Karen Souza is around for a while, under various pseudonyms she provide vocals to some electronic music products, mostly in house gender. She had a nice, smooth voice, some may say quit sensual, but I guess if any man will take a look at her pictures, most of us will thinking about other qualities she may had then about singing, but hey! what the hack, that’s why they call us “pigs” after all, isn’t it? 😀
Karen Souza begun flirting – what else she could possibly do? 😀 – with the idea of singing jazz and this was the starting point of her Cooltrane Quartet and they take a ride on the path of pop and rock classics set to jazz beats and arrangements. It’s hard to fail with a set list made of all time greatest hits as “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “Creep”, “Tainted Love”, “Personal Jesus”, “Billie Jean”, “Bette Davis Eyes” or “Every Breath You Take”. Read more Karen Souza – Essentials (2011)
Monthly Archives: March 2011
Current 93 – HoneySuckle Aeons (2011)
Labeled apocalyptic folk, experimental music, dark ambient, neofolk, even post-industrial and musical influences include religious chants, traditional folk music, but also some progressive bands such as Yes, King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Current 93 it’s hell of a trip musically and literally. David Michael Bunting aka David Tibet renamed “Tibet” by Genesis P-Orridge are what we usually called a weirdo. He took off from preoccupation with mysticism, mostly influenced by the works of Aleister Crowley and ended up stating that he now identifies himself as a Christian. Kind of backward trip of Crowley. 😀 Still, he kept in he’s project name the number “93”, number of great significance in Thelema, the religious philosophy founded by Crowley. (The central philosophy of Thelema is in two phrases from Liber AL: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law” and “Love is the law, love under will.” The two primary terms in these statements are “Will” and “Love”, respectively. In the Greek language, they are Thelema (Will) and Agape (Love). Using the Greek technique of isopsephy, which applies a numerical value to letters, the letters of both of these words when added together equal 93). Read more Current 93 – HoneySuckle Aeons (2011)
Flaming Lips and Neon Indian (2011)
“Is David Bowie Dead?” (or “dying” – it’s still unclear…) it’s a huge song. It’s so David Bowie. 6 minutes and 45 seconds of pure stardust. I can play this single track for a whole day. At least. Maybe even backward. The over 8 minutes of “Alan’s Theremin” is more Neon Indian than Flaming Lips, it sounds like a psychedelic puzzle torn off from the 70s and striped to the bones now days. It’s like a carousel, floats and waving around. “You Don’t Respond” returns with a twisted guitar riff and gloomy electronics and sounds exactly like a broken answering machine. Finally “Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Truth Part 2” seems like a rehearsal recording, kind of “work in progress” stuff. And that’s all, this is the long expected collaborative project of Flaming Lips with Neon Indian, this 12″ EP. Read more Flaming Lips and Neon Indian (2011)
Panic! At the Disco – Vices and Virtues (2011)
Baroque pop I guess covers pretty good what singer/multi-instrumentalist Brendon Urie and drummer Spencer Smith dose on this third studio album by Panic! at the Disco. 10 tracks, 37 minutes, nothing complicated, a little bit rock filtered through that indie approach, some electronics with discrete retro perfume, positive vibes, good grooves, danceable stuffs – I guess 😀 – and most of their themes aim to hit the charts. And the first single, “The Ballad of Mona Lisa” entered in heavy rotation across the MTV Networks and received positive reviews. Actually I prefer the heavier “Let’s Kill Tonight”, the smooth tunes of “Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind)” or the real retro taste of “Sarah Smiles” and “Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met…)”, probably Urie thought about everybody and delivered something for everyone. Read more Panic! At the Disco – Vices and Virtues (2011)
Chemical Wedding (2008)
Many times, many people asked me about Aleister Crowley. Crowley was at least an interesting figure above all the facts and fictions around him, his life, his works and… Magick. Some says he was nothing, but a clown or worst, a pervert, others argue on he was a genius or a madman. Oscar Wilde said “Aleister Crowley is a madman who thinks he is Aleister Crowley” – and I think this is the essence of everything we possibly can say about Crowley before we getting ridiculous.
Crowley has remained an influential figure and is widely thought of as the most influential occultist of all time, but also he gained widespread notoriety during his lifetime, and was denounced in the popular press of the day as “the wickedest man in the world” because of his eccentricity. Crowley enjoyed being a figure of controversy and frequently deliberately provoked it among his peers and in the media. I actually read a lot about Crowley and I read most of his writings as well, but more as I read, more confused I get. And “Chemical Wedding”, the film directed by Julian Doyle based on an original screenplay by Bruce Dickinson, the frontman of Iron Maiden, will not bring you further to the truth. Read more Chemical Wedding (2008)
IAMX – Volatile Times (2011)
Back in 2004 Chris Corner left behind Sneaker Pimps and started this new project: IAMX. The musical direction is not quit out of Sneaker Pimps line, it’s still a gloomy, dark electronic blending with indie infusions and the lyrics are dealing with subjects such as sex, death, emotions, narcotic intoxication, decadence, religion, alienation and allusions to politics. Since the debut album “Kiss + Swallow” released in 2008, Chris didn’t waste any time and 2008 bring another two releases, “The Alternative” and “IAMIXED”. In 2009 was released “Kingdom of Welcome Addiction”, and in 2010 “DOGMATIC INFIDEL COMEDOWN OK”. So, Chris kept his self – and our – quit busy.
The new album was preceded by single “Ghosts of Utopia”, which received its first radio play on Prague’s Radio 1 on January 23 and was released on February 25 and a free download of “Fire and Whispers” was made available on March 4, as part of the count down of the album released on 18 March 2011, but the full album was leaked online on March 12. Read more IAMX – Volatile Times (2011)
VA – Homefront – Songs For The Resistance, OST (2011)
“Homefront” is the controversial first-person shooter video game developed by Kaos Studios and published by THQ. The antagonists in “Homefront” were originally intended to be Chinese, but were later replaced by North Koreans for two reasons: a possible backlash by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and the reality of economic interdependence between America and China. Homefront is set in a near future America in 2027 when a nuclear-armed Korean People’s Army invades the USA. The game is written by John Milius, who co-wrote “Apocalypse Now” and wrote/directed “Red Dawn”. In the speculative fiction, post peak oil world that features a significantly diminished United States, and a united Korea that has built a massive alliance in East Asia. The game focuses on the collapse of the United States, subsequent occupation by the Greater Korean Republic – a united Korea under the rule of North Korea – and the American Resistance that fights said occupation. The player is invited to join the American Resistance, “using guerrilla tactics, commandeering military vehicles, and utilizing advanced drone technology”. For sales of Homefront to Japan, the game has been censored by removing all references to North Korea including pictures of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.The changes are replaced by using a “A Certain Country to the North” and the “Northern Leader”. Read more VA – Homefront – Songs For The Resistance, OST (2011)
Sum 41 – Screaming Bloody Murder (2011)
With their debut effort “All Killer No Filler” released back in 2001 certified platinum in Canada, the United States and in the UK and the following three releases certified platinum in Canada, Sum 41 definitively it’s what we call a mainstream rock/punk band. Still, these Canadian guys rocks harder then 99.9% of the so-called rock and punk bands the record companies and the media trying to sell us as “real stuffs”. They blending intelligently rock, punk and hardcore elements and they have a good taste to write real songs. “Screaming Bloody Murder” is not only in its title a killer piece of work, it’s really an intense material far from the usual “bubble gum” and “soap box” pseudo-punk stuffs we get used with lately.
Deryck “Bizzy D” Whibley – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboard, Jason “Cone” McCaslin – bass guitar, backing vocals, Steve “Stevo” Jocz – drums, percussion, and Tom “Brown Tom” Thacker – lead guitar, backing vocals managed to write and put together a quality material, 14 (plus 2 bonus) tracks without any senseless filling. Read more Sum 41 – Screaming Bloody Murder (2011)
Devour – The Sacred Union of Opposites
Ancient traditions over the world honor the sacred union of male and female and recognize the importance of balancing the masculine and feminine elements within each of us, as well as in the external world. I’m kind of obsessed with this dualistic perspective of splitting “things” in Good and Evil, right and wrong, black and white, man and woman, us and them, and so on.There is no light without shadow, I think we denominated and divided one thing into two only to handle them easier, but meanwhile we create turbulence, disharmony and dis-functions. Unhappiness is generated by this kind of disequilibrium. The union between feminine and masculine energies, yin and yang, (Shakti and Shiva), is the basis for harmony in all of life. The understanding of our self and the correct understanding of our relation with others, the balanced understanding of male and female communion, will bring back not only the joy of life, but will reconnect us with the universe and the others. Therefore, we are in desperate need of a sense in our own existence which is in accord with the physical facts and which overcomes our feeling of alienation from the universe. Read more Devour – The Sacred Union of Opposites
Al Di Meola – Pursuit of Radical Rhapsody (2011)
I love from time to time to listen to Dizzy Gillespie, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Stan Getz or Astrud Gilberto, but honestly, I’m not an “expert” in Latin jazz. I was just a boy when I heard “Alien Chase On Arabian Desert” and maybe “Splendido Hotel” (1980) it’s not the best moment of Al Di Meola, many people says there he goes commercial, but I still love that song and if it comes to jazz/fusion, I think it’s a standard. But I have to admit it, I didn’t follow closely Al Di Meola’s career. Following “Splendido Hotel” there was the famous “Friday Night in San Francisco” with John McLaughlin and Paco de LucÃa, but still, I kept an eye almost exclusively on Mr. McLaughlin works. But since 1974 Al Di Meola constantly working, writing, playing music and this is the 23th solo album of the 56 years old guitarist who also plays keyboards, drums, percussion, cello and sing vocals. Read more Al Di Meola – Pursuit of Radical Rhapsody (2011)
