“Your number is one, your mind decided, your number is one, you are undivided…”
Without MTV and generally speaking, any media support and striking favorites such as “Low Self Opinion” and “Liar”, the last two albums – at least, up to date – of Rollins made no impression outside his fan base. It’s quite unfair, the 2000’s “Get Some Go Again” and the follow-up “Nice” released next year was two quality Post-Hardcore/Modern Rock albums. Released exactly ten years ago, on 21th August 2001, “Nice” perhaps it isn’t the best Rollins Band album, but it’s a… nice one. And still, I can’t figure out what the f*ck best means?! Harder, faster, bigger, stronger, louder? Whatever!
And actually good songs were plenty on it, just to mention a few: “Up for It”, “Your Number Is One”, “I Want So Much More”, “Hangin’ Around”, “Going Out Strange”, “Let That Devil Out”, etc Read more Rollins Band – Nice (2001)
Yearly Archives: 2011
Aram Bajakian’s Kef – Aram Bajakian’s Kef (2011)
Listening to the almost raging, furious and noisy guitar hurricanes of “Sepastia” it’s obvious why Lou Reed ask guitarist Aram Bajakian to perform guitar on his summer tour. And Aram Bajakian’s Kef is electrifying. “Sumlinian” is blowing like a chainsaw from one ear to the other and will leave you breathless. Aram Bajakian – Electric And Acoustic Guitars, Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz – Acoustic Bass and Tom Swafford – Violin delivered an unique and extremely groovy mixture of traditional Klezmer music with Garage Rock resonances, merged electric explosions with sensitive acoustic braiding, combined the energy of the free Jazz improvisation with the clearness and smoothness of classic and traditional music, Aram Bajakian’s Kef puts on the same level the bursting electric guitar shredding and the joyful violin plays.
I was at the middle of the 5th track, “Wroclaw”, when I noticed there’s no drums or percussion in this… Holy Moses! Read more Aram Bajakian’s Kef – Aram Bajakian’s Kef (2011)
Primus – Green Naugahyde (2011)
12 years are more than a lifetime in nowadays music industry. Bass player Les Claypool was considered by many a weirdo even back in the 80s, beginning of the 90s, nowadays with the more uniformed, pattern-driven music, with all those self-proclaimed “whatever-core” stuffs pretending to be “alternatives” and post-everything we might think or dream of, the Primus project seems much more off-beat. I’m quite curious what the media will write about this and how the ex-emo kids, now sport-ware and iPhone fan teenagers will receive it. Things that don’t fit in the boxes, labels don’t stick to them and aren’t easy to chew and swallow are not so welcome nowadays. If you want to be appreciated, you must stay in line. Odd… isn’t it? While everybody struggling to sound the same, Primus comes back and sounds just like they did two decades ago. Like nothing else and like… Primus. Bloody bastards! Read more Primus – Green Naugahyde (2011)
Bob Dylan – Slow Train Coming (1979)
We’ve gotta serve somebody? In one way or another, definitively yes. “Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, But you’re gonna have to serve somebody”.
It’s pretty odd, I think Christianity is just another kind of mind-poison as any other organized religion and I have my doubts about the so-called “born-again thing”, but still, everybody have to do as he/she please. I’m not even what might be called a huge Dylan fan, and once again, still, I love “Slow Train Coming”. My mom had it in her record collection – obviously talking bout the good old vinyl’s – back in the 80s and somehow it felt alright to listen it. It has magic. Released on 20th August, 1979, 32 years ago, “Slow Train Coming” still is one of my favorite records.
In the late 1970s, Dylan became a born-again Christian and released two albums of Christian gospel music: “Slow Train Coming” in 1979 and “Saved” one year later.
American author, music journalist and cultural critic, Greil Marcus wrote “Dylan selling a prepackaged doctrine he’s received from someone else” – but I actually took Jesus out of this, I was listen to the music and I “translated” the lyrics out of any Christian and religious context and prejudices.
Dylan took five months off at the beginning of 1979 to attend Bible classes. His subsequent album “Slow Train Coming” reached No.3 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and included the Grammy-winning song “Gotta Serve Somebody”. In response to Dylan’s song, shortly before his murder, John Lennon wrote and recorded “Serve Yourself”… Dylan is 70 years old, Lennon were gunned down at age of 40… Still, if there’s a God, something is very wrong with him, with us and generally speaking with our communication and relation with others and ourselves. Read more Bob Dylan – Slow Train Coming (1979)
Eskeype – Legacy of Truth (2010)
Delivering classy Thrash and Death grindings and butcheries, juggling between Progressive Metal and Metalcore, Eskeype’s full-length album seems to be a promise kept, the perfect follow-up of their debut 2008’s EP “First Process”.
Melodic and Progressive Metal elements are merged with powerful and brutal Metalcore, technical and aggressive themes are merged into their dark, dynamic, but colorful Metal.
Nico M – Vocals & Violin, Djoule and Valentin – Guitars, Nico C – Bass and Dario – Drums & Samples managed to combine classy and modern Metal, brutalities and harmonies into their own taste-like music.
Read more Eskeype – Legacy of Truth (2010)
Antenna Trash – Ded Comes for Ded (2011)
Free stuffs are good stuffs. Worth to give a try, listen to, download for free from their Bandcamp page.
Antenna Trash merged Glitch-Wave with Post Punk, noisy garage Rock guitars with electronic layers and textures, Punk energy with Disco beats and the result is something between Devo and Joy Division, eventually between TV On The Radio and Victorian Halls.
Named themselves after a song of the German experimental electropop band Lali Puna, Sebastiano Meneghini – vocals, guitar, percussion; Marco Menegazzi – bass, vocals; Alessandro Monaco – synthesizer, groovebox, vocals, noises and Alberto Casagrande – drums, percussion, vocals introduce themselves and their music with this four track release. Enjoy it!
Read more Antenna Trash – Ded Comes for Ded (2011)
Sneaker Pimps – Becoming X (1996)
23 consecutive weeks on the US Billboard 200, “Becoming X”, the debut effort by the project Sneaker Pimps released on August 19, 1996, still, after 15 years, sounds fresh and percussive. Hits like “6 Underground”, “Spin Spin Sugar” or “Tesko Suicide” have some particular charm, their vibe still breathing. Chris Corner and Liam Howe find a particular blending of Downtempo and Dub, Trip-Hop and Electronica, mysterious textures and bursting Rock explosions, combined hard beats and glitching samples with cutting Rock guitars, smooth Jazz pianos and floating girl vocals. Sometimes Gothic, other times gloomy, slow, but alive and dynamic, quite hypnotic, but striking, Sneaker Pimps and their debut album is another mandatory piece to collect. This is a trip, take care who you’ll become. Read more Sneaker Pimps – Becoming X (1996)
The Defiled – Grave Times (2011)
Rocksound call them “The saviours of UK alternative metal!” while Kerrang!! consider them “An explosive mangle of Manson stage craft and middle finger metal!”. When the media praise an artist unanimously, I’ve become suspicious and precocious.
Good to know: “We are not some American band who will write a love song just to appeal to teenagers” said vocalist Stitch D, and listen to their songs, this 5-piece London based metal band delivering some kind of aggressive, wicked metal, something which might be described as the collision of Murderdolls with Static-X, a deadly mixture of Nu and Groove Metal. Brit-Metal or not, they sounds more American-like than similar to Iron Maiden or Bullet for My Valentine and find a loud, powerful way to put their riffs and noises in the right place and afterward punch them right in your face.
So, kicking all my skepticism and prejudices considering everything labeled “metalcore” lately away, The Defiled – almost surprisingly – are absolutely worth to listen. Probably if Pantera would form today they might sound pretty close to what The Defiled deliver. Also Slipknot fans might find this album highly inflammable!!! Read more The Defiled – Grave Times (2011)
Bon Jovi – Slippery When Wet (1986)
Like it or not, this is also a classic. A big one of the 80’s just like U2’s “The Joshua Tree”, Ozzy’s “Diary of a Madman”, Queen’s “A Kind of Magic”, Van Halen’s “Women and Children First”, etc. After all the 80’s weren’t that bad, isn’t it? Actually sometimes I miss my vinyls collection, the CDs just not the same, not to mention the mp3s.
Their previous two albums, “Bon Jovi” (1984) and “7800° Fahrenheit” (1985) didn’t sold bad and the band toured with bands such as Scorpions and Ratt in the US and Kiss in Europe and make appearances at the Texas Jam and Castle Donnington’s Monsters of Rock. The debut album peaked at #43 on the Billboard 200 album chart in U.S. and a year after its release it was certified Gold while “…Fahrenheit” peaked at #37 on Billboard 200 and certified Gold in U.S., but Bon Jovi had much higher commercial ambitions.
Paul Stanley recommended Desmond Child to help them out with the songwriting – Desmond being responsible for one of the biggest Kiss hits: “I Was Made for Loving You” – and the result was three songs “You Give Love a Bad Name”, “Livin’ on a Prayer” and “Without Love”. Ironically, Jon Bon Jovi was initially reluctant to include “Livin’ on a Prayer” on the album, believing that it was not a good enough song and it became one of the band’s most popular and well-known songs.
It was a play to win situation, and 25 years ago, these guys made it through, the 10 songs of “Slippery When Wet” quite rocks. But you can’t start a fire without a spark, isn’t it? “Slippery When Wet” was the best-selling album of 1987 in the United States, and eventually reached Diamond certification by the RIAA and current sales stand at 12 million copies, making it the 48th best-selling album in the United States. Read more Bon Jovi – Slippery When Wet (1986)
Victorian Halls – Charlatan (2011)
This isn’t Metal, but I love its vibe and it’s noisy enough. But if you ask me, “Burn Me Up Like a Wax-Kissed Letter” it’s heavier than most of the so-called “alternative metal anthems” the media try so hard to sell us day after day. And when a band labeled “Pop” becomes heavier than bands labeled “Metal”, it’s something very wrong with this world we’re pissing on.
Juggling between Noisecore and Power/Dance Pop, this Chicago four-piece band find an exciting crack on the music pallet to breaking through at and “Charlatan”, the band’s debut album comes crushing like a hurricane with songs as “A Crush Is A Crush”, the retro dizziness of “Lucky 16” or the bursting energy of “It All Started In The Hall” and won’t let you (sit) down for a second, leave no space to take even a breath.
This is the future sound of the dancefloor and it’s definitively makes you jump off your shoes and do some crazy things. Read more Victorian Halls – Charlatan (2011)
