This weeks new addition is Bella Morte's latest release 'Before The Flood' - a great Gothic Rock album, plus some Dengue Fever bringing back the sound of the 1950s quite handily, a spattering of Industrial musics, and a Rough Guide Compilation.
New Release:
Bella Morte - Before The Flood
Label: Metropolis Records
Released: 6/14 2011
Genre: Gothic Rock
Bella Morte has the ability to take all the best parts of 80s Gothic Rock and leaving behind all the worst parts (namely, having to have been around in the 80s). Great guitars, light on the synths and samples, and Andy's voice is just an amazing fit for the genre. If you are or were a big fan of Gothic Rock before the 1990s started to change the genre up then you really want this album, it fits right in without feeling dated. Definitely modern rock, definitely something new. Bella Morte managed to capture the feeling without sounding like a bad copy. Lights In The Sky is a massive stand out track, as is Falling Star. It's not all dark and moody, the rock here is above the norm, way better than your average radio play rock group.
Adding To The Collection:
Dengue Fever - Escape From Dragon House
Label: M80 Music
Released: 2005
Genre: Rock, Indie-Rock
Dengue Fever takes average indie-rock and kicks it up a notch by adding a Khmer (Cambodian) singer. Her vocals are excellent, and the album has a very old-rock/lounge feel to it. The whole sound (and even album art) feels like they're channeling the rock of the 1950s, a bit lounge, a bit jazz, a bit rock, all good. And the vocals in Khmer make you feel like you're listening to it in a bar in the jungle heat, I file this kind of thing under Summer Music, good music, hot air, long days, great feeling to it.
Turnbull A.C's - Let's Get Pissed
Label: Out Of Line
Released: 2008
Genre: Industrial, EBM
Turnbull A.C's, named after the gang from the movie Warriors, is a side project for Pontus Stålberg (of Spetsnaz), whose main goal is to create EBM as heard in the 80s. Less crunch, more reliance of the beat, and a little more repetition of chorus. Let's Get Pissed is a pretty good party-album, throw it on when the party needs something loud, catchy and danceable in the background that isn't very noisy or guitar-distorted. All the songs do suffer from sounding a little too alike, the lyrics really stand out as the shift in song. Man Made Modern Machines stands out as a club-style classic, and We Can Drink Without Having Fun is an awesome track - fun and loud.
Rough Guide To Brazilian Lounge (w/ Bonus Axial album)
Label: World Music Network
Released: 2009
Genre: Jazz, Bossa Nova, Lounge
I love these Rough Guides, really. This one, though, is interesting. The entire thing is really light, lounge jazz. It's an entire RG of what I end up putting on in the background to allow me to focus, not really listening so much as letting the music block other noise. It's not loud, it's not particularly catchy sing-a-long type music. But it is really good, the jazz here is fused solidly with Bossa Nova rhythms - or rather Brazilian sounds are given a slight jazz flair.
Axial - the bonus disc by this band - on the other hand, is even more down the downtempo road, even lighter. While still really good music, it's the kind of stuff you take it really easy to, afternoon nap or reading material. Non-intrusive music, Sandra's voice is hypnotizing, it does demand some attention, making you pause and Listen to the music.
A good compilation, but fairly downtempo, I wouldn't pull this out to dance to.
Bonus Album:
Caustic - Born This Way
Label: none
Released: May 2011
Genre: Industrial
This little four-track gem was given away on Caustic's Facebook page. It's a couple remixes of Hiroshima Burn, and one each of The Saint Of Fuck-Ups, and White Knuckle Head Fuck. I think these remixes were done but not chosen for any specific release, and Caustic is one of those 'it was made and must be heard' type guys. If you've 'Liked' his Facebook page you can go grab a copy of this. Very club-oriented remixes, but honestly nothing really awesome. Just a fun little four-track bit that is good to throw into a big mix.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment