CIA (Copeland International Arts)
Released: 2007
Genre: Downtempo, Electroncia

Heavily influenced by various Arabian rhythms and beats, with a healthy dose of downtempo styling, and electronica overlaid across the whole thing. Beats Antique sounds like it might be some form of updated 'traditional' music. In a sense it is, but only so far as its influences go back to "old world" rhythms, without actually borrowing from any specific tradition or songs.

Two guys playing music, and a belly dancer (which doesn't do much to the CD listener except provide cover art). Beats Antique is likely best done live. While I love the CD, I can't help but feel the live show is so much more. Still, I like the downtempo beats, mixed with uptempo elements to keep it moving along. I really like how it fits into the background of whatever I'm doing, it doesn't disappear (as so many downtempo/ambient works do), nor does it intrude (the lack of vocals helps greatly). It sits in that perfect middle ground of filling the room without taking over or being easily ignored.

The Rough Guide To The Music Of China

(Bonus CD) Introducing Hanggai

Label: World Music Network
Released: 2012
Genre: Traditional Chinese, Pop, Rock, Modern

With these Rough Guides most of the time you know pretty much what you're going to get. The compilation itself it usually full of traditional, or slightly modernized, music of the region being outlined. Sometimes what you get are a collection of bands local to the region, but not always playing music traditionally from that area. Like with China - while it contains a large portion of music traditional to various parts of China, which is large with a lot of variation to go over. It also contains so very modern bands that simply happen to be from China. Which is cool, because it's nice to hear other countries takes on something as 'simple' as Rock Music.

The Bonus CD is a re-issue of Hanggai's first international (and possibly debut) release. Hanggai incorporate both Mongolian and Chinese traditions. The singing is almost completely (or maybe completely) in Mongolian, along with some songs using Mongolian Throat Singing, and Chinese musics. When I first started listening I had to check because for a moment I thought I was listening to Irish Celtic music. It's that strangely similar. And it's very good. They have since put out some other titles on a different label that I'll be tracking down.

New Releases - Diana Krall, Nelly Furtado, Pneuma compilation

 

Diana Krall

Glad Rag Doll

Label: Verve Records

Released: 10/2 2012

Genre: Jazz

I've known of Diana Krall for a long time now, one of those artists that pops up every now and then and I think "wow, I love her voice, I should get some albums." But jazz of any style rarely makes it into my collection, which is something I can't explain since I love the genre. But, here it is, finally I picked up this album.

Her voice is made of silk, it's just smooth and soft, without losing any power at all. A great lounge style voice and some soft (though not easy listening soft) and lighter jazz. The album also punctuates itself with some torch-and-twang in the middle. A definite country feel to break up the jazz tunes. It works well, you can tell she had a lot of fun making the album. And her voice, did I mention her voice? Just amazing.

 

Nelly Furtado

The Spirit Indestructible

Label: Interscope Records
Released: 9/18 2012
Genre: Pop

While I only own Nelly's debut album, she's another artist that falls on and off my radar as I listen around. In this day and age her brand of softer, less dance-floor, influenced pop music gets drowned in the more boisterous artists. Another artist with an amazingly smooth voice, though in a different way that Diana.

This album bounces back and forth between a kind of smart-pop style and a slightly more bouncy radio-pop style (though never thankfully gets near the EDM-influenced dance-pop ala Lady Gaga). I ended up with the Deluxe version of the album, which adds six extra songs. Five tracks not on the normal release, and one remix of one of those tracks. Here's where the review gets weird.

The first 12 tracks (the standard release) for a great, tight, sensible album of smart pop music with just the right amount of bounce and serious, love songs. The 6 bonus tracks by themselves are good songs, and I'm never one to turn down more music. But as a whole, all 18 tracks  together create an overly long album that drags out, I started to not like the back third after a few listens all the way through. If you're a big Nelly fan, get the deluxe release, the bonus tracks are excellent and worth it. If you're a passing fan, or just getting into her and aren't sure, get the standard release and keep it short and sweet.

Pneuma

Label: none (http://pneuma.bandcamp.com/album/pneuma)
Released: 9/30 2012
Genre: Ambient, Industrial, EDM

This compilation was put together to raise funds for Lung Cancer research (hence the name). 22 songs of exclusive donated material by the bands for the release. That means if you follow any of the bands on here as a "hard core" fan, you'll probably pick this up. Beyond the good that it does for research into the disease.

The music itself, is almost all completely in a 'dark' ambient range. A lot of the bands on the release are known for a harsh industrial/EBM style, and some are known for other genres than what predominates this, but all are well versed in the electronica/EDM zone of music. The result is that everything fits, unlike a lot of fundraiser compilations which musically come across as haphazard as the bands they got to donate a song.

Getting 22 donated songs is hard enough, getting all of them to fit well together, and the creators managed to get the album to flow well too, is another matter. So, just from a perspective of adding some good music to your collection, and being able to play the album all the way through, this is a pretty solid compilation.

New Releases 9/18 - P!nk, Lolita Dark

P!nk

The Truth About Love

Label: RCA Records
Released: 9/18 2012
Genre: Pop

I've always liked P!nk a little bit, a sort of periferal follower. I don't often buy her music. Having caught the leading single Blow Me (One Last Kiss) I decided it was about time I changed that. This album is intelligent pop music, mixed with enough old school R&B to really stand up and stand out.

Not settling for the standard pop-pap of just clever hooks and dance beats, this album takes on a wide range of pop styling. From ballads, to savvy pop-love songs. She bubbles and bounces and yells and serenades us through just about every kind of love song. And tosses in a few just-for-fun bits as well.

Really, an all around excellent pop album. Smart, sassy, catchy, and ultimately the kind of thing that you just don't normally get in the genre anymore. Go add this one to your collection.

Lolita Dark

Tokyo Status

Label: SourceOne Records
Released: 6/30 2012
Genre: Rock, Hard Rock

I just discovered this band on their recent shows in Denver. On the front I got a standard female-lead L.A. rock band vibe. But as both primary singers are Japanese they skip through that mine-field of mediocrity and come out standing distant from the crowd. Most of the music is sung in their native language. They also skip over the J-pop rhythms and come across as solid rock singers. Which is a fantastic change from a number of American bands with Japanese singers that fail to get any Rock into the vocals, and come across like a J-pop singer with rock rhythms and getting drowned in reverb. Not so here.


Good loud rock music, good strong vocals leading it. The only thing lacking is maybe a little polish. The album is rough about the edges, though not so much to come across as bad. I think they just need to tighten up the songs a little to catapult from "Damn, that's good" to "Holy shit, buy this now." A little more Joan Jett and a little less L.A. Rocker.

If you need some rock that's a little different, get this album. You won't regret it.

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 6/26 - Rock, Moroccan music, New Wave, Industrial, Punk

A bunch of singles and compilations this week, plus a best of from Adam Ant...

New & Recent Releases

Clutch
Pigtown Blues / Motherless Child (Acoustic)
Label: Weathermaker Music
Released: 6/19 2012
Genre: Rock, Blues Rock

This is a 2-track 7 inch picture disc, the first ever 7 inch single from Clutch. The A-Side is a solid piece of Clutch's blues-rock style, lyrics a little surreal, painting a vivid picture. the B-side is an 'acoustic' track from them, which really means slightly less distortion on the guitars mostly. Hopefully the a-side is a sign of more things to come, a solid, if short, entry into Clutch's sizable collection of solid rock.

Sinsect
Broken Heroes Vol. 2
Label: Self-Released ( http://noise.sinsect.com/ )
Released: 6/26 2012
Genre: Industrial, Noise

The second in a summer long series from Sinsect. Even darker than the first volume. This one goes a little deep into the depths, a little harder, a little more drone - but not much. Definitely a good addition to some very deep industrial music, the style itself reminds me of Noise Unit, though a little fuzzier and more distorted. I'm definitely liking the direction Sinsect's music is going. It's only three tracks long, making it end too soon.

Rough Guide To Morocco
w/ Groupe Mazagan
Label: World Music Network
Released: Spring 2012
Genre: Moroccan traditional, modern

Native musicians from Morocco, and not just traditional music either. This Rough Guide does go a beyond what others do, which is good. It's both traditional and contemporary artists. A few Moroccan hip-hop artists make it on, some modern
artists make it on as well as several traditional regional musicians. It's nice to see both a showcase of a regions native music and their contemporary music scene. I hope more Rough Guides take this path.

Groupe Mazagan are a modern group, mixing traditional music with funk, rock, and other elements. A good inclusion to get a full taste of a modern band from Morocco. As a bonus disc this one really brings the region into focus as a modern music platform, not just a source of "world music" that so many US and European labels seem to pull out of Africa.

Up From The Archives:

Adam Ant
Antics In The Forbidden Zone
Label: Epic
Released: 1990
Genre: Pop, Punk, New Wave

This actually collects music from Adam & The Ants and Adam Ants solo career. The biggest difference is that the early stuff, before he went solo, sounds a little more vibrant, and a little weirder. Not that his solo stuff is bad, it's just a little flatter when you put the two eras side by side like this. If you need a best-of collection to capture all the good songs - this one actually does that. If you own everything already the only novelty here is that the two eras together really highlight how much better he was before the solo career. At least in my opinion.

Art Brut
Good Weekend
Label: Fierce Panda
Released: 2005
Genre: Punk

A three track single from this post-punk, or punk, or something, band. Punk without any pretension of trying to be anything but darn good music, as it should be. Art Brut always reminds me a little of early Clash for some reason - they sound nothing alike except in the most abstract of ways: both seem to be here for the music and the party. The single here is three different stories, one good, one bad and one nostalgic. Which pretty nicely sums up a lot of life right there. Good music for a good weekend.

Rebirth 2.0
Label: Metropolis Records
Released: 2009
Genre: Industrial

A label compilation put out in 09 for recent and upcoming release, it also has several exclusive tracks on it for the completionist. It's good, it showcases a lot of talent, but in the end it's a label compilation with very little theme beyond advertising label artists.

Next Week:
Several albums from The Bobs, the Inception score, some metal from Delain, and hip-hop artist Murs does an album based on a graphic novel.

Week Of 5/1 - Metal, Rock, Industrial, Pop

Bit of a mix this week, also, a number of singles instead of full albums added in, but pretty much the entire lot is new releases...

New Releases:

The Adventures Of
Adventures (Free Facebook Songs)
Label: Transmission Galactic
Released: 5/1 2012
Genre: Rock

The story here is Tori Amos started a new label to sign bands she likes and wants to expose to the world, and this is the first band she signed. The two tracks are free on Facebook, and the full album is available in the US right now. The two tracks are, well, different. It's definitely a flavor of rock, little blues, little punk, little everything else. I'm immediately reminded of the Dresden Dolls in style, thought not musical-style, but approach style. Very different kind of stuff here, and I think I'll be checking out the whole album in the near future.

Nora Jones
...Little Broken Hearts
Label: Blue Note
Released: 5/1 2012
Genre: Pop, Rock

Norah teamed up with Dangermouse on this album and came out with something very different, which is standard for her. Her voice is still the driving force behind it, a little jazzy, a little bluesy, a bit pop, all very smooth and seductive. Some of the songs sound a little bit like parts left over from Dangermouses Broken Bells effort, but only a little bit. The music itself is pretty stripped down, unintrusive to the vocal parts of the songs. It's a fantastic album all the way through, a kind of quiet subtle music that draws you in and makes you stop to just listen for a bit. A good album to sit back and relax to for a short while.

Sinsect
Broken Heroes Volume One
Label: Self-Released (  http://noise.sinsect.com/ )
Released: 5/1 2012
Genre: Industrial

The first in a series of singles leading up to the next album release, this is a three track EP to kick it off. All instrumentals with some voice samples from movies. While it's noisy, it's not as crunchy and thumpy (totally technical terms) as Buglife (his previous full length album), more of a slower paced kind of grind to it. It feels like a more deliberate pace, making it a little daker, and possibly a little heavier. Sinsect is excellent at creating heavy ambient soundscapes.

Skip The Foreplay
Nightlife
Label: Epitaph Records
Released: 5/1 2012
Genre: Hardcore, Death Metal

I picked this up slightly on a whim, because the cover said "Metal + Screamo + Dubstep" on it with a sticker - and sometimes I just can resist the utterly stupid advertising gimmicks of music. It's basically death metal, possibly just growling hardcore punk. They add a twist with a DJ sliding in mostly well placed dubstep drops and wobbly bass. It turns out that pretty much any kind of metal and dubstep are a pretty good fit for each other (see Korn's latest album for more examples). It's not a terribly exciting album, taken as a whole, but it has its moments and a few tracks tossed into a playlist to keep a party (or club) moving are doable. I doubt I'll ever listen to this straight through again, still a good enough addition I'll cherry pick the tracks as needed. It doesn't ever slow down, or lighten up, which makes as pure a hardcore album as you can really get.

Adding To The Collection:

Primal Rock Rebellion
No Place Like Home
Label: Spinefarm Records
Released: February 2012
Genre: Heavy Metal

This is a 10" Single I digitized. The A-Side is taken from the album (Awoken Broken), reviewed a few weeks ago. And strangely, taken out of the context of the full album manages to become a straight forward rock song. The vocals don't seem too over reaching, or experimental at that. The full albums lack of vocal cohesiveness is not here in these two tracks - granted it's only two songs. But still, both of them come of consistently hard-rock. It's with these two songs I hope that these two guys settle down a put out some more music in this vein.

Next Week:
Lots of House and pop-techno from David Guetta, some heavy industrial from Unter Null to balance that, and a little bit of modern folk from Sara Watkins so I don't drown in synthesizers.

Week Of 1/31 - Synthpop, Trip-Hop, House, Modern Classical, Pop

This week in new releases I explore Danish pop music, find a strange little compilation from the 90s that should have been left there, finally finish my Unwoman backcatalogue, and more...

New Releases:
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - Out Of Frequency
Label: self released (Distributed through BMG Entertainment)
Released: 1/31 2012
Genre: Synthpop, Pop
Remember Rover from The Prisoner TV Series? The bouncing balls that captured runaways and returned them to the Village? Imagine that mutated into a giant Disco Ball, chasing you down, trying to return you to a night club past its Coolness Expiration Date. That touches on the pop-banality that is embodied in this album. A dash of synthpop sensibility saves it from complete annihilation, but in all honesty... the beats are boring. The lead singers voice hovers somewhere between "she's twelve, right?" and a husky R&B smoothness. Two songs stand out as worth pulling onto a nights worth of dance-pop-music fun, Heart Attack and Ghost In My Head, with the first being actually good. Otherwise, the album manages to not sound completely uninteresting. In ten years I'll probably wonder why I bought this in the first place. Final analysis? Some harsh electro would save this, otherwise it sinks under it's own weight of recycled dance rhythms. Despite that I like it a little bit.

Adding To The Collection:
Poe - Hello
Label: Atlantic
Released: 1995
Genre: Trip-Hop, Pop
Speaking of pop... Poe entered in the 1990s, as Trip-Hop started to evolve itself, and it's those trip-hop beats that save Poe from the previously mentioned pop-banality. Her voice is smooth, unmarred with any kind of over reaching desire to actually sound pop-music influenced. The music moves back and forth between soft-rock and trip-hop beats, from one song to the next. The whole thing feels completely radio friendly, but not actually radio-boring. A few tracks did find themselves endlessly repeated on stations in the US just discovering "techno" and female lead vocals that weren't Madonna pop-music clones or Lita Ford wannabe screamers. This album is good, catchy, and ultimately the kind of thing that saved us from an endless wave of complete shit. How this took so long to end up in my collection - who knows, it was always one of those "Hey, I should buy that..." albums that, well, I never got around to. At this point, you should revisit Poe (and the newer stuff is amazing, also on the To Get List...), and purchase this. Give it a listen, it's quiet, loud, amusing, sad, and all together extremely well produced. Hello has aged well as an album, even if it seems a little antiquated, it's not an ageless album, but you can still pull it out and genuinely enjoy it, with or without nostalgia.

Unwoman - Trouble EP
Label: none (available on Bandcamp)
Released: 2008
Genre: Pop, Synthpop, Modern Classical
This 6 song EP starts out with a kind of light neo-classical kind of sound, like most of her work. After that, it gets more electronic production than modern classical. The cello is still there, but the synth-pop kind of beats tend to take a more center stage appearance in some of the music. This isn't a bad colllection, but it doesn't really leave an impression either. It's just there, good music but it feels like there's nothing there making me want to pause and Listen. Throw it on in the background and let it fill the room, like chamber music, you welcome its presence, but mostly because you'd rather not have silence. Not to disparage ovbviously good music, but this is a lot like a watered down Danielle Dax.

Unwoman - Unremembered
Label: none (available on Bandcamp)
Released: 2010
Genre: Modern Classical
There's something in here I really like, it reminds me a lot of the synth-driven darkwave and ambience from bands like Daughter Darling, Bed Of Roses, or even Switchblade Sumphony. Coupled with a kind of smart pop-sensibility that gives you the catchy grooves and hooks without numbing the mind. I put this one on and kind of absentmindedly nod my ahead along to it, half listening and half simply absorbing it. Gone are a lot of the staggered rhythms or interrupted beats from earlier albums. The whole thing flows and works together quite nicely. Layer on more percussion and these songs could easily slip into a club-scene danse set, as they sit it's a quieter space that actually does fill the room with a lively sound that every once in a while you stop and listen for a moment, before continuing on. It's the kind of album I'd put on if I needed something upbeat to get some work done to, without it being so intrusive it interferes with the work. Definitely an album to go pick up.


Baz Luhrmann Presents: Something For Everybody
Label: Capital Records
Released: 1999
Genre: House, Pop, etc
Moving right back into - WTF?! there's this. Absolutely proof that not just any asshole with a sequencer who can cleverly put together a single hit should actually be given a full record to work on. Remember that song "Wear sunscreen..." and this older sounding guy going on about a bunch of advice like "Live in New York once, but leave before it makes you hard..." and so on? Yeah, someone told Baz he could make a whole album. And it's a bunch of remixes and covers, only a moderately decent cover of When Doves Cry even comes close to not being total crap. This is pretty much everything wrong with 1990s style House/Electronica. It's just a horrible compilation. I literally ran across the CD by accident, I don't even have the full case and liner notes (Discogs helped with all of that), obviously the previous owner felt the same way I do now. This is pretty much what happens when the 'music industry' thinks it knows what's going on, this came out of the US about the same time the UK was developing what would be come dubstep, France was starting to experiment with electro-swing, and the rest of the House Music world was diversifying, this takes all the music DJs and Producers made and distills down into a pop-music death spiral. The song was right, Wear Sunscreen, the rest, leave behind. This should have been titled "Nothing For Anybody."
Next Week:
I explore South African hip-hop, find some modern Hard Rock that doesn't suck, a little Soft Rock to balance it out, check out Zimbabwe, and drag myself through yet another Industrial/EBM compilation. . .

Week Of 1/24 - Modern Classical/Pop, Metal, Bollywood, Blues-Rock, Darkwave

A bunch of new releases came out this week, and I couldn't even try and get them all. The music year finally seems to be getting underway....

New Releases:
Ingrid Michaelson - Human Again
Label: Cabin 24 Records
Released: 1/24 2012
Genre: pop-rock, modern classical
After hearing just the one track from her Ghost single, and it being my first exposure to Ingrid, I was hoping for a lot more of what I got on that album. I didn't really get all that, so it didn't meet those expectations, there's a little more pop- in this album than I expected. But it's executed without irony or overused hooks, it's a solid, not quite completely classical style, album. Fun, quiet at times, Ingrid doesn't suddenly punch out with a loud song. It's not subdued though, call it middle of the road music. I found listening to the album to be relaxing, after a sense. Doesn't mean the album was emotionally dull, there's plenty of emotion here, positive and negative, coming out in the notes. It's good, solid, and will likely be in regular rotation for a while, her voice is close to hypnotic.

Lacuna Coil - Dark Adrenaline
Label: Century Media
Released: 1/24 2012
Genre: Heavy Metal
On first listen my only thought was 'wait, did I put on the wrong album?' - because it strikes me as sounding exactly like the only other Lacuna Coil album I own "Comalies." Now, it's not a bad thing to have a very consistent sound (AC/DC has been putting out pretty much the same album since 1976), but there is always something about it that makes it stand out a little (I never mistake Who Made Who for Razor's Edge, going back to AC/DC). On subsequent listenings I finally pulled it out from the other album, gave it a good listen, and I have to say it's very middle of the road. It's not the kind of big epic sound I sort of expected, nor is it truly a hard metal sound. It hits all the right rock notes, just not entirely enthusiastically. The dual male/female lead vocals is certainly better than the usual one or the other I normally pick up. I have to admit, my metal leanings are very much towards old school thrash-metal, so anything with a metal tag deviating from that isn't my bag. The travesty here, though, is the fucking awful cover of Losing My Religion. It lacks all of the impact of the original song, and just sounds like a bored b-side banged out because the studio needed something for a single. I quite like the second to last song Fire, I wish the rest of the album sounded more like it. I imagine if you're a Lacuna Coil fan you will love the hell out of this album, for me it may be another 6 years before I come back around to them again.


I:Scintilla - Swimmers Remixed
Label: none (self-released)
Released: 1/24 2012
Genre: Darkwave, Industrial
This little 3-track digital EP was made available to members of the mailing list only, making it a rarity. It's three remixes of Swimmers Can Drown, a nice little bonus for hard core fans. Of which, I might be one. The remixes are pretty good actually, and I wonder what happened that didn't get them onto a released EP or the 2-CD edition of the album 'Dying & Falling.' They aren't just dance-floor friendly iterations of the song, but decent reconstructions - though no one does anything really bizarre, keeping the industrial-rock edge the song has. It's little tidbits like this that I sign up for band mailing lists - a good band doesn't mail you often, and when they do they make it count.

Adding To The Collection:
Joe Bonamassa - A New Day Yesterday
Label: J + R Adventures
Released: 2004
Genre: Blues, Blues Rock
Blues-Rock, pure and simple. Opens with a strong guitar riff, and keeps on going. Joe has a 'classic' blues voice, a little rough in parts, a bit deeper than normal, talks as much as sings, and yet still smooth and clear. His guitar provides most of the lead here. This is an early effort of his, as such it sounds a lot like other blues albums out there, but you can hear something distcint coming through. A lot more rock than strict blues, the tempo is a bit faster than blues standards tend to be. Really, a great album, this is his debut solo album and he really goes out of his way to show his stuff with solid guitar solos. It also contains half a dozen cover songs (including the opening track), which Joe really makes his own, which isn't always the easiest to do on a cover song. If you want solid blues rock go track this one down and add it to your collection.

Anti- Fall Music Sampler
Label: Anti-
Released: 2011
Genre: Rock, Pop, Blues, Coutnry, Folk, ah labels....
Label compilations are often the weirdest kind to pick up - the bonus is they're almost always free which gives one a chance to get a whole bunch of bands in one place and check out a song. Unless the label is a very focused label you tend to get a grab-bag of styles. Anti- is home to a whole bunch of people who are some variation on Rock Music. The first track is the undeniably awesome Tom Waits (I already bought that album, let's move on). Joe Henry is next, a folkrock number, decent enough song. Tinariwen, a desert-blues group from Mali, never would have expected to see them show up here (they're on a Rough Guide To Mali I own as well), an almost out of place song and good to see a US label pick them up. DeVotchKa, native to my own Denver I'm a little over exposed to them already, not bad music, I just don't own any of it. A new Kate Bush song shows up, turns out I'm still not all that interested in her music, though I can't actually say it's bad, it's kind of good. Booker T. Jones, soul music, he's still making it, it still sounds good. Man Man, never actually heard of them, and for some reason they remind me of Bob Dorough, only not as fun, the song here doesn't catch me enough to look further. Jolie Holland, this is a country song, though I understand she does blues and jazz too, also paydirt, I like her voice and I'll be going out and finding her albums. William Elliot Whitmore, more folk rock, good song, but not great. Marketa Irglova, whom I've never hard of but I quite like her voice, though the music is a bit soft. Wilco, fuck wilco. And that's the end of that compilation, one artist I'll be finding, one I'll consider, not bad for the standard hodgepodge of artists labels throw together on these things. It was free at my local indie-store, as these things should be, ask yours if there are any label promos to check out, even finding one new artist is a win for the effort.

The Rough Guide To Bollywood Gold
Label: World Music Network
Released: 2007
Genre: Bollywood
Bollywood! Not quite traditional Indian, not quite modern music either. It's a quirky combination of the two that sounds, well, like it came from a movie scene. Because that's what it did. Taking the songs out of context is sometimes weird - as a few of them include a snippet of opening dialogue or movie sound effect. A few sound like very traditional Indian music, and a few are not even close, like the one track on here that is totally surf-rock set to indian beats and vocals. Epic really does describe some of the music here, and the only regret is that it's only audio and you can't see the obviously extravegant dance routines that go into these movies. Fun mix to toss into a playlist with other Indian music, because these songs are not dull, at all, ever.

Next Week - pop music from Denmark, the last of the Unwoman discography I have left, some trip-hop from the mid 90s, and a collection of, er, showtunes of a sort.

Week Of 7/26 - Industrial, House, Pop

Finally, after 12 years, the new Atari Teenage Riot album. You can definitely feel the loss of Carl Crack on it, but still definitely ATR. A couple house remix albums find their way, one from London the other Paris. The long awaited addition of Sinsect (there were some printing issues with the physical CD) made it in, and to top it all off some Grace Jones.

New Releases:
Atari Teenage Riot - Is This Hyperreal?
Label: Digital Hard Core / Dim Mak
Released: 7/26 2011
Genre: Industrial, Noize
ATR, way back in the late 1990s, kind of slapped the heavy music scene in the face as they managed to achieve some moderate measure of commercial success. Now, twelve years later Nic and Alec are back, minus Carl. And you can feel that loss here. Overall, they haven't grown up lyrically - it's still angry anti-pop, anti-establishment, anti-mainstream, anti-fucking Everything. All their in its shouted glory. Musically, they've moved beyond since hardcore and speedcore noise. Elements of chiptune, more Industrial sounding melodies, and slower rhythms. Nic even shows off her ability to sing instead of merely shout. Overall, it's what I'd expect out of an ATR album, and what I was generally hoping for from new material.

Added To The Collection:
Grace Jones - Island Life
Label: Island Records
Released: 1985
Genre: pop, dancehall, reggae
Grace never was, and still isn't, a force to be reckoned with. Aside from being physically imposing, she's got the musical talent to stand her own. This little collection of songs is, as the title implies, very Caribbean in feel. From either just the sound of the music, or the content of the songs. Some dancehall mixes in with the straight pop music. Good summer or party album to have on hand.

Sinsect - Bug Life
Label: Crunch Pod
Released: May 2011
Genre: Industrial
Technically, this is a digital-only release, but a few hardcopy CDs were printed up and made available to Kickstarter contributors. Which is why I waited a bit from release to now - the printing took longer than expected. On with the music: great thundering industrial hardcore noise here. Dancefloor friendly for those dance floors that aren't afraid to deviate from the same boring shit. This one got stuck on repeat for a couple days this week.

Snooze - The Man In The Shadow
Label: The Medicine Label / Tangerine
Released: 1998
Genre: House
Snooze is a London DJ, and this made it over the pond in the late 90s when pretty much anything related to Techno was bouncing back and forth. At this point not only is this CD out of print, but the label that brought it over is defunct. It's not a bad CD, it's actually mostly original music and not a straight CD mix, but it sounds like one, and plays like one. Didn't leave much of an impression either way, just a decent enough collection of songs to put on in the background.

Stephane Pompougnac - Costes: La Suite
Label: Pschent
Released: 1999
Genre: House
This one is a true DJ Mix from Paris DJ Stephane, the second in a series he's been doing for over ten years now. This one bounces around a bit, starting mellow, moving up to a good dancefloor rhythm, and shows off just how far ahead of the curve the French DJs really were, a very early Electroswing track. I like this one, especially the back half as it bounces right along at a good pace. Not something you put on for background music, definitely a mix for dancing to.

Bonus Track:
Bassnectar - Immigraniada (Bassnectar Mix - Radio Edit)
Label: Amorphous Music
Released: July 2011
Genre: Dubstep
This free little track found its way into my collection recently as I scraped up the cash to buy the new Bassnectar album (out today 8/2). It starts off as Immigraniada by Gogol Bordello, pretty straight forward, but somewhere in the middle goes all dubstep bassy on us. Nice litte ditty.

Hidden Track:
Bassnectar - Upside Down (6Blocc Mix)
Label: Amorphous Music
Released: 7/29 2011
Genre: Dubstep
And this little number was sent out to pre-orders of the new Bassnectar album - after I scraped the cash together. This one is straight through dubstep in all its wonderful bassy drumming glory. No tricks, just dance step all the way.

and that's all I got for this week. Next week pulls back from the past a bit more, goes overseas to Iran, and tosses in a bit more industrial-rock because I can't seem to get enough of that.

Lady Gaga - The Fame

Released: August, 2008
Available: anywhere you look! seriously.
Label: Interscope (UMG Label, major label)

If you think I'm going to stick to one genre with this blog -- I'm not.

I don't listen to the radio except rarely in the car, so 'pop' music has to get my attention the same way every other genre in existence does: by me going out and just finding stuff. Or word of mouth. I also don't own a television so the Lady Gaga PR Machine never even crossed my radar. I came to this party late, after the wife said "I want some Lady Gaga albums" when I asked for ideas for Christmas gifts.

Fair enough. I went out and picked up the album, having a pretty solid idea of the artist as the current Pop Star, and having heard some of it, I deemed it passable but not particularly spectacular. Upon getting the album I gave it a solid listen. I didn't expect to enjoy it like I do. (as a note: this is actually the 'revised' release put out after the initial release, it contains two more tracks than before.)

Just Dance - This album is not some genre-breaking testament to music, it's not some intense social statement. It's a pop record. And the opening track comes in with a catchy beat and a statement one should take to heart: Just Dance. This album is supposed to be fun and this is one of the more fun tracks. I think this is my favorite track because it reminds us that sometimes, the music is just a vessel to get us dancing.

Get out on the floor and enjoy the ride.

Love Game - "Disco Stick" has got to be one of the best phallic allusions in a song I've heard in a long time. Not since Motorhead belted out "Bacon Torpedo" have I loved a double entendre so much. Another catchy fun track to dance to, allusions aside it's a good song overall.

Paparazzi - Either this is a statement of undying love, or a song about a stalker. The beat here slows down a bit, it's not as dancable as the previous tracks. I still haven't decided if I like this one or not, I skip over it half the time.

Poker Face - Another solid club track, mostly harmless fun, slathering on sexual tension without being nearly as crude as other artists can be.

Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say) - Slowing down again, this one is a definite pop-ballad song. Though instead of a song about true love, it's about breaking up. As far as sappy pop songs go, I like this one, it manages to be upbeat about the whole thing.

Beautiful, Dirty, Rich - I love this song, it makes me immediately think of AC/DC and the like. This song would be just as good with a killer guitar riff as it is here with a pop-techno beat.

The Fame - Another hard rock inspired track, definitely a good track to just get out on the floor and dance to. Doin' It For The Fame, what else is there for pop musicians. Cant' knock honesty set to a catchy beat.

Money Honey - Another song I like a lot, and yet another song I can picture as a hard rock song instead of technopop. What can I say, I love me some rock and roll, and while this is definitely a pop-tune it's mostly Rock.

Starstruck - The added song for the 'revised' release of the album. Pure club track dance music here. Slow beat, good steady rhythm, a guest artists breaks into a drawn out rap-verse in the middle, but the beat doesn't really change up behind it so you can look past the flaw.

Boys Boys Boys - More Rock fun here. Remember Motley Crue's "Girls Girls Girls"? Becuase this is the woman artists answer to it. I like that Lady Gaga is able to sexually charge her music without coming across as the submissive side of the relationship.

Paper Gangsta - A piano opening marks this one as something different. Another slower track, it's passable as far as songs go. A song about not wanting superficial boys to date, I'm pretty sure. A mellow song to put on at the end of the evening when things have slowed down.

Brown Eyes - Another mellow slow track. It sounds like it should be played with the lights low, in a noir-feeling lounge or night club. After the upbeat pop of the first part of the album this one almost seems out of place, this would have been a better outro to the whole album instead of just near the end.

I Like It Rough - Picking the beat back up again, but not as fast as the bouncier tracks from the first half. It's not a bad song, but it's not particularly good either. This is another track that was added to the revised release (it started life as an iTunes bonus track).

Summerboy - This one actually contains a guitar riff sound on it, but doesn't quite pick up the pace that would elevate it above top-40 radio fair. A little more oomph could have put this one on the dance floor too.

The album starts out as really good pop-dance fair, but lost some steam at the end, though it never actually goes bad. Sure, it's mostly vapid simple pop culture dance music - but it's good. Lady Gaga can actually write a tune, unlike most pop-musicians out there trying to get you to buy an album.

I wouldn't place this among my collection of Must Have Calssic Albums by any means, but it's listenable and fun.