leafcutter john - the forest and the sea

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.:: The forest and the sea tells the story of two people who become lost in a forest. As they try to find a way out, the sky darkens. By nightfall, they have strayed so deep that they have no choice but to spend the night with the forest and its inhabitants. When the morning finally comes our couple wake on a cliff top between the forest and the sea, and rather than go back through the forest they decide to take to the sea.

The Forest and The Sea is John's 4th full length album but his first release for Berlin based label Staubgold. It tells a true story of what becomes of two people lost in the forest. The compositions feature a dynamic hybrid of electronic and acoustic songs bound together by a meticulous narrative enriched by haunting vocals, acoustic guitar, and traditional Greek instrumentation. Field recordings were made in various locations in Greece, Sweden and the UK and are interwoven throughout the work. This album demonstrates John's consolidated approach towards songwriting, field recordings and processed electronics. A significant development from John’s earlier works, he manages to produce seamless and more importantly meaningful transitions between electronic and folk music.

watch leafcutter john live

***amazing album***

human television - all songs written by human television

.:: By its own admission Human Television is trying to make the music it enjoys listening to. From the very first notes of the Gainesville, Florida's debut eight song LP, you can't help but think the band spends most of its time driving around in a van with R.E.M.'s Reckoning playing on near-constant repeat. Imagining a lead single from All Songs Written By: Human Television on radio playlists side-by-side with songs by R.E.M., the Smiths, the Wedding Present or even the Replacements is not difficult. In fact, it is easier to imagine it on radio playlists during the mid-'80s than today. Through its music, Human Television explores an important period in the history of modern music by celebrating bands that gave rise to the popularity of college radio and created "alternative" music. That the band is able to pull it off with such sincerity is no small feat.

Human Television is very honest about another of its intentions: "As musicians, we have basically devoted our lives to the pursuit of that inexplicable characteristic in certain songs that makes a person want to listen to them 50 times in a row without them ever becoming old or boring," says guitarist/vocalist Billy Downing.

The pursuit has been a success -- the album inspires repeated listens without sacrificing the integrity of the music. To say that the music is trivial or oversimplified for the sake of repetition or melody would be to greatly understate the album. The songs of Human Television are succinct, jangly, minimalist pop gems that rely on a gift for melody and simplicity, coupled with infectious guitar riffs. The swift and engaging sound this brings is a welcome change from the heavy, synth-oriented production sounds that characterize much of the new wave resurgence that has been sweeping the radio.

All Songs Written By: Human Television hooks the listener from the onset. The opener, "Saw You Walking By", announces the band's intentions with wonderful results. Layered guitars build on one another to create a melodic tapestry for the song's half-spoken lyrics. The opening line of the album, "Saw you walking by her just the other day/ I said hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey," quickly becomes a melody you will find yourself humming or singing aloud during the middle of the day without even realizing it. Human Television mixes those opening lines with a catchy guitar riff and an upbeat verse that inspire pop euphoria.

Human Television's tight arrangements and brief songs keep the half-spoken melodies and mid-tempo songs from becoming redundant long enough to inspire a second listen and then a third, before the songs show their weightier side. Multiple listens of the album reveal that not all of the songs are the sunshine feel-good ditties the music implies. Some of them are well-disguised lamentations. One of the more passive songs, "Yeah Right", aches: "I wonder where I'll wander to next/ To get you off my mind under these contexts/ And that I even want to is kind of a line/ And how I don't know what I wanted tonight".

The lyrics, while not earth-shattering, are attached to a captivating lyrical meter and guitars that combine to create a song that is serious without being depressing and catchy without being frivolous. Similarly, "Tell Me What You Want", contrasts a heavy baseline and despondent lyrics against a modest groove and bright guitars. The result is one of the more intriguing and engaging songs on the album.

Although some of the music the most recent revival the new wave scene has spawned has been great, a lot of it has been average at best. With so much mediocre talent filtering through the air waves, it is nearly impossible to find the bands worth seeking out. Human Television is one of those bands worth seeking out. It manages to unabashedly recreate the sounds that pervaded the '80s independent rock scene without sounding dated, contrived or ironic.

Taken at face value, Human Television may seem like little more than a band standing on the shoulders of its predecessors and carefully hiding its rouse behind a smile of playful pop honesty. But a closer look into the album uncovers something more. It is the intangible characteristic music takes on when its architect believes in what it does. Less sincere or capable bands fail to give the music they create this subtle quality that separates the albums you reach for over and over, from those that end up at used music stores. All Songs Written By: Human Television has that intangible quality and, as a result, rises to the top of today's saturated new wave music scene to be one of the albums you will likely reach for over and over.

***i promise i'll review albums in spanish again, just give me some time, ok***

download: human television - all songs written by human television

the fountain - clint mansell / kronos quartet / mogwai

.:: The Fountain is a layered, often beautiful score from composer Clint Mansell. The disc seamlessly moves from ambient drones to plaintive piano music to slowly percolating minimalist stuff to hugely swelling strings. Mansell, who's collaborated with director Aronofsky before, uses almost anything from the minor-key sonic palette available to him, with the exception of the mopey yuppie-folk and instantly dated electronica so often thrown into films.

Mansell's own group, the superlative Kronos Quartet, is joined by Scottish noise act Mogwai. The use of such an arty, detuned guitar rock band as Mogwai in a big time movie soundtrack might seem weird, though of course Explosions in the Sky's work on Friday Night Lights was a harbinger. It's too soon to tell if this is an outright classic of soundtrack music in the realm of Goblin's Suspiria, John Carpenter's Escape from New York, or Popol Vuh's Aguirre. But it is definitely a subtle, melancholic work you'll want to revisit often.

Composer: Clint Mansell. Personnel: John Cummings, Stuart Braithwaite (guitar); David Harrington, John Sherba (violin); Hank Dutt (viola); Jeffrey Zeigler (cello); Barry Burns, Randy Kerber (piano); Dominic Aitchison (bass instrument); Martin Bulloch (drum). The soundtrack for Darren Aronofsky's film, about a man's thousand-year quest to save the life of the woman he loves, runs the sonic gamut from ethereal evocations of 16th-century Spain to futuristic soundscapes, with the added extras of dramatic percussion flourishes and some spectacular choral arrangements.

***special post for my pal, daniel***

download: the fountain - clint mansell / kronos quartet / mogwai

hey !!!

I hope you enjoy the music…

BUT !!! I'd aprecciate 1 or 2 lines from you. So, show some education (you received on those savage days you spent in Harvard, Yale, Salamanca, Oxford…) your parents payed for, if they did; if they didn't drop me a line anyway, ok.

I dont use counters, I dont like them. I love clean web pages, so please leave some comments, that is the way i realize if this blog is useful for someone, besides me.

Once again, enjoy the music. Support your favorite artists (buying original material), whoever they are…

blue merle - burning in the sun

.:: This Nashville band may have lifted its name from the lyrics of a Led Zeppelin song but listeners expecting nine-minute guitar epics about medieval orgies and fiery demons are bound to be disappointed. Blue Merle favors a lighter touch, as sketched out on the wistful title track of its debut album, Burning In The Sun.

The jangly song evokes the Dave Matthews Band with its lilting fiddles and spiraling rhythms, while singer-songwriter Luke Reynolds sounds like a dead ringer for Coldplay's Chris Martin. Having played Bonnaroo, toured with Donovan Frankenreiter and recoded with Matthews producer Stephen Haris, the band seems destined to find a home with the Relix crowd. It would be a shame if it settled there. Rich, emotionally detailed songs like "If I Could" and "Stay" not only transcend genres, they're capable of changing lives.

Much like the Dave Matthews Band did with Under the Table and Dreaming a decade ago, Blue Merle has a chance to change the rules of pop music with the major debut, Burning in the Sun, and in the process possibly become one of the biggest pop-rock acts in the US.

The Nashville quartet has not surprisingly embraced their hometown’s acoustic palette, but unlike Nickel Creek and other newgrass purveyors, Blue Merle’s work comes all the way down from the mountain and plants its roots in suburban middle America. From the first twinkling mandolin on the opening title track, one can’t help but feel a twinge of guilt at hearing bluegrass instrumentation attached to such unabashed pop, but along with that guilt comes a sense that a new door is opening, and when the song’s vibrant fiddle blows a fresh wind through the room, all shame melts into easy contentment.

Luke Reynolds’ vocals throw another blanket on the familiar warmth of the band’s acoustic instrumentation, and much like Coldplay’s Chris Martin, his falsetto can turn the bland banality of a song like “If I Could” into an empathetic embrace. Reynolds takes a backseat to drummer William Ellis’s tricky rhythm on “Boxcar Racer,” a charmingly cartoonish tale of a pretty girl’s crush on a champion hobbyist, and Beau Stapleton’s mandolin leads the fast, winding trip down through the hollers and right into the suburbia at the foot of the hills.

The acoustic intro of “Stay” suggests that the band might just take the hike back up again, but the twang-free hook bounces too much for country, and the soft strings in the background put a shine on the song’s rustic roots. “Places” opens with an adolescent anthem’s heart-heavy, acoustic riff, and when the drums join in, it’s perfect, sweet-heart-on-sleeve, sing-along pop, with a finishing violin solo that’s a fitting goodnight kiss for the innocence of a perfect first date.

Stephen Harris’s exquisite production lends Burning in the Sun a polish without over-buffing it to a superficial shine. There’s an inherent richness that shows through the gleam of string quartets and mandolin rain showers. While the album is nothing truly original, just generic pop made novel again with new instrumentation, it is warm, comforting music, perfect for the bitter cold of February. Reynold’s subtly powerful vocals sympathize with the winter shut-ins, but the band’s bright, acoustic tone reminds us that summer is on the way, the hot sun beating down, and warm evenings spent on the amphitheater lawn with cool grass under bare feet.

download: blue merle - burning in the sun

red sparowes - every red heart shines towards the red sun

.:: There just might be a certain warped truth to the phrase "guilt by association." As in the case of Red Sparowes, its formal associations with such heavy, propulsive bands as Neurosis, Angel Hair and Pleasure Forever would lead you to expect that the Los Angeles quintet's debut would be a masterfully crafted epic of primal urgency.

It is.

However, Red Sparowes is epic without bombast, heavy without a single barre-chord riff and eviscerating without any clearly audible vocals. The chiming, spindly layers of effect-laden guitars and the swinging, entrancing drums on its Neurot Recordings debut At the Soundless Dawn create textures reminiscent of Goblin, Tones on Tail, Godspeed You Black Emperor and early Sonic Youth. Its attack is syrupy and serpentine; subtle but frighteningly deliberate.

Red Sparowes is comprised of Bryant Clifford Meyer on guitar (Isis), Josh Graham on guitar (Neurosis visuals and acclaimed video director), Greg Burns on bass and pedal steel (also of Temporary Residence dark chamber folk sextet Halifax Pier), Andy Arahood on bass/guitar (Angel Hair) and David Clifford on drums (The VSS, Pleasure Forever). The album was recorded with founding drummer Dana Berkowitz (The Cignal) and Isis bassist Jeff Caxide, both of whom relocated at the end of 2004. The sum total of its sound, however, stems more so from esoteric melodic guitar-surrealists of the mid-80's Blast First and Too Pure hive than the fierce realism of the aforementioned cabal of heavy-psych rock.

Although the band members are indeed tied to many other projects, Red Sparowes is not just a side-project. The band has toured the US with the Dillinger Escape Plan and label-mates Made Out of Babies, as well as a very successful headlining European/UK tour in Spring 2005. In August-September, the band embarks on a full national tour with Pelican, Big Business and Breather Resist.

While At the Soundless Dawn uses vocals as subtle instrumentation, the group plans to incorporate voices further into its sound. This stunning introduction to Red Sparowes, recorded in San Francisco by engineer Desmond Shea (who also did additional engineering on the recent Neurosis album, The Eye of Every Storm) is just the beginning for a band that promises to change the way we think about heavy music. Its family of related artists is certainly good company. But, where their common goals to experiment with epic, cathartic music meet, Red Sparowes branches far outside of the expected boundaries.

download: red sparowes - every red heart shines towards the red sun

calla - televisive

.:: Occupying both the garage and the temple, Calla are at once dissonant and pristine, harmonious and rhythmic. They cling to the dirty residues of NYC with an attention always affixed upward to cosmopolitan refinement. A fact perhaps explained by the group's roots in Texas and their emigration to Brooklyn.

Unlike most of their contemporaries, Aurelio Valle (guitar/vocals), Wayne Magruder (drums/programming/percussion) and Sean Donovan (keyboard/bass/programming) understand the way in which the dirtiness of rock intersects the world of high art.

From their 1999 self-titled debut (Sub Rosa) to 2001's SCAVENGERS (Young God), Calla drew upon this understanding. Not wishing to rest on their existing answers, their third release and first for the Arena Rock Recording Co and Ryko, TELEVISE pushes harshly against complacency with stunning sophistication. The music allows avant gestures to collapse into supple pop while catapulting their dark breathless aggression into a furious swelling of feedback. This is the moment when the curtains are opened and light floods the room.

Calla's shows are some of the most anticipated in New York. It is impossible to watch them perform without becoming transfixed on the intensity of its presentation. Angular guitars bend across thick bass lines; weightless electronics become pulled into the harsh simplicity of minimalist percussion; Aurelio's fragile voice rises boldly against the torrents of expressive noise. It is for this reason that artists like Nick Cave, Godspeed You Black Emperor! and Sigur Ros have been eager to perform with them.

Picked by Alternative Press as "the number one band to watch", lauded by the New York Times, remixed by the brightest electronic experimentalists on 2002's CUSTOM: THE REMIX PROJECT, Calla are unquestionably a band whose work will be dissected and reevaluated long after their beautiful static energy burns away.

download: calla - televisive

julie doiron - goodnight nobody

.:: For songwriters, there is a fine line between being unabashed and being unguarded. The first state intimates awareness: that one knows how she is being perceived and consciously decides to ignore, for better or for worse, any external criticism. The other, more favorable state suggests that the songwriter is not conscious of how people take her work: the songwriter as inert artist, creating for the sake of creation. Though it is indeed a fine distinction, Julie Doiron is clearly in the latter camp. She demonstrates as much on her newest full-length record Goodnight Nobody, recorded with friends Herman Dune and Dave Draves in a few days at various studios in France and Canada.

Described frequently in the press as an "indie-diva" or "chanteuse" of the highest power, founding Eric’s Trip member Julie Doiron fits these well-intentioned approbations only in that she is a woman singer comfortable in her own skin. Doiron began her career in 1990s New Brunswick playing bass in Eric’s Trip, a folky, psychedelic band that was to become the undisputed underground darling of Canadian music. Eric’s Trip was the first of many maritime Canadians signed to Sub Pop and found international recognition, releasing several albums and touring widely.

Following 1996’s Purple Blue, Eric’s Trip announced their breakup and Doiron embarked on her solo career, first releasing songs as Broken Girl and then under her own name. Since then she has worked with a veritable "who’s who" of independent rock giants, including Dave Shouse (Grifters), Howe Gelb (Giant Sand) and Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie, to name a few.

download: julie doiron - goodnight nobody

daughters - hell songs

.:: If you're not familiar with Providence, RI's Daughters, ask yourself this: where the hell have you been? They've basically injected grind and all manners of extreme heaviness with a much-needed dose of lube, style, and danger. This is their second album, following 2003's "Canada Songs". Spazz-core aficionados Daughters are always on the road, cramming peoples' eye holes and ear holes with blasts of high-density noise.

Excellent spastic grind and discordant chaos" - Lambgoat.com.

"Love is a disgusting thing," yowls Alexis Marshall on "Hyperven Tilationsystem", off Daughters' second full-length, Hell Songs. The metal outcasts of the Providence scene, some of these guys were formerly behind the grind'n'grab As the Sun Sets, a band I once saw hit a girl in the face with a guitar. And having gone the 10 songs in 11 minutes route on 2003's Canada Songs, they've found a new way to alienate their audience: a brand new, Beefheart-by-way-of-Mike Anderson gurgle, a gaspy moan of dissatisfaction in place of shredding vocals.

Daughters still play techy grindcore, but they're clearly listening to better records now: Birthday Party, who they covered recently; late-period Orchid; Racebannon and Rapider Than Horsepower. From the sound of things, they've even rediscovered the old Nation of Ulysses and Make Up records stashed between their couch cushions. And though the assumption that they're actually going to offend somebody is as infuriating as that kind of thing always is-- "Boner X-Ray", "The Fuck Whisperer", har har-- their new gothic grind is, insofar as they've finally copped a great rhythm section to hold up their guitars, undeniably a good idea.

Bands like the Locust or Discordance Axis made a mid-1990s routine of throwing dozens of different riffs into one-minute-or-less songs; Daughters, to their credit, have realized that making actual songs involves returning to the stuff that works, if only for a few bars. "Providence by Gaslight", for instance, alternates high-pitched, vibrating chords with double-bass and blast-beats, back and forth as both parts build, then slams ‘em together on the trumpet (played by Kayo Dot's Forbes Graham) punctured finale.

Like lots of the post-punk and art-rock they're raiding to make their robotic metal, Daughters have freed their guitars to explore and go fucking nuts by designating the melodic leads to their bass and bass drum. "Daughters Spelled Wrong" is a queasy, angled-lightning riff with what sounds like Marshall trying to speak even as he throws up; "Fiery" is almost pure drum solo, even as it has a kind of narrative arc; "Cheers, Pricks"-- at six minutes, presumably the longest song Daughters have ever written-- coasts off a lazily bright bass riff that descends even as the track collapses on itself.

Daughters' uneasy marriage of Pussy Galore-cum-Locust attitude mirrors what they're attempting on Hell Songs: A unity of two different avant-gardes united mostly by a desire for shock and aural awe. The resulting songs might even work too well-- together.

download: daughters - hell songs

tom waits - one from the heart (ost)

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.:: Apocalypse Now is widely considered director Francis Ford Coppola's Waterloo, an ambitious personal vision that nearly wrecked his fabled career, health, and sanity. In fact, it was the director's equally Quixotic 1982 Vegas-themed musical One From the Heart that forever cast a pall over his Hollywood future, sounding a death knell for his once-promising American Zoetrope studios in the bargain. Hindsight being 20/20, it's now easy to see Heart's visual conceits as the glorious cinematic antecedent to Moulin Rouge, its smart, lounge-savvy score by musical odd couple Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle easily 15+ years ahead of the retro-hipster revival it preceded--and outclassed at every turn.

Now brightened by a sparkling digital remastering, it remains the most accessibly mainstream--and ironically idiosyncratic--music of Waits' storied career. Constructed as a dialog between lovers in a fitful emotional spiral, Waits raspy growl is the perfect counterpoint to Gayle's own gutsy, surprisingly bluesy diva turns. Backed by the spare, deftly lugubrious production of Bones Howe and key contributions by jazz vets Greg Cohen on bass, saxist Teddy Edwards, and the key, mournfully lyrical trumpet of Jack Sheldon, Waits' score has long since taken its rightful place as a modern classic, a perfectly realized romantic daydream that never forgets the wistful, broken hearts stacking up beneath the Vegas neon.

This edition features the previously unreleased Waits vocal outtake, "Candy Apple Red" as well as an early, discarded version of the opening montage "Once Upon A Town/Empty Pockets," rejects that only underscore the strength of Waits' musical hand. Enhanced CD also features a newly-edited video montage by Coppola's son, Gian-Carlo. --Jerry McCulley

One From the Heart is the score to the most misunderstood of Francis Ford Coppola's films. Far ahead of its time in terms of technology, use of color, montage, and set design, its soundtrack is the only thing that grounds it to earth. Coppola's movie is a metaphorical retelling of the exploits of Zeus and Hera set in Las Vegas.

According to Coppola's liner notes for the expanded, remastered CD issue of the soundtrack -- which also accompany the deluxe two-DVD edition -- Tom Waits' score was actually composed before filming started, and the director sculpted his narrative to fit. Coppola claims to have been taken with the male-female narrative implications of the track "I Don't Talk to Strangers," off Tom Waits' Foreign Affairs album. That cut was a duet with Bette Midler. Midler wasn't available for One From the Heart, however, so Waits chose Crystal Gayle as his vocal foil.

The result is one of the most beautifully wrought soundtrack collaborations in history. Along with producer Bones Howe, Waits and Gayle cut their duets largely from the studio floor, live with the small combo-style studio band that included the saxophonist Teddy Edwards, drummer Shelly Manne, trumpeter Jack Sheldon, pianist Pete Jolly, and bassist Greg Cohen, among others. The opening cut, a Waits piano intro that flows into the duet "Once Upon a Town," is a study in contrasts: first there are the stark ivories and the tinkle of a coin falling upon a bar before Waits' then-still-smoky baritone (now ravaged indescribably) entwines with Gayle's clear, ringing, emotionally rich vocal, and then joined by Bob Alcivar's string orchestrations before giving way to a jazzed-out down-tempo blues, where the pair sing in call-and-response counterpoint about the disappointments in life and love.

These are echoed a couple of tracks later in another duet, "Picking Up After You," which is the ultimate starstruck breakup tune. And while there are only four duets on the entire set, they are startling in their ragged intimacy, contrasted with a stark yet elegant atmosphere and cool noir-esque irony. Gayle's solo performances on the set, which include the mournfully gorgeous "Is There Any Way out of This Dream," with beautiful accompaniment in a tenor solo by Edwards, and the shimmering melancholy of "Old Boyfriends," are among the finest in her long career. For his part, Waits' "I Beg Your Pardon" and "You Can't Unring a Bell" fit deftly into his post-beat hipster canon, though they are offered with less droll irony and more emotionally honest flair here than they would have if they were on his own solo recordings.

Likewise, the piano and vocal duet of "Take Me Home" offers Waits' piano as a canny and intuitive counterpart to the deep sensuality of Gayle's vocal. There are two bonus tracks included here, a solo piano/vocal tune called "Candy Apple Red" that accompanied a scene left on the cutting-room floor, and an orchestral ensemble medley of "Once Upon a Town" and "Empty Pockets." With wondrously remastered sound, One From the Heart is a welcome addition to any soundtrack library to be sure, but also an essential one to the shelf of any Waits or Gayle fan. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

download: tom waits - one from the heart (ost)

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leafcutter john - the sky is darker than the road

.:: Since his first release on Planet-Mu records in 2000, London-based Leafcutter John (aka John Burton) has developed a strong musical identity using processed instrumental and environmental recordings. His latest and third album The Housebound Spirit (Planet-Mu, 2003) won an Honorary Mention at the 2004 Ars Electronica Awards and was featured on The Wire Magazine’s top 50 records of 2003.

He writes his own music software, has given talks and exhibited software across Europe (including the ICA) and is also a regular guest speaker at the London College of Communication. He had also a teaching post at DIEM (Danish Institute of Electronic Music) in Aarhus, Denmark during 2005.

John has also been involved in the Contemporary Art scene, with his latest project at the Serpentine Gallery where he was invited by artist Tomoko Takahashi (short-listed for the 2000 Turner prize) and the Serpentine to produce a live show based on Tomoko's solo exhibition. 'My Play-station' was performed in the entire gallery where he turned the installation into a sound source involving 3 live sound collectors and the audience.

Leafcutter John has played live at Festivals and one-off events throughout Europe, emphasising his interest in audience interaction. He has shared bills with Matmos, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Yo La Tengo, Otomo Yoshihide, Aki Onda, Phillip Jeck, Janek Schaefer, Tujiko Noriko and many more.


"The Sky is Darker Than the Road" was recorded simply on a 4 track cassette recorder between 1998 and 1999. An album of 13 acoustic songs compiled for a John's friend in 1999.

download: leafcutter john - the sky is darker than the road

daughters! - canada songs

.:: This album is absolutely amazing and could shake the foundation of heavy music as we know it.

Chances are you're not going to like this record. Chances are you've never heard of grindcore and if you did hear it you would say something to the effect of "this is noise." Ignoring probability let's suppose that you, the reader, likes music that is loud. Perhaps you even like music that is filled with blast beats and screaming. And as far fetched as it is, the idea of a band trying something new isn't necessarily "artsy" and for "fraggles".

Any comparisons you've heard to The Locust I suggest ignoring. While both bands do play at very fast speeds and the vocals are done very harshly, the music itself is very different. The guitar players found chords that sound very eerie and slightly off. They aren't quite melodic, but they aren't random sounding. They will hold these and start playing them up and down the neck at weird speeds creating a sound that at times sounds like a deflating balloon or a soundtrack to an exponential graph. Sometimes they will begin playing at hyper speeds in a very technical manner, while other times it almost sounds like a breakdown engorged in horse tranquilizers that last no longer than seven seconds.

The first five seconds of this album create one of the best introductions to an album, one of the best of 2003 thus yet. Consistently throughout the whole album you are hit with a fierce eruption of electric insanity and rapid fire pregnancy. I just lied though, because the last track has a two minute breakdown, which ironically is the weirdest part of the album.

This album is also really good for pissing people off, especially when played at high volumes.

download: daughters! - canada songs

porcupine tree - deadwing

.:: Before the Dillinger Escape Plan, Porcupine Tree's 2002 US, In Abstentia, had already laid most of the groundwork. For the middle-aged British quartet led by Steven Wilson, '70s rockers like Rush and Yes (with whom the group toured after the album's release) never went out of style but instead left behind grandiose scriptures to be studied for all of eternity. So while tighter and more efficient in spots ("Shallow," "Halo"), Porcupine Tree's Deadwing faithfully keeps the technically proficient epics coming, peaking with multi-tentacled 12-minute "Arriving Somewhere (But Not Here)."

This unique London-based quartet make unconventional, uncompromising music that qualifies them as Europe's premiere art-rock cult band. Porcupine Tree's cogent musical personality is a force to be reckoned with. Porcupine Tree's intelligent and accessible sound will appeal not only to metal enthusiasts and twenty-something dark wave fans, but will also fit in with today's more adventurous alternative station playlists.

With their eighth studio album Porcupine Tree continue to defy categorisation. Down the years, since their humble beginnings in 1988 when they consisted solely of frontman Steven Wilson, they have been described as psychedelic, progressive and alternative metal.

Wilson has never been comfortable with being pigeon-holed in the prog rock section, perhaps a reason why the albums he has written in recent years have been more Pantera than Pink Floyd. The singer-songwriter and lead guitarist continues that harder edge heard on 2002's In Absentia with his compositions on Deadwing.

It would be wrong to suggest that the whole album is alternative metal however, as there is so much more to Porcupine Tree than that. Title track Deadwing has a spacey electronica opening before blasting into a flurry of heavy drums and one of those trademark guitar riffs. Despite its heavier edge it is still undeniably PT, especially its ambient lull in the middle before it comes straight at you again with a guitar solo from another special guest, King Crimson's Adrian Belew.

Enjoy !!!

download: porcupine tree - deadwing

medeski scofield martin & wood - out louder

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.:: "Funky, infectious, brash and sometimes downright beautiful" is one way to describe Medeski Scofield Martin and Wood's second album, Out Louder. The groove-heavy trio is once again paired with guitar guru John Scofield for a mind-blowing improvisational album that continues to push their sound to new levels.

MEDESKI SCOFIELD MARTIN & WOOD OUT LOUDER It's a match made not above nor below, but rather in some altogether hipper place: John Medeski + Billy Martin + Chris Wood + guitar guru John Scofield. On their new release OUT LOUDER, they make music not of this world, yet rooted in the earth tones of jazz, funk, and blues. Music from the heart, for the mind, and made to shake the earth, not to mention the body.

Yes, this music does come from a deep, hip, strange place, and Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood are ready to take it out there and everywhere.

Out Louder is the first collaborative effort from the quartet since John Scofield's 1998 release "A Go Go" and the first release on MMW's independent label, Indirecto Records. Recorded at MMW's infamous downtown Brooklyn Studio, Shacklyn, Out Louder exhibits a raw and edgy sound that is embedded in the foundations of jazz, funk, and blues. "Out Louder's" deep grooves and sophisticated harmonies beg for closer inspection while simultaneously making you want to get up and dance.

John Medeski - Keyboards
John Scofield - Guitars
Billy Martin Drums and Percussion
Chris Wood - Basses

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download: medeski scofield martin & wood - out louder

atari teenage riot - burn, berlin, burn!

.:: Atari Teenage Riot is one of those bands that look great on paper: youth fighting the system, a band blending old-school punk with samplers and break beats, a musical revolution. Unfortunately, Burn, Berlin, Burn! is mere cathartic venting, not a full frontal assault on government, press, and social ills. Musically, they dish out a mix of recycled punk and bad jungle--not even much for ear candy. It's a shame because they are the type of band you really want to take seriously, but so are the reunited Sex Pistols as they scream about EMI 20 years later. A good idea taken to an unoriginal conclusion. --Bill Snyder

Atari Teenage Riot: Alec Empire, Hanin Elias, Carl Crack. Principally recorded at Empire Studios, Berlin, Germany between 1994 and 1996. Rarely has a band been more appropriately named than the German trio of Alec Empire, Hanin Elias, and Carl Crack. Crossing the title of Sonic Youth's 1988 anthem of disaffection with the name of the video game company that shaped the leisure hours of an entire generation, Atari Teenage Riot combines the stridency and political bent of '80s hardcore with a fascinating electronic aesthetic.

The group is simultaneously up-to-the-minute and engagingly nostalgic. Bandleader/mouthpiece Empire, whose solo records are even more sonically ambitious than those of his band, understands the ironic power of sloganeering. The titles and the hyper-speed lyrics include such pearls as "Fuck All," "Deutschland Has Gotta Die," and "Destroy 2000 Years of Culture." BURN BERLIN BURN is not an easy listen, but the album has a lyrical and aesthetic value far more interesting than the majority of faceless '90s electronica efforts.

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