Monthly Archives: December 2009

It’s Hard (The Who) – Album Review (Part 2)

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Read the introduction to this review here.

The songs on The Who’s final record with Kenny Jones have a distinctive characteristic: many were written “to order” by Pete. That is, Roger and John requested that certain issues were touched upon and that is why we have a song about the health system (“Cook’s County”) and one about war (“I’ve Known No War”). These work in tandem with John’s “Dangerous”, about urban violence and security.

“Cook’s County” has the sad merit of being hailed by fans as one of the worst songs ever recorded by the band. The other is “Armenia, City In The Sky”, though to be fair that one was penned by Pete’s chauffeur at the time, Speedy Keene. ”I’ve Known No War” is better as it has a longer running time in which motifs are established and both the instruments and the vocals peak, culminating in an orchestrated fade.

The title track was actually reworked from an opera of Pete about each person being a soul under siege, and it has some mixed wordplay. But it is mostly compelling when taken as a whole. Continue reading →

It’s Hard (The Who) – Album Review (Part 1)

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The Who's Final Studio Album With Kenny Jones

The Who's Final Studio Album With Kenny Jones

Three years after Keith Moon had passed away, Pete must have been regretting they ever carried on. His attitude had changed for sure, as he began pumping out solo releases which in hindsight were to be the place to turn to if you were looking for The Who’s zest. Because The “New” Who on record and The “New” Who on stage were completely different entities.

Live, Kenny had to replicate Keith’s arrangements, and he was quite capable of doing that (they never, ever did “Happy Jack” with Kenny, though). As a studio drummer, it was a different story. He could drum excitingly enough for any band (“You Better You Bet” and “Daily Records” are clear examples), but nobody could ever hold a torch to Keith’s inventive performances in the studio. That wasn’t Kenny’s fault, certainly. And to be fair, Keith could never have played military drums like the former Small Faces drummer did on “Cry If You Want”. But he was under so much pressure and attention that it must have been unbearable. And Roger was hostile to him from day one. Continue reading →

The 15 Best Music Startups To Be Highlighted At MidemNet Lab

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The MidemNet Lab Is Taking Place At The MIDEM Music Conference In Cannes, France

The MidemNet Lab Is Taking Place At The MIDEM Music Conference In Cannes, France

The inaugural MidemNet Lab will take place at the MIDEM music conference in Cannes, France (23rd – 27th January 2010).

It will be the spot where the 15 best startups that bring digital innovation into the world of music will be highlighted. These have been voted by some of the key players in the industry – leaders of sites such as MySpace, Spotify and Seesmic opined on which startups should be featured. Continue reading →

Laberinto (La Trampa) – Uruguayan Music

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"Laberinto" Was La Trampa's Fifth Album. It Was Issued In 2005 To Good Sales And Mostly Positive Reviews.

"Laberinto" Was La Trampa's Fifth Studio Album. It Was Issued In 2005 To Good Sales And (Mostly) Positive Reviews.

“Laberinto” [Labyrinth] constitutes the fifth album of original material released by Uruguayan rockers La Trampa. Alongside La Vela Puerca, No Te Va Gustar and Buitres the band possesses immense popularity in the country; and like the aforementioned bands, it has been making inroads in the Argentinean market.

This time around there is a strong presence of both Uruguayan and Argentinean folk music in the compositions (all penned by guitarist Garo Arakelian), which coupled with the traditional approach of the band results in a captivating listening experience. The entrance to this particular labyrinth is not that unusual, though: “Puente De Estrellas” [Bridge Of Stars], “Las Décimas” [The Ten-line Stanzas] and “El Poeta Dice La Verdad” [The Poet Tells The Truth] are classic La Trampa, competing with the best moments of preceding albums such as “Caída Libre” [Free Fall] (2002).

However, come the fourth selection, a “zamba” (an Argentinean rhythm, not to be confused with the Brazilian “samba”) titled “Ronda De Lenguas” [Round Of Tongues] and the thread abruptly disappears, leaving the listener wondering how to proceed. The bands playfully leads him through a maze of gentle songs interspersed with harder-sounding offerings, until “Vagos Recuerdos” [Vague Memories] signalizes the way out. Along the way he is bound to find “Canciones Al Viento” [Songs To The Wind], which combines a measured introduction with an energetic conclusion, emphasizing the will to transcend of the lyrics (“Quiero una canción que vuele cuando ya no vuele yo/Que se haga viento en el aire cuando no respire yo/Quiero un viento que te cante cuando ya no cante yo”) [I want a song that flies when I no longer fly/That becomes wind in the air when I no longer breathe/I want a wind that sings for you when I no longer sing] and the salient “Pensares” [Thoughts], bearing the most realized chorus of the whole album, alongside a pensive guitar solo that complements the lyrics perfectly. Continue reading →

Cinco Estrellas (Astroboy) – Uruguayan Music

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"Cinco Estrellas" Was Astroboy's Debut EP

"Cinco Estrellas" Was Astroboy's Debut EP

The emergence of a band like Astroboy in the Uruguayan market was understandable. Uruguay’s endemic genres like Tango, Murga, and Candombe have always held little sway over the tastes of youth, whereas popular bands like La Vela Puerca or No Te Va Gustar still fail to strike a chord with listeners weaned on British and American music. Astroboy attempted to bridge that gap with the release of their debut album, a seven-song EP entitled “Cinco Estrellas” [Five Stars]. The EP was issued in 2003.

Verily, they sing in English, and their approach differs from traditional Uruguayan Rock, but problems abound. First of all, they may sing in English, but they do not compose songs in English. It is palpable that the words are devised in Spanish and then translated into English, with little regard for the nuances of each language. This is denoted by the rhymes they resort to (when they do rhyme), and by the rhyme schemes in use – these never move beyond the basic ABCB. And when they do try (as in “Did I Tell You?”), they wind up coupling words like “drowning” with “laughing”. And the lyrics themselves are a drawback, as they are plagued by grammar and syntax problems (I check my meanings/And all my kinds are ways/ That I don’t mind/Yeah!).

Moreover, a tendency to take the easy way out is already pronounced here; some compositions are made up of just one verse and one chorus reiterated throughout the whole song, as in “Fácil” [Easy] and the closing “Time Has Passed” (a bonus track, and the weakest song on offer). Some (minor) confusions between British and American English are also in evidence. But the most egregious aspect is the music itself, wholly derivative of Britpop bands (most notably Oasis). There is a difference between being inspired by something and imitating something; it is a thin line, but Astroboy crosses it gratuitously. From Oasis they also take the attitude and general outlook (especially singer Martín Rivero, who hero-worships Liam Gallagher). Continue reading →

RjDj – Turning Music Into Something Truly Interactive

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RJDJ

Name: RjDj
URL: http://www.rjdj.me

The technology we have available today might not have been put to the best use when it came to engaging users. That is the lasting impression I was left with after browsing through this site. The company (a transatlantic one) builds iPhone apps that take the music created by electronic artists, and then it lets you come up with tunes of your own by using the accelerometer from the iPhone along with the sounds that surround you. This is what the company calls “reactive music”. That is, music marked by activeness on the user instead of the passiveness of sitting while a song is playing, merely tapping your fingers away and so on.
Continue reading →

The Old Kit Bag (Richard Thompson) – Album Review

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The Cover To Richard Thompon's "The Old Kit Bag" (2003)

Richard’s first album of the century found him in a small label for the first time in more than two decades, and the record itself was to have a streamlined approach, with few musicians and a sound that was far removed from the layered approach that had marked/marred his 90s output. Perversely enough, the new formula worked quite magically – the record hit the Billboard Top 200, and the top 5 of the Indie charts. The truth is producer John Chelew came closer to capturing Richards’ rotund live sound than virtually anybody else – for sure much closer than Mitchell Froom.

The title of the album references a World War I song, as it is only fit since the record has a conceptual tinge of boys that grow to become soldiers only to be hit by the intricacies of destiny and the egotism and apathy of the adult world – “the fire in your eyes/how could they know”, Richard sings on the set opener, the fiercely beautiful “Gethsemane”. The first side of the record also has the Celtic-styled “One Door Opens”, probably one of the album highlights with vocalist  Judith Owen (a recent associate that joins long-time bassist Danny Thompson and drummer Michael Jerome) providing a rich backdrop, something she does not only on that tune but on more than half the tracks.

This backing becomes even more noticeable in one of the closing numbers, the tension-riddled “Word Unspoken, Sight Unseen”. Richard mutes the guitar, and he lets it ring only when the intensity is such that the lyrical flow demands a sturdier backbone so that the song won’t collapse.

“Word Unspoken, Sight Unseen” is placed next to the Eastern-derived “Outside Of The Inside”, which is (appropriately enough) a song about Muslim faith and the way a radical sees Western culture. Continue reading →

It Won’t Be The Last (Billy Ray Cyrus) – Album Review

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Billy Ray Cyrus' Second Disc Was Quite Successful But It Couldn't Match The Sales Of The Debut

Billy Ray Cyrus' Second Disc Was Quite Successful, Yet It Could not Match The Sideral Sales Of The Debut

“It Won’t Be The Last” was Billy Ray Cyrus’s second full-length album. It was released in the summer of 1993, shortly after his mega-successful debut had hit the shelves. I regard it as a major step forward. But it is not that the album is miles away from the previous one, it is just that it has gone the (relatively short) distance that would lead to a more balanced listen. The first time around it felt like the ballads and the rockers did not mesh. That problem was to be resolved by “It Won’t Be The Last”. The key word here is “focused”. There is a clear middle ground between ballads and rock numbers (such as the successful single “Words By Heart”), and the flow of the album feels more natural this time around.

The record has 11 tracks, and the first six are a true pleasure. The single “In The Heart Of Woman” was a foolproof way to set the disc in motion, and having it followed by one of the many Don Von Tress songs on offer (“Talk Some”) was the best way to keep the momentum going. Von Tress was to be the primary tunesmith for the album. That was only to be expected – he had penned “Achy Breaky Heart” and “Talk Some” is the best rocker he contributes to this record, in my opinion. The other rock number (“Ain’t Your Dog No More”) feels too overtly like an Achy Break Heart surrogate, and a forced one at that. Continue reading →

The Stanford Mobile Phone Orchestra

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How does technology and traditionalism have been getting on lately? Leaving aside Robert Murdoch’s ongoing battle with search engines so that print media will retain its inherent force and exclusivity, I think that the year was a good one in terms of bringing together ends that might always have been deemed as too opposite. Of course, it was the year of social media (“unfriend” was voted the word of the year by the Oxford University Press), and it was a year in which we saw Twitter crowned as the supplest way to spread news – the plane landing in the River Hudson, the elections in Iran…

And where does music stand in all this? Obviously, social media has modified the way people promote and market music. I just don’t think that CDs and physical music would become a thing of the past anytime soon (look here), but there is a clearly new portion of music consumers that grows exponentially, and that is already colossal (IE, young people taken as a whole). And now, a new development has taken place when it comes to the actual performing of music. Continue reading →

El Tiempo Está Después (Fernando Cabrera) – Uruguayan Music

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"El Tiempo Está Después" Was Issued In 2004. It Covers Fernando Cabrera's Very First Years As A Solo Artist.

"El Tiempo Está Después" Was Issued In 2004. It Covers Fernando Cabrera's Very First Years As A Solo Artist.

The first Uruguayan album I purchased was this compilation by Fernando Cabrera, and it only makes sense he is the one artist I have chosen to inaugurate this section of MusicKO with.

Born in 1956 in Montevideo, he is one of the most respected composers in the whole country. He performs what we call “Música popular”, a category that is comparable with folk music in English-speaking countries to a considerable extent. His primary instrument is the guitar, and his MO on the whole is not that removed from artists I adore like Elvis Costello, XTC and Richard Thompson in the sense that he is a very distinguished lyricist whose vocal delivery is anything but mainstream, and while that costs him some wider appeal it gives him a certain exclusiveness that make him all the more beloved by his followers.

This compilation was first issued in the year 2004, and it gathers together the best cuts from his first three solo recordings (he had been part of the groups “MonTRESvideo” and “Baldío” during the late 70s and early 80s). These albums are “Autoblues” (1985), “Buzos Azules” (1986) and “El Tiempo Está Después” (1989).

Fourteen tracks are featured. Some are very short, like the opening “Iluminada” [Illuminated] and the set closer “No Te Olvidés” [Don’t You Forget], some rock quite energetically like “Tangente” [Tangent] and “Agua” [Water], and some have a lovely River Plate sensibility such as “La Garra Del Corazón” [The Drive Of The Heart] and “Los Viajantes” [The Travelers], with “La Garra Del Corazón” being actually a tango. But every single composition could be described as (to quote Bobby Darin) true poetry in motion. That is particularly true when it comes to the track that lends its title to the album, which in English is rendered as “Time Comes Afterwards” and the phenomenal “Imposibles” [Impossible Things] and “Pandemonios” [Pandemoniums]. Continue reading →