New Boris album previews.
Hey guys. Just a short post. As you probably know by now, if you follow Boris, they will release two albums this month. One site posted full previews of those two albums Attention Please and Heavy Rocks (2011) so check it out.
I didn't give Attention Please a listen yet (mostly because I didn't enjoy New Album very much) but I did give Heavy Rocks a few listens. I think it's fairly good and I think I'll preorder it but I can't shake this fucking annoying feeling of "oh this sounds just like that x song from their y album". :/
Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder
Lee Morgan was an amazing trumpet player who started his professional career at a very young age in the Art Blakey's Messengers organization. He was sort of a child prodigy. Sadly he was murdered by his wife in a very movie-like scene. Fortunately for us he left a lot of albums for us to look back on him and admire his talents.
Even though Blakey encouraged other members to write their original tunes for the band Lee never really tried any serious composing until this album. Sidewinder is probably his most critically well received album and it consists of solely his of own compositions. He hand picked his band mates for this album and he mostly chose people who already played with him so you have here a very tight and precise group of players. The songs themselves are all very catchy in a hard bop way. Lots of blues influence and a lot of rhythm with not that much dissonant solos and squeaking. Very easy to listen and follow it along. This never gets boring to me.
In glorious flac:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Meiko Kaji - Super Value
If you're a fan of Meiko Kaji you probably already own that one album that's circulating the internet. Not much more of her stuff can be found (or at least I couldn't find it) around. I nabbed this album off some Russian forum and there was another album as well but the link died or something, such a shame. The prices of her albums on amazon and ebay are outrageous as well.
If you didn't listen to Meiko Kaji before your probably did hear two of her songs that were featured in the Kill Bill movies and that's how most of us westerners heard of her. This was a nifty little trick and reference that Tarantino used because Meiko was also an actress and most of her roles were something along the lines that Uma Truman played as well. A betrayed woman, seeking revenge on men etc. Standard B-action chick flicks from the 70s, the kind of movies we all secretly enjoy (at least sometimes). The movie where she really stands out is probably Lady Snowblood (manga adaptation of the same title) which I warmly recommend for anyone who enjoys a geisha murder spree. Tarantino used this movie as the inspiration for the final scene of the first part.
As usual with this type of actresses she also had a musical career. Her music isn't very distinctive or original compared to other enka singers but she has an excellent voice (it's not squeaky like most jpop singers) and talent to sing so all of her songs are highly enjoyable despite the fact that she brings nothing new. Then again, you can't really expect something new in a stale genre like this. People know what they want and if you don't deliver it you won't make it. But nevertheless I like her distinctive voice and the music is good as well so it's all good.
Compared to the other album this one has some songs that are on there as well (Urami Bushi of course) while some are new and some are the same songs but with different musical arrangements.
Download.
That other album (not my link but also mediafire).
See comments for a big compilation of her songs.
A haft
For a very long time I thought the word "have" is spelled as "haft".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haft_%28sword%29
Better yet: nobody corrected me; ever. Except once and then I stopped typing it wrong.
Well that's what I get for being a filthy foreigner
Glorior Belli - Meet Us at the Southern Sign
Glorior Belli is a relatively new band that started out in some dodgy times. It was the year 2005 and their debut album seemed to me more or less like a copy of Deathspell Omegas, at the time, current full length that sort of shaped the future of (at least) French scene. In all honesty I didn't think much of it at the time and I avoided this band for quite a while. In 2007 they made another album which flew under my radar (apparently it's their best effort so far but I can't seem to remember how it even sounds) simply because there were far more interesting things to listen in that year. 2007 was a very fruitful year for metal.
Then came their third album in 2009. I was intrigued by the name since it wasn't the usual devil worship gibberish so I checked it out. Finally on this album the band tried something different! This was something that actually gave them identity and a unique sound. They took the concept of blues and sort of merged it with black metal. Musically it resembles blues but it still is largely based on black metal. Good black metal and great mixture of raspy yet clean vocals. It's an interesting take on black metal and music itself. Blues and black metal isn't something people generally mix together and this came out really great and innovative.
Certainly worth a listen or two even if your aren't much into back metal.
Download.
In every grief stricken blues.
Paysage d'Hiver - Nacht
Paysage d'Hiver is usually known in the metal world as the ultimate collectors wet dream. It's one of those black metal one man bands that were (are they still?) popular during the 00s. This particular "band" comes from Switzerland and, unlike many other lo-fi black metal bands, it delivers good enjoyment in all aspects of this genre. I also enjoy the fact how the guy refuses to put out anything other than demos and EPs (according to Metal Archives) even though he's considered a top tier project. This is probably why his stuff is very sought after and it usually sells really fast. And I mean really fast. Nacht, apparently, was sold out in just one day.
Is the hype around this guy justified? Well, sort of. Paysage d'Hiver is not a genre breaking outstanding music. It's just black metal but it's black metal done right. The low production, the ambient passages, the riffs, the fuzzy sounding vocals and the somewhat cheesy thematic that Paysage deals with is done good and has depth. It does not sound corny or superficial. It actually does a really good job in immersing you into this whole wintery theme that it presents.
Nacht is a good album to start with this band if you're new to it. It holds all of the musical directions in which the author flexes his artistic muscles and on top of that he is also an experienced composer and player by now. So yeah, I don't really see why you should miss out on this one if you're into black metal.
Oh and did I mention he is also in Darkspace?
Apparently fake and real version.
Hideshi Hino - Panorama Of Hell
Ah, the madness that is Hideshi Hino. Lately I've been rereading most of my library of peculiar and strange mangas so I remembered just how much good Panorama of Hell is.
I've read just three of Hinos comics so I can't really say this is the best he ever made but as far as my opinion goes this made the biggest impact on me while I was reading it. The art as well is a tad bit better from the previous works that I posted some time ago.
The story of the whole book revolves around a painter and his family. He "talks" with the reader and goes on to explain various things he uses for inspiration and tells you the story of his life. This could easily be a premise of a melodramatic Hollywood film directed by Wes Anderson with quirky camera angles and hip characters. But hey, this is Japanese comics we're talking about and the main protagonist is peeling his face off on the front cover so I think by now you realize how this is more of a fucking morbidly disgusting mockery of human existence and violence. In fact I think this is the most violent Hideshi Hino manga I've read so far. So preferably read this while listening to your favorite old school death metal band.
Despite the fact that the characters in this story (or any other story that Hino ever did in fact) have absolutely no redeeming qualities or any good intentions something inside me made me feel sorry for these characters. I rarely feel anything towards fictional characters but this time around this whole concept made me very depressed after reading the whole thing. I think it's very sad that these characters have to live through such atrocities and even sadder is that this is the only world they know. They actually enjoy this torment that they experience on an hourly basis. It is not something they have chosen to be, it's just that a series of misfortunes through generations piled up and brought them to this point.
This might not click with you as it did with me but I think you should give this one a try anyway.
Recommended.
Download.
Jackie McLean - 4, 5 And 6
Jackie McLean was perhaps the most talented Charlie Parker follower. He followed him since from his teen years (around those years Parker was very much the most popular guy in jazz) and sometimes he was even placed to play at Parkers concerts until Parker arrives.
Aside from being a very good Parker apprentice he devised a style and sound of his own. 4, 5 and 6 is probably my favorite album of his. The opening track is probably the best. A 10 minute work based on Sentimental Journey is a reason good enough to get this but other tunes on this record are exceptional as well. I can't really say anything more. It's bebop and it's good.
Download.
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