6 posts tagged “70s”
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heavywaterexperiments.com ♥ myspace.com Not exactly scary, but definitely creepy, the cover art to Heavy Water Experiments' self-titled album shows a woman semi-melting due to a lens distortion. Since I think cover art also lends itself to the overall feel of the album, I would have to say that this album is also moody and dark. I thought one of the more amusing names they used to describe their sound is "Pink Sabbath," which is a very good self-description of the band: a cross between Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath. Also what's worth noting about this band is that it features singer and bassist David Melbye on his 8-string bass/electric guitar. I believe most common bass guitars are four string, and I'm assuming that the extra double bass lines are for low and high of each music note. I can't say that I have the ear to pick up these subtle differences, but they definitely don't really sound like a typical band. The bass isn't at all that aggressive, not like, say, Primus, but it is a big part of their sound. "Anodyne" is the stand-out track for me. Melbye's vocals come in loud and clear on this track and the waves and waves of guitar and sound layers go up at crucial points. Check them out at the Derby:
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kineticstereokids.net ♥ myspace.com/kineticstereokids I like, nay, I love doing these singles/EP reviews because these are a quick listen. Judging from the Misfits-type cover artwork, you would think that Kinetic Stereokids are only two kids (one playing the upright bass and the other, the drums)... but their 'space lists at least five band members (although I think there's only officially only four members, judging from their promotional pictures). Their Have A Nice Day EP came out last Tuesday, October 21st which really consists of only two songs, "Have A Nice Day" and "Blunder". The third and bonus track is "Explosions Were Heard", which was recorded live On KEXP. I am assuming it is only a bonus because their 7" color vinyl could not spare the room to fit in an extra six minutes. I actually really enjoyed their live song. It shows me that they have mastered the art of incorporating samples into their live songs and I get the impression that the singer likes to be very, very close to the microphone (listen closely for his spitty lyrics). Also stay tuned at the end of the song, where you can hear the DJ talking to the soft-spoken band members. If you like those Broken Social kids or Arcade Fire kids, I think you'll really like these Kinetic Stereokids. Their Have A Nice Day EP is out now on Overdraft Recordings. Definitely check out their insane Halloween show coming up on the 31st:
01 Nov 2008 (Scene) Metrospace Lansing, MI 08 Nov 2008 The Aloha Flint, Michigan |
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gtommac.com ♥ myspace.com/gtommac G Tom Mac, aka Gerard McMahon, is my special guest for W♥M Podcast #28. His latest release is Thou Shall Not Fall, which was recently released as part of The Lost Boys: Tribe. I did manage to rent the sequel on DVD, as I do own and love the original Lost Boys movie by director Joel Schumacher. Talking to Mac, he explained his involvement with both movies, which I'm sure he must've answered a billion times. He also tells me that there will be a tour in Spring of '09, which I will also be mentioning when the time arrives on W♥M, as it seems only a few dates are confirmed at this time (be sure to be at the Virgin Megastore for the signing and spot Corey Heim).
11/01/08 Dracula's Ball Shampoo Nightclub Phila, PA After using "Box of Fantasy" as suggested by Mac, the song ended up stuck in my head for a few days, thanks to its catchy guitar riffs! I also really enjoyed his theme song to another movie, I-See-You.com. Although I hadn't heard anything about this movie, based on the song, it feels upbeat, like a comedy or something. You can get the album via iTunes, but I do recommend getting the CD from amazon. |
joetown.com ♥ myspace.com/joetown Rounding out my vote for scariness is Joe Delaney, aka Joetown. Looking at the all-red cover art for Pills And Ammo, which was released just last August, I can tell you that Joetown scares me. He looks like a cross between the Devil and Jack the Ripper. Anyway, Slash from GNR is one of Joetown's biggest fans, and you can see why: Joetown is an excellent guitarist and songwriter. It's mostly classic 70's style guitar rock, so if you're not into going out drinking at a bar and rocking out, this album might not be your thing. Although mostly guitar-driven songs, I did enjoy the bass-y sound of "Broken Man" and the bluesy 46 second "Devil as Woman" (which I suspect is a cover song?). Some of the weird tactics Joetown uses are distorted vocals and odd sound effects. Speaking of Blues, Joetown thinks most of his songs are basically blues songs: If you like guitar shredding and don't mind a few f-bombs, you'll love "My Anger Knows No Bounds". This sounds almost metal with the hardcore singing. But I've decided to go with "Hole In My Soul" to represent Joetown. This song features a lot of the distorted vocals I mentioned earlier. It's pretty much guitar-city on this song. Pills And Ammo is out now, you can pick it up from CD Baby. |
Links: weheartmusic.com news.weheartmusic.com
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07/31/08 Storsjoyran Festival Östersund
Discography
08/01/08 Storas Festival Trondheim 08/02/08 Rockerfeller Oslo
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This was a very painless article for me to write, because I am, as you have probably guessed, I am a Blondie fan. I already had several of their albums, some greatest hits/compilations, and was especially looking forward to check out the 30th Anniversary Edition of Parallel Lines. I already had the original 1978 album (which I bought when they reissued it with some bonus tracks), so I already knew all the songs on the Anniversary Edition.
For those that don't have Parallel Lines and their biggest hit, possibly best-known song, "Heart of Glass" is on this album. Other big hits for them includes, "Hanging on the Telephone" - which I previously mentioned was a cover of The Beat.
Revisiting the album, I realized just how good "Picture This" is:All I want is a room with a view/A sight worth seeing, a vision of you/I will give you my finest hour, the one I spent watching you shower. Although I think this is a great song, it never made it on singles format in the US (although it was the leading single in the UK).
I suppose, it's to be expected because the US was still really into disco (which would explain why "Heart of Glass" did so well), but the UK was more progressive in their music taste (which would explain why they love the Carribean-beat song of "Sunday Girl").
The album ends with "Just Go Away", with its hard-to-get lyrics: "Don't go away sad/Don't go pre-fab/Don't go be bad/Don't go away mad, just go away. JUST GO AWAY!"
That's just the perfect album! The special extra bonus are four songs: "Heart of Glass (7" single version)", "Sunday Girl (French Version"), "Hanging on the Telephone [Nosebleed Handbag Remix]" and "Fade Away and Radiate [108 BPM Remix]".
Between the four song, I especially liked the French version of "Sunday Girl", a song that sounds refreshingly new because I have never heard this particular version. Apparently the song appeared as either an A-Side or B-Side on the "Sunday Girl" 7" that was released in the UK.
The other extra songs, I am guessing is rare. I didn't really care so much for them, as the 7" version of "Heart of Glass" sounds pretty much like the album mix.... while the techno/trance version of "Fade Away and Radiate" sounds nothing like the album version. Talk about extreme end of the spectrum.
There is also a bonus DVD that comes with Parallel Lines: 30th Anniversary Edition. The videos are for promo videos for "Picture This", "Hanging On The Telephone", and "Heart Of Glass", with one previously unreleased Top of the Pops performance of "Sunday Girl". Debbie Harry looked incredibly cool on TOTP, despite badly lip-syncing. I love all the videos, particularly the disco video for "Heart of Glass". My only complaint is that it's only four videos, you'll go through them in no time. Still, it is a nice bonus.
You can pick up Blondie's Parallel Lines: 30th Anniversary Edition at any retail location. If you have never own this album, the 30th Anniversary version is definitely the superior version to get. If you already have the LP, why not upgrade?
They are currently wrapping up their tour dates for promotion of this album... and I hope they come back touring, as I think the last time they were on tour was in 2003 for "The Curse of Blondie".
Links:
blondie.net
myspace.com/blondie
Zambia's Witch is a really awesome recent discovery of mine. I recently found myself bored with newer music, and of course, moods like that usually lead to explorations of music in the past. I was looking through some blogs, and happened upon an article on these guys. There's really not a lot to even prove this band existed, aside from a single LP, entitled Lazy Bones!!, which came out as a private pressing by a small, local label in 1975. The band is a 5-piece, featuring a slight Afro-rock vibe buried under garage rock rhythm guitars and progressive psychedelic experimentation. The vocals are in English, but don't sound as bad as foreign dudes with thick accents singing in English usually do.
Highlights include the opening track, “Black Tears,” with a slow, proggy, opening riff and solid vocal harmonies throughout, “Motherless Child,” which is based around a cool garage rock riff, some awesome, syncopated drumming, and lots of fuzz and wah on the lead guitar, and “October Night,” with its sweet wah-soaked intro riff, and some of the most soul-influenced sound on the entire record.
The recording, for obvious reasons, is pretty raw, having been recorded for a small label in the mid-70's in Zambia, and more or less forgotten and un-remastered. In fact, it's a wonder any of it survived as well as it has. And I'm pretty glad it has.
-Soup
The Cure's Deluxe Discography
Trivia
Three Imaginary Boys were recorded virtually with NO BUDGET: the band simply snuck into Morgan Studios once the Jam had finished their sessions, and, using the Jam's gear, recorded through the night till dawn. |
The first The Cure album I bought was Disintegration (mostly because of the strength of "Love Song"), and continued to buy their albums until I lost interested (probably around Bloodflowers-era). So basically, I never picked up The Cure's previous albums - that is until Rhino Records, in association with Fiction, re-released all The Cure's albums in 2-disc deluxe format, starting in 2004.
I have pretty much all the deluxe editions, except for The Top, and I thought it would be helpful to review these sets for anyone who might be interested in investing or re-investing in these albums.
I will be concentrating on the first release, Three Imaginary Boys, today. The original debut album was released in 1979 in the UK. The US got a repackaged version called Boys Don't Cry (the original album didn't contain "Boys Don't Cry," "Plastic Passion," "Jumping Someone Else's Train", "World War", and "Killing an Arab").
First of all, if you're a hardcore fan, these sets are essential to your collection. The 2nd discs are full of rare studio and home demos and live tracks, most of which were never previously released. If you're a casual fan and already owned the original vinyl or CD, you might want to spend your hard-earned cash on something else (considering that each set retails about $25) and those rare tracks are more or less toss-away tracks for casual fans.
If you never bought the Cure's album but have always loved them, these re-releases might be checking out. Each album have been remastered with a booklet. All the liner notes were written by Johnny Black and photographs are from the private collection of vocalist, Robert Smith. All the photographs a delight to see, because many (if not all) of these photographies were ever seen by the public.
Listening to the album for the first time, I was really surprised how raw and punky The Cure was back then. My favorite song is "10:15 Saturday Night" which opens up the album. It's clearly an important song, at least one of the oldest Cure song.
Robert Smith said:
10:15 Saturday Night was written at the table in our kitchen, watching the tap dripping, feeling utterly morose, drinking my dad's home made beer... My evening had fallen apart, and I was back at home feeling very sorry for myself!
The lyrics really does capture that feeling sorry for yourself feeling.
"10:15"'s demos are also VERY DIFFERENT from final studio version. There are two demos on the 2nd disc: the Home Demo and the Studio Demo. The home version is radically different, containing a Hammond organ and bossanova drumbeat.
At this rate, it doesn't look like Rhino is working on Disintegration as there is a huge gap in 2007 without any Cure deluxe release. Shame, because I was looking forward to seeing all the various demos & b-sides for "Love Song".
Read more The Cure on W♥M.
11/15/2007 00:05:54
vu
my♥posts
vu@weheartmusic.com
www.thecure.com
The BDI's (pronounced like "The Beady Eyes") is a brand new band based out of London, England. The band's only new in the name sense, they were around in the mid-90s as The Panda Gang. As far as I can tell, they were a contemporary band doing motown[1].
Early in their career, they were supported by Jimmy Miller (who's produced the Rolling Stones albums from 1968-73). They were planning on working together, but unfortunately Miller passed away in 1994 before any work could be done.
They were signed onto Quattro Records (Sony) in Japan[2], and I don't think the For a Rainy Day (1998) album was ever release anywhere else in the world.
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Trivia
The band got their name from the initials of the current members: (B)rent Thorley, (D)ominic Clark, and (I)an Pakes. Footnotes [1] Ally Brown review in skinnymag.co.uk [2] Link: hmv.co.jp [3] Link: cdbaby.com [4] Craig Charle's show in the 2hr 40m mark |
Well, they're back now as the BDI's. The new album, according to their website, is out now[3]. It has an overall 70s funk and soul sound and was recently featured on BBC Radio 6 Funk and Soul Show[4].
The DJ Craig Charles exclaimed:
"Nice voice! Good groove! How come I haven't heard of them before?!?"
Although the song, "Lucky Like That" is pretty good, I liked "Sweet Relief" a little better because it has a really funky bass and there's a gospel background.
August 27, 2007 12:49 AM
vu
my♥posts
vu@weheartmusic.com
thebdis.com
myspace.com/thebdis
Arabesque, not to be confused with Keith Girdler's side project, are a three-girl (Sandra Lauer, Jasmine Elizabeth, and Michaela Rose) group from West Germany. They've never released any music in the US, but they were quite popular in other countries, especially Japan and Russia, but their songs are all in English!
They've released about fifteen albums , the first was Arabesque (1978), ending with Time to say 'Good Bye' (1984).
We're going to listen to "Hello Mr. Monkey" which was a number one hit in Japan (did not chart in Germany).
If you listen to it, it's a little 70s feel to it and kind of reminds me of ABBA.
Who could resists these lyrics:
Hello, hello Mister Monkey
You're still so fast and funky
Hello, hello Mister Monkey
You should have been a clown
vu 
Links: www6.plala.or.jp/arabesque
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