Showing posts with label Album Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Album Review. Show all posts

Saturday, 11 June 2011

(Legal) Free Music

In these days of file sharing and illegal downloading it's possible to get the vast majority of music for free. It's a fact that the lost revenue from album sales due to this is killing the music industry. However it's also true that if one can obtain a band's album for free more people are likely to listen to it. So often as a result of file sharing a band's popularity can increase dramatically, however popularity on its own won't keep a band going, what is needed is album and ticket sales. As a result of this many artists have released portions of their work for free download online. Since the artist themselves have allowed this it has the benefit to the downloader of being entirely legal.

Releasing albums for free download has been going for a while now. It was made famous in 2007 when alternative rockers Radiohead allowed fans to set their own price when downloading their album. Since Radiohead did this many bands have followed suit. So now there are numerous artists out there who let people obtain their work for free. In this article I'll detail a few of these that I've come across during my internet wanderings.

Dahlia Seed

Dahlia Seed were a hardcore band from North Carolina, USA. They were in existence for only 4 years, from 1992-96, but during that time produced some great work. As far as I know they produced three albums, one of which is a compilation of new studio tracks and live versions of songs from previous works. All of these are available to download for free from their website at: http://www.dahliaseed.com/. I've so far listened to two of their albums of which their debut album Valentine Kid's Litter is my favourite. At 160kbps the recording quality isn't fantastic, and sometimes this shows where songs feel a little rough around the edges. However it's not really a problem as the overall tone the band uses is a little distorted (intentionally) anyway. The power of this band is astonishing, their songs are fuelled with a great energy. This is due largely to the vocals of Tracy Wilson whose ferocity electrifies the music and brings the raw emotion of the songs to the fore. As far as particular highlights of this album go, I'd have to say my favourite songs are Teas and Milk. Teas starts with a great riff before launching into a bridge-type part which leads into the main section. As an overall piece the song isn't perfect, but it's very catchy. Milk is the best example of the way Wilson's vocals captivate, the emotions of regret and hate in the lyrics are brought across to the listener with the force of a battering ram. Dahlia Seed are a band with a level of raw power that many bigger and more popular bands lack.

Dia de los Muertos

Another band that alllows some of their music to be downloaded free of charge is Dia de los Muertos, these metallers hail from Los Angeles, California. Like with many other legal free albums, in order to get the music you need to fill in a form. The album they offer is called Satánico Dramático, which translates as something along the lines of "Satanic Drama". The vocals are in spanish, but this isn't always obvious as, like a lot of death metal, the lyrics can't always be understood. The music itself isn't all that unique, but the use of spanish guitar in places is a nice touch. Their Myspace is here: http://www.myspace.com/quevivanlosmuertos.

I Have Clones

I came across this project today and have taken a liking to it. It's a nice combination of Electronica and Hardcore. The songs are often interspersed with speaking, with the occasional snatches of conversation that are present for just the right amount of time, which add a splash of creativity to the music that is already fairly inventive. Since I've only listened to the album once I can't say too much about it without listening more (which I plan to do in the future), but it's definitely worth the bandwidth it takes to download (it took about 3 minutes on my very poor connection) and the time spent listening to it. Here's the link to their website: http://ihaveclones.com/.

Credit where credit is due: Two of the above bands (Dahlia Seed and I Have Clones) I discovered using this blog: http://freealbums.blogsome.com/, so please give them the praise for finding the bands. The other band (Dia de los Muertos) I found on the website of the UK magazine Classic Rock, their website can be found here: http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/ so please don't give me credit for locating them either.

Well that's all for now. I won't say when I'll be back, since I don't know, but I hope to be back soon. Just think this is the second proper entry in 2 days, I think that's some sort of record for me.

Thanks,

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I feel obliged to say that, through this article or in general, I am not condoning or supporting illegally obtaining music or any other intellectual material. I also feel the need to say that I am not affiliated in any way to any of the above bands, websites or corporations thereof and will make no profit from purchases from any of those bands, websites or coporations, or the publication of this article.

Monday, 1 November 2010

Skunk Anansie- Wonderlustre: Review

So I've finally gotten around to it; the Skunk Anansie album Review. Before I being with the review proper, I'll just mention a few words about the band. They were originally around in the 90's but split up after a while. Reforming recently they played some festivals (of which one of them was Sonisphere Knebworth 2010 where I saw them) and are now on tour (or soon to be). Ok, the new album, released September 13th by V2 Records, is called Wonderlustre and has 12 tracks. In this entry I will discuss my feelings about the album track by track.

The first track: God Loves Only You, starts with a melodic intro, shortly introducing a heavier section then returning to a quieter part. This is a classic Skunk Anansie technique, and always makes for a powerful song makeup, where verses of a lower volume are interspersed with louder, heavier, choruses. It culminates in a brilliant opening song, that will be in my head for a while to come.

Onto the second song. Opening with a lovely guitar riff, My Ugly Boy, is reminiscent of We Love Your Apathy from the album Stoosh. Skin's talent is shown here, her ability to deliver crisp vocal tones whilst making every word cry out is very well executed. A fantastic second song.

Onwards to Over The Love. There's some nice guitar work in the background of this track, nothing too difficult but exactly what the song needs, it really fits well. A relatively short song at 3:27, but then in relation to the album it's pretty average. Most of the tracks on Wonderlustre hover around the 3:30 mark, meaning each song has to be punchy to have an effect. So far all the tracks have done so admirably.

Fourth track now; Talk Too Much. The guitar work in the long introduction is exquisite, as is the build up that follows; with vocals, guitar and drums bringing the tone of the song up and down seamlessly- another Skunk Anansie classical technique. There's some violins playing in the background of the song in places, which is an interesting choice. It works well in my opinion.

The intro to The Sweetest Thing is rather interesting, incorporating a very trebley guitar and a pounding drumbeat. In fact, the whole song is interesting, seemingly a break from the tone of the album. The style is quite different to any of the songs before it on the album. Also the song incorporates backing vocals which complement, rather than compete with, Skin's lead vocals. Different, but by no means a bad choice.

It Doesn't Matter- the sixth track, is a crowd pleaser. I can imagine this getting the crowds on their feet, not that they wouldn't be already. Dynamically this piece works very well, with loud chorus complementing quieter verse and vice versa. A great song, a bit short though in my opinion at 2:46; it could have done with an extra half a minute or so. I'm guessing it'll be played longer at live shows.

The seventh track is called You're Too Expensive. It's got some great lyrics: "Tell me to how to fall out of love with you" being one of them. More good guitar work on this track, similar to that on some of the rest of the album.

The next song, My Love will Fall starts with a bass intro which initially reminds me of Twisted on the album Stoosh, but it doesn't launch into a heavy section right away. It's a good track, but could possibly have done with a heavier chorus, I'm not sure.

Starting off with a quite intro without drums, You Saved Me starts off in a quiet mood for quite a while, but ascends to a peak at one point. One of the softer songs on the album, but still a good listen.

Now here we go with a more Stooshlike track, Feeling The Itch begins with heavy guitar and that guitar returns again and again. More than a good track, Feeling The Itch is definitely one of the best tracks on the album, if not the best itself. The ascension to soaring vocals and climbing guitar is fantastic, all the while the bass and drums pounding the beat. A brilliant track which would definitely be good live.

The penultimate song, You Can't Always Do What You Like, starts with a long stretch of double picking guitar. After this intro the song changes somewhat before reverting back to the original guitar. The chorus is great, the vocals flying perfectly. There's a few seconds of lead guitar, the closest the album comes to a guitar solo, which have a nice effect. A really good song.

And then there's the finale. I Will Stay But You Should Leave brings the album to a close nicely. All parts fit together perfectly to make a track that seems to act as a fade out for the album, not to say it's not as good as the rest, it's slower tempo brings the album to an end nicely.

Overall impression? Really good, not a bad track on the album which is always a good thing. My favourite track is Feeling The Itch, and I think that's my only real criticism of the album, I would have liked one more track like that, although I suppose It Doesn't Matter (the sixth track) is similar in some respects. So I'm not really sure, it could have done with another track on the heavier side of the album, but equally it's a great album anyway. I'm not going to go an give it a mark out of ten, because I'm not entirely sure what I would say. As for how it compares to previous albums, the only other Skunk Anansie album I know well is Stoosh, which I have to say is my favourite of the two, but this is by no means a bad album, quite the contrary.

Anyway, that's all for now.

Cheers,

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Tuesday, 14 September 2010

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly (Album): Review

You may remember I wrote an entry about albums that I was looking forward to, well now I have one of them, it came in the post today. The album in question is Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly's self titled album, his third album to date. The first two: Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager and Searching for the Hows and Whys are very good, although my favourite of the two is his first album, Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager. Anyway, I've been of fan of his (Sam Duckworth's) music for a few years now, and have seen him live once. So there's the background, onto the album.

The opening track is called Hand Me Downs, and it's perhaps my favourite track of the album. The song is very similar to a lot of the tracks from the first album, predominantly using an acoustic guitar and vocals and little else. This has turned out to be a great formula for Get Cape's tracks, the absence of too many other parts allows the listener to concentrate on the lyrics more.

Collapsing Cities is the second track of the album. It starts with a nice acoustic guitar line, soon to be joined by an electronic section comprising of (as far as I can tell): drums, bass, and trombone. The combination, while it may sound unusual, works well, I particularly like the use of trombones, they were used on tracks from his earlier work and they fit really well in my opinion. Overall it's a good track.

The third song; Nightlife, starts with an electronic feel, and this continues throughout the song. There's a really nice melody comprised from a xylophone and a trumpet which works really well.

All Of This Is Yours is the fourth track, and it features Baaba Maal. It has a cultural feel, especially in the intro. The song contains an interesting electric guitar line that has hints of funk music in my opinion. There's a trumpet line that's utterly brilliant, quite simple, but it works very well. It's quite a varied song, but this seems to be a good thing.

The next track; Queen for a Day has a indie/punk/rock feel to it, and has a faster pace than some of the other songs on the album. The lyrics to this song are nice, and are interspersed with instrumental fills. A good track.

The sixth track is All Falls Down starts with a few great lyrics (not that the rest aren't good, I just liked these in particular): "You, you only reap what you sow. Stick to the things that you know." It's a pretty solid track.

The next track is called Where Will You Stand?. It starts with a symphonic feel, and this continues throughout the song. The electronic elements added in this track fit in well with the calm atmospheric feel that the track has. I think this is a really nice song.


Stitch By Stitch (it took me so many attempts to type that for some reason, I must be tired) is the eighth track of the album. It's pretty good, I don't think it sticks out as one of the best of the album, but it's certainly very good. This track also contains Interlude which is actually very nice.

The ninth track on the album is called The Uprising (not to be confused with the Muse track of the same name), and it's brilliant. It's got a great tempo, and the way all the instruments fit together is fantastic. The way it switches between periods of loud and soft works really well, and the effects added are very well done. Another of my favourites from the album.

The penultimate song is The Plot is very similar to songs from the first album. The guitar line isn't too complicated, but sounds great all the same. The song has some really good lyrics, and the notes the vocals use work really well. This is surely one of the best songs of the album.

The final song from the album is Morning Light. It starts with a great acoustic guitar introduction. In fact the guitar throughout this piece (and all the other songs) is brilliant; Sam Duckworth is a very talented guitarist. It's a nice song to bring the album to a close.

Overall I think it's a great album. The vocals are well done, the guitar is tight, and the effects and electronic additions fit well with the other parts. The lyrics are clever and are delivered well. In terms of how it compares to the other two albums, I'd say that it's better than the second album; Searching For The Hows And Whys, but isn't quite as good as the first album; Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager. Still, it's a great piece of work.

I'll be back with a review of the new Skunk Anansie album Wonderlustre when I get hold of it, but I'm not sure when that will be. But I'll continue with other posts where I provide the usual musical nonsense I usually talk about. Thanks for reading, if you've read this whole post I applaud you, but if you've read some of it I applaud you anyway. Feel free to comment as usual, anyone else heard this album? Anyway, that's it for now.

Thanks,

big_friendly_letters.

Thursday, 19 August 2010

The Final Frontier: Review

Recently I managed to get hold of the new Iron Maiden album- The Final Frontier, in fact I went and got it the day it was released. In this entry I aim to review it in full. As you may well know I am an Iron Maiden fan, so I will be biased, but I will try and make this an accurate critique of the album.

Ok, here goes. The album starts with a track called Satellite 15..... The Final Frontier. This is a two part song. The first part (Satellite 15) is a very atmospheric song, with roughly the first half being instrumental. It's not bad, but I feel it is too long. It should be shorter, acting as an into to The Final Frontier. The second half of the song, The Final Frontier is a straightforward Iron Maiden classic, it's got the clear chorus, and would easily fit into a live set.

El Dorado, the second track of the album, was previously released as a free download from the Iron Maiden website. I downloaded this the day it was available I believe, but it took me a couple of listens to really get into it. After about two or three times through it dawned on me that this is actually a fantastic track. The lyrics are tight, creative, and the vocals are well delivered. Overall this is one of the best tracks on the album.

The next two tracks: Mother of Mercy and Coming Home are both good tracks. The former is solid track with a lovely intro. The lyrical content is alike to something from A Matter Of Life And Death, with a war related subject. It's a good track, not a classic, but I quite like it. Coming Home is one of the songs that Maiden do very well, those that start dark and slowly, picking up pace as they go. The chorus to this track is brilliant, well suited for live performance in my opinion. A really good track, very catchy.

The next three tracks are The Alchemist, Isle of Avalon, and Starblind. All of them are the tracks that are not designed to be hits, rather they are meant to fill the album while still being solid tracks. These manage that task well. I particularly like Starblind, it's my favourite of the three at the moment.

After that the next two tracks are The Talisman and The Man Who Would Be King. The Talisman starts slowly with a lovely guitar part creating a melody to work in conjunction with the vocals. After a couple of minutes the heavier riff begins and the song picks up speed. I have to admit that the chorus gets a little repetitive after a while, which you notice because it's a very short line. It's a pretty solid track, a good song. The Man Who Would Be King is another track that is up there with the best tracks of the album. Like so many others on this album it starts with a lovely intro. It's a bit of a weird song, but it's especially good towards the end.

The album ends with an 11 minute epic called When The Wild Wind Blows. It is, for me, hands down the best track on the album. It takes a ballad like form, with a lyrical content of an impending disaster. The lyrics fit in beautifully with the guitar to form a fantastic song. It's definitely one of the best tracks of it's type Iron Maiden have written, a great way to bring the album to a close.

Overall it's a fantastic album, it's a little different to what they usually produce, but it's still a brilliant piece of work. My top three tracks of the album have to be (in order of appearance): Satellite 15..... The Final Frontier, El Dorado, and When The Wild Wind Blows. If I had to give it a rating I'd have to say it hovers around the 9/10 mark. It's one of their best albums, but it's not quite on the same level as The Number of the Beast, but then that's not really a fair criticism because I think that it's nigh impossible to match that album. So in my opinion this album is one of the best I've heard in a long time, certainly the best so far this year.

Thanks for reading, as usual leave a comment if you want.

Cheers,

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