First thing that pops into my mind when thinking of Dune is the conversation between Paul Atreides and Reverend Mother Mohiam about prospective Kwisatz Haderach’s who underwent the spice trance. “They tried and failed?[…]”, he asked. Mohiam replied: “They tried and died”. In a way this conversation parallels Alejandro Jodorowsky’s attempt make movie out of the book in 1974. He tried, he failed… but didn’t die though. Continue reading
Tag Archives: cd
Nadine Shah – Fast Food
Remember when you were totally pissed off when I didn’t review Deerhunter’s marvellous Monomania in 2013? Well, It’s looks like history is going to repeat itself because I am not reviewing the band’s latest release, Fading Frontier, either. Yes, again it’s a great indie rocker but there is more music around that deserves some attention right? Nadine Shah sophomore album, for example. So take a good look at the femme fatale artwork, count to ten or whatever and read on.
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Low – Ones and Sixes
Honestly, I don’t know if Ones and Sixes, the title for Low’s eleventh album, stands for comparing two things that are the same. However, what I do know is that the slowcore grandmasters Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker have been going at it for quite some time now. Since the 90s they have been building up a mesmerizing repertoire that never reached the mainstreams. Low’s tranquil orbit indeed isn’t for everyone but it’s also never too late to get acquainted, though.
Wilco – Star Wars
Something, something, something Dark Side…
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Kamasi Washington – The Epic
The tree of life of jazz grew strong from blues, swing, bebop to cool and branched out into various directions like funk, fusion and free jazz. Today it still stands tall. Adding something fresh to this one-hundred-year-plus history isn’t quite an easy task. However what is fresh? Something truly new and innovating or finding your place within this history by means of your own creative terms? Kamasi Washington chose the latter path and released a three-hour sprawl called The Epic which takes you deep into the heart of jazz.
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Sounds from the Dark Side top albums of 2015 (until now)
‘Summer, summer, summertime…‘ Yep, we’re both huge fans of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. Especially at this time of the year. For that exact reason these are our best releases of 2015 until today. Continue reading
Little Wings – Explains
Kyle Field, frontman of Little Wings, is what you might call a postmodern balladeer of rural and urban landscapes. California’s wonderful natural surroundings, youth culture and the big city congestions issues were a source of inspiration for his hymns. Only somewhere during the course of time he expanded his horizon and started residing in landscapes of half truths. Luckily this was just the right place to bring together his fragile poetry and wobbly folk pop. Continue reading
Alamo Race Track – Hawks
Under the banner of Excelsior Recordings the Dutch alternative rock scene has been blooming for almost twenty years now. Only on rare occasions Excelsior’s artists achieve some kind of success outside The Netherlands, thus keeping most releases under the radar of the international press. Non-Dutch who are always looking for the best kept musical secrets of tomorrow should therefore watch this label like a hawk. One of those very nice Excelsior secrets I’m gonna review today is a band called Alamo Race Track, that recently brought out their fourth album called Hawks. Ahem, sorry about that…
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Tobias Jesso Jr. – Goon
Basically, I believe the singer-songwriter scene is overcrowded at the moment. Arguably, the ‘genre’ has always been pretty full because of its vague definition. However today it’s almost like anyone who’s has the hipster look and possesses a guitar is eager to make this stereotype their own. That’s reason enough to not take the scene too seriously, yet every so often the mediocrity is broken by someone new who appeals to my need of just listening to simple and small songs. Continue reading
Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
It seems everybody is talking about Courtney Barnett nowadays. From what I’ve read Courtney Barnett is super cute in her own slacky manner and, in one way or another, also equals greatness with her garage-poppy music. Well, if that’s the case, I ask myself what’s not to love? With all this enthusiasm surrounding her persona I hope you don’t mind if I share my thoughts about her debut album that was recently put out on her own Milk! label. Please, sit down and listen up.
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