Artigos

taken from last.fm artist pages

Tue 14 Feb – Roxette - Charm School: The World Tour

Fittingly for a Valentine’s Day show, tonight’s completely sold out and my last-minute date and myself make a point of arriving to the venue early. The enormous Boondall arena is still filling up as we make it up the familiar stairs, with the opening act – ‘80s Antipodean hitmakers 1927, plucked to do the honours from the lucrative pub & RSL club circuit – already busy wooing the predominantly 35-plus crowd with their ever-slick oldies. Compulsory Hero and That’s When I Think Of You have the punters shimmying in the fast-growing bar, toilet and ATM lines, while FM radio staple If I Could has lost none of its ‘Aussie classic’ power.

Following a somewhat extended wait, Swedish pop-rock veterans Roxette emerge to the roar of 11,000 voices and immediately get everyone in the floor area on their feet with the guitar-heavy one-two of Dressed For Success and Sleeping In My Car. The mix is initially somewhat muddy and heavy on the low-end, however the band are pin-sharp (as you would expect from the bona fide Scandinavian showbiz machine) and the leather-clad Marie Fredriksson’s voice has lost very little of its power, while the sprightly chief songwriter Per Gessle is in top form, running and jumping with the energy not normally attributed to 53 year-old men. Right from the start, it’s a consummate, well-orchestrated greatest hits show, with the only notable absence being the moody, underrated You Don’t Understand Me.

The first of the eight Joyride songs aired tonight, The Big L. raises respectable cheers, but the latter-day material sees a comparative dip in energy, with the two singles from the duo’s most recent outing Charm School – Only When I Dream and She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio) – barely raising a reaction. Still, Fredriksson/Gessle’s knack for turning a kickarse chorus hook/key change remains unparalleled in many quarters, and the sing-alongs duly resume on the piano-led Perfect Day, “Hollywood moment” It Must Have Been Love and a huge Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave). Surprisingly enough, the slow-burning Crash! Boom! Bang!, while not particularly massive worldwide at the time of its 1994 release, these days stands as one of the duo’s best songs (admission: Roxette were one of this writer’s favourite bands between the ages of 13 and 14, when I pretty much wore out my bootlegged VHS copy of Don’t Bore Us – Get To The Chorus!).

After Gessle exclaims “alright, let’s take it back to the basics!” and strums a C bar chord, we get a treble of singature pop-rock concoctions How Do You Do, Dangerous and Joyride; the band then briefly retreat backstage. The first encore sees the Swedes maintain total audience control with the understated Watercolours In The Rain, the tear-jerking Spending My Time and the evergreen breakthrough smash The Look – upon finishing which they head off again. However, it’s not over until we hear Roxette’s first #1 ballad Listen To Your Heart performed in its full glory – replete with that glorious middle-eight and the key change in the last chorus. Still looking and sounding pretty sharp after all those years.

Fasterlouder

Last.fm Presents were happy that Deer Tick were able to take time out of their schedule while in NYC recently to settle in and play songs off the new album Divine Providence. What started as a solo project for John McCauley, has obviously become a full-fledged main project. Four albums have been released since September of 2007. Start off today by watching them perform the first of four songs from Divine Providence.

Read more: Last.fm Presents: Deer Tick

Rozich and Brailsford - String Theory (song review) |self-released, album title TBA, 2012| 5/5

If you think you've heard everything related to progressive music and listened to full discographies of such classic bands like ELP, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Rush, Yes and newer acts like Dream Theatre or Opeth, but at the same time you're not familiar with the name Rozich and Brailsford, then there's no reason to claim you've heard anything at all.

Not passion, but fury marks this instrumental song called "String Theory" which comes from the newest yet untitled album recorded by American musicians Rozich and Brailsford. It's a perfect track which can be compared to the most famous progressive music compositions, however it's directed to those of you who are not afraid to enjoy the heavier side of things.

At first, try to imagine a plasma ball with rays flashing in sync to noisy guitar riffs (similar to those best known from Robert Fripp's playing). Next, an avalanche of bass and drums are kept in the moods of progressive metal dominating this composition. After a while, the guitar riffs return and sound more controlled, replacing the drum and bass parts throughout the entire track. You can also hear synths typical for progressive rock music, which sometimes soothe these roaring sound cannonades.

The middle of the song sounds solid with all of the instruments collaborating together and accenting one another, however there are still dominating guitar riffs that take over the song. The dynamic of the bass lines can be compared to galloping horses, guitar riffs sound like lighting tearing through the night sky and drum beats like thunder while melodic synths sound like passages to rain. The spine of the composition is a cooperative rhythm section that keeps control far and away from chaos.

The end of "String Theory" it's a true duel between the musicians. The guitar player fires at the bass player when he rapidly replies, while the drum beat attacks them both from out of nowhere.
This musical fight is based on 'faster and stronger' rules because it may seem that the winner is the one who uses the moments of advantage best.
There is an intensity of emotions which marks this part of the composition that may also illustrate war, revenge, earthquakes, eruptions, tornadoes or sex. To understand it on a level of metaphysics – a perfect picture of the four elements – Air, Earth, Fire and Water with all their destructive characteristics and potential for damage.

Finally, a winning duo on the battleground is all that's left – Mike Rozich (guitar) and Gavin Brailsford (bass). The musicians met in 1981, though they've kept collaborating together on a distance for the past few years. Guitar techniques and shredding meet powerful passion and talent to make a meaningful composition. Both Rozich and Brailsford have great knowledge about progressive music, however you may catch the fact that they smuggled a few hybrid riffs better known from fusion rock, jazz and even math metal. Additionally, Mike played a seven string guitar in this song.

Regardless of the fact that Mike and Gavin's riffs speak for themselves, it'd be fantastic if they began shouting louder about their music, systematized the bands on-line identity and concentrated on a few meaningful social networks only. This method will collect the largest number of users and would help them find out more about Rozich and Brailsford along with sharing news about their music. Believe it or not, there's amazing music to recommend!
(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz, Fabryka Magazine, February 15th, 2012)

This review on Google+ Music Reviews
https://plus.google.com/110672807017683277156/posts/TDjeF8MShhu

Song: http://soundcloud.com/rozich-and-brailsford/string-theory

Tags: progmetal,progressive metal,7string, guitar,professional review,math metal,technical metal,djent

http://soundcloud.com/rozich-and-brailsford
http://www.last.fm/music/Rozich+and+Brailsford
http://www.reverbnation.com/rozichandbrailsford
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/RozichandBrailsford/from/fabryka
http://www.amazon.com/s/qid=1329326569/ref=sr_sos_1?ie=UTF8&search-alias=popular&keywords=Rozich%20and%20Brailsford
http://signmeto.roadrunnerrecords.com/artists/rozich-and-brailsford
http://www.youtube.com/user/maestro10231964

Joel Smith Project - What He's Leaving Behind (song review) |self-released, Adam's Awakening, 2011| 5/5

The second song on the Adam's Awakening album released by the Joel Smith Project in 2011 brings both hooky and groovy rock’n'blues vibes.

The dominating sound of “What He's Leaving Behind” is based on guitars and the nice sounding rock voice of Joel, which completes in harmony with both the rhythmic and solo riffs. You can hear a drum kit in the background as well, which in fact opens the song with quite an oriental sounding beat.

Listening to “What He's Leaving Behind” feels like consorting with life in a hot open space. You may feel the heat of sun rays on your skin or you may see people walking leisurely with dust furling upwards from dried, compacted ground. You may see animals feeding in large fields, wind turbines and grain silos, a small local grocery store and a gas station, a freight train moving slowly on the horizon, a group of young people playing on drums and discussing some abstract topics. Finally, you may have a vision of a broad road with hot air eddying over it and a single truck passing you by.

Provided that the song melody brings all these good moods, the core of the lyrics may not sound so positive considering their subject matter. It’s very good poetic writing though, speaking about a man who deals with a lack of identity, who not only understands himself, but finds no meaning in his life either. He doesn’t do anything to change this state of existence; just gets into fights which ignite all of his troubles.

It may be tricky for many song writers to create the beginning and end of a song. It usually happens when they already have the core structure in place with a refrain and melody. The intro or outro then most often turns out either ordinary and boring or sounds a little distant in harmonic comparison to the rest of the recording.
Joel dealt with this issue by utilizing an interesting effect. He muted the song and repeated its ending. It could have been worked out differently as well, taking into consideration how the song began. Perhaps he made it this way because the original song was too long. Nevertheless, if a musician enjoys songwriting and gains listener’s who are happy too, then why not to let it roll for yet another minute? An unfortunate reality is that most radio stations and TV channels will pick a song short enough to comply with daily program scheduling time frames.

It’s clear that Joel can perfectly plan specified sections of his arrangements. He knows how to develop them and condense them further into the track. These skills can also be heard near the end of “What He's Leaving Behind”. The song has hit potential, so it should be provided to any meaningful media and could also be enriched with a bright video since the song delivers an even better perception. (Katarzyna NINa Górnisiewicz, Fabryka Magazine, February 6th, 2012).

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http://www.reverbnation.com/joelsmithproject
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Joel-Smith-Project/351461730597
http://twitter.com/jas2336

Tags: rock, guitar, professional review