Blue Willa is the debut album by the Italian art rock quartet bearing that same name. The band had been touring and recording for years under the name Baby Blue, but then they decide it that the time has come for change and came up with a brand new identity: Blue Willa.
They explains: “Continuing a story which lasted seven years and three records so far, we decided to carry on our pursuit for a sound that would fit neatly onto our ideas asking a person we unquestionably loved to help us fulfill it.
We called on Carla Bozulich, whom we had met in Florence some four years ago, and she immediately got involved and interested in our plans.
We spent ten days in the Italian countryside, working side by side with her and our sound engineer, Davide Cristiani. Carla took care of our songs and sounds, proposing shapes and a whole new imagery for them. She made our sounds feel aquatic, ringing and overturned: a sort of underwater punk rock music from the Thirties.
This music then went on to be mixed and fixed on the Himalayan mountainside and in Paris: it is a pleasant thought for us to imagine that something from these places – as well from our provinces – got entangled and caught inside these songs.”
And well, this is really a journey to folk flavored punk, psychedelic rock and vivid experimentalism, but also to yet undiscovered places, unrevealed sounds. Read more Blue Willa – Blue Willa (2013)
experimental
John Zorn – Music and Its Double (2012)
I’m not an “expert”, actually, not even a frequent and frenetic listener of contemporary symphonic music. But Zorn it’s Zorn, my curiosity was bigger then my fear of abstract, eventually unfriendly listening. And Zorn managed to grab my attention. Still, this is quite dark, dramatic, twisted out Wagnerian feels-like music, unfriendly and probably for most nerve-racking, or at least disturbing. The violin (the cello and ultimately the soprano… 😆 ) sometimes literally split your brain in two and makes your ears bleeding, while the tension it’s tenebrous and the dissonances makes you feel like you’re trapped in a horror movie – think of the Kubrick’s “The Shining” soundtrack. The four parts of “Ceremonial Magic” definitively fits that profile and vibe. Still, the work have a huge groove and Kenny Wollesen bang his drums like crazy. Zorn’s cinematic experiences are leaving their sonic finger-prints on his symphonic adventures as well. Don’t think that the closing one-act opera, “La Machine de l’Être”, because of the vocals it’s an easier piece. It’s not.
John Zorn is not only prolific, but also fascinating, he manage to express himself in so many different ways by different musical vehicles – just like any true Magician. And there is no doubt, Zorn it’s a Magician. Read more John Zorn – Music and Its Double (2012)
Steven Wilson – The Raven That Refused To Sing (and other stories) (2013)
Third and deadly? The restless guitarist of Porcupine Tree, and beside involved in a million and one projects and collaborations, plus full time mixer, remixer and producer, it’s back with his third solo album which will be released on 25th February 2013. Alan Parsons (best known for his work on Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon”) engineering the album and we’ve got a quite colorful and dynamic mixture of King Crimson, Rush and Jethro Tull. Probably not accidentally, currently Wilson is remixing the back catalogue of King Crimson from 1969–84 into MLP (Meridian Lossless Packaging) 5.1 and new stereo mixes, as well as remixing the back catalogue of Jethro Tull.
So, the presence of Theo Travis (flute and saxophone) it’s not really surprising. Travis has made ten albums as leader, composing and arranging most of the material; and he has also worked with Robert Fripp, Gong, The Tangent, Bill Nelson, Bass Communion, No-Man, David Sylvian, Harold Budd, John Foxx, Burnt Friedman and Dave, Richard Sinclair, and Porcupine Tree. But this is a full all star release featuring exclusively well respected and acclaimed musicians. Read more Steven Wilson – The Raven That Refused To Sing (and other stories) (2013)
Tribute to Laghetto – Il coraggio di essere suonati (2013)
This is a double album, tribute to the Italian hardcore punk band called Laghetto compiled by the Italian music web magazine Impatto Sonoro. And what for these guys was a year of hard work, you can have it for free by giving up your precious e-mail address HERE. But, as they say, more then a tribute, this is a declaration of love. Although Laghetto prefers to called themselves a”ninja-core band”. So, this is Ninja love. Kind of murderous, isn’t it? And well, you got the chance to get know a lot of really ass-kicking Italian bands of different genres given quite different flavors to the original tracks. Read more Tribute to Laghetto – Il coraggio di essere suonati (2013)
Consciousness Removal Project – Tacit (2013)
Consciousness Removal Project it’s a one-man post-metal band from Tampere, Finland. Its only official member Antti Loponen is solely responsible not only for compositions, lyrics and arrangements but also for most instruments and the record production. Although, with the help of a live collective including Arttu Kimmel – guitar, Vesa Ahonen – bass and Artturi Mäkinen – drums, Consciousness Removal Project has also been able to perform live since 2008.
The music of Consciousness Removal Project has been published on the internet for free since 2004. The new album, released on 03 January 2013 and entitled “Tacit” it’s also available for free download (“name your price”) from their Bandcamp page (Click “Buy now” and enter $0 for free download), as well as a limited edition Digipack CD pressing hand numbered with binary digits. Support artists, we need them!!
And the music it’s gloomy, subtle and beautiful. Described perfectly by José at Terrorizer magazine: “It’s not the soundtrack for the eventual apocalypse itself, it’s the soundtrack for sitting on the porch on a quiet evening with a drink, thinking about it.” Read more Consciousness Removal Project – Tacit (2013)
The Conjuration – The Human Condition (2012)
So, this is one of the sickest metal s*it I heard lately, and definitively one of the best releases of the genre in 2012! Anyway, for sure one of my favorites! It’s damn shame this band it’s not world-wide famous yet!! This is much-much better then 99.9% of the s*it that the media and the record labels pushing and selling lately under any (sometimes fake) metal moniker!
Corey Cochran – compositions, guitar, vocals, programming; and Josh Moss – bass and keyboards are the pillars of this project formed in 2010, in Danville, Virgina. Delivering a psycho kind of twisted death metal with psychedelic and progressive taste and avant-garde edge, The Conjuration released their second full length album on 21 December 2012. Both albums were released last year and both are available for FREE DOWNLOAD at the band’s Bandcamp page.
Drawing inspirations from different bands such as The Dillinger Escape Plan, Therion, Strapping Young Lad, Rush, Opeth, Cynic, King Crimson, Between the Buried and Me, Alchemist, Pink Floyd, Slayer, The Cure, Sigh, Atheist and ELP, they delivered a twisted in and out journey to the outer limits of metal.
They says: “Music is an art. Art is an outlet of emotions and philosophies that can fill the senses and change lives…and that’s exactly what we want to do. We make music because we love music. We make music because we want to help people. We want to make a better world for all the earth’s lifeforms. We just want to be heard, and have our music help someone out there… ” Read more The Conjuration – The Human Condition (2012)
The Black Widow’s Project – Heavy Heart (2012)
Think of Down and Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society with even more and more intense stoner infusion, add some weight from Kyuss/Queens Of the Stone Age and the right amount of Alice In Chains/Soundgarden flavor to got the essence of what really The Black Widow’s Project it’s about.
The Black Widow’s Project delivered a surprisingly mature and solid debut album filled up with 14 genuine songs, and forged throughout with good-old-fashioned fuzz, powerful riffs, a heavy blend of blues and rock with noisy garage sound.
Formed in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2010 by the lead singer-guitarist Al Castro and the drummer Math Sink, they quickly realize their first EP called “Benefit Of The Doubt” which arouse great interest among the audience and in underground venues. After several lineup changes, Raph Despas joined the band as the bass player which allows them to find an even more powerful and personal sound. Read more The Black Widow’s Project – Heavy Heart (2012)
Avishai Cohen – Triveni II (2012)
Born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel, Avishai Cohen began performing in public in 1988 at age 10, playing his first solos with a big band and eventually touring with the Young Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra to perform under the likes of maestros Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur and Kent Nagano. Having worked with Israeli folk and pop artists in his native country and appeared on television early on, Avishai arrived as an experienced professional musician when he took up a full scholarship at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
In 1997, the young musician established an international reputation by placing third in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Trumpet Competition. Avishai came of age as a jazz player as part of the fertile scene at Smalls, the storied club in New York’s West Village, where he developed his artistic vision alongside such friends and colleagues as pianist Jason Lindner and bassist Omer Avital. The trumpeter’s artistic stance was informed by the fresh, broad-minded legacy of this vital 21st-century scene. Avishai also toured and recorded with the avant-punk Lemon Juice Quartet, experimenting with effects and collaborating with friends, a common thread throughout his career; the band’s 2002 release Peasant Songs earned praise from the likes of DownBeat, which applauded the album’s “rollicking joi d’vivre.”
“Triveni II” it’s his 6th solo album, follow up of the 2010’s “Introducing Triveni”. This is definitively a delicatessen for any Miles Davis fan! Read more Avishai Cohen – Triveni II (2012)
Acyl – Algebra (2012)
Metallers start getting familiar, comfortable with Ethnic infusions in the 90s with the colorful sounds built in the Metal genre by Sepultura. More recently, System Of A Down introduced Oriental and Arab flavored shades into Metal and conquered the whole world with their music. Somewhere between the Thrash/Death gravity of Sepultura and the modern intensity of System Of A Down and revealing the beauty and mystic flavor of Arab music, the Paris, France, based Acyl delivered a brilliant debut album. One of the best and most exciting Metal albums of 2012.
On the other hand, this is not only an excellent Progressive/Experimental Metal album, but also a genuine, deeply spiritual journey. And the use of the word “genuine” wasn’t random or accidental. Read more Acyl – Algebra (2012)
Artifex – Suspension of Disbelief (2013)
If there is a space between King Crimson and Marilyn Manson, that space definitively it’s filled with the Italian Artifex. With roots back to the Psychedelic/Progressive Rock of the 70s and 80s, but with gloomy resonances of the Industrial Rock and Industrial Metal of the 90s, Artifex are building a brand new world out of Hard Rock bricks and modern sounds, electronic layers, but not at least, strong emotions.
Antonio “Mircea” Olivo (voice/guitar/electronics) founded Artifex in 1997, in Bologna, Italy, wanting “to recall that “verve” which had the great bands of the 70s, developing their sound in a modern key through the “balance” between analog and digital.”. The line-up was completed by Francesco Paonessa (drums & machines) and Davide Schipani (bass guitar, synth). By now the band released four self-produced CDs: “Tristis” (1997), “In-Side” (2001), “Artifex” (2003), and an EP entitled “Redux” in 2009.
“Suspension of Disbelief” will be released on 27th January 2013 and it’s a concept album based on the MAN’s emotions, an intermittent and laborious back to basics made of suspension and disbelief as well.
The album also have two special guests: Pat Mastelotto from King Crimson on drums featuring on “Witness of Transition” and Fabrice Quagliotti from Rockets on keyboards and backing vocals featuring on “Electric Lights”. Read more Artifex – Suspension of Disbelief (2013)
