My favorite Scandinavian band called Disco Ensemble are back with new album and also with new music video. The news is not so fresh though - new album with a name Warriors came out on September 21 and about the same time, music video for the first single of the record entitled "Second Soul" was revealed. I just didn't quite catch that and completely forgot about their new album.
However, new record is not their best (I think that their previous effort The Island of Disco Ensemble is much better). They kind of moved the other direction and slowed down a lot. I miss their hardcore roots in their music, which were present on their previous albums. I mean, there are also on this album, but not so much.
I'm not saying the album is bad or something, I just don't like it as much as their older stuff. There are still typical guitar riffs and also typical synthesizers for their music, but they are not used in the way I wished they were.
Anyway, listen to the song and check out the music video for it below.
Mark Lanegan is an artist that I admire quite a lot. His music contribution is really huge. He stood on the start of the whole grunge scene in Seattle in early 1990s whit his band Screaming Trees that released seven studio albums.
After the band broke up in 2000, he joined legendary Josh Homme's band The Queens of The Stone Age and recorded three albums with them (2000's Rated R, 2002's Songs for the Deaf and 2005's Lullabies to Paralyze). He also toured with them and therefore we can say he was regular member of the band.
During his career, he also collaborated with names such as Kurt Cobain, Belle and Sebastian, Isobel Campbell or Melissa Out of her Mind. The album made in collaboration with Isobel Campbell entitled Ballad of the Broken Seas was even nominated for Mercury Prize.
Despite all of his collaborations with different kind of artists, his solo career is the main reason why he is so respected. Since 1990, he has released seven solo studio LPs. The last one called Blues Funeral came out this year in February.
The album received positive reception throughout the music world. Of course, the most important element of his music is his powerful voice, which is by many compared to Tom Waits. When we add brilliant music to his incredible vocals, nothing bad can come out.
He is currently on tour in support of his latest effort. As part of this tour, he also stopped by in Slovakia for the first time ever. Concert took place at small venue in our Capital this past week (Tuesday, September 20).
First band of the evening called Tornado Lue started right on time according to schedule - at 7 pm. This young slovak indie band showed their uniqueness during their short set. Although, not many people were there yet during their performance, they showed why a lot of people like them.
Second artist that performed slightly before 8 pm was british guitarist and songwritter Duke Garwood. During his set, most of the people were really surprised by his incredible guitar skills. He didn't play for a long time either, but his gig was great. Although, vocals could be set up little higher.
Third and last support band of the evening was band called Creature with the Atom Brain from Belgium. They put fans on the right wave with musically perfect grunge music. Interesting thing about this band was the fact that three of four members were actually roadies of Mark Lanegan band. One of them was even keyboards and guitar player in Lanegan's band. However, during their set the vocals were really low as well, but it didn't matter so much since their gig was more about music than vocals.
Main act of the evening started on 9:40 pm. Mark kicked it off with first track of his last record "The Gravedigger's Song", which predicted the direction of the whole concert. He played mostly songs from his last record and therefore people in the audience weren't cheering as much as they could. They probably didn't know as many songs, but the atmosphere of the small venue mixed with extremely emotional music of Mark Lanegan provided this invisible power and communication between the audience and the band.
The fans reacted the most during the encore when Mark played two extra tracks. First one was Queens Of The Stone Age's "Hangin' Tree" during which people went crazy. He finished the set with slow "Methamphetamine Blues", which gave the concert a beautiful finish.
To conclude, Mark Lanegan played a dark emotional concert, which was definitely one of the highlights of 2012 concert season in Slovakia. The only thing that could be better is sound because during some tracks Mark's vocals were disappearing.
Setlist:
"The Gravedigger's Song
"Sleep With Me
"Hit the City
"Wedding Dress
"One Way Street
"Resurrection Song
"Gray Goes Black
"Devil in my Mind (Smoke Fairies cover)
"Harborview Hospital
"Quiver Syndrome
"One Hundred Days
"Creeping Coastline of Lights (Leaving Trains cover)
"Black Rose Way (Screaming Trees song)
"Riot in My House
"Ode to Sad Disco
"St. Louis Elegy
"Tiny Grain of Truth
Encore:
"Hangin' Tree" (Queens of the Stone Age song)
"Methamphetamine Blues"
Fans of legendary american guitarist and singer Jimi Hendrix (who is probably everybody who knows at least something about good music) can be happy because they will hear tracks that haven't been released so far. Album entitled People, Hell and Angels will contain songs that were recorded during 1968 and 1969. They were supposed to be featured on album First Days Of The New Rising Sun.
In that times, this phenomenal artist experimented with his music (and also with drugs) quite a lot. He didn't play just the guitar but percussions, flutes and keyboards as well. Jimi died on September 18 1970 and therefore, he never got the time to finish the record. First Days Of The New Rising Sun did come out in 1997 though.
People, Hell and Angels will feature 12 rarities and according to Rolling Stone Magazine it will be in stores on March 5 in the US. European date of release will be probably March 4, but it hasn't been officially announced yet.
I'm actually really happy about this because I admire Jimi Hendrix a lot. He gave the rock the right direction, which was later followed by many artists. I think that rock wouldn't exist in such form as we know it today. It is sad that such great artists die very young. Well, maybe we wouldn't admire them as much if they had still lived...who knows...
At least, let's remind his greatness with his performance of "Wild Thing" at Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Yes, this is the legendary performance during which he famously puts his guitar on fire. This concert actually really started his career.
Legendary ex-Beatle Paul McCartney revealed recording of "Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)". Cover of this classic Christmas tune can be found on special edition of his latest record entitled Kisses On The Bottom - Complete Kisses, which will come out next week (November 26) on iTunes. It will feature all original 14 tracks + 4 bonus tracks and DVD of a concert filmed at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles earlier this year.
Speaking to NME he said about the song:
""Doing 'Chestnuts" was a bit intimidating because when you do these old songs, there's so many good versions of them – particularly Nat King Cole's in this case. So, I thought, 'You know what, I'm not even going to listen to it, I'm not going to see who's done it, I'm not even going to figure out how I'm going to sing it. So it was just done in one afternoon in New York. And I'm quite pleased with it, because it's not like anyone else's version."
By the way, already mentioned concert featured on special edition of his last album is the first one that Paul performed completely without playing any instrument. That's quite interesting.
Paul said about this experience:
"It was a bit naked, you never realise how much your guitar or piano is protection. There's something between you and the sound. Like you're plugged into the music, because you've got your hands on the keys, or you've got your hands on the fret. When you haven't got anything, it's like: what do you do with your hands? They feel very awkward. So there was a bit of hand waving here or there, but that was it. No mic techniques. No [Roger] Daltrey swirling."
So watch the "Christmas Song" here and don't forget that the Capitol concert will be aired on british public tv called ITV tomorrow (November 24).
Yesterday, we had song called "Fuck You" as song of the day. Well, today I chose another song entitled the same from legendary punk band - Rancid.
This (also Californian) band isn't preparing new album though (or maybe they are but they haven't officially announced it yet). Their new song is part of a compilation called Oi! This is Streetpunk Volume Two. It is obviously punk compilation album featuring artists such as Street Dogs, Argy Bargy or Stranglehold. To be honest with you, except Rancid (which I know quite well), I am not familiar with any of these bands. Anyway, the compilation will be out on December 12. For more information visit Pirates Press Records website.
In fact, you can now listen to the whole album here. Rancid's new song is just kick-ass song with crazy guitar line.
Also, don't forget that these punk veterans will release career-spanning box-set entitled Essentials, which will capture their 20 years of their career. Pre-order it here.
My all time favorite punk band, legendary Bad Religion, are back with new record. It is called True North and it will come out on January 22, 2013.
To make the waiting shorter for us, they revealed first song of the album called simply "Fuck You". As the title, the track is straightforward fast punk tune as typical Bad Religion. I'm really glad that this song is good because I believe Bad Religion really can't disappoint. Check the track below.
Also, if you have half a hour to spare, watch video of their Google hangout during which they all answered the various questions from fans. It is actually pretty interesting and entertaining. Check it also below.
Couple of days ago, Green Day announced ;Quattro!. Because why not, right?
Well, it's not a new album featuring new tracks like some of you (including me) could have expected, but it's a documentary movie. It will obviously feature footage of making their ongoing album trilogy.
It was directed by Tim Lynch and according to a press release, the film "pulls back the curtain and takes fans inside the world of Green Day, from the various spontaneous live performances in select cities across the U.S. to the chronicling of their creative process while conceptualizing and recording their current trilogy of albums."
The documentary movie will be premiered on VH1 on Wednesday, November 28. Later, on November 30, it will be aired on MTV2 and also on Palladia. The full-length version of ;Quattro! will be released sometimes in 2013 (no exact release date is announced yet).
Legendary rock band R.E.M., which called it quits in September of last year, have a new music video for track called "Blue". Video was directed by actor James Franco. Song that also features Patti Smith on vocals is taken from their last studio album entitled Collapse Into Now (released March 7, 2011).
Franco used footage of Los Angeles, parties in it, walking people and also Hollywood Walk of Fame. It also features controversial Lindsay Lohan during her photo shoot with famous photographer Terry Richardson at Chateau Marmont Hotel.
Famous actor's effort is part of Collapse Into Now Film Project, which started in March of 2011. It gave opportunity to different artists to create short video for each track of the album.
Michael Stipe said about the project following:
"I approached people which I really wanted to work with. This way I could just let them work as they wish. It was just up to them. In many cases, I was surprised and in others, I expected similar results."
The result in this case is really good in my opinion. The footage used for the video really fits the music. In fact, it makes me kind of sad that such an awesome band broke up. But still, we have their awesome music and we can listen to it whenever we want. R.E.M. still lives in our hearts!
End of the year is slowly approaching and that means that I will once again make a list of best albums of the past year. They will be obviously best albums only in my opinion - your opinions may differ a lot.
I don't know how many albums I will list but it will probably be something around 20. Maybe more, maybe less. We'll see. I will try to post new album every two or three days, but I'll see how that goes. Also, the list won't be in order.
I hope you'll like my choices and hopefully you discover something new because of me.
So stay tuned for this and thanks for you support.
"Drama Queen" is a track taken from Green Days last album of their ongoing ;Uno! ;Dos! ;Tre! album trilogy. Formerly, ;Tre! was supposed to come out in January of 2013. However, after the band was forced to cancel their scheduled tour dates because of Billie's treatment, they decided to release it earlier - on December 7. For all the Green Day fans, it is at least some kind of compensation...
Like I said, song "Drama Queen" will be on last album of the trilogy, however it was formerly featured on ;Dos! on early vinyl pressing instead of "Stray Heart". That's why it is already available to listen (of course, unofficially).
In fact, it is nice acoustic song. I'm glad they didn't put it on ;Dos! though because I think it wouldn't fit in there at all. Anyway, listen to it below.
Song called "Love Me Do" is the first single ever released by this legendary band, which is probably one of the best bands ever. The single was released on October 5, 1962 - 50 years ago and therefore, The Beatles fans from all over the world recently celebrated band's 50th anniversary.
Biffy Clyro are back! Yes, they are back with new single, new UK & Ireland tour and it seems like they're stronger than ever.
Just today, Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro revealed first single of their upcoming double-album entitled Opposites. Song called "Black Chandelier" is second track revealed from their sixth studio LP (after "Stingin' Belle", which you can check out here), which is set to be in stores on January 28, 2013.
Single will be released physically on January 14. Also, music video for the song is being made as it was revealed by actor Ricki Hall via his Twitter.
Track itself is really good. It's got typical, old-school Biffy Clyro sound mixed with catchy vocals. Check it out below.
Like I previously mentioned, after they finish this year's touring with two shows in Europe (November 26 in Paris and November 28 in Amsterdam) and two gigs in the US (On December 3 in New York and on December 8 in Los Angeles), they will return to UK in March and play 6 shows. For more information, visit their website.
Grunge veterans, Seattle's Soundgarden, are back with new album entitled King Animal (you can still stream it in its entirety along with new Deftones and How to Destroy Angels records here). It's interesting that even though it is their first new full-length studio album in long 15 years (last one was 1996's Down on the Upside), it is really good.
To promote their latest effort, they recently stopped by at New York’s Ed Sullivan Theatre to appear in the latest installment of the Live on Letterman online concert series.
Their ten-song setlist, which lasted almost one hour, included 7 tracks from King Animal, two from 1988's Ultramega OK and one tune from 1994's Superunknown.
Band also performed current single "Been Away For Too Long" for Late Show With David Letterman TV series. Check both performances below.
Tracklisting of Live on Letterman:
"Worse Dreams" (from King Animal)
"By Crooked Steps" (from King Animal)
"Incessant Mace" (from Ultramega OK)
"Beyond The Wheel" (from Ultramega OK)
"Taree" (from King Animal)
"A Thousand Days Before" (from King Animal)
"Eyelid’s Mouth" (from King Animal)
"Non-State Actor" (from King Animal)
"Fell On Black Days" (from Superunknown)
"Rowing" (from King Animal)
The Rolling Stones' track "Sympathy for the Devil", which comes from their 1968's Beggars Banquet, is true classic rock song. It has been covered by many artists all over the world.
However, nobody probably has covered it the way like Jane's Addiction recently did. They completely stripped it down to its basics. Perry Farrell's vocals alongside Dave Navarro's acoustic guitar fits this track perfectly.
Reason why Jane's Addiction did this is soundtrack for TV series Sons of Anarchy entitled Songs of Anarchy: Vol 2. You can listen to their cover along with complete soundtrack here (embed code wasn't working for some reason...).
Also, check out the original version of the track and decide which one is better.
Last weekend (November 11), MTV EMAs took place in Frankfurt. Even though I don't care about these kinds of awards at all, sometimes they feature pretty decent performances from artists who actually make real music and not those gangnam-style kind of "artists". It makes me really sad when I look at the nominees and winners... seriously, look for yourself here.
Anyway, like I said, sometimes they feature performances of great artists. This year, it was Muse, The Killers and No Doubt. It's not a lot, but we can be glad for at least something, right?
Muse obviously put out the best show of these three. They performed song "Madness" taken from their latest album The 2nd Law. I really like the beginning during which frontman of the band, Matt Bellamy, wears these cool glasses with two screens instead of see-through glass. However, he obviously can't see through them so before he's about to start playing his guitar, he has to take them off
No Doubt also performed quite well. They played song called "Looking Hot" from their comeback album Push and Shove, which came out only recently.
Finally, The Killers... Well, I'm kind of disappointed because they performed with playback and that's just not performance for me. However, at least they were there and brought real music to this horrible event...
Great indie rock band from Canada called Metric released fifth studio LP entitled Synthetica in July of this year. It features 11 new tracks, which got mostly positive reception. The band basically continue doing what they've been doing for last 14 or 15 years because it obviously works.
The band also recently revealed new music video for second single of the album called "Breathing Underwater". The track is really catchy and in fact, I like it more than the first single "Youth Without Youth".
New music video contains footage from their endless touring. So they basically used well-known concept and used it for their new music video. Though I think it's not bad when a band shows "on-the-road footage" in their music video from time to time.
Check the video below.
Also, if you've got some time to spare, check out Metric perform at Radio Music City Hall here.
Icelandic singer-songwritter, well known and well respected, Björk, has released her eighth studio record entitled Biophilia last year. It is once again great record from this incredible artist, which got positive reviews from music critics as well as her fans. Actually, I start to feel that Bjork can hardly go wrong and make something really really bad. I'm not saying that everybody should and does love her, but I definitely think she deserves the respects she receives for her work.
Recently, she teamed up with Los Angeles' Museum of Contemporary Arts and together made a music video for second single of the album called "Mutual Core".
The music video was directed by Andrew Thomas Huang and it is as weird as Björk and her music. It features 46 years old singer in sand. Around her are these sinister rock creatures. Like I said, it is weird, but these visuals are made with passion and are really incredible. Check this piece of art at the bottom of the post.
Björk is also set to release Biophilia remix album. It is called Bastards and it will be out next week (November 19). Although, all remixes have been previously released as The Crystalline Series of the Biophillia Remix Series, Björk picked quarter of them and put them on single CD.
Song called "Stray Heart" was first track revealed from Green Day's second album of their ongoing album trilogy;Uno! ;Dos! ;Tre!. It is also first single of the record, which officially came out last week (November 9).
Couple of days ahead of the album release, music video for this single was revealed. The video is typical love music video about a couple in which a guy messes it up and so on and so on... There is also this kind of weird thing where his heart jumps off his body and leaves literally a hole in his chest. The rest of the video is pretty much about that guy chasing his heart around the town. It is kind of weird.
However, the track is really good. Especially, the chorus is really catchy. Also the bass sounds great.
Yesterday (November 13), video game Call of Duty: Black Ops II (alongside its soundtrack) came out as well as Trent Reznor's side project How To Destroy Angels new EP entitled Omen (stream it here).
As you know, Trent Reznor has written a theme track for above mentioned video game. One day ahead of its release date, theme surfaced online. It sounds pretty much the same as preview from July. Really it doesn't evolve anywhere. It's just a mixture of keyboards, pounding rhythms and little distortion.
I'm not saying I don't like it, I just expected something more. Trent Reznor really didn't experiment a lot and instead used practices he has previously used on music scores for The Social Network, Girl With The Dragon Tattoo or on both How To Destroy Angels' EPs.
Song called "Boy Division" is one of two new songs recently revealed by band My Chemical Romance. Second track's name is "Tomorrow's Money".
Both tunes were recorded during Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys recording sessions back in 2009. Although, they didn't make it to the actual album, they will be featured on band's upcoming series of singles called Conventional Weapons.
Conventional Weapons will feature 10 previously unreleased tracks. They will be released as five singles (each containing two songs) between October 2012 and January 2013. The release dates are, respectively, October 30, 2012; November 23, 2012; December 18, 2012; January 8, 2013; and February 5, 2013.
Check out tracks "Boy Division" and "Tomorrow's Money" (they were already released on October 30) below.
The Rolling Stones' celebration of their 50th anniversary as a band will have a peak at the end of this year when they will perform 4 huge shows. Two are set to take place on November 25 and 29 at London's O2 Arena and other two will happen on December 13 and 15 at Newark's Prudential Center.
If they'll continue touring in 2013 is uncertain for now. However, I think they may do it and I even assume they might headline Glastonbury 2013. It would be awesome.
Anyway, their compilation album entitled GRRR! is set to be in stores next week (November 12). However, two new tracks featured on the record are already available on YouTube. You can listen to previously revealed song (also in my opinion better one) called "Doom and Gloom" here.
Second new track "One More Shot" was revealed just couple of days ago. I think it's not as good as "Doom and Gloom", but it sounds like typical Rolling Stones and that's definitely a good thing. Check the track along with official audio video below.
Great news for fans of both bands! Blink-182, which recently left their major label and have become an independent band, are currently planning to release new music in form of an EP.
Mark Hoppus recently announced via his Twitter account several news such as the band is recording and people should hear new tracks in near future and so on. Tom Delonge also tweeted that new EP will come out by Christmas.
No tracklisting, exact release date or title have been announced yet, but I feel we won't have to wait for them for too long.
Similar plans has also Delonge's second band - Angels and Airwaves. They are even set to release two new EPs. Name of this doubel EP is Stomping The Phantom Brake Pedal and official release date is set to be December 18. It will be the first record on which band collaborated with new drummer Ilan Rubin (former Lostprophets and tour member of Nine Inch Nails).
First track revealed from Stomping The Phantom Brake Pedal is song called "Diary". They recently also revealed new music video for it. Check it out below.
On the election day, there was revealed already fifth music video from The Black Keys' latest album El Camino (which is awesome by the way; check out my mini review of it here).
After "Lonely Boy", "Gold on the Ceiling", "Dead and Gone" and "Little Black Submarines" we have a new video for track called "Sister". The track itself is one of my less favorite of the album, but the video is good. Even though, the video is probably not official (it is fan-made), I think that they should make it official.
As it was described by Noisey: "a group of rebellious young women’s trip to the laundromat". Well, I think that pretty much sums it up. Check it out below.
This is pure awesomeness. Dave Grohl and QOTSA recording new album together? Hell yes!
First of all, exciting news is that Queens of the Stone Age are recording new album, which should be out prior to their Download Festival 2013 appearance. I think only this fact made a lot of people happy.
However, when all the fans found out that Dave Grohl is back in the band, everybody probably was like: "Holy Shit, this is even more awesome!".At least that was my reaction...
Anyway, I think this is great and really unexpected news. I mean, Dave Grohl drummed on QOTSA's best album called Songs for the Deaf (2002), but nobody probably thought he could be on their new effort as well. Well, dream of many came true.
I wonder if he will perform live though. It would be awesome and since Foo Fighters are on hiatus, I think it is not impossible.
Dave Grohl also recently revealed poster for his documentary movie Sound City. It looks pretty cool.
I'm finally back writing new post to my blog. Even though, it's been only like a week or so, a lot of new stuff have happened during the time I wasn't writing anything new. Here are all the new upcoming albums that I think you should check out.
Deftones - Koi No Yokan
I think that many people have been waiting for new album from awesome band Deftones entitled Koi No Yokan. Although it isn't out until next week (November 13), you can listen to it now in its entirety. Follow-up to 2010's Diamond Eyes features 11 tracks, which you can check here (via RollingStone).
Soundgarden's very anticipated new album is also going to be out next week (November 13). It is their first LP featuring new songs in long 15 years. And I know they made a lot of people happy after they announced their new record. People started to be even more excited when they revealed first song of the album "Been Away Too Long". The track's really really good.
Anyway, stream King Animal here (via NME). I've listened to the album twice so far and I like it. Of course, it has to grow on me more over time (I'm sure it will), but so far, it is really good and I think they still got it.
How To Destroy Angels - Omen EP
Last new album, which you can stream is from Trent Reznor's side band called How To Destroy Angels. Their second EP entitled Omen features 6 new tracks and are driven by beautiful voice of Reznor's wife Mariqueen Maandig. You probably know that this band's music is very experimental electronic music, but I think it is damn good. However, I also get that this kind of music isn't for everyone... Anyway, stream their new EP below.
