Go review this random release

Hymie
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Re: Go review this random release

Post by Hymie »

Rob wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2020 1:41 pm
mileswide wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2020 1:08 am It'll come as no shock but the Floyd bootleg's not available to stream, the Wheel of Random might need another spin...
Yeah, I figured something like that would be the case, but perhaps this forum might house someone who collects Pink Floyd bootlegs? Well, if so, he or she can review this album later, but I draw a new random gem:

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/singl ... _my_heart/
I've got this. I like my country to really sound like country, with fiddles and shit. This just sounds like a singer-songwriter pop-rock record, Jim Croce, James Taylor, Kenny Loggins, that kind of stuff. Here comes an electric rock guitar break. Heavy drums like a blues rock record. His accent reminds me of Kenny Rogers. I've heard better from this guy. It's not really bad, but it's certainly nothing memorable. It gets a 3 from me.
Last edited by Hymie on Fri Feb 07, 2020 3:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Go review this random release

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Next up is this Garage Punk album:

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album ... cted_mind/


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Re: Go review this random release

Post by spiritualized »

Hymie wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2020 8:47 pm
Rob wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2020 1:41 pm
mileswide wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2020 1:08 am It'll come as no shock but the Floyd bootleg's not available to stream, the Wheel of Random might need another spin...
Yeah, I figured something like that would be the case, but perhaps this forum might house someone who collects Pink Floyd bootlegs? Well, if so, he or she can review this album later, but I draw a new random gem:

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/singl ... _my_heart/
I've got this. I like my country to really sound like country, with fiddles and shit. This just sounds like a singer-songwriter pop-rock record, Jim Croce, James Taylor, Kenny Loggins, that kind of stuff. Here comes an electric rock guitar break. Heavy drums like a blues rock record. His accent reminds me of Kenny Rogers. I've heard better from this guy. It's not really bad, but it's certainly nothing memorable. It gets a charitable 4 from me.
Oh boy...this is bad. Cheesy and so generic. I have great difficulties with "classic" country music. It's weak and overly sentimental. You are being very charitable, Hymie :)
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Re: Go review this random release

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Rob wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2020 1:30 pm Ehm, the next one is an unauthorized bootleg. I'm not sure how easily available it is:

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/unaut ... ck-wizard/

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Pink Floyd - Black Wizard
Year: 1995
RYM rating: 3,83 (8 votes)
Genre: Psychedelic rock

It sounds interesting, but if it takes too long for someone to review this I'll draw another random release.
I initially thought that I would do a quick review of this release - a bootleg, what's more. I personally have rarely seen any value in bootlegs, the poor cousin of proper live recordings. Usually badly engineered, you hear the crowd more than the band, hissing sounds, etc...Their historical value may be higher than a normal live recording, but I am not convinced of it either.

But then I read the background. It is actually quite fascinating.
Set the scene : Pink Floyd, the exceptionally popular prog-rock band, is invited to the September Montreux festival of 1971. The hitch ? The festival was reserved for classical music fans so there was an uproar amongst the usual attendees. The 2000 tickets were sold in an instant. In the words of a one of those regular festival goers "Inviting these drug-addicts in a venue where so many famous musicians have shone in the past, this is a scandal"

The record lasts short of 50 minutes with 3 songs, the band probably complying with the classical format of long songs to conform to the occasion. It looks like there is a second CD available, with Cymbaline/Atom Heart Mother and a Saucerful of Secrets.
Atom Heart Mother was released one year before and this bootleg has none of its songs (Careful... and Set the controls... are from the Saucerful of Secrets sessions) but also features the classic 22 min Echoes, due to be released a few weeks later on Meddle Some critics hinted that a few parts of that song could easily have been written by classical contemporary composers.

Pink Floyd didn't scrimp on the backing music either, bringing along a full choir and brass ensemble for the first date, going back to the classic setup on the Sunday. This recording seems to be taken from that date, not the Saturday, as I could not make out any brass or choir - although the sleeve states Sep 18 & 19.

The listening experience is actually quite pleasant - the recording being of an exceptional quality for a bootleg (the importance of the occasion ? the majesty of the venue ? the very tamed audience ?), we get a good jist of Pink Floyd live. There is very little interaction with the public and Echoes is quite close to the studio version. The two last tracks sound a bit more improvised, their textures lending themselves a bit more to the exercise.

I will then eat my words - there ARE good bootlegs, this being one of them. I don't really see the added value from a studio version in my living room. But the history behind the concert is worth a listen. 6/10.

I will not draw a new one, there is one pending !
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Re: Go review this random release

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spiritualized wrote: Fri Feb 07, 2020 11:37 am Oh boy...this is bad. Cheesy and so generic. I have great difficulties with "classic" country music. It's weak and overly sentimental. You are being very charitable, Hymie :)
You're right, spir, I dropped it to a 3.
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Re: Go review this random release

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So I figured I'd have a shot at doing a review this round.

The Blowtops - Insected Mind - 2005
"The Blowtops hit the Buffalo, New York scene in 1998 like a tidal wave of white noise. Scaring everyone out of many establishments by shear aggression and volume." reads the biography on the Blowtops' Facebook page. This seems like a fairly decent exaggeration, but it's the sort of myth that a real punk band would want to generate.

I would go as far as saying this is actually a decent punk album. The most appealing part is the instrumentation - in maybe a betrayal of the punk spirit, it's all really well played, and my favourite track might have been "Intermission Illness", the 1 minute instrumental track. What lets it all down for me is actually the vocals - the writing just feels too try-hard, like they know they need to be edgy, but it never comes through as genuine. And the singer is just not interesting.

Overall it's a competent record but it never delivers anything truly interesting. 5/10.
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Re: Go review this random release

Post by Safetycat »

And the next album is...

Mistral gagnant
Renaud
1985

Here's the link

Image

And in what may be a first for this game, the album actually contains a song listed on AM!
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Re: Go review this random release

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Fancy that, another French release randomized, and, "excusez du peu", it's Renaud and his seventh album

To give you a bit of context, I was 13 at the time of this album's release. Renaud was everywhere on the radio and I must have heard the singles from this album about a couple of hundred times.
He entered French consciousness in 1975 with his very particular mix of slang lyricism and chanson française.

Mistral Gagnant uses the same recipe but whizzes the American rock guitar sound to the mix (Si t'es mon pote being an example in earnest)
Renaud was always political (participating in the 1968 student riots in Paris) and starts as he means to go on with "Miss Maggie", scorching Margaret Thatcher in the process - he loves women, as not one of them could be as daft or dishonest as their brother, except of course Maggie Thatcher.
Somewhere else, he sings about fishing, uses a bit of accordion with a very basic slang, telling basic stories of everyday life (Babysitting Blues)
You could see the irony behind all this, but I don't - I find it rather vulgar and did when I was 15 but I guess that's the whole point of it. Musically, it's so basic I could cry, the exception being the title song where Renaud recalls his youth and the long disapparead sweets (Mistral Gagnant). He penned the song, which was not initially due to be included on the album, in barely half an hour. Legend has it that his wife threatened him with a "if you don't record this song, I'm leaving you..."

In 2015, Mistral Gagnant was named the preferred song in France - in front of Brel and Barbara.

The rest of the album is average at best but it appealed to a certain slice of French culture - so much so that Renaud, on the back of this album, played the Zenith in Paris for a whole month in front of a total of 180,000 fans.

A paltry 3/10, climbing to 4/10 for "Mistral Gagnant"
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Re: Go review this random release

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The next one is a live recording from a German Band

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album ... 016-10-30/

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Artist : Hypnodrone Ensemble
Album : Live at Beautés Soniques, Namur (2016​-​10​-​30)
Year: 2017
RYM rating: 4,00 (1 vote)
Genre: Psychedelic rock / Krautrock

You can find it @ https://hypnodroneensemble.bandcamp.co ... 2016-10-30
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spiritualized wrote: Sun Feb 16, 2020 2:01 pm starts as he means to go on with "Miss Maggie", scorching Margaret Thatcher in the process - he loves women, as not one of them could be as daft or dishonest as their brother, except of course Maggie Thatcher.
He can't be all bad then!
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Re: Go review this random release

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spiritualized wrote: Sun Feb 16, 2020 2:20 pm The next one is a live recording from a German Band

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album ... 016-10-30/

Image

Artist : Hypnodrone Ensemble
Album : Live at Beautés Soniques, Namur (2016​-​10​-​30)
Year: 2017
RYM rating: 4,00 (1 vote)
Genre: Psychedelic rock / Krautrock

You can find it @ https://hypnodroneensemble.bandcamp.co ... 2016-10-30
Anyone fancies reviewing this one ? Fans of Krautrock / Prog Rock ?
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spiritualized wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 12:43 pm Anyone fancies reviewing this one ? Fans of Krautrock / Prog Rock ?
If no one else claims it by the end of TheLastEnemy's show, I'll give it a whirl and a review!
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Hypnodrone Ensemble usually perform as a five-piece with a core of shoegaze-specialist guitarist Eric Quach (formerly of Montreal band Destroyalldreamers) and multi-instrumentalist Aidan Baker (from husband-and-wife Toronto drone-metallers Nadja), whose base of operations is in Germany, presumably in the hope of absorbing some of that kosmische magic by osmosis.

Their number is completed by three drummers, not always the same three either. For their gigs, not only do the percussionists often have no experience of playing alongside each other prior to soundcheck, they as the keepers of the motorik beat lead the completely improvised music from the back. Such lack of preparation can sometimes lead to heated exchanges, like this one snapped for their Facebook page, though you get the impression that it was a source of amusement in the tourbus afterwards:

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"Drummer discord?", reads the Facebook caption, "If you want to see us fighting on stage...get in touch!"

Then there are those occasions where the results of their jamming seem so inspired that HE feel moved to place even the soundcheck itself on one of live albums, which is what happened with this recording of a set at Beautés Soniques Festival in Namur, Belgium.

The album begins, however, with a 30+-minute voyage through sound with none of the captains having planned their route before setting sail. The band would be the first to admit this, "It’s hard to analyze what really goes on in Hypnodrone", Quach admitted in a band interview with It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine, "So I mostly rely on my ears, instincts and feel of what is happening".

With the benefit of detachment from the concert, the listener can more tangibly grasp what is unfolding before their ears. There is no denying the influence of Neu!, Can et al in the rhythms as well as My Bloody Valentine in the melodic headache created by the freeform FX pedals. What also comes across is the ambient prog of Tangerine Dream in its woozy synths over the initial propulsive beat, not to mention the orchestration and progression of the brand of post-rock plied by Quach's fellow Montrealers Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

In line with expectations of the structure of a song partly inspired by GY!BE, it feels like you can identify three loose sections to the track, starting with the jogging-pace clattering of the 8-minute 'intro', which fades into the next movement with the inception of what sounds like a melodica but is almost certainly another guitar effect.

The mid-section gives more prominence to the gentle sawing of the violin before the remaining instruments gradually grow in stature and aggression. If anything, this is where cracks begin to appear; there inevitably must be a measured build-up to the crescendo in this type of music but it loses a fair amount of momentum by lasting around a quarter of an hour and produces nothing particularly innovative.

The final movement of the song delivers to a degree but we have fewer than three minutes to savour its pinnacle, the locomotive chug provided by the accelerating drummers and by Baker's rhythm guitar brought to a halt by the last dying shriek of Quach's FX. Despite being only 9 minutes, the subsequent 'Soundcheck' track shares undeniable DNA with the opener, most distinctly in its structure, but ends anticlimactically with whatever melody is there fading out for the sake of an aimless cymbal crash that you would indeed anticipate in a rehearsal.

That this band with little prior collaboration with each other were capable of spontaneous experimentation that holds up as fully-crafted, largely coherent pieces of music is a success in its own right. Where it fails is by being intriguing in parts yet ultimately no more than proficient and neither eliciting strong emotional reactions nor a shock of the new. And the drumming trio, however much their press releases may talk of "polyrythms" that don't materialise on this release, doesn't proceed beyond gimmick-status. Wish it were higher as I love a lot of similar music but it's a 6.

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I was sent on a right crate-digging mission by DJ Random- we failed to find an album by Nicolae Ceaușescu's favourite violinist, a techno soundtrack, a French flamenco compilation on all streaming outlets but we did unearth this:

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album ... _%E2%80%8B_/

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Artist: Jeremy Squires
Album: When Will You Go...
Year: 2013
RYM Rating: 3.00/5 (from 1 rating)
Genres: Gothic Country, Americana

Available on Spotify and YouTube!
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Re: Go review this random release

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mileswide wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 1:29 am I was sent on a right crate-digging mission by DJ Random- we failed to find an album by Nicolae Ceaușescu's favourite violinist, a techno soundtrack, a French flamenco compilation on all streaming outlets but we did unearth this:

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album ... _%E2%80%8B_/
The link does not work.
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Re: Go review this random release

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Hymie wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 2:42 am
mileswide wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 1:29 am I was sent on a right crate-digging mission by DJ Random- we failed to find an album by Nicolae Ceaușescu's favourite violinist, a techno soundtrack, a French flamenco compilation on all streaming outlets but we did unearth this:

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album ... _%E2%80%8B_/
The link does not work.
Cheers Hymie, I don't get why as that's the original URL but you're not wrong! I'll have to spin again, sorry if anyone wanted to give that a go.

Luckily, the replacement is roughly in the same wheelhouse of country, albeit very much not the alt- variety that Jeremy Squires appears to trade in. Unfortunately, it's not as highly esteemed:

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album ... grass_band_/

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Artist: Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band
Album: Legacy
RYM score: 2.39/5 (from 4 ratings)
Genre: Bluegrass-gospel

It's on Spotify. Fingers crossed this works and is listenable!
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Re: Go review this random release

Post by Hymie »

mileswide wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 7:56 am
Hymie wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 2:42 am
mileswide wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 1:29 am I was sent on a right crate-digging mission by DJ Random- we failed to find an album by Nicolae Ceaușescu's favourite violinist, a techno soundtrack, a French flamenco compilation on all streaming outlets but we did unearth this:

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album ... _%E2%80%8B_/
The link does not work.
Cheers Hymie, I don't get why as that's the original URL but you're not wrong! I'll have to spin again, sorry if anyone wanted to give that a go.

Luckily, the replacement is roughly in the same wheelhouse of country, albeit very much not the alt- variety that Jeremy Squires appears to trade in. Unfortunately, it's not as highly esteemed:

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album ... grass_band_/
Same problem, link not working.
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Re: Go review this random release

Post by Schüttelbirne »

The link does not work, because of the "_/" at the end. If you want it to work, you need to format it like this:

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album ... ass_band_/

Same with the first album:

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album ... E2%80%8B_/
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Re: Go review this random release

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Hymie wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 2:12 pm Same problem, link not working.
Schüttelbirne wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 2:24 pm The link does not work, because of the "_/" at the end. If you want it to work, you need to format it like this:
Gotcha! Strange thing is the link for the second album did work for me initially but it's now bringing up a 404 like it must be for everyone else. Sorry to cause more work for you both but thanks for helping me out with it! I imagine the choice between When Will You Go and Legacy is at the reviewer's discretion?
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Time for a review of Jeremy Squires' first album (2013), as it doesn't seem to inspire our usual reviewers...
Vastly unknown artist (4 ratings on RYM for his discography), a Facebook page which he uses to wish a happy birthday to his wife and kids - it's lovely to feel so close to an artist.
Unpretentious he is - so his music transpires of it. It's bare knuckles folk-rock, very few, if any, slide guitars and no Southern twang.
The music tends to be very sparse with hardly any instrumentation : a banjo and a guitar being picked, a few piano phrases appearing here and there. But his voice stands out - the guy can sing in a whispering kind of way - his delivery is soothing and beautiful, with a background of despair.
My favourite track, Oblivious, is immediate and catchy, a bit more upbeat - his voice breaking on occasion.

Squires' first album seems like an anomaly - he wants to be sad and share that with us - but his proximity almost makes him endearing to the listener - who will feel compelled to cuddle the guy.
"When Will You Go..." has definite replay value so it's a 7/10 for me.
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Re: Go review this random release

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PS - @mileswide.

You ought to look for a job as a reviewer - you are an amazing writer, well researched, great wording, a true pleasure to read.
I look forward to your next review !
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Re: Go review this random release

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Nice one ! It should be short and sweet. Would love to hear some background on this.

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Artist: The Boys
Single : Crazy (1990)
RYM score: 3.13 (12 ratings)
Genre: Contemporary R&B
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I swear you pick these on purpose, spiritualized!

Any devotee of the Billboard R&B charts at the turn of the 90s could tell you that Crazy was The Boys' last of three #1s without resorting to Wikipedia's verbatim excerpt of Allmusic's biography on the band but that ain't me. As if scripted by Hollywood, the success of Abdulsamad brothers came out of necessity after realising they couldn't afford to buy their dad a Father's Day present and started singing at Venice Beach. Two summers and $34,000 in earnings from impressed onlookers later, The Boys drew a line under the beach concerts, deciding to send demos to the majors and causing a bidding war between MCA, Motown and Solar.

They couldn't do this without being stupidly gifted at dancing, singing and even producing in the case of Crazy's parent album, their eponymous sophomore effort. At the time, they ranged between 12 and 16. The video for Crazy betrays their talent for parody, taking in send-ups of then-current popstars, including Michael Jackson, who they acted alongside in Moonwalker. With their run of MTV-assisted number ones, appearances on Pepsi adverts and own 900 premium-rate number, The Boys seemed to be on the cusp of a very 90s version of mass-market fame. But (you knew that was coming, didn't you?) Motown didn't give the marketing push their fully self-produced third album needed to go pop. In response, they retreated to West Africa (that's as specific I can determine) where they've lived since as far as I can tell and created a credible fusion of their old style with the local likes of mbalax on their Mission album.

And this track? It's slick New Jack on helium and I don't think I'm its target demographic. I could elaborate but I'm not listening to it again. 4

Mission, which I also listened to for research purposes, is a 5.
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Insert COIN to play Random Release II: The Revenge!

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album ... ess_start/

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Artist: I KILL PXLS
Album: Press Start
Year: 2008
RYM rating: 1.00 (from 1 rating)
Genre: None listed but culturally and musically, it sounds like 8-bit

It's better than all the above suggests and it's on Spotify!

Please say if the link doesn't work :oops:
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Re: Go review this random release

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mileswide wrote: Wed Mar 11, 2020 12:22 am
Please say if the link doesn't work :oops:
The link works, Mileswide, and I'll take this one on me in the next few days.
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Rob wrote: Wed Mar 11, 2020 3:54 pm The link works, Mileswide, and I'll take this one on me in the next few days.
Cool, raring to see your take!
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I KILL PXLS – Press Start

Image
Since there is no notable photo of the artist or his work outside album art, please have a screenshot of Streets of Rage 2.

This bio on I KILL PXLS’ Facebook page is all the real info I can find about this artist:

“I love dance music and video games so I've decided to combine the two.
Thus concludes the epic origin of I KILL PXLS.”

The mix between both modes operandi is not that strange. Both dance and game music tend to be electronics based and have a clear preference for movement, be it your own body or that of your game avatar’s. The aesthetic of the album art made me suspect we would get chiptune/ 8Bit music, which is only true in a minor way, sadly. Much of this is far more traditional dance music, with clean electronics and a beat. There are also some indie rock influences. In a way it is a hodgepodge, as if I KILL PXLS never quite decided on a final style.

Even if you haven’t heard this band before (and the low play rates on Spotify and the single vote on RYM suggest you haven’t), you might still be very familiar with this sound. Many songs sound instantly familiar, probably because they are just not all that original. I already made a comparison to No Limit last week, but I have to do it again here: ‘Princess P’ begins and ends as basically that song, with a different middle. The change in styles might have been an advantage, but here I wish I KILL PXLS ever really managed to master one. Another problem is that he just doesn’t hit hard: both voice and beats sound too soft for the music.

Image
This is an obscure old game named Super Mario Bros in which you hit brick blocks as many times as possible to collect money (game logic).

More damningly, I only hear game music in this superficially, even though that is what I signed up for here. The first song, the best, has a bit of that chiptune flavor and the last one, the second best, sounds like an introduction to a cheesy old arcade game (needless to say, it should have been the opener). For video games, there are only the song titles left. There are literal shout-outs to game titles like Final Fantasy and Streets of Rage. There are typical game elements like ‘Continue’, ‘Your Last Life’ and ‘Mid-Boss’; as well as one more a-typical element: ‘Blocks in the Sky’ (which sounds most of all like an indie song), which probably refers to those floating blocks Super Mario can bump with his head. Speaking of which, ‘Princess P’ is likely Mario’s own Princess Peach. That’s all nice, but that’s all you get.

I couldn’t resist though to actually listen to this for the second time while playing a game. The choice fell on the 8 bit Crypt of the NecroDancer, in which you have to make your way to dungeons while timing your movements on the beat and kill pixels. Of course, turning of the beat of the actual game made it more though, but I was wondering if it would fit. It did moderately well. Like I said, opener ‘Mega Love Gun’ is the most game-like and is not to dissimilar to NecroDancer’s own soundtrack. Otherwise, it worked, but again the lack of punch in the music was missed.

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Boss battles in Crypt of the Necrodancer are typically music based.

In the end I think Press Start is lightly likable, but mostly just not all that interesting if you can listen to much other music. The person behind the moniker seems to have quit too. He made a second album in 2010, which is on Spotify, but not on RYM. I didn’t listen to it. He also only posted on his Facebook once since the release of this self-titled release: in 2019 to announce that both albums are now on Spotify. Good for him, but sadly, people haven’t flocked massively to it.

4 our 10
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Post by Rob »

Next we get a song by RYM favourite Marillion, although their love seems not to be based particularly on this song:

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https://rateyourmusic.com/release/singl ... se-chains/
Marillion - These Chains
Year: 1998
Single
RYM rating: 3,34 (25 votes)
Genre: Alternative rock/ progressive rock

Note though, that on Spotify you'll only find the 2013 remix. The original is here:
The single also contained a surprise live cover of Fake Plastic Trees and a Big Beat Mix of Memory of Water.
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Re: Go review this random release

Post by spiritualized »

Time for a review of this Marillion single.
A bit of history first though for those who do not know Marillion - this late 70s prog-rock band, named after a Tolkien novel, has roamed the planet for the best part of 40 years. Their brand of rock has taken many forms, embracing prog, electronica, indie and alternative rock.

This single emanates straight from this branch - 90s alternative rock, the inclusion of "Fake Plastic Trees" and a kinda-big beat remix of one of their songs being another symptom of the era.
Marillion has been taunted (Allmusic confirming this trend) a huge influence on later classic acts as Porcupine Tree and...Radiohead. I see the opposite : "These Chains" starts very much as a "Karma Police" wannabe. Violins pizzicato, acoustic guitar, piano-driven melody, ascending bass melody - only the singing does not reach Yorke's delivery. Then 3 mins in, we tumble into stadium rock, with a steady, if not formulaic, solo guitar structure. Not a bad song, with emotional singing - but it took a good three listens to be slightly interested.

Fake Plastic Trees is a carbon copy of the original (influenced ?) by Radiohead. Again, Steve Hogarth's voice does not compare to the emotion from Thom Yorke on this song
Memory of Water's Big Beat rendition is weak.

a very average 4/10 for this single. I was never a big fan of prog-rock Marillion - not a big fan of alternative rock Marillion either...
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Re: Go review this random release

Post by spiritualized »

And the Randominator picks...

Image

A collaboration between Vinicius, Caymmi, Quarteto em Cy & Conjunto Oscar Castro-Neves.
This is a reissue of a 1965 Brazilian Bossanova record
RYM Rating 3.63 / 5.0 from 50 ratings
Ranked #211 for 1965
Genres MPB, Bossa nova, Samba-canção, Poetry

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Re: Go review this random release

Post by spiritualized »

:text-bump:
If no takers, I’ll review this weekend... I think Honorio should review this one now that he ousted my nomination on MAA.
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Re: Go review this random release

Post by Honorio »

Of course, spiritualized, I can review the album. I’m a big fan of Vinicius de Moraes but this is an album I’ve never listened before.
About MAA I should say in my defence that your nomination faced mine!! I’m not voting on Round 1 (I’ll join on Round 2) but I felt the need of rooting for this gorgeous Clube da Esquina (even if I love the Furs second album).
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Re: Go review this random release

Post by spiritualized »

Honorio wrote: Tue Mar 31, 2020 9:54 pm Of course, spiritualized, I can review the album. I’m a big fan of Vinicius de Moraes but this is an album I’ve never listened before.
About MAA I should say in my defence that your nomination faced mine!! I’m not voting on Round 1 (I’ll join on Round 2) but I felt the need of rooting for this gorgeous Clube da
Esquina (even if I love the Furs second album).
Of course my friend, no hard feelings - it's only natural to root for their own nomination.
I thought of you when the Randominator pulled this one out of the bag, so can't wait for your review.

Hope everything is ok with you in these trying times.
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Re: Go review this random release

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spiritualized wrote: Wed Apr 01, 2020 6:03 am Hope everything is ok with you in these trying times.
Yes, we are OK, thank you! Hope you and your family are OK too. I'll try to summarize some of my feelings about the coronavirus crisis in the proper thread on the next days, yesterday I began a period of reservation of a week and I'll have plenty of time…

And let's go with the review…

As I told before it's the first time I listen to this album, oddly when Vinícius de Moraes previous and posterior albums are among my favourites, "Vinicius & Odette Lara" (1963) and especially the wonderful "Os afro-sambas de Baden e Vinícius" (1966). Because, as you stated, Randominator picked the 1998 CD reissue of an album originally released in 1965 (some sources dated it as released in 1967 but the official page of De Moraes date it as 1965). The original complete title is "Vinicius/Caymmi no Zum Zum com o Quarteto em Cy e o conjunto de Oscar Castro Neves" and the cover art of the original release is:


So, an album from the golden period of bossa-nova (a beloved style of mine) from Vinícius de Moraes (one of my favourite artists within the style)? Surely I'm going to love this. Well, not exactly.

First some context. Vinícius de Moraes was a Brazilian poet and diplomat, with many published poetry books and a nomad/cosmopolitan life (living/working in places like Los Angeles or Paris) during his third and fourth decades of life. In the mid1950s he met Antônio Carlos Jobim and began a songwriting fruitful team (De Moraes wrote the lyrics and Jobim the music) that created a new style, bossa nova. During the early 1960s he also began to write songs with other young composers like Carlos Lyra or Baden Powell and in 1963 (when he was 50 years old) he released his first album as a singer. Then he took over a position in Brazil's delegation of UNESCO, living in Paris for a year. In 1964 he returned to Brazil and decided to stand back on his diplomatic career and embrace a career as a singer-songwriter, beginning with five consecutive months of successful shows at Zum Zum nightclub in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro. Elenco label wanted to release a live recording of one of these shows (that also included Dorival Caymmi, Oscar Castro Neves and the Quarteto em Cy) but finally a studio recording was made trying to reproduce the ambiance of the shows but with the technical facilities of the studio environment, a trick reproduced in 1970 with his shows at La Fusa (Buenos Aires, Argentina).
And that's my main problem with the album, the structure as a show of varietés, a vaudeville or variety show. Including the (sung) presentations of the performers (the intro of "Minha namorada" changing the lyrics accordingly), a lot of medleys with fragments of songs and a grand finale with all the performers singing together a reprise of the main theme. Something extremely kitsch to my ears and that has aged quite badly. And something that didn't happened in the already mentioned "La Fusa" album (that focused on the songs and not on the show).

Who were the artist that worked with Vinícius in this album? Dorival Caymmi was a singer-songwriter who began his recording career in 1939 and was one of the main influences of Moraes and Jobim. Quarteto em Cy were a female vocal quartet formed by four sisters who sang beautifully in a close harmony style (similar to the Andrew Sisters) and who were going to back Vinícius in some of his records of the 1970s. In my opinion some of the vocal arrangements in this album range from the sublime to the cheesy and kitsch (these "da-ba-da-ba-das"). A similar comment can be said about the conjunto of Oscar Castro Neves. I couldn't find information about the members of this band but I can hear a beautiful guitar (probably played by Baden Powell), organ (sometimes with a sound too elevatorish, too easy listening), vibraphone (the opposite, every time the vibes appears is a delight), bass, drums and percussion.

What about the songs? Three of the songs are way above the others on the album, in my opinion, tracks 1, 4 and half of the 5. The album begins on a high note with the first medley ("Bom dia, amigo / Carta ao Tom / Berimbau"). "Bom dia, amigo" is simply an a-capella intro by Quarteto em Cy followed by the spoken-word "Carta ao Tom" (not to be confounded with a song Vinícius recorded ten years after, aptly named "Carta ao Tom 74"). In this letter to Tom (Jobim) Vinícius write about his feelings about leaving Paris (and his career as diplomat) to join his friends in Brazil and focus on music creation. It's a slice of real life (you can read the English translation of the letter here) that introduces one of Vinícius best songs, "Berimbau," written with Baden Powell. Sadly this is not the better version of this song, I prefer both the 1963 version with Odette Lara and the 1970 version with Maria Creuza and Toquinho.
Probably my favourite song on the album (and probably the best version of the song, even if the versions of Maria Creuza, Miucha or Sylvia Telles are also great) is "Minha namorada." This romantic ballad, written by Vinícius and Carlos Lyra, benefits here of a beautiful vocal performance by one of the members of the Quarteto em Cy (don't know who, Cinara maybe?) and some flourishes on the backing vocals and the vibes arrangements.
And the third song I like is "Saudade de Bahia," this time not from Vinícius but from Dorival Caymmi, in fact it's his signature tune. Sadly here appears as a medley with a (in my opinion) quite inferior tune, "…das rosas."

But these three songs were previously released, sometimes ("Saudade de bahia") almost a decade before. Which are the new songs on this album? Only three (to my knowledge), "Formosa," "Dia da criação" and "Broto maroto" (in order of personal preference). "Formosa" is introduced by Vinícius himself on the "Carta ao Tom" saying "we made some songs, like "Formosa," – you'll see! All sambão! It almost seems like when we miss Brazil, when we're far away, we seek out the more traditional sort of samba rather than bossa nova; isn't it funny? As Lucio Rangel would say, 'roots!'" On an opposite approach to this back-to-the-roots we have "Dia da criação," a (partially failed) attempt on avant-garde spoken word, an ironic and quasi-apocalyptic poem backed by a jazz arrangement.
The rest of the songs? Not too remarkable in my opinion. "Tem dó de mim" is a Carlos Lyra tune used to showcase the Quarteto em Cy close-harmony singing, "Broto maroto" is a (maybe too) light bossa affair, "História De Pescadores" is a multi-part song written and sung by Caymmi as an elegy to the hard life of the fisherman that sadly borders on boring and pretentious, "Aruanda/Adalgisa" is a nice medley of samba tunes and there is the kitschy "Final."

The verdict? Well, the highs are quite high (especially "Minha namorada" and "Carta ao Tom/Berimbau") but there are maybe too many lows. 6/10 would be fair enough…
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Re: Go review this random release

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Next pick from Randominator was a really obscure one:

Image

Title: Hey Little Dancin' Girl / Yesterday's Fool
Artist : The Brothers Cain
Type : Single
Released: 1966
Genres : not stated on the single but other singles from the band are labeled as Sunshine Pop
Reviews and ratings on RYM : none

I checked on the net and I haven't found these songs anywhere but maybe some of you could be more lucky. So I took the liberty of clicking again on the link. This time I obtained a German compilation, part of a collection of digibooks.


Image

Title: 50 Jahre Popmusik - 1994
Artist :Various Artists
Type : Compilation (digibook)
Released: September 2005
RYM rating: 3.63 / 5.0 from 7 ratings
Genres : Pop, Rock, Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, Electropop, Indie Pop, Hip Hop
Descriptors: melodic
https://rateyourmusic.com/release/comp/ ... ok-and-cd/

Since it's not available on the net I've made a Spotify playlist with the songs on the compilation (not exactly, looking at the songs length on the RYM entry most of the songs were edited, and I can't find most of these edits on Spotify). Two of the songs are not available (at least in Spain). I endorse in these two cases You Tube links.



High Llamas, The Dust Brothers
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Re: Go review this random release

Post by spiritualized »

Honorio, great review, I learned a lot reading your review and listening to the record. Without this game, I probably would never have heard it.

I'm taking the next one, although I almost referred to rumpdoll who posted this in the "Best Year" thread (PS : I could not find a single recording of the 45rpm you picked first. Shame, it looked interesting.
rumpdoll wrote: Fri Apr 03, 2020 8:35 am My favorite year is 1994, I was in my midteens, starting to read music magazines and listen to more out there music.
But even in retrospection its still my favorite year in german indie rock (Blumfeld, Die Sterne, Mutter, Flowerpornoes). It had the great debuts of Low, Portishead, dEUS and Outkast, great 90ies Hip Hop by Nas, Beastie Boys and a few Wu tang members, great records by Blur, Hole, Pavement, therapy?, The Cardigans, Tiamat (my only foray into metal that did stick) and a whole bunch of great experimental rock records from the like of Stereolab, Disco Inferno, Bark Psychosis ...
But then, this is also another favorite year of mine. I was 22 and still forming my musical tastes. All the bands and records rumpdoll quotes are excellent references.
There is not much context for this compilation - except that it's part of a huge project launched by the newspaper SudDeutsche Zeitung, compiling 20 of the "best" songs for each of the last 50 years (well... before 2005 anyway). The digibook was giving insights on each of the songs.
So there is only one thing to do with this review - look at each track individually as a chronological theme will, by essence, generate huge swings in styles and genres.

I will pass on the "classics", of which there is a good bunch - 6 of them in AM's top 50 for 1994 (Pavement, Soundgarden, Warren G, Jeff Buckley, Tori Amos, Youssou N'Dour and Neneh Cherry). Beck's loser is technically a 1993 release, but hey, who cares for quality control ?

What matters most is the runt of the litter. As I do not have access to the digibook, the songs will have to be judged on their face value merits. There are highs...and seriously lows.

The High Llamas' Checking In and Checking Out is a brilliant pop song from one half of Microdisney on their first sunshine, baroque pop, heavily influenced by the Beach Boys. It was already a favorite of mine, so good choice here, SudDeutsche Zeitung.
I cannot fathom how the inclusion of Andreas Dorau "Das Telefon Sagt Du" made any sense. Dreary popular (in the worst meaning of the word), I can only guess this was a minor hit in German charts. Why ? No idea.
We also get some Asian fusion (quite difficult to categorise, this one...) with Asian Dub Foundation's Jericho which has all the qualities you can expect from ADF - raw, energetic, political. An interesting addition to the year of 1994. After a bland techno track from Paul Van Dyk - For An Angel, we are subjected to Suede's very average Stay Together.
Back on track with Ween's fantastic What Deaner Was Talking About - I will never tire of any songs from the loony Canadians on their masterpiece Chocolate and Cheese
We then move onto reggae/hip-hop/dance/trip-hop territory, starting with Ini Kamoze's Here Comes the Hotstepper, a classic dance floor ragga track. This is followed by tracks by Fugees (Vocab) and Outkast (Player's Ball), both decent songs but odd choices, showing again that the lack of reasoning behind the selection is making it a difficult review. The Dust Brothers (ex Chemical Brothers)' My Mercury Mouth is another of those weird selections. I guess they ran out of royalties rights before the end of the wrapup process.
Marmion's Schoneberg is an example of a brilliant techno track, penned by a German DJ, which went viral - everybody knows this tune, although I'd be damned if I could name its title and author before. Fun fact : the newspaper didn't even ask the DJ if they could include his track to this compilation.
This anthology finishes with the Lightning Seeds' Perfect and Tricky's excellent Ponderosa

A mixed bag, then, just like most of these off-the-shelf compilation. 5/10 (1 point for including the High Llamas)
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Re: Go review this random release

Post by spiritualized »

A new random album - and the Randominator picks...
Image

Title: Unity Band
Artist : Pat Metheny
Type : Album
Released: 2015
Genres : Jazz Fusion
Reviews and ratings on RYM : 341 ratings for a 3.46 average.

Listening to the first track, there is some really lovely guitar, so I think Honorio is another strong contender for a review. Someone will have to explain to me what Jazz Fusion is ...
Last edited by spiritualized on Mon Apr 06, 2020 7:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Go review this random release

Post by Schüttelbirne »

I'll take that.
I'm not sure when I'll get to it, but I hope before next week.
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Re: Go review this random release

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Please :) It's great to have more reviewers onboard !
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Re: Go review this random release

Post by Schüttelbirne »

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Pat Metheny is a very prolific artist with a career spanning decades and a ton of releases. Adding up all the different formations he appeared in, he‘s easily released over fifty albums since 1974, including the eleven studio albums from the Pat Metheny Group, that has existed since 1977, but hasn‘t released any music since 2005‘s The Way Up. Ever since that time Pat Metheny has been working in different projects: He collaborated with pianist Brad Mehldau on two albums (Metheny/Mehldau and Metheny Mehldau Quartet), took two so-called Day Trips with Antonio Sánchez (more on him later) and bassist Christian McBride, and made an album of John Zorn covers. One of his most interesting projects was on the album Orchestrion, a solo album in the truest sense of the word, because he is its only human player. He doesn‘t use electronics as many contemporary jazz artists do, instead he uses orchestrionics. What is an orchestrion? If you‘ve seen older westerns, you surely have seen the pianos in saloons, that play without a player. An orchestrion is basically an expansion on this roll-driven piano and means a machine playing music.
In between all these projects he found some time to put together a new group and record two albums with it: The Pat Metheny Unity Group/Band, consisting of himself of course, bassist Ben Williams, saxophonist Chris Potter (who also plays bass clarinet on this release) and drummer Antonio Sánchez who was a part of many of Metheny‘s projects, including the Pat Metheny Group and the Day Trip albums. There‘s no pianist which is pretty unusual.
Sánchez himself has achieved a wider audience with his score to the Oscar-winning Best Picture Birdman. If you‘ve seen the movie, you probably remember the score, consisting exclusively of solo drum music. I know some people were horribly annoyed by it, but for me personally it gave the movie a very unique touch, much like the one-shot-technique it uses. He wasn‘t put on the shortlist for consideration for an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score, because the movie also uses pieces of classical music (which is a really bad explanation, in my opinion).
Back to the Pat Metheny Unity Band: They released their album Unity Band (the subject of this review, and yes, I‘ll get to it) in 2012 on the label Nonesuch. Two years later they released their sophomore album KIN (←→) on the same label. The band had changed its name to Pat Metheny Unity Group and added multi-instrumentalist Giulio Carmassi who plays, among other instruments, the piano, the trumpet, the trombone, the cello, the French horn and the clarinet on the album.
Unity Band proved to be a major success, winning the Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and charting on the Billboard 200 at 146 (which is impossibly high for a jazz album). On the Billboard Top Jazz Albums it reached #2, which also indicates success, especially considering how the Top 10 of that list looks like. Just so you know, Norah Jones‘s Come Away with Me just spent the 161st week on the chart, a lot of them at number 1. Frank Sinatra‘s compilation album Ultimate Sinatra has held the top spot for the past five weeks. Miles Davis‘s Kind of Blue is also currently in the Top 10.
I‘m not really a Billboard guy, I just looked this up, because the charts success of Metheny‘s group is really astounding to me. As you can see from the above information, contemporary jazz is not a very successful thing. Most jazz musicians today don‘t earn their money with record sales but with live shows (and that doesn‘t mean concert halls) or with a day job. That‘s the case with many musicians from other genres too, but I feel like it‘s more significant with jazz music.
Metheny‘s success just shows that he‘s appealing to modern audiences and it is prudent to assume that his high record sales are not to attributed only to a jazz audience, but that he appeals to a wider audience. That is the case because he plays jazz fusion.
What is jazz fusion? It developed in the late 1960s where jazz musicians started to combine jazz music with elements from rock, R&B and funk. Look at Miles Davis‘s early 70s output (most notably A Tribute to Jack Johnson with its use of electric guitar and On the Corner where, among other things, Miles* applied a wah-wah to his trumpet) or Herbie Hancock‘s albums, like 1973‘s Head Hunters. A lot of people were not satisfied with the way jazz music went and have a large disdain for jazz fusion, but it seems to be one of the more popular sub-genres of jazz. The top albums listed for jazz fusion in 2020 on RYM are Jeff Parker‘s Suite for Max Brown and Pat Metheny‘s From This Place (the guy this review is about if you forgot during my ramblings). I will now finally start the actual review with the tracklist of the album:

New Year (7:37)
Roofdogs (5:33)
Come and See (8:28)
This Belongs to You (5:20)
Leaving Town (6:24)
Interval Waltz (6:26)
Signals (Orchestrion Sketch) (11:26)
Then and Now (5:57)
Breakdealer (8:34)

I will review the individual tracks while I listen to them:
„New Year“ starts with a quiet melody on acoustic guitar, before the saxophone and the rhythm section kick in. The focus of the track is definitely on the acoustic guitar, but Potter‘s saxophone is my personal highlight. Potter and Metheny complement each other nicely, but all the players have a chance to shine: Williams gets his about 5 minutes in, where the saxophone stops to let him work his bass.
From the relative quietness of the first track, we go with a kick into the second track „Roofdogs“, with stronger percussion and electric guitar. The mood is darker and the tempo faster. Metheny‘s electric guitar propels the track forward, but it‘s Sánchez‘s drums that really ground the pretty amazing melody.
„Come and See“ features Potter on both his bass clarinet, and later on his tenor sax; the whole track has a certain Latin jazz vibe to it. I‘m continually impressed by the interplay of bass and drums.
Then we go into a more subdued tone again: Metheny brings out his acoustic guitar on „This Belongs to You“ which has a certain romantic quality to it, like a love song (without lyrics). It‘s also the shortest track of the album.
There‘s a playful side to „Leaving Town“ and „Interval Waltz“. The latter features a great performance by Potter, occasionally taking short breaks in between the repeated notes (I guess that‘s what they mean with intervals).
We move on to the longest track on the album, „Signals“, where Metheny prominently uses the orchestrionics mentioned above. The mood is immediatly different, there‘s sounds we haven‘t heard before (well, at least on this album) playing in the background. The entire thing is much more experimental and sticks out from the rest of the tracks. In the beginning, there‘s single sounds from different instruments that form a consistent whole over the course of the track. The back half is especially great.
We go back to where we left off with another ballad „Then and Now“. Something to note is Metheny‘s ability to compose nice pieces, an ability that often gets lost when talking about jazz. Jazz features much more improvising than other genres, but it still needs compositions to base those improvisations on. There‘s of course the genre „free improvisation“, but that‘s mostly something for the jazz fanatics. Metheny is able to write compositions that feel distinct and lovable.
The final track of the album „Breakdealer“ is more high-tempo again, and quickens during its runtime. The rhythm section does a lot of the work here and Potter‘s saxophone gets a nice solo.

Pat Metheny‘s Unity Band is an album filled with lovely compositions played virtuously by four musicians, who work wonderfully together. The orchestrion track „Signals“ sticks out and doesn‘t really seem to fit in with the album as a whole, but is good in itself. I can understand how people who normally wouldn‘t like jazz, would like this album. My favorite track is „Roofdogs“. It's very much recommended by me for everybody who isn't completely opposed to instrumental music: 8/10



*Normally I use the last name to refer to an artist, but with Miles it just feels wrong to say Davis.



__________________________________________________________

I don‘t have RYM, and I really don‘t want to register right now just to click on a random button. I‘d be very grateful if someone could do it for me.
Last edited by Schüttelbirne on Sat Apr 11, 2020 1:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Go review this random release

Post by Rob »

Thanks for the great review, Schüttelbirne!

Here's a new random album, or should I say EP:

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/ep/so ... iminia_ep/

Image

Artist: Soundscape
EP: Masiminia EP
Year: 1996
Genre: None given, but it appears to be trance.
No ratings

The EP is not on Spotify, but the two tracks that make up the record are both on YouTube:
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Re: Go review this random release

Post by spiritualized »

Trance music : a short moment of the musical history which resonates rather positively in my life. I went to "rave parties" in the 90s and with the right mix of substance abuse, large crowds and epilepsy-inducing strobe lighting, it actually brings nice memories.

Trance music appeared in the 90s and consisted of high-tempo (130-150bpm) beats, short musical phrases repeated at length, beat drops and looped over several minutes. It is typical tribal music, designed to put people in a trance state, lifted by the beats.
Of course, a multitude of bands (usually one person) released a multitude of tracks, but Germany seemed to be the epicenter of the phenomenon (although the KLF could be identified as initiators of the trend). Soundscape doesn't stray from the rulebook, but very little can be found on them (him/her ?). A couple of EPs, a couple of singles make up their entire output.

Trance is more melodic than techno - typified here by Stong Forces, which is far more hypnotic than the A Side, drenched in acid overtones, but with nothing special like a Plastikman track would be.
The EP, for someone who appreciates Trance, has replay value - especially the B Side. But no a good place to start in the vast field of this particular branch of electronic music. And now that "raves" have more or less disappeared, you get to only enjoy it in the confined space of your bedroom/sitting room and it loses its appeal... 6/10
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Re: Go review this random release

Post by spiritualized »

We do have in this forum a huge fan of electronic, German-based music, Krurze.

I would love to have his views...tagging him along !
Krurze wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2019 8:53 pm
Will do. Since there have been a few of my picks over the last few weeks I haven't rated yet, I'm gonna try to rationalize and give context on them all.
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Re: Go review this random release

Post by spiritualized »

Artist: J-Beatz
EP: Ambience
Year: 2016
Genre: Grime (?)
Rating : 3.00 (1 rating)

More electronic music from the UK now...

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/ep/j-beatz/ambience/

Last edited by spiritualized on Tue Apr 21, 2020 12:41 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Go review this random release

Post by Krurze »

spiritualized wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 11:45 am We do have in this forum a huge fan of electronic, German-based music, Krurze.

I would love to have his views...tagging him along !
Alright, I'll try to give my two cents, but I don't consider myself an expert on anything trance and I'm not sure if my love of electronic music has anything to do with its German-basedness :D

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trance n. 1. a hypnotic state resembling sleep in which a person is unable to move or act of his own will. 2. a dazed or stunned state. 3. a state of ecstasy or mystic absorption so intense as to cause a temporary loss of consciousness at the earthly level. (Collins English Dictionary)

This is from the packaging of the only trance CD I own. It's a compilation I bought a few years ago for less then one euro without even checking the tracklist. A few weeks ago I listened to it for the first time in my car. I was pleasantly surprised to hear some songs I dearly love: The Orb's Little Fluffy Clouds and Underworld's Rez. But are these songs trance? What these songs have in common, besides a steady four-to-the-floor beat, is the meandering and ever-changing synth lines. That sounds pretty trance until now. But I think these songs are too slow to be considered trance. In my book, trance should be a bit faster than house or techno. Like the Masiminia EP. The A-side clocks in at 143 bpm, the B-side at 135. Most techno and house tracks would be under 130 bpm.

But of course these are all superfluous technicalities. So what do I actually think of the music? The A-side, Masiminia, mainly consists of a kickdrum and a single-note synth sound that stays pretty much the same all the way through. But that doesn't mean that there isn't anything going on in this track. Hi-hats, clap, snare, a bassline that's also one-note, a vocal sample and an unidentifiable synth sound all come and go and try to keep things interesting. My favourite thing about the track is the little pad melody that comes in for the first time at 2:40 and that gives the track an emotional touch that keeps it from being too one-dimensional.

The B-side, Strong Forces, starts with the modulated bassline (the acid sound, although this one is pretty tame). Once again there's different elements coming back and forth, including a two-note kind-of-melody that actually sounds pretty neat and makes this one my favourite of the two tracks. Also, of course it's closer to the bpm I am used too.

So what's the verdict? It's pleasant enough that I listened to it for the last half-an-hour or so without being too irritated, so there's that. But will this cause "a state of ecstasy or mystic absorption so intense as to cause a temporary loss of consciousness at the earthly level"? Quite frankly, no. It's all a little bit too tame, too safe, which doesn't really come surprising if you take a look at the people behind these tracks, Frank Thelen & Klaus Krumme. They take credit in no less than a dozen different trance projects, so this ought sound a little run-of-the-mill. If I had to rate it it would be a 5/10, I guess.

Fun fact 1: Frank Thelen is also the name of a pretty shady German television personality. I doubt it's the same person.

Fun fact 2: There's kind of a trance revival happening right now in the techno scene. Among the most popular artists to up the bpm are Schacke and Mall Grab.

PS: I didn't read your review before writing mine, spiritualized. Interesting to see that you were a raver back in the days :D But I can't really confirm that raves have disappeared. Well, maybe what you have in mind when thinking of a rave, that may have been exclusive to a very special place in time. But be assured that the concept of raving is still very much alive!
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spiritualized
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Re: Go review this random release

Post by spiritualized »

spiritualized wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 11:54 am Artist: J-Beatz
EP: Ambience
Year: 2016
Genre: Grime (?)
Rating : 3.00 (1 rating)

More electronic music from the UK now...

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/ep/j-beatz/ambience/


As I expected, not a lot of inspired reviewers for this release. Is it reviewing fatigue or simply the subject matter. I will tend and hope for the latter as I enjoy too much the reviewers take on this game with all the context and particular tastes of each of you.

Here we are with J Beatz' 2016 EP "Ambience" (there would be a sequel the year after). The North London artist dabbles in Grime (more on this later) and released 21 EPs (but no album) between 2010 and 2019. Still active today - even during the lockdown, check his FB page), he is also resident on several radio shows.
The EP is average at best, much this is probably due to the genre it's emanating from that the actual artistic value, as I have very few reference points.
So onto Grime to get some context. Wikipedia states that it is an innovative genre, drawing its influences from hip-hop, drum'n'bass and UK Garage. Household names like Dizzee Rascal and Wiley have made it more popular, but it remains underground. It is a typically English genre, with very few takers outside of the Kingdom.
Honestly, I don't see it with J Beatz. The EP is made up of instrumentals with a base of hip hop beats, some piano/synths basic phrases, the odd "J BEATZ" interjection, which is particularly corny - but what do I know.
One song (Lay Down 2.0) does sport some female singing, but to no great effect.

In one word, Ambience is boring. Nothing exciting or new, it's unassuming and middle-of-the road. It gets a 3/10.
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Re: Go review this random release

Post by spiritualized »

Artist: Deutsch Nepal (fun fact : a reference to an Amon Düul song)
Country : Sweden
Single : The City of Stone
Year: 2003
Genre: Industrial / Dark Ambient
Rating : 3.49 (19 ratings)

Image
Should be quick - I couldn't find the second track, though, but that shouldn't stop anyone...
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