I was looking at some of the best sold - platinum - R&B female artists of all time and I would not help remarking a simple things. Even if R&B would be a style of music where the sex theme would fit most easily, the best sold tracks or albums are not about this matter.

Even more, the platinum artists are usually out of the range where they just put up a video with as many girls wearing as little clothes as possible and just wait for it to become a hit. Maybe this will get you into some good sales, but you won’t make it to the top this way.

Therefore, the question. Is the sex that sells in music, like in (some of the) advertising ? Or is it just selling ’till a certain line and then it’s all about something else ?

Link: Angie Stone - Wish I Didn’t Miss You.

As I was not able to attend, Diana offered to share her experience on the Samael concert. Therefore, here it is, the Samael concert in Romania reviewed. Thanks a lot, Diana !

The day of the Samael concert finally arrived on the 2nd of December – a day awaited by many – and so many to be disheartened. Judge me with indulgence if you please, but this is not the same band you sordid metalheads used to listen years ago.

With Dies Irae as an opening act, things didn’t quite indicate future excellence, for they encountered as many technical problems as a band could in only one 30 minute show. As for Avatar, things worked out remarkably good, their show being sustained by Costin Chioreanu’s outstanding projections. Inauspicious, the audience got uninterested just a bit before the usual, but this is comprehensible if we keep in mind the forthcoming band.

When Samael eventually came into action, many people left the concert hall, unaware of the fact that this band changed style a while ago. Nevertheless, the ones who chose to remain were uttermost enraptured, for the guys offered an incredible hour and a half of pure musical spells.

One by one, they played songs such as Jupiterian Vibe, Reign of Light, On Earth, On Earth, but their genuine moment of grace was probably symbolized by Baphomet’s Throne, for that’s when the band manifested their real endowment and received the well deserved feedback.

Moreover, it is probably widely agreed that the half an hour encore added a tint of awesomeness to the show. The band waved goodbye and promised to come back next year (don’t they all?). Overall this has been indeed a good concert, backed by a remarkable sound system and an exceptional set list.

Jupiterian Vibe
Inch Allah
Reign of Light
The Cross
Telepath
Oriental Dawn
Baphomet’s Throne
Rain
Nautilus & Zeppelin
On Earth
Moongate
Choosen Race
Infra Galaxia
The Ones Who Came Before
________________________
Intro/Shining Kingdom
Black Trip
High Above
Year Zero
My Saviour

Apparently the band also had a very good time wandering a bit the next morning and I’ve heard rumors…Nevertheless, I’m glad things started to prompt to musical action in Romania and since we’re having Laibach in the offing you should prepare for a plump year. At this pace I sometimes wonder if we’ll ever get to see Deine Lakaien. Loading…

Thanks to the I am fuel, You are friends blog, I had the chance to experience one of the greatest moments in music recently - Pearl Jam playing a native Hawaii-an song, composed by Israel “The Gentle Giant” Kamakawiwo’ole.

The song is extremely powerful, covering the ancient theme of the land of the native Americans and the industrial revolution destroying their beauty.

The original version is sang by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, one of the most appreciated Hawaiian artists. He started singing at the age of 11 and dies at the age of 38, suffering from a breathing illness caused by obesity - he was about 340 kg.

The Pearl Jam interpretation of the song preserves the power and emotion behind the original version, adding the power of Eddie Vedder’s voice. The performance was during a Pearl Jam show in Hawaii and is covered in Surfline magazine.

Courtesy of the I Am Fuel, You Are Friends blog, you can find both versions to listen to below:

Israel Kamakawiwo’ole - Hawai I ‘78 - original version

Pearl Jam - Hawai I’78 - cover.

Well, the nominees list has been published. You can find it here. The ceremony is to take place on February 11th, 2007.
Here are my 2 cents on who I’d vote for in each category:

• Record of the Year - even though I don’t think it is the best record of this year, I’d go for Mary J Blige - Without you. Actually, I really like this track and I definetely think it is the best out of the other nominated songs.
• Album of the Year - Definetely the Stadium Arcadium should take this one. There is no debate about it, it just rocks and all the others are quite crap.
• Song of the Year - This award goes to the songwriter and in my view the writer of Not Ready to Make Nice should take it.
• Best New Artist - Even if I don’t really like that over-romanced music, I’d go for James Blunt on this one.
• Best Female Pop Performance - Wow, I can’t believe KT Tunstall is nominated. Yes, she should take home the award.
• Best Male Pop Performance - Daniel Powter, with Bad Day…maybe.
• Best Pop Group - Even though most of the indie blogosphere would probably go for Death Cab for Cutie, I would stick to Black Eyed Peas on this one, even if “My Humps” was lower than expected.
• Best Pop Collaboration - I’d go for Mary J Blige & U2.
• Best Solo Rock Performance - I have a special attaraction for Tom Petty with Saving Grace
• Best Rock Group Performance - Again, R.H.C.P. with Dani California.
• Best Hard Rock Performance - I’d go for System of a Down.
• Best Metal Performance - Slayer, no doubt about it !
• Best Rock Instrumental Performance - again, a pretty straight one should go to David Gilmour.
• Best Rock Album - Again, I would go for Tom Petty.

And for the other categories I’m going to write something soon - to be continued…

Blender published a top 50 worst music artists of all time. As this is and should be considered as a highly subjective initiative, I would have some remarks to it:

I Agree with:
- Crash Test Dummies (no 28) - they didn’t impress with anything, released the Mmm Mmm Mmm … song which was quite lousy for a hit, even though heavily broadcasted in its age. Poor performance afterwards.
- Celine Dion (no 26) - regarded by many as a Diva, I was never keen on anything concerning her, specially the song for Titanic. Everything was too “predictive”, all the songs follow the same line. Boring.
- Creed (no 23) - Again, nothing of interest in that form of rock.
- Michael Bolton (no 3) - Sort of a masculine version of Celine Dion, he made a good impression on depressed young teens but his music is poor, with no innovation and no substance after all.
- Insane Clown Pose (no 1) - Actually, I never understood anything from that form of “music”, so they must be lame.

I do not agree with: here the list can get longer…

- Manowar (no 44) - actually, Manowar had their quite distinctive sound and played good music. DeMaio is a good bass-player and all of the guys are pretty technical with their instruments. Also, the vocals were good. They also managed to be the “loudest band in the world” in Guinness World Records hall of fame.
- The Doors (no 37) - Doors played an unique kind of music and they have to be appreciated for this. They also created and supported a large movement in the hippie groups and influenced a lot of other bands. The End has one of the best guitar solos ever, so this is another reason to appreciate them.
- Yngwie Malmsteen (no 14) - As they said in the ranking, he was big on solos but short on songs. Actually, I trink he was that big on solos, that the lower songs can be overseen and he should be ranked much better. After all, this is his purpose, to create some great guitar sounds.
- Mick Jagger (no 13) - I think his great merit is that he actually created a great band and managed to make it play excellent music for dozens of years. Very few managed to do this and for this he should be greatly appreciated.

Actually, I could add a lot of Romanian artists to “the worst list” and also a lot of pop-stars…actually, 90% of them. But again, it is a matter of taste :)

Not much going on recently in my music habits, except for the recent discovery of two excellent tracks.

The first one is from the Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift movie - it is actually the opening track, sang by DJ Shadow and is entitled Six Days. I was just too impressed when I first heard it and I immediately searched for it - you can find the video here.

The second comes from the radio and it was a pretty hard challenge to identify it. It is one of the very few house / dance bands in Romania I appreciate and it is the first single out of their future album - Activ - Reasons. You can download it following the link - not hosted by musicblog - or you can just wait for the album to go and legally buy it.

Quite strange that both tracks are from the same genre, not one I would particularly like, but maybe it is just my mood of driving these days….

It seems that the weather in Romania is not much favoring the snowboarders nowadays - we don’t have too much chances for snow until mid-December or so.

Still, I am happy that on New Year’s Eve I will definetely be on the board on the nice slopes of Zell Am See. So if you are around this area on New Year’s Eve, just give a sign, maybe we organize something :)

On the other hand, not much time for music these days, with a hectic schedule at work which prevents me from sitting still more than 10 minutes.

I am mostly in a mood for chill-out, and the first song which comes to my mind is Free Bird, again. Excellent guitar, nice lyrics and an overall relaxed atmosphere.

Browsing through the big and filled with music hard-drive recently, I just re-discovered one of my old obsessions in music, a track which I immediately liked the first time I heard it. I remember how I listened to it for dozens of times in a row for more than a week after hearing it…

It comes from a great Romanian musician - Ovidiu Lipan Tandarica - one of the members of Pheonix, but also an excelent artist on his solo albums.

Natalis - the song which made such a huge impression on me - comes from his Bachita album, released 2 years ago. The album is singed in Aromanian by Stelu Enache and is a collection of folk songs remastered in a rock atmosphere, resembling somehow to Goran Bregovic’s style.

You can find the song here - it is just for listening purposes only, please do not distribute and go buy the album !

Well, I am finally back from my 6-days-or-so vacation to snowboarding in Cervinia.

It was awseome, even though I had some bad-luck and only got 2 days of snowboarding - the rest were lost due to the high wind.

Cervinia is great as a resort, even though I found it in a not very populated time. Also, it offers a lot of opportunities to sky on all sorts of slopes, very well maintained.

Enough with the talking, some pictures are to be found here. Next stop should be Austria, for skiing on New Years Eve.

Spusa de un prieten, dimineata: “Numai maine nu-i poimaine“. It made my day, avand in vedere contextul :).

In 2005 it was Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd (on Live 8), Bon Jovi and Neil Diamond who did some surprising comebacks. In 2006 we had so far The Who’s, Iron Maiden, Meatloaf. It seems to be the year of the rock comebacks. But the year is not over yet, and here comes another one.

Guns and Roses, the band of the 80’s and 90’s who represented for a lot of people their entry point in the Rock genre discovery, is going to release a new album - Chinese Democracy is the name of the new album expected now to be released on 21st of November.
The album has been in development for almost 9 years now, since Axl is rumored to first started recording, somewhere in 1997. More recently, demos of songs like Better or IRS, who are on the tracklist of the Chinese Democracy album. Also, due to the long development time, it is said to be the most expensive album ever produced - with a price tag of over 15 million USD.

Below is a concert version of the I.R.S. track, to be found on the new album.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXj0ZjfV57c[/video]

The RSS feed for Musicblog.ro is now fixed - you can subscribe and read the musicblog via RSS using this link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/musicblog/MtJx.

Awesome news today - it snowed in Paltinis and in Sinaia, and it seems its going to snow some more the following days. So, who knows, maybe Saturday would be a good day for snowboarding in Sinaia.

On the other hand, the trip to Italy in beginning of November, to the Cervinia glacier, is getting closer - hopefully everything will be properly organized and I will be able to get some good powder in those days.

With these thoughts in my mind, walking on the street and listening to Flipsyde - Trumpets seemed exactly the thing to do. Flipsyde’s music is excellent for snowboarding - no wonder their track - Someday - has been chosen by NBC as the official theme song for the 2006 Winter Games Olympics.

The track is best to be listened over the headphones, as some stereo effects are to be discovered. You can find it - for listening only - here: Flipsyde player.

As we previously announced, Tom Waits is to release a new album this year. Those of you who had the chance to listen to some of the tracks from the new album found it already an excellent piece of work, lust like most of Tom’s previous releases.

Some of the tracks from the album slipped so far, before the official release, and here is another one, found by Pitchfork media - the name of the track is Road to Peace and can be found on this page.

Nice picture found on flickr.

Finding nice music can occur in the most awkward of circumstances - in the taxi, on the street, on the slope or on a plane. The latter happened some days ago when I was reading in that “complimentary copy” magazine an artist with quite a strange name - Rebekka Bakken.

She is a Norvegian artist and composer playing some relaxing and mostly vocal jazz, which sounds quite nice. The voice is not amazing, but a more relaxing and mature one. What is more pleasant maybe might be the instrumentation of her songs, very nicely put together.

Another strange thing is that I think most of the new jazz female players I come across lately are extremely good looking, and Rebekka is exactly the case. Check out her pictures on www.rebekkabakken.com. Also, on her website you can listen to her songs for free - no downloading though.

Just finished watching the “First Descent” movie - something I’ve been really looking forward some days now, after seeing the trailer. Of course, the movie just amplified my already-high appetite for snowboarding as soon as possible.

I could not say it is an excellent movie per se - pretty dull as a movie if you are not a big snowboard fan, but it is good that it shows both some amazing scenes of snowboard in Alaska and it also takes you through the entire snowboarding history.

Definitely the best moment of the movie was Terje’s first descent of the 7601 peak - an excellent accomplishment by the world’s best snowboarder. Truly amazing !

Therefore, also the track for today - Foo Fighters - Hell - the soundtrack song for that descent.

Looks like I have an obsession these days with finding snowboard tracks everywhere around - probably this is because I can hardly wait for the first snow and the first snowboard ride !

Today, over the radio, a quite-old tune came up, one you surely know - Sono - 2000 Guns. Excellent electro sound, should sound just fine for a nice clean ride on the slope.

[download Sono - 2000 Guns]

Via Dragos I found out about Flipsyde - a US band who is combining Hip-Hop with Rock for a really nice sound overall. They sound great - specially in the not-so-hip-hop songs - and the Someday track sounds excellent for snowboard ! :)

“Buricul Pamantului” (could be translated as “The Hub of the Universe” for the non-Romanian speakers) - sounds pretty strange for a band name, right? At least this is what I thought when I first heard of them. Later found out that the name comes from a place in Sibiu city.

But as the name might sound strange, their music actually sounds quite fine. It is a “balcanic alternative” rock, as the guys are defining it, with up-front vocals, nice instrumentals in the back and some interesting lyrics. I listened so far to their albums, the second one is a clear improvement from the first one and it seems their are on the right track. Too bad I didn’t attend their Stufstock concert, so I cannot realy give my impresion on their live performances.

While Elena was first impressed with their “beculete” song - namely “Ce Tara Frumoasa Avem“, I am quite fond of the “Underground” track - one of the more rockish on the album. But as I am not able to put up a download link for that song, you should get a first taste of their sound by this track - “Salut” - an interesting one, specially with a nice guitar solo, which could definetely go much further in live performances. Also, this is the song that probably some of you might know from the radio.

Overall, Buricul Pamantului - I always smile when thinking of this name - is a band which managed to put together an excellent album - “Suflet Flamand“ - and who is promising to deliver more in the future. The guys seem so sing an honest music, with passion and professionalism. Keep it going !

download link via softrecords.ro, their record label. More about Buricul Pamantului on their website - www.buricul.com.