Coldplay featuring Rihanna is not a nightmare or worst case scenario, but it’s actually quite occurred in “Princess of China”, one of the 14 new songs of the fifth studio album by Coldplay, “Mylo Xyloto”. And don’t matter what, after all these years and efforts, Coldplay are still not U2. “Charlie Brown” for instance, taste like U2, but it isn’t. Chris Martin might never reach the charm of Bono, but his struggling and trying.
The previous album, “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends”, in 2008, established a recording HQ at a disused bakery in Primrose Hill, North London, where they recorded, but Coldplay relocated to a vacant church, also in north London, to work on their new album in collaboration with Brian Eno. “Mylo Xyloto” seems to be a concept album. According to Chris Martin, the album is “based on a love story with a happy ending.”, in which the two protagonists: Mylo and Xyloto, are living in an oppressive, dystopian urban environment, meet one another through a gang called “The Lost Boys”, and fall in love. Lyrically, the album is inspired by “old school American graffiti” and “the White Rose Movement”, and Martin also said that the album was influenced by HBO TV series “The Wire.” Musically, Coldplay have stated that they want this album to be “more acoustic” and “more intimate” than its predecessor. And here we go, we’ve got “Mylo Xyloto”, set for official release on 24 October 2011. Read more Coldplay – Mylo Xyloto (2011)
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Scooter – The Big Mash Up (2011)
Kind of unbelievable, but this is the fifteenth studio album from this German hard dance band. From their early “happy hardcore” up to dubstep, Scooter have experimented with several dance genres and sub-genres such as hardstyle and jumpstyle, and moving between hip hop and hard rock, shifting from trance to house smoothly. Ans “The Big Mash Up” is about mashing up all these styles and genres, twisted out the classic euro-disco into dubstep and blend happy hardcore with hard dance into one. The Scooter’s trademark sound combining simple and catchy melodies with fast tempos are all over the new album and most of their melodies eventually sounds familiar. This is quite a mash up. But probably… winning is everything. Read more Scooter – The Big Mash Up (2011)
Tom Waits – Bad As Me (2011)
It’s been seven years since “Real Gone” (2004) and ladies and gentlemen, Tom Waits are back and he’s brutally fresh. “Chicago” is a noisy opening track with garage rock pulse and horn-fueled cabaret rock after-taste and the whole album flows glowing and pumping, it’s like a radiography of Wait’s whole career and his best moments projected into the future. If “alternative” and “avant-garde” rock actually means something, then Tom Waits makes sense. Nowadays nothing means anything and nothing make sense, except commercials and music is nothing, but ultimately additional accessory to our iPods. And this is the world we use to say we’re against, but we’re accept it. Tom Waits said sometimes ago: “Apparently, the highest compliment our culture grants artists nowadays is to be in an ad ideally, naked and purring on the hood of a new car”, and he added: “I have adamantly and repeatedly refused this dubious honor.”
There’s no room for artificial intellectual bullshit, for faking alternatives. If you don’t actually feel it, better… “Get Lost”. 😀 Read more Tom Waits – Bad As Me (2011)
This Year’s Girl – Personal Ghosts (2011)
As much as I hate labels and boxes, genre classification, I had to admit that in a busy world with mainly superficial relations and all things done in the hurry, music became part of our outfit, mainly nothing but a background buzz coming from our iPod (or something) to cover up all the other noises around us and isolate us definitively from the rest of the world. Yeah, you’re gonna say I’m mean and probably you’re right, but still, I’m telling you facts. Music is only an additional part of your iPod and the iPod is just another fancy gadget incorporated in your daily dress code. Music is nothing more than your key ring, it’s one click away on the internet or you can buy it from the supermarket.
With all the internet (and press-kit I received) I didn’t managed to dig out too much about This Year’s Girl and if I’ll tell you this is some kind of pop-rock you’re probably will think of some sort of freak, half Madonna, half god knows what and that, my friends, it’s not quite true, actually it’s pretty far from reality. Eventually This Year’s Girl reminds me of the Americans OK Go and the British The Enemy or a mixture of this two bands and “Personal Ghosts” is an album with excellent vibe and a few extremely catch songs. Read more This Year’s Girl – Personal Ghosts (2011)
Sidilarsen – Machine Rouge (2011)
Compared to Nine Inch Nails, Rammstein and Noir Désir, Sidilarsen merged nu metal and industrial rock sounds to bring their own flavored fusion of electronic and metal/rock.
Founded in 1997 in Toulouse, France, the band released their full-length album debut, “Biotop”, in 2003. Their second album, “Eau” released in 2005 reach the French albums chart and was followed by the remix album “Réactivation Numérique” in 2006. “Une Nuit Pour Sept Jours”, the band’s third album was released in 2008 reaching number 140 on the French albums chart.
The 10 songs of their new album, “Machine Rouge” further down the sound weaves of dark electronica and cutting edge metal riffs and Sidilarsen delivered their best album up to date. Read more Sidilarsen – Machine Rouge (2011)
Trunks – On The Roof (2011)
“Hardfiscurry” is one of the most glowing and exciting record opener track I heard lately. It has an excellent and tensioned groove and something quite hypnotic which keeps you nailed for everything what’s coming up next. “Screaming Idiots” kicks out as a punk rock anthem, but the screaming saxophone reminds me of Morphine and shift the mood from Crass to Last Exit. Trunks is one of the best bands I had the pleasure to listen recently, they are alive and do not fit in into the trendy patterns. And each song is a different path into another universe.
As they say, they are not actually a band in the classic sense, but more a creative collective building music and gathering around the poetry of Jack Kerouac. Read more Trunks – On The Roof (2011)
Everlast – Songs Of The Ungrateful Living (2011)
Everlast was always close to my heart. Back in the 90s House of Pain was one of my first and almost only hip hop bands I dig, still, they second album “Same as It Ever Was” from 1994 is probably the best hip hop release ever and after the band’s split in ’97, and Danny Boy founded an art company, DJ Lethal became a member of Limp Bizkit, Everlast kick out a blooming solo career and achieved multi-platinum with his 98’s album “Whitey Ford Sings the Blues.”
The mixture of blues, country and hip hop, Everlast delivering since is quite fresh and tasty. Erik Francis Schrody (aka Whitey Ford), but better known by his stage name Everlast, reinvented himself singing the blues merged with rap, but saying facts right into your face. And I appreciated his style and honesty. Read more Everlast – Songs Of The Ungrateful Living (2011)
Matt Stevens – Relic (2011)
I admit, I didn’t listen to Matt Stevens previous works and quite honestly, I’m kind of “scared” of instrumental rock music because generally speaking it’s quite predictable and boring. Obviously this is not a “politically (or ethically) correct” supposition, but still, don’t matter how sad it is, it’s still true. Well, Matt seems to be very determined to prove me otherwise and listen to “Relic”, his third and latest solo release, I had the surprise to discover that we think and feel in very similar ways about music even if we came from and we’re chosen to go down on different paths. And there’s another fact too: I hate guitar solos as well, because – again, generally speaking – they are nothing, but tasteless fill-ups and egocentric showing-ups. Last, but not at least, I defies genres. There’s nothing stupider than imprisoning yourself in some particular box. And Matt Stevens defies genres as well, his music is colorful, borderless and ageless, breathing and very alive, spacy and intense, subtle and powerful. The bottom line is that Matt delivering music and not only some “musical product” or some “background noise for a few moments of our life”. Matt plays straight from his heart to our soul. Matt’s play seems effortless and joyful, playful and still profound, very expressive. Much more, you can download even for free – “name your price” – “Relic” from Matt’s Bandcamp page, Read more Matt Stevens – Relic (2011)
Kerrang! Presents – Nirvana Nevermind Forever (2011)
Back in August SPIN Magazine released as free download their own version of Nirvana’s breakthrough album and “Newermind A Tribute Album” collected reinterpretations of those classic songs by artist such as Meat Puppets, Titus Andronicus, Amanda Palmer, The Vaselines, Butch Walker & The Black Widows, Surfer Blood, etc. It was a funny, but quite vivid, “hollywoodish” way to recall Cobain’s genius.
“Nevermind” turns 20 and in September Kerrang! listed 101 reasons why it still rocks and delivered a 14-track Nirvana covers CD, featuring bands such as The Dillinger Escape Plan, Kids In Glass Houses, The Blackout, Arcane Roots, Deaf Havana, Rise To Remain, We Are The Ocean, etc. Read more Kerrang! Presents – Nirvana Nevermind Forever (2011)
Kosmograd – Self-titled (2011)
As you probably already know, “name your price” means even downloaded for free and Kosmograd delivering their self-titled debut album through their Bandcamp page in these circumstances, so go for it.
Kevin, Phil, Todd, Yegor are from Toronto, Canada and their debut album consist of five epic post-metal tracks, the shortest one is “Cheeseburger Picnic” with it’s shy three minutes while “The Owl” takes you on a eleven minutes trip. Kosmograd combines heavy and sludge metal elements into a spacy, sometimes cinematic, sometimes progressive and psychedelic soundscape, shifting between different moods and grooves smoothly. Imagine Hawkwind playing Iron Maiden or vice versa. Eventually somewhere in the outer space. Read more Kosmograd – Self-titled (2011)
