We told you about the fact that it was likely to happen, and now this is the done : after a few months without releasing anything, Gotch is back with a brand new track, entitled "Return to the old peal". You can stream and download it, legally and for free, straight from Dogmazic.net.
And, once again, Gotch is outstanding ! Mixing electronica and rock influences in his unique manner, alongside with his exceptional skill as a producer, what he issued today is simply beyond words... Bits of glitter, trip-hop, over-driven guitar, and a bass that is so loud and low... Just perfect ! I hope you'll enjoy this track as much as I do.
There's a possibility for more tracks to be published in the near future, so be sure to stay updated about this great, so great artist's work.
Feb 29, 2012
That was a week - Feb 18, 2012 to Feb 24, 2012
Ooooops... Deeply sorry, the weekly digest is showing up late. Nevertheless here we go :
The second issue of our paper archive is now available.
News sufaced about the following things :
There were a demoscene-related event in Paris recently, entitled 'Demo In Paris Live', with live music show from demoscene-related music artists.
François Corbier will be touring, almost exclusively in France, during the forthcoming months.
The following music projects got a release reviewed in our 'Reviews' section :
Panda Kid with "Scary Monster Juice" (garage)
Grand Pocket Orchestra with "Ronald & Sylma" (pop/rock)
Chris Brokaw with "I Ace Sociopathic King" (singer-songwriter, mainly rock with a bit of lofi)
Radiator Hospital/Fred Thomas with "Welcome To The Jungle" (split album, lofi rock and singer/songwriter, also a bit lofi)
Land Lovers with "Confidants" (pop/rock, once again)
And, last but not least, the late 80's debut release from Pixies, Come On Pilgrim, got reviewed in our 'More reviews' section.
The second issue of our paper archive is now available.
News sufaced about the following things :
There were a demoscene-related event in Paris recently, entitled 'Demo In Paris Live', with live music show from demoscene-related music artists.
François Corbier will be touring, almost exclusively in France, during the forthcoming months.
The following music projects got a release reviewed in our 'Reviews' section :
Panda Kid with "Scary Monster Juice" (garage)
Grand Pocket Orchestra with "Ronald & Sylma" (pop/rock)
Chris Brokaw with "I Ace Sociopathic King" (singer-songwriter, mainly rock with a bit of lofi)
Radiator Hospital/Fred Thomas with "Welcome To The Jungle" (split album, lofi rock and singer/songwriter, also a bit lofi)
Land Lovers with "Confidants" (pop/rock, once again)
And, last but not least, the late 80's debut release from Pixies, Come On Pilgrim, got reviewed in our 'More reviews' section.
Feb 23, 2012
Land Lovers - Confidants
Are you in a hurry ? In such case, you can stream this release in its entirety for free, and/or buy it as digital files or on audio CD, straight from the band, trough their Bandcamp page. But please, please, don't stop at the first track, which is a bit different from the other ones.
Do you know 'Teenage Kicks' ? This is a song from The Undertones, which was John Peel's all time favourite.
Well, this release makes me think of 'Teenage Kicks'. A bit more poppy, a bit. But the quality of the melodies and the energy is the same.
The band contacted me - nice, ain't it ? - I suppose this is because, for some reasons, they were thinking I could enjoy what they create. No need to say they hit the bull's eye. This album is insanely great.
Not only because it is very well produced, written and performed. Not only because its incredible blend of power and fragility. To be true I still don't know exactly why I like - love - it so much. But if an album deserves to be featured here (and, as a reminder, I for now review only albums and EPs that are, according to me, exceptional), 'Confidants' is this album. While listening to these eleven tracks, I knew I found something simply excellent.
The album was issued less than six months ago, back in 2011. And, according to the band's press release, he gathered not only very good reviews, but was also selected as the 'top 2011 album' of many, many bloggers. And I can understand why. Just because this is the kind of release that you - yes, you - should absolutely not sleep on. I know, it can seem a bit peremptory to write such a thing. But, while I actually don't know you, I suppose you didn't land on Underketing without reason. And theses reasons make me think that you are very likely to love this release as much as I do.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. The album is playing in my headphones right now (because it's late at night, here, currently) and my opinion about it is strengthening each time I listen to it once more. 2012 is starting in a good way, I think. I discovered a few excellent releases since the beginning of the year, and this one is just making me think that this is only the beginning. While mainstream, established labels didn't release anything that I loved since the Spider And The Webs EP, and it was years ago, in the meanwhile the self-released, netlabel and micro-label scene is re-inventing music.
With true lovers of real good music such as Land Lovers to save us - I write this to express exactly what I want to express, they save us, from boredom, from lack of enthusiasm, from things like that - I now know there's still hope.
You know, I use to review strange, and often lofi things. This is not the case for this release. This release is a pure rock marvel, that will shine and emit its good vibes for the next few centuries. If not dozens of centuries. If not, even more than this. If you are looking for really good music, part poppy, with as well a lot of rock energy in it, you found something by coming here.
What do I have to mention, outside what I already said, about this album ? I like the vocals a lot. I can't wait until tomorrow in order to play it loud. I emailed my friends about it, and I still have many more people to email, just because I don't want them to live another day without having the opportunity to discover such an excellent piece of music. Also, this album is packed with dynamic, it is not flat, it is nuanced...
But I know I take a chance to become boring, simply listing the outstanding qualities of this release. Go give it a listen. Then you'll understand what I mean.
Do you know 'Teenage Kicks' ? This is a song from The Undertones, which was John Peel's all time favourite.
Well, this release makes me think of 'Teenage Kicks'. A bit more poppy, a bit. But the quality of the melodies and the energy is the same.
The band contacted me - nice, ain't it ? - I suppose this is because, for some reasons, they were thinking I could enjoy what they create. No need to say they hit the bull's eye. This album is insanely great.
Not only because it is very well produced, written and performed. Not only because its incredible blend of power and fragility. To be true I still don't know exactly why I like - love - it so much. But if an album deserves to be featured here (and, as a reminder, I for now review only albums and EPs that are, according to me, exceptional), 'Confidants' is this album. While listening to these eleven tracks, I knew I found something simply excellent.
The album was issued less than six months ago, back in 2011. And, according to the band's press release, he gathered not only very good reviews, but was also selected as the 'top 2011 album' of many, many bloggers. And I can understand why. Just because this is the kind of release that you - yes, you - should absolutely not sleep on. I know, it can seem a bit peremptory to write such a thing. But, while I actually don't know you, I suppose you didn't land on Underketing without reason. And theses reasons make me think that you are very likely to love this release as much as I do.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. The album is playing in my headphones right now (because it's late at night, here, currently) and my opinion about it is strengthening each time I listen to it once more. 2012 is starting in a good way, I think. I discovered a few excellent releases since the beginning of the year, and this one is just making me think that this is only the beginning. While mainstream, established labels didn't release anything that I loved since the Spider And The Webs EP, and it was years ago, in the meanwhile the self-released, netlabel and micro-label scene is re-inventing music.
With true lovers of real good music such as Land Lovers to save us - I write this to express exactly what I want to express, they save us, from boredom, from lack of enthusiasm, from things like that - I now know there's still hope.
You know, I use to review strange, and often lofi things. This is not the case for this release. This release is a pure rock marvel, that will shine and emit its good vibes for the next few centuries. If not dozens of centuries. If not, even more than this. If you are looking for really good music, part poppy, with as well a lot of rock energy in it, you found something by coming here.
What do I have to mention, outside what I already said, about this album ? I like the vocals a lot. I can't wait until tomorrow in order to play it loud. I emailed my friends about it, and I still have many more people to email, just because I don't want them to live another day without having the opportunity to discover such an excellent piece of music. Also, this album is packed with dynamic, it is not flat, it is nuanced...
But I know I take a chance to become boring, simply listing the outstanding qualities of this release. Go give it a listen. Then you'll understand what I mean.
Feb 22, 2012
Pixies - Come On Pilgrim
Once again, we'll talk in the 'More reviews' section about a pretty much old release, that was issued in 1987 by indie label 4AD. Although it can be found on CD on its own, it was also published bundled with the next band's release, the full-length 'Surfer Rosa', which was also published without Come On Pilgrim. Seems complicated ? There's, Come On Pilgrim, there's, Surfer Rosa, and there's also Come On Pilgrim AND Surfer Rosa. Three different physical releases for two different records.
You may be able to find it on most major music platforms and at most record shops.
Come On Pilgrim is the debut release from Pixies. And, immediately, the band defined its own style that has influenced too much musicians to list them here. The most famous example is, for sure, Nirvana ; Kurt Cobain used to mention how much he loved Pixies each time he had an opportunity to do so.
Pixies' musician are, undoubtedly, very gifted. From incredible bass lines - you know, that kind of bass that often plays two notes per time, continuously, tadadada tadadada tadadada tadadada - to marvellous guitar riffs, from astounding drums to awesome rhythmic guitar, from a way to sing that came a de facto standard, talking about the lead vocals, to backing vocals that add so much values to the songs that I cannot imagine the tracks without them...
Only with this, the band was pretty much doomed to change deeply culture history. But besides this, the song writing is simply at the top. When I say at the top, I mean, hey, it properly redefined how songs can be written. The most visible part is the quiet-loud-quiet formula, but the more important for me is when the songs play with numbers... Loops after 12 times instead of the usual 16 as a quick example. Not to mention the melodies, the chords...
I used to listen to this band, after discovering them in the mid 90's (that is to say, after their split and before their comeback), continuously. It was a bit obsessive, I must confess. A common point with other release that already got featured in this section. Now, years later, I no longer listen to their records as much as before, but this is simply because I know them so well that I don't need to actually put the stereo on. These songs are in my head. And this band is still among my all-times favourites. I used to listen to it so often for more than 10 years, and the magic never vanished. Now I'm on a break, but who knows, maybe someday I'll start another 10 years Pixies-listening session.
Why do I write first about 'Come On Pilgrim', rather than any other of their releases, which are, absolutely without exception, masterpieces (including live ones) ?
Simply because Come On Pilgrim has been and currently is, my favourite Pixies release. It evolves from time to time. Sometime this is Surfer Rosa. Sometime this is Doolittle. Sometime this is Bossanova. And very often this is Come On Pilgrim.
This is probably due to the fact that the tracks on this EP are, well, just totally, insanely great. I especially love 'Levitate me', 'I've Been Tired', and 'Holiday Song'.
Well, I say EP, but there's actually 8 tracks on it, it can be defined as an album as well. An album that wouldn't be very long, but an album nevertheless.
I don't know what I should say to make you make yourself a favour and start to search for this release. I think the facts I listed above should be a sufficient reason for this to happen. If not, just let me add that any of my close IRL friends are Pixies fan. This is not just me. The quality of this band are so easy to see, that anyone, just after listening to the releases a bit, is very likely, not only to like, not only to love, but actually to become an hardcore fan.
You may be able to find it on most major music platforms and at most record shops.
Come On Pilgrim is the debut release from Pixies. And, immediately, the band defined its own style that has influenced too much musicians to list them here. The most famous example is, for sure, Nirvana ; Kurt Cobain used to mention how much he loved Pixies each time he had an opportunity to do so.
Pixies' musician are, undoubtedly, very gifted. From incredible bass lines - you know, that kind of bass that often plays two notes per time, continuously, tadadada tadadada tadadada tadadada - to marvellous guitar riffs, from astounding drums to awesome rhythmic guitar, from a way to sing that came a de facto standard, talking about the lead vocals, to backing vocals that add so much values to the songs that I cannot imagine the tracks without them...
Only with this, the band was pretty much doomed to change deeply culture history. But besides this, the song writing is simply at the top. When I say at the top, I mean, hey, it properly redefined how songs can be written. The most visible part is the quiet-loud-quiet formula, but the more important for me is when the songs play with numbers... Loops after 12 times instead of the usual 16 as a quick example. Not to mention the melodies, the chords...
I used to listen to this band, after discovering them in the mid 90's (that is to say, after their split and before their comeback), continuously. It was a bit obsessive, I must confess. A common point with other release that already got featured in this section. Now, years later, I no longer listen to their records as much as before, but this is simply because I know them so well that I don't need to actually put the stereo on. These songs are in my head. And this band is still among my all-times favourites. I used to listen to it so often for more than 10 years, and the magic never vanished. Now I'm on a break, but who knows, maybe someday I'll start another 10 years Pixies-listening session.
Why do I write first about 'Come On Pilgrim', rather than any other of their releases, which are, absolutely without exception, masterpieces (including live ones) ?
Simply because Come On Pilgrim has been and currently is, my favourite Pixies release. It evolves from time to time. Sometime this is Surfer Rosa. Sometime this is Doolittle. Sometime this is Bossanova. And very often this is Come On Pilgrim.
This is probably due to the fact that the tracks on this EP are, well, just totally, insanely great. I especially love 'Levitate me', 'I've Been Tired', and 'Holiday Song'.
Well, I say EP, but there's actually 8 tracks on it, it can be defined as an album as well. An album that wouldn't be very long, but an album nevertheless.
I don't know what I should say to make you make yourself a favour and start to search for this release. I think the facts I listed above should be a sufficient reason for this to happen. If not, just let me add that any of my close IRL friends are Pixies fan. This is not just me. The quality of this band are so easy to see, that anyone, just after listening to the releases a bit, is very likely, not only to like, not only to love, but actually to become an hardcore fan.
Radiator Hospital / Fred Thomas - Welcome To The Jungle
Are you in a hurry ? Sorry, this release is currently not available. Release date is planned for Tue, Feb 24 2012. You'll probably be able to stream a few tracks from it from the release page, either on the website of the label, which is Already Dead Tapes, or from the label's Bandcamp. Links will probably be updated after the issuing to point to the actual album page. The release will be available on tape.
There are many labels, micro labels and netlabels that were created in the past few years. Among them, a few ones only are really god ones - according to what I like. There's, undoubtedly, AF Music. And also, there's Already Dead Tape.
I already reviewed three AF Music releases here. And, here we go, here's my third review for an Already Dead Tape release.
So, this is a split. A Radiator Hospital / Fred Thomas split. And this split is a really lo-fi one. While Radiator Hospital is what is usually called a rock band, with guitars and so on, Fred Thomas' songs are just voice and piano. Voice & piano, when recorded in a lo-fi manner, is something definitively interesting.
I liked this release as a whole. There's no weak point in it. Both sides are equally excellent. At the beginning, I liked the round and loud mixed bass sound on the Radiator Hospital side. I liked the overdriven piano on Fred Thomas' side. But don't deduct of this that this release is only interesting because of the well-made production job. It would be a big mistake. Just because, besides this, the music writing is simply awesome. Even if this release would have been produced with all the crappy tricks that are used in mainstream music production, it would have been a great one.
This is soulful recording. The kind of release people are likely to enjoy a lot, and not only the lofi usual lovers. The music will make you travel - if you value my opinion enough to actually listen to it. There's so much feeling put into it... It makes me think of a good Velvet Underground album. The same high standard, speaking about what a song should be. The same idea of how a song has to be written in order to be a good one. The same general quality in the production process. Add it a little more pop than on the VU releases, and you may get clue about the big picture.
When I was young, I was in a band. We didn't care about the fame. Never send a demo to anyone. We only gave a single show. Later I've been in a lot of other bands, and started many solo projects. Some of them are still active. You know, when I write music, I write music mainly for me, music that I will like and listen to for hours.
Well, this release makes me think about what I use to write and record music. There's many common point in the music these two projects create, and mine. Then, and providing what I said just above, that is to say that the music I make is meant to be pleasant to me, you'll understand why I love this release. To me, they simply got the whole thing right. And not just a bit, but in a total and definitive manner. Your opinion may differ. Musical taste is something hugely varying depending on the person.
But, and this is something that is, until now, always true on this blog, since I use to review only what are, for me, milestones in history of music - yes, I know, I use the 'milestone in history of music' metaphor quite often - , and since if you are reading this there's a probability that you have some kind of interest in my opinion, the probability that you like this split album as much as I do is real and existing.
There are many labels, micro labels and netlabels that were created in the past few years. Among them, a few ones only are really god ones - according to what I like. There's, undoubtedly, AF Music. And also, there's Already Dead Tape.
I already reviewed three AF Music releases here. And, here we go, here's my third review for an Already Dead Tape release.
So, this is a split. A Radiator Hospital / Fred Thomas split. And this split is a really lo-fi one. While Radiator Hospital is what is usually called a rock band, with guitars and so on, Fred Thomas' songs are just voice and piano. Voice & piano, when recorded in a lo-fi manner, is something definitively interesting.
I liked this release as a whole. There's no weak point in it. Both sides are equally excellent. At the beginning, I liked the round and loud mixed bass sound on the Radiator Hospital side. I liked the overdriven piano on Fred Thomas' side. But don't deduct of this that this release is only interesting because of the well-made production job. It would be a big mistake. Just because, besides this, the music writing is simply awesome. Even if this release would have been produced with all the crappy tricks that are used in mainstream music production, it would have been a great one.
This is soulful recording. The kind of release people are likely to enjoy a lot, and not only the lofi usual lovers. The music will make you travel - if you value my opinion enough to actually listen to it. There's so much feeling put into it... It makes me think of a good Velvet Underground album. The same high standard, speaking about what a song should be. The same idea of how a song has to be written in order to be a good one. The same general quality in the production process. Add it a little more pop than on the VU releases, and you may get clue about the big picture.
When I was young, I was in a band. We didn't care about the fame. Never send a demo to anyone. We only gave a single show. Later I've been in a lot of other bands, and started many solo projects. Some of them are still active. You know, when I write music, I write music mainly for me, music that I will like and listen to for hours.
Well, this release makes me think about what I use to write and record music. There's many common point in the music these two projects create, and mine. Then, and providing what I said just above, that is to say that the music I make is meant to be pleasant to me, you'll understand why I love this release. To me, they simply got the whole thing right. And not just a bit, but in a total and definitive manner. Your opinion may differ. Musical taste is something hugely varying depending on the person.
But, and this is something that is, until now, always true on this blog, since I use to review only what are, for me, milestones in history of music - yes, I know, I use the 'milestone in history of music' metaphor quite often - , and since if you are reading this there's a probability that you have some kind of interest in my opinion, the probability that you like this split album as much as I do is real and existing.
Chris Brokaw - I Ace Sociopathic King
Are you in a hurry ? Here's the release page on the Already Dead Tapes' record label website. You can stream one track there. But beware, while this streamable track is very great, powerful, melodic, well written and with a lot of feeling in its performing, many tracks on this album shows a different aspect of Chris Brokaw's work, which makes me think - that's only my opinion - about a male Anna Calvi ; the same incredible talent for songwriting, guitar lines arranging, and vocal and guitar performing. You can also stream the streamable track from Already Dead Tapes' bandcamp, by the way. The release is available on tape, in a limited edition of 200 copies, and I don't know how much remains.
What can I say ? During the very first seconds of the first track, I knew I would write a review of this wonderful album, and the more I was listening to it, the more I was sure of this fact. Someone speaking in a song about walking into the woods is the kind of people who would awake my interest, for sure. Then, someone playing so great guitar arrangements, singing so perfect vocals, would makes me consider the idea of writing about his album.
Besides this, such a killer DIY production is among the things that would make me, added to what I previously wrote, makes me listen to the release, looping, for hours - that's what I am doing currently.
But this is not the end of the story. Because, the real magic of this release resides for parts in the greatness of arrangements and performing, for sure, but also in the outstanding level of excellence in the basics of the songs, the songwriting thing in other words. These songs are just perfectly written.
Talking about the melodies, especially. I like Anna Calvi, for sure, but Chris Brokaw, while having some aspect in common with her, puts into his work a light punk touch, especially in the melodies and the vocal textures, that makes his songs even more valuable that Anna Calvi ones, according to my musical taste.
When I started Underketing, I thought it would be an easy way to help spreading the word about great artists I like. A few days later, I realised that it could also allow me to discover music that would fit to me perfectly, without having nothing to do to achieve this task, just because of nice people who would contact me about such or such album.
And, for the first time, such a thing happened. Thanks goes to the Already Dead Tape team (I told them about the Panda Kid album review, an album that they released, that's how we got in touch) who carefully hand-picked a few releases they issued and suggested me to listen to them. I met an artist who is incredibly succeeding in the task of creating some music that I would be fond of. I don't say my musical taste is the canonical standard for what is good and what is not - even if I often tell here that if I review something, this is a milestone in history of music (and this is definitively the case for this release), but there's a kind of humour that I don't expect anyone on this earth to understand when I say "This is the best music available, just because I love it". But, if you are reading this blog, chances are high that, at least for some aspects, we have a similar idea of what is good and what is not. Then, I would strongly suggest you to investigate the Chris Brokaw case a bit.
Just because, if you don't, you'll probably continue your musical adventures as a listener without being aware of a pure gem, the kind of record that you would appreciate beyond any limit.
What can I say ? During the very first seconds of the first track, I knew I would write a review of this wonderful album, and the more I was listening to it, the more I was sure of this fact. Someone speaking in a song about walking into the woods is the kind of people who would awake my interest, for sure. Then, someone playing so great guitar arrangements, singing so perfect vocals, would makes me consider the idea of writing about his album.
Besides this, such a killer DIY production is among the things that would make me, added to what I previously wrote, makes me listen to the release, looping, for hours - that's what I am doing currently.
But this is not the end of the story. Because, the real magic of this release resides for parts in the greatness of arrangements and performing, for sure, but also in the outstanding level of excellence in the basics of the songs, the songwriting thing in other words. These songs are just perfectly written.
Talking about the melodies, especially. I like Anna Calvi, for sure, but Chris Brokaw, while having some aspect in common with her, puts into his work a light punk touch, especially in the melodies and the vocal textures, that makes his songs even more valuable that Anna Calvi ones, according to my musical taste.
When I started Underketing, I thought it would be an easy way to help spreading the word about great artists I like. A few days later, I realised that it could also allow me to discover music that would fit to me perfectly, without having nothing to do to achieve this task, just because of nice people who would contact me about such or such album.
And, for the first time, such a thing happened. Thanks goes to the Already Dead Tape team (I told them about the Panda Kid album review, an album that they released, that's how we got in touch) who carefully hand-picked a few releases they issued and suggested me to listen to them. I met an artist who is incredibly succeeding in the task of creating some music that I would be fond of. I don't say my musical taste is the canonical standard for what is good and what is not - even if I often tell here that if I review something, this is a milestone in history of music (and this is definitively the case for this release), but there's a kind of humour that I don't expect anyone on this earth to understand when I say "This is the best music available, just because I love it". But, if you are reading this blog, chances are high that, at least for some aspects, we have a similar idea of what is good and what is not. Then, I would strongly suggest you to investigate the Chris Brokaw case a bit.
Just because, if you don't, you'll probably continue your musical adventures as a listener without being aware of a pure gem, the kind of record that you would appreciate beyond any limit.
Feb 21, 2012
François Corbier touring in France
You maybe know François Corbier, or not. Starting in the 80's he used to play his songs in various French TV shows targeting children, that's how a lot of people of the same generation than me heard about him. Over time, his role evolved, he did more and more comedy and TV-speaker thing. Then his TV career reached an end, and then he kept on singing/songwriting, no longer targeting only kids, but just anyone who would like to listen - just as before the TV shows epoch.
I got several friends that are hardcore fans of what he does... And I can understand why.
Among them is Le morse des mers, who has been a second-to-none source of information when writing this post.
François Corbier's career starts in the 60's when he sings with his brother in various places in the 'Gouate et Mala' duet with songs in which lyrics matter with an humorous aspect (just in between Georges Brassens and Bobby Lapointe) and also 'flash songs' (very short tracks usually made of one single verse), that is to say the same kind of shows that he now perform as a solo artist.
Besides flash songs, he also started the bichebochian movement which sums up as building songs by taking a word, no matter which one, and trying to create a story with words differing from the first one by a single letter only.
George Brassens notices him and tells him to keep on singing, but doesn't like his artist pseudonym (he would have said "oh, what a m*r*n !" when he learns about it). François Corbier was chosen as a reference to François de Montcorbier which is the real name of the poet François Villon.
When his brother has to join the armed forces as a conscript, he starts his solo career. Several singles are published (editor Alain Barrière) and he has shows in various cabarets such as Le Caveau de la République, where he got noticed (thank to "Plante un jardin", a childish song he wrote for his son), in the beginning of the 80's, by the director of the youth-targeting TV programs from the French TV station Antenne 2 (now France 2), Jacqueline Joubert (who is Antoine de Caunes' mother) who needs a singer-songwriter for the Récré A2 show.
While his TV-era is running, he still plays gigs at the Caveau de la République and uses to write for French humour magazine Fluide Glacial.
When his 80's/90's show, Club Dorothée, stops, he acts in the drama Atroces Voluptés and, during year 2001, his very first album 'Carnet Mondain' is published.
The second one is issued in year 2003 : "Toi, ma guitare et moi", which is live recording that is not properly what is usually defined as a live album, just because it is a selection among tracks live played but not featured on the previous release (and that will not be re-recorded for the following ones).
For his third release, "Tout pour être heureux" (2005), he relies on his fans to fund the album with pre-orders.
Another album, "Scène Pression Live", is published once during the next years.
The newest, until now, is "Presque Parfait" (2009)
It is self-released. You can buy it from his online store in audio CD format, either by using the famous online money transfer service or by mailing a check. Please note that his albums are usually sold-out quite quickly... Most of them are so, currently.
So then, François Corbier is touring... Here, the next dates :
Mar, 2 Boulogne sur Mer / Rollmops Théâtre (FR - 62200)
Mar, 3 Liège / Le TIPI (BE - 4020)
Mar, 4 Marly (near Valenciennes) / Centre Jacques Brel (Parc Jacques Brel) (FR - 59770)
Mar, 17 Chateau Renard / Salle des fêtes (FR - 45220)
Mar, 22 23 & 24 Lyon / Thou Bout de Chant (FR - 69001)
Mar, 30 Dijon / Bistrot de la Scène (FR - 21000)
Apr, 1 Chalon sur Saône / La Péniche (FR - 71100)
Aug, 2 Antraigues sur Volane / "Les jeudis du jardin" Fest (FR - 07530)
Aug, 3 St Martin de Valamas / "Le Village des Musiciens" Fest (FR - 07310) (*)
Aug, 13 Concèze en Corrèze / "Déc’OUVRIR" Fest (FR - 19350) (*)
Sep, 8 Saint Maurice de Gourdans / "Sylak Rock Fest" (FR - 01800)
Oct, 5 octobre Manosque / Le Café Provisoire (FR - 04100)
Nov, 23 Nogaro / Les Claneries (FR - 32110)
(*) : price is 0. Yes, this is free. You don't have to pay. I cross my heart.
You can find more information about all these dates, just like, venue address & phone number, etc, etc, straight from francoiscorbier.com.
Please note that I seriously plan to go to the Thu, March 22 show in Lyon. If you want to meet me there and maybe pay me a drink, please get in touch. It is safer to buy your ticket a few weeks before the shows, this is an advice, and a good one.
I got several friends that are hardcore fans of what he does... And I can understand why.
Among them is Le morse des mers, who has been a second-to-none source of information when writing this post.
François Corbier's career starts in the 60's when he sings with his brother in various places in the 'Gouate et Mala' duet with songs in which lyrics matter with an humorous aspect (just in between Georges Brassens and Bobby Lapointe) and also 'flash songs' (very short tracks usually made of one single verse), that is to say the same kind of shows that he now perform as a solo artist.
Besides flash songs, he also started the bichebochian movement which sums up as building songs by taking a word, no matter which one, and trying to create a story with words differing from the first one by a single letter only.
George Brassens notices him and tells him to keep on singing, but doesn't like his artist pseudonym (he would have said "oh, what a m*r*n !" when he learns about it). François Corbier was chosen as a reference to François de Montcorbier which is the real name of the poet François Villon.
When his brother has to join the armed forces as a conscript, he starts his solo career. Several singles are published (editor Alain Barrière) and he has shows in various cabarets such as Le Caveau de la République, where he got noticed (thank to "Plante un jardin", a childish song he wrote for his son), in the beginning of the 80's, by the director of the youth-targeting TV programs from the French TV station Antenne 2 (now France 2), Jacqueline Joubert (who is Antoine de Caunes' mother) who needs a singer-songwriter for the Récré A2 show.
While his TV-era is running, he still plays gigs at the Caveau de la République and uses to write for French humour magazine Fluide Glacial.
When his 80's/90's show, Club Dorothée, stops, he acts in the drama Atroces Voluptés and, during year 2001, his very first album 'Carnet Mondain' is published.
The second one is issued in year 2003 : "Toi, ma guitare et moi", which is live recording that is not properly what is usually defined as a live album, just because it is a selection among tracks live played but not featured on the previous release (and that will not be re-recorded for the following ones).
For his third release, "Tout pour être heureux" (2005), he relies on his fans to fund the album with pre-orders.
Another album, "Scène Pression Live", is published once during the next years.
The newest, until now, is "Presque Parfait" (2009)
It is self-released. You can buy it from his online store in audio CD format, either by using the famous online money transfer service or by mailing a check. Please note that his albums are usually sold-out quite quickly... Most of them are so, currently.
So then, François Corbier is touring... Here, the next dates :
Mar, 2 Boulogne sur Mer / Rollmops Théâtre (FR - 62200)
Mar, 3 Liège / Le TIPI (BE - 4020)
Mar, 4 Marly (near Valenciennes) / Centre Jacques Brel (Parc Jacques Brel) (FR - 59770)
Mar, 17 Chateau Renard / Salle des fêtes (FR - 45220)
Mar, 22 23 & 24 Lyon / Thou Bout de Chant (FR - 69001)
Mar, 30 Dijon / Bistrot de la Scène (FR - 21000)
Apr, 1 Chalon sur Saône / La Péniche (FR - 71100)
Aug, 2 Antraigues sur Volane / "Les jeudis du jardin" Fest (FR - 07530)
Aug, 3 St Martin de Valamas / "Le Village des Musiciens" Fest (FR - 07310) (*)
Aug, 13 Concèze en Corrèze / "Déc’OUVRIR" Fest (FR - 19350) (*)
Sep, 8 Saint Maurice de Gourdans / "Sylak Rock Fest" (FR - 01800)
Oct, 5 octobre Manosque / Le Café Provisoire (FR - 04100)
Nov, 23 Nogaro / Les Claneries (FR - 32110)
(*) : price is 0. Yes, this is free. You don't have to pay. I cross my heart.
You can find more information about all these dates, just like, venue address & phone number, etc, etc, straight from francoiscorbier.com.
Please note that I seriously plan to go to the Thu, March 22 show in Lyon. If you want to meet me there and maybe pay me a drink, please get in touch. It is safer to buy your ticket a few weeks before the shows, this is an advice, and a good one.
Grand Pocket Orchestra - Ronald & Sylma
Are you in a hurry ? Not a problem. Although the official issuing of the release is planned for Friday, February 24, 2012, to be true you can already get it in digital format - and preorder the CD as well - from Grand Pocket Orchestra's Bandcamp. So it is not absolutely necessary you keep on reading. You can simply go there instead, and listen to the whole release for free, providing you have Flash installed. If you don't know what it is, you have, unless you are browsing this form a phone.
Currently, GPO has several members in common with No Monster Club, which is a good starting point. I was a bit afraid, I must admit. Would this new album be that good ? I mean, good enough to have it reviewed here ?
Well, take the best bits of The Clash, The Jam (yes, yes, I am serious), lock them down in a bottle, bury it deep, wait a few century to make sure they will get really angry, at a point they have no other option than to turn into a marvel of pop serenity. Then open the bottle. Or, ahem, first, locate the place where you buried it and dig. Then, open the bottle.
You got me ? Well, this is still far from what this album actually is. It should outsell Ravel's Bolero. It is so great that you would have to pay me more that you have got - even if you are Bill Gates - in order to have me not talking about it here.
Now you got a little more accurate idea about how good this release is ? Yes ? No ?
No ? So I'll try to explain a bit more. Metaphors are cheap. Ok. Just let's says that vocals are amazing and guitars are sharp. Song-writing is, to sum up, probably second to none, or at least it's a draw with the best ones. To quote a very popular parody of a 90's TV show, je suis boulversifié. At the third track, I started emailing people about this album. Now I can't wait until I got my CD. I met one of these releases that are so huge that... That... Oh, wait, I know what to do. I'll just tell you to stop reading this review and go to the place mentioned above in order to listen. This is not the way I will deserve my salary, I know, but I am running out of tactics. How can I make readers understand that if they keep on living in this world without having listened to this 'Ronald & Sylma', it's just like if they slept on MC5 or The Stooges or The Velvet Underground in the late 60's ?
Great albums do not need a long review, necessary, sometimes they do, and maybe this one deserves such a review. But I will not write a long review. I am not a gifted reviewer, as you may know, and I will sum up a bit : when talking about what pop should be, GPO is defining the concept.
Currently, GPO has several members in common with No Monster Club, which is a good starting point. I was a bit afraid, I must admit. Would this new album be that good ? I mean, good enough to have it reviewed here ?
Well, take the best bits of The Clash, The Jam (yes, yes, I am serious), lock them down in a bottle, bury it deep, wait a few century to make sure they will get really angry, at a point they have no other option than to turn into a marvel of pop serenity. Then open the bottle. Or, ahem, first, locate the place where you buried it and dig. Then, open the bottle.
You got me ? Well, this is still far from what this album actually is. It should outsell Ravel's Bolero. It is so great that you would have to pay me more that you have got - even if you are Bill Gates - in order to have me not talking about it here.
Now you got a little more accurate idea about how good this release is ? Yes ? No ?
No ? So I'll try to explain a bit more. Metaphors are cheap. Ok. Just let's says that vocals are amazing and guitars are sharp. Song-writing is, to sum up, probably second to none, or at least it's a draw with the best ones. To quote a very popular parody of a 90's TV show, je suis boulversifié. At the third track, I started emailing people about this album. Now I can't wait until I got my CD. I met one of these releases that are so huge that... That... Oh, wait, I know what to do. I'll just tell you to stop reading this review and go to the place mentioned above in order to listen. This is not the way I will deserve my salary, I know, but I am running out of tactics. How can I make readers understand that if they keep on living in this world without having listened to this 'Ronald & Sylma', it's just like if they slept on MC5 or The Stooges or The Velvet Underground in the late 60's ?
Great albums do not need a long review, necessary, sometimes they do, and maybe this one deserves such a review. But I will not write a long review. I am not a gifted reviewer, as you may know, and I will sum up a bit : when talking about what pop should be, GPO is defining the concept.
Panda Kid - Scary Monster Juice
Are you in a hurry ? Sorry I cannot help much. This album has been made available on tape only, and is now sold out. There's a release page on Already Dead Tape, the label, where you can stream a few tracks from the release, nevertheless. Or, alternatively, you can do the same on a little, lesser known website that you probably never heard about, called Bandcamp.
No matter if this album has four tracks that can be found on the previously reviewed split album with No Monster Club. I had big hopes, bigger than big, for this album, since I love Panda Kid's music since I got the split, one year ago, almost, already. And I was totally and definitively satisfied by it.
Just because, this is a perfectly produced, written and performed piece. But besides this, this is also what I use to call here, a milestone in history of music. The 60's spirit is highly present, as well as an undoubtedly existing lo-fi touch, for a final result which is among the best cocktails that crossed my path since... Oh, you know, I use to review here, what I think - and this, is only my humble opinion - are the best musical creations ever. Simply. I ain't have got no time to spend to write about average releases. And this 'Scary Monster Juice' is definitively among the gems I consider good enough to have them featured here.
Well, when talking about this release, words can easily become useless. This is the kind of album that actually turns me speechless. I cannot define precisely where its magic resides, nor how it operates, but the aim is reached : Panda Kid achieved one of the greatest achievements in the field of excellence, ever. I know I found something huge. Or something huge found me. In both cases, there's no way to escape, I simply cannot dodge the colliding, and now I am sure I have one of these releases that I'll keep on listening for years. The kind of release you simply cannot sleep on.
I feel sorry for you. There's now almost no more legal way to get it. I am so, deeply, sincerely sorry. Maybe someday you will be able to get your hands on it... To be true, even if I subscribed to the label that released the NMC/PK split, I wasn't aware of the existence of this album until I reviewed the split here ; then I told NMC about the review, NMC read it (kind ain't it ? ) and told me about the PK tape (even kinder, would you agree ? )... I rushed to the online store like a racing horse, just to see that there were only TWO copies still available... And, unfortunately for you, when I received my tape in the mailbox during the previous week, I went to check and realised the album is now sold out.
But there's still hope. 100 copies were produced. That is to say, there's up to 100 people in the world who currently own it. You can simply try to get in touch with one of them and promise enough money to have him/her selling you his/her copy. It is that simple. There's harder tasks in this universe. What are you waiting for ? There's a quest waiting for you !
These tapes are absolute collectors. Cover/booklet art was created by spanish Artist Andrea Barbero, and cassettes are hand painted by Joshua Tabbia. But I said enough now. As I said, it's time for you to try to get a copy of this masterpiece.
No matter if this album has four tracks that can be found on the previously reviewed split album with No Monster Club. I had big hopes, bigger than big, for this album, since I love Panda Kid's music since I got the split, one year ago, almost, already. And I was totally and definitively satisfied by it.
Just because, this is a perfectly produced, written and performed piece. But besides this, this is also what I use to call here, a milestone in history of music. The 60's spirit is highly present, as well as an undoubtedly existing lo-fi touch, for a final result which is among the best cocktails that crossed my path since... Oh, you know, I use to review here, what I think - and this, is only my humble opinion - are the best musical creations ever. Simply. I ain't have got no time to spend to write about average releases. And this 'Scary Monster Juice' is definitively among the gems I consider good enough to have them featured here.
Well, when talking about this release, words can easily become useless. This is the kind of album that actually turns me speechless. I cannot define precisely where its magic resides, nor how it operates, but the aim is reached : Panda Kid achieved one of the greatest achievements in the field of excellence, ever. I know I found something huge. Or something huge found me. In both cases, there's no way to escape, I simply cannot dodge the colliding, and now I am sure I have one of these releases that I'll keep on listening for years. The kind of release you simply cannot sleep on.
I feel sorry for you. There's now almost no more legal way to get it. I am so, deeply, sincerely sorry. Maybe someday you will be able to get your hands on it... To be true, even if I subscribed to the label that released the NMC/PK split, I wasn't aware of the existence of this album until I reviewed the split here ; then I told NMC about the review, NMC read it (kind ain't it ? ) and told me about the PK tape (even kinder, would you agree ? )... I rushed to the online store like a racing horse, just to see that there were only TWO copies still available... And, unfortunately for you, when I received my tape in the mailbox during the previous week, I went to check and realised the album is now sold out.
But there's still hope. 100 copies were produced. That is to say, there's up to 100 people in the world who currently own it. You can simply try to get in touch with one of them and promise enough money to have him/her selling you his/her copy. It is that simple. There's harder tasks in this universe. What are you waiting for ? There's a quest waiting for you !
These tapes are absolute collectors. Cover/booklet art was created by spanish Artist Andrea Barbero, and cassettes are hand painted by Joshua Tabbia. But I said enough now. As I said, it's time for you to try to get a copy of this masterpiece.
Feb 20, 2012
Live demoscene-related music show, Paris, Feb 24, 2012
On Friday, February 24 from the great year 2012, the equally great demo group PoPsY TeAm will be running an event. It will start with a demoshow, then continue with three live music shows - demoscene-related, so mainly electronic and chiptune or chiptune influenced.
The following music projects are expected to play :
8PM-10PM : Moonove + guests. Guests are alkama & knos/kaneel
10PM-11PM : Spintronic
23PM-12AM : Ultrasyd
You can find more information on the official PoPsY TeAm site, but I can add that the show will take place on a boat on the Seine, which is named batofar, which has a warmed sân. The price for food (yes, there will be food before the music plays) and drinks is pretty much low, or at least average, considering what is used to be paid for such things in Paris' pubs and clubs.
The price for being there is 0. Yes, this is free. The event is named "Demo In Paris Live", nice name ain't it ?
Sorry for people reading the paper/ebook edition of Underketing, when the next issue will reach the shores, the event is over. Nevertheless you can still start looking for some music from Moonove, Spintronic and Ultrasyd.
The following music projects are expected to play :
8PM-10PM : Moonove + guests. Guests are alkama & knos/kaneel
10PM-11PM : Spintronic
23PM-12AM : Ultrasyd
You can find more information on the official PoPsY TeAm site, but I can add that the show will take place on a boat on the Seine, which is named batofar, which has a warmed sân. The price for food (yes, there will be food before the music plays) and drinks is pretty much low, or at least average, considering what is used to be paid for such things in Paris' pubs and clubs.
The price for being there is 0. Yes, this is free. The event is named "Demo In Paris Live", nice name ain't it ?
Sorry for people reading the paper/ebook edition of Underketing, when the next issue will reach the shores, the event is over. Nevertheless you can still start looking for some music from Moonove, Spintronic and Ultrasyd.
Feb 18, 2012
That was a week - Feb 10, 2012 to Feb 17, 2012
Here's what happened here during the previous week, just in case you missed something :
News leaked on the following points :
Monocephale told us that he/she wasn't, in fact, the only composer involved in the composition process of the release from this project that was feature on this blog. The review was updated accordingly. Rack And Ruin netlabel now has a new site, which is meant as an archive from what has been published while the label was active. This new site clearly indicate the exact version of the licence used, and then Henparty's 'Lads' review got updated to reflect this new information. We got aware of the existence of a Panda Kid album. A new No Monster Club album is about to be published. Pixies' Frank Black announced that he is currently working on composing new songs.
The following release got featured in the 'Review' section :
gloss. "TROPHY" (chillout, trip-hop)
The following releases got featured in the 'More reviews' section :
Hüsker Dü "Zen Arcade" (hardcore/punk)
The Clash "Sandinista !" (punk, rock, reggae/dub, funk)
The following live shows got featured in the 'Gigs reviewed' section :
L7 - Le Pez-Ner - Villeurbanne (France), 2000
That Petrol Emotion - Le Transbordeur - Villeurbanne (France), 1993
The following people wrote about their own stuff in the 'About your own recordings' section :
Shangri-l about Beatles II "Demo 0" (alt rock), Still Living Creature "Ten Songs" (melodic electronic), and Gorbie's Stuff "Almost Complete" (noise rock/power pop punk)
News leaked on the following points :
Monocephale told us that he/she wasn't, in fact, the only composer involved in the composition process of the release from this project that was feature on this blog. The review was updated accordingly. Rack And Ruin netlabel now has a new site, which is meant as an archive from what has been published while the label was active. This new site clearly indicate the exact version of the licence used, and then Henparty's 'Lads' review got updated to reflect this new information. We got aware of the existence of a Panda Kid album. A new No Monster Club album is about to be published. Pixies' Frank Black announced that he is currently working on composing new songs.
The following release got featured in the 'Review' section :
gloss. "TROPHY" (chillout, trip-hop)
The following releases got featured in the 'More reviews' section :
Hüsker Dü "Zen Arcade" (hardcore/punk)
The Clash "Sandinista !" (punk, rock, reggae/dub, funk)
The following live shows got featured in the 'Gigs reviewed' section :
L7 - Le Pez-Ner - Villeurbanne (France), 2000
That Petrol Emotion - Le Transbordeur - Villeurbanne (France), 1993
The following people wrote about their own stuff in the 'About your own recordings' section :
Shangri-l about Beatles II "Demo 0" (alt rock), Still Living Creature "Ten Songs" (melodic electronic), and Gorbie's Stuff "Almost Complete" (noise rock/power pop punk)
Matmix update
I got a message today. Feedback from Matmix about the review of his work, which was updated to mention the fact that he didn't start the project in the mid-2000's. He published only tracks that are from 2005 or newer, but actually started to work on his songs in 1999, and began to issue them only once he got serious feedback about how good the result was.
Feb 16, 2012
Gorbie's Stuff - Almost Complete - Shangri-l speaks
So there's a category on this blog where musicians can write about recordings from their projects that were published, one release per paper. And for now I am the only one writing in it. OK. Today it's about a 2009 release from a band that is called Gorbie's Stuff, in which I was playing bass and doing the lead vox thing on some songs and the backing vox thing on some other ones.
Are you in a hurry ? For now I cannot help much. This release used to be available for free download, but at the time this post is being written, the next platform or mean to have it so is still to be found. For updates on this case, you may refer to the actual band's label, Slcnc Music, there's a blog with news posted,
I said 'lead vox', previously. Since, on the vocal side, the band has a lead vocalist+main backing vocalist+backing vocalist configuration. At least, on what was was recorded, since on rehearsal we were mainly using a two backing vocalists set-up.
This, when we were four members in the band. When we were three ones, it was lead vocalist+main backing vocalist configuration that got recorded.
The history of this record, shortly : at a show, which would be the last one before one of the two guitarists announces he no longer wanted to be in the band and wouldn't be so any more - but at the time of the show, we weren't, or to be accurate I wasn't and probably wasn't the only one, aware of a possibility for such a thing to happen, our whole set got recorded on a cheap digital recorder in a very poor quality, that kind of recorder meant primarily if not exclusively to record voice in a hardly better than 20th century's telephony quality. This recording had been made due to a band's initiative.
A few time after our fourth member being no longer in the band, we still had his digital recorder - because it was his piece of hardware - because he's a kind guy and took care of having the band with a mean to record available and, at this time, the only copy from the recording of the show. Then, at a rehearsal at the very last stage of the band's activity period before it imploded, we recorded a few more songs using the same stuff.
A long time after the split... I'm gonna check my email... Almost three years after... I plugged the jack audio cable between my computer and the recorder, and made files out of the recording sessions. I cut it into complete songs, and sent them to the band's former members. We had recorded an handful of songs before these ones, but weren't satisfied of the result. But with this new tracks, we started to think about an issuing. Then, in fall 2008, we open-licensed two tracks and put them on a peer-to-peer network. And, in August 2009, we published a whole album made of the recordings from these two sessions, and it's called 'Almost Complete'.
There's ten tracks on this album. Six of them comes from the live show, with four musicians, and the other four are "studio" recording from our rehearsal room, with three musicians.
There were the drums/main backing vocals guy, the guitar guy, the bass/lead vocals on some tracks/Backing vocals on other tracks guy (me ! ), and, on the first 6 tracks, the live ones, there was also the guitar/lead vocal (on some track)/backing vocals (on other tracks) guy.
On one of the studio tracks, I sing the lead vocals on a song that our former member wrote and used to sing when we were four members in the band. This track is also among the live ones, with him singing then.
I don't know if the recorded show is our best show, but I have the memory of a very good set, a thing that can be heard on the record. The band, as it used to be, is energetic, noisy, melodic, and the music is to be true really interesting to listen to. All of this can also be applied to the studio tracks, with the extra feeling of a band that wouldn't be still here for long.
Are you in a hurry ? For now I cannot help much. This release used to be available for free download, but at the time this post is being written, the next platform or mean to have it so is still to be found. For updates on this case, you may refer to the actual band's label, Slcnc Music, there's a blog with news posted,
I said 'lead vox', previously. Since, on the vocal side, the band has a lead vocalist+main backing vocalist+backing vocalist configuration. At least, on what was was recorded, since on rehearsal we were mainly using a two backing vocalists set-up.
This, when we were four members in the band. When we were three ones, it was lead vocalist+main backing vocalist configuration that got recorded.
The history of this record, shortly : at a show, which would be the last one before one of the two guitarists announces he no longer wanted to be in the band and wouldn't be so any more - but at the time of the show, we weren't, or to be accurate I wasn't and probably wasn't the only one, aware of a possibility for such a thing to happen, our whole set got recorded on a cheap digital recorder in a very poor quality, that kind of recorder meant primarily if not exclusively to record voice in a hardly better than 20th century's telephony quality. This recording had been made due to a band's initiative.
A few time after our fourth member being no longer in the band, we still had his digital recorder - because it was his piece of hardware - because he's a kind guy and took care of having the band with a mean to record available and, at this time, the only copy from the recording of the show. Then, at a rehearsal at the very last stage of the band's activity period before it imploded, we recorded a few more songs using the same stuff.
A long time after the split... I'm gonna check my email... Almost three years after... I plugged the jack audio cable between my computer and the recorder, and made files out of the recording sessions. I cut it into complete songs, and sent them to the band's former members. We had recorded an handful of songs before these ones, but weren't satisfied of the result. But with this new tracks, we started to think about an issuing. Then, in fall 2008, we open-licensed two tracks and put them on a peer-to-peer network. And, in August 2009, we published a whole album made of the recordings from these two sessions, and it's called 'Almost Complete'.
There's ten tracks on this album. Six of them comes from the live show, with four musicians, and the other four are "studio" recording from our rehearsal room, with three musicians.
There were the drums/main backing vocals guy, the guitar guy, the bass/lead vocals on some tracks/Backing vocals on other tracks guy (me ! ), and, on the first 6 tracks, the live ones, there was also the guitar/lead vocal (on some track)/backing vocals (on other tracks) guy.
On one of the studio tracks, I sing the lead vocals on a song that our former member wrote and used to sing when we were four members in the band. This track is also among the live ones, with him singing then.
I don't know if the recorded show is our best show, but I have the memory of a very good set, a thing that can be heard on the record. The band, as it used to be, is energetic, noisy, melodic, and the music is to be true really interesting to listen to. All of this can also be applied to the studio tracks, with the extra feeling of a band that wouldn't be still here for long.
Feb 14, 2012
Pixies' singer/guitarist Frank Black announces he's writing new songs
This is already a few weeks old, but recently, legendary alternative rock band's frontman Frank Black, also known as Black Francis, announced on a microbloging service that he was off for a while, writing new songs. Immediately fans started thinking about a possible new Pixies album, but it is not known if Mister Black has this band in mind, or his solo career instead. The band reunited some years ago and has, since, been touring intensively.
Feb 13, 2012
That Petrol Emotion - Le Transbordeur (Villeurbanne, France) 1993
This show, like many of the ones I write about, changed my life. I discovered that music actually matters, generally speaking, and matters for me, especially. It was in a mid-sized venue, and the power that was in this music was like an electric shock. The band was playing just like if there were no tomorrow, and I'm still not sure there were a tomorrow, even now.
That Petrol Emotion is one of the best band that ever crossed my path. I read an interview in a magazine, and the answers, and even more the pictures, really created something in my teenage mind. A few time later, while listening to the radio, I heard about a contest, the price being a ticket for their show. I phoned, just answered the question, which was 'How is the new album named', and won.
I found a friend to come with me, providing I would pay half of his own ticket. I couldn't go there alone, I was so young... To be true we were the younger ones at the venue.
I cannot remember anything about the first band, but the That Petrol Emotion set is still very fresh in my memory. I remember a band rocking, definitively rocking, deploying, or I should say carpet-bombing, its wonderful songs in a totally perfect manner. With this gig, my own standard for what a good show should be raised up, astronomically, instantly.
From this day I always had interest in music. Before this day, I enjoyed music, but after, I started to live it, which is a bit different. I discovered that songs are not only these little things, always available, that you listen at home. They can also get wild, live things. And wild, this show was, undoubtedly. For a few time, on a particular song, the bass went mute, that's what we have been told. I hadn't noticed. I am sure that in the room, very few if any had noticed.
This band, on this particular tour, was really inventing something new. Their music was very different from what had been done before, there were, at the time, an handful of band like this. Maybe was it an exciting period, I'm not sure, but there were exciting bands playing exciting songs, this, I can tell for sure.
I know that many people who were at this show will agree, it was a great one. I am so thankful to the band who have given so much on this very special evening. A thing I could do was to write about what I saw, in the hope that everything will not get forgotten.
That Petrol Emotion is one of the best band that ever crossed my path. I read an interview in a magazine, and the answers, and even more the pictures, really created something in my teenage mind. A few time later, while listening to the radio, I heard about a contest, the price being a ticket for their show. I phoned, just answered the question, which was 'How is the new album named', and won.
I found a friend to come with me, providing I would pay half of his own ticket. I couldn't go there alone, I was so young... To be true we were the younger ones at the venue.
I cannot remember anything about the first band, but the That Petrol Emotion set is still very fresh in my memory. I remember a band rocking, definitively rocking, deploying, or I should say carpet-bombing, its wonderful songs in a totally perfect manner. With this gig, my own standard for what a good show should be raised up, astronomically, instantly.
From this day I always had interest in music. Before this day, I enjoyed music, but after, I started to live it, which is a bit different. I discovered that songs are not only these little things, always available, that you listen at home. They can also get wild, live things. And wild, this show was, undoubtedly. For a few time, on a particular song, the bass went mute, that's what we have been told. I hadn't noticed. I am sure that in the room, very few if any had noticed.
This band, on this particular tour, was really inventing something new. Their music was very different from what had been done before, there were, at the time, an handful of band like this. Maybe was it an exciting period, I'm not sure, but there were exciting bands playing exciting songs, this, I can tell for sure.
I know that many people who were at this show will agree, it was a great one. I am so thankful to the band who have given so much on this very special evening. A thing I could do was to write about what I saw, in the hope that everything will not get forgotten.
Feb 12, 2012
gloss. - TROPHY
Are you in a hurry ? Reading this review is not mandatory. You can head straight to the release page on the Fusion Netlabel website or stream and download this release, legally and for free, from Archive.org.
This release is open-licensed. You can make copies for your friend.
I've been thinking about the idea of publishing here a review for this 2011 release (due to a netlabel, featuring a Mexican music project) for a while. Today I decided that the reasons that prevented me from writing a post about it until now were not good reasons.
Because, I enjoyed this release a lot, and it surely deserves to be one of those I talk about, that is to say, the best that music offered to me in the past few years.
Yes, I review great albums. And this album is great. Mixing electronic instruments, more conventional ones, and voices, this 6-tracks EP can potentially be liked or loved by many different people, for many different reasons. The reason that made that I consider it as a very good release may be the very atmospheric quality of the songs, the overall production which is perfect, not too loud and very clean, and many other things. What I know for sure is that this is the kind of release that counts, the ones that motivate me to keep on writing my opinions about various sounds from time to time.
I often use the words 'musical landscape'. Please excuse me, but I'll use them once again. This release is like a painting depicting a landscape. You can get everything in a quick look, and, as well, you can spend hours looking to the details at such or such level. And this is a beautiful landscape.
Emanating from this EP is a feeling of serenity, out of time. I would bet that people involved in its creation knew exactly what they were doing. Which can be seen as various and different things, but for me it was, setting up a kind of standard for a certain kind music. Sometimes I play some music, you know. When I write songs, I have to keep in mind such releases and what they mean.
If I had to sum up, I would say that people who enjoy good music are the ones this album is the more recommended. Providing you are not afraid by a slight 'Musician Music' touch. And for people who do not enjoy good music, this can be a good starting point, because this album is both rich and accessible, and has inner qualities that will reward you for the time you'll spend obtaining it and for starting to listen.
This release is open-licensed. You can make copies for your friend.
I've been thinking about the idea of publishing here a review for this 2011 release (due to a netlabel, featuring a Mexican music project) for a while. Today I decided that the reasons that prevented me from writing a post about it until now were not good reasons.
Because, I enjoyed this release a lot, and it surely deserves to be one of those I talk about, that is to say, the best that music offered to me in the past few years.
Yes, I review great albums. And this album is great. Mixing electronic instruments, more conventional ones, and voices, this 6-tracks EP can potentially be liked or loved by many different people, for many different reasons. The reason that made that I consider it as a very good release may be the very atmospheric quality of the songs, the overall production which is perfect, not too loud and very clean, and many other things. What I know for sure is that this is the kind of release that counts, the ones that motivate me to keep on writing my opinions about various sounds from time to time.
I often use the words 'musical landscape'. Please excuse me, but I'll use them once again. This release is like a painting depicting a landscape. You can get everything in a quick look, and, as well, you can spend hours looking to the details at such or such level. And this is a beautiful landscape.
Emanating from this EP is a feeling of serenity, out of time. I would bet that people involved in its creation knew exactly what they were doing. Which can be seen as various and different things, but for me it was, setting up a kind of standard for a certain kind music. Sometimes I play some music, you know. When I write songs, I have to keep in mind such releases and what they mean.
If I had to sum up, I would say that people who enjoy good music are the ones this album is the more recommended. Providing you are not afraid by a slight 'Musician Music' touch. And for people who do not enjoy good music, this can be a good starting point, because this album is both rich and accessible, and has inner qualities that will reward you for the time you'll spend obtaining it and for starting to listen.
The Clash - Sandinista !
Are you in a hurry ? This is the kind of release you are probably able to stream for free, to buy in digital format, or on CD, from most major platforms. This is possible not to read this review but to listen to the release, not to listen to the release but to read this review, to do both, or nothing.
With this 1980 double album published by Colombia, The Clash became one of the band I listened the most, back in the late 90's and early 00's. I still do sometime. But there were a time when it was almost obsessive. This album can be seen as a musical journey in strange countries, with surprises very often, and an overall richness, in arrangements, production and writing, that makes each listening session a discovery.
Blending reggae, funk and dub influences in their punk-rock, The Clash produces here a mixture of an extraordinary diversity. Then can play plain reggae or dub, they do it right, so why shouldn't they do ? Undoubtedly, the reggae tracks are among the best ones of the album, along with the rock ones. According to my taste. Yours may differ.
But this is very possible that the spell residing in the melodies, the rhythms, the chords, has an effect on you. Beware, if so, it can be devastating. The kind of album you'll keep on listening to as long as you are still able to do.
I used to listen to Sandinista ! while driving. My life became a movie, you know, with such soundtrack, you've got the feeling to be actually living a filmed piece of art. I used to listen to Sandinista ! with a friend when I was coming to see him, and we were talking about the music, endlessly. I used to listen to Sandinista ! with other musicians from bands I was in, and I can say that this album inspired us much. I used to listen to Sandinista ! on these absolutely boring week end afternoons during the winter, having nothing better to do than to freeze in a car with a buddy, listening to good music. To be true I listened to this release a lot. And, as I said before, I still do sometime. I did not reached the point, if such a thing has to happen someday, when I cannot listen to it any more. This release, after fifteen years of intensive use, is still interesting to me.
Maybe you know this release for long, maybe you even like it like I do. If not, this is still time to face one of the biggest achievement in history of culture, a masterpiece that will emit its vibes for a long, long time.
It took years for this album to get the reputation it now has in the little world of music lovers, but I'm pretty sure this is only the beginning and that it will grow and grow and grow always more.
With this 1980 double album published by Colombia, The Clash became one of the band I listened the most, back in the late 90's and early 00's. I still do sometime. But there were a time when it was almost obsessive. This album can be seen as a musical journey in strange countries, with surprises very often, and an overall richness, in arrangements, production and writing, that makes each listening session a discovery.
Blending reggae, funk and dub influences in their punk-rock, The Clash produces here a mixture of an extraordinary diversity. Then can play plain reggae or dub, they do it right, so why shouldn't they do ? Undoubtedly, the reggae tracks are among the best ones of the album, along with the rock ones. According to my taste. Yours may differ.
But this is very possible that the spell residing in the melodies, the rhythms, the chords, has an effect on you. Beware, if so, it can be devastating. The kind of album you'll keep on listening to as long as you are still able to do.
I used to listen to Sandinista ! while driving. My life became a movie, you know, with such soundtrack, you've got the feeling to be actually living a filmed piece of art. I used to listen to Sandinista ! with a friend when I was coming to see him, and we were talking about the music, endlessly. I used to listen to Sandinista ! with other musicians from bands I was in, and I can say that this album inspired us much. I used to listen to Sandinista ! on these absolutely boring week end afternoons during the winter, having nothing better to do than to freeze in a car with a buddy, listening to good music. To be true I listened to this release a lot. And, as I said before, I still do sometime. I did not reached the point, if such a thing has to happen someday, when I cannot listen to it any more. This release, after fifteen years of intensive use, is still interesting to me.
Maybe you know this release for long, maybe you even like it like I do. If not, this is still time to face one of the biggest achievement in history of culture, a masterpiece that will emit its vibes for a long, long time.
It took years for this album to get the reputation it now has in the little world of music lovers, but I'm pretty sure this is only the beginning and that it will grow and grow and grow always more.
L7 - Le Pez-Ner (Villeurbanne, France) 2000
[Note : this post fits into the newly created 'Gigs reviewed' category, which is about gigs that may have occurred at any date in the past. If you subscribed to this blog's message stream but do not want to see this category's messages, please refer to the Subscribe page where you'll find several options to filter what you get from your subscription]
What can I say about this live show ? Probably one of the best I ever saw. L7 was perfect this evening, and this show was perfect. With a lot of punch, and, definitively, I am glad to have been there. The band was, properly speaking, hypnotising. I rarely met one who is on stage this way. The band, truly, was existing in front of us and this is an huge experience. I knew, maybe without being aware of it but at some levels I knew - that I was watching a show that I would still be speaking about years later. There were a very efficient thing that sneaked into the audio signal to turn the audience into pieces. This happened to me, this evening. The music ate me and left only bones.
I remember how my friends, at the show, expressed how good it was. At this time, many of the grunge-era band had gave up, and with L7 we were watching a band from a kind that was around less often than before, a band that we loved since several years ago. I remember clearly when L7 was touring in France in the early 90's, how I wanted to know more about this band. I remember the first time I heard a L7 song, how I knew that the big hopes I had about this band were turning to reality. And I remember the only time I saw them live, on this evening of year 2000, in this legendary venue, when the band definitively proved to me that their music is a major part in the soundtrack of my life.
The intensity of the band's set was beyond any limit, and I now know for sure that only a few band are able to do this. But L7 is among them. The kind of show that would alter me during it. The kind of show that would alter me forever. In the immediate days that followed it, if I can remember correctly - which is far to be sure - I used to say it was the best show I ever went to.
Now these years are gone, but I still can say that I was there and what being there could produce. For the ones who were around and remember, for the ones who weren't there but now would want to know. And what I have to say is : ROCKS !
What can I say about this live show ? Probably one of the best I ever saw. L7 was perfect this evening, and this show was perfect. With a lot of punch, and, definitively, I am glad to have been there. The band was, properly speaking, hypnotising. I rarely met one who is on stage this way. The band, truly, was existing in front of us and this is an huge experience. I knew, maybe without being aware of it but at some levels I knew - that I was watching a show that I would still be speaking about years later. There were a very efficient thing that sneaked into the audio signal to turn the audience into pieces. This happened to me, this evening. The music ate me and left only bones.
I remember how my friends, at the show, expressed how good it was. At this time, many of the grunge-era band had gave up, and with L7 we were watching a band from a kind that was around less often than before, a band that we loved since several years ago. I remember clearly when L7 was touring in France in the early 90's, how I wanted to know more about this band. I remember the first time I heard a L7 song, how I knew that the big hopes I had about this band were turning to reality. And I remember the only time I saw them live, on this evening of year 2000, in this legendary venue, when the band definitively proved to me that their music is a major part in the soundtrack of my life.
The intensity of the band's set was beyond any limit, and I now know for sure that only a few band are able to do this. But L7 is among them. The kind of show that would alter me during it. The kind of show that would alter me forever. In the immediate days that followed it, if I can remember correctly - which is far to be sure - I used to say it was the best show I ever went to.
Now these years are gone, but I still can say that I was there and what being there could produce. For the ones who were around and remember, for the ones who weren't there but now would want to know. And what I have to say is : ROCKS !
Still Living Creature - Ten Songs - Shangri-l speaks
I don't know, maybe some people are not very interested in what I write for this series of posts where musician speak about their own recordings, and if you don't like them you can let me know. Today the topic is the 'Ten Song' album by Still Living Creature, which is a one-man-band and I am the only member.
Are you in a hurry ? You can stop reading and download the releases instead of this, it is available, currently using BitTorrent, from Slcnc Music, the record label. CD-Rs or tapes are available too, in a name-your-price manner
Back in the beginning of Fall 2007, I was pretty much desperate and decided to become the next big thing in the electronic music scene at large. I wrote a few songs with this goal in mine, and since I used to record electronic music since the early 2000's, it was not very complicated for me to do so. But I didn't publish them.
A few month later, in Spring 2008, I thought about it once again and recorded the 'Ten Songs' album, that I published immediately. I hadn't published anything since my early years' band's EP, back in 2002. Six years without issuing an album is long, but in the meanwhile I had been into Gorbie's Stuff, who would publish things eventually, but it wasn't done at the time.
There's currently 9 songs in the release. The tenth got removed after realising that I dubbed note for note a Pixies guitar riff. Fortunately enough, no one had bought the album when I removed the song.
Because, this album was initially sold in digital format. Later, it got downloadable for free and even later, open-licensed. I never sold any copy.
This 9-tracks goes into the 'Still Living Creature albums that are not my favourite one', which is a not-so-much crowed category. Mainly, there's 'Flowers For Helena', there's 'Blue Monday' and there's this one.
I always used the same trick : I added some sound layers as the track goes on, to sum up. Excepting for 'Neurosis' where the contrary was done, the songs starts with many layers that disappear one by one.
It is, already, a long time ago. Maybe. A bit. Almost four years. There where fans since the beginning, some are still listening to what is issued, some others no longer get informed about the new releases as far as I know. The sound of the project mutated deeply over time. When I listen back to the debut release, I like the bass playing on each time, the riffs and layers that come and go, the overall melodic approach in the musical writing. I like less the fact that most -if not any- of these songs give as much as possible in an instant manner, and maybe, on the long run, this can be seen as less interesting than songs that still have little surprises left for future listening.
Are you in a hurry ? You can stop reading and download the releases instead of this, it is available, currently using BitTorrent, from Slcnc Music, the record label. CD-Rs or tapes are available too, in a name-your-price manner
Back in the beginning of Fall 2007, I was pretty much desperate and decided to become the next big thing in the electronic music scene at large. I wrote a few songs with this goal in mine, and since I used to record electronic music since the early 2000's, it was not very complicated for me to do so. But I didn't publish them.
A few month later, in Spring 2008, I thought about it once again and recorded the 'Ten Songs' album, that I published immediately. I hadn't published anything since my early years' band's EP, back in 2002. Six years without issuing an album is long, but in the meanwhile I had been into Gorbie's Stuff, who would publish things eventually, but it wasn't done at the time.
There's currently 9 songs in the release. The tenth got removed after realising that I dubbed note for note a Pixies guitar riff. Fortunately enough, no one had bought the album when I removed the song.
Because, this album was initially sold in digital format. Later, it got downloadable for free and even later, open-licensed. I never sold any copy.
This 9-tracks goes into the 'Still Living Creature albums that are not my favourite one', which is a not-so-much crowed category. Mainly, there's 'Flowers For Helena', there's 'Blue Monday' and there's this one.
I always used the same trick : I added some sound layers as the track goes on, to sum up. Excepting for 'Neurosis' where the contrary was done, the songs starts with many layers that disappear one by one.
It is, already, a long time ago. Maybe. A bit. Almost four years. There where fans since the beginning, some are still listening to what is issued, some others no longer get informed about the new releases as far as I know. The sound of the project mutated deeply over time. When I listen back to the debut release, I like the bass playing on each time, the riffs and layers that come and go, the overall melodic approach in the musical writing. I like less the fact that most -if not any- of these songs give as much as possible in an instant manner, and maybe, on the long run, this can be seen as less interesting than songs that still have little surprises left for future listening.
No Monster Club newest album announced for mid-March
The information surfaced a few days ago on the official page run by the band on a media that is told to be social, I cannot remember which : the issuing of the next No Monster Club album is planned for mid-March. Maybe on Long Lost Records but for this I'm unsure. It will be available on 12" vinyl. This is not known if there will be a download code shipped with.
Since this band always released limited physical edition, there's a possibility for this release to be so, but it is also not known.
There's, on the band's official website nomonsterclub.com, in the discography section, a new release filled under 2012, entitled 'Dublin', probably this is the one we are talking about currently. The track listing for this album is online : 1. Uncle Porky 2. Be My Bone 3. Waking My Idols 4. Parish Sports (Once Everyone Is Happy) 5. The Only Living Boy in Mallorca 6. Mas Afuera 7. Friends and Pets and People 8. Heart or Culture 9. Asleep in the Grotto 10. Summertime Psalm/Childhood
Since this band always released limited physical edition, there's a possibility for this release to be so, but it is also not known.
There's, on the band's official website nomonsterclub.com, in the discography section, a new release filled under 2012, entitled 'Dublin', probably this is the one we are talking about currently. The track listing for this album is online : 1. Uncle Porky 2. Be My Bone 3. Waking My Idols 4. Parish Sports (Once Everyone Is Happy) 5. The Only Living Boy in Mallorca 6. Mas Afuera 7. Friends and Pets and People 8. Heart or Culture 9. Asleep in the Grotto 10. Summertime Psalm/Childhood
Feb 11, 2012
Hüsker Dü - Zen Arcade
[Note : this post fits into the newly created 'More reviews' category, which is about recordings that wouldn't fit in the 'Reviews' category. If you subscribed to this blog's message stream but do not want to see this category's messages, please refer to the Subscribe page where you'll find several options to filter what you get from your subscription]
This is the kind of release currently available trough many ones among the major internet music platforms, on some places you'll maybe be able to stream it for free, on some other you'll maybe be able to pay and download it, and you can get it on CD too.
I met this release a long time ago, and I loved it instantly. Later, I loved it more and more. Now I don't know which level I reached, but it is probably quite high.
Published since 1984 on the SST label, this is the kind of release that can literally haunt you for years. Once your path crossed the one from 'Pink Turns To Blue', 'Never Talking To You Again', 'What's Going On', or some other of the tunes you can find on this 23-tracks release that you'll like - and there's many more that I would like to list, you now live a different life. This band has the ability to teleport you in a better place. A strange, part grey and part blue place where things are not working the way they use to. I simply cannot express how much I love this album.
I kept on listening to it during many years. I still cannot say much about it, but I can say how much this album is important for me and how important it was that I write about it to have this done, definitively done. Because I live with the weight of this album on the back for years, it was necessary that I open the floodgates and start talking about how great, immensely great this album is. Just because, I know for sure there's still many people who never heard of Zen Arcade and they still won't until you tell them about it. That's the kind of things this album makes to you, it turns you into someone different, someone who will recommend this album.
Closest among my friends, there's a few musician that were in some bands while I was in them too. Most of them are hardcore fans of this release. Like many people, we heard of Hüsker Dü due to Kurt Cobain endlessly telling about them each time he was interviewed - the ones who didn't, heard about due to the ones who did. There's some bands I discovered in the 90's whom releases were my fellow for years, still are, and probably still will. There's Nirvana, The Clash, Pixies and Hüsker Dü, as quick examples.
There's releases that can be an always renewed source of enjoyment, and Zen Arcade is among these ones. This is my favourite release from the band, and I'll sum up a bit by saying that now I'd be very pleased if you started to search a mean to listen to it.
This is the kind of release currently available trough many ones among the major internet music platforms, on some places you'll maybe be able to stream it for free, on some other you'll maybe be able to pay and download it, and you can get it on CD too.
I met this release a long time ago, and I loved it instantly. Later, I loved it more and more. Now I don't know which level I reached, but it is probably quite high.
Published since 1984 on the SST label, this is the kind of release that can literally haunt you for years. Once your path crossed the one from 'Pink Turns To Blue', 'Never Talking To You Again', 'What's Going On', or some other of the tunes you can find on this 23-tracks release that you'll like - and there's many more that I would like to list, you now live a different life. This band has the ability to teleport you in a better place. A strange, part grey and part blue place where things are not working the way they use to. I simply cannot express how much I love this album.
I kept on listening to it during many years. I still cannot say much about it, but I can say how much this album is important for me and how important it was that I write about it to have this done, definitively done. Because I live with the weight of this album on the back for years, it was necessary that I open the floodgates and start talking about how great, immensely great this album is. Just because, I know for sure there's still many people who never heard of Zen Arcade and they still won't until you tell them about it. That's the kind of things this album makes to you, it turns you into someone different, someone who will recommend this album.
Closest among my friends, there's a few musician that were in some bands while I was in them too. Most of them are hardcore fans of this release. Like many people, we heard of Hüsker Dü due to Kurt Cobain endlessly telling about them each time he was interviewed - the ones who didn't, heard about due to the ones who did. There's some bands I discovered in the 90's whom releases were my fellow for years, still are, and probably still will. There's Nirvana, The Clash, Pixies and Hüsker Dü, as quick examples.
There's releases that can be an always renewed source of enjoyment, and Zen Arcade is among these ones. This is my favourite release from the band, and I'll sum up a bit by saying that now I'd be very pleased if you started to search a mean to listen to it.
That was a week - Feb 3, 2012 to Feb 9, 2012
Here's what happened on this blog in the previous week, just in case you missed something :
-The first issue of Underketing, the magazine, which is basically an archive of this blog, is available in paper format for a little more than €2 outside shipping, or in ebook format for free.
-News leaked on the following points : the French electro/rock one man band Gotch would have recorded some new tracks ; there's once again rumours (confirmed) about a possible issuing of French pop-punkers Brainless On Line for-long awaited live album ; and German grunge band Fukked Up's EP These Guys Are's review has been updated, because of our awareness of the availability of the release in lossless format.
-The following projects got one or several of their releases reviewed here :
*Ne Mochite Ranenyh Krotov* (IDM, ru)
Brainless On Line (pop/punk, fr)
Calloused (power rock, us)
Dany C (acoustic rock, be)
Desperadow (atmospheric rock, ie)
Dig It Up (punky/noisy rock, ca)
Dubmood (chiptune and chiptune influenced, se/fr)
Explicite (hip-hop, fr)
Ferdinand Raillefer (experimental, fr)
Fragile New Virus (grunge, de)
Fukked Up (grunge, de)
Gotch (electro/rock, fr)
Gunther Tarp (rock/punk, fr)
Henparty (rock, ie)
Human Gaps (grunge, fr)
Icon Girl Pistols (rock, jp)
Josh Woodward (alternative rock, us)
Kid Presentable (punk, us)
Logan Dataspirit (house and more, fr)
M.Tout le MONDE (rock, fr)
Matmix (industrial, fr)
Meat Machine (acoustic punk/rock, us)
Monocephale (dubstep, cn)
MonsieurPaulLeBoulanger (chiptune, fr)
No Monster Club (that nomonsterclubish thing, ie)
O.P.A (rock, fr)
Panda Kid (garage surf/pop, it)
Prevenge (loud rock, ca)
Shino (dark acoustic, de)
Starcasm (electronic rock-influenced, au)
Sultor Nacle (IDM/ambient, fr)
tdBt and the garys (atmospheric and powerful electronic, fr)
The Nightchild (cold wave/new wave, ua)
The Open Up And BleedsThe Roman Line (indie/punk rock, se)
Waxdoll (alt rock, fr)
Why The A (trip-hop, fr)
-The first issue of Underketing, the magazine, which is basically an archive of this blog, is available in paper format for a little more than €2 outside shipping, or in ebook format for free.
-News leaked on the following points : the French electro/rock one man band Gotch would have recorded some new tracks ; there's once again rumours (confirmed) about a possible issuing of French pop-punkers Brainless On Line for-long awaited live album ; and German grunge band Fukked Up's EP These Guys Are's review has been updated, because of our awareness of the availability of the release in lossless format.
-The following projects got one or several of their releases reviewed here :
*Ne Mochite Ranenyh Krotov* (IDM, ru)
Brainless On Line (pop/punk, fr)
Calloused (power rock, us)
Dany C (acoustic rock, be)
Desperadow (atmospheric rock, ie)
Dig It Up (punky/noisy rock, ca)
Dubmood (chiptune and chiptune influenced, se/fr)
Explicite (hip-hop, fr)
Ferdinand Raillefer (experimental, fr)
Fragile New Virus (grunge, de)
Fukked Up (grunge, de)
Gotch (electro/rock, fr)
Gunther Tarp (rock/punk, fr)
Henparty (rock, ie)
Human Gaps (grunge, fr)
Icon Girl Pistols (rock, jp)
Josh Woodward (alternative rock, us)
Kid Presentable (punk, us)
Logan Dataspirit (house and more, fr)
M.Tout le MONDE (rock, fr)
Matmix (industrial, fr)
Meat Machine (acoustic punk/rock, us)
Monocephale (dubstep, cn)
MonsieurPaulLeBoulanger (chiptune, fr)
No Monster Club (that nomonsterclubish thing, ie)
O.P.A (rock, fr)
Panda Kid (garage surf/pop, it)
Prevenge (loud rock, ca)
Shino (dark acoustic, de)
Starcasm (electronic rock-influenced, au)
Sultor Nacle (IDM/ambient, fr)
tdBt and the garys (atmospheric and powerful electronic, fr)
The Nightchild (cold wave/new wave, ua)
The Open Up And BleedsThe Roman Line (indie/punk rock, se)
Waxdoll (alt rock, fr)
Why The A (trip-hop, fr)
So there actually is a Panda Kid album
Hey !
I got good sources. And since I got good sources, I got good news :
There's a Panda Kid album currently available in audio cassette format. Limited edition of 100, only ONE copy left. You can get this last copy from the Already Dead Tapes label.
I got good sources. And since I got good sources, I got good news :
There's a Panda Kid album currently available in audio cassette format. Limited edition of 100, only ONE copy left. You can get this last copy from the Already Dead Tapes label.
Good news from Netherlands
'Lads' review was updated, because it is now known for sure that this release is open-licensed.
Just because, the old releases pages on the Rack And Ruin label's website are, at least currently, no longer here, but there's also a brand new homepage which now allows to download any of their releases in a single click, for free as before, and this page is now the website. [update, a few minutes after post publishing : And it clearly states the license version for the recordings, as it can be guessed]
Maybe you're aware of the fact that the label closed its doors about one year ago, but it seems its owner(s) decided to keep the website online as an archive.
(sorry for the double post, but I had to split this new in two parts to categorise it accurately)
Just because, the old releases pages on the Rack And Ruin label's website are, at least currently, no longer here, but there's also a brand new homepage which now allows to download any of their releases in a single click, for free as before, and this page is now the website. [update, a few minutes after post publishing : And it clearly states the license version for the recordings, as it can be guessed]
Maybe you're aware of the fact that the label closed its doors about one year ago, but it seems its owner(s) decided to keep the website online as an archive.
(sorry for the double post, but I had to split this new in two parts to categorise it accurately)
More things corrected/updated, more categories planned, donations, and the interview thing
Mix dubstep (dance the bamboo forest away))'s (the double parenthesis is deliberate) review was updated, because the artist was kind enough to indicate that contrary to what was suggested in the review, he/she didn't write any of the musical elements featured on this release. I hope any of the right owners are ok with the free license applied to the final result, and that someday full credits will be indicated somewhere.
I am considering seriously putting online a few more categories for this blog, and there's a possibility for the top menu to grow someday almost twice as big as before. Remember that through the 'Subscribe' page of this blog, you are given the ability to subscribe only to the categories you actually want to hear about.
A first planned category, the name is still unsure but should be 'Your own recordings', will be about band members writing about one of their releases. This category is open to any musician wishing to participate, but for now I am the only one and the first posts will be for sure about my own stuff. The first one is already written.
Another planned category, the name being 'More reviews', will be once again recordings' reviews, but for the kind of records that wouldn't fit in the main 'Reviews' category of this blog. Limit is blurred between the 'Reviews' and the 'More reviews' category, but as examples, Suicide's self titled is the kind of review that would be classified 'More reviews', and Panda Kid 'Scary Monster Juice' would fit better into 'Reviews'. You got me ?
A third planned category should be 'Gig reviews' and the name describes it pretty much well.
For people browsing this blog on a computer rather than on a smartphone/so on, and therefore being able to see the right column menu, it will be updated to navigate among these three new categories exactly the way people can already do into the 'Review' category. It will be different sections of the menu, to allow you to get exactly what you want, being Gig reviews, reviews, or whatever else.
It is also planned that our 'News' category gets sub-categorised as the 'Review' one already is, for the audience to be able to locate news about a particular band, style or whatever.
Also, since I run a webradio that plays many of the releases that got featured on this blog, a 'Webradio' page pointing to it should be put online too. This webradio, that was unmaintained for the previous 6 month (about), I worked a bit on it yesterday and added many new releases to the playlist, and starting from now it is maintained once again. If you want more information please refer to the radio blog where an announcement has been posted telling why and how changes were made in this project recently.
And, another thing, you should be able to donate money to this blog's maintainer, that's to say me, Shangri-l, very quickly, through Flattr.
Finally, I would like to say that I would be happy to put an 'Interview' category online. If as a musician you are ok to invest some time reading, and maybe responding to, some silly questions I would have written, please fell free to contact me at shangri-l@hotmail.fr .
I am considering seriously putting online a few more categories for this blog, and there's a possibility for the top menu to grow someday almost twice as big as before. Remember that through the 'Subscribe' page of this blog, you are given the ability to subscribe only to the categories you actually want to hear about.
A first planned category, the name is still unsure but should be 'Your own recordings', will be about band members writing about one of their releases. This category is open to any musician wishing to participate, but for now I am the only one and the first posts will be for sure about my own stuff. The first one is already written.
Another planned category, the name being 'More reviews', will be once again recordings' reviews, but for the kind of records that wouldn't fit in the main 'Reviews' category of this blog. Limit is blurred between the 'Reviews' and the 'More reviews' category, but as examples, Suicide's self titled is the kind of review that would be classified 'More reviews', and Panda Kid 'Scary Monster Juice' would fit better into 'Reviews'. You got me ?
A third planned category should be 'Gig reviews' and the name describes it pretty much well.
For people browsing this blog on a computer rather than on a smartphone/so on, and therefore being able to see the right column menu, it will be updated to navigate among these three new categories exactly the way people can already do into the 'Review' category. It will be different sections of the menu, to allow you to get exactly what you want, being Gig reviews, reviews, or whatever else.
It is also planned that our 'News' category gets sub-categorised as the 'Review' one already is, for the audience to be able to locate news about a particular band, style or whatever.
Also, since I run a webradio that plays many of the releases that got featured on this blog, a 'Webradio' page pointing to it should be put online too. This webradio, that was unmaintained for the previous 6 month (about), I worked a bit on it yesterday and added many new releases to the playlist, and starting from now it is maintained once again. If you want more information please refer to the radio blog where an announcement has been posted telling why and how changes were made in this project recently.
And, another thing, you should be able to donate money to this blog's maintainer, that's to say me, Shangri-l, very quickly, through Flattr.
Finally, I would like to say that I would be happy to put an 'Interview' category online. If as a musician you are ok to invest some time reading, and maybe responding to, some silly questions I would have written, please fell free to contact me at shangri-l@hotmail.fr .
Beatles II - Demo 0 - Shangri-l speaks
[Note : this post fits into the newly created 'About your own recordings' category, which is open to bands' members wishing to talk about a release they published. If you subscribed to this blog's message stream but do not want to see this category's messages, please refer to the Subscribe page where you'll find several options to filter what you get from your subscription]
Are you in a hurry ? Sorry I cannot help. This release has been available for free download for almost a decade but is temporarily (I hope) offline. Maybe you can get updates about the availability of the release from the band's current label, Slcnc Music.
This is something difficult to say, but, starting from now, since I reviewed any of the releases that I liked the most for the few past years, outside a few No Monster Club and Dublin Duck Dispensary ones, and maybe one or two other one that I forgot to mention since I wrote and published as quickly as possible and this is possible that another good release or two got forgotten in the process, I'll continue with in mind the idea of speaking about albums that I use to listen to and to like, but we will not be able to call this 'reviews'. I'll keep on publishing old-style reviews and news as before. But this paper is the first of a new kind, where bands' member can write about some of their releases.
I don't hope many musician will come to write about their releases here, but there's a few ones who may, and I hope they'll do. In the meanwhile the only musician being immediately available for such a task being me, I'll start here by writing a bit about an EP published almost ten years ago by a band in which I was singing and playing the bass called Beatles II.
This band name is a not very severe curse, but to be true we didn't care much about our name and, now this is unsure, but there's a possibility that it was in fact a nickname a guy working in the club we used to play gave us and that is still around. No, actually we didn't planned to become bigger than the Beatles, for sure. This is not what this name means, along with any other kind of strange Beatles-related question that may cross your mind. In fact this name as nothing to do with the Beatles excepting the fact that the word is the same.
But this band name emerged when we had a drummers. But a few time before this, I was just back in town after spending 9 month away, and my old friend Turm, who played the guitar in bands I was in too like since the Delta 9 Surfing City era, asked me if I wanted to come plays some music in a club in which anyone could come and play. I was ok, and the next week it was done too, and so on. We used to perform together, sometimes other musician were playing too, and it was nice.
Then we thought about a new band. We asked our friend Seb to join us as a drummer, he was ok, the club was ok to let us have rehearsals once a week, we still used to play shows there, and we were told we could use their recording facilities for a price that was about the one of the CD-Rs we would get once the recording is finished.
I sum up all this to make clear that we became a band and recorded an EP almost by accident. We had been in bands, we had been recording on our own, and it was, for us, simply happening once again. Once a week, most time I was at Seb's home on the afternoon, then we used to go to the studio to meet Turm and record for one hour or two.
When we had any of our songs recorded - olds songs I had wrote years ago for most of them -, we had our EP.
It was clear for us, we didn't talk about it, everyone thought that having it online for free was the only thing to do.
Seb leaved the band immediately after the release. We played some more shows, with two different drummers, and the second one joined the band, we gave even more shows, but the band wasn't existing any more about three months after the EP issuing.
Everything had been done quickly, very cleanly and without any major problem.
Are you in a hurry ? Sorry I cannot help. This release has been available for free download for almost a decade but is temporarily (I hope) offline. Maybe you can get updates about the availability of the release from the band's current label, Slcnc Music.
This is something difficult to say, but, starting from now, since I reviewed any of the releases that I liked the most for the few past years, outside a few No Monster Club and Dublin Duck Dispensary ones, and maybe one or two other one that I forgot to mention since I wrote and published as quickly as possible and this is possible that another good release or two got forgotten in the process, I'll continue with in mind the idea of speaking about albums that I use to listen to and to like, but we will not be able to call this 'reviews'. I'll keep on publishing old-style reviews and news as before. But this paper is the first of a new kind, where bands' member can write about some of their releases.
I don't hope many musician will come to write about their releases here, but there's a few ones who may, and I hope they'll do. In the meanwhile the only musician being immediately available for such a task being me, I'll start here by writing a bit about an EP published almost ten years ago by a band in which I was singing and playing the bass called Beatles II.
This band name is a not very severe curse, but to be true we didn't care much about our name and, now this is unsure, but there's a possibility that it was in fact a nickname a guy working in the club we used to play gave us and that is still around. No, actually we didn't planned to become bigger than the Beatles, for sure. This is not what this name means, along with any other kind of strange Beatles-related question that may cross your mind. In fact this name as nothing to do with the Beatles excepting the fact that the word is the same.
But this band name emerged when we had a drummers. But a few time before this, I was just back in town after spending 9 month away, and my old friend Turm, who played the guitar in bands I was in too like since the Delta 9 Surfing City era, asked me if I wanted to come plays some music in a club in which anyone could come and play. I was ok, and the next week it was done too, and so on. We used to perform together, sometimes other musician were playing too, and it was nice.
Then we thought about a new band. We asked our friend Seb to join us as a drummer, he was ok, the club was ok to let us have rehearsals once a week, we still used to play shows there, and we were told we could use their recording facilities for a price that was about the one of the CD-Rs we would get once the recording is finished.
I sum up all this to make clear that we became a band and recorded an EP almost by accident. We had been in bands, we had been recording on our own, and it was, for us, simply happening once again. Once a week, most time I was at Seb's home on the afternoon, then we used to go to the studio to meet Turm and record for one hour or two.
When we had any of our songs recorded - olds songs I had wrote years ago for most of them -, we had our EP.
It was clear for us, we didn't talk about it, everyone thought that having it online for free was the only thing to do.
Seb leaved the band immediately after the release. We played some more shows, with two different drummers, and the second one joined the band, we gave even more shows, but the band wasn't existing any more about three months after the EP issuing.
Everything had been done quickly, very cleanly and without any major problem.
Feb 9, 2012
Some things got updated or corrected
-'These Guys Are' review was updated, because outside free downloads in mp3 or ogg format, this album is also sold in lossless flac format, this is a thing some people may mind.
Feb 8, 2012
No Monster Club - Young Guts Champion
Are you in a hurry ? You can stream this entire release or buy it as audio files from not a lesser-known site which is named Bandcamp where there's a Masses//Masses page, Masses//Masses being the label, and I know very few about it.
The main question with No Monster Club, this blog is mind, is how can I keep the publishing rate of reviews from their releases low enough to be sensible ? Because several of them have to be here, according to my current idea which is to talk about recordings that are my favourite from the past few years.
I knew for a while I wrote enough posts about other projects to be able to publish another one about No Monster Club. I don't know exactly why I featured the previously featured NMC releases first, but a choice has again to be made and I let unconscious parts of me think about the problem until I woke up and discovered I had to write about the one I'm talking about in this message.
This is an excellent 6-tracks long release, because NMC plays rock n' roll. Definitively and for sure. They roots are deeply buried into the richest grounds, that I can only vaguely define because of my lack of knowledge from some parts of the previous decades music. But I still have remembrance of what people sometimes mean by 'rock n' roll'.
In a very clear manner, with this release NMC, as they use to do constantly since the band started, created a masterpiece. Maybe there's people reading wondering if this album is for them, and, what can I say is this can be the case especially for the ones who likes a bit of overdrive and melody.
There's things you can't easily express with words. That's why for some reviews I don't write much. Sometimes a release requires to be more concise to be faithful to the way I love it. That's why I will not write much more. Maybe what I expressed here will give you an idea of how high is my opinion this release.
The main question with No Monster Club, this blog is mind, is how can I keep the publishing rate of reviews from their releases low enough to be sensible ? Because several of them have to be here, according to my current idea which is to talk about recordings that are my favourite from the past few years.
I knew for a while I wrote enough posts about other projects to be able to publish another one about No Monster Club. I don't know exactly why I featured the previously featured NMC releases first, but a choice has again to be made and I let unconscious parts of me think about the problem until I woke up and discovered I had to write about the one I'm talking about in this message.
This is an excellent 6-tracks long release, because NMC plays rock n' roll. Definitively and for sure. They roots are deeply buried into the richest grounds, that I can only vaguely define because of my lack of knowledge from some parts of the previous decades music. But I still have remembrance of what people sometimes mean by 'rock n' roll'.
In a very clear manner, with this release NMC, as they use to do constantly since the band started, created a masterpiece. Maybe there's people reading wondering if this album is for them, and, what can I say is this can be the case especially for the ones who likes a bit of overdrive and melody.
There's things you can't easily express with words. That's why for some reviews I don't write much. Sometimes a release requires to be more concise to be faithful to the way I love it. That's why I will not write much more. Maybe what I expressed here will give you an idea of how high is my opinion this release.
Feb 7, 2012
Brainless On Live still not available but
Things done sometime make other things happen. After the publishing of the current working version of Brainless On Live, the live album from Brainless On line, review, (I'm actually not sure anyone is able to understand what is meant to be funny in the way I review albums, if you are new here), (because I am a very serious reviewer), after this then, some news leaked from the band to sources that are close to the band, and so on until it lands on this blog.
Everything stated here is potentially true, or false. Things can evolve very quickly, but :
-The digipack edition is in stand-by mode, and this, for long if not definitively. A member of the band is told to have said "Sérieusement compromis".
-How the album will eventually be distributed is absolutely unknown, may or may not include various means such as digital distribution, on demand CD printing or the band burning CD-Rs at home.
-Le morse des mers will take care of the booklet and backcover art. I was asked to create the front art. (This information, I got it straight from the band). The band still don't know that I would be happy to cover-art.
-a very unsure news, the kind of news that can easily have mutated over its path to here, is that the band would be currently re-digitising the recording from analog sources for a better overall quality. This is a surprising news, since the band told in the past the next step was to post-produce the album using digital tools.
-all the other necessary steps for the publishing of the release that are done simultaneously to the possible re-digitising are being done currently - sorry I cannot for some reasons by more accurate on these points - and the release is still planned.
If you knew the epic story of this long awaited album as well as me - a totally impossible thing unless you are a band member - you'd know that the recent news are good in a rarely seen sense when talking about Brainless On Live.
Everything stated here is potentially true, or false. Things can evolve very quickly, but :
-The digipack edition is in stand-by mode, and this, for long if not definitively. A member of the band is told to have said "Sérieusement compromis".
-How the album will eventually be distributed is absolutely unknown, may or may not include various means such as digital distribution, on demand CD printing or the band burning CD-Rs at home.
-Le morse des mers will take care of the booklet and backcover art. I was asked to create the front art. (This information, I got it straight from the band). The band still don't know that I would be happy to cover-art.
-a very unsure news, the kind of news that can easily have mutated over its path to here, is that the band would be currently re-digitising the recording from analog sources for a better overall quality. This is a surprising news, since the band told in the past the next step was to post-produce the album using digital tools.
-all the other necessary steps for the publishing of the release that are done simultaneously to the possible re-digitising are being done currently - sorry I cannot for some reasons by more accurate on these points - and the release is still planned.
If you knew the epic story of this long awaited album as well as me - a totally impossible thing unless you are a band member - you'd know that the recent news are good in a rarely seen sense when talking about Brainless On Live.
Feb 6, 2012
O.P.A - Concert pour public invisible [Ubuntu Party]
Are you in a hurry ? You can just stream and/or download this release legally and for free from Dogmazic.net.
This release is open-licensed. You can make copies for your friends.
Let's start with some facts :
O.P.A is a French band singing in French. I don't know exactly how many musicians have been or are in this band, because it is a kind of open project, and its members are always changing. The release this review is about, features the band in a 'voice, violin, acoustic guitar' configuration.
O.P.A is not, exactly, writing song :
I said, the members are always evolving. But you can be sure their vocalist m. will be always among them, singing the the texts she wrote.
And the jam goes on.
This project has lots of published release available that I don't know very well. But when I listened to the one we are discussing today, which is live recording, I discovered the one I had to talk about here first, before anything else that I know for now from this band.
This live recording was made during an install party hold in December 2011 in Bordeaux, France, broadcasted live, and published shortly after this, in January 2012.
On this particular evening, we met a band in which each musician is making his task, together with the other ones, in a kind of perfect manner.
This recording has a raw sound. The music is here and there's no possibility to do something else that to appreciate.
Well performed, with rock influences - in my opinion, and I suppose that there's a possibility to agree with me on this point.
This album was good enough for a review here, because for now I only wrote here about my favourites releases, and this recording is certainly among them. So, once I located where it could be found on the net, I had to start to write this review.
And I'm now finishing my post : I'll sum up a bit by saying that here is a lot of will and a lot of truth in this release.
[UPDATE : A video from the show featured on this album will maybe be published soon. Please see the the band's official site]
This release is open-licensed. You can make copies for your friends.
Let's start with some facts :
O.P.A is a French band singing in French. I don't know exactly how many musicians have been or are in this band, because it is a kind of open project, and its members are always changing. The release this review is about, features the band in a 'voice, violin, acoustic guitar' configuration.
O.P.A is not, exactly, writing song :
I said, the members are always evolving. But you can be sure their vocalist m. will be always among them, singing the the texts she wrote.
And the jam goes on.
This project has lots of published release available that I don't know very well. But when I listened to the one we are discussing today, which is live recording, I discovered the one I had to talk about here first, before anything else that I know for now from this band.
This live recording was made during an install party hold in December 2011 in Bordeaux, France, broadcasted live, and published shortly after this, in January 2012.
On this particular evening, we met a band in which each musician is making his task, together with the other ones, in a kind of perfect manner.
This recording has a raw sound. The music is here and there's no possibility to do something else that to appreciate.
Well performed, with rock influences - in my opinion, and I suppose that there's a possibility to agree with me on this point.
This album was good enough for a review here, because for now I only wrote here about my favourites releases, and this recording is certainly among them. So, once I located where it could be found on the net, I had to start to write this review.
And I'm now finishing my post : I'll sum up a bit by saying that here is a lot of will and a lot of truth in this release.
[UPDATE : A video from the show featured on this album will maybe be published soon. Please see the the band's official site]
Gotch would have recorded new tracks to be published soon
Gotch, an artist who was already reviewed here, would have recorded some new tracks that are about to be published.
Maybe Gotch will use his usual music platform for this, that is to say Dogmazic.net where several of his releases are currently online.
After starting by making instrumental electronic music, Gotch evolved over time and integrated non-electronic instruments and voices into his work along with bits of rock music.
Maybe Gotch will use his usual music platform for this, that is to say Dogmazic.net where several of his releases are currently online.
After starting by making instrumental electronic music, Gotch evolved over time and integrated non-electronic instruments and voices into his work along with bits of rock music.
MonsieurPaulLeBoulanger - Emptytude
[UDPATE number 1, Fev 6, 2012 : according to some sources, this EP could be made available by the art group publishing it, trough Dogmazic.net, very soon, before the officially announced previous release date]
[UPDATE number 2, same day : The EP is available on Dogmazic.net]
(This paper was first written on Feb 3, 2012, then a bit edited on Feb 6. Then this is an example of good old style of reviewing, the one that was commonly used on this blog at the beginning of its story)
Are you in a hurry ? Starting from February, 21 of the great year 2012, you will be able to download this album legally and for free from the ZC Virtual Underground Art Gallery website. Link should probably be updated once the album is issued, in order to point to the actual release page. [UPDATE number 3 : link is updated]
This release is open-licensed. You can make copies for your friends.
The issuing is, then, planned for Feb, 21 of the 2012 year. Hold your breath. Because this EP is a masterpiece.
There's 5 tracks on it. And all of them are pure marvels. In the very few first seconds of the EP, I was instantly seduced by its heavy sense of melody embedded into the sound. The perfect, sharp, round, clear rhythm patterns. The excellent production and mastering work. To sum up, briefly, this is clearly an EP that will be... Oh, yeah, I heard a little voice in my head that suggest that you already know what I am going to write...
A milestone in history of music !
I had the opportunity to listen to this EP a few times. And at each listen, I was more and more convinced that I had to face something HUGE. If you want to know which footprint this excellent 5-tracks piece will print on the contemporary culture, I would say, probably as much as Nevermind in 1991. Nothing less. Because, hey, this is a masterpiece (I tell you this once again). With this EP, MonsieurPaulLeBoulanger defines a brand new language. There will be a 'before Emptytude', and there will be an 'after Emptytude'.
MonsieurPaulLeBoulanger started his musical career in the late 90's, or maybe in the early 2000's, I don't know, with a band that is told as excellent but that I never listened to and am even unable to remember the name.
The high energy mixed with a perfect sense of sound landscape creation, the perfection reached in the composition and production process, not talking about how it is performed, that's some of the better things you'll find in this release.
To sum up, I would say, simply one of the best music bit ever. You know me, hey, when I'm telling you such a thing, you can trust me. So put a cross on your wall calendar and wait for the issuing.
[UPDATE number 2, same day : The EP is available on Dogmazic.net]
(This paper was first written on Feb 3, 2012, then a bit edited on Feb 6. Then this is an example of good old style of reviewing, the one that was commonly used on this blog at the beginning of its story)
Are you in a hurry ? Starting from February, 21 of the great year 2012, you will be able to download this album legally and for free from the ZC Virtual Underground Art Gallery website. Link should probably be updated once the album is issued, in order to point to the actual release page. [UPDATE number 3 : link is updated]
This release is open-licensed. You can make copies for your friends.
The issuing is, then, planned for Feb, 21 of the 2012 year. Hold your breath. Because this EP is a masterpiece.
There's 5 tracks on it. And all of them are pure marvels. In the very few first seconds of the EP, I was instantly seduced by its heavy sense of melody embedded into the sound. The perfect, sharp, round, clear rhythm patterns. The excellent production and mastering work. To sum up, briefly, this is clearly an EP that will be... Oh, yeah, I heard a little voice in my head that suggest that you already know what I am going to write...
A milestone in history of music !
I had the opportunity to listen to this EP a few times. And at each listen, I was more and more convinced that I had to face something HUGE. If you want to know which footprint this excellent 5-tracks piece will print on the contemporary culture, I would say, probably as much as Nevermind in 1991. Nothing less. Because, hey, this is a masterpiece (I tell you this once again). With this EP, MonsieurPaulLeBoulanger defines a brand new language. There will be a 'before Emptytude', and there will be an 'after Emptytude'.
MonsieurPaulLeBoulanger started his musical career in the late 90's, or maybe in the early 2000's, I don't know, with a band that is told as excellent but that I never listened to and am even unable to remember the name.
The high energy mixed with a perfect sense of sound landscape creation, the perfection reached in the composition and production process, not talking about how it is performed, that's some of the better things you'll find in this release.
To sum up, I would say, simply one of the best music bit ever. You know me, hey, when I'm telling you such a thing, you can trust me. So put a cross on your wall calendar and wait for the issuing.
Feb 5, 2012
Gotch - Le voyage de Gotch
Are you in a hurry ? If so, you can download this release, for free and legally, and also stream it, from Dogmazic.net.
This release is open-licensed. You can make copies for your friends.
I like Gotch a lot. With his recent excellent tracks 'Odda' and 'Adèle' he demonstrated how interesting his music is ; that's with these two tracks that I discovered his work. But today, we will go a few time back. Back to 2004, the year of 'Le voyage de Gotch', his debut EP,
His music used then to be completely electronic.
About this album, so many strange and contrary thought came to my mind that I would be completely unable to express clearly why this album is great. To be true, I am totally confused. Should I try to play the game named it-sounds-a-bit-like-such-or-such-band ? I am not sure this would be the best way to write a review of this EP.
Because, outside it greatness, it is also so... So... Well, you know, in the summer, late at night, you take a ride outside, and suddenly, on a dark way, you meet an old friend who decided to do the same, at the same time. That's how this album can be summed up for me. Prepare - admitting you actually listen to or download this release - to meet an old friend on a dark way. If by chance your idea of how music is made for you is similar to mine.
Gotch is just not exactly the kind of thing I was waiting for. It appeared in my sight, and I wasn't ready for this. This is, to speak properly, a complete surprise. The question of what is good electronic music is not the question. The question is which electronic music is good for you. Sometimes I meet artists that make me think that they write a music that is... The music I need. According to my taste, the music I would perfectly appreciate.
Gotch makes me think of this. If you landed on this blog, there may be similarities on the way we think some music is good music. Maybe there's band we both appreciate, things like that. Then, Gotch can be interesting in your opinion.
This release is open-licensed. You can make copies for your friends.
I like Gotch a lot. With his recent excellent tracks 'Odda' and 'Adèle' he demonstrated how interesting his music is ; that's with these two tracks that I discovered his work. But today, we will go a few time back. Back to 2004, the year of 'Le voyage de Gotch', his debut EP,
His music used then to be completely electronic.
About this album, so many strange and contrary thought came to my mind that I would be completely unable to express clearly why this album is great. To be true, I am totally confused. Should I try to play the game named it-sounds-a-bit-like-such-or-such-band ? I am not sure this would be the best way to write a review of this EP.
Because, outside it greatness, it is also so... So... Well, you know, in the summer, late at night, you take a ride outside, and suddenly, on a dark way, you meet an old friend who decided to do the same, at the same time. That's how this album can be summed up for me. Prepare - admitting you actually listen to or download this release - to meet an old friend on a dark way. If by chance your idea of how music is made for you is similar to mine.
Gotch is just not exactly the kind of thing I was waiting for. It appeared in my sight, and I wasn't ready for this. This is, to speak properly, a complete surprise. The question of what is good electronic music is not the question. The question is which electronic music is good for you. Sometimes I meet artists that make me think that they write a music that is... The music I need. According to my taste, the music I would perfectly appreciate.
Gotch makes me think of this. If you landed on this blog, there may be similarities on the way we think some music is good music. Maybe there's band we both appreciate, things like that. Then, Gotch can be interesting in your opinion.
Starcasm - Scorpio Tales
Are you in a hurry ? Nevermind reading this article and to directly on the album page on Last.fm where you can stream and/or download this release, legally and for free, in its entirety.
I don't want to make a novel outta my life (or do I ? ) but since this blog was started, I spend time thinking back about music I love to select a few albums that are great enough to be featured here.
And today, I remembered Starcasm. It was one of my favourite 2008 releases. This is very good pop, contemporary and atemporal, not so common and also that sounds like if you always knew the tunes. This is not only pop. This album is using various styles influences, for an overall real good result.
But this is not enough. I wouldn't write about this release if the qualities I just mentioned were the only ones. Because, besides being a very good album that you can listen to and even recommend, this album also contains an extragalactic effective marvel, and if you already gave a listen to the release you may have guessed that I am talking about 'My Name Is Art...'
Oh, yeah, I know, you may just see there yet another incarnation of a slightly post-rock influenced sound coming here once again, but in such case, you didn't listened to the song enough.
Because this song is much more than that. This is a music classic ! It requires a bit of involvement, but when the real essence of the song is colliding with you, you are transformed forever. Sadly, this will not be the case for anyone. I know people that didn't get it right. But it will not diminish the value this track has for me. This is simply a masterpiece. And with such killer track on it, the overall value of the whole album reaches the Kilimanjaro.
The album has no weak point, nevertheless, and the other songs are pretty much excellent ones.
If I had to be concise, I would say, don't listen to me and go to the release page to get your own opinion. Maybe a few minutes will be used in the process, but there's a pretty much high probability that this album becomes a part of your life.
I don't want to make a novel outta my life (or do I ? ) but since this blog was started, I spend time thinking back about music I love to select a few albums that are great enough to be featured here.
And today, I remembered Starcasm. It was one of my favourite 2008 releases. This is very good pop, contemporary and atemporal, not so common and also that sounds like if you always knew the tunes. This is not only pop. This album is using various styles influences, for an overall real good result.
But this is not enough. I wouldn't write about this release if the qualities I just mentioned were the only ones. Because, besides being a very good album that you can listen to and even recommend, this album also contains an extragalactic effective marvel, and if you already gave a listen to the release you may have guessed that I am talking about 'My Name Is Art...'
Oh, yeah, I know, you may just see there yet another incarnation of a slightly post-rock influenced sound coming here once again, but in such case, you didn't listened to the song enough.
Because this song is much more than that. This is a music classic ! It requires a bit of involvement, but when the real essence of the song is colliding with you, you are transformed forever. Sadly, this will not be the case for anyone. I know people that didn't get it right. But it will not diminish the value this track has for me. This is simply a masterpiece. And with such killer track on it, the overall value of the whole album reaches the Kilimanjaro.
The album has no weak point, nevertheless, and the other songs are pretty much excellent ones.
If I had to be concise, I would say, don't listen to me and go to the release page to get your own opinion. Maybe a few minutes will be used in the process, but there's a pretty much high probability that this album becomes a part of your life.
Dubmood - Badlands
Are you in a hurry ? Admitting you are in a hurry, you can just stream in its entirety and/or buy this release from Bandcamp courtesy of the Dataairline label. Also, a 5.21" limited CD has been available, but is now soldout, and this is too bad because there were bonus tracks on it.
Well, you are still there ? For once, we'll let the music speak for itself and will start with what is, according to my taste, the best track on this release, the 'Mainstream Technology' track. There's a video online, and I suggest you watch it right now.
Nice song ain't it ? It was composed by Dubmood and Facteur, who used to work together in the past, already, I'm not exactly sure at which level, but I can say they performed together, for sure.
The excellent vocals are due to Buzz and to Gem Tos. Outside Dubmood, other instrumentalists involved on this track are Buzz, Albator and Facteur.
But you can learn all these things on the release page. I don't know why I am writing this here, then. So let's try to be a little more deserving our salary and let's talk about the music.
The music is huge. Especially the track for which I just gave you the video link. But the other tracks on this EP are not bad too, and they are the kind of stuff that you actually may want to listen to, in this ever-soliciting world.
With this release, Dubmood is going really far. He is already a kinda well-known music maker for a small crowd, and this release, this fact is absolutely sure, will make more people dig his music. Dubmood's story, historically, is bound to the one of the demoscene. If you never heard of the demoscene, I'll sum up in a few words as possible : this is something you must absolutely start now searching some information about...
You know, I tell this often enough, currently this blog is only talking about great releases. This one is not an exception. I heard about it thank to a friend, and I listened to 'Mainstream Technology' looping for a few hours immediately after the first time I heard it for the first time. Oh, yeah, the other tracks on the release did not seduce me as completely as this one, but what I got while listening to them was much more positive than negative, and if I had to express an opinion about the thing as a whole, I would say that this is the kind of stuff that you should be aware of, whoever you are, then I am here to tell a bit about the EP.
Mixing chiptunes with mainstream music can lead to astounding things, I suppose you will agree...
Well, you are still there ? For once, we'll let the music speak for itself and will start with what is, according to my taste, the best track on this release, the 'Mainstream Technology' track. There's a video online, and I suggest you watch it right now.
Nice song ain't it ? It was composed by Dubmood and Facteur, who used to work together in the past, already, I'm not exactly sure at which level, but I can say they performed together, for sure.
The excellent vocals are due to Buzz and to Gem Tos. Outside Dubmood, other instrumentalists involved on this track are Buzz, Albator and Facteur.
But you can learn all these things on the release page. I don't know why I am writing this here, then. So let's try to be a little more deserving our salary and let's talk about the music.
The music is huge. Especially the track for which I just gave you the video link. But the other tracks on this EP are not bad too, and they are the kind of stuff that you actually may want to listen to, in this ever-soliciting world.
With this release, Dubmood is going really far. He is already a kinda well-known music maker for a small crowd, and this release, this fact is absolutely sure, will make more people dig his music. Dubmood's story, historically, is bound to the one of the demoscene. If you never heard of the demoscene, I'll sum up in a few words as possible : this is something you must absolutely start now searching some information about...
You know, I tell this often enough, currently this blog is only talking about great releases. This one is not an exception. I heard about it thank to a friend, and I listened to 'Mainstream Technology' looping for a few hours immediately after the first time I heard it for the first time. Oh, yeah, the other tracks on the release did not seduce me as completely as this one, but what I got while listening to them was much more positive than negative, and if I had to express an opinion about the thing as a whole, I would say that this is the kind of stuff that you should be aware of, whoever you are, then I am here to tell a bit about the EP.
Mixing chiptunes with mainstream music can lead to astounding things, I suppose you will agree...
Fragile New Virus - Eye Scream
Are you in a hurry ? This is, as of per usual, not a problem. You can start by downloading this release, legally and for free, thank to a small website that was called by its creators - I still wonder why - 'Jamendo'.
This release is open-licensed. You can make copies for your friends.
If you know me, I mean, if you are not here for the first time and read a few reviews I posted before, you may, maybe, know, that I like a lot these bands that are taking the best parts of the 90's grunge sound and turn it into something a bit different... 21th century grunge !
Well, ahem, the Hanover (Germany)-based Fragile New Virus is among this handful of bands. There's Fukked Up (they are German too, but you can find them in the Leer area), there's Human Gaps (these ones are from south of France), there's, in some aspects, Desperadow (from Ireland)... All of them got reviewed here. There's many more who are probably good enough for me to write about them while I still don't know them... But if you start with the few ones I just mentioned, you will have a pretty much accurate idea of how alive is the 21th century grunge scene.
You know, I use to review here good releases only. And FNV's one definitively fall into this category. I've been harassing them for months in order to airplay some of their tunes - it was a failure, I must confess - but another thing I can do without having to trouble these great artists with my silly requests is to review their EP here.
Just because, this is not only a great EP. This is one of the greatest EPs to have surfaced since so long that I cannot clearly remember.
These four tracks are simply the best any band can do. They are straightforward and subtle in the same time. They are melodic and noisy. They'll make you feel like a kid on a XMas morning, discovering the gifts. And if you do not celebrate XMas, you still know what I want to express.
The sad point, if any, is that this awesome band did not release much. There's a possibility for you to change this : share their album link ! If they see their download counter explode - providing they take a look at it from time to time - maybe it will give them the motivation to put online a few more tracks.
But, actually, a band does not need to release half a zillion of tracks in order to be interesting. And FNV is far, far, more than interesting. FNV is simply the kind of music project that will make you think 'oh yeah I finally found them ! '.
To use a sentence that applies to many if not any of the releases I review here - since, you know what it is, I don't want to use my precious time to tell the world that I don't like such or such release, I prefer to use my keystrokes to spread the word about real great bands - this EP is just like a milestone in history of music. No doubt that, if the planet is still around, this EP's fame will grow bigger and bigger on a cosmic scale during the forthcoming centuries.
This release is open-licensed. You can make copies for your friends.
If you know me, I mean, if you are not here for the first time and read a few reviews I posted before, you may, maybe, know, that I like a lot these bands that are taking the best parts of the 90's grunge sound and turn it into something a bit different... 21th century grunge !
Well, ahem, the Hanover (Germany)-based Fragile New Virus is among this handful of bands. There's Fukked Up (they are German too, but you can find them in the Leer area), there's Human Gaps (these ones are from south of France), there's, in some aspects, Desperadow (from Ireland)... All of them got reviewed here. There's many more who are probably good enough for me to write about them while I still don't know them... But if you start with the few ones I just mentioned, you will have a pretty much accurate idea of how alive is the 21th century grunge scene.
You know, I use to review here good releases only. And FNV's one definitively fall into this category. I've been harassing them for months in order to airplay some of their tunes - it was a failure, I must confess - but another thing I can do without having to trouble these great artists with my silly requests is to review their EP here.
Just because, this is not only a great EP. This is one of the greatest EPs to have surfaced since so long that I cannot clearly remember.
These four tracks are simply the best any band can do. They are straightforward and subtle in the same time. They are melodic and noisy. They'll make you feel like a kid on a XMas morning, discovering the gifts. And if you do not celebrate XMas, you still know what I want to express.
The sad point, if any, is that this awesome band did not release much. There's a possibility for you to change this : share their album link ! If they see their download counter explode - providing they take a look at it from time to time - maybe it will give them the motivation to put online a few more tracks.
But, actually, a band does not need to release half a zillion of tracks in order to be interesting. And FNV is far, far, more than interesting. FNV is simply the kind of music project that will make you think 'oh yeah I finally found them ! '.
To use a sentence that applies to many if not any of the releases I review here - since, you know what it is, I don't want to use my precious time to tell the world that I don't like such or such release, I prefer to use my keystrokes to spread the word about real great bands - this EP is just like a milestone in history of music. No doubt that, if the planet is still around, this EP's fame will grow bigger and bigger on a cosmic scale during the forthcoming centuries.
Josh Woodward - Breadcrumbs
Are you in a hurry ? That's the kind of thing that uses to happen. If so, you actually absolutely do not need to read this review. Instead of this, you can get your hands on this release right now, legally and for free, straight from the artist, by following this link. Even better, you can even buy there this release on CD in a name your price manner. And I add, you can even find this release on iTunes if you prefer to pay for the download.
This release is open-licensed. You can make copies for your friends, among many other things.
Once upon a time when I was (and the choir says 'Young, naive and handsome'), I downloaded a compilation due to a certain netlabel. I no longer do so, since this particular label, eventually, appeared to me as having a certain lack of discernment when choosing the tracks they feature on their compilations... But sometimes they nevertheless get it right.
So then, I used to download comps from this netlabel. And among my favourites songs in the hundreds of tracks I discovered this way, there is, for sure, Dan Bryk's 'Discount Store' (please note that Dan's official site is currently down. I hope this is temporary). And there is Josh Woodward's 'I'm Not Dreaming'.
'I'm Not Dreaming' is a great song. Subtle and energic, well written, well performed, well recorded, for an overall result that, if it had to be rated, would outnumber the number of stars available.
Then, this morning, I was searching trough my own memory, among the zillions of musician whose art crossed my path over years, to determine what would be the next review on this blog. You know, I use - this may change someday, but this is in a very certain manner for now the case - to review here only masterpieces. Albums that will change your life. Monuments. Or, to use a sentence I use quite often since I started this blog, milestones in history of music.
I've been, after thinking about this for a while (hours, truly), eventually pretty much sure that Mr Woodward's 'Breadcrumbs' fall into this category. Because, I downloaded it. Right now, it is playing once again on my stereo. And this album is, ahem, to sum up, the kind of album you definitively shouldn't sleep on.
Sure, there's 'I'm Not Dreaming'. My opinion about this song is not much varying over time. Or if it varies, it would be in the 'I like it more and more' sense. Because this song is the kind of song that could make you wake up in the middle of the night in order to listen to it once more.
But there's also the other tracks on this album... And, they are great. Simply. A really good point for this release is that, as of per usual in his musical career, JW can speak just almost any musical language with a constant talent. By this, I mean, his approach involves touching to many styles, and I'm pretty much sure that even if someday he decided to record a polka-zouk-punk track, it would be done in a second-to-none manner.
You know I like lofi, experimental, strange stuff. But this album is not exactly that kind of material. It is much more like a perfect renew of the classic rock albums that you may have enjoyed over years. In the meanwhile, it is, also, innovative. And the load of emotion that was put into it is far, far beyond the usual standards.
This album has the ability to become one of their favourite ones to so many people, for so many reason, that I wonder why you are still reading this instead of downloading it right now.
When I first listened to the first par of 'Grey Snow' final, I thought, Hey, this man is among the ones who count. We are not talking about yet another person hoping to 'make it'. We are talking about an artist who, in my opinion, has the highest idea of what living on this earth should imply. JW decided to build a better world with a guitar, a bass, a drum kit and sometimes a banjo. And he is doing it. I cannot tell for sure that he will success in his quest, but, contrary to too many people, JW tries ! He is not simply reading music cookbooks, but is inventing, creating, involving himself in his art, and, you know, I like musicians who actually want something instead of simply having a hobby.
A thing I noticed about this album is that, while it is, for sure, American from the head down to the toes, I also located inside of it a slight and very pleasant European touch (think of The Jam if you know them).
What would I have to say to sum up ? "Thank You". Yeah, JW should definitively be thanked a million time for releasing 'Breadcrumbs'. I must confess that - that's the price of this extraordinary diversity in the styles used - I don't like just any song as much as some other ones, but, when I tell you I thought about the idea of reviewing it for hours, I am serious, and all I can say is that this is a consciously taken decision that lead me to write this review. This albums definitively deserves to be featured among these gems I talk about here.
This release is open-licensed. You can make copies for your friends, among many other things.
Once upon a time when I was (and the choir says 'Young, naive and handsome'), I downloaded a compilation due to a certain netlabel. I no longer do so, since this particular label, eventually, appeared to me as having a certain lack of discernment when choosing the tracks they feature on their compilations... But sometimes they nevertheless get it right.
So then, I used to download comps from this netlabel. And among my favourites songs in the hundreds of tracks I discovered this way, there is, for sure, Dan Bryk's 'Discount Store' (please note that Dan's official site is currently down. I hope this is temporary). And there is Josh Woodward's 'I'm Not Dreaming'.
'I'm Not Dreaming' is a great song. Subtle and energic, well written, well performed, well recorded, for an overall result that, if it had to be rated, would outnumber the number of stars available.
Then, this morning, I was searching trough my own memory, among the zillions of musician whose art crossed my path over years, to determine what would be the next review on this blog. You know, I use - this may change someday, but this is in a very certain manner for now the case - to review here only masterpieces. Albums that will change your life. Monuments. Or, to use a sentence I use quite often since I started this blog, milestones in history of music.
I've been, after thinking about this for a while (hours, truly), eventually pretty much sure that Mr Woodward's 'Breadcrumbs' fall into this category. Because, I downloaded it. Right now, it is playing once again on my stereo. And this album is, ahem, to sum up, the kind of album you definitively shouldn't sleep on.
Sure, there's 'I'm Not Dreaming'. My opinion about this song is not much varying over time. Or if it varies, it would be in the 'I like it more and more' sense. Because this song is the kind of song that could make you wake up in the middle of the night in order to listen to it once more.
But there's also the other tracks on this album... And, they are great. Simply. A really good point for this release is that, as of per usual in his musical career, JW can speak just almost any musical language with a constant talent. By this, I mean, his approach involves touching to many styles, and I'm pretty much sure that even if someday he decided to record a polka-zouk-punk track, it would be done in a second-to-none manner.
You know I like lofi, experimental, strange stuff. But this album is not exactly that kind of material. It is much more like a perfect renew of the classic rock albums that you may have enjoyed over years. In the meanwhile, it is, also, innovative. And the load of emotion that was put into it is far, far beyond the usual standards.
This album has the ability to become one of their favourite ones to so many people, for so many reason, that I wonder why you are still reading this instead of downloading it right now.
When I first listened to the first par of 'Grey Snow' final, I thought, Hey, this man is among the ones who count. We are not talking about yet another person hoping to 'make it'. We are talking about an artist who, in my opinion, has the highest idea of what living on this earth should imply. JW decided to build a better world with a guitar, a bass, a drum kit and sometimes a banjo. And he is doing it. I cannot tell for sure that he will success in his quest, but, contrary to too many people, JW tries ! He is not simply reading music cookbooks, but is inventing, creating, involving himself in his art, and, you know, I like musicians who actually want something instead of simply having a hobby.
A thing I noticed about this album is that, while it is, for sure, American from the head down to the toes, I also located inside of it a slight and very pleasant European touch (think of The Jam if you know them).
What would I have to say to sum up ? "Thank You". Yeah, JW should definitively be thanked a million time for releasing 'Breadcrumbs'. I must confess that - that's the price of this extraordinary diversity in the styles used - I don't like just any song as much as some other ones, but, when I tell you I thought about the idea of reviewing it for hours, I am serious, and all I can say is that this is a consciously taken decision that lead me to write this review. This albums definitively deserves to be featured among these gems I talk about here.
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