“Gang” is the second full-length studio album by instrumental rock band And So I Watch You From Afar, from Belfast, Northern Ireland. After releasing their self-titled debut album in 2009 the band had toured the UK as well as in support of High On Fire, Crippled Black Phoenix, 65daysofstatic and Yourcodenameis:milo, Clutch, Oceansize, Envy, Trash Talk and Them Crooked Vultures and getting noticed by UK and European media. Consists of Rory Friers and Tony Wright on guitars, Johnny Adger on bass and Chris Wee on drums, And So I Watch You From Afar plays a colorful and dynamic Rock, Celtic sounds like themes are blended with groovy Rock themes, pulsing riffs and melodious themes are shifting each other quickly, and rapid passages are followed by nice and quiet breaks. Read more And So I Watch You From Afar – Gangs (2011)
rock
Charts And Maps – Dead Horse (2011)
Charts and Maps is an instrumental progressive rock project from Los Angeles, CA. consists of: Daniel Melancon – drums, John Taylor – guitar, Jasper Crane – bass, Jay Watford – guitar and Mike Allison – saxophone and they are involved in other bands as Danger Bees, Random Patterns, Semiconscious Gloria and Pride of Kenya. Nominated their influences in bands such as Battles, Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Deerhoof, Tortoise, Yes and Danger Bees. Their music is a nice blending of Jazz and Progressive Rock, including a large variety of shades and colors in a nice, dynamic pulse. Actually it’s pretty hard to balancing on this thin line between Progressive Rock and Jazz, but Charts And Maps managed to keep a positive groove and the equation of their roots and influences are mixed perfectly and Charts and Maps create their own colorful universe. Read more Charts And Maps – Dead Horse (2011)
Incubus – If Not Now, When? (2011)
It was the longest gap between two albums – five years – for Incubus, but “If Not Now, When?” will be released on July 12, 2011 by Epic Records, although the full album leaked online on April 25. “If Not Now…” pick-up where they left in 2006 with “Light Grenades”. You can forget about their experiments of utilizing elements from a variety of genres and styles, there’s no even traces of Nu Metal, Rap Metal, Funk Metal, not even any sings of any kind of Metal at all, and no left-over shades of Jazz or Hip/Trip Hop inflections as well, Incubus maybe “grew up”, perhaps they lost their appetite for exploration and settled down to a clean, some may call adult, Rock sound. This is not that bad as it may sounds, but I have to admit it, this Incubus is not “that” Incubus I used to love. This is “something” much closer to the late Pearl Jam (“In the Companies of Wolves”) and even passages that reminds me of Kings Of Leon (“Thieves”) than to Faith No More. Read more Incubus – If Not Now, When? (2011)
Mono Inc. – Viva Hades (2011)
The leading riff of the title track “Viva Hades” it’s just a huge take off from “Personal Jesus” by Depeche Mode. Still, the album was nominated by the German ORKUS Magazine as “album of the month” and got 10 out of 10 points. Well, I was always a little bit skeptical about artists praised by media. Mono Inc. delivering German taste like Gothic Rock, blending melodious vocals with heavy guitar riffs and tones, synth layers and pianos with Metal sounds, they have a few better riffs – “Admiration Hill” which reminds me of Marilyn Manson – , they have some fine choruses and pumping themes (“C’est La Vie”), but still, I think Mono Inc. suffers from the same linear, repeating and mainly “pale” symptoms of musical constructions as most of the German artist/bands dose. Well, not everybody can be Faust or Einstürzende Neubauten, not even Rammstain, isn’t it? Read more Mono Inc. – Viva Hades (2011)
Poisonblack – Drive (2011)
Poisonblack sounds just like James Hetfield & Co. disguised are playing in some Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy) tribute band. Well, some Gothic resonances are still vibrating mainly in their slower themes, but Poisonblack – just like many other bands – left behind their roots and strip down to the bones their sound and it results nothing but pure Rock. And above all this parallels, Poisonblack sounds mature, grinding powerful and those cracking guitar tone, catchy riffs, simple but colorful guitar solos and clean, powerful vocals are quite convincing. This Finnish band rocks literally.
After the departure of Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto in 2003 (currently in the bands Charon, Harmaja and Northern Kings), bringing of Ville Laihiala (ex-Sentenced) seems to be a winning card. Laihiala wrote very few songs for Sentenced whose main-songwriters were Miika Tenkula and Sami Lopakka, became the band’s principal songwriter, assumed vocal duties himself and has since led Poisonblack in a musical direction that closely mirrors that of his former band. Read more Poisonblack – Drive (2011)
Lake Of Tears – Illwill (2011)
Four years after their 2007 effort “Moons and Mushrooms”, Lake Of Tears will release on April 29 their eight studio album. “Illwill” it’s dark, it’s heavy, it’s beautiful, it’s always recognizably Lake Of Tears, but they always evolved, searched, experimented and vary their sound and this ongoing development has continued through to this new album as well. There’s still gloomy reminiscences of Doom Metal, persist some polished Gothic shines, but Lake Of Tears have a strong and simple line of pure Rock groove in their vein and what make them different from most of the now days bands it’s their determination and focus to quality and music without fitting into some strictly delimited genre. Read more Lake Of Tears – Illwill (2011)
The King Blues – Punk and Poetry (2011)
Or dub and hardcore. Whatever. But it’s “nice”, even if the world it’s not quite appropriate. Raggae, punk, dub, rock and hardcore are melting into one and The King Blues delivering another album with good pulse and groove, pumping rhythms, punk flashbacks and ska/dub mixture with hardcore attitude.
The King Blues started off in 2004, in London as a two man ska outfit, consisting of Jonny ‘Itch’ Fox playing ukulele and vocals and Jamie Jazz playing acoustic guitar and contributing vocals, fusing ska and folk together with influences from punk rock and hardcore punk. Influences include Public Enemy, The Clash, The Specials, Black Flag and Minor Threat. Full of energy, but not aggressive, more fun and refreshing. Read more The King Blues – Punk and Poetry (2011)
Fear Nuttin Band – Move Positive (2011)
I’m not the kind of person who relaxing often. Probably pretty strange, I do not use dopes, not even weeds, joints, whatever. It’s hard to imagine a joint without raggae or raggae without a joint. 😀 And I’m not really a raggae consumer as well. Fear Nuttin Band delivering raggae with rock, Jamaica like aromas with guitar riffs. They are not actually a Rage Against the Machine, not quite an Asian Dub Foundation, but still have some rock like roots mixed up in their raggae tunes. The Fear Nuttin Band sound is as diverse as the cultures the band members represent. The hot West Indian sun incubated the talents of front men Roosta (Vox), Prowla (Vox), while instrumentalists Christafari Regan (Gtr), Jay Chung (Gtr & Vox), Brian Daigle (Bass) and Mike Fuchs (Drums) represent New England’s finest. They mentioned “their musical roots fusing the intensity of metal, the rhythm of Jamaican dance hall and the social consciousness of hip hop”, but don’t expect any too intense rock/metal stuffs, their music is warm and waving, have a positive vibe and groove. Read more Fear Nuttin Band – Move Positive (2011)
Foo Fighters – Medium Rare (2011)
Here it is another cover album. As I said before, I like the covers and I collect them, but on the other hand it’s pretty strange to have another Foo Fighters material on sell only after four days they released their brand new album “Wasting Light”. It’s true, “Medium Rare” was released on April 16, 2011 as a limited-edition vinyl for Record Store Day – just like the Deftones “Covers” – , an event that celebrates independent record stores and apart from the new recordings of “Bad Reputation” and “This Will Be Our Year”, all tracks have been previously released as B-sides or in other compilation albums. We’ve got 13 tracks, songs from Wings, Cream, Joe Walsh, Mose Allison, Thin Lizzy, Prince and The Revolution, Gary Numan, Gerry Rafferty, Ramones, Pink Floyd, Hüsker Dü, Angry Samoans and The Zombies. Read more Foo Fighters – Medium Rare (2011)
Steve Miller Band – Let Your Hair Down (2011)
Well, I’m really not expecting that the emo-generation remember “Abracadabra”, one quite famous hit of ’82, but my generation at least know this one. Actually, Mr. Miller had kicked off back in ’67…
Formed the Steve Miller Blues Band at Chicago, they shortened their name to the Steve Miller Band and they backed Chuck Berry at a gig at the Fillmore West which was released as a live album. In May 1968, in England, they recorded their debut album titled “Children Of The Future”. Their second album called “Sailor” appeared same year in October, and climbed the Billboard chart to #24, successes included the singles “Livin’ In The USA”, “Lucky Man”, “Overdrive” and “Dime-A-Dance Romance”.
The Steve Miller Band’s Greatest Hits 1974-1978 has sold over 13 million copies and Miller continues to perform successful sold-out concert performances. “Abracadabra” was the twelfth album by the band released in 1982 and it has been certified Platinum in the United States and gave the band a #1 hit with the title track. While “Abracadabra” was quite a more dance orientated song, in fact Steve Miller Band remains a classic blues rock band. The song holds the record for the biggest drop out of the Top 10/Top 40 on the Hot 100. In the fall of 1982, as the song was moving down the chart, “Abracadabra” fell 38 spots from #10 to #48 in one week, on the other hand is listed at #70 on Billboard’s Greatest Songs of all time. Read more Steve Miller Band – Let Your Hair Down (2011)
