A short week of music

I know... I wanted to do an article about Porcupine Tree, but it's seem that I barely scratched the surface of the subject, so I keep it for another time and will show you some find of this week and some throwback. 

Lockdown by Koffee. 17 July 2020
Lets Start by the last song I founded interesting. A Reggae song about, you guess it, the actual lock-down caused by the covid-19... ...or about a breakup? The song sound great, but I have an hard time to understand what she said. Don't blame me, English is my second language.

The song is refreshing and pleasant to hear, even if it's predictable. And by that I mean, once you hear the first verse, you quickly realize that it gonna be the same for the rest of it. even the back signer if predictable. This is at the limit of sounding mechanical, not really organic. A bit weird for a Reggae song.
  
Also, can we speak about the fact that they're in public and not keeping a responsible distance nor wearing a mask. jk jk

 Lockdown by Koffee. 17 July 2020

Pac-Man, by Gorrilaz and Schoolboy Q. 20 July 2020
You know, when you forgot about an artist you like and suddenly found out they never stopped their work but it's just meh... That's exactly what I feel for them right now. I was Happy to see that they came with a new title yesterday but it's quite forgettable. The song is so generic that I  couldn't see the difference if they made it this month or five year ago. I can understand that keeping your style and sound identity is importent to keep their fans base, but this song feel like a filler on a compilation. 

I'm not sure where they want to go with this collaboration but they can do better.
Call me a hater if you want, but after 10 minutes, I already struggle to remember the tune of this song. It's simply too similar of what they've done in the past, other song keep piling over it in my head.

Pac-Man, by Gorrilaz and Schoolboy Q. 20 July 2020

Stardust, by Frank Sinatra. 1940

The pain in my back really annoy me Ant I know too muche well that not everything will calm my nerve. If there is one thing that help me to cope with my situation is something like good old music. For some reason, Frank Sinatra seem to be my go to right now. There is something in it that make me feel in peace. maybe it's the low tempo or this fake nostalgia of a better time I never know. all I know is, right now, it feel like a lullaby and my back pain feel weirdly lighter. 

Stardust, by Frank Sinatra. 1940

So, on that, I'll say take care everyone!
See ya later! 

A motley weekend on my back

First of all, I want to apologies for this empty weekend, not mush of you have seen mi last post since I didn't link anywhere. I hurt my back and it's only the first day that I can stand up without the need of cane... 

Also, a little note here, I'll reduce my number of poste to Friday to Monday instead to trying to keep it all week long. I'm not alone in this blog, we gonna figure out something tu sustain it.

Long story short I hurt my back Thursday and i couldn't play with my CD's Even less with my Record player... but I still have access to my cellphone and google home mini, so I still fund some interesting song over the weekend that I judged Interesting enough to share it with you. So, here's my motley playlist...

Smash Ultimate, Medieval Style, by LJB0. 18 July 2020   
This one was a surprise on my YouTube Feed. It's hard to believe how well this song is in this style. It would be legitimate to hear it in a renaissance fair and i'm pretty sure that nobody will question it. The Song have a little something that, I'm pretty sure that, with lyrics of a bard, could uplift a party to go to an adventure. 

Also, This guy made a lot of video game theme in medieval theme and it would be a perfect fit for Tabletop Rpg's soundtrack. 

Smash Ultimate, Medieval Style, by LJB0. 18 July 2020  

Eat My Ass, by Belle Delphine. 14 July 2020.
I don't remember who send me this last Friday night, (he/she would probably recognize them-self) but... Fuck you. If there is a thing I dont want to do, is simping over such a trashy troll like that, but at the same time, the song is not bad. I she wasn't this slutty, she could definitively have a carrer in the music industries. Well... ...being deprave never stop other to...  Anyway, that's not the point here. The song is simple and catchy, and that bass is extra. Minus point for the high notes, kind of siren sound that stuck in my mind after the song... 

...yeah, ok. The song is not that great, but it's stick in my head and I don't want to be the only one to suffer. 
Obviously, It's mature content... 

Eat My Ass, by Belle Delphine. 14 July 2020

Fear of a Blank Planet, By Porcupine Tree. 2007

This is he song that make me do this list, I'm Currently listening to the album online an will probably do a Review of this band later, probably Friday. I was considering to post nothing at all until Friday, But I listen to so mush interesting song that I couldn't let them go without. 

This is the kind of music I like to listen, sit in a darkness only rip by the shy light of a candle. My mind is evading me on the flow of this music. quite hard to focus in this post while listening to this song... I love this anxious guitare at the opening ant its overall creepiness. Call me mad if you want, but this is my kind of music. I love Dark Ambient and Progressive Rock with this same hot shadow it put me in. So far, my playlist of tonight have been Made of Tool, Dream Theater, a bit of Creed and This... (I will not poste them, It will defy what I try to do right now.

Fear of a Blank Planet, By Porcupine Tree. 2007

Dunah, A vintage Drum Cove of Louis Armstrong, by Sticky Wicket. 2019.

I think it was Saturday early morning, that I put some old jazz on YouTube (on my television)  to simply fall asleep and woke up past 10 on this guy play. his voice before the song wake me up and when I open my eyes to see this old and simple drum set, I couldn't look away.

Dunah, A vintage Drum Cove of Louis Armstrong, by Sticky Wicket. 2019

I Want candy, By Mc Chris. 2007.

Thursday evening I was in a craving for some sweets while I was stuck in pain in my bed. My savior Wakky come to my help by bringing me chocolate bar. My heroine... 
I discover this song on the Twitch Channel of Jimathers, the creator of Foamy the Squirrel. It was the ending song of the chow he do with Pum'kin Guy.    

So, to continue the story, this song come to my mind after consuming my last bar... sometime I annoy myself. 

I Want candy, By Mc Chris. 2007

So, that's it oft tonight, I hope you like it.
On that,
See Ya! 

Little update 18 july

I didn't post anything for a while, mostly because I didn't listen to new artist or anything relevant this week...

There this and the fact that I was really busy going places and all until i hurt my back real bad 2 days ago. Since, i'm stuck laid on my bed with excruciating pain every time I try to sit or stand up. I also have something called gout in my left feet, but it's not something new, I can deal with that, but the pain in my back is something that I don't know how to deal with...

So i will resume what i do when I get better.

Wish me luck! 

When classical music meet electronic. Tomita, Firebird

When i bought my record last time, the selles showed me few albums that could interest me and this was one of them. A white album with a red cress bird on it. I was really wondering why he wanted me to take it.
He simply said:
-Ho, this guy is from japan an make electronic music. pick it, because you not gonna find it twice. 

Fair enough I said, paid and go my merry way. What I didn't know is, this is not simply a D-j. or an electronic band. It's literally Classical music re-orchestrated with electronic instrument. We speaking of an album from 1976, those are digital effect! I can only imagine the wall of wires and electronic boards to make those song. 

Picture by Exhor

The first side is simply surreal and to be honest, it creep me out. With the not so great quality of my used album, the first act of Firebird Suite (composition of Stravinsky) make me feel like I put a cursed record in my turntable. It got me some chill in the neck, but I loved it. I was fascinated and had question piled up in my mind. Who's that guy? Is this ment to be for a movie or something? why doing classical music in electronic?

First, his name is Isato Tomita, from Tokyo. He created music from 1972 to 2016 util he die at the age of 84. He was an compositor and interpret of this specific kind of music. Searching on Wikipedia, I found that is his sixth album, and no, this one is not a soundtrack or anything. He was a graduated classical compositor when he got inspired by the album Switched on Bach by Wendy Carlos... and this is where all begin. 

The Alum
Generally, I pick 3 songs from an album and debate around it, but the album is technically 3 songs... The first song is the whole side A. It's Firebird Suit and it's a 4 part song who could technically be counted as different song, but the album have no pose between every part. On the side B, we have Prelude To The Afternoon Of A Faun by Debussy, a 10 minutes song, followed by the 13 minutes song A Night On Bare Mountain by Moussorgsky. Each of them are brillant reinterpretation in electronic instrument, more precisely, a MOOG Synthesizer, a couple of mixer, around 5 Tape corder and a big bunch of accessory. 

Since it's quite impossible to found those song's separately, I (for this one) will link the whole album.      

Overall, I give it a 7 out of 10. It's surprising and interesting, but there is few parts that I simply didn't like it... ...not something big, it's just that some few parts of those songs could have been played with a bit more of bass or else. He was probably at the maximum that he could do with the technologie of this time.    

Yes (the band) Close to the Edge

I have 2 statement to make before we begin This article.  
It was my birthday this week, so I didn't poste mush for this reason. 

and...

It was my birthday this week, so I bough a F** tone or records. Hell yeah!  

Speaking of it, I took the time today to listen and analyse one of them, that I was more than happy to do, and it's  the album Close to the Edge, by Yes. It's quite hard to put the hand on a rock album at good price in my region, mostly, because there is a high demand for it... ...at least, that's my impression. 

I get this Album for a real bargain. The seller told me that they where real cheap because he, itself, got them on a sell after the death of the owner and since he could make his money back with some other collector items, he decided to sell all the albums with a name wrote in it for a  low low price of 2$, no matter the quality of it or what it was really. If I wanted to buy it on Ebay, I would probably pay something like 20$ to 30$ for something similar.

The cover.
If there is something I really like about records, it's the art on it, and when we are lucky, there is a whole painting printed inside them. This one is quite interesting, from the outside, all do we have is the an imperfect black to green gradient, who's... ...interesting to say the least. 

Picture by exhor

But, once you open it, you facing to a beautiful landscape unique to the Yes aesthetics. If you look to the the other albums of the band, you will see that the like to use the cavernous mineral formation like stalactites to make them as a base for a fantastic landscape. This one is right in this optic, depicting one of those rimstone (gour) lake in cave, or more like those at Yellowstone since its outside. Nevertheless that the artist, Roger Dean, make some of the most impressive album cover, not only for Yes, but also for Asia, Steve Howe and The London Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Picture by exhor

The musics

If you don't really know the band, you might not recognize any song in it. Yes never been a commercial band to begin with. This album come in 72, the year after their most know album named Fragile, which we can found the song Roundabout use in the anime JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, who turned as a meme in 2016. 

To describe this album quickly,  lets say that it's not like other rock music of the 70's. I found it really intricate, they sound like if every rift have been written and rewritten over and over to get the best of it. I chose the song Siberian Khatru to represent this album, it's touch at a lots of the sonority that we can found in this albums. 

Rock? indeed. Psychedelic? Yeah. Researched? absolutely. 

To give it a note, I will say 7.8 on 10. 
It's good, but not the most impressive nor the most catchy album they made, There is few song that I keep zoning out on them... So, in the event that you ask me if it's good, i'll say, Yes...

Alright, I hope you liked it as mush as i do.
on that, I'll say:
See Ya!   

...

Yeah, a F** tone of Albums! (my collection so far)

Ennio Morricone

Once again, Death take the life of an artist. It seem, since 2016 I see artists that I just learn to love, dying one by one. This time, it's Ennio Morricone. most of us don't know him by name, but if I sing you few note, I'm pretty sure you will recognize in a second.

Morricone is the compositor behind a lots of music from Cowboy movies called ''western spaghetti''. He was the one who create the soundtrack for ''Once Upon a Time in the West'', also ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'', actually if I remember well, all movies about the man with no name, played by Clint Eastwood.

Here is a brillant interpretation of one of his song, 

For A Few Dollars More, by The Danish National Symphony Orchestra. 2018

Of-course, as a compositor of this level, he did not stop after few success. Since the movie ''For a Few Dollars More in 1965, he worked on 19 movies. The last one being ''The Hateful Eight'' by Quentin Tarantino. Once again, the soundtrack is marvelous. We can feel the emotions, the tensions on those songs.

Here, in this song, we cans see him leading the orchestra on a magnificent video made of close up, astonishing point of view of the orchestra and cut from the movie in question.
       The Last Diliugence for Red Rock, lead by Morricone himself. 2016.

He did do more music than those song-track for western movies, but his compositions left a mark on this cinematographic univers like no one else. I will say that I'm a bit bias since I love those movie, especially those with Clint Eastwood, but who would know that this man from Italy will make an indelible trace on the memories of all those American souls. 

For the last song, I will present you one of my favorite song of Sir Morricone intitled: 

''The Ecstasy of Golg'' played/rendered by Sheet Music Boss.2019

I hope you liked it, and I hope he liked it from where he is now.
On that,
good night everyone. 

Colt Clark and the Quarantine Kids, a family goal

I was watching the video clip of Come Together from the Beatles when one of those Small picture on the side got my attention. A little girl, really happy to be in front of the camera, just in front of her family band. It might be the dawn of the day, but clicking on this picture make my day way more brighter.

Colt Clark and the Quarantine Kids

To describe them real fast the band only existe since the beginning of the quarantine, obviously... and so far, they covered over 60 songs. The dad, Mr Colt is a professional musician and the mom behind the camera is a photographer. they started this YouTube Channel to keep everyone occupied, and it's part of their education. 

As you can understand, I was quite a surprised, not that I never see something like that, but their pretty good! The oldest might be around 12, so seeing them being able to play a full song every 2 days, it's really impressive. And what about this little ball of energy dancing in front... ...I can only smile.

The first song I heard was Come Together and that's the song who hook me up. I was curious about them, especially when I see the channel name. so here it is:

Oppening the Channel page, I couldn't believe my eyes on the quantity of videos posted and I immediately click on a song randomly, and it was Don't Break Me Down by Electric Light Orchestra. This was the beginning of a long list os song I listen tonight.

They have so much fun, it's quite hard to look away. After almost 2 hours of it, I decided to watch the last video uploaded. like always, the song is a timeless hit well played. Knock on Wood by Eddie Floyd.

They have a beautiful energy as a family and hope they will continue like that. A real example of a well family , surround by happiness and a passion to unite them. If, like me, you appreciated it, make sure to go see their YouTube Channel down bellow:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDA5r8KAXgg1lJasipG0fRA

And if you can, go give them some tip, it's not easy for the parents on this time in particular, so make it your good deed of the day!
https://www.paypal.me/coltquarantinekids?locale.x=en_US

On that,
See Ya!
...and have a good day!