70 Gwen Party : John Peel Sessions
: they're weird! Almost like
Skinny Puppy but not very! I can't think of anyone else
who
does this industrial ambient "trancy" type thing!
Alastis : The Other Side: Not usually my cup of tea this.
Kind of doom metal sort of thing! Hard to describe really, reminds me a
bit of Cathedral because of the keyboard sound, although more or less straight
gloom and no funk in there.
Brujeria : Raza Odiada: This band is kind of a metal super-group!
Features members of Sepultura, Faith No More's Bass Player Bill Gould, Napalm
Death's Bass Player, and various members of other bands!
Faith No More: Album of the Year: Well that's what they call it! As much as
I hate to admit it, I'm disappointed by this album, something I've never said before about
my favourite band! Normally each album takes a huge step forward from the last,. where as this
one is like king For a Day.... Fool For a Lifetime, if that had gone a bit AWOL! Strange as it
may seem , I can't tell you what is actually wrong, it just seems to lack "something"! There are a
couple of great songs, Mouth to Mouth, Naked in Front of the Computer for example, but on a whole, it
doesn't get anywhere. Or at least it starts to get going, then comes to an end, after 45 minutes.
Die Fantastischen Vier: Live und Direkt:
Those of you living outside German speaking countries, or without MTV Europe
have probably never heard of this German Hip Hop band. Anyway, in Germany
they are incredibly popular, and with good reason, they are a pretty good
hip hop band. I can only say pretty good, because they rap 95% of the time
in German, but this CD which features songs from the previous 3 or 4 albums
I think is OK. You get 2 cds, CD 1 is live and CD 2 is re-mixes. The live
CD shows a divers nature similar to variety of influences to the Beastie Boys,
i.e. you have your hip hop, and then some disco funk will appear! the live
CD contains a good variety in re-mixes, i.e. some are hip hop re-mixes, and
others are techno-ified versions of the original tracks.
Fear Factory:Remanufacture : I wasn't going to buy this, since I have Demanufacture,
but after hearing the first 30seconds in a shop, I had to buy it! Yes this re-mix album of
Demanufacture really is that good! There is still the hard edge that Fear Factory has, but added
there is techno, ambient, drum 'n' bass, hip hop emphasising both the heavy and soft sounds!
I'd say that this re-mix CD is a better than the White Zombie' Super Swinging Sounds CD,
since the songs can easily be recognised although they vary more than the originals.
Fugazi:End Hits: Well to cut a long
review short, this is another great Fugazi CD. What I mean by that is that
it is more or less the same as the other Fugazi
albums, i.e. American hardcore/alternative/punk. This is not a bad thing,
as always the CD is subtly different to the last, but not enough to win any
new fans, but worth buying for fans of the other albums. More importantly
I hope they tour again, since last time they were blinding live!
Garbage:
Very moody yet catchy in places, with a lot of variety in the songs. There are some heavy songs,
pop songs, nice songs, gloomy songs, it's very good,
the singer(female) has a great voice.
Lard:
Pure Chewing Satisfaction: At last the 2nd Lard CD is out, but I suppose Jello Biaffra,
Al Jourgenson, and Paul Barker are busy people, and a drummer dying doesn't help
record an album. However this CD despite being recorded in stages over the last few
years is a great one. Not too different to the last album, but with the Ministry guys
playing like Ministry did in their prime, with Jello Biaffra singing on top, they have
a formula which can't go to wrong! Once again the lyrics are as amusing as they ever were
ad the inlay is full of newspaper cuttings which will either amuse, shock, or scare the
hell out of you!
Nathaniel Merriweather presents...Lovage: Music To Make Love to your
Old Lady By: Now this is good old easy listening at it's best! Well modern
easy listening! This is Dan the Automator's new album, who is the brains behind
"Handsome Boy Modeling School" and produced the Gorillaz debut album. Mike
Patton and Jennifer Charles sing on several of these chilled out mellow tunes.
Imagine if Unkle was romantic and relaxing rather than eerie and menacing!?!?!?
Lo Fidelity Allstars: How To Operate With a Blown Mind.
Top Stuff.
MC Solaar:Paradisiaque: This is the latest album
from the MC Solaar who is famous in France, relatively well known,in the rest
of Continental Europe, but unknown in the rest of the world! The only reason
I can see for this is that he raps in French (although there are versions
recorded of some songs in other languages). For a start the music is great,
it's a kind of jazzy, trip hop style hip hop, which flows nicely and is very
imaginative with a wide variety of instruments to be heard. Also I have the
advantage of knowing some French so I can understand some of what he says.
The lyrics are clever, very clever. He raps about various subjects with knowledge
and whit. Another damn fine CD from this artist who deserves more international
recognition, but sadly doesn't get it because he raps in his mother tongue,
and not English.
Cyco Miko:
Lost My Brain (Once Again) Ex Suicidal Tendencies,
and Infectious Grooves singer releases a solo album,
similar although not the same to the earlier punkier ST stuff.
if you were a fan of ST throughout their many changes you
will probably like it.
Mr Bungle :
Disco Volante :long awaited
2nd album, from the band Mike Patton was in before Faith No More.
This album is very weird, I have heard nothing like it!
Apparently it's similar to John Zorn's stuff! There's only a
handful of songs, the rest is kind of weird bizarre experimental
musical stuff! It's very noisy!
It's also far too hard to describe!
Mr Bungle :
California :long awaited
3rd album, from the band Mike Patton was in before Faith No More.
This album is probably their most accessible. They described it as their own version of a pop
album. Don't let that put you off though. By pop they mean it has catchy tunes, and Mike returns to more
traditional singing! It does however still keep an experimental flair to it.
No Doubt Tragic Kingdom: This is a very good album,
yet very hard to describe. I've heard comparisons with Faith No more and Red Hot Chili Peppers mentioned, but this is a little unfair. Overall the album is an alternative/rock album, which has a heavy ska influence and the title track sounds like it should be a Disney Movie for the final confrontation between
the good and the bad guys! It is a good album, but the 2 MTV
played tracks, probably don't represent the album as whole
very well.
Their web site is:
http://www.nodoubt.com
Offspring: Ixnay on the Hombre :Sounds like an
Offspring album!
Which is a good think if you like "American Punk", but this
album
offers no surprises apart from Jello Biaffra speaking in the
intro. Basically if you liked other Offspring, Bad religion,
Pennywise etc albums, you'll like this one, but I doubt it
would convert anyone! Offspring now have a web site at
http://www.offspring.com.
Mike Patton: Pranzo Oltranzista :This is the
second album from the singer Faith No More's and Mr Bungle.
Once again, there is very little in the way of singing to be found, but the
sound is very different to the previous album. It is perhaps more "alternative
jazz" than the previous CD, since it is not so much of a solo album but more,
"Mike Patton with Friends"! i.e Patton wrote the material, but he is joined
by John Zorn and 2 other people to play the "music". Perhaps a listen before
you buy record!
Primus
: Tales from the Punch Bowl.
Made for $5000 in Les Claypool's house! Primus are one of few bands
(The Melvins being another) whose albums get less commercial as
they make more! Obvious classics on this are Winona's Big Brown
Beaver(played on MTV during daytime ,even though Les says bastard
and it come up on screen, which seems to contradict what I just
wrote !!!)
Prodigy :The Fat Of The Land: The Long delayed 3rd Prodigy album is finally
out and they're Official Web Site came on line
as the record stores in the UK opened to sell it!
As it turns out the delay was probably a good one, since this is without a contender
for album of the year, since it is not just a brilliant Prodigy CD, but a brilliant CD
overall! the opening track, "Smack My Bitch Up", gives a taste of what is to come on the
album, i.e. explosive, no holds barred, techno-punk-rock 'n' roll pop hip hop.
Some of the tracks, are dance tracks, i.e. banging techno, perhaps the odd words thrown
in causing you to jump round the bedroom yelling "oh my God it's the funky shit", but also
there are some songs, i.e. Diesel Power, a rap , Narayan, featuring Crispin from Kuhla Shaker,
the 2 singles and a couple of others. Yes another damn fine album from perhaps the greatest
contemporary UK band.
Rammstein:Herzeleid:
Scary looking people this bunch of six Germans! (2 guitarist, 1 singer, 1 keyboardist,
1 bassist, and 1 drummer. The music is heavy industrial, with a techno-esque feel to
it every now and again, and is best played loud. The good thing is despite the variety
of sounds to be heard in each song, it always remains well structured with everything
remaining crisp and clear. Also the singer sings in German.
Rammstein: The 2nd CD
Red Hot Chili Peppers :
One Hot Minute: An absolutely brilliant album which mixes some
hard hitting alternative rock with some pop songs and some ballads.
This album is not like Blood Sugar Sex Magic, but more like a
progression from Mother's Milk. This is largely due (in my opinion)
to Dave Navarro (ex Jane's Addiction and Porno for Pyros) adding his
own blend or catchy yet interesting guitar riffs.
Smashing Pumpkins:
Melon Collie... Double CD or
cassette over 90 mins long I think and absolutely brilliant.
Contains a mixture of them doing their heavy tunes and the
slower ballad like ones.
Slipknot:
WOW, this is a pretty awesome album! Very noisy mixture of metal riffs with jungle
techno and scratching! Has to be heard to believe how cool it is!
Slipknot: IOWA: WOW, what a disappointment! After loving the 1st
album, I had high expectations of this one, and was hoping for more of the
same, i.e. more experimental techno-metal fusion. Sadly, it's just a metal
album, it's not a bad, heavy metal album, but that's all it is :(
Spearhead :Chocolate Supa Highway : This is noticeably different
to the last Spearhead CD, and since I only bought it on Saturday I'll have
to give it a few more listens to, but at the moment it sounds pretty
good. You can visit their web-site
Sunscreem :
New dark Times:
This album is a lot more is more of a straight dance album than their
previous ones. That is to say that there is a lot less singing, and so
less "songs". However this is still a very good album. As far as I know
it is only available directly from the band at
www.sunscreem.co.uk .
Tomahawk: Mike Patton musical genius and work-a-holic is lead singer
on this CD by the supergroup put together by former Jesus Lizard guitarist
Duane Denison. On drums is Helmet's John Stanier, and on bass, Melvins' Kevin
Rutmanis. 1st listen I thought this was a pretty average rock album. I mean
I thought it was better than a lot of the crap out there like Limp Bizkit
etc. Anyway, on listening to this album more and more it's really grown on
me. On repeated listening you hear how clever and unique the "dark country
grunge/rock" sound is! If you like Jesus Lizard, you'll like this, you can
tell it's Duane's not Patton's band. His vocals do stand out, as does Stanier's
Helmet style drumming, but the guitar work is a darker Jesus Lizard.
U2: POP: I wouldn't normally go anywhere near a U2 CD, but my local record store
had it for half RRP, and so I bought it, since I liked Discotheque, and loved Staring at
the Sun. Pop is a good title for this album 'because it is more or less a perfect pop album, i.e.
most of the songs are catchy, you can sing along to them, and there's a mixture of ballads and
upbeat numbers. I couldn't say this is a must buy, it's OK on a whole, with 2 of the ballads
Staring at the Sun,and if God Will Send His Angels, and Mofo being the highlights.