I love Alice. I loved his “Killer” from ’71, just like “School’s Out” and “Billion Dollar Babies” from ’72 and “Muscle of Love” from ’73. Then I loved “Welcome to My Nightmare” in 1975 and “Alice Cooper Goes to Hell” very next year. Later I loved “Special Forces” (’81), “Zipper Catches Skin” (’82), “DaDa” (’83), and “Constrictor” (’86). “Trash” (’89) and “Hey Stoopid” (’91) were both two great albums, “The Last Temptation” was alright and I really loved “Brutal Planet” in 2000 where Alice kind of give his answer to his followers and meanwhile new stars such as Marilyn Manson proving – once again – that he still have the power. But after that I kind of lost my appetite for Alice, “Dragontown” was at least a mediocre release while “Dirty Diamonds” sounds like a lost material from the 70s, not bad for that times, but quite outdated for the 2000s. Honestly, Alice didn’t really convinced me in 2008 with his concept album “Along Came a Spider”.
Then Alice planned to release a sequel of “Along Came a Spider”, but producer Bob Ezrin proposed instead the idea of a sequel to “Welcome to My Nightmare”, part of the thirtieth anniversary of its original release. Read more Alice Cooper – Welcome 2 My Nightmare (2011)
retro
The Vines – Future Primitive (2011)
For more than two decades, The Beatles seems to be the most addictive and obsessive band ever. I’m almost scared each time I play a band labeled “indie” not to stumble into some Beatles copy. With these guys from Australia I wasn’t so lucky. Some may say it’s quite natural, eight years ago an angrier Vines released a song called “Fuck The World” and well, it didn’t get too much radio attention, I wonder why? They revisited the song’s theme for the band’s new album and this time it’s called “Screw The World” and they swallow much of their anger meantime. 33 years old Craig Nicholls says “”We’re trying to be more mature” – and mature, accidentally means John Lennon and Paul McCartney. I try to figure out, with the looks of Guns’N’Roses and that Beatles copy sound, what the tuxedo-potato-heads from Sony smelled in it and gave them a last shot chance? Read more The Vines – Future Primitive (2011)
Blondie – Panic Of Girls (2011)
Ladies and gentlemen, light up, Blondie’s back. While “The Curse of Blondie”, their previous release from 2003 was a return to their roots and a more rocking approach – and it only peaked at no.36 in the U.K. charts – , the ninth studio album by the American Blondie bring us back to the care-free, relaxed 80s. Quite surprisingly they included for instance “Girlie Girlie”, a cover of Jamaican singer Sophia George, a Top-10 hit in the UK in 1985 and one song of Gilles Riberolles called “Le Bleu à l’âme” (“Blue In The Soul”), a homage to Jacques Brel and Serge Gainsbourg.
“Panic Of Girls” kicking off pretty cool with “D-Day”, an almost classic new wave track with all the good Blondie traditions incorporated, but that spirit it’s left aside, maybe only “Mother”, the lead single, have some charming left-overs of the glorious days. Still, I don’t believe Blondie managed to deliver another “Heart of Glass”, “Hanging on the Telephone”, “The Tide Is High” or “Maria”. Read more Blondie – Panic Of Girls (2011)
Arctic Monkeys – Suck It And See (2011)
Their debut album “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” released in 2006, became the fastest-selling debut album in British music history, surpassing Oasis “Definitely Maybe” and remains the fastest-selling debut album for a band in the UK since. Formed in 2002 in High Green, a suburb of Sheffield, Arctic Monkeys are one of the first acts to come to the public attention via the Internet and receiving attention from the British tabloid press.
In 2005 the band played a critically acclaimed performance at the Carling Stage of the Reading and Leeds Festivals, reserved for less known or unsigned bands. Their appearance was hyped by much of the music press and the band was watched by an unusually large crowd.
They refused to change their songs to suit the industry and resisted signing to a record label and their cynicism towards the industry was such that record company scouts were refused guaranteed guest list entry for their gigs. The success of the strategy was illustrated with a series of sell-out gigs across the UK and Ireland.
But as any fairly tale got to an end, finally they signed to Domino in June 2005. The band said they were attracted to the “DIY ethic” of the label, but the UK’s Daily Star reported that following the record deal, Arctic Monkeys singed also a £1 million publishing deal with EMI and a £725,000 contract with Epic Records for the United States. Eventually the band denied this on their website, dubbing the newspaper “The Daily Stir”. Read more Arctic Monkeys – Suck It And See (2011)
The Raveonettes – Raven in the Grave (2011)
Something stinks in Denmark. Actually Shakespeare said: “Something Is Rotten in the State of Denmark.” – Hamlet, Act I, Scene 4, at line 90. Well, when British music press staple NME declare the Danish duo to be responsible for sparking “America’s pop renaissanceâ€, something clearly stinks. On one hand, Brits has been already saved by the Americans by White Stripes, so, it’s pure wickedness to say America need to be “saved” by anybody, on the other hand when a band or an artist are highly praised by the media, there’s no bloody doubt: something stinks. Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo, the duo behind The Raveonettes delivered another nice album, but really, there’s nothing outstanding, nothing sparking, nothing special. In short words, it’s like Robert Smith (The Cure) teamed up with Angelo Badalamenti for a film score for David Lynch. Gloomy, airy, minimalist, kind of clear-obscure and with a particular, distant, but still warm retro taste, with a few nice tunes and a couple of better moments, but really, there’s nothing really impressive about “Raven in the Grave”. Read more The Raveonettes – Raven in the Grave (2011)
Soft Kill – An Open Door (2011)
Waving between Joy Division (and New Order) and The Sisters of Mercy, Soft Kill try to (re) open a door back to the eighteens goth rock and dark wave. While their earliest experiments took place in September 2010, Tobias and Shiloe, the two members of the group maybe are too in a hurry for a debut album. Still, “An Open Door” is kind of intimate and warm, which is kind of strange for a dark area of music, but the nine songs of this material are not quite bad. They mentioned influences by Howard Devoto, The Cure, Wire/Colin Newman and Killing Joke. The Cure earliest works atmosphere is present and Soft Kill managed to recreate that feeling. “Be Alone” for example sounds quite Robert Smith. And they have a few more good songs. Read more Soft Kill – An Open Door (2011)
The Polyamorous Affair – Strange Bedfellows (2010)
De când cu The Atomica Project (şi Morcheeba – cântă în data de 5 octombrie la Bucureşti, Sala Palatului de la ora 20 😉 ) m-am împiedicat de o grămadă de trupe, proiecte din segmentul Chill, Trip Hop.
Aceşti The Polyamorous Affair se situează undeva între cele două trupe pomenite cu menţiunea că au un puternic iz David Bowie de anii ’80. Nu e de mirare că pe noua compilaţie – CD dublu – tribut Bowie, „We Were So Turned On” participă cu piesa „Theme From Cat People” alături de nume mult mai faimoase ca Duran Duran, A Place to Bury Strangers, Carla Bruni, etc.
Gaşca este compusă din Sissy Sainte-Marie – voce şi Eddie Chacon – voce, producător/compozitor, ex trupa Charles and Eddie, dar interesant este şi faptul că prima sa formaţie i-a avut în componenţă pe vecinii de cartier din Castro Valley, California: Cliff Burton (Metallica) şi Mike Borden (Faith no More). Să mai ziceţi că n-are relevanţă unde te naşti!
Şi-au autofinanţat albumul de debut din 2008 după care imediat Manimal Vinyl le-a oferit un contract de nerefuzat şi sub egida lor au scos anul următor albumul „Bolshevik Disco” şi anul acesta au participat pe compilaţia tribut Bowie de care aminteam.
Din L.A. şi-au mutat sediul în Europa la Berlin şi acest „Strange Bedfellows” este scos de label-ul Winter Palace Records şi conţine Read more The Polyamorous Affair – Strange Bedfellows (2010)
The Morning Benders – Big Echo (2010)
Aveţi nostalgia The Beatles? Nu „Obla Di Obla Da” ci incursiunile lor experimentale, psihedelice, sonorităţile de pe „Revolver”, „Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” şi „White Album”, perioada 1966-1968.
Trio-ul american The Morning Benders din Berkeley, California, revocă (şi invocă) acele sonorităţi, acea perioadă parcă pierdută, dispărută ca dinozaurii…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvFQgmsTkCg]
You Say Party! We Say Die! şi multe X-uri
Am deja câteva discuri şi din zona Punk lansate în 2010, dar deocamdată nu m-a dat pe spate nimic, n-am fugit după gel şi fixativ în baie, nici după spray cu vopsea roşie să-mi fac creastă. O să le adun şi am să le arunc în blender într-o dimineaţă sau fac o omletă… ha ha ha! 😛
Întâmplător m-am împiedicat de aceşti You Say Party! We Say Die! şi chiar dacă ultimul lor album este din 2009 – pare la o îndepărtare de ani lumină! ha ha ha! 😛 , mi s-a părut o gaşcă mult mai interesantă şi o oportunitate de a scrie despre ei… 🙂
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMEykcz9IVU]
Iniţial m-am gândit că sunt un fel de Sigue Sigue Sputnik fiind etichetaţi şi Dance Punk, dar canadienii din Britisch Columbia amestecă secvenţe New Wave cu Indie şi în persoana lui Becky Ninkovic au o solistă energică şi cu personalitate care are atuurile să capteze atenţia.
Au o poveste numai bună pentru presă: basistul Stephen O’Shea şi clăparul Krista Loewen fiind membrii în aceeaşi gaşcă de motorişti – “The Smoking Spokes”, în noiembrie 2003 fiind – evident! – iarnă şi prea frig să te mai dai cu motoarele, s-au apucat să cânte împreună în pivniţa solistei Becky.
De aici până la completarea găştii cu un chitarist (Jason Nicholas, înlocuit ulterior cu Derek Adam) şi un baterist (Bruce Dyck, înlocuit şi el de Devon Clifford), la concerte prin cluburile locale şi la albumul de debut, „Hit the Floor” din 2005 calea a fost scurtă şi dreaptă. Read more You Say Party! We Say Die! şi multe X-uri
