Bands and musicians: If you would like to submit an album or EP for review, please e-mail me at the address above. I love sampling new music and would be happy to review if I like what I hear. This blog will give a good indication of my musical tastes.
If you live in the United States and follow music to any degree, there's a good chance you didn't even realize the band a-ha is still around. Considered a one-hit wonder here for their 1985 mega-hit "Take On Me", the Norwegian band only scored one other Top 40 hit here in the States and hasn't had an album released here since 1993's "Memorial Beach".
Internationally, however, a-ha has remained huge selling over 36 million albums worldwide with numerous hit singles. Their ninth album, "Foot Of The Mountain", was released in June, although once again not in the U.S. And this is a shame as the album marks a return to the synth-pop sound that brought the band fame here initially and is as strong as anything in the genre I've heard this year. There definitely is a Depeche Mode influence on a number of the tracks, especially "What There Is", but bands as big as Coldplay list a-ha as an influence and there's plenty of the band's signature sound here too.
Lead vocalist Morten Harket soars throughout the album. Truly a unique voice in pop music, Harket carries the majestic choruses prevalent here. This is where a-ha excels. Practically every song has a to die for anthemic chorus with melodies that just stick in your head and won't let go. Highlights include the melancholy album opener "The Bandstand", the pulsing "Sunny Mystery" and "Nothing Is Keeping You Here" which out-Keane's Keane, who certainly owe a lot to a-ha for their sound to begin with.
The album's true centerpiece is the stunning title track. Mixing in more live instrumentation, "Foot Of The Mountain" would be a radio smash here if radio still gave a shit about music. It's simply a perfect pop song with the best example of the anthemic choruses mentioned earlier that a-ha churn out.
If you're a fan of this type of music in the States, do yourself a favor and import "Foot Of The Mountain". You'll have a tough time finding a better synth-pop album released in 2009 and hopefully it'll help you rediscover a band that is still going strong just in time. a-ha is set to return to the U.S. in 2010 for their first proper shows since 1986 as part of their 25 year anniversary tour.
I'll be the first to admit, I am not a huge Bruce Springsteen fan. I admire and respect him and his talent and would never deny he is a musical legend and one of the great live acts of his time. But for every song of his I love like an "I'm On Fire", "Born In The USA" (and no I'm not one of those idiots who thinks this is a patriotic 'I Love America' song), or "Streets Of Philadelphia", there's a cheesy "Glory Days" or "Dancing In The Dark" that just puts me in the 'I'll pass' category when it comes to purchasing his music.
2009's "Working On A Dream" does very little to change that feeling for me.There are some catchy, radio friendly rockers ("My Lucky Day"), arena ready anthems with soaring choruses ("Kingdom Of Days" and the title track), and a stunning, eight minute epic that opens the album ("Outlaw Pete") that's as good as anything I've heard from The Boss in ages.
Amongst the quality, however, is too much filler and that has long been what prevented me from plunking down my hard earned money for a Springsteen album. After opening strong, the album takes a dive with tracks like "Queen Of the Supermarket" (a love song about a supermarket cashier? REALLY??!!) and the embarrassing "Surprise, Surprise" which must have taken Bruce all of ten seconds to toss off the lyrics since the majority of it has him singing "surprise, surprise, surprise, surprise" ad nauseum.
The production also leaves something to be desired as, too often, it's a murky mess and the vocal effects on Springsteen's vocals during "Good Eye" should be outlawed from recorded music from here on out. An incredibly annoying effect that adds nothing to the track but to make it unlistenable.
Let me reiterate, this is not a bad album. But it's just another in a long line of average releases from Springsteen. As good as "Outlaw Pete" is, there's nothing else even close on the rest of the album to make this a release I'd listen to often enough to purchase.
The Silent Years new music video has made it's debut this week on Yahoo! Music. "Taking Drugs At The Amusement Park" is the second single, and first video, from their current EP "Let Go" (Sidecho Records).
As always, I'm pleased to host the latest from Detroit's best on Now It's On. Of the video, The Silent Years' Josh Epstein said "Taking
Drugs At the Amusement Park was such a joyous sing-a-long type song
that imagery of children was inescapable. We reached out blindly to
the Paul Green School of Rock and they were receptive so we nervously
showed up to teach the kids our song. We spent a long day there and
brought pizza and snacks and taught the kids various parts. Then the
most amazing stuff started happening, like conversations about how to
start bands and how to tour and it wound up being oneof the most
rewarding days I can remember. We had the kids come up on stage at our
EP release show and that was a riot."
Here is the end result, courtesy of Sidecho Records and Yahoo Music.
There is little debate, the best non-Prince release to ever see the light of day on his Paisley Park Records label was The Family's self titled 1985 album. Although Prince did write, produce and play most of the album (the original demos with Prince on vocals have long been circulating amongst collectors), The Family were, much like The Time, a band capable of standing out on their own.
Sadly, this talented group was not allowed to do that during their short lives as a "band". Regardless of what the album credits say, Prince wrote the entire album sans "River Run Dry", written by then-Revolution drummer Bobby Z. He also played the entire thing other than the saxophone and flute played by Eric Leeds, overdubbing St. Paul Peterson's and Susannah Melvoin's vocals over his own guide vocals.
Although it was essentially a Prince album with guest vocalists, do not let that detract from the talented lineup that made up The Family. The basis of the band were the leftovers from the disbanded Time, Peterson, Jerome Benton and drummer Jellybean Johnson. Revolution guitarist Wendy Melvoin's twin sister Susannah and Leeds were the final two pieces to the band, one Prince envisioned as a perfect replacement to The Time, an outlet to continue to release more of his music.
The album was a precursor to some of the material Prince would release on his "Parade" album and his Madhouse projects, a mixture of funk, pop, R&B and jazz with orchestration provided by Clare Fischer. It was the first place Prince's classic "Nothing Compares 2 U" appeared, long before Sinead O'Connor made it a huge hit.
The Family did not last long however. Peterson, frustrated by, among other things, Prince's lack of attention to the project once the album was released, left the band to pursue a solo career. The Family was done after playing a single live show and releasing one single, the moderately successful "The Screams Of Passion". The CD version of the album, only pressed in Japan and Europe, has gone on to become one of the most sought after collectible items associated with Prince, and the album is long out of print in the U.S.
24 years later The Family is back, although under a new name. After much debate, Fdeluxe was selected as the new name for the reunited Family. Given Prince's propensity for threatening lawsuits over anything having to do with his intellectual property, it was for the best anyways as there were hints he wasn't going to allow the name to be used. Typical Prince behavior. As great of a musical genius as he is, he sometimes fails in the "decent human being" department. All five original members of the band are back for this new venture and it'll be exciting to see what they come up with on their own terms.
The first taste can be found on their new official website where a free download of the track "@8" is being offered. A nice slice of Minneapolis funk to whet the appetite for this release. I'll keep you updated as more news comes in on the full length Fdeluxe album, including a full review upon its release. Hopefully some tour dates will follow as well.
Fans of The Silent Years will surely want to check out this new project featuring front man Josh Epstein. He has teamed up with another super talent of the Detroit area, Daniel Zott of The Great Fiction, to form Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. The two have made a few live appearances locally but now you can hear two demos on their MySpace page, "Simple Girl" and "Skeletons". The early stages of more great music to these ears, but wouldn't have expected anything less from a collaboration between these two. Looking forward to hearing more from this project.
Two of Detroit's finest join forces as Deastro remixes The Silent Years track "Vampires Bite The Hands Feed Them" from their flawless new EP "Let Go". This represents the first ever remix of a Silent Years track. Interesting take on the track by Randy Chabot.
Josh Epstein of The Silent Years had this to say about the remix:
"Sending out a song to be remixed is like sending a toddler for reconstructive surgery with his Grandparents...You hope for the best and that you can trust the elderly. We haven't ever done a remix before to any Silent Years songs, but I couldn't think of anyone who would do a better job than Randy [Deastro]. His enthusiasm for music is inspiring so I'm glad he's the first to do a remix for us."
The remix is available for purchase from ITunes here.
Back in 2000, a little album called "When We Were Young" by a group calling itself Dusted appeared on the electronic music scene. Critically acclaimed, the downtempo concept album conceived by Faithless' Rollo Armstrong and Mark Bates was never really intended for mass appeal and it's gone down as an under-appreciated gem and, in my book, an electronic music classic. The two revisited the concept in 2005, re-recording the album as "Safe From Harm" with vocal help from Rollo's sister Dido, but it seemed a pointless release and the magic clearly was contained in the original. "When We Were Young" was one of those albums that didn't need to be re-done, it was perfect as is.
Rollo of course has played a major role in a number of hugely successful acts starting with his band Faithless, one of the best selling electronic acts in the world, writing and producing for his sister Dido and remixing and producing countless other acts including Moby, Pet Shop Boys,Tricky, U2 and Sarah McLachlan to name just a few. He already is involved with one project I've been raving about to anyone who will listen, producing One eskimO's forthcoming album (read my glowing review here). Now there is a second project on the horizon poised to produce another instant electronic classic. Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce to you All Thieves.
A few tracks from this project first showed up on Rollo's MySpace page early this year, credited to an artist called Kinch. It was obvious the male vocalist on them was Kristian Leontiou, the main man behind the One eskimO project, but there was no other information on what exactly Kinch was. At some point the name of the project was changed to All Thieves, more than likely because there is an alternative rock band from Phoenix called Kinch. Buzz started generating in April when All Thieves' "Turn And Turn Again" was heavily featured on an episode of ABC's hit series "Grey's Anatomy". A video for one of the tracks featured on Rollo's MySpace, "Dexter" comprised of nothing but scenes from the Showtime series, also made the rounds on various blogs, music sites and YouTube.
With this mysterious project starting to generate interest some light has finally been shed on All Thieves. In July, Mark Bates posted on Dusted's MySpace blog that All Thieves was essentially a new name for Dusted. But with such a different sound and vibe to the tracks, he and Rollo wanted a new name to attach to the project. They can call it whatever they'd like, after one listen to the finished, and as of right now unreleased, album "We Are All Thieves", I can call it a number of things such as brilliant, stunning and one of the best electronic releases I have heard in years.
The album opens with the aforementioned "Turn And Turn Again", a beautiful introduction for what is to come. Bailey Tzuke handles the female vocals on the album and delivers a vulnerable performance here. It's no wonder after appearing on "Grey's Anatomy" this song generated so many posts on message boards asking 'Who sang that song and how do I get my hands on it?' There's a minimalist approach to production on the track, utilized on numerous songs on the album to perfection. A bouncing electronic drum beat, sad, lone organ lines and keyboard fills accompany Tzuke's delicate vocal, an absolutely gorgeous track.
One eskimO's Kristian Leontiou does indeed handle the male vocals for All Thieves and he makes his first appearance on the second track, the much more upbeat "Only Of You". The album's first single, this version has been updated from the more sparse original that was up on MySpace, with string runs bringing a more disco feel to the track. Leontiou's damn near Barry Gibb-like falsetto adds to the infectious, funky, yet still minimal, atmosphere. A completely different direction from the opener.
Leontiou's performance on the next track is a far cry from the falsetto of "Only Of You". "Dexter" is a foreboding, menacing track with a dark, slightly electronically altered vocal that seems inspired by the TV show which shares its name. The light hearted mood of the previous track leaves you an unsuspecting victim of this track's tale of a stalker reciting his prey's mundane daily activites before entering her home ("and you think that I don't know/when your front door closes...") and apparantly killing her ("Before the day has begun/we will lie in silence knowing what I have done/and as I leave the house alone/the front door closes..."). Each verse is followed by a disturbed electronic voice repeating "I want to feel...what you feel" to creepy effect. It sounds insane, yet it not only works, it may be the best track on the album. Can a song be both disturbing and beautiful? The verses are wonderfully melodic and the darkness of the track provides a brilliant contrast.
Tzuke returns for the next track, "Pity The Lovers", a needed reprieve after the shocker that is "Dexter". She delivers another restrained vocal performance over a minimal backing track that at first resembles the album's opener but adds lovely strings to this examination of love and its challenges.
Tzuke sings lead on one more track on the album, the more uptempo "Barney" while Leontiou handles the main vocals on two more songs, the chilled out "We Will Be Dust" and soaring stunner "Stars" which has Tzuke on backing vocals. "Marybelle's Poem" opens as a spoken word piece boasting "A little drinkin', skinny dippin' and lotsa guns" before kicking into minimalist keyboard as the song slowly builds with electronic effects and samples. A mostly instrumental piece over eight minutes long entitled "My Philosophy" closes the album with a little bit of everything featured throughout. Sparse organ and keyboards, electronic drum beats, strings and effects rising into the mix, then dropping out. It's a fitting summary of what you've just heard.
With All Thieves, Armstrong and Bates shatter the perception electronic music is not emotionally engaging enough or has lost its soul. This is a work of a group of artists at the top of their game. The production is astounding, I have not heard a CD this tailor made for headphone listening in a long time. The music swirls in and around your head taking you on a trip you truly will not forget. Vocally, lyrically and musically, I have not been this blown away by an electronic album in ages. All nine tracks are excellent, there is no filler to speak of and it is extremely varied. A masterpiece.
Until "We Are All Thieves" is released, you can stream a number of the tracks on these MySpace pages:
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