If you like bands as The Dillinger Escape Plan and Between the Buried and Me, it worth to give a try also to this Last Chance To Reason, you will have a very nice surprise. They are from Augusta, Maine, and their debut album, “Level 1”, was released through Tribunal Records in 2007. Their debut album heavily references video games, especially to “Super Metroid” and in the title of their album ‘Lvl. 1’, and song titles such as ‘Escape From Brinstar’, ‘Kraid Ain’t Got Shit On Me’ and ‘Destroy Mother Brain’ they refer to the game.
“Level 2” is a new take on both the concept album and the video game. The current line-up consist of Michael Lessard – vocals, A J Harvey – guitar, vocals, Thomas Waterhouse – guitar, Chris Corey – bass, vocals, Brian Palmer – keyboards , synth and drummer Evan Sammons. Read more Last Chance To Reason – Level 2 (2011)
avant-garde
Amon Tobin – Isam (2011)
Crazy, spooky thing. Experimental electronic. Noisy but still soft and abstract. He is best known for his use of sampling, where a small section of a previous recording is manipulated to produce a new sound. It’s a mixture of sounds, noises he’s blending different styles from IDM to drum and bass and from breakbeat to trip hop.
Amon Tobin – Amon Adonai Santos de Araújo Tobin – is a Brazilian musician, DJ, and producer of electronic music. In 2005, he created the musical score to Ubisoft’s critically acclaimed and successful video game “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory” as well as Sucker Punch’s game “Infamous”. His music has been used in numerous major motion pictures including “The Italian Job” and “21”. Tobin has created songs for several independent films, including the 2006 Hungarian film “Taxidermia”. He is also noted for his entirely field-recorded album “Foley Room” released in 2007 and he has released seven major studio albums since 1996 under the London-based Ninja Tune record label. Read more Amon Tobin – Isam (2011)
Kodjabashia And Foltin – Penelope X (2011)
Nikola Kodjabashia is a London based Macedonian composer, audio artist, producer, electronic wizard, conductor, pianist and virtual instrumentalist. He studied with Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Anatol Vieru, György Kurtág, and Rolf Gehlhaar and he’s the composer of two critically acclaimed albums “The Most of Now” from 2008 and “Reveries of the Solitary Walker” released in 2004. He has scored and conducted music for numerous plays, TV productions & films, and he is a Musical Director and co-founder of The Diesel Orchestra and Meta4 ensemble. Foltin, far as I know, is one of the most important Macedonian bands. Additional contribution for this release comes from the drummer Goce Stevkovsk. Well, “Penelope X” is an exciting, colorful material where jazz and ethno (world) elements grows together and blooming into a powerful, expressive musical experience. Macedonian, gypsy and Klezmer reflexions are merged into jazz and contemporary music constructions, the result once again something particular and very alive. Read more Kodjabashia And Foltin – Penelope X (2011)
John Zorn – Nova Express (2011)
Zorn’s first release for 2011, another piece of the puzzle from his colorful, restless, dynamic and sometimes moody musical world. “Nova Express” is a very intense work where most of Zorn’s previous explorations comes to unite. It contains the depths of the Interzone conspiracy, the lyricism of Zorn’s classical works, the clear-obscure notes of Naked City and the virtuosity showed on the Masada songbooks. It’s an avant-garde journey where jazz and contemporary music collide in the most intense and vibrating way its possible. Dark, gloomy passages are nicely colored with subtle jazz interventions or expressive explosions of improvisations. “Nova Express” is a groovy and exciting collection of modern chamber music filled with beautiful details and dramatic passions, another borderless intercourse in the mystical and vibrating world of Zorn where every single note is worth at least a picture and together opens the window to another universe of deep shadows and bright lights, its the pure dancing poetry of a forgotten ancient world or just the shapes of things to come. This record have an incredible groove, the abstract trips and the sharp cuts of intense passages are overlapping and shifting each other incredibly fluently in a perfect balance and tempo. Read more John Zorn – Nova Express (2011)
Triptych – Physical Fitness for Better Tyranny (2011)
Best things in life comes for free! At least that’s what a buddy of mine used to say. And the best beer I ever drink was for free, the best whiskey was also for free, not to mention the best fuck. Well, sometimes free means that somebody else pay for it, that’s quit true, but what the hell?! life is full of shit enough to get lost in that kind of small details! 😀 “Physical Fitness for Better Tyranny” actually it’s for free for real. And it’s quit a nice piece of work. Well, definitively it doesn’t sound like a super sophisticated production, but it sounds very alive, absolutely honest and their music is balancing fluently from post rock experiments to jazz like solutions and turns, heavy and noise moments followed by jazzy improvisations or quiet breathes, their music swimming around in nice and colorful circles, raving and pumping without any annoying barriers. Complex and exciting journey into a very alive music.
I didn’t manage to dig out anything about this band, probably from San Antonio, Texas, but listening their 5 track material was a really nice surprise. Read more Triptych – Physical Fitness for Better Tyranny (2011)
The Residents – Lonely Teenager (2011)
The Residents are for a quit long time around and since the end of the 60s they explore the experimental/avant-garde area of the music releasing over 40 albums, but also they explored the multimedia area. Pioneers in exploring the potential of CD-ROM and similar technologies, The Residents have won several awards for their multimedia projects, and Ralph Records, a record label focusing on avant-garde music, was started by them. Actually they are more an art collective than a classic band. The Residents – as they declare – are “four people who dabble in the arts, they make music, videos, perform, and generally have a pretty good time.” Well, “Lonely Teenager” is pretty dark, but still colorful, surprising and exciting material. Mostly navigating on some strangely colored space rock/psychedelic fields, “Lonely Teenager” is a trip into a dark labyrinth of conscience. Read more The Residents – Lonely Teenager (2011)
John Zorn (Moonchild) – Ipsissimus (2010)
Acesta este un „heavy shit” adevărat, dacă muzica ar avea greutate fizică şi ar cădea peste tine, te-ar strivi. Şi dacă eticheta „Avant-garde Metal” şi Rock experimental nu este doar fiţă de promenadă, se datorează exclusiv proiectelor de acest gen. În general „supergrup”-urile dau randamente oscilante, de cele mai multe ori sunt adunătură exclusiv din considerente comerciale, „le mai luăm fraierilor banii o tură”.
Nu este şi cazul lui John, Mike, Joey şi Trevor. La origini un trio compus din Joey Baron – tobe, Mike Patton – voce, Trevor Dunn – bas şi John Zorn pe post de compozitor, producător şi dirijor, Moonchild sau cum mai este denumit, The Moonchild Trio s-a dovedit încă de la debutul din 2006 cu „Moonchild: Songs Without Words” urmat imediat de al doilea album „Astronome” unul din cele mai incisive găşti de acest gen şi din fericire proiectul livrează materiale de calitate cu o regularitate demnă de oricare trupă obişnuită.
„Six Litanies for Heliogabalus” este lansat în 2007 şi sunt cooptaţi şi Ikue Mori (compozitor, baterist, artist grafic) şi clăparul Jamie Saft. La aceste două produse Zorn nu participă în mod direct, dar revine în 2008 pe albumul „The Cruciable” şi este adus şi chitaristul Marc Ribot pentru una din piese: „9×9″.
„Ipsissimus” s-a lăsat ceva mai mult aşteptat, dar a meritat cu desăvârşire. Scos sub numele lui John Zorn, noul produs Moonchild îi aduce din nou la olaltă pe John Zorn (saxofon, pian), Joey Baron (tobe), Mike Patton (voce), Trevor Dunn (bas) şi Marc Ribot (chitară) şi astfel avem de a face cu o trupă completă şi o formulă clasică.
Despre Zorn Read more John Zorn (Moonchild) – Ipsissimus (2010)
