Artigos

If you're looking for something catchy but yet with a complex musical structure Maninfeast it's what you need...

This portuguese band move around pscicadelic/prog of the 70's (Pink Floyd alike... ) with a modern metal touch as Isis , Black Math Horseman,...

And when also this EP it has an excelent studio production by Guilhermino Martins from ThanatoSchizO band onBlind and lost studios

How One Becomes What One Is [EP]

Ewige Wiederkunft

More info: MYSPACE

Choirgirl. Choirgirl. Choirgirl. An album so fucking good I have to say it three times. For three is the magic number.

What an album. Musical perfection. I literally cannot see how it could possibly be bettered.

Twelve tracks, each one a glorious mix of heavy, heady emotion. Musical exhilaration. Beauty, pain and intensity.

An innate genius, the utter *atmosphere*! Swirl and swirl and swirl indeed.

Perfectly structured, from beginning to end. An album so perfect that even the sequencing is part of it all.

The all of Choirgirl.

The first appearance of a fully integrated band. Visceral driving rhythms. Math as fuck.

And the melodies. Oh god, the melodies! The passion! The drive! Melodies that are sent down from somewhere very special indeed - melodies that twist and turn and weave their way into your brain.

That word, atmosphere, again.

I could rant on about this album for hours. I think I will.

To hell with it. I'm going to put it on and self indulgently write about it for the full 54:12 minutes. I'm so self indulgent. But it will be an interesting exercise on my part too.


This is the greatest album ever, after all.



<Spark comes on>

One of the best openers to any album ever. A statement of intent. Up there with greats like, let's see - Only Shallow. Taxman. Cherry-Coloured Funk. Ivo. Dalliance. Debaser. That noise thing that Fugazi always seem to do. Filler. This Town . Yes. Pretty Good Year. Beauty Queen. Elvis Impersonator. The Classical. 15 Step. Airbag. Vibracobra. Queen Is Dead . Sympathy. Sunday Morning. Mojo Pin. Temple. Teen Age Riot. See No Evil. The opening silence of CTTE. Reuters. (starts looking through iTunes) Tunnels. Stars of Track and Field. Fuck this. It's taking too long.

The best song on the album it could be argued. But then again you could say that with every single song. Just wait and watch me do it haha.

Holy fuck, and then that bridge just comes out nowhere. Astonishing is not enough to describe it. Just simply brilliant. Tori always has been the master of great bridges. So many amazing ones.


<Cruel rears her head>

I haven't even finished writing about Spark yet. Fuck. But it's so ridiculously sublime. The perfect album opener, giving you that sense of what is to come.

But this. Cruel. Atmosphere is the word. Probably my least favourite on the record, but that's not saying anything. This is so dramatically different to *all* that had come before in the Tori world - one can just imagine going from LE, UTP and BFP to *this* back in 1998. I would have been 9 years old back then. Just pure atmosphere. *That* sound!


<Black-Dove (January) enters with muted piano>

More perfection. I have a friend who loves that opening piano riff. Well, I love it too. And the rest of the song. It's just mindblowing, this one. Like Spark, it starts off quietly. Suspiciously. Plaintively. It's dark. And then WHAM!

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GALAXY!

And then again back to that quietness. Genius. I have nothing more to say. How this song just literally explodes from the depths of that riff, that sound. The dynamic is just incredible. *This* is why I love Tori. More than anything. Her musicianship. Her ridiculous talent.

AND THEN THE PIANO BRIDGE!!! Yes i'm yelling. I'm feeling thrilled right now. Exhilarated. Pumped. But I have to get to fucking TEXAS!

Give me life, give me pain. Give me myself again!

And then back to the opening motif. From a compositional perspective, because me and Tori both come from a classical background - it's just so fucking *perfect*. Tori is just so fucking perfect.


<Raspberry Swirl>

Somedays this doesn't hit. But today it's hitting. Of that there's no doubt. This is pure exhilaration in sound. Swirl and swirl and swirl. Again, thinking back to what had come before - BFP to THIS! This is how techno fucking should be! It makes me feel alive. Desperation. Desire. And heh those lyrics ae. Let's not go into that. It's all about the music in this one. A pumping drumbeat done right. That little swirl of guitar before getting back into the verse. Little touches that just *make* this album. That percussion. Good ol' Matt. Possibly the greatest drummer in the world today. Everything is just so personal for him. A perfect match. That driving bass line. I do sometimes wish back for George Porter Jr. back, but then Jon is also a god. Swirl and swirl and swirl and swirl and swirl. Perfect images for the swirling exhilaration of that sound. Piano break at the end! Woah! A quiet hmmmmmmmmmmm at the end just *makes* it.


<Jackie's Strength walks in>

Beautiful. That's all I can say. It's perfect. Piano plus Tori. And still with *that* sound. How does Fails of a Librarian do it? How can it just take that life out of music like *this*?! That atmosphere. It's so fucking perfect. Those gliding strings, and then those short violin punches over the top. Phenomenal. Good one Shenale. There's just so much in this. Little touches everywhere. Everything melodic. Piano lines. The vocal melody itself is just stunning. Up and down, making musical sense - those extra phrases attached on the end to math it up so naturally - only real musicians can do that. Tori is just... I'm lost for words. It's all so natural for her. Download some bootlegs. She puts her all into everything that she does. All the time. All. The. Time. And that's what it's about. Strings envelop you. They soar. Tori has the most beautiful voice I've ever heard. No, that's a lie. That might well belong to Elizabeth Fraser. But Tori has the most beautiful voice i've ever heard. Another hmmmmmm to close. Perfect.


<the bass of i i e e e shows itself>

That atmosphere again. This album has such a sense of purpose. One that you can just *feel*. Not many do. That is what separates the truly great from the simply good. Purpose. [The Holy Bible] for instance. Damn that album for threatening to knock this off it's pedestal. But now that i'm listening to this, it doesn't even come close. Sure, lyrically almighty and the desperate urgency is all there - but this. This is just something else. Speaking of purpose, [Journal For Plague Lovers] has it in spades. Those Manics. I've been obsessing over them recently. But then, the BRIDGE!!!! Rock out! So fucking excellent. Which reminds me of the Sessions performance. Extended piano solo bridge. Mmmmm. Tori is one of those who changes the way the song is played each live outing - something I find very very important. Others who do it off the top of my head - Fugazi, Polvo, Jane, Veda. That's about it. There's probably more. But pure musicality. It's so ridiculously sensual.

*That* atmosphere!


<Liquid Diamonds fades in slowly>

And this is more of that. Might well be my favourite song on the album. A perfect slice of seven minutes. Pure atmosphere. Swirl. Piano lines which are imbued with so much meaning. You can tell Tori is a natural. No-one else even compares. Jane, maybe. But even so. God! This song is God! 2005 solo version has this incredible vocal/piano line eee-eee-eee-eee-eee-eee-eee etc at the beginning. Makes me cry, it's just so beautiful. This song. Imagery! Music! Check on both counts! It's just so goddamned beautiful. And why can't it be beautiful. Indeed. Matt on drums keeping that steady beat. Porter on bass just killing it. So smooth. If you don't have this album, buy it immediately. Get it on vinyl. Do whatever it takes. This is the greatest record ever. It's just pure essence. It's her soul. And it's beautiful. Beautiful pain. I wish I had her voice. It's so pure. She has technique. I need to get myself some vocal technique. She can literally do anything with that voice of hers, and it shows. It soars. It reaches down and caresses your soul. Diamonds I go, I go inside her shell I see it's all... and you're doing oh so well these days - her lyrics are so natural. So... Tori. And I love that so much. Pure soul. Pure thought. She is a genius. So wise. So obviously intelligent. Incredible incredible lady.

<Liquid Diamonds fades out slowly>

Perfect.


<Cocaine!!!!!>

Again whoa. Imagine 1998. Coming from BFP. There would have been nothing leading to people expecting anything like this. Pele was her exorcist album, they all are really. But this. This girl struts her way so ridiculously confidently. Note the key change post bridge. Only Tori. Only she can excite my musical training side like that. It's so nerdy, but I love it. Digital Ghost as well. Look out for it. Strut. And here's the bridge. Melodic turns everywhere. My god I love this woman. I can't wait to get home where I have a piano, and try this solo. The melodies of hers are always so natural, so strong. And that end. It's my current ringtone. Cut it again! Breeeepp! How can this be bettered? I really don't know. TVAB is great. But this. This.


<Northern Lad>

Beautiful. Melody. I do love me a good melody. Perhaps why i'm having this Manics phase - they do a damn great soaring melody, that James Dean Bradfield. This is also a contender for the greatest on the album. Tori's finest vocal performance in my book. God I miss the sound of her breathing into her microphone. It adds so much, and it's been missing post Fails. Mind you, Hidden Treasures I believe does have it. And that is a phenomenal record indeed. Indian Summer. Jesus that's great. And the way she says "fucking cold". More perfection. Perfection upon layers of perfection. When pianos try to be guitars. And I hate the sound of guitars. I can't believe i'm comparing Fugazi with this woman. They are both up there, certainly. Love them both dearly. This is just heart wrenching. One of the most beautiful songs ever. Her breathing into the microphone adds so much. Please bring it back Tori! It's why I seem to listen so much to live recordings of hers. She's stunning live. She really is. Just a natural. Such a talent. Heart breaking. Because of the rain. Simply magically wonderful. Perfect.


<Hotel swirls her way in>

Another contender. Math as fuck. So ridiculously exciting. Again, that "quiet" opening. Foreboding. Forewarning. Then it ROCKS OUT!!!! Goes crazy! Give me mooooore! It really doesn't get any more perfect than that. Images fit the sound. Then the army drum beat with a leaping melody and the Kurzweil doing it's thing in the background. So many layers, so much depth. Fuck I really should be studying. Fuck it. This is too good. Then it starts again. It's so structured. But the structure is not obvious. No "look! i'm an obvious FM chorus!" like 500 miles. Damn that song. Comparing that to this is just ridiculous. This is just out of this world. I don't imagine Tori to ever repeat her sound, but this is just... Spellbinding. And live she fucks it up a lot. Which is great! How's that - that I love it when Tori screws up performances. Because somehow it just works.

And then CODA.

Jesus. Holy crap. Everything goes nuts. Everything. Math! But it's so natural! I can't imagine it any other way. Then it just disappates. Back to that army drum beat, then nothing. This is just incredible. It really is. There's just so much depth. Where has that gone these days?

It's only Tori really flying that flag. Nothing out there even touches on the depth of her work.

Then that little outro. It's perfect.


<Playboy>

Again. Perfection. Need I even say it. The simple piano chords under her melody. Those little pianistic embellishments. So natural to her. It would sound forced on anyone else. I feel like commenting on the artwork. Best artwork ever in my opinion. Totally fits the mood. Atmosphere. Again, more perfection. It's just striking. And the live show - from videos i've seen, boots i've heard. Whoa. Every single night. Incredible. Nothing out there is even remotely close to Tori. I guess i'm waiting for that slide guitar to come now. I know it's coming, it's on it's way... This is just heartbreaking by the way. Tori with band. Is pure brilliance. Ah slide. And it's over the top of a perfect little piano break, a little emotional Tori voice. Fuck emo. Fuck Guy Picciotto. This is emotion. This is brilliance. And it's just so ridiculously great. Stunning. More slide guitar. Notice how perfect it is. Notice the layers. The depth. The vocals are so raw. So perfect. There's that word again. Perfect.


<Pandora's Aquarium>

I've always loved that title. Another contender for best song on the album. Perfect closer to an album. I can't believe i've reached the end already. Time has flown. The only other album that I can think of now that does this is [Close to the Edge]. Time flies when I listen to that too. So much happening musically I guess. I really love melody. This is such a good one. And it's not jazz at all. What the hell is it? It's Tori. It's a dark husky night at a saloon lined on the side with martinis. Martini glasses UP! And then the melodic change. Woah. Only Tori. Only her. She's just stunning that woman. I'm gushing and I just don't care. Ripple. What a word. Drums with brushes. Mmmm. That melody. That performance. So much purpose. So much intent. This record just *had* to happen. You can feel it. Everything is so fucking perfect. Melodic change again. It's so perfect in it's absolute ingenuity. It's so natural. I love this woman. I am not asking you to believe in me. Well I do, Tori. I really do. This is just the greatest album ever. And that vocal just hanging on by a tether by the end - the way it stretches, soars, resounds. Then closes. In a whisper.



And that is Choirgirl.






.

Sun 12 Oct – Amanda Palmer, Jason Webley, Zoë Keating, Battle Circus
http://thefamilycat.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/amanda-palmerjason-webleyzoe-keatingbattle-circus-knaack-klub-berlin-12102008/ bin zu faul die ganzen links jetzt wieder auf last.fm umzumorkeln

Tue 14 Oct – Ladytron, Dancing Pigeons Like Ice Cream

die übliche review-umleitung:
http://thefamilycat.wordpress.com/2008/10/17/ladytrondancing-pigeons-like-ice-cream-in-magdeburg-14102008/

bekanntermaßen bin ich faul wie die sünde. einmal bloggen reicht.

After Last.FM's decision on making listening to the free radio only for USA, GER, and GB - or subscribers- All five tracks from the EP- Afterglow, are now available for full lenght listening and FREE downloads- plus to bonus tracks!
Genre: acoustic, melodic/progressive, classic rock.

Iubirea de Dumnezeu este cel mai frumos lucru, cea mai deosebita experienta. De fapt la asta se rezuma totul, si acesta este scopul ultim al vietii noastre - Iubirea de Dumnezeu.
Cand iubim pe Dumnezeu iubim Totul, si aceasta stare se reflecta in toate. Prin aceasta iubire totul se transforma, relatiile cu ceialti, prezentul, viitorul.

Este important sa cautam aceasta iubire de Dumnezeu, cu tot sufletul nostru si cu toate puterile noastre, si este important ca acum sa fim deschisi cu mintea si cu sufletul - ca sa putem primi ajutorul ce ni se ofera acum, deoarece singuri ne este foarte greu.

Prin domnul Ioan Muntean din Arad se realizeaza alchimia spirituala, totul transformandu-se in aur. Este important sa acceptam si sa ne folosim frumos de acest dar de la Dumnezeu.



Iar acum, dragii mei, va doresc din suflet un Paste Fericit luminos si plin de iubire de Iisus si de Dumnezeu. Sa ne bucuram precum copiii de toata aceasta sarbatoare si sa ne umplem inimile. Sa impartasim cu totii, cu cei apropriati noua, cu natura si cu intreaga creatie aceasta iubire de Dumnezeu care o simtim in suflete. Multumim Tatalui! Amin.

Cu Lumina si Iubire de Dumnezeu, de Iisus si de viata,
George.

I'm a huge fan of female vocalists, especially of the moody, alternative rock variety...and Lisa Germano is quickly topping my list of favorite music from this genre. Why haven't I heard of this wonderful woman before?! Like too often is the case, she was dropped from her major label because despite favorable critical reviews, her sales weren't up to par for them. Pfft. I think that is a lame excuse if you ask me...if they would market quality music as well as they do some talentless bimbo *cough* Hannah Montana *cough* then she wouldn't have to work in a bookstore and could focus all of her efforts on creating more beautiful music for us to listen to. This is why I'm a proponent for dropping the power of labels all together in favor of online sales. This way 100% of the profits go where they should...to the artists who need the money to support themselves. This is working quite well for Kristin Hersh on cashmusic.com...and she's able to release music right away and doesn't have to go through all the red tape other artists do to bring the music to us.

Sorry about that rant, I just hate how difficult it is to locate the musical gems amidst all the muck out there on the airwaves. This site (as much as I don't like some of the changes) has been pretty effective at introducing me to some great music, and Lisa is one of those rare finds that I probably wouldn't have located without this site. She's a multi-intrumentalist, but her primary assets would be her husky, mysterious voice and atmospheric composition skills. Plus, shes one of the few people in rock music who can utilize the violin's beauty in a way that works with the harder edges of rock music instead of sounding completely out of place.

She found her way into the music industry through a very unlikely source; John Mellancamp hired her to be session musician on his '87 album The Lonesome Jubilee. I really don't like his music, but I commend him for knowing talent when he hears it. From there, she's collaborated with several other artists including The Finn Brothers, Eels, David Bowie, Sheryl Crow, Simple Minds, and the Indigo Girls. She decided to go solo in 1991 with her album, The Lonesome Jubilee. It wasn't until 1994 that she really cemented herself in the 90's alt-rock work with her critically acclaimed album, Geek the Girl. Harrowing, poignant, and introspective, this album deals the pains of adolescence and discovering what it means to be a woman. An intresting fact about the song "...A Psychopath": the vocal sampling in that song was taken from an actual 911 call from a women being terrorized by an intruder in her house. I haven't been this tense listening a song since I heard Tori Amos' moving 'Me and a Gun." Her next album, Excerpts from a Love Circus, is a bit more upbeat and even danceable in some places (especially the song 'I Love a Snot'). It still has her signature voice and it takes you through a range of emotions, like any good piece of art should do. After releasing a couple more albums, her lack of sales forced her to be dropped from her distribution deal with Warner through 4AD records. She's continued to make music, and from my own personal experience, her last couple albums (In the Maybe World and Lullaby for Liquid Pig) are not only on par with her earlier work, they might even be a bit more sophisticated and beautiful.

More intresting facts about Lisa Germano:
She was all set to tour with The Smashing Pumpkins for their album, [album]Adore[/album], when she was dropped from the tour a day before they were scheduled to go on the road without any warning whatsoever.

Wendy Moulivin (you know...Wendy and Lisa from Prince's band, The Revolution) and Johnny Marr (of The Smiths) both appeared on her album, Lullaby For Liquid Pig.

Her work is featured in a # of albums:
Electroshock Blues by Eels
The Globe Sessions by Sheryl Crow
Heathen by David Bowie
Shootenannyby Eels

L'absente by Yann Tiersen
Here's a couple links to some her songs via Youtube if you want to give her a try:


[b]'Red Thread' off In the Maybe World[/b]

[b]'You Make Me Want to Wear Dresses' off of Happiness[/b]

[b]'From a Shell' off of In the Maybe World (features clips from Boys Don't Cry[/b]

I stole this great idea from a Pole who stole it from another Pole, and, as we all know, all Poles love to complain.

So, let's get this hate-party started!

1. Björk - Volta is shit. Drawing Restraint 9 is beautiful but wholly unlistenable, i only ever find myself listening to Bath, Pearl or Host. I also loathe the Sugarcubes.

2. Broadcast - My favorite band! The Future Crayon instrumentals are very hard to tell apart as they're so unremarkable. This does not bode well for TFC as 75% of the songs are instrumental. The Noise Made By People instrumentals are quite bland as well.

3. Tori Amos - ADP and the Beekeeper are both trainwrecks.

4. Stina Nordenstam - She's got her new album on hold for NO REASON.

5. Cocteau Twins - Tishbite is the worst song ever.

6. Pram - The instrumentals on The Moving Frontier are very boring and uninspired.

7. PJ Harvey - Is This Desire? is my favorite album of hers but i intensely dislike Perfect Day Elise and The Garden.

8. The Fiery Furnaces - Holy Ghost Language School should have been a Fiery Furnaces album :( I miss Eleanor's vocals on it.

9. Kate Bush - Her songs are pretty hit or miss for the most part, usually half of the songs on her album are brilliant and the other half are terrible. Except for The Dreaming which is perfect.

10. Magga Stína - She's a bloody librarian now. She did release Syngur in 2006 but it's quite tame, especially compared to An Album, my favorite album of all time.

11. Goldfrapp - Supernature was complete trash, except for Satin Chic, which sounded like it was from Black Cherry anyway. The b-sides were pretty good though.

12. Joanna Newsom - I didn't like Easme and Colleen as much as I thought I would, I should probably listen to them more often though.

13. Emilie Simon - Fernando would slap me for saying this, but I don't like La Marche de L'Empereur as much as her other albums as it is mostly instrumentals. But they are very good songs, it's not like The Moving Frontier and The Future Crayon where the instrumentals are sub-par to the vocal material.

14. Planningtorock - Happy Time sounds like it was produced the exact same way as every other song she's done. I really hope she expands on her sound for her next album.

15. ADULT. - The middle of Gimme Trouble stagnates like a motherfucker. The songs aren't bad per se but the album gets quite repetitive and somewhat tiresome after a while.

16. Risaeðlan - Their newer material without Dora wasn't as exciting.

17. Feist - The only reason she's on this list was because So Sorry accidentally repeated on my iTunes 100 times while i was gone one day. I got the Reminder in March or something and still the only songs i really like from it are My Moon My Man and Sea Lion Woman.

18. Anna Ternheim - The acoustic bonus disc on Someone Outside isn't very good.

19. The Knife - Silent Shout is perfect, but the other two albums only have a few good songs between them.

20. Siobhan Donaghy - None of the songs on Ghosts are as good as the title track, but they're all beautiful. Hopefully she stays in this avant-pop genre and experiments a bit more on her future albums.



That was fun, sorry if i was a bit too blunt.