Mental Architects are a math rock trio from Sofia, Bulgaria, formed in 2001. Tony- guitars, Niki – bass/ keys and Max – drums/ electronics delivering a very intense, but refreshing cocktail of Math Rock and Progressive Rock, heavy riffs and very technical parts, rapid passages and slow, sometimes meditative moments are smartly build together in a flowing, beautiful hurricane of music.
They reminds me of Valerian Swing and their brilliant 2011 album “A Sailor Lost Around The Earth”. “Celebrations” consist of eight songs, each one of them being a small masterpiece, a little joyful ride. Read more Mental Architects – Celebrations (2012)
fusion
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)
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)
Public Image Ltd. – This is PiL (2012)
Horrible cover! Intentionally, I think, I know can not judge a book by its cover, didn’t lost my sense of humor, but still… On the other (bloody) hand, this is PiL!
John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten, and just for the kids, ex-Sex Pistols) never or rarely is mentioned as a genius, eventually a madman. Odd how people attach the genius label quite easily to guys (or gays?) like Rufus Wainwright, or considering morons like Dildo, sorry, Diplo as “influential music tastemakers”, while really valuable creations are constantly and totally marginalized by the almighty media. This is the Hell we’re in? Not really, not yet anyway, this is only a Lollipop Opera we’re living…. 😆
Their early work is often regarded as some of the most challenging and innovative music of the post-punk era. Their 1979 album “Metal Box” was ranked number 469 on Rolling Stone magazine’s 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The NME described PiL as “arguably the first post-rock group”.
Formed in 1978 by vocalist Lydon, guitarist Keith Levene and bassist Jah Wobble, with frequent subsequent personnel changes, the list of PiL contributors include among many others names such as Martin Atkins, Bill Laswell – producer and bass guitarist (Album), Steve Vai – guitar (Album), Ginger Baker – drums (Album), L. Shankar – electric violin (Album), etc. “Album”, the fifth studio album was released in 1986 and Lydon said that Miles Davis came into the studio while the album was being recorded and commented that Lydon sang like Davis played the trumpet. Lydon later said it was “still the best thing anyone’s ever said to me.” Read more Public Image Ltd. – This is PiL (2012)
Thinking Plague – Decline And Fall (2012)
![Thinking Plague - Decline And Fall [2012]](http://brushvox.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/thinking-plague-decline-and-fall-2012.png?w=150)
Generally empires are have this fate of decline and fall and I honestly believe that the Music Industry it’s an empire – and for sure it’s in deep and profound crises.
When music is only a product, sometimes quite secondary one of an industry self-titled “music” industry and all those products are pretty boring, predictable and tasteless, but similar pieces, bands like Thinking Plague are quite rare birds in the gray panorama.
Inspired by avant-art rock bands like Arts Bears and Henry Cow, as well as by contemporary classical composers, Thinking Plague has earned an avid international following by forging a singular synthesis of prog-rock with 20th century classical, folk, and jazz.
Founded in 1982 in Denver by Mike Johnson and bass guitarist/drummer Bob Drake, Thinking Plague built its following the old-fashioned way, though word of mouth and recordings passed around by fellow musicians and fans. The band’s line-up was enforced by classically trained vocalist Sharon Bradford, keyboardist Harry Fleishman and drummer Rick Arsenault. Released their debut album, “….A Thinking Plague” in 1984 on their own Endemic label, and pressing only 500 copies of the LP, the band received national attention. Read more Thinking Plague – Decline And Fall (2012)
Vagiant – Gospel According To Vagiant (2011)
Vagiant is a five-piece union of antisocial, paranoid still life loving, good-mannered and joyful nerds. That’s what they think about themselves, I think they need urgent medical care, lots of colorful pills, eventually biscuit cases. This is totally madness on loose. No genre attached, this is a quite contorted, experimental, glowing and flowing (post) Rock journey through different sounds and styles, from quiet, warmer moments to energy full, nervous breakdown-like explosions. In an extensively patterned and predictable, standardized world, Vagiant brings chaos and disorder, bring a fresh breath of music.
And what’s even better, you can grab for free (name your price) this 5 track release from their Bandcamp page. Read more Vagiant – Gospel According To Vagiant (2011)
Not Your Fault [Mad About U RMX] – AWOLNATION remix contest
When I had listen for the very first time this track, the first thought of mine was The Stranglers. Then the chorus kicked in and it was like Green Day raging. What a challenge!
AWOLNATION, is an American indie pop band, formed and fronted by Aaron Bruno, formerly of Under the Influence of Giants, Hometown Hero and Insurgence. The band is signed to Red Bull Records and now the label push them hard as hell. Part of the promotion of their album “Megalithic Symphony” released last year in March is this Indaba remix contest.
I wasn’t sure about this till the last minute and I put this mix together in the last few hours, kept the original drum track, but filtered through EQ because I felt like the highs were pretty messy and even distorted, and I did some radical vocal editing and vocoding. The result is somewhere between The Kraftwerk, The Damned and… very twisted Skrillex on highly dangerous dopes… 😆 Read more Not Your Fault [Mad About U RMX] – AWOLNATION remix contest
The Mars Volta – Noctourniquet (2012)
Mentioned The Mars Volta not so long ago because Adrián Terrazas-González, a past member and collaborator of the band because of his involved in the T.R.A.M. project.
The sixth full-length studio album of The Mars Volta is scheduled for release on March 27th, 2012. It is the first studio album to feature drummer Deantoni Parks, and the first not to feature contributions from both long-time keyboardist Isaiah “Ikey” Owens (De Facto, Look Daggers, Free Moral Agents, etc) and guitarist John Frusciante (ormer lead guitarist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers). Cedric Bixler-Zavala – vocals, Omar Rodríguez-López – guitar, Marcel Rodríguez-López – keyboards and synths, Juan Alderete – bass and Deantoni Parks – drums delivered another colorful journey into the deep space of Progressive Rock having roots back to the 70’s psychedelia, but simultaneously looking into the big wide future. Lars Stalfors was in charge for engineer, mixing, but also for some additional synths, while Sonny Kay took care of the artwork and layout. Read more The Mars Volta – Noctourniquet (2012)
