Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Mouse on the Keys

totally forgot to post this when I said I would, not that anyone really reads this so it's not really an issue but still lol

what can I say about MotK?
Everything about their stuff is perfect and amazing, composition, mixing, execution, everything.
I'm constantly amazed at the sound of the drums on both their releases, so perfect. The quality of the kit really comes through, it's not something I hear often, a real kit being mic'd properly and mixed in well so that it sounds like the drummer likely wants it to and not in a way that conforms to the pop standard.
I love it so hard.
This is, again, some of that traditional Japanese music-influenced jazz/post-rock
I love it so hard.

http://www.mediafire.com/?66tw3vpfjmb787z

I believe I included both releases on here, the EP and the album. Enjoy, and most of all, appreciate the quality of the music <3

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

heads up to whoever checks up on this (all 2-3 of you)

upcoming stuffs, Warpaint, Mouse on the Keys, Soil & Pimp, Nujabes, Floyd the Locsmif, Mingus
<3
should keep me busy w/ updates over the next few weeks

Monday, January 10, 2011

Japanese Jazz. I'm in love.

What can I say...alright, let's do some backstory
Basically, growing up one of my favorite video games was Mystical Ninja. A big part of why I loved it, and still do, was the music. It was very traditional Japanese inspired music. Very nice, there was everything from industrial sounding tracks to straight up traditional Japanese music (tracks like Sakura even make appearances).
It instilled in me a love for pentatonic sounds, progressive music and the idea of blending something very traditional with something very modern, and having it be poppy and catchy.
I can honestly say that that game influenced my own music and guitar playing more than just about any single other thing.
So when I was introduced to Mouse on the Keys, I was amazed. It blended breakbeats (which I'm deathly in love with), those traditional Japanese ideas and motifs that I adore more than is healthy and at the same time did so in original jazz compositions. A drummer and two keyboardists.
Instant love and a burning desire, obsession really, to find more music like that. Something else that would give me that same rush.
This is a perfect example of what I'm talking about



see what I mean? how awesome is that?!
There are so many levels to appreciate it at.
As a musician there are so many things to listen for and be impressed at. So many little things the guys in the band are doing, the drums alone have kept me up in bed just listening to the beauty and grace of the way they're executed. The production is so beastly, the way the drums are mic'd and EQ'd. The kit doesn't sound dead and you can clearly hear all the little intricacies, you can appreciate the sounds of those cymbals, the tuning and quality of the snare, the bass of the kick.
It's perfect, everything about it is perfect, the composition, the execution, the production, the mastering.
The only thing I've heard against this album is that perhaps the drums are too high in the mix, but I feel that that was done entirely on purpose.
Without the drums being that high the subtleties would be lost,drowned out by the keys. With the mix the way it is, it serves to differentiate between parts. There are some bars in there that would sound completely nonsensical to the average listener were the drums not that high. It sets the pace and gives something to follow, it does exactly what a drum kit can do in the hands of a real, experienced drummer. It adds to the music, builds it and takes it to a whole 'nother place. While at the same time keeping a steady beat to follow.

I love it. I love it so much.
So on a quest I went, to find more music like this.
I've found some different artists which I'll talk about in later posts but for now, I just want to share this sampler I came across.
I got it today and I've been listening to it all day, I'm so in love with the sounds on it.
Enjoy, friends, enjoy.
Listen to everything that's going on in every song, thank you.


http://www.mediafire.com/?xux32kb7h7pw498

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Heroes del Silencio

I've been waking up late even though I've been going to bed real early, you know, like 2am, 3am. Early.
Been doing a lot of SC2 the past few days, getting into Exodus was really cool, hopefully something awesome comes of it. We're playing a team today that, from what I understand, is pretty high ranking. Basically what that means is that we shouldn't feel to bad when we lose, lol.
THERE BE CLOUDS IN THESE HERE SKIES!
The weather makes it feel like it's gonna be one of those days, a lazy day in December. It's been raining off and on for the past few days which makes me want to listen to not-the-happiest music.
I downloaded the Heores del Silencio discography again, so it, along with Jar of Flies and Dirt, has been on constant spin. I actually had no HdS on this computer, weird realization to me, seeing as I have ridiculous amounts of their stuff spread throughout different computers and hard drives :/

If you speak Spanish, and even if you don't, and have never listened to them or are interested in really getting into them, I'd suggest starting with El Mar no Cesa.
Not just because it's their first album, but because it gives a clear picture of the sound they have and develop throughout their career....OK, lets be real, their sound doesn't change too much through out their albums. All they do, really, is get more rock influences and, musically, stray from what I think made them so appealing to begin with.
Their sound and appeal has three parts to it. The guitar, the voice, the lyrics and I guess we could add the phrasing Bunbury uses. Enrique Bunbury is the singer and Juan Valdivia is the guitarist.

Originally Valdivia used a lot of picking, a lot of minor based picking at that. This set them apart from others in the Rock en EspaƱol scene of their time. The didn't fall into, what I call, the Cure mold, though they had elements of it, no one would ever confuse them with Caifanes. They also weren't the tropical sounding group, Mana. Or the Electropoppy group, Los Prisioneros.
They weren't bluntly dark either, their association with being a "sad band" comes from Bunbury's lyrics and the way he sang them. They're deep, symbolic and accompanied so well by the music. Because of this, they leave room for interpretation but don't become bland or 'too' deep. Which is what I think happens to a lot of high caliber musicians through out their years, the Weakerthans suffer from this and Leonard Cohen went through a phase of this. Hell, Facundo Cabral made a career of it lol.
Bunbury's voice is what really developed through out their time together, listening to their early stuff then listening to their later material would give an impression of the confidence and maturity he gained throughout those years.

I'd say one could summarize their entire catalog in two parts. Let's call them the Good and the Off, the Good is the dark, melancholy stuff; a lot of picked intros and verses, with strummed choruses and usually with some kind of break (La Chispa Adecuada, Hace Tiempo, Oracion, Sirena Varada, La Carta, etc...). The Off would be the straight rock tracks, typical, generic 90s rock. Not the cool stuff everyone talks about, this is the generic stuff that, to this day, still plagues mainstream radio. Oh yeah, lets not forget the 4/4 timings found on every track or the drumming so boring at times, that it'd make Ringo and Phil Rudd shake their heads.
Some of these songs are, Nuestros Nombres, Rueda, Fortuna!, Los Placeres De La Pobreza, Tumbas de Sal and, hell, we can throw Iberia Sumergida in there as well. I love some of their "Off" stuff, in fact a lot of those lyrics are some of my favorites. Avalancha being a good example, but let's be real; the music isn't the greatest accompaniment to the lyrics in those cases. And overall it shows that they didn't progress too much musically. The little progress they did make is immensely overshadowed by Bunbury's vocal and lyrical development.

ok. rant over.
lol.
check out El Mar no Cesa.
http://www.mediafire.com/?3y2kamdnjii

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

I'd forgotten about this, I'm going to start using it I think

In the off-chance someone takes interest in my interests, lol, this is here.

I'm presently listening to Jar of Flies for the first time, this first track Rotten Apple really seems to set a mood and precedent for the rest of the album, it's dark, tight, atmospheric and moves at a pace that is sludgy enough that it adds to the sad qualities of the overall track, but doesn't get boring. A quick look at the track listing reveals some of my favorite AIC songs reside here, Nutshell, No Excuses, Don't Follow. From this alone I'm going to venture a guess that this is one of the darkest albums I've come across in a while.
Of the seven songs on it, I'm familiar with four, love one of the new ones and am listening to Whale & Wasp now...Cantrell is definitely a master songwriter, no denying it after this. I mean, I already knew it but this instrumental track proves it.
Ok now I'm on the last track, Swing on This.
Huh...ok there it is, lol. So it starts off almost like a mock-blues kind of thing; walking bassline, 7th chords and a swingin beat. Sounds like something that'd be at home in a Muddy or Wolf set.
Then it hits, the chorus is straight AIC. Dark, dissonant, off-putting.

I'm in love with this album.
If I had to rate it I'd give it an 9/10, definitely worth listening to if you haven't before and aren't too familiar with their music. Really paints a picture of how their music moves and feels.
I'd still prescribe Dirt of it, though, just because it paints a fuller picture of who and how they are, I think.
Then again, I've only listened to their Unplugged, Dirt and now this. Facelift is next.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

ok lets share something cool, ninjazz (as it's been described :D)



dig it?


hows this?





yeah?


wantit?/sureyoudo!/why?/kuzyourawesomesoyourreadingthisblog!/link?/mmkay!



http://rapidshare.com/files/70773347/V-_DOHH.rar


^if it gets taken down lemme know, I'll up it m'self yo

ah samurai sounds, whats this?

basically I've been finding a ton of cool stuff all over the internets and figure that instead of going through and posting stuff one at a time on the different forums I inhabit it'd be easier to just link all you folks to here! lol

So! .........for now I got nothing, next post will though. I've homework to kill right now, *sigh* not looking forward to this.