Devin is probably one of the most talented rock artist of the 21st century, he always find a way to surprise us, to explore a new path, to create and share exciting music and feelings with us. And I think we should thank for this. “Ghost” is the closing act of the four piece release started with “Ki†in 2009 and followed the same year by “Addictedâ€. “Ki†was an exciting incursion into a world of ambiental, jazz, blues and rock blending and “Addicted†lead us into the area of power pop/alternative metal. This year “Deconstruction†and its nine tracks drive us into the contorted, gloomy world of post-metal madness, it was a mind-blowing return to the noisy constructions of the Strapping Young Lad era. As Devin promised, “Ghost” is the mellowest one. And “mellow” is the word that quite fits this material. Read more Devin Townsend Project – Ghost (2011)
2011
Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi – Rome (2011)
Born as Brian Joseph Burton, better known by his stage name Danger Mouse, is a Grammy Award winning, American musician, songwriter and producer. In 2004 he became famous when he released “The Grey Album”, which combined acapellas from Jay-Z’s “The Black Album” with instrumentals from The Beatles legendary “White Album”. He formed Gnarls Barkley with Cee Lo Green and produced their two albums “St. Elsewhere” and “The Odd Couple”. He also produced the second Gorillaz album, the 2005’s “Demon Days”, as well the Beck’s 2008 album, “Modern Guilt”. He has been nominated for a Grammy Award in the Producer of the Year category five times, in 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2011, and finally won the award in 2011. In addition, Burton worked with rapper MF Doom as Danger Doom and released the album “The Mouse and the Mask” in 2005. He’s works also includes The Rapture “Pieces of the People We Love” (2006), Sparklehorse “Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain” (2006), The Good, the Bad and the Queen (2007), The Black Keys “Attack & Release” (2008) and “Brothers” (2010), The Shortwave Set “Replica Sun Machine” (2008), Martina Topley-Bird “The Blue God” (2008), Joker’s Daughter “The Last Laugh” (2009), Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse “Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse Present: Dark Night of the Soul” (2010), Broken Bells “Broken Bells” (2010) and “Meyrin Fields” (2011) and curently he’s working with U2 on their upcoming album. Read more Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi – Rome (2011)
Let’s Get It – Masters Of The Universe (2011)
Joe, Tyler, Taylor and Chris from Dayton, Ohio delivering their debut album called “Masters Of The Universe”. This is a blending of pop, rock, club and dance punk schemes witch may remind us eventually of The Black Eyed Peas, Datarock, La Roux, The Veronicas and a few other artists from a wide range of genres, you just can name them. As an exercise, imagine New Kids On the Block playing Linkin Park songs… It’s not only hard, but maybe quite unnatural. Anyway, something like this came out from this four guys and I’m actually pretty curious if this will be the next success story. It depends exclusively on the support of the media. “Keep It Up” may be anytime a mainstream hit. Read more Let’s Get It – Masters Of The Universe (2011)
Voivod – Warriors of Ice (2011)
I was 19 years old when I crushed into “Nothingface” and since I’m in love with Voivod. Piggy’s death in 2005 lead to the release of “Infini” in 2009 but I was quite sure that Snake (Denis Bélanger), Away (Michel Langevin), Blacky (Jean-Yves Thériault) – the three original members of the band and guitarist Chewy (Daniel Mongrain) recruited in 2008 will put end to the band. “Infini” proofed to be another successful release, the band was touring extensively since and while according to an interview with Langevin, Voivod have been writing and recording new music, but still, it’s too early to think of a new Voivod studio album, they decided to release this live recording. ‘Warriors of Ice” will be available June 14 on Indica Records in Canada and Sonic Unyon Metal in USA June 21. Read more Voivod – Warriors of Ice (2011)
John Zorn – The Satyr’s Play – Cerberus (2011)
John “Restless” – while Zorn appears on over 400 recordings as a composer or performer – Zorn is back. After “Nova Express”, the downtown Alchemist throw in the battle a flamboyant and dynamic brass trio made of Peter Evans – Trumpet, David Taylor – Bass Trombone and Marcus Rojas – Tuba, and the explosive and colorful percussion section made of Cyro Baptista and Kenny Wollesen. Some may say that Zorn is the Devil in person, but I’m only sure of he’s one of the very few actually creative musicians of the 21st century. And well, mentioning the Devil, a Limited Edition of 666 copies have been individually signed & numbered by Zorn’s hand, and are for sale exclusively at Downtown Music Gallery and Fields Books in San Francisco for $25 [shipping extra]. 😀 Read more John Zorn – The Satyr’s Play – Cerberus (2011)
Caliban – Coverfield – EP (2011)
Caliban have released seven studio albums to-date, and two split albums with the band Heaven Shall Burn. The band was formed in Hattingen, Germany in 1997 under the name Never Again and after half a year of rehearsals and a two song demo, Lifeforce Records was the first to offer the band a record deal. Since, they toured and share the scene with bands including Morning Again, Earth Crisis, Cro-Mags, Slayer, Poison the Well, Hatebreed, Pantera, Machine Head, Biohazard, Morbid Angel, Bloodjinn, All Shall Perish, Bleeding Through, I Killed The Prom Queen, Kreator, Suicide Silence, Maroon, Emmure and After the Burial. Blending metal and deathcore, Calibian are a powerful, full of energy modern metal combo. Read more Caliban – Coverfield – EP (2011)
Amorphis – The Beginning Of Times (2011)
Since 1990 Amorphis turned from death metal to folk metal and being through gothic, doom and progressive metal, explored and experimented constantly. “The Beginning Of Times” is another concept album – like the previous three “Skyforger” (2009), “Silent Waters” (2007) and “Eclipse” (2006) – , this time the central character of the songs is Väinämöinen, described by the band as “the iconic hero of Finnish mythology”. Musically, “The Beginning Of Times” is basically heavy metal colored and forged with sometimes quite symphonic taste like progressive, death and folk metal elements, but some moments digging back further to classic taste like progressive hard rock, so, Amorphis bringing together everything what they fans may demand and satisfying all the expectations. I admit, I never was their fan and probably I’ll never be, while up to date my favorite album by them is probably “Am Universum” from 2001. Read more Amorphis – The Beginning Of Times (2011)
Digitalism – I Love You, Dude (2011)
Jens “Jence” Moelle and Ä°smail “Isi” Tüfekçi formed Digitalism after they met at a record store in Hamburg, Germany and became friends. They started to explore the minimalist area of electronic/dance music naming as their major influence Daft Punk, The Chemical Brothers and Underworld and being labeled mainly as electro house and dance punk. They are signed to French label Kitsuné Music, and have released four singles to date: “Idealistic”, “Zdarlight”, “Jupiter Room”, and “Pogo” and their debut album, “Idealism” was released back in 2007. Although, “I Love you Dude”, will be released on June 20, 2011 and consist of 11 brand new, atmospheric tracks. Read more Digitalism – I Love You, Dude (2011)
The Prodigy – World’s On Fire – Live (2011)
“Breathe the pressure Come play my game Ill test ya Psychosomatic addict insane Breathe the pressure Come play my game Ill test ya Psycho-somatic addict insane…” If The Prodigy can’t kick you out of your couch and make you do crazy things, I really don’t know what else could. “World’s On Fire” is the first ever live album and film by The Prodigy and is out now (May 23, 2011) on CD/DVD and CD/BLU-RAY. We’ve got 17 killer-tracks, The Prodigy always have crushing grooves and explosive sound, but not at least killer songs. This is kind of “Best Of” live and I believe everybody will got his favorite one on it since we’ve got from “Out of Space” to “Omen” and from “Firestarter” to “Take Me to the Hospital” including “Smack My Bitch Up” or “Invaders Must Die”. Read more The Prodigy – World’s On Fire – Live (2011)
Buckethead – It’s Alive (2011)
Buckethead now days feels like riffing, so “It’s Alive”, the thirty-first studio album by this workaholic and madman guitarist it’s mainly heavy fuckin’ metal. “Lebrontron” kick off pumping like an Iron Maiden anthem while it’s dedicated to LeBron James, the American professional basketball player for Miami Heat. “Tonka” brings some modern tones into the music while “”Barnyard Banties” introducing funk and industrial colors in the heavy glows. “Crack the Sky” shift back to the more traditional approach and have a nice, quiet, acoustic break. “The Hatch” pumping on a funky theme with twisted turns and noisy cut downs. “Brooding Peeps” slow down to some medium tempo, it’s a quite classic construction, heavy and hard themes are crossing each other and Buckethead offers a nice solo. “Picking the Feathers” it’s a Buckethead trademark experiment with a crushing riff, a Spanish-like guitar and lots of noises, a nice and convenient closing of the material. Read more Buckethead – It’s Alive (2011)
