Seether & Amy-Lee

Not a review, just a heads-up to an old, but great live rendition of this really cool song.

The Fierce and the Dead - If It Carries On Like This We Are Moving To Morecambe

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that this album is coming, and yesterday it was released in its entirety. I’ve had the chance to listen to Flint and 10x10 before the full release was made available. What you will read today is a blow-by-blow as I listen through the album. This will be the first time for every song apart from Flint and 10x10. So if what I say doesn’t sound completely thought-through, it’s because it probably isn’t. Bear with me. I’m trying a slightly new avenue here.

Quick background. Matt Stevens, who I’ve blogged about a couple of times, is the guitar-spoke in this three spoke wheel of progressive music. The other two guys I don’t know well musically (or otherwise), except that Kevin Freazy is also the guy in the control room for Matt’s Ghost album.

Also note that I have been listening to Audioslave before listening to this, so excuse me if I’m still tuned into a hyperdrive guitar-player; Tom Morello, but I’ll do my best to stay objective! Oh – and my player is on shuffle, so we’ll be hopping around.

 

The Wait, track 3.

Arpeggio style melodic ballad. Really liking the tone of the guitar (think Coldplay), and waiting for the vocals to kick in, every now and again. Gotta remember this is an instrumental outfit! Beautiful.

Andy Fox, track 10.

I’m still not sure how one chooses a name for an instrumental track, so I’m hoping to find a clue here. Piano. Good. Note – it’s interesting how someone’s solo album can have a completely different feel than a collaboration, where he is still the main melodic element. The good think about this as a ambient track is that there is enough texture and shape to the melody to keep one interested, as some ambient genres are nothing but sound thrown in a mixer. I get a distinct Pink Floyd feel here. It builds and builds into a moody, dark guitar track. Could work very well in a psycho drama as a soundtrack, or just for those weird Sunday afternoons. Andy Fox must be a strange guy.

Part 2, Track 2

Good old 2/4 with root-bass, with a 4-chord progression intro. Hey, 40 years of rock can’t be wrong. Foot’s tapping. Matt’s arpeggio’s coming through. I’ve decided he plays a Telecaster, but I can be wrong. Again, just slightly out of key chord-progessions-ala-Sting or cross-over rock-jazz. It keeps the listener on edge, and also warns of the impending crescendo of rock at 02:10. Lovely stuff. And kicking live drumming. I’m so glad there are ambient bands with live drummers! There’s no discernable melody to these songs, per se, yet it keeps you listening.

Woodchip, Track 8

Ok. They have a synth.

10x10, Track 9

Mid-tempo rock arpeggios. This could possibly define their sound, with added jazz sensibilities. But the beat will get the rockers listening. Slightly angst-filled arpeggios goes into a awesome 80’s progressive electronica vibe, interlaced with rock. Good playing by all involved, but so reserved and mature, it’s not even funny. That main lick is seriously catchy, without getting annoying. Close to the top track so far.

Hotel No. 6, Track 5

It’s ambient guitar sounds. Take your smack, or drink your coffee or get your fix on this. Or meditate and elevate and all that. This tune is perfect for that. It’s eerily beautiful, seriously.

Flint, Track 1

Ok, something big is coming. A crescendo that keeps going. Almost white sound, with dreamy guitar sounds floating in the upper areas of the spectrum… Then some bass. I like that, it gets the song grounded. Aha. Almost dance beat kicking in with gorgeous guitar lick to match. Pretty rad. It moves into a middle 8 where the bass goes all-out overdrive, and the rest remains child-friendly clean sounds. Clever. Foot-tapping so far.

Daddies Little Helper, Track 7

The moment the song starts I think “Police”, and more specifically, “Andy Summers”. A great upbeat tune, with beautiful melodies, and hooohah! , a tenor sax/clarinet thrown in. Lovely stuff. Clever, and properly into some New York jazz territories, with a flair of English guitar rock. Gorgeous song. Three quarters through it hits experimental notes again with sounds and quirkiness, but it works. Lekker tune.

Landcrab, Track 6

Holy. Enter their hard-rock prog roots. Almost industrial sounding bass and drums. Fast too! This is a seriously kicking rock tune. I can’t help but want Matt to kick into a nice “clean” solo, rather than the obscured, low-down sound in the mix, but that’s just me. And it’s short. I really think this song had a lot to give, if Matt could kick up some dirt here with a nasty solo.

H.R. , Track 4

“Radiohead” comes to mind. Neurotic progression over clean bass and drums. It progresses to a heavier edge and end. Again, good tune.

In conclusion I have to say that the average guy who doesn’t like instrumental rock, or ambient music, would probably be ambivalent about this album to start of with, but I have to say, this is as accessible as it’s gonna get for a lot of people. Beautiful progressions integrated with dissonance, where appropriate, being very progressive, yet at the same time steering away from being different for the sake of being different. Mature music, for sure.

I would add that I would mind a break-away melodic guitar solo or even ambient sounding vocals here and there, as there is a limit to how many tunes the band can turn out with this specific recipe. Having said that, this is a great album, and you’ll do well to check it out.

About the title: for those not familiar with it, Morecambe is a town in North England. Not having been there, it’s not quite possible for me to ascertain if there is a serious pun in there, or a punch-line, but I like the title nonetheless.

Dustland Express - Demo

Ok, so if this is the demo, what can we expect from the album? The album was released 1 Dec 2009 already, but I tend to not follow the latest hottest and take my time to scour the internet for new releases.

I was quite keen to hear that the boys from Maninsuit have morphed into a new outfit. I thoroughly enjoyed the good old metal edge of Maninsuit, so I was expecting something similar. Well, if quality musicianship is what I was after, I found that here.

Dustland Express departs rather radically from the previous style, and takes on electronica in a big way, with the complimentary hard-edge guitar work and high-angst vocals one might expect from rockers. The only thing is, here a proper cross over is achieved. Often times cross-over music ends up being neither here nor there, where these guys have already on their demo found an identifiable style, that stays more or less consistent through the album. Often, cross-over debuts sounds like guys throwing everything they own into a mixer and finds songs in there. Here a very mature thread is taken through songs that vary considerably, yet maintain direction.

Oh, before I go on… the album is available for free/pay-what-you-want download.

 

A criticism is probably expected in any review, and as I tend to review things I like, I can keep it to a minimum. Faster and more “intense” sound seems to suit them better than slower, almost hip-hop patterning.

Please check these guys out, well worth the effort. Also, they’re a South African outfit, based in Cape Town, so if you reside around here, try and catch them live.

Interview: Matt Stevens

So, I’ve finally gotten down to what I want to do with this site, and that’s also giving you some info on the artists themselves, by means of an interview with yours truly. First up is loop-guitar maestro, Matt Stevens. I have reviewed 2 of his albums on the site, and with his side project, The Fierce and the Dead, also making waves online, I thought it would be a great place to start our interviews. Apart from that, he’s one of the first guys to make the “pay-what-you-want-even-nothing”-model of music distribution work.

1. Which was the first guitarist/song/album that made sense and inspired you to play guitar, or did you first aspire to as a guitarist?
I wanted to be Slash when I heard Guns N Roses in 1988, like every other metal kid. Amazing band, they changed my life, shame it all went horribly wrong so quickly for them.
2. If you had to be left on an island with an ipod and a choice of three bands, who would you have on the ipod?
OK. King Crimson, cause there is so much of it so I won't get bored, The Beatles for the best songs ever written and The Smiths - I love Johnny Marr's guitar playing.
3. How do you compose? Is it jam, melody, chord- or theoretical?
Normally chords but lately more melodies. I normally come across chord progressions when I'm watching TV or doing something else to be honest. I love chords, love inversions, trying to find different ways to move around. Once I get going I get really into writing songs, sometimes its quick, sometimes it takes years.
4. Would you ever sing on an album?
I'm coming round to the idea. I want my mate Derek to sing on a song soon and my friend Kevin Feazey does backing vocals to a guitar "lead vocal" on one song on the new album thats out later this year. So we shall see.....
5. How important will album artwork be in the new digital era? Do you think this will be a culture/experience that’ll be lost to the current and next generation? Lying on the couch, listening to the CD, reading the lyrics/checking out the cover art?
The reason I do digipack CDs of my music is because I like packaging, I was the kid reading the CD inlay and vinyl double album. I remember all those great old metal albums and I'd consume every detail of every Iron Maiden record cover.  The reality is people consume music in different ways now, some people just listen to music streaming on Spotify or on Youtube, some download legally or illegally. Its just the way it is, maybe it makes less sense to release albums now, perhaps singles are a better option? Nobody knows the answer and it varies from band to band, artist to artist.
6. What software do you use to do your demos? Know of any really cool free apps for aspiring songwriters to use to compose music?
I use Garageband, which is free and great but Mac only. Its great for just chucking stuff down. For the electronic project I played on, Yonks, we used Reaper which is an amazing piece of software. Reaper is free as well.
7. What guitars do you own/play?
Two main ones an old Ibanez acoustic guitar which is knackered with a hole in it, it sounds great though. I put an LR Baggs pickup in it and I'm really pleased with it. The other guitar is a Telecaster, a mexican one that I use for the Fierce And The Dead which has a vey specific sound that I like. I really cuts through, I run it through a transistor Fender amp.
8. Do you have a favourite song from your albums? One that you just never get tired of playing? Kirk Hammet of Metallica once said he dreads “Seek and Destroy” in every show, since it’s been done 10 000 times, but others he can play every night.
My favourite to play is Big Sky, I just like the way it builds and builds up and up. 
I did get sick of Burning Bandstands for a while just because I've been playing it for 5 years and all that. I get fed up with them sometimes, but I'm proud of the catalogue of songs, it took me years to get 30 or so songs I like. Its such a great thing to have an audience who wants to hear them and I'm very grateful for that, I'm lucky really.
9. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Touring, abroad, festivals? Or would you like to maintain an exclusive following, almost as a muso to musos? Online gigs, advertising revenue driven?
I'm not sure really. The next record will be the last loop/acoustic guitar album as I don't want to repeat myself. I'd like to do a year of gigging next year and make a live DVD/CD and then thats the end of that really. After that I want to do more of the electric stuff, playing with a band perhaps. I'm not sure really - I might wake up tomorrow and want to do more acoustic but I don't want to compromise the music, I want to keep moving and not bore myself or the audience. The online gigs won't continue forever either, I would like to work on films really, to license the music, that would be really cool.
I would love to tour internationally at some point and I've been offered some cool gigs, just need to make it work financially really. One day!
10. Apart from creative composition, do you dabble in other forms of “commercial” music, like sound-tracks, licensing etc?
Not much so far, I wrote the soundtrack to the short film Daddy's Little Helper by my friend Dan Wilson and his film won all sorts of awards. He was a lovely fella Dan, he sadly passed away last year. I'd love to do more of that, just looking for the right project really.
11. If you had all the budget in the world, who would you like to produce/direct a music video for you?
Um, not sure. The obvious one is David Lynch but something animated would be very cool, like an Anime type thing, I'd really like to do that.
12. What did you do before you were a pro muso?
I worked in music retail and I loved it for the most part and I miss being part of a team. The music retail industry is pretty much dead and its no longer required as digital distribution pretty much cuts out the need for CD retailers. Musicians never made much from retail in shops, it all went to recoup record deals or pay the retailers, when people buy CD's in record shops they would be amazed to hear how much the artists actually gets, its virtually nothing.
13. Beer or wine?
I love Beer and Wine but I've given up booze for lent so sadly neither. Looking forward to drinking again when I do though.
14. Curry or Pasta?
I like both but Curry is great, fact. Mmm Curry.
15. Worst experience on stage?
I used to play in metal bands and we played at a restaurant once. We had no idea and it didn't go well. No one wants Celtic Frost with their romantic meal.

Stop Motion - Aleksei Chistilin

Royalty-free music for professional licensing

I'm not a huge fan of ambient music, but I must say, having this baby on in the background while working is a soother. Here and there the music veers toward slightly too sentimental for me, but generally, it's a great piece of music, with great areas of shade and light.

I don't actually know how to crit this album, so I'm gonna leave it up to you for now.

Radiohead album out

Go see for yourself: http://www.thekingoflimbs.com/DIGBP.htm

Get some free music from the Strokes!

I haven’t listened to it yet, so watch this space, in the meantime, go take them at their offer and download!!