Notable Artists... V

The erraticness of this blog is definitely a defining aspect of its character in my eyes, but then that's implied by the name. After all this blog is meant to be a "Malfunctioning" guide to the world of music. Anyway, I feel that an article that praised the majesty and talent of one of my favourite bands was long overdue.

Tool are an American rock band who specialise in a type of metal that is as unique as it is astonishing. Forming in 1990 they have so far released four full albums:

• Undertow- 1994
• Aenima- 1996
• Lateralus- 2001
• 10,000 Days- 2006

As well as these four albums they also released an EP in 1992 entitled Opiate. In my opinion each of these albums is phenomenal and choosing a favourite was tough. It was always going to be a contest between Lateralus and 10,000 Days.

Lateralus:

A smorgasbord of fantastic tracks that, as with all Tool's albums, contribute towards an overall piece that is greater than the sum of its parts. The title track Lateralus is definitely the best track on the album for me, the introduction's buildup is masterful before leading into a crushing riff. However Lateralus is by no means the only good song on the album; the tracks Parabol and Parabola. These tracks cannot be played individually as the former leads seamlessly into the latter, the slight pause in between the two placing emphasis on the power of the riff that follows. There are so many great tracks on this album, it's impossible to pick any to be described as "filler".

10,000 Days:

As with Lateralus this album is full of amazing songs which form an overall album that is greater than all its individual elements. The album kicks off with the sheer might of Vicarious with lyrics that really speak to the listener, drawing them in. If I'm forced to pick a highlight from the album, which I admit is very difficult, I'd have to say that Vicarious is one of my two favourite tracks from the album. Following this the listener is then thrown into the powerful introduction to Jambi another track that adds a dose of sheer power to the album. My other highlight is the title song: 10,000 Days (Wings Part 2). This song speaks of suffering and this is brought strongly across by the intensity of Maynard James Keenan's vocals. The reason that it has the suffix (Wings Part 2) is that if played at exactly the same time as the song that comes before it in the album (Wings for Marie (Part 1)) a whole new track is formed. I could go on about this album for a very long time; talking about tracks like Lost Keys (Blame Hoffman) and Rosetta Stoned and even if I mentioned those two I'd be skipping out others that deserve a mention. In short this album is a masterpiece.

So overall I finally managed to ascertain that by a tiny amount 10,000 Days takes the title as my favourite Tool album, but I cannot stress enough how difficult that decision was to make. Lateralus is a phenomenal piece of artistic creation and the others are the same. Tool are definitely in my top 5 bands (a decision made by me, how novel) and are very near the top of my "Bands to see" list.

Cheers,

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Notable Artists... IV

Right, here we go with another helping of Notable Artists. Tonight's choice? Jeff Buckley. He's pretty famous; doubtless many of you will have heard his cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, it's one of the most famous covers of that song in existence. Jeff Buckley was a singer-songwriter born in 1966. He produced one full and one unfinished studio album before his tragic death in 1997.

His first and only completed album, Grace, is a masterpiece in my opinion. Buckley's vocals and guitar playing are superb and combine to create a thoroughly mesmerising and emotional album. As I already mentioned, the album contains Buckley's cover of Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen, which is probably the song that Jeff Buckley is most famous for, but there are many other great tracks. One of my favourites is Grace, the track of the same name of the album. The balance of the various parts is exquisite, all joining together to create an entirely profound effect. Other tracks worth listening to are: Last Goodbye, So Real, and in fact the rest of the album.

There are a couple of live albums out there as well; one of which is entitled Mystery White Boy, which is the one I have. It's pretty good, definitely worth a listen after you've checked out Grace. The unfinished album is entitled Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk; I admit I don't know much about this. I've got it but haven't listened to it extensively. From what I've listened to it's got some good things on it.

Well that concludes today's foray into the mismatched world of my music taste. Feel free to comment on this or anything. Do check out Jeff Buckley's music if you get a chance, it's really powerful stuff. Anyway that's all for now.

Cheers,

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Notable Artists... III

Ok so it's time for a new post. Today I'm posting another in the "Notable Artists" series where I write about a group that may or may not be well known but that I think is worth a mention. This entry is all about a band called Maná. Maná began in 1987, but before that they were known under a different name and had a slightly different set of members. They sing in Spanish and originate from Mexico.

So the first time I heard Maná was about a year ago, I heard one or two tracks and later bought the album Arde El Cielo which was the album which my then (and current) favourite Maná track was from. My favourite song by this band is Arde El Cielo from the album of the same name. The music they play is a lovely blend of rock and Latin American music, a combination that works really well. I admit that I'm not an expert on the band, I only have the one album, but I plan to get more in the future. The problem is that most of the CDs have to be imported for sale in Britain, so that has an affect on the price tag. Anyway, I try to understand the lyrics as best I can (they're in Spanish) and I do ok, I'm picking up phrases here and there.

The album is really good, it's got a lot of great tracks, I'll try and translate names of songs where I can, but I may be wrong, I'll do my best. Some of the highlights for me are: Dejame Entrar, Clevado en un bar (Stuck in a Bar), Arde El Cielo (Burn the Sky). Most of the album (including the first two tracks listed in this paragraph) is live, Arde El Cielo and one other track are studio recordings. Overall it's a great album, and I enjoy the fact that it's from a different culture, it adds even more variance to my already varied music taste. I enjoy listening to music from other cultures; bands from other countries that I've mentioned include Rammstein the German Industrial Metal gods and The Fifth Ocean from Russia. Anyway, that just about wraps up this entry about Maná. I thoroughly recommend that you check them out, they're very famous so if you want to find out more they'll show up in a search engine. So this is goodbye for now, until next time which I will try to make fairly soon.

Cheers,

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Notable Artists II

Greetings to you all, and I give my usual apologies for the lack of any posts recently, I am sorry. Anyway, today's post is another entry in the "Notable Artists" series. Today's post is a piece about the band Megadeth. They aren't the usual non-famous band I pick for this series, but they aren't that well known outside the genres of Rock and Metal, so that is why I thought them appropriate for this article. Anyway, on with the post.
I've had one of their albums for ages, but I have only recently properly listened to it. The album is Rust in Peace and I very much like it. The combination between great bass lines, good guitar riffs, brilliant lead guitar, and good singing to boot, makes this a band of accomplished musicians from the start. This is true, the talent is evident in the music. However I like the music for more than just the presence of talent, for there is much more to music than just a load of talented musicians playing in the same room, this has been the problem for some past supergroups. The different parts of Megadeth fit together very well and the resulting sound is brilliant. So I recommend you listen to them if you haven't already. I shall be getting some more of their albums in the near future.
As always feel free to comment about this, another article I've written, or in fact anything you want to share.

Thanks,

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Notable Artists I

This is the first in a series of posts where I will discuss a favourite artist of mine, or just one that catches my ear at the time. Now the point of this particular series of posts is to talk about artists that I like, but mainly artists that are not all that famous. So while I very much like bands like Iron Maiden and the Foo Fighters, these posts will feature lesser known artists. Anyway, on with the post.

Ok, well the band I'll give a special mention to in this post is Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. Now I have actually mentioned this band before, but I plan elaborate on whatever I said before.
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. (I shall refer to the name as Get Cape for short) was originally a single musician called Sam Duckworth. His first album consisted of him playing guitar and singing, with other instruments added via a computer. When on tour he plays with other musicians that play the other parts.
His genre is difficult to define in my opinion, I reckon he falls somewhere around the alternative/acoustic mark, but his second album has more of a rock-like feel to it in certain places.
Anyway, his first album is called The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager. This is my personal favourite of his two albums. My favourite tracks on the album are War of the Worlds, and Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. Through his songs Get Cape aims to target issues such as social injustice, and corporate giants.
His second album is entitled Searching for the Hows and Whys. Again this is a very good album which features Get Cape's brilliant guitar playing.
In terms of live performance Get Cape is great. So far I have seen him once a couple of years ago, but I plan to go and see him live again this year.

So I hope I've been of some use here, if you haven't heard any of his music I urge you to check it out. That's all from me for now.

Thanks,

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