7 tracks – 50 minutes, the debut album by this three-piece instrumental rock band from Moscow, Russia, is an excellent and colorful mixture of (Rock) genres and styles from classic, Progressive Rock to Post-Rock, Match Rock, Sludge and Shoegaze. Atmospheric, dark passages and heavy riffs, intense moments are combined and the merge of the different elements make the… difference.
If you’re looking for a groovy, still emotional, dark, but contorted and sometimes intense and heavy, modern, instrumental Rock album, “The Last Twenty Years” worth your attention. “Name your price” means you can downloaded even for free, or you can order the CD from Mals Records. Read more Reserve de Marche – The Last Twenty Years (2012)
avant-garde
Ihsahn – Eremita (2012)
Ihsahn – Vegard Sverre Tveitan, born in 1975, in the town of Notodden, Norway, began playing piano at seven and guitar at ten and began recording songs shortly thereafter. He began his career at age thirteen as a member of what would become fledgling black metal crew Emperor. As a band, Emperor would both define and refine metal, pushing the boundaries of what was considered possible within the most arcane of art forms and taking some of the most adventurous and extreme music of all time to a huge global audience. With albums like seminal “In The Nightside Eclipse” – recorded when Ihsahn was only seventeen, and “Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk”, Emperor obliterated all-comers and became one of the most revered metal bands in history. After the release of their final masterpiece, “Prometheus: The Discipline Of Fire & Demise” in 2001, Ihsahn announced that the band were to part ways to enable himself and his colleagues to pursue new creative avenues.
He also played in Peccatum with his wife Ihriel (real name Heidi S. Tveitan) until 2006 and has appeared in Thou Shalt Suffer, Zyklon-B and Hardingrock, and now devotes himself to his solo project, Ihsahn. “Eremita” – the latin for hermit – is the anticipated fourth solo album, which was released on June 18 by Candlelight Records.
Recorded and produced at Telemark’s Ivory Shoulder Studios, with additional tracking completed at Notodden’s Juke Joint Studio and Seattle’s Envisage Audio, Eremita was mixed by Jens Bogren (Opeth) at Fascination Street Studios in rebro, Sweden. Alongside Ihsahn, the album features performances from drummer Tobias rnes Andersen (Leprous), saxophonist Jrgen Munkeby (Shining-Norway), guitarist Jeff Loomis (ex-Nevermore), and vocalists Devin Townsend, Einar Solberg (Leprous) and Heidi S. Tveitan (Starofash). The album’s packaging has been created by award-winning Spanish designer Ritxi Ostariz. Read more Ihsahn – Eremita (2012)
Cowards – Shooting Blanks And Pills (2012) Free download!
Gathering current and ex-members of Sickbag, Death Mercedes, Hangman’s Chair, Eibon, Glorior Belli, Dacast, Colossus of Destiny, the Parisian Cowards delivered their 38 minutes of raging fury and filth, merging Hardcore, Sludge/Doom and Black Metal into their debut effort entitled “Shooting Blanks And Pills”. The album will be officially co-released on 30 June 2012 by Throatruinner Records and Hellbound Records. The digital version is already available for free download (name your price) on the official Bandcamp page of the record label, while the 12” LP will be out in late june and limited to 300 copies on black vinyl.
Disturbing, twisted, dark and intense, the 6 tracks of the album are still impressively musical, melodious, Cowards sounds like a mixture of Black Sabbath and Motorhead with Eyehategod and Deathspell Omega, the perfect combination of heaviness and rawness with classic approach, riffing and contorted dark vibe. Read more Cowards – Shooting Blanks And Pills (2012) Free download!
John Zorn (Moonchild Trio) – Templars-In Sacred Blood (2012)
In 2006 John Zorn formed the hardcore voice/bass/drums trio of Mike Patton, Trevor Dunn, and Joey Baron which became known as the Moonchild Trio. The very same year the trio performed and released two albums of Zorn’s compositions: “Moonchild: Songs Without Words” – an album inspired in part by Aleister Crowley, Antonin Artaud and Edgard Varèse and “Astronome”. A third album with the trio, but also featuring Zorn, Ikue Mori, Jamie Saft and chorus, “Six Litanies for Heliogabalus”, was released in 2007. Their fourth release “The Crucible” appeared in 2008, and “Ipsissimus” – one of the best albums of 2010 and my personal favorite albums of all time – was released in 2010.
Now Joey Baron – Drums, Trevor Dunn – Bass, John Medeski – Organ and Mike Patton – Voice are back with the 6th CD in the Moonchild legacy. All songs was written by Zorn and they spend over one year in the making. Disturbing and tumultuous, sometimes extremely intense or silently subtle, the 8 songs of “Templars-In Sacred Blood” will take the listeners into another mystical journey. Read more John Zorn (Moonchild Trio) – Templars-In Sacred Blood (2012)
Hod [Splendor]
“Hod (“Majesty”; הוד) in the Kabbalah of Judaism is the eighth sephira of the Kabbalistic tree of life. It is derived from hod הוד in the Hebrew language meaning “majesty” or “splendor” and denoting “praise” as well as “submission”.
Hod sits below Gevurah and across from Netzach in the tree of life; Yesod is to the south-east of Hod. It has four paths, which commonly lead to Gevurah, Tiphereth, Netzach, and Yesod.
All the sephirot are likened to different parts of the body, and netzach and hod are likened to the two feet of a person: right foot and left foot. Feet are usually only the means for a person’s activity. While the hands are the main instrument of action, the feet bring a person to the place where he wishes to execute that action.
Hasidic Judaism’s view of Hod is that it is connected with Jewish prayer. Prayer is seen as form of “submission”; Hod is explained as an analogy – that instead of “conquering” an obstacle in one’s way, (which is the idea of Netzach), subduing oneself to that “obstacle” is related to the quality of Hod. Read more Hod [Splendor]
Usher – Climax [Jasm RMX feat Rich Prewett on Guitar]
Believe it or not, but better do, Usher is one of the best-selling artists in American music history, having sold over 23 million copies in the United States and over 65 million records worldwide which makes him one of the Best selling music artists of all time. He also has won numerous awards including seven Grammys. At the end of 2009, Usher was named the number one Hot 100 artist of the 2000s decade. Billboard named him the second most successful artist of the 2000s decade, with his 2004 album Confessions being ranked as the top solo album of the 2000s decade. Honestly – but hell yeah, I’m just so dumb! – listening to his music, I would never thought so. For my un-Billboarded ears, Usher sounds like a black, diluted (commercial) version of… Prince. And as a reiteration of Dali, the difference between Prince and Usher is that Prince is Prince… Think of what you want.
Somebody had the marvelous idea to promote Usher’s upcoming seventh studio album “Looking 4 Myself” which will be released on 12 June, 2012, on Indaba by putting to remix Usher’s “Climax”, his latest collaboration with Dildo, sorry for that! with Diplo, considered one of the most influential music tastemakers in the industry. If that’s true, now I actually understand how the mainstream is populated exclusively with shitty music! 😆
BUT, the funniest thing is the grand price: a flyaway trip to meet Usher! 😆 😆 😆 Read more Usher – Climax [Jasm RMX feat Rich Prewett on Guitar]
Get The Blessing – OC DC (2012)
Winners of the BBC Jazz Award 2008 for their debut album “All Is Yes” (Cake/Candid), Get The Blessing is currently one of the UK’s most exciting live bands. Featuring bassist Jim Barr and drummer Clive Deamer from trip-hop legends Portishead, plus the twin horns & electronic devices of saxophonist Jake McMurchie and trumpeter Pete Judge, GTB has forged an unique signature sound that defies genres and merged into one Jazz and Post-Rock instant and infectiously.
Their second album, “Bugs In Amber” was described as “the post-jazz soundtrack to an imaginary low-budget James Bond movie remade by Tarkovsky and starring Buster Keaton” and has received widespread critical and popular acclaim. With influences ranging from Ornette Coleman and Tortoise, to Blondie and Samuel Beckett, GTB has been described as: “A scintillating live experience that will leave you amazed, questioning pre-conceived ideas of music genres, eye-opening and jaw-dropping, there is simply no other band in the world quite like Get The Blessing.”
I’m always skeptical when the media praise an artist, but when I saw the video for their new album “OC DC” it just ripped my head off. Read more Get The Blessing – OC DC (2012)
Ballister – Mechanisms (2012)
Ballister is a hard hitting trio having one foot at Chicago and the other one at Oslo and it’s comprised of Dave Rempis (Saxophones) Fred Lonberg-Holm (Cello & Electronics) and Paal Nilssen-Love (Percussion). Dave Rempis was a member of The Vandermark Five, and has developed many Chicago-based groups for which he is currently known. These include The Rempis Percussion Quartet, The Engines, The Rempis/Rosaly Duo, The Outskirts,The Rempis/Daisy Duo, Bishop/Rempis/Kessler/Zerang, and Wheelhouse. Past working groups include Triage, and the Dave Rempis Quartet. Many of these groups have been documented on the Okkadisk, 482 Music, Not Two, Solitaire, and Utech record labels. Rempis also performs and tours with Ken Vandermark’s Territory Band and Resonance.
Chicago based cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm has played and studied music in a variety of situations from the Juilliard School to the gutter. A former student of Anthony Braxton, Morton Feldman, Bunita Marcus and Pauline Oliveros, his primary projects are his Valentine Trio and The Lightbox Orchestra. He is also a member of a number of ongoing collective projects (The Boxhead Ensemble, The Friction Brothers with Michaels Zerang and Colligan, The Flatlands Collective, Keefe Jackson’s Fast Citizens) He also currently plays in groups led by Joe McPhee Peter Brotzmann, and Ken Vandermark. He has contributed cello sounds to numerous recording projects by rock groups including Califone, Freakwater, God-is-my-co-pilot, L’altra, Smog, Super Chunk, US Maple, Wilco and many others.
Paal Nilssen-Love has stated his position as one of the most profiled drummers in Europe today, he has made numberless performances at festivals and clubs in Europe and USA and participated on more than 50 recordings. He plays in several bands and project such as Atomic, Element, The Thing, Scorch Trio, School Days, Territory Band and collaborate with artists such as Pat Metheny, Peter Brötzmann, Ken Vandermark, Joe McPhee, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Terrie Ex (The Ex), John Butcher, Lasse Marhaug – along many others. He runs his own annual festival – All Ears – for improvised music in Oslo. Read more Ballister – Mechanisms (2012)
maQLu – Futureghosts, EP (2012)
Dark and strange, noisy and contorted, but with a secretly pulsing taste of mystery, Vancouver based noise-electro creep maQLu [aka Pyra Draculea] has just released her fourth EP, “Futureghosts”, on April 30, 2012, available through her Bandcamp page for free download (name your price). In the same location and on the same bases you can also grab two other previous releases, “The Maqlu Tarot” and “blood.black.haze”, a CD album which incorporates her first three EP’s.
maQLu named as her influences bands and artists such as Skinny Puppy, Chris & Cosey, ohGr, Nine Inch Nails, and Revolting Cocks, she reminded me mainly of Diamanda Galás and her dark, liturgical trips, she have that experimental thirst of Shikhee of Android Lust, but also she have roots back to minimalist No Wave and even further, back to Kraftwerk-like electro experiments and the nerve of The Stranglers. This music is about atmosphere and feelings, rather then about rhythms and dance, this go to your brain and soul, rather then driven your feet. Read more maQLu – Futureghosts, EP (2012)
John Zorn – Nosferatu (2012)
Over one hour of genius and madness. Zorn strikes again and by his side are guys like Bill Laswell on bass, Kevin Norton playing vibraphone, drums, orchestral bells, tibetan prayer bowls, Rob Burger on piano and organ, while Zorn killing his piano, alto saxophone, Fender Rhodes, and build some dark electronic layers.
Always full of surprises, Zorn delivered another masterpiece, “Nosferatu” is a pearl, a rare diamond, dark, deep, still shining and colorful album, I do my best to avoid to stick to it any label, although this is definitively Jazz, but it’s blended with million subtle shades of sound kicking off from furious Metal hurricanes (as in “The Battle of Good and Evil”) to mystic, charmingly strange and abstract moments of silence and disturbing noises (as in “Hypnosis”). Read more John Zorn – Nosferatu (2012)
