Some bands are coming out of the blue and breaking all the rules and conventions, and delivering what we should simply call “the real thing”. Music. Not conveniences. Not consumables. Not that predictable boom-boom, bang-bang what we use to upload in our mp3 players to cover the urban background noises and isolate ourselves from all the others and the rest of the world. No. It’s definitively something it’s very wrong whit this species.
But this isn’t everything. If a really-really good, to the bone creative and ground breaking band surface the scene, mainly they will come and go unnoticed and will disappear in the media trash. People love products, prefabs, love the s*it nicely packed in cellophane, love Lady GaGa because she’s so eccentric! And we love any other bitches, any other freaks and any other fake and fabricated star the industry and media deliver to us as “the real thing”, but never, never, never, the real thing.
The real thing it’s weird, unusual, not easy to assimilate, hard to compare and impassible to label, to fit into a box.
Although they manage to infiltrate one episode of “NCIS: Los Angeles” and had a song placement in the documentary “h2indo”, Tangent Transmission it’s still mainly remains completely an unknown band.
They also were awarded with the Artist of the Year in the All Indie Magazine music awards last year. And they really deserve it! Read more Tangent Transmission – Pull, EP (2011)
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Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso UFO – Son Of A Bitches Brew (2012)
Heavy Psychedelia this time merged with Electric Jazz with consistent Miles Davis aroma. References to key recordings or artists/bands of Rock/Metal/Psychedelic or Jazz were always incorporated in their works, but never so directly referential as this time. You need balls, or talent, or both to enter the musical world previously build by Davis, John McLaughlin, Joe Zawinul, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette, Wayne Shorter, Bennie Maupin, and the list is extremely long and filled only with valuable artist. But these Japanese sonic samurais, got balls, got talent, but also the healthy craziness necessary for genuine creation.
“Son Of Bitches A Brew” – with it’s a clear reference to Frank Zappa as well – will not be an easy walk through some sunny sound fields, AMT are delivering extremely dense and vivid incursions into the outer limits of the known musical universe, they not only merging genres, but radically different layers and sounds mostly in the same song their building.
With Kawabata Makoto raging on his guitar, Shimura Koki smashing to pieces his drum kit, Tsuyama Atsushi grinding the bass, Higashi Hiroshi turning his synthesizers inside-out, while Tsuyama Atsushi replacing Wayne Shorter on saxophone, this trip can’t be nothing but dangerously wonderful. Read more Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso UFO – Son Of A Bitches Brew (2012)
Karma Zero – Architecture of a Lie (2012)
Metalcore it’s definitively epidemic this year. The scene is flooded by hundred (thousands?) of bands and most of them are really good in the butcheries they unleash. But still, too many band sounding almost the same, will bury the genre pretty fast. Identity Crisis? Hope not. Eventually all these youngsters must find their own sound and style or they will just simply disappear in the grind.
If the genre originate from the fusion of Extreme and Groove Metal with Hardcore Punk, after the mid 2000s, the new genre became popular and successful due to the breakthrough of bands such as All That Remains, As I Lay Dying, Bullet for My Valentine, The Devil Wears Prada and Asking Alexandria, most of them hitting the Billboard charts and sneaked up into the mainstream and opening the door widely for a whole generation anxious to prove themselves.
The French scene seems to be extremely receptive to the seeds of the new genre and one of the furiously blooming new bands are Karma Zero. “Next Time”, the leading single from their debut album sounds heavily furious and intense enough to grab the fans attention. Brutal and complex, Karma Zero kicking in the doors with their right foot! Read more Karma Zero – Architecture of a Lie (2012)
Inflatable Best Friend – DMT Bike Ride (2013)
Noisy and raw garage punk(rock) rides twisted into some weird psychedelic trips and flavored with lo-fi, drone contortions – this is the menu on the debut album by this Michigan based and DIY devoted band. Not for those who are in the search of the perfect crystal sound and are only comfortable with the polished and mainly over-produced, but tasteless, and inconsistent fancy products of the almighty digital era. No, these guys will take you back to their garage, will tear the walls down at the house party in some suburb or in the basement of some filthy and obscure club. This taste like life, sounds messy and full of trouble as reality, wear perfectly with cheap beer, sleepless nights and lost memories.
With roots back to The Velvet Underground and Lou Reed (“Circus Dog”), but with the fury and energy of Sonic Youth (“I Wanna Ride a Sabertooth”), Inflatable Best Friend will shake you up and grind you down, and rock you into weird, vivid dreams only to crash you down again. This is legal, but dangerous stuff. Read more Inflatable Best Friend – DMT Bike Ride (2013)
Beyond The Styx – Sloughing Off The Shades, EP (2012)
This is brutally good! Merging Deathcore with modern flavored Metalcore, but with solid roots back to classy and powerful Heavy Metal, this 5 piece band from Tours, France formed in 2010 are making their debut with a consistent 5 track plus intro EP. It’s almost like August Burns Red would play Manowar covers.
And Emile Duputié (vocals), Adrien Joulin (drums), Matthieu Dupou (bass), Mickey Martin (rythmic guitar) and Anthony Mateus (lead guitar) mention as influences bands such as: August Burns Red, The Ghost Inside, Lamb of God, Norma Jean, Pantera, Haste the Day, Chimaira, Hatebreed, The Bled, Every Time I Die, Emmure, The Acacia Strain, Comeback Kid, Cancer Bats, Trivium, All That Remains, etc.
Powerful, furious riffs, mainly death like growls and intense, pounding drums are the ammunition of Beyond The Styx and they gonna grind you into the ground. Read more Beyond The Styx – Sloughing Off The Shades, EP (2012)
Matryoshka – Laideronnette (2012)
Very chill, very trippy, sounds like shattered from a dream and feels like heroin. Rhyming was unintentional and regarding the heroin, I never experienced it, so, probably my perception it’s at least false. And then again this music it’s smooth, floating, heaven-like. I’ve never been in heaven as well, so, I might be wrong again. The music it’s beautiful. We all have a different perception of beauty, but this is really nice. Quite cinematic, smoothly layered and smartly chilled, merging Trip Hop with Dream Pop, and Glitchy IDM with classic music, the Japanese Matryoshka creates a very comfortable and restorative ambiance with their minimalist, but nicely flowing music. The duo it’s made of Sen responsible with the instrumentals while Calu it’s the female vocalist. She’s angel-like singing reminds me mostly of Julee Cruise (probably best known for “Falling”, the theme song for the cult U.S. television series Twin Peaks). They are based in Tokyo, Japan, and this album was released on 12-12-2012 by Virgin Babylon Records, perhaps this is their second album, but my Japanese it’s pretty rusty and I did not manged to dig out any further useful information about them. Read more Matryoshka – Laideronnette (2012)
Vajra – Inside the Flame, video single
Singer, composer, producer, writer, and keyboard player Annamaria Pinna formed Vajra during her self-imposed exile in India and “Pleroma” is kind of a collection of 10 “sonic postcards” which painting up by sounds this mystic journey to self-conscience filled with hypnotic mysticism and some explosive sonic hurricanes. Read the full review HERE.
Now Varja released a music video for the fan favourite track “Inside the Flame”. The song have that ancient driven power which made magic the debut Tool album and it’s a perfect attention grabber. “Almost One” have the touch of Godsmack, it’s a mixture of gloom and groove with Rock strength, hypnotic, but simultaneously kicking. Read more Vajra – Inside the Flame, video single
Blackburner – Drop Bass Not Bombs (2012)
Dubstep and Glitch music it’s what was the Punk in the late 70’s and the Grunge in the 90’s – the fuel of a new generation, the dynamite in the hand of a furious, disoriented, sidelined and with no future generation. Considering all the social, economical and political tensions and conflicts in our late society, Dubstep works both as catalyst and discharger.
The downside – and the death – of becoming mainstream and fancy for the Dubstep it’s the same as for the other genres: it’s become patterned, predictable, and boring while everybody sound the same. Bass drops, wobbling and contorted sounds, but without any particular content are flooding the already saturated market and pretty soon the kids will start digging for something else, something different, something which once again, will break the line. Unfortunately very few products are actually worth to listen nowadays and pretty soon this will bury alive the genre. Read more Blackburner – Drop Bass Not Bombs (2012)
John Zorn – A Vision in Blakelight (2012)
Gathering – once again – a quite selective collective of musicians: Cyro Baptista – Percussion; Joey Baron – Drums; Trevor Dunn – Bass; Carol Emanuel – Harp; John Medeski – Piano and Organ; and Kenny Wollesen – Vibes and Bells; “A Vision in Blakelight” it’s probably one of the most soft, most beautiful and chilled releases of Zorn in years.
Inspired by the spiritual mythology of William Blake, Zorn continue his endless exploration of the mystical work by all the means of the 21st century’s Jazz and contemporary music. This time Zorn is less noisy, less tumultuous and experimental, but further more sensitive and meditative, creating a cinematic groove smoothly flavored by Jazzy rides and the fluorescent play of these extraordinary artist collective. “An Island in the Moon” it’s a pearl, are breathing through standard already. Read more John Zorn – A Vision in Blakelight (2012)
c.db.sn – …At The End Of It All Remixed (2012)
“Emotion driven electronic music” – this is the essence of what Chase Dobson (aka c.dobson or c.db.sn) delivers and this brand new collection of twisted in and out remixes delivered by Tineidae, Architect, Larvae, Sean Byrd, Worms Of The Earth, Displacer, Access To Arasaka, Consolectrl, Anklebiter, and Erode it’s an extraordinary opportunity do dive into this mysteries flavored spaces filled with subtle grooves and smartly arranged layers of sounds and noises.
And what you people like even more then anything else, it’s a (half-way-through) free stuff, “name your price” means you can give even zero and grab it, but you should consider that artists need and deserve all of our support and music it’s not a free background noise or residue for our iPods and mp3 players. Read more c.db.sn – …At The End Of It All Remixed (2012)
