This week a couple releases came out I wanted to pick up. The new Hollywood Undead and Blueprint being the top two. Blueprint won easily on that front, I like HU, but I like intelligent Hip Hop more.
I found a video for Blueprint's "Radio Inactive" a while back, and was captivated by it. Four minutes of rhyme, no hook, no chorus, stripped down production. I waited for the album release, each single he dropped kept upping the ante on style, on sound, on everything. Bonus: his label is truly independent.
Blueprint - Adventures In Counter Culture
Label: Rhymesayers Entertainment
Release: April 06, 2011
Genre: Hip Hop
The album has ups and downs like your average record, songs I skip, songs I skip to, bounce and mellow, ballads and club cuts. Blueprint has some true range to his talent, from singing to a more traditional rap, fast and slow.
1. Five Years Ago - not a song, an intro track of some guy trying to interview Blueprint right after he walks off stage at one point. But of praise for Blueprint from some half-drunk sounding guy.
2. Go Hard Or Go Home (Printnificence) - Honestly, bit of a standard issue slow beat on how good he is at being an MC. It does show off his talent, solid wall of rhyming with no break and no repetition. Still, its a weak song compared to the rest of the album. Which does make it a good opener - album just goes up from here.
3. Automatic - Music is work, even when it looks easy. I like the synth bit behind this track.
4. Keep Bouncing - one of the singles released as a video. It's a fun little song about partying a wee bit too hard. Crunchy beat, good song to toss into a dance list, towards the end of the night as its a slow crawling beat. (just remember to cut off the tail which is a montage of television bits.)
5. Wanna Be Like You - If the first four tracks were the taxi and tack off, this is the album gaining altitude. Breaking from straight rhymes Blueprint shows he can carry a tune and not just a staccato rap. The song about celebrity worship, and bouncy.
6. My Culture - Disparaging the 'rap culture' that has pervaded for the last fifteen or more years, and how it really isn't worth fighting for. Blueprint aspires to rise above it and bring it back to the kind of culture one could be proud of.
7. Mind, Body, & Soul - Angelica Lee lends her voice to the chorus, unfortunately she sounds autotuned, which knocks the sound from great to good. Slow beat, talking on the importance of music. I can picture this one with a blues guitar behind it.
8. So Alive - Released as an actual single off the album, it is one of my favorite tracks. Two stories, two people, both of them end with the happiness of 'Feeling So Alive' ... funky upbeat sound, good message.
9. Stole Our Yesterday - I like this track, a lot. Nostalgia type thoughts, less about the 'good old days' and more about wondering if we really need to force people to change in every aspect, some people like what they have. "They sold us all tomorrow, then they stole our yesterdays."
10. Radio-Inactive - The track that caught my attention, it has an intensity, an anger behind it. The kind of anger that moves men to positive action, not just impotent rage. From the simple piano intro to the rising beat, all around intensity.
11. Welcome Home - A light guitar riff playing over sounds of a family outing, eventually a drum line joins in. Another singing track, a ballad melody on the good things that life will always come back to.
12. Fly Away - This beat reminds me of a Jan Hammer track, it's so extremely 80s you can't help but smile. Very blues attitude here, though its hard to tell if the guys leaving or got kicked out, either way a good move for him to move on.
13. The Clouds - Keep your head in the clouds, feet on the ground, and keep working for the dream you have. Another solid wall of rhyming, Blueprint has a knack for carrying a song without needing a hook or chorus.
14. The Rise & Fall - Bouncing club track, good to dance to, the rhyme even bounces along, rolls right over the beat. It does have a chorus, which brings a nice break in the song, then it keeps bouncing along.
15. The Other Side - This last track is a slow song, it also feels so personal I almost wonder if I shouldn't turn it down and let the man have a private moment. It's beautiful listen to though.
The range of tracks here moves from expected songs about the artists ability, to broken relationships, ups and downs of life, and lost and found opportunities. This is not the crap you're going to hear on the radio, this is real music.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Week4 - Metal & Rock
Slow week, only a handful of albums. The majority of which are me filling in holes in the collection, finally getting two albums from way way back that I enjoyed so much as a punk teenager. But first, since I didn't post it earlier, an in depth look at this weeks New Release.
Broken Bells - Meyrin Fields
Label:
Released: 3/29
Genre: Rock, Pop
Broken Bells have put out a 4-track EP, and by all accounts it's pretty similar to their excellent debut album. They didn't stray too far from the formula, but they didn't lock step into it either. The first and last track really remind me of all the good points of the previous album, the middle two I find Mercer's voice goes a little too off. The only real unfortunate part to this is just as you're really getting into it the EP ends. At just under 20 minutes, and no song stands out as a 'single' it just isn't enough.
Metal Church - The Dark
Label:
Released: 1986
Genre: Heavy Metal
San Fransisco based Metal Church were early on the scene, comrades to Metallica and Megadeth on the west coast. Good classic Speed Metal type stuff here, with screaming vocals, declarations of power and independence and railing against The System and its War Like Ways. Ton Of Bricks and Start The Fire are two awesome anthems in the metal world, easily classics and happily the first two tracks on the album. The Dark title track is another awesome cut. The rest of it is, well, mid-80s speed metal. Good, but unless you're really into the scene (I am) forgettable.
Overkill - Feel The Fire
Label:
Released: 1984
Genre: Thrash Metal
Overkill are by far one of my favorite bands, I found out about them around 1989, The Years Of Decay had just come out I think. Either way I was stuck hard and fast and have been with them since. I wore out my original cassette of Feel the Fire and had to copy a friends. It's just a hammering album from first note to the last. The CD here has a bonus track that wasn't on my original release, and it kind of kills the outro of Overkill signature track - they shoulda put the bonus track earlier. Still, every bit of East Coast Thrash that I remember from my childhood and why the hell did I wait so long to go find this on CD?
The age old argument of Thrash vs Speed? Thrash all the way!
Broken Bells - Meyrin Fields
Label:
Released: 3/29
Genre: Rock, Pop
Broken Bells have put out a 4-track EP, and by all accounts it's pretty similar to their excellent debut album. They didn't stray too far from the formula, but they didn't lock step into it either. The first and last track really remind me of all the good points of the previous album, the middle two I find Mercer's voice goes a little too off. The only real unfortunate part to this is just as you're really getting into it the EP ends. At just under 20 minutes, and no song stands out as a 'single' it just isn't enough.
Metal Church - The Dark
Label:
Released: 1986
Genre: Heavy Metal
San Fransisco based Metal Church were early on the scene, comrades to Metallica and Megadeth on the west coast. Good classic Speed Metal type stuff here, with screaming vocals, declarations of power and independence and railing against The System and its War Like Ways. Ton Of Bricks and Start The Fire are two awesome anthems in the metal world, easily classics and happily the first two tracks on the album. The Dark title track is another awesome cut. The rest of it is, well, mid-80s speed metal. Good, but unless you're really into the scene (I am) forgettable.
Overkill - Feel The Fire
Label:
Released: 1984
Genre: Thrash Metal
Overkill are by far one of my favorite bands, I found out about them around 1989, The Years Of Decay had just come out I think. Either way I was stuck hard and fast and have been with them since. I wore out my original cassette of Feel the Fire and had to copy a friends. It's just a hammering album from first note to the last. The CD here has a bonus track that wasn't on my original release, and it kind of kills the outro of Overkill signature track - they shoulda put the bonus track earlier. Still, every bit of East Coast Thrash that I remember from my childhood and why the hell did I wait so long to go find this on CD?
The age old argument of Thrash vs Speed? Thrash all the way!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Week3 - Industrial; Noise; Blues
Slow week, an unexpected surprise release to help the Japanse releief funds, an order from earlier in the month finally arrives, and I add a new artist to my roster.
Joe Bonamassa - Dust Bowl
I did a full review of his new album Dust Bowl on Wednesday. Blues guitar, mostly a Texas and Chicago feel to this album. This is an addition you won't regret putting in your collection.
Angelspit - Carbon Beauty
Label: Metropolis Records
Released: March 2011
Genre: Industrial; Electropunk
This is a Remix Album from last years studio release, with three new tracks. The remixes here are harder, and a little more glitchy than previous remixes of these tracks. The three new tracks: Glitchbomb; Like It? Lick It!; Toxicgirl, are all hopeful hints of upcoming releases. More glitchy noises, more drums, more guitar. All of it excellent as DestroyX and Zoog continue with their awesome double-vocals assault on music.
OK-ZTEIN-OK - TOHOKO 9.0 Japanese Relief Fund
Label: KMFDM Records
Released: March 23, 2011
Genre: Noise
http://www.kmfdmstore.com
Sascha Konietzko of KMFMD has an upcoming solo release, but in an effort to raise funds to send to Japan after the devastating earthquake and tsunami release previews of three tracks early with an exclusive new track that is made completely from samples of recordings of the earthquake and tsunami. All of it is noise that fits in with Squarepusher or Venetian Snares and their ilk (very little, if any, rhythm, but many layered harmonies). All of the money generated is being sent to Japan, and the digital single is only available through April 26th 2011 to collect the funds. It's a weird little song knowing the source, but the cause is good.
Joe Bonamassa - Dust Bowl
I did a full review of his new album Dust Bowl on Wednesday. Blues guitar, mostly a Texas and Chicago feel to this album. This is an addition you won't regret putting in your collection.
Angelspit - Carbon Beauty
Label: Metropolis Records
Released: March 2011
Genre: Industrial; Electropunk
This is a Remix Album from last years studio release, with three new tracks. The remixes here are harder, and a little more glitchy than previous remixes of these tracks. The three new tracks: Glitchbomb; Like It? Lick It!; Toxicgirl, are all hopeful hints of upcoming releases. More glitchy noises, more drums, more guitar. All of it excellent as DestroyX and Zoog continue with their awesome double-vocals assault on music.
OK-ZTEIN-OK - TOHOKO 9.0 Japanese Relief Fund
Label: KMFDM Records
Released: March 23, 2011
Genre: Noise
http://www.kmfdmstore.com
Sascha Konietzko of KMFMD has an upcoming solo release, but in an effort to raise funds to send to Japan after the devastating earthquake and tsunami release previews of three tracks early with an exclusive new track that is made completely from samples of recordings of the earthquake and tsunami. All of it is noise that fits in with Squarepusher or Venetian Snares and their ilk (very little, if any, rhythm, but many layered harmonies). All of the money generated is being sent to Japan, and the digital single is only available through April 26th 2011 to collect the funds. It's a weird little song knowing the source, but the cause is good.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
New Release - Midweek Special: Joe Bonamassa (Blues)
To make sure I keep regularly posting, I'm going to try and occasionally make a detailed album review around Wednesday on a New Release. New music is released on Tuesdays (with rare exceptions), and I live near a handy independent record store to pilfer. . .
Joe Bonamassa - Dust Bowl
Label: J&R Adventures
Genre: Blues, blues guitar
Joe Bonamassa has been around about ten years, how I missed him until now I don't know, but he's an amazing blues guitarist. I found him last fall when I was hunting around for guitarists to add to my collection, and ran into him again this week while scanning the new release lists. So I went out and got the album.
There's a heavy Chicago Blues influence here, with some rock undertones behind the guitar. But it does capture a lot of blues styles over all, call it 2/3s Blues, 1/3 Rock.
1 - Slow Train; starts out with a drummer approximating a train starting up and taking off. It's a bit of a long rambling song too, at almost seven minutes, it does go on a bit like a long slow train. It's a solid riff though, one you can slow dance to.
2 - Dust Bowl; Slow rolling bassline, bit of a twang on the guitar. Drop this into a playlist of mellow tracks for a slow night.
3 - Tennessee Plates; John Hiatt lends his vocals here, alternating verses. A good bit of rockin' here, bit of heartbreak, bit of bad luck, and a Cadillac with Tennessee plates.
4 - The Meaning Of The Blues; Another slowed down blues riff. It's a ballad, but it's about a minute too long. It's good, but really if you can't figure out the meaning in four minutes or less. . .
5 - Black Lung Heartache; By far the best track here, starts with a bit of twangy guitar, comes on like a tornado two verses in. Finishes off half rock, half blues. A heavy kick on the drums sets the mood. The story of a coal miner. The guitar work on the front end is awesome, really. This one needs to be played at full volume.
6 - You Better Watch Yourself; Shortest track on the album, and if I have to be perfectly honest, Joe should've kept more tracks closer to this time frame (about three and a half minutes), but that may be my Punk "Short And Hard" leanings coming out. This one feels very Chicago Blues, with a killer guitar riff, another blaster.
7 - The Last Matador Of Bayonne; Another slow, quiet ballad, with horn and an almost-Spanish guitar riff to it. There's a nice long guitar solo near the middle (and even the non solo parts are all lead guitar), giving it a very Texas Blues kind of feel overall.
8 - Heartbreaker; I like this one but it can't quite decide if it wants to be a rock song or a ballad, heavy riffs, slow song. Glenn Hughes helps out on this track, his voice is has more range than Joe's.
9 - No Love On The Street; Another six and a half minute monster, but it's just a slow ballad. Good, but it also needs about a minute trimmed off.
10 - The Whale That Swallowed Jonah; mid-speed riff, lots of lead guitar and solo here. More rock than blues, gives it a middle-of-the-live-set feeling.
11 - Sweet Rowena; Simple song, nothing out standing about it, which makes it a pretty good track for this album, no long guitar solos, just rhythm and song.
12 - Prisoner; This feels like it should be a great classic track, but it's another that just rambles on way too long. Almost seven minutes and five minutes in I'm just waiting for the album to finally end. Not a great way to end it off, boring the listener. If you're in the right mood (I suggest when it's raining outside) the song and long guitar solo is a great slow track.
Overall, I really do love the album, but I'm not a particular fan of six and seven minute songs, especially in this genre, as a general rule. It makes the album feel a little loose, drawn out when it should be tightened up. It's got a bit of everything here, which means I can cherry pick songs for whatever mood I'm in, not really an album I'll listen to all the way through very often.
Joe Bonamassa - Dust Bowl
Label: J&R Adventures
Genre: Blues, blues guitar
Joe Bonamassa has been around about ten years, how I missed him until now I don't know, but he's an amazing blues guitarist. I found him last fall when I was hunting around for guitarists to add to my collection, and ran into him again this week while scanning the new release lists. So I went out and got the album.
There's a heavy Chicago Blues influence here, with some rock undertones behind the guitar. But it does capture a lot of blues styles over all, call it 2/3s Blues, 1/3 Rock.
1 - Slow Train; starts out with a drummer approximating a train starting up and taking off. It's a bit of a long rambling song too, at almost seven minutes, it does go on a bit like a long slow train. It's a solid riff though, one you can slow dance to.
2 - Dust Bowl; Slow rolling bassline, bit of a twang on the guitar. Drop this into a playlist of mellow tracks for a slow night.
3 - Tennessee Plates; John Hiatt lends his vocals here, alternating verses. A good bit of rockin' here, bit of heartbreak, bit of bad luck, and a Cadillac with Tennessee plates.
4 - The Meaning Of The Blues; Another slowed down blues riff. It's a ballad, but it's about a minute too long. It's good, but really if you can't figure out the meaning in four minutes or less. . .
5 - Black Lung Heartache; By far the best track here, starts with a bit of twangy guitar, comes on like a tornado two verses in. Finishes off half rock, half blues. A heavy kick on the drums sets the mood. The story of a coal miner. The guitar work on the front end is awesome, really. This one needs to be played at full volume.
6 - You Better Watch Yourself; Shortest track on the album, and if I have to be perfectly honest, Joe should've kept more tracks closer to this time frame (about three and a half minutes), but that may be my Punk "Short And Hard" leanings coming out. This one feels very Chicago Blues, with a killer guitar riff, another blaster.
7 - The Last Matador Of Bayonne; Another slow, quiet ballad, with horn and an almost-Spanish guitar riff to it. There's a nice long guitar solo near the middle (and even the non solo parts are all lead guitar), giving it a very Texas Blues kind of feel overall.
8 - Heartbreaker; I like this one but it can't quite decide if it wants to be a rock song or a ballad, heavy riffs, slow song. Glenn Hughes helps out on this track, his voice is has more range than Joe's.
9 - No Love On The Street; Another six and a half minute monster, but it's just a slow ballad. Good, but it also needs about a minute trimmed off.
10 - The Whale That Swallowed Jonah; mid-speed riff, lots of lead guitar and solo here. More rock than blues, gives it a middle-of-the-live-set feeling.
11 - Sweet Rowena; Simple song, nothing out standing about it, which makes it a pretty good track for this album, no long guitar solos, just rhythm and song.
12 - Prisoner; This feels like it should be a great classic track, but it's another that just rambles on way too long. Almost seven minutes and five minutes in I'm just waiting for the album to finally end. Not a great way to end it off, boring the listener. If you're in the right mood (I suggest when it's raining outside) the song and long guitar solo is a great slow track.
Overall, I really do love the album, but I'm not a particular fan of six and seven minute songs, especially in this genre, as a general rule. It makes the album feel a little loose, drawn out when it should be tightened up. It's got a bit of everything here, which means I can cherry pick songs for whatever mood I'm in, not really an album I'll listen to all the way through very often.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Week2 - Industrial, Blues, Metal
This week: filling in some holes, picking up some new Industrial, helping out the Queensland flood... 2 EPs, 1 Album, 1 Soundtrack and a Compilation were acquired this week (used record stores are good for older releases).
Caustic - 666 On The Crucifix
Label: Metropolis Records
Released: 3/15 [New Release]
Genre: Industrial (the artist prefers Jizzcore...)
New single from Caustic in prep for next months full album. It's a bunch of remixes of the title track and a few other tracks thrown in; 8 total for a decent EP. This is also a Digital Only Release (buy direct from Metropolis Records for best price). Track 1, album title track - the song is catchy, and aside from the obviously overused satan references, this is definitely making some fun of how a Club Hit is made. There are 3 other remixes of the song on the EP, none of them particularly spectacular. The other 4 tracks are excellent; Chum The Waters is by far the best track here. Fun EP, good for some off center industrial club cuts.
Front Line Assembly - Angriff
Label: Metropolis Records
Released: October 2010
Genre: EBM/Industrial
Another digital only single, this is six remixes of the title track, all of them a little too similar for my tastes actually. The song is awesome however, and the whole thing is good to toss into a giant EBM playlist so they get mixed around a little. There's also an unreleased track on the EP that really sounds a lot like just another remix of Angriff if you aren't paying attention. Good for wanting to complete an FLA collection.
Anthrax - Spreading The Disease
Label: Island Records
Released: 1985
Genre: Metal/Thrash
Picked this one up as it's the last Anthrax album I didn't have on CD, how I waiting so long to get this classic into my collection is a mystery. It's great 80s thrash metal, this is the first full album to feature Joey Belladonna on vocals. Thus sets up the "classic" Anthrax line-up that lasted through Persistence Of Time. It's missing some of the goofier fun material in later albums, but steps away from the punk-thrash of Fistful Of Metal into something a little more mature.
Black Snake Moan (soundtrack)
Label: New West Records
Released: Jan 2007
Genre: Blues (primarily Delta Blues)
I managed to catch this movie finally and was amazed by it, and the soundtrack made it go above the grade. Samuel L Jackson even puts down some vocals on this one himself. The music carried the movie perfectly, so I had to get the soundtrack. This is some amazing blues here, some old standards re-imagined as well.
Surge And Subside (compilation)
Label: Aphotic Audio
Released: Feb 2011
Genre: Industrial/Electronica (and sub-genres....)
http://surgesubside.com -- Released in response to the major flooding in Queensland Australia in early 2011. All tracks were donated by over 40 bands to raise money for the flood victims. Buying direct from Aphotic gets a bonus Overflow of 9 tracks. Helping flood victims aside: the music itself is a pretty standard affair for a collection of wide ranging electronica, most of it falls in or close to the Industrial genre. It's a little too all over the place for a cohesive compilation, it's obvious the bands tossed in their hats to grab as wide an audience as possible to raise money. A good thing in all, and worth the purchase to help out a region still recovering from a natural disaster. The album comes both as physical and digital releases (I picked up the digital release), and gets you over 3 hours of music.
Caustic - 666 On The Crucifix
Label: Metropolis Records
Released: 3/15 [New Release]
Genre: Industrial (the artist prefers Jizzcore...)
New single from Caustic in prep for next months full album. It's a bunch of remixes of the title track and a few other tracks thrown in; 8 total for a decent EP. This is also a Digital Only Release (buy direct from Metropolis Records for best price). Track 1, album title track - the song is catchy, and aside from the obviously overused satan references, this is definitely making some fun of how a Club Hit is made. There are 3 other remixes of the song on the EP, none of them particularly spectacular. The other 4 tracks are excellent; Chum The Waters is by far the best track here. Fun EP, good for some off center industrial club cuts.
Front Line Assembly - Angriff
Label: Metropolis Records
Released: October 2010
Genre: EBM/Industrial
Another digital only single, this is six remixes of the title track, all of them a little too similar for my tastes actually. The song is awesome however, and the whole thing is good to toss into a giant EBM playlist so they get mixed around a little. There's also an unreleased track on the EP that really sounds a lot like just another remix of Angriff if you aren't paying attention. Good for wanting to complete an FLA collection.
Anthrax - Spreading The Disease
Label: Island Records
Released: 1985
Genre: Metal/Thrash
Picked this one up as it's the last Anthrax album I didn't have on CD, how I waiting so long to get this classic into my collection is a mystery. It's great 80s thrash metal, this is the first full album to feature Joey Belladonna on vocals. Thus sets up the "classic" Anthrax line-up that lasted through Persistence Of Time. It's missing some of the goofier fun material in later albums, but steps away from the punk-thrash of Fistful Of Metal into something a little more mature.
Black Snake Moan (soundtrack)
Label: New West Records
Released: Jan 2007
Genre: Blues (primarily Delta Blues)
I managed to catch this movie finally and was amazed by it, and the soundtrack made it go above the grade. Samuel L Jackson even puts down some vocals on this one himself. The music carried the movie perfectly, so I had to get the soundtrack. This is some amazing blues here, some old standards re-imagined as well.
Surge And Subside (compilation)
Label: Aphotic Audio
Released: Feb 2011
Genre: Industrial/Electronica (and sub-genres....)
http://surgesubside.com -- Released in response to the major flooding in Queensland Australia in early 2011. All tracks were donated by over 40 bands to raise money for the flood victims. Buying direct from Aphotic gets a bonus Overflow of 9 tracks. Helping flood victims aside: the music itself is a pretty standard affair for a collection of wide ranging electronica, most of it falls in or close to the Industrial genre. It's a little too all over the place for a cohesive compilation, it's obvious the bands tossed in their hats to grab as wide an audience as possible to raise money. A good thing in all, and worth the purchase to help out a region still recovering from a natural disaster. The album comes both as physical and digital releases (I picked up the digital release), and gets you over 3 hours of music.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Reboot
The blog fell into disuse; It was difficult to find the time to do the blog as I originally wanted on any kind of regular schedule. New tactic, a quick look at all the new music I acquired during that week. Some weeks get less than others.
Week 1; 7 Albums (3 with bonus content)
KMFDM - Krank
label: Metropolis / KMFDM Records
Release: 3/12/2011 (New Release)
Genre: Industrial; Industrial-Rock
Krank is the first actual single from KMFDM since Boots. By actual single I mean a single that precedes the album the tracks come from, with new music. Like all KMFDM singles (and most singles at all these days) it's multiple Remixes of one new song. Krank is that song - A Remix by Sascha, Kommor Kammondo, and Tim Skold. It also has two remixes of Day Of Light, a single released only as a limited edition vinyl single and a digital single. One by Bill Rieflin and one remaster. Krank is a typical KMFDM song, name checking, solid industrial-rock beat, nothing particularly outstanding about it. But it does remind me of the late 90s era more than recent albums, which I'll take as a good sign. Tim and Bill are KMFDM alumni, each producing a remix that is definitely showcasing their own styles. The last track Day Of Light (24/7 Mix) is really a remaster for the CD, if you have the vinyl or digital it doesn't sound very different.
Legion Within - Aeons and The Empty Men
label: KMFDM Records
Genre: gothic-rock
Legion Within are a Seattle based gothic-rock outfit, with some industrial rock leanings every now and then.
Aeons - released 2004
Actually, absolutely nothing about this album stands out as above the norm. It's a good album, and I've tossed it into a regular rotation in my goth-rock playlist. It fills things out nicely, fits right in with a lot of my collection from the early 80s before Goth started to infuse itself into the Darkwave/Coldwave movements.
The Empty Men - released 2006
This LP, on the other hand, has a little more oomph to it, they flex some industrial muscles in here a little more. Coming up with a punchier sound, an evolution and pick up from their previous releases. Another one I tossed into the Goth-Rock rotation to add some color there.
Rough Guide To ...
label: World Music
Genre: various
I like the Rough Guide compilations, they always bring an infusion of music that's otherwise hard to find and obtain in the US: stuff from outside the US. Each compilation focuses on a particular genre. Some of them come with a bonus disc that showcases a single artist only as a standard album. Like any good compilation, if you want to get into a musical genre these are awesome places to start getting artist names you'll like.
... Bhangra
This one focuses on Bhangra music out of India. More traditional than the big-beat infused Bhangra Dance that passes through clubs. I can see where dance cuts slide right into this genre, even without the big-beat behind it Bhangra bounces and moves, begging for the listener to dance (almost daring them not to...). The Bonus Album is from the group Achanak, with a 20 Year Retrospective Best Of album.
... Blues And Beyond
This takes most of its music from Africa, where the blues has traveled back over to and infused itself with the traditional music there. The result is nothing short of gorgeous. This comes with a bonus album from Nuru Kane, and while it's less Blues and more his Traditional African, it still has a heavy blues influence.
... Gypsy Music
I'm not sure I can place Gypsy music beyond 'Eastern European in feel but not completely' but this is another grouping of music that is easily danced to, though lacking the heavy drum beats of other styles. The bonus album is Bela Lakatos, which moves from bouncing dance tunes to dirge sounding ballads.
... Asian Underground
This is a lot of South and South East Asian music, mixed with modern dance and other styles. It's a good album, but not quite as fully bouncy as a straight dance-club cut album, and not quite as Traditional as a more focused grouping might be. This one, being much less focused on a small region or specific genre, has no bonus album to accompany it. It feels unfocused, so I tossed it in with a playlist that's set to random, mixing it into music to play in the background.
Week 1; 7 Albums (3 with bonus content)
KMFDM - Krank
label: Metropolis / KMFDM Records
Release: 3/12/2011 (New Release)
Genre: Industrial; Industrial-Rock
Krank is the first actual single from KMFDM since Boots. By actual single I mean a single that precedes the album the tracks come from, with new music. Like all KMFDM singles (and most singles at all these days) it's multiple Remixes of one new song. Krank is that song - A Remix by Sascha, Kommor Kammondo, and Tim Skold. It also has two remixes of Day Of Light, a single released only as a limited edition vinyl single and a digital single. One by Bill Rieflin and one remaster. Krank is a typical KMFDM song, name checking, solid industrial-rock beat, nothing particularly outstanding about it. But it does remind me of the late 90s era more than recent albums, which I'll take as a good sign. Tim and Bill are KMFDM alumni, each producing a remix that is definitely showcasing their own styles. The last track Day Of Light (24/7 Mix) is really a remaster for the CD, if you have the vinyl or digital it doesn't sound very different.
Legion Within - Aeons and The Empty Men
label: KMFDM Records
Genre: gothic-rock
Legion Within are a Seattle based gothic-rock outfit, with some industrial rock leanings every now and then.
Aeons - released 2004
Actually, absolutely nothing about this album stands out as above the norm. It's a good album, and I've tossed it into a regular rotation in my goth-rock playlist. It fills things out nicely, fits right in with a lot of my collection from the early 80s before Goth started to infuse itself into the Darkwave/Coldwave movements.
The Empty Men - released 2006
This LP, on the other hand, has a little more oomph to it, they flex some industrial muscles in here a little more. Coming up with a punchier sound, an evolution and pick up from their previous releases. Another one I tossed into the Goth-Rock rotation to add some color there.
Rough Guide To ...
label: World Music
Genre: various
I like the Rough Guide compilations, they always bring an infusion of music that's otherwise hard to find and obtain in the US: stuff from outside the US. Each compilation focuses on a particular genre. Some of them come with a bonus disc that showcases a single artist only as a standard album. Like any good compilation, if you want to get into a musical genre these are awesome places to start getting artist names you'll like.
... Bhangra
This one focuses on Bhangra music out of India. More traditional than the big-beat infused Bhangra Dance that passes through clubs. I can see where dance cuts slide right into this genre, even without the big-beat behind it Bhangra bounces and moves, begging for the listener to dance (almost daring them not to...). The Bonus Album is from the group Achanak, with a 20 Year Retrospective Best Of album.
... Blues And Beyond
This takes most of its music from Africa, where the blues has traveled back over to and infused itself with the traditional music there. The result is nothing short of gorgeous. This comes with a bonus album from Nuru Kane, and while it's less Blues and more his Traditional African, it still has a heavy blues influence.
... Gypsy Music
I'm not sure I can place Gypsy music beyond 'Eastern European in feel but not completely' but this is another grouping of music that is easily danced to, though lacking the heavy drum beats of other styles. The bonus album is Bela Lakatos, which moves from bouncing dance tunes to dirge sounding ballads.
... Asian Underground
This is a lot of South and South East Asian music, mixed with modern dance and other styles. It's a good album, but not quite as fully bouncy as a straight dance-club cut album, and not quite as Traditional as a more focused grouping might be. This one, being much less focused on a small region or specific genre, has no bonus album to accompany it. It feels unfocused, so I tossed it in with a playlist that's set to random, mixing it into music to play in the background.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
N.A.S.A. - The Spirit Of Apollo
Released: Early 2009
Availability: stores, online, easily found.
Label: Spectrophonic Sound/Anti- (independent labels)
N.A.S.A. - North America South America - is two DJs (Squeak E. Clean ad DJ Zegon) and an idea. The idea was to collect as many different people as possible, and start recording music. Certainly not a new idea, I have a number of collaboration albums in my collection. This one is only slightly different - the collaboration in question wasn't primarily the DJs and Another Artist. It was Two Different Artists, that the DJs mixed together. The genre is primarily Hip Hop - as are the majority of the artists (Kanye West, KRS-One, Kool Keith, RZA, and others) but a few aren't (Tom Waits, George Clinton, Lykke Li). The albums swerves through Hip Hop, Funk, Samba, and Drum & Bass like a slalom course. For the most part it stays pretty on target with Hip Hop as the MC is the primary song style here - almost no traditional vocal singing is done, mostly rap.
But the genius is sometimes in the pairings, the way various parts of put together. And that a few new artists popped up onto my radar as they didn't stick exclusively with the Popular/Known Ones.
They didn't stop at the artists, they even commissioned five different artists for five (six if you count the booklet with lyrics) album covers. And thankfully did not commit the grievous sin of five different releases - all five pieces of art work are included on cards so you could switch the one you like best to the top of the jewel case (I scanned my favorite into iTunes and left them in order when putting it on the CDs shelves to look pretty). Each card - on the back - covers the artists who contributed to each song - which is the kind of thing I really look for in a booklet and why I avoid digital downloads if possible that don't include one.
Intro - This is not a song, it's not even really an introduction. It's a mission statement. I can imagine that they asked each artist to read the statement, and then hacked it apart and put it back together so it sounds like everyone said a word or two in sequence. Onto the music.
The People Tree - David Byrne (Talking Heads), Chali 2na (Jurassic Five, Ozomatli), Gift Of Gab (Blackalicious), DJ Z-Trip (Turntablist). The track is a mix between a smooth beat and a Top-40/Pop-Rock track. Chali and Gift Of Gab trade verses while David provides the chorus.
Money - David Byrne, Chuck D (Public Enemy), Ras Congo (I don't know - I need info!), Seu Jorge (Brazilian Samba artist), DJ Z-Trip. Combining David Byrne and Chuck D is an interesting mix here, especially when you pull in the Reggae (Ras Congo) and Samba (Seu Jorge) elements. It mixes well, the Reggae elements take over musically even as David brings a lighter elements and Chuck D a heavier one. The song it self is about the evils of money. . . I just like the beat.
N.A.S.A Music - Method Man (Wu-Tang Clan, among other acts), E-40 (rapper), DJ Swamp (turntablist). Pretty much straight up Hip Hop as Method Man and E-40 trade off while DJ Swamp provides a very danceable beat.
Way Down - RZA (Wu-Tang Clan, plus others), Barbie Hatch (unsigned singer), John Fruciante (Red Hot Chile Peppers). Now the collaborations are starting to flex some muscle. The ethereal lyrics of Barbie and RZA's rapping mix together with John's guitar bringing an extra layer to the backing electronica. The song is about a girl who falls in love with the devil. Musically it starts to show what the project is about - meshing wildly diverse elements.
Hip Hop - KRS-One (hip hop artist), Fatlip and Slim Kid Tre (The Pharcyde). Another purely hip-hop track, as the name says. KRS-One brings a lyrical smoothness rarely seen, but the song itself isn't very diverse. Almost a step backwards from the previous tracks raising of the bar.
Four Rooms, Earth View - Squeak E Clean & DJ Zegon, a short piece playing a recording from somewhere... nothing really interesting and I think maybe it could have been left out.
Strange Enough - Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Ol' Dirty Bastard (Wu-Tang Clan; posthumously), Fatlip. Ol' Dirty Bastard makes an appearance from old recordings opposite Fatlip as they switch back, Karen O provides a switch as she changes the tempo with the chorus considerably, and the whole attitude of the track. Another flexing of mixing muscles here.
Spacious Thoughts - Kool Keith (rapper), Tom Waits (singer). If there is a musical equivalent of a nuclear weapon this is it right here. None of the lyrics make much sense as Keith and Tom move back and forth, but there's an inevitable landscape created, something dark, urban, bright, and loud. Keith's very smooth style with Tom's very rough singing does exactly everything this album set out to do in my opinion - bring widely opposite styles into synch. These two need to be unleashed to record an entire album together, the song is gorgeous. I had the chorus stuck in my head for days.
Gifted - Kanye West (rapper), Santogold (rapper), Lykke Li (singer). While Kanye and Santogold are both rappers, their styles are both opposing and complimentary. His lyrics are nearly as smooth compared to her almost sung verse. Lykke provides one hell of a chorus and its too bad she didn't contribute a third verse to pull this song further apart and knit it closer together. The song is beautifully listenable, warm and upbeat.
A Volta - Sizzla (reggae artist), Amanda Blank (singer/rapper), Lovefoxxx (singer of Brazlian group Cansei de Ser Sexy). Again, the album finds the right groove of mixing styles, a smooth Reggae beat swings along while the versus move at a much faster pace than the beat would lead on. Again, I think they missed just off the mark by not giving Lovefoxxx a third verse, only a chorus appearance. Still, this track belongs on a dance floor.
There's A Party - George Clinton (funk), Chali 2na. George Clinton (everyone in his band really) leads a classic funk track here, Chali brings in a hip hop element that crosses and bridges the genres cleanly. It's a slower track, just the slow side of a dance floor track. A light hearted element on the album, complete with group clap along section.
Wachadoin? - Spank Rock (rapper), M.I.A. (rapper), Santogold, Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs). This is a bit of foot-stomper track, M.I.A. leads with her typical staccato beat, while Spank Rock provides a more classic rap. Nick's minimal guitar in the background prevents the track from falling into only drums and beats.
O Pato - Kool Kojak (DJ, producer), DJ Babao (turntablist). A swinging little samba number, with a lot of samples. The whole thing sounds a bit silly, but it's a really smooth dance track behind it all. Even with the weird pornographic Donald Duck imitation on it. . .
Samba Soul - Del Tha Funkee Homosapien (MC), DJ QBert (turntablist). Two powerhouses in the hip hop world put together a pretty standard track here, not quite as samba as the previous track (despite the name), though Del by far has the most verbose style of rap on the record. Always a good listen, while not really opposing musical styles, it's good to put these two together and see what happens.
The Mayor - The Cool Kids (hip hop duo), Ghostface Killa (Wu-Tang Clan, among others), Scarface (rapper), DJ AM (DJ). The last mix on the album here is another pretty straight forward hip hop track, nothing spectacular here in all honestly. There's talent here for sure, it just isn't a mix of opposing styles like some of the songs preceding it.
N.A.S.A. Anthem - The album closes out with the same kind of mash up as the intro provided. Though instead of cutting up everyone's contributions the artists here (and it's not quite everyone) harmonize a single long verse on repeat. It's a very happy together type verse.
then there's a lot of minutes of silence where I curse the entire concept of hidden tracks where there's no real information provided and be thankful I live in the Internet Age where I can find this information out so I don't have to spend days wondering. . . .
Electric Flowers (hidden track!) - Nina Persson (The Cardigans), RZA. The only saving grace to this as a hidden track is that is saves the album from ending on the pap of the "NASA Anthem" thing (which, while nice, is a crap 'song'). It allows the album to go out with a mellow, upbeat, track that juxtaposes RZA's rapping against Nina's smoothly sung chorus.
All in all - the experiment of bringing together these artists (from mega-stars to nearly unheard-ofs) is a success. It doesn't come off as Artist + Guest like so many of these do, but a series of collaborations. Some of which would never have happened were it not for NASA. Overall - the album is more than worth adding to a collection.
Availability: stores, online, easily found.
Label: Spectrophonic Sound/Anti- (independent labels)
N.A.S.A. - North America South America - is two DJs (Squeak E. Clean ad DJ Zegon) and an idea. The idea was to collect as many different people as possible, and start recording music. Certainly not a new idea, I have a number of collaboration albums in my collection. This one is only slightly different - the collaboration in question wasn't primarily the DJs and Another Artist. It was Two Different Artists, that the DJs mixed together. The genre is primarily Hip Hop - as are the majority of the artists (Kanye West, KRS-One, Kool Keith, RZA, and others) but a few aren't (Tom Waits, George Clinton, Lykke Li). The albums swerves through Hip Hop, Funk, Samba, and Drum & Bass like a slalom course. For the most part it stays pretty on target with Hip Hop as the MC is the primary song style here - almost no traditional vocal singing is done, mostly rap.
But the genius is sometimes in the pairings, the way various parts of put together. And that a few new artists popped up onto my radar as they didn't stick exclusively with the Popular/Known Ones.
They didn't stop at the artists, they even commissioned five different artists for five (six if you count the booklet with lyrics) album covers. And thankfully did not commit the grievous sin of five different releases - all five pieces of art work are included on cards so you could switch the one you like best to the top of the jewel case (I scanned my favorite into iTunes and left them in order when putting it on the CDs shelves to look pretty). Each card - on the back - covers the artists who contributed to each song - which is the kind of thing I really look for in a booklet and why I avoid digital downloads if possible that don't include one.
Intro - This is not a song, it's not even really an introduction. It's a mission statement. I can imagine that they asked each artist to read the statement, and then hacked it apart and put it back together so it sounds like everyone said a word or two in sequence. Onto the music.
The People Tree - David Byrne (Talking Heads), Chali 2na (Jurassic Five, Ozomatli), Gift Of Gab (Blackalicious), DJ Z-Trip (Turntablist). The track is a mix between a smooth beat and a Top-40/Pop-Rock track. Chali and Gift Of Gab trade verses while David provides the chorus.
Money - David Byrne, Chuck D (Public Enemy), Ras Congo (I don't know - I need info!), Seu Jorge (Brazilian Samba artist), DJ Z-Trip. Combining David Byrne and Chuck D is an interesting mix here, especially when you pull in the Reggae (Ras Congo) and Samba (Seu Jorge) elements. It mixes well, the Reggae elements take over musically even as David brings a lighter elements and Chuck D a heavier one. The song it self is about the evils of money. . . I just like the beat.
N.A.S.A Music - Method Man (Wu-Tang Clan, among other acts), E-40 (rapper), DJ Swamp (turntablist). Pretty much straight up Hip Hop as Method Man and E-40 trade off while DJ Swamp provides a very danceable beat.
Way Down - RZA (Wu-Tang Clan, plus others), Barbie Hatch (unsigned singer), John Fruciante (Red Hot Chile Peppers). Now the collaborations are starting to flex some muscle. The ethereal lyrics of Barbie and RZA's rapping mix together with John's guitar bringing an extra layer to the backing electronica. The song is about a girl who falls in love with the devil. Musically it starts to show what the project is about - meshing wildly diverse elements.
Hip Hop - KRS-One (hip hop artist), Fatlip and Slim Kid Tre (The Pharcyde). Another purely hip-hop track, as the name says. KRS-One brings a lyrical smoothness rarely seen, but the song itself isn't very diverse. Almost a step backwards from the previous tracks raising of the bar.
Four Rooms, Earth View - Squeak E Clean & DJ Zegon, a short piece playing a recording from somewhere... nothing really interesting and I think maybe it could have been left out.
Strange Enough - Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Ol' Dirty Bastard (Wu-Tang Clan; posthumously), Fatlip. Ol' Dirty Bastard makes an appearance from old recordings opposite Fatlip as they switch back, Karen O provides a switch as she changes the tempo with the chorus considerably, and the whole attitude of the track. Another flexing of mixing muscles here.
Spacious Thoughts - Kool Keith (rapper), Tom Waits (singer). If there is a musical equivalent of a nuclear weapon this is it right here. None of the lyrics make much sense as Keith and Tom move back and forth, but there's an inevitable landscape created, something dark, urban, bright, and loud. Keith's very smooth style with Tom's very rough singing does exactly everything this album set out to do in my opinion - bring widely opposite styles into synch. These two need to be unleashed to record an entire album together, the song is gorgeous. I had the chorus stuck in my head for days.
Gifted - Kanye West (rapper), Santogold (rapper), Lykke Li (singer). While Kanye and Santogold are both rappers, their styles are both opposing and complimentary. His lyrics are nearly as smooth compared to her almost sung verse. Lykke provides one hell of a chorus and its too bad she didn't contribute a third verse to pull this song further apart and knit it closer together. The song is beautifully listenable, warm and upbeat.
A Volta - Sizzla (reggae artist), Amanda Blank (singer/rapper), Lovefoxxx (singer of Brazlian group Cansei de Ser Sexy). Again, the album finds the right groove of mixing styles, a smooth Reggae beat swings along while the versus move at a much faster pace than the beat would lead on. Again, I think they missed just off the mark by not giving Lovefoxxx a third verse, only a chorus appearance. Still, this track belongs on a dance floor.
There's A Party - George Clinton (funk), Chali 2na. George Clinton (everyone in his band really) leads a classic funk track here, Chali brings in a hip hop element that crosses and bridges the genres cleanly. It's a slower track, just the slow side of a dance floor track. A light hearted element on the album, complete with group clap along section.
Wachadoin? - Spank Rock (rapper), M.I.A. (rapper), Santogold, Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs). This is a bit of foot-stomper track, M.I.A. leads with her typical staccato beat, while Spank Rock provides a more classic rap. Nick's minimal guitar in the background prevents the track from falling into only drums and beats.
O Pato - Kool Kojak (DJ, producer), DJ Babao (turntablist). A swinging little samba number, with a lot of samples. The whole thing sounds a bit silly, but it's a really smooth dance track behind it all. Even with the weird pornographic Donald Duck imitation on it. . .
Samba Soul - Del Tha Funkee Homosapien (MC), DJ QBert (turntablist). Two powerhouses in the hip hop world put together a pretty standard track here, not quite as samba as the previous track (despite the name), though Del by far has the most verbose style of rap on the record. Always a good listen, while not really opposing musical styles, it's good to put these two together and see what happens.
The Mayor - The Cool Kids (hip hop duo), Ghostface Killa (Wu-Tang Clan, among others), Scarface (rapper), DJ AM (DJ). The last mix on the album here is another pretty straight forward hip hop track, nothing spectacular here in all honestly. There's talent here for sure, it just isn't a mix of opposing styles like some of the songs preceding it.
N.A.S.A. Anthem - The album closes out with the same kind of mash up as the intro provided. Though instead of cutting up everyone's contributions the artists here (and it's not quite everyone) harmonize a single long verse on repeat. It's a very happy together type verse.
then there's a lot of minutes of silence where I curse the entire concept of hidden tracks where there's no real information provided and be thankful I live in the Internet Age where I can find this information out so I don't have to spend days wondering. . . .
Electric Flowers (hidden track!) - Nina Persson (The Cardigans), RZA. The only saving grace to this as a hidden track is that is saves the album from ending on the pap of the "NASA Anthem" thing (which, while nice, is a crap 'song'). It allows the album to go out with a mellow, upbeat, track that juxtaposes RZA's rapping against Nina's smoothly sung chorus.
All in all - the experiment of bringing together these artists (from mega-stars to nearly unheard-ofs) is a success. It doesn't come off as Artist + Guest like so many of these do, but a series of collaborations. Some of which would never have happened were it not for NASA. Overall - the album is more than worth adding to a collection.
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