Best Band Ever?

You bet. Fugazi - The Instrument

Kisses - The Hardest Part

The first Kisses records was one of my favorite releases a few years back, and I am eagerly waiting for their new full length that is expected to drop later this year. Here is a track from said release, capturing the disco drums and shimmering synths the band is known for.

All Them Witches....take my headache away

Got sick this weekend, and have been nursing myself back to health with the power of rock and roll. The sludgy, blues psychedelic jams of All Them Witches absolutely helps my aching head. They are surely not the only band around with this sound, and while some of their stuff recalls much larger groups, the band has got the sound down tight. Well worth your time.

Yosa Buson - Prajñāpāramitā Hridaya Sūtra

My label has just released the new digital EP from California's Yosa Buson. Check it out, and download it for free.

坂本九 has the best song I have heard this year

Kyu Sakamoto died three years after I was born. I don't know where his soul went, but his music has filled me with such love that I can not speak of it. I did not hear his music until 2012, when my beautiful girlfriend's father gave me a lot of 7 inch records he acquired. You see, he has two exquisite jukebox machines in his home and an extensive collection of records from Mexico. He did not have a place for Japanese and German records, and handed me a wealth of beautiful songs that I had never heard prior. One of them was from Kyu Sakamoto.

Both may parents worked on the horse race track for years, and thanks to their profession, heard this song often. Apparently, it was a popular tune with Japanese race aficionados, and my mother and father were subjected to it frequently. They may not have appreciated it, but I see the gold in this track. It reminds me how easily new generations throw the old to the dustbins of history without appreciating the greatness of what came before them. 坂本九, you are a musical hero in my book.

 It is free to hear and download below.
The song live... The video with translation... Yet another great live version

San Kazakgascar rock the entire Free World

This was already reviewed by a compatriot at another music site I write for, but I thought it was so good that it required me own review here. San Kazakagascar come from the greater Sacramento area but their musical influences surely do not stop at the borders of this little cow time. Someone in this band picked up a Sun City Girls record at some point, or is well studied the releases from Sublime Frequencies. Or maybe they have never heard of both, and it will be a surprise to them that they were compared to such novel acts.

This is a great release from a group that mixes rocking psychedelic music with riffs and rhythms from around the globe. I had to pick it up on CD once I heard it, and I only wish they had some analogue version of this music available (tapes and vinyl would be great guys).

Pawcut - The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of (2012)

Pawcut is from Germany, but you wouldn't necessarily know that from listening to their music. Their new record, The Stuff that Dreams Are Made of, is a choice bit of downtempo hip-hop that could accompany a late night drive through a headlight illuminated city.

Just knowing that this was a German act brought to mind groups like 13 and God, which contained members of the Notwist and the Anticon crew. With its gentle piano lines and driving basslines, Pawcut have created a nice slice of instrumental music that should reach a larger audience. Thus far, my favorite track is Elegy, but since the whole record is free to download, there is no reason not to hear the rest.

One Man Metal - The Black Metal Fringe

I might be a bit late to the party, but One Man Metal is a really fine look into the world of solo Black Metal performers. There are three parts to the film, and the first is below.

Black Metal Tapes 2: Aetheres and Apati

I picked up these two Black Metal tapes from the excellent European label/distro Cold Void Emanations. They have a slew of tapes and records from across the BM spectrum, and shipping is pretty decent to the U.S., so check them out if you have even the faintest interest in this type of music. The two tapes are from acts I had never heard of before, and bought them solely based on the description provided at the aforementioned website. Both are on the atmospheric side of things, and have interesting builds and instrumentation, putting them squarely in the melodic end of the aisle.

Apati is from Sweden. This is mid-tempo work, with some distant ghostly wails coming from the vocalist. I have no idea what is being said, but this is well mixed and has been a fine soundtrack to the morning paper. The other tape has been issued on CD and vinyl in the past, but BM always sounds best on tape to my ears, so I was pleased to pick up Aetheres' Łaknienie Misterium Nocy in this format. This is some pretty nice heathen material from Poland, but apperently they really hit their stride with their next record, Dark Wisdoms Domain. The Metal Archives had this to say about Łaknienie Misterium Nocy:

Now, while the production isn’t great, it still cannot hide the fact that the music is excellent. These tracks are filled with melancholy, plenty of good sad guitar melodies/ harmonies and Warterz also pulls off many nice solos. The music emanates a strong mystical mood and no, there are no blast beats at all on this album. Mostly it’s mid-paced to slow well-composed stuff, yet still with lots of variation within the songs. Both keyboards and acoustic guitar are used quite a lot to enhance the atmosphere and they certainly succeed in doing so. Despite the fact that there are quite a lot of keyboards, this is still overall a guitar oriented album.

Anri Kumaki 熊木杏里 from the Dollar Bin

I picked up Anri Kumaki's single 春の風 a few months ago at a little Japanese music shop in San Diego. Since I am relativity ignorant of Japanese pop-music, I bought this CD from the dollar bin solely based on the cover. It wouldn't be the first time a pretty girl on a record has gotten me to spend hard earned cash, but as only a dollar was lost in the transaction, I figured it was worth the risk. 

Anri sings pretty traditional J-pop, although heavy on the ballad end and relatively absent from the dance side of the equation. It is the touching stuff that would sit well within an emotional moment in an Anime program about the challenges of school life. I enjoyed it, and while this type of thing might not be for everyone, what in the world is?