“Humanity may be closing in on it’s end but for now we are still here and we resist as much as possible…and Mediocracy is only at the beginning!” – they said one year ago and the guys from Mediocracy are strikes again. Their second installment, “Asoma” it’s been released today, lucky 13 😀 , 13th September, 2011, and it’s available for free download just like their previous effort at Asiluum.com , the web site which promote most of the uprising Romanian artists.
“Mediocracy is a situation in the society in which mediocre people prevail. The society is subordinated to a quasi-egalitarian ideology in which words and ideas are redefined to be convenient for the average people. Other symptoms include dumbing, jargonism, infantilisation, vacuity, phoney democratisation and authoritarianism.”
Read more Mediocracy – Asoma (2011)
Monthly Archives: September 2011
Kiss – Animalize (1984)
Kiss officially appeared in public without makeup for the first time on a September 18, 1983 on MTV for the release of the band’s album “Lick It Up.” “Lick It Up” became Kiss’ first gold record in three years, but guitarist Vinnie Vincent who replaced Ace Frehley in 1982 did not get along with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, and left the band at the conclusion of the tour in March 1984. Vincent’s replacement was Mark St. John. Before joining Kiss, St. John (Mark Leslie Norton, February 7, 1956 – April 5, 2007) was a well known and respected teacher and guitarist for the Southern California cover band Front Page and after leaving Kiss, he formed a band called White Tiger.
“Animalize”, the 12th studio album by Kiss and the second album of the “unmasked” period, was the biggest-selling Kiss album since 1977’s “Alive II” and it was certified platinum only in four months.
When asked what “Animalize” meant, Stanley said that people were starting to become more like computers – and that “making music by pressing buttons” was no fun. Read more Kiss – Animalize (1984)
Angelspit – Hello My Name Is (2011)
This is the fourth installment from the Australian cyber-punkrockers Angelspit scheduled to be released on October 11, 2011. The band lately were enforced by addition of three new members: guitarist Valerie Gentile (Black Tape for a Blue Girl, The Crüxshadows), drummer Chris Kling (Hanzel und Gretyl, Mortiis) and video-jammer The Liar, and “Hello My Name Is” bring to the surface the same angry, noisy and ravishing electro-punk rock, eventually even more furious and viciously distorted.
And actually “Hello My Name Is” is fresh, groovy, noisy, but still melodious, catchy, full of tasty cyber punk themes, excellent, killer tracks.
Read more Angelspit – Hello My Name Is (2011)
Evanescence – Evanescence (2011)
The self-titled third studio album scheduled for release on October 11, 2011, through Wind-up Records comes after a five years gap and after the critically acclaimed and commercial success of the album “The Open Door” which was certified platinum in the United States just over a month after its release, and has since sold more than six million copies worldwide. Although, their debut album, “Fallen”, spent 43 weeks on the Billboard Top 10, was certified 7x Platinum in the United States, sold more than 15 million copies worldwide, including 7 million in the US.
Formed by singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody back in 1995 in Little Rock, Arkansas, Evanescence is about Amy Lee, she’s the only former member of the group while Ben Moody left the band during the European tour for Fallen in 2003, reportedly because of creative differences.
The band started the writing process for the album on June 2009, but the release of the album was changed several times. Lee stated that the music would be an evolution of previous works and be “better, stronger, and more interesting”. Read more Evanescence – Evanescence (2011)
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (1975)
“The band is just fantastic,/That is really what I think./Oh by the way, which one’s Pink?” (“Have a Cigar”)
44.28 minutes of magic. Released on 12 September 1975, it was an instant success; record company EMI was unable to print enough copies to satisfy the demand. And “Wish You Were Here” it’s even more popular today as it was back in the days when it was first released. Exploring the former band-mate Syd Barrett’s mental illness and decline (“Shine On You Crazy Diamond”), but also about absence, alienation (“Wish You Were Here”) and subjects considering the music business (“Welcome To The Machine”/”Have a Cigar”). Read more Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (1975)
Apollo 440 – Gettin’ High on Your Own Supply (2000)
Are We a Rock Band or What…?! This is both for rockers and ravers. 😀
Apollo 440 are one of the widely underrated bands, although between 1993–2004, they had 11 Top 40 UK singles with three Top 10s, recorded and produced four albums, collaborated with and produced other artists, remixed as Apollo 440 and as ambient cinematic alter-ego Stealth Sonic Orchestra for bands and artists such as U2, Puff Daddy/Jimmy Page and Ennio Morricone, and created music for film, television, advertisements and multimedia.
“Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Dub” pushed Apollo 440 into the spotlight from their second album “Electro Glide in Blue” released in 1997. The opening verses – “Lets go back to the rock… And see it at four-forty” – are a play on words based on an exact quote and actual sample taken from the 1971 movie “The Andromeda Strain” while they also samples “Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love” by Van Halen. This song reached #7 in the UK Singles Chart. So, “Lets go back to the rock….” Read more Apollo 440 – Gettin’ High on Your Own Supply (2000)
Inna – I Am The Club Rocker (2011)
On November 12, 2008, Inna released her debut single “Hot”, which was produced by Play & Win, a Romanian dance music trio and one of the leading music producers in Romania. The single performed strongly on the Romanian Top 100, peaking at number five in December 2008. It also became an airplay success in the Balkan countries, before reaching success across Europe and the Middle East. In early 2009, the single “Hot” entered the Spanish Singles Chart and the Hungarian Dance Chart. In both countries, the song managed to climb toward the top spot. Furthermore, it garnered huge airplay success in countries such as Poland, Ukraine and Turkey. Meanwhile, the promo songs “Fever” and “On and On” officially premiered on Inna’s website, being free for download for a limited period of two weeks. “Hot” was released and charted within the top ten in Belgium and the Netherlands.
In April 2009, Inna signed a contract with the American record label, Ultra Records. Read more Inna – I Am The Club Rocker (2011)
David Guetta – Nothing but the Beat (2011)
On the fifth album by French DJ and record producer David Guetta he applied the same formula: combined all the ideas and trendy sounds and stylistic approaches from both, European and American dance scene and pop music, Guetta delivered the best mixture of dance music. This is absolutely classy, clean cut and 100% cash-in formula. Still, we have to admit, Guetta knows to make his products to sound awesome, he construct excellent grooves, simple, but percussive sounds and powerful beats. For the first time, Guetta gave-up on the services of his long-time collaborator Chris Willis on vocals and features collaborations with artists from the R&B, hip hop and pop world such as Lil Wayne, Usher, will.i.am, Akon, Snoop Dogg, Chris Brown, Jennifer Hudson, Timbaland, Afrojack, Jessie J and Sia Furler. An all-star line-up which definitively will help to break down the charts and sell more singles. Well, many people try this and that – as any good ideas, by the way -, but not everybody managed to be successful as Guetta. Read more David Guetta – Nothing but the Beat (2011)
Tom Waits – Bone Machine (1992)
“Are you still jumping out of windows in expensive clothes?”
Actually the future seems even darker now than back in ’92 while “Bone Machine” and it’s hypnotic textures, noisy percussion and experimental glows are still sounds fresh and its rich lyrics are still very actual.
“What does it matter, a dream of love / Or a dream of lies / We’re all gonna be the same place / When we die”…
What Tom Waits, Keith Richards, Les Claypool and David Hidalgo have in common? The bone machine. Several songs from the album were covered by several artists: “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” was covered by The Ramones for their last album, “Adios Amigos”, but also by Petra Haden and Bill Frisell on their album collaboration “Petra Haden & Bill Frisell” (2003), by Hayes Carll on “Trouble In Mind” (2008), and by Scarlett Johansson on her debut album, “Anywhere I Lay My Head” (2008). “Goin’ Out West” has been covered by Queens of the Stone Age, Gomez, Widespread Panic, Gov’t Mule, the Blacks and Australian blues guitarist Ash Grunwald. This song also is featured in the 1999 film “Fight Club”, while “Earth Died Screaming” is featured in the 1995 film “Twelve Monkeys”, and “Jesus Gonna Be Here” is featured in the 2005 film “Domino”, in which Waits appears. Read more Tom Waits – Bone Machine (1992)
Fucked Up – David Comes to Life (2011)
An eighteen songs epic in four acts, “David Comes to Life”, the third full-length studio album by Canadian hardcore punk band Fucked Up is an over 77 minutes trip into an universe juggling between alternative and post-rock shredding and punk rock energy and the space between is fulfilled with everything from classic hard rock to pop and hardcore punk. It’s like “Tommy” – the 1969’s classic rock opera by The Who – were re-interpreted by a rebellious teenager punk band grown up on Offspring and Green Day diet. And actually, “David Comes to Life” is a rock opera, comparable with Green Day’s “American Idiot” (2004) or “21st Century Breakdown” (2009).
Released on June 7, 2011 in North America and June 6, 2011 elsewhere on Matador Records in CD and double LP formats, “David Comes to Life” became Fucked Up’s first charting album in the United States ranking at number 83 on the Billboard 200. Read more Fucked Up – David Comes to Life (2011)
